#THIS DOES NOT IN ANY WAY ENDORSE ANY AND ALL KINDS OF OPPRESSION

[sutille]

okay so like, i have seen recently how people see nuanced characters/narratives and i can't help but think that this reflects something a little deeper than just "media literacy". i think that people, as the first reaction, want to see the good and the bad. no shades. someone is evil or someone is the hero. but it is so much more complex than that, but acknowledging that would mean one has to put some thought into it and even question how they see the world. for example, trying to look to some character and say "they're the bad guy, so there can't be anymore bad guys and the other ones are good" or "this a action is justified because of b reason". in reality, things aren't so clear cut. things are so deeply complex that we have been trying to make sense of it all and we have arrived to so incredibly different conclusions that we have seen how much love or horror can humans make into action.

analysing any kind of media is kind of a vibe check into what one's beliefs and actions are, and that is uncomfortable. that's why it is so important for media creators to recognise how much responsibility they have with what they show and how they approach it, i mean, just look at bluey. we can take it as a kid's animated show with dogs to entertain children so they don't get bored, but there is so much more. look at shrek, arcane, genshin impact, undertale, mouthwashing, one piece and many many more.

media shapes the way we see the world and we shape media as we see the world.

[pilferingapples]

this is an invitation to infodump. i would LOVE to hear the thoughts you have on beggars at the feast, should you want to talk about them

AUGH ok ok let's see how well I can articulate...anything

OK so first: In the Letters server lately we've been talking a bit about how , in the book, Thenardier is WAY more the Human Nemesis than Javert is. He shows up earlier than Javert does; he's able to be a threat in ways Javert can't be, and to people Javert can't and wouldn't even try to touch ; he shares a TON of paralleling symbolism and class-blurring roles with JVJ; he's the last Personal Threat remaining in the novel, and the last thing we hear about him is that he's not only thriving , he's committing worse atrocities on a grander scale than anything we saw in the book, and getting nothing but social approval for it.

Thenardier is a nightmare, and he's triumphant, and as such he's a condemnation of society in an equal and opposing way to Jean Valjean. Valjean's story (and Fantine's , and the Thenardier siblings' ,. and the Amis , etc) says "look what we're destroying, look at the actions we punish". Thenardier's ultimate triumph as a literal slave trader flips it around and says "look what we support, look at what we endorse, look at what we elevate and approve." (now within the book I could take this farther , I could point out that the only thing within the novel that breaks any of the miserables free of their oppression to any degree is crime of some kind, be it revolution or theft or Being an Accomplice or exploitation, and the only thing that costs the (relatively) privileged their security and power is to truly ally with the miserables, but !! I'm talking about the musical)

In the musical Thenardier is softened a lot. Like... a LOT. The Thenardiers' exploitation of Fantine is barely mentioned ; their violent abuse of Cosette is turned into a joke; their abuse of Eponine is minimized (and their other kids are either Not Appearing in this Play or not obviously connected to them) ; and that final doomstrike epilogue, Thenardier becoming a slave trader, is gone. He's no longer the primary and most dangerous human antagonist; as in many other adaptations, that's now Javert.

So there's a different arc but it's there : From Master of the House and the Robbery , when he largely comes across as a gross but funny Comic Villain ; to the Attack on the Rue Plumet, where we finally see a bit of danger to him; to Dog Eats Dog, where he is really just acting on the same philosophy we saw in MotH but now doing something most people have a more immediate revulsion to, and the mask is really off; to , finally, Beggars at the Feast. If Beggars at the Feast is done RIGHT, This is Where The Villains Win.

They've gotten knocked around, sure, but they've also just gotten a ton of money, and, if done right, they are either blending in with the society party or, in the best staging * , they end up leading the dance. It's Master of the House all over again, only this time we're not being invited to laugh along with Thenardier's "band of soaks" ; this isn't the dregs of society, an easily stigmatized lower-class punchline.

This is Society, capital S Society, and they're just as ready to go along with him-- MORE ready to go along with him, even, because at least some of his inn customers usually get to be affronted and argue a little, but arguing with him risks some Unpleasantness, and isn't everything in Society so pleasant? Isn't it nice here, at the party? Let's not argue with the openly hateful people singing about how they want to destroy us all; look, they're dancing and singing! Let's just follow their lead. Won't that be nice.

And without getting into modern politics just because it's ALWAYS so current and I could never update the references frantically enough, I'll say that this is where Stage!Thenardier most echoes those Book!Thenardier Napoleon III vibes. Hugo knew what this dance looked like. He fell for it at one point.

(and hey, maybe it even raises some unease in audience members who laughed at MoTH and the child abuse and the Robbery without thinking about it-- maybe some people realize Oh Shit, We Fell For It Too. Not necessarily, but maybe?? ) And so it's fitting that it's this scene that has IMO a very clear sense of the book's incredibly specific political message ("Parisians, France, Please Overthrow Napoleon III, Probably With Barricades" ) , albeit in reverse. The Thenardiers gloat "Clear away the barricades and we're still here!" -- to them, a brag on how they endure all the changes around them.

But also implying: don't clear away the damn barricades. If you don't want the Thenardiers to run the show , help shore up that furniture wall and fight (for a modern international audience, this is probably going to be Not AS Specifically Involving Barricades).

So yeah. I'm not gonna say it's the most important song in the whole show , but it's important in ways I rarely see critics or commenters notice.

...Or it's just a funny musical reprise and you can have the Thenardiers be immediately thrown out of the wedding as frauds bc hahaha the poors thought they could play with their betters, good thing we're all so much smarter and cooler than that in the upper crust. That's fine too.

yes I have opinions; also I'm Correct

[paradox-time]

@basil-does-arttt

Heeeeyyyy, thanks for giving me an excuse to ranttt <3<3

Ok so, I saw a post of yours that was something like "what about gortash do fans find appealing?”

I'm going to try my best to answer why some of us are fans of this Absolute Shitbag (pun intended)

Some of my credentials, I've played the game for over 700 hours over about 4 months, seen, made, and interacted with tons of fan content and talked about it at length with other fans and unwilling friends. I make it my job to know every single scrap of Lore the game has to offer, going to stupid lengths to read all the books and letters hidden throughout the game, I also savescum the hell out of dialog options so I don't miss any exposition. I've played a tav twice and a dark urge 8 times, plus started but never finished other origin playthroughs.

Safe to say. I am deranged. (Yay hyperfixation)

Anyway, Enver Gortash is one of my favorite villains in fiction. This does not, in any way, mean that I admire or excuse any of his actions. I don't find him handsome or charming. He isn't redeemable or even likable in any capacity as a person.

The entire main theme of the game is whether or not the characters perpetuate the cycle of abuse or break it. You see that with Astarion, he either kills Cazador and forges his own future as a freed spawn, or ascends, and becomes someone who is just as bad and abusive as Cazador. You see it with Shadowheart in whether she chooses to live a life under Shar's cruel influence, or leave her past behind her and embrace Selúne. You see it in Gale and whether he ascends to Godhhood and is nothing like the kind and inquisitive person he once was, or leaves Mystra and his life as an archmage behind to live a life of quiet comfort where he can follow his passions and teach people like he should have been taught instead of isolating students like how mystra and elminster isolated him.

Many more examples blah blah blah

Ok, a lot of people (wrongly) try to justify and apologize for everything gortash has done by pointing at his backstory like a gotcha thing.

Gortash's parents sold him into slavery when he was very young to pay off their debts. The person who then raised and owned Gortash was none other than the ultimate slimeball, Raphael the Cambion. In this environment, Gortash grew incredibly bitter and started to worship Bane, the god of Tyranny, Dictatorship, Strife, and Subjugation. This was because he believed he was owed power over others for everything he was put through. He then becomes a slave trader, selling Karlach to Zariel is one notable example, a war profiteer and arms dealer, he keeps the families of his prisoners held hostage in an underwater prison that was rigged to explode and then subsequently flood if any of his factory staff tried to escape. His workers were also made to wear fucking bomb collars. He sews bigotry in the general public by not letting refugees in the city and controlling the media (newspapers and posters). His entire goal and religious doctrine is founded on the belief that it is his divine right to control and oppress people.

It has been so freaking long since I've found a piece of media that had an actual villain, but still kept said villain's story and motives interesting! Lots of modern media really tries to go the formulaic propaganda villain route. “Character A wants to do the right thing. Character B wants to do the right thing but does it in a BAD and DiSrUpTiVe way!! Gasp!! Villain!” I think it's supposed to endorse and enforce moral superiority of centrists, yuck. but that's a Different Tangent™.

I feel like there are a lot of fans that think that in order to like a character, they have to be morally palatable and pg or whatever. I see lots of fans that can't fathom liking a character that is genuinely evil and a bad person. So they just. Ignore the entire central point of the character.

Gortash sucks ass. If I met him in real life I would beat his ass into the dirt. But he isn't real. And fiction, especially interactive fiction, is an amazing way to explore darker themes in a safe and controlled environment. This is amazing for dozens of reasons, including exploration of catharsis.

I like Gortash because he amazing as a Villain. His story is super connected to the themes of the game. His acting is done with so much care and talent from the production team at Larian.

Fans who fawn over and woobify him. Umm. Do better. Get media literate please. No hate, love all the gortash content, especially in relation to the Dark Urge's story line. But please stop pretending he isn't as bad as he is. That's one of the main things I find compelling about him as a story device in the first place. You can like evil characters because they're fake.

Ummm conclusion…. Yeah. I like Gortash because he makes a fun story.

[orriculum]

Because you can read something that is written specifically as a way to criticize the capitalist society in which suffering is consumed as entertainment without endorsing said suffering and violence. And if you feel like you're the spectator of the Hunger Games, rather than identify with the tributes, then maybe the book message isn't going to do anything for you.

i get what you're saying, but i feel a little like you're misinterpreting me. maybe i didn't express well enough that i'm impressed with the book in how emotionally harrowing and yet pointed it is, or you took my post more literally than i meant it, but think that's the area where something got lost.

i'm not saying that buying the second book is endorsing violence, but i am saying that the book does a good job making you consider your own relationship to viewing violence for entertainment. and the hunger games, as a book series, is entertainment, because no one forced me to read it. i don't have a strong stomach for violence in media, i can barely sit through horror movies. but i'm not saying any "don't read it bc it's violent" kind of bullshit as if i think the characters are real people. i don't.

i think it's ironic that a book with zero subtlety about violence in media became massively successful, in part, because it leans into gore as entertainment. people like blood and guts, shocker. no one's making the ones who walk away from omelas into a blockbuster feature.

i think i disagree with you on that second sentence though. it's the easier option to identify with the tributes and rail at the system, because then the book never makes you question your own compliance within it.

i think we all want to identify more with the tributes, but just because they're the teens in a book aimed at teenagers, but because they're the underdogs, they're not "on the side" of the oppressive power system. but i think you really do miss something if you don't think about the fact that you are more like the capitol's spectators than you want to be, not because you're reading a violent book, but because in real life, you probably do contribute to the oppressive systems in place in someone else's life.

[batponiesrule28]

I think in addition to the conversation about JKR’s transphobia it’s vital that we address the antisemitism in the Harry Potter universe.

Not enough people are talking about it. Yes her transphobia is having an effect on legislation and yes supporting Harry Potter in any way is endorsing that BUT I don’t think we’re going to get through to people with just that. Harry Potter is not as wholesome as many people would like to believe. It’s a racist and antisemitic garbage fire with some pretty poor writing. I should preface this by saying I am not Jewish, nor am I a poc, I am white and fairly well off, I am just very opinionated and want to do my best to explain the things I can when I see something wrong. Carrying on,

One of if not the most blatantly fucked up thing in the Harry Potter universe is the presence of “house elves”, a race of mythical creatures that function as slaves in the wizard world. What is most appalling about them is that rowling wrote them to be happily subservient, a race that enjoys being enslaved. For one, this is all kinds of weird, and for two, this does not mix very well with the complete lack of plot relevant POC.

The second big issue and the one I feel a particular need to address is the goblins. Beginning with how they are meant to represent and mock Jewish people. Goblins are a common caricature of Jewish people, and the goblins in Harry Potter have all the traits of that caricature, hooked noses, greed, power over government, malice, etc. also notable was their appearances in the movies, being depicted as practically identical to nazi propaganda portrayals and having the Star of David clear as day on the floor of the bank. Now all this alone should be enough to make you feel queasy, but if that isn’t enough for you let’s bring the latest addition to the franchise in. The “goblin rebellion” of hogwarts legacy depicts an oppressed race as the antagonists in their rebellion, and if the well established context of goblins as a caricature of Jewish people wasn’t terrible enough in conjunction with this plot, one of the goblins is also depicted as plotting to kidnap wizard children, yet another direct parallel to historical oppression of Jewish people, the accusations of stealing Christian children (in this case wizard children) and using their blood for rituals, also known as blood libel.

Supporting Harry Potter is not just bad because JKR is bad. There is no way around it, and you cannot disconnect the author from her work. Harry Potter itself is bad. It’s time to let go of this.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Julian Adorney

Published: Oct 8, 2023

ROBIN DiANGELO THINKS SOCIETY WILL NEVER IMPROVE

Progress depends on ignoring her counsel of despair

Robin DiAngelo is one of the most influential people in American culture. Her term “white fragility” made the shortlist as an Oxford Word of the Year in 2017, and that was before she really blew up. Her mega-bestseller White Fragility (2018) has reached millions of readers. Her speaking fees run tens of thousands of dollars per hour, and she's given keynotes and trainings at countless universities and corporations.

With all her influence, it’s worth asking: should we be taking advice from her on how to reduce racism? I think the answer is no. For one thing, in spite of the fact that Social Justice Fundamentalists crow about how DiAngelo is the author that you need to read or listen to if you want to do your part to fight racism, DiAngelo herself doesn’t seem to think that racism can be beaten. If she doesn’t believe in the efficacy of her own work, why should we?

DiAngelo doesn’t think much of the idea that individual people can become less racist. In White Fragility, she says that “racism is unavoidable and … it is impossible to completely escape having developed problematic and racial assumptions and attitudes.” Speaking of herself (DiAngelo is white), she says that “I also understand that there is no way for me to avoid enacting problematic (racial) patterns.” For DiAngelo, no matter how much work you do, you're always going to be a racist.

Indeed, DiAngelo reserves some of her harshest criticism for people who think they have actually worked on their racism. In a telling passage, DiAngelo talks about “white people who think they are not racist, or are less racist, or are in the ‘choir’ or already ‘get it.’” Those people, she asserts, “cause the most daily damage to people of color.” That is: if you think that you're even a little bit “less racist,” then you’re in the group that (according to DiAngelo) does more daily damage to people of color than the established hate groups. For DiAngelo, you can of course increase your level of guilt and self-flagellation. But you’d better not think that makes you any less racist.

Of course, if people cannot change, then societies, which after all are made up of people, will also have a very hard time changing. And indeed DiAngelo argues that societal racial progress is often illusory. In Is Everyone Really Equal?, DiAngelo and co-author Özlem Sensoy endorse the idea of “new racism,” which they describe as “ways in which racism has adapted over time so that modern norms, policies, and practices result in similar racial outcomes as those in the past.” For DiAngelo, racist institutions such as Jim Crow didn’t really end; they just transformed. They may be less visible (they don’t “appear to be explicitly racist”) but they result in more or less the same outcomes. This is perhaps why DiAngelo describes “white supremacy” as “historical and continual” in White Fragility—that is, not something that we lived through, but something that we continue to live smack dab in the middle of.

Even when DiAngelo and Sensoy admit to some sort of racial progress (events like the election of President Obama are “significant and worthy of celebration”) they hasten to add that, “advances are also tenuous” and progress is liable to be rolled back. For DiAngelo, any positive change happens glacially; and even when it does happen, it’s generally a game of one step forward one step back. She and Sensoy stress that “systems of oppression are deeply rooted and not overcome with the simple passage of legislation.”

A great many Americans think that we’ve made strong racial progress as a society in the past 100 years. DiAngelo cautions against this kind of optimistic thinking. According to her and Sensoy, systems of oppression are “far less flexible than popular ideology would acknowledge.”

Why does DiAngelo think this way? In order to understand why her worldview leans so pessimistic, it’s necessary to understand her intellectual roots. Critical Theory (an umbrella term that includes Critical Race Theory, Critical Social Justice, etc.) is heavily influenced by the philosophy of postmodernism. In an article in Education Week praising Critical Race Theory, Stephen Sawchuk lays it out: “Critical race theory emerged out of postmodernist thought….” In a section of Is Everyone Really Equal? titled “A Brief Overview of Critical Theory,” DiAngelo and Sensoy note that two of Critical Theory's primary intellectual influences are Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault. Derrida and Foucault are two of the standard bearers of postmodernism.

For the postmodernist philosopher, nothing ever changes. Postmodernists see the world in terms of social “discourses.” These discourses (for instance, the idea that men are more drawn to leadership positions than women, or the idea that it’s better to be wealthy than poor) have a profound influence on all of us. In Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction, professor Christopher Butler describes this logic: for postmodernists, “our very identity, the notion we have of ourselves, is at issue when we are affected by discourses of power.” Most of us would admit that we are deeply influenced by our socialization, but postmodernists go much further. For postmodernists, we are our socialization, nothing more and nothing less. As Butler puts it, for postmodernist philosophers “the conflicting languages of power which circulate through and within individuals actually constitute the self.” Indeed, postmodernists don’t even speak of the “self”; they prefer the term “subject,” as in one who is “subject-ed” to the social discourses that they see and hear. For postmodernists, we actually don’t have any individual autonomy, or any real self, at all; we’re just the products of our socialization. Butler again: postmodernism endorses “a distinctive view of the nature of the self which was a challenge to the individualist rationalism, and the emphasis on personal autonomy, of most liberals.”

But if individual autonomy doesn’t exist, then of course personal development cannot either. If there is no self, then there can be no self-improvement. If we are all just subjects controlled by the forces of socialization, the “discourses,” around us, then how on earth could we possibly do anything on our own initiative to become less prejudiced?

This line of thought may be bleak, but it’s something that DiAngelo very deliberately leans into. Echoing postmodernists like Butler, she argues that the forces of socialization define us. “Our socialization is the foundation of our identity,” she and Sensoy claim. “The forces of socialization are powerful,” and “once the message of our superiority or inferiority is internalized, very little outside force is needed in order to ensure that we will play our social roles.” The “fundamental acceptance” of our role in society, shaped by the dominant discourses we see and hear, is “complete by an early age.” 

Perhaps as a result of this, DiAngelo doesn’t think we have much in the way of free will. “The logic of individual autonomy that underlies liberal humanism (the idea that people are free to make independent rational decisions that determine their own fate),” according to her and Sensoy, “was viewed [by the founders of Critical Theory] as a mechanism for keeping the marginalized in their place by obscuring larger structural systems of inequality.” That is: we’re all defined by our socialization, and the idea that we can make any real progress for ourselves is just a myth that those in power use to keep oppressed groups down.

For DiAngelo, then, solving racism represents something of a chicken-and-egg problem. We’re defined by our socialization, so we cannot become less racist unless our socialization becomes less racist. But at the same time, our socialization is created and perpetuated by groups in power; so our socialization won’t change unless enough of us as individuals become less racist and then get into positions of power where we can change the discourse. Or as DiAngelo puts it herself in White Fragility, “Even if challenging all the racism and superiority we have internalized was quick and easy to do, our racism would be reinforced all over again just by virtue of living in the culture.” It’s the logic of a trap.

Indeed, DiAngelo herself has, in her own words, fallen victim to this trap. In a recent interview, she said that, “I don’t actually think I’m any less or more racist than anyone else, and that includes Donald Trump.” This is telling. DiAngelo has (presumably) been doing the work that she asks her readers to do, and for much, much longer. But after all of that, she’s still just as racist as the man who referred to Haiti and African nations as “sh*thole countries.” Her work has not made her any less racist; is it not fair to ask if it will fail us in the same way?

Thankfully, in the real world both individual and societal growth is possible. In the 1960s, the United States ended legal segregation; which, whatever DiAngelo and Sensoy seem to think, did represent a seismic shift in race relations and in equality under the law. On a more individual level, from 1958 to 2021, Gallup shows that support for interracial marriage increased from 4 percent to 94 percent of all Americans. That means a whole lot of people became a whole lot less racist. In the 1950s, white people tossed the n-word around like it was candy. Now, saying the n-word is a good way to get exiled from civil society. 

Racism remains a problem, but looking to the DiAngelos of the world to help us cure it is like having strep throat and then going to a doctor who insists that strep throat cannot be cured or even treated. Not only is this vision fatalistic and unlikely to do much good, it’s also just plain wrong.

==

Why do people revere this racist lunatic?

[azurenightowl]

The King Must Die, Mary Renault, 1958

TL;DR

The childhood + Eleusis bit could have been a bit shorter, loved the Bull Court stuff, wish Theseus was slightly more complex as a character. 6/10, can recommend to any reader who doesn't mind the misogyny of the time period and won't confuse Theseus' POV with Renault's actual thoughts.

Mild spoilers below the cut.

GENERAL

My first thought is that it was too long. I very much enjoyed the section in the bull court, but I think the part before could have been a little shorter; the first 199 (of 400) pages are a little bit of a drag. They could have been 100 pages yknow? And I don't think that would negatively impact the story much. You'd lose a bit of the setup that makes the Bull Court so good, but ultimately when the setup is equal in length to the payoff

Otherwise, I kind of wish the female characters had... a little more depth? Though to be fair, only Theseus is properly explored. There aren't any particularly complex male characters either, which makes me think Renault is just less interested in character work, more with plot, which is totally valid. Just something to be aware of before going in, that none of the characters particularly stand out.

I wish Theseus would make a mistake. When he decides the Cranes are going to do their dance routine, it's the right choice. When he throws the ring into the sea, it's the right choice. When he assigns the Cranes their roles, he picks correctly. He trusts the right people in Court, knows who to manipulate, gets out of his death-contract in Eleusis... He never makes a wrong decision and you kind of start to notice it. It doesn't ruin the book, it would just maybe have been nice to see him face a consequence for an action of his; he never does anything "wrong" that leads to him suffering and learning, yknow? He's flatly a competent person. Which in some stories is not a bad thing, but this is written in first person and he's the only character who gets any depth or whose mind we get particular insight in. At around page 300 you start to realise that he's never wrong and all the tension like... bleeds out of the story.

CHILDHOOD

Don't have much to say about this. It was a bit long, and quite repetitive, I could've done without.

ELEUSIS

Alright, this was the first interesting bit (mildly), and the setting of the All Powerful Women and the Pathetic Foppish Men was amusing enough. I read it as a way of making clear the absurdity of having one sex be so powerful over the other; the setting/trope is deeply misogynistic, but it never came off as though Renault was mindlessly endorsing it, rather that she was criticising it.

The way that Theseus upturns this society read as a little tragic to me; he doesn't fix the inequality, he just institutes patriarchy. I like this a lot, we get to see that Theseus doesn't give a shit about feminism (as he shouldn't! he is an ancient Greek man), and it feels very ironic, like he got that men shouldn't be oppressed under women, but couldn't make the final leap.

The Queen/Priestess/Wife, I kind of wish she was a little more complex. Her only characteristic that stands out is that she wants to fuck him and doesn't talk much. Maybe I missed something.

I liked it, wish it was a little shorter still.

BULL COURT

I loved the Bull Court it was the best part of the book and reading it (almost) justified the first half. The way Renault creates this setting is absolutely enchanting, the way the Cranes have to interact amongst themselves, with the other captives, with the nobility... 10/10 no notes. Asterion and Theseus are my favourite comedy duo <3

Okay I lied. One note. I wish Ariadne had been slightly more developped. You never get much of a sense that she does anything, or thinks anything, about basically being a pawn to her father and to Theseus.

EPILOGUE

Okay so I get that Renault had to acknowledge leaving Ariadne on Naxos, but... the way that the narrative kind of frames Theseus as being in the right to do this, beacuse she gets to be among people who recognise her... This is just another instance of "Theseus never makes mistakes" and this one grinds my gears a little more.

but yeah overall I'd say it was worth the read, and I appreciate that Renault did something a lot more interesting with it than just flatly retelling the myth. Cheers.

[thewul]

Chapter 15, The Warring Nation

We will not know what the future will be made of, unless we build it for ourselves, in space there lies the great frontier that knows no limits except that which we accept to bear, and we must bear patiently because inasmuch as space is vast it is our home, inasmuch as it is unforgiving we have to make it safe, and inasmuch as it is diverse we have to make it one, it can never be diminishing to extend the hand of friendship under the banner of peace and prosperity for us all

Rather selfishness has no place in it as vast as it may be, everywhere in its limitless reaches science, culture and the arts are the stepping stones of civilisation, which we can only regard as civilisations if we are absent minded to the fact that civilisation in itself has many forms and shapes but tends towards the same achievements, and so we can either build on what is sound and common or fight over our differences and we have chosen to build and not to strife, for building makes sense to us all and strifing only makes sense for those who strife

In doing so we also endorse the fight of civilisation as civilisation has a cause and a fight, and allies same as enemies, but the burden that is shared is lighter on those who share it, and we live for the day when civilisation will be with no more burdens or worries, to let peace and progress prevail, that there is no more an oppressor and the oppressed is not an easy task, is not a light matter, but nothing that comes from ease and carelessness is meant to endure the test of time, to let peace prevail requires a mighty army, for peace is only as strong as the hands of those who bear arms to defend it

It can never be left without a shield, not one but many, of ourselves and our allies and that of our Imperial Armed Forces who indeed have business everywhere the cries of the oppressed are heard, for while we are a peace loving nation we are also a warring nation that does not believe into a fight without end, but rather that what we have set to achieve requires of us, mandates of us, inevitable conflicts and wars with those who stand at the opposite side of our beliefs in justice, in peace, in prosperity and in progress, why we have made them universal beliefs is out of our firm conviction that the many who share them will vanquish the fewer who oppose them

Faced as we are with the inevitability of conflicts we can never be unsuspecting or naive, or blind to the fact that we would faced odds in due time, and that is why we are such a nation not of citizens but of citizen soldiers, where the delicacies of life are to be enjoyed after fulfilling our duties and not before fulfilling our duties, where our youth does not frown on its obligatory military service but to the contrary looks forward to it, embraces it and values its duration within our armed forces, where conviction is never failing in the belief that while might doesn't make right, a mighty hand will right wrongs

And while we must exert power with the greatest caution, before all of not stretching our military forces, we will often strike preemptively in the quadrants of space where we are expending, and where and when we can see clearly that there is no peace to be had, we needn't issue any declaration and secrecy is often the best weapon of the decided, rather we can never tolerate to live under any shape or kind of threat

To do so is to invite the agressions of other like minded oppressors, and we cannot be the strong arm of peace and justice willing to protect others and harbor at the same time any weaknesses in ourselves, although we may someday face opponents mighty in strength, strength without resolve is nothing but pretense, therefore resolve in everything, in each of our daily actions, and in our way of life and in our armed forces and military operations, for there lies the greater resolve of the nation as a whole

There is the unmistakable resoluteness of a nation that is fighting for what is right, not fighting other's fights but it is one and the same fight of justice, peace and liberty and the beacon of civilization who is meant to banish the darkness of tyranny and oppression

The warring nation is still in times of peace, and organized and methodical in times of war, where such times when and if they occur are not exceptional times but rather a fact of life no different than other natural occurrences of life, vigilance and alertness are its condition, and while cautious in its dealing it harbors no prejudices

Swift to act on its decisions that are based on a sound foreign policy, for indecisiveness is a fertile ground for the issues that are bound to arise from being neither with or against but in between, meaning not at all, or worse of constantly shifting in its alliances meaning unreliable, for its allies most of all, and an easy prey for its foes as they succeed in turning its coalition either against it, or make it neutral that is in practical military terms not only ineffective but an incumbrance and a danger

But we must constantly keep in mind that history and peoples have a long memory, in upholding our values, in basing them on sound and moral grounds, in carefully weighting our direct and indirect dealings and military involvements, there is the best insurance against the turning tides of fortune, for decisiveness and constance in such matters is sure to be remembered by all, friends and foes alike, and in that remembrance is a wealth and a reward, and in acting conversely is a long but sure road to defeat

For that all can say there is a mighty warring nation, that stands for justice and on the side of the wronged, and that our citizen soldiers and army can go about freely and proudly, above all as the strong arm of peace and security for all wherever they are present

[genderisareligion]

www.tumblr.com/thepaininurneck/718782773061713921/

It is honestly incredible how either extremely unaware, or intentionally obtuse these people can get about what Radical Feminists actually believe and *why* they believe it. They can't get bothered to look up why we state with statistical and scientific points that any system meant to comodify, monetizise, objectify and sexualize women and children is wrong and shouldn't exist nor have inmense power, no matter how much it may make some very few ones "feel good" individually when it still cause more pain and suffering to the mayority regardless.

But then again, it is honestly very rich to expect any kind of nuance about women and children rights and oppression from the almost cultish community/ideology whose main fundament it's that as long as you don't physically hurt with your very own hands women, children, animal, and even homosexuals. Then your fixation, endorsement and promotion of Rape, VAW, Child abuse, homosexual fetishization, zoophilia, bdsm and all kinds of abusive porn it's okay and valid and even inherently "Queer" ://

What I've decided to call "Hussie's Law" strikes again, the worst opinions you've ever read on here will always be from behind a Homestuck icon...

How the fuck are we authoritarians? Lol what are we doing to "actively take away rights that others choose for themselves" - seriously, I've never seen a group of people that misunderstands what the fuck critical thinking is this hard. They think any criticism towards an ideology they subscribe to means that critic wants to control their every move or wants them dead. The drama....

Where are the laws radical feminists have enacted against others? On the reproductive front or in general? Like deadass this is also a read, like since the second wave ended we haven't gained much legally for a number of reasons that aren't all our fault don't get me wrong. Been on radblr a decade and always seen us be aggressively pro abortion but we're not enough of a force that Roe still fell.

Surrogacy is CRITCIZED by radical feminists for the patriarchal roots of the practice but criticism does not equal force and I personally would be against laws banning it at this point same way I don't think banning cosmetic surgery should be okay even though I'm wildly critical of the patriachal roots of that practice.

"Tattoos"??? They actively mistake us with trad women and don't realize how stupid it is to then immediately turn around and claim to hate us for being dick repulsed lesbians.

[captainbobbin]

hi there, i love your kingdom hearts fics and can't wait for more LFOTR! do you happen to have any other good fic recs featuring terrisa or xemsai?

Hey there, I really appreciate the compliment! I'm slowly working on LFOTR and I have about eight other writing projects simultaneously being worked on right now so I hope you enjoy what I have to come!

So, truth be told, I am horribly picky with reading. I read very little fanfics for a subject that I am currently writing as I really do not want to accidentally absorb other peoples' ideas or writing techniques kind of passively, if that makes sense? I'm also like; I think it takes a very special writer in order to keep my attention, as I feel that they either have to write the characters incredibly well or have a very unique take/writing style/spin/au/etc in order for me to be interested. There are very few fanfics that I kind of actively engage with and follow because I spend so much time writing! Its gotta be real good for me to look out for it!

So that being said, my fave writer is my bestie Jewelled for XemSai. Chances are that if you've read my work that you are probably already familiar with theirs, as they are probably the biggest name in XemSai written content. They're currently working on a multichapter fic and they produce really tasty oneshots super regularly - we've even got a somewhat joint project or two kind of in the works (I'm being so slow because LFOTR keeps getting in the way I am so sorry ajsgdasjd;;;;) but yes! Jewelled is great, we send each other writing all the time and we go ham over each other, they're very skilled in what they do and nobody does it like them. Their smut is great, they're a lovely person, they work very hard, I fully endorse going and giving them more kudos and comments and stuff.

I do quite enjoy MoodCodeds longform piece called The Will To Persevere - however I do recognise that it is a fic is very much not for everyone because it has INCREDIBLY dark themes and the XemSai is massively one-sided. As in, mind control/hypnotism which leads to lack of/dubious consent, violence, abuse, threats, physical harm, a general lack of hope in the face of death, etc etc, however their storytelling is very immersive and they have really built up this supremely oppressive atmosphere where poor Saix is just fighting for not only his life but that of Xion and the other kids, too. It's one of those reads that is very harrowing but indulgent in its morbidity - the kind of thing where you know its going to get worse but you're just praying for a happy end by the time it rounds off because Saix just goes through so much. Mood works real hard on their writing and has also become a nice friend of mine, and they have other KH works which are also great (including one where Isa is doing his best to be a dad like cmon man). I'm super aware that TWTP is not for everyone and if you're looking for super soft lovey-dovey XemSai then this may not be the one for you, but I'm in deep on this one and everytime they update I'm just rattling the bars to my cage the same way Saix is haha!

Happy reading!

[missmeinyourbones]

so instead of addressing the fact that you misused aave as a non black person, you just delete the tag and pretend like nothing happened? I really want to be nice about it because you are one of my favorite writers on here, but not addressing something you did that is offensive to one’s culture only makes you look bad. A simple “I apologize” or “I didn’t know and I won’t make that mistake again” would have sufficed. I’m not saying you can’t say slay or use aave. I’m saying to at least study the history behind it and learn from other AA’s on how to use it. If a person of color has told you that something you did is offensive to their culture, you owm up to it and apologize; that’s literally it. I apologize if this seems like I’m coming at you in a really mean and rude way, but it honestly hurts to see that someone who’s writings I enjoy, probably does not care about black people like they claim to.

hello, a message below the cut!

hi anon, i hope you are doing alright. i totally understand where you are coming from and right off the bat would like to apologize for overstepping and saying something i shouldn't have. for those of you who don't know what this is regarding, i used a tag that said something along the lines of "new theme slay" when talking w/ a mutual of mine.

it is never my intent to many anyone feel upset in any way, let alone make anyone of a minority group feel discriminated against in any shape or form, as it is something i as a white person have the privilege of not experiencing in my life.

yes i deleted the tag from the post because i saw your message, read it, understood where you and others might be coming from, and deleted it. truthfully, i thought about posting an indirect message about it...something along the lines of "to the anon who asked about my 'slay' tag, i deleted it, as it was not my intent to use it in a way that offended anyone, sorry for the mistake/misunderstanding!" but i ultimately decided against it, as i truthfully thought complimenting a mutual in a tag saying slay wasn't a huge deal. but yes, i saw your comment and deleted it, and seeing how you interpreted this in a disrespectful light, i do apologize.

in absolutely no way did i consciously mean to disrespect, dismiss, or belittle your feelings. again, i apologize, i am genuinely very sorry for the hurt the miscommunication caused. i am assuming you're the same anon who has addressed me about this before (and if youre not, even more of a reason for me to address the mistake) but i genuinely thank you for correcting me/holding me accountable.

however, i would like to end this by saying: please do not ever associate me with any sort of purposeful or conscious oppressive outlook or discriminatory perspective. i am a person who makes mistakes and should own up to them like everyone else. with that being said, i would never purposefully imply that i "do not care about black people like i claim to" and if thats something you truly believe i support/endorse, then please unfollow me. i am learning but i am also a person, and will not tolerate any form of hate against my personal character, especially about very serious allegations that are the opposite of the truth on a blog that is supposed to be a fun and safe place for all kinds of people.

i am sorry for my words, it was never my intent to hurt or offend anyone. if any of my black or poc followers would like to talk with me or further educate me on continuing to better myself and learn as an ally, my dms and inbox are always open for your words.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Existential Comics makes an interesting claim: That the “neoliberal” solution to climate change is to “hope” that “somehow” it will become profitable to save the planet, and that this will not work. I wonder if that’s true. I know that a lot of twitter leftists consider AOC a neoliberal centrist shill (AOC but not Bernie hmm I wonder what the difference is), but I don’t know if Existential Comics does, so lets focus on people who are absolutely Neoliberal Centrist shills, like Obama and Biden.

Well, Obama passed ARRA, which included billions of dollars of money into renewable energy development (and another $13 billion in tax breaks for renewables)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009

How’d that that out?

Why, it turns out that this research helped cause the cost of wind and especially solar to drop dramatic, such that renewable energy is now cheaper to produce than fossil fuel energy. Did ARRA cause this, and Obama single-handedly stop climate change and should be hailed as our new sun god? No, of course not. There’s an awful lot of reasons the cost of solar fell, but “Obama threw shitloads at money into renewable energy research” probably deserves a mention, especially if you’re making the argument that neoliberals just kind of hope climate change solves itself and don’t do anything at all about it.

And the cool thing about technological growth is that it can be exported. 

It also has knock-on effects. General Motors is beginning to phase out gasoline-powered cars. This isn’t because they feel bad about destroying the environment, or because they’re “woke” or whatever.

It’s because the cost of electric batteries has fallen 90% in the last decade, and electric cars are starting to get cheaper than gas cars. Of course, 2035 is a long time away, and we’re kind of on the clock here re: global warming. Is anyone doing anything to try to speed this up?

Why, it turns out that as we speak Joe Biden has put out a bill that includes $174 billion dollars to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, including building 500,000 charging stations directly, and that this is part of his 2,000 billion dollar plan that has other climate stuff in it as well. 

So the idea that neoliberals “hope” that companies will “somehow” find sustainable living profitable rings a little hollow. It seems more like neoliberals “spend billions of dollars to reduce the cost and hasten the rollout of renewable energy sources that are now the cheapest form of power thanks to billions of dollars in government investment.”.

And that’s a position that can absolutely be criticized! You could criticize Biden/Democrats for

A. Not spending enough on Solar/Research (An evergreen complaint, since any amount of spending could be increased)

B. Not grappling with the high costs of building things in America 

C. Not doing much of anything to urbanize America 

D. Treating the problems of the world as a series of discrete small problems and not looking into the structural oppression of capitalism that underlies it all

E. The way the planned expansion of high speed rail connects cities based on what makes a nice-looking graphic as opposed to what routes people would use the most

Thank god there’ll be an easier way to get to Minot, North Dakota (population 48,261)! Clearly this was worth giving up line connecting Reno and Phoenix directly to Las Vegas! 

F. An endorsement of American car culture

G. Tons of money for flashy High Speed Rail, but not much for, like, subways. 

H. Really just generally the way high-speed rail has been fetishized as good for its own sake and disconnected from actual use-cases or the high cost of building things in America that derails a lot of HSR construction

I. Not dealing with the rent crisis, which is a crisis in and of itself but is also preventing people who actually want to live in dense cities with little need to drive from doing so.

J. A focus on the magical bullet of “carbon capture” which has shown little promise and (unlike solar) can never be something corporations will do on their own because there’s not even a theoretical way to make it profitable.

K. Not raising the gas tax

L. Not enough and/or too much money to nuclear

Etc etc etc. This list is getting long. The point is that there are a million things to criticize liberals about on climate change, but making good arguments would require you to, like, look things up. Read a paper. Read people arguing the pros of policies. Knowing what’s going on in the world. Thinking, basically. 

And even though Existential Comics is a webcomic about Philosophy, a field where literally all you do is sit around and think about shit, he doesn’t really like thinking very much! “Joe Biden does some things that are good and some things that are bad” is too complex a thought for his galaxy brain, so he doesn’t engage with it. Easier to just shitpost on twitter

[thedreadvampy]

The thing is, without wanting to once again embroil myself in this discourse (because I absolutely was in the wrong last time, no argument there), there is a reason that I can be quite bearish about hcing Jarchivist as white and cis and it's not because I want to take away representation or because I think being white and cis makes him More Relateable but it's about how I read the themes of the character and the overarching podcast

the thing is to me like a major theme of the series is Jonny reflecting on the experience of obliviousness, trauma and denial from his (Jonny, the author's) perspective as a white cis man with an Oxford education and how that's informed his perception and sensitivity to other people's experiences.

and I kind of feel like that's coming through explicitly in recent stories like 185 or 187 but also back throughout the podcast. that a major thread is the ability to ignore things until they're happening to you. and particularly with Jon's character like. his whole deal is that he's spent his life consciously embracing denial and closing his eyes because if he refuses to see it, it can't hurt him. and to me that is part of a broader and increasingly explicit theme about the privilege of choosing what to see, and about the blind spots of things outside your own experience. like to me a primary theme of TMA is the intersection of power, oppression and trauma and the...messiness of it, and I think Jon often represents hegemonic privilege (he's allowed to pass untouched through horrors unless he actively chooses to interrogate and challenge them; he has access to information but not necessarily to understanding; he can and does choose not to see people's suffering until it's pointed out to him (not just in the apocalypse but throughout, with the Archive staff etc)

like. I don't think this reading is exclusive to a Jon who's white, I have implied that in the past and I think that's a shitty take. Jon can absolutely play that role and be Asian at the same time and that brings a different texture to the story.

but it is a different texture and I think I resent the idea that a character can only be white as default or as a reaction to a prevalence of hcs of colour. like I think Jon is white because I think Jon being white has a significant impact on the reading of a story which to me is vastly about power, privilege and marginalisation.

it's significant to me to think of Jon as white in direct reference to the fact that he's canonically queer, had a difficult childhood and has PTSD and mental and physical health issues. whether you read him as white or not has a significant impact on what the story says about the intersections of power and disempowerment, and to me it's an engaging reflection of the tension of Jon's power and powerlessness as an Avatar of the Eye.

and like as someone rightly pointed out during the last barney over this - being a person of colour doesn't mean your life is Just Oppression And Pain. that isn't what I'm trying to pull out here. but the experience of privilege is different if you're seen as white to if you aren't and that makes a text about privilege and systemic traumas read differently. not worse or better. but different.

idk if this makes any sense. and the thing is it may be a totally shitty read of the text. but it is a significant aspect of my reading of the text and I find it? Odd? That in fandom that is treated as a non-negotiable. like that an analysis of the text with the supposition that Jon is white is a shallow reading. not just a different one.

like I see a lot of people treating Jon being white as a non-canonical, bad reading of the text and nobody has justified that to me at all beyond saying 'I am a person of colour and Jon being a person of colour is important to me' and that's a completely reasonable way to feel imo! like there are some really good and interesting readings of the text with that in mind! I think I've often come across as dismissive of that and I don't mean to.

My reading here doesn't have more grounding than yours bc Jon doesn't canonically have a race and Jon being Asian adds a lot. but it also takes away. it's a different text with different reads on power, obliviousness, guilt and trauma. like. I think because I've been quite bullish about it, I've left a lot of people hurt and feeling like I'm saying This Is The Right Reading, and that's a thing I feel really shitty about. because that's come from a very defensive place but that doesn't excuse it, it's a Bad Take.

but like. for me the Jon Being White thing fits into the nexus of a character not necessarily being an endorsement. like if you read Jon as white then to me that changes the read on things like him being promoted ahead of Sasha, on the assumptions he makes about other characters, on his responses to the police and authority, on how he responds to instability - like they're not textually there or not there but interpratively it makes a big difference whether he's benefiting from, assimilating into or operating despite hegemonic power structures.

and the reason I'm focusing on race here isn't because race is the Big Privilege Decider but because when it comes to hegemonic privilege, Jon's race is probably the most open to interpretation; he could be bi or gay but he's definitely mlm; we know he's ace or ace spectrum; he could be trans or nb but we know that he's percieved as a man by strangers and by close friends; we can make educated guesses about his class and social background from cues like his accent, backstory and education; we know about at least some of his physical disabilities and visible scarring, and about at least some of his neurodivergence and trauma. We've spent nearly 190 episodes in this guy's head - we have cues to go on for a lot of stuff. But his ethnicity is absolutely up for interpretation and to me that's interesting.

I favour white Jon as an interpretation because I think Jonny has written a lot of this podcast as a meditation on complicity and the complexity of power and that's interesting to me when I interpret Jon as white. because with that reading the podcast becomes very much about white guilt and the destructive responses we make to guilt, to having the power to change and destroy lives and the power to ignore it, and the struggle of benefiting from a system - even needing a system - that's built on the blood and pain of millions of other people. like, the fact that Jon may Literally Die without the Eye feeding and without the apocalypse fear machine, and has to at every stage make the decision to work to destroy it and live with empathy for those trapped in it anyway, has some resonance for me with the machinery of white supremacy. and patriarchy. and hegemonic power in general. and I think the degree to which Jon the Human Person was raised profiting from those systems informs the interpretation of how Jon the Eye Monster responds to a supernatural version

and like I'm just gonna say it. I think Jon's arc of Dealing With Cops is vastly different if he's white vs if he's Asian. like I can't pretend to be speaking from a place of personal experience but most of my British Asian friends expect their treatment by the police to be coloured by Islamophobia and an assumption of foreignness. and I'm not saying that's Every British Asian Person or that I really know what I'm talking about but it seems to me that the story of a white man who initially trusts the system being hunted by police who brutalise and threaten him carries a different meaning to the same story about a dark-skinned Asian man. like again. not necessarily a better one but a different one.

idk this is a long musing. I'm interested in having a conversation about this and like I said last time - if you think I'm being shitty I do want to be told and to explore why within the limits of your comfort with taking about it. I'm not trying to say This Is So I'm just wanting to get my own head straight.

[gamesception]

The Promised Neverland is kind of really good, actually?  I mean, yeah, I’m late to the party as usual, but I just binged the first season of the anime, and then the manga from that point on (the site I was on didn’t have any of the second season, but apparently it diverges from the comic and gets bad anyway, so maybe just read the comic to begin with).  And, I mean, spoilers, obviously, but I’m going to get into some extremely major spoilers here so if you haven’t read it or if you’ve only seen the first season of the anime maybe skip this post and read the manga, but...

...

I’ve tried and failed to write a big long post about all the ways it’s so good, how the main three characters are each so compelling, how its pitch dark but not cynical or misanthropic, with mortal stakes but not gore-porny, positive and optimistic without being trite or naïve, how choosing Emma out of the main three to be the primary protagonist and viewpoint character keeps the story from becoming a masculine militaristic power fantasy, how the antagonists are treated as characters and not just monsters - even the ones that are literal monsters, about how the story never supports or glorifies the idea of sacrificing the weak so that the strong can survive, about how empathy and understanding and a chance for peace are extended to every single villain without putting a burden to forgive on victims and without ignoring the need to fight those who refuse the offer of peace and uphold the status quo, how the story opposes oppressive hierarchies at every turn - not just those the monsters use to control the human children at the farms, but also how the monster elites use access to human meat to controller the lower social classes of monster society, and even to an extent within the human resistance.

But there’s just way too much to talk about to get it all into one big giant post, and I don’t have the stamina for a big extended ongoing project right now - or else I’d return to one of the like 12 I have on hold.

But, like, to pick just one thing....

ok, so eventually we learn what the monsters are and why they eat people.  They’re a weird sort of organism that can temporarily take on the characteristics of things they eat.  Eat a bird and grow wings, eat a bug and grow an exoskeleton, eat a human and gain a humanoid body and the intelligence to become self aware, learn language, form societies - for a while.  But if they go too long without eating people, then they lose their minds and revert to a bestial form.  In order to save the humans, the resistance leader Minerva plans to wipe out the monster society altogether.  After all, they literally have to eat humans to continue being people, there is no possibility of peace.

Protagonist Emma, though, has seen not just the horrific human farms and their cruel and corrupt rulers, but also their towns and settlements, their families and children.  She was even saved at one point shortly after her escape by friendly monsters who opposed the farm system, and even though it seems impossible, she wants to save both the humans and the monsters.

A more typical show, at least among those with premises as dark as The Promised Neverland, wouldn’t take Emma’s side in this.  She would be forced to ‘grow up’ and face the fact that she can’t save everyone.  Her naivety would get someone killed to break her heart and teach her to be hard and cruel as if those things are virtues.  Or, more likely, she wouldn’t be the viewpoint character to begin with, she’d be a side character whose ideals would get herself killed in order to elevate the male characters’ angst and justify their violence.  Either way, the message would be “Emma’s ideals were unrealistic and could never survive contact with the harsh reality of the world.”

TPN instead takes Emma’s Side.  She finds monsters who maintain a humanoid body and intelligence without eating humans, and they’re able to spread that trait to the rest of monster society while the humans all escape to the human world.  Now, as much as I don’t like the grimdark ‘there is no peaceful option’ hypothetical version of the story, this development could have been handled pretty badly.  Like, just reading it like that, it sounds like the story raised a big moral dilemma and then chickened out of it.  But that’s really not how it comes off while you’re reading it, for a couple reasons.

First of all, Emma meets the non-human-eating monsters early in the story, long before we get the explanation of how monsters in general work.  So by the time we learn that the monsters must eat humans to maintain their self identity, the audience already knows that there are exceptions and that an alternative exists.  The story never sets this up to be a moral dilemma in the first place, so when the issue is bypassed it doesn’t feel like it’s undercut itself.

More importantly, though, is the thematic & metaphorical content.  Because the monster society is a pretty explicit metaphor for unjust human societies, and monsters represent the people who make up such societies.  Not just the aristocrats who benefit from the unjust society, or those who directly enforce and uphold it, but also regular people.  People insulated just enough from the suffering and death that their lives are built on that they can turn a blind eye to it, but aware enough of their complicity in that suffering that they construct excuses to justify their part in it, and by proxy excuse those at the top who actually benefit from and shaped the society as it is.  People living lives simultaneously just comfortable enough to keep them docile, but precarious enough that they’re too caught up with struggling to maintain the tenuous grasp on the lives they have to feel like they can work towards anything better.  Monster society in TPN is a cage built out of the corpses of humans cattle, but built to imprison and enslave the monster civilians who eat them.

Hanging the story on the fantastical element of monster biology would divorce it from that essential metaphor while also endorsing an outright genocidal worldview, and TPN explicitly calls out the plan to wipe out the monsters altogether as just that - genocidal.  It never even pretends to entertain the notion that the audience should accept that plan as the right choice, even while it doesn’t condemn Minerva for pursuing it. When Emma is proposing her plan to Minerva, the deal she strikes with him is ‘I will try to make my peaceful solution happen, and if I succeed then you cancel your plan to wipe out the monsters’.  Minerva is eventually shown to be lying when he makes that agreement, but Emma isn’t, and note the if there.  If Emma’s plan fails, then she - and thus the narrative - accepts that Minerva’s plan to save the children is still better than leaving things as they are, even if it means wiping out all the monsters.  After all, the society IS monstrously unjust, and even the lower classes within that society ARE complicit in that injustice.

Minerva’s problem isn’t even presented as a matter of him hating the monsters too much to see a route to peace with them.  The story doesn’t frame the conflict between Minerva’s and Emma’s plans as hate vs. love or revenge vs. forgiveness.  It’s instead more of ‘hierarchy and division bad, mutualism/openness/relying on each other good’.  The point is to show how Minerva’s role as a figurehead who believes he has to project strength to uphold the hope that the other humans have placed in him has worn away his ability to rely on others or to be open to alternatives they offer, leaving him with rigid and inflexible thinking.

So when Minerva learns about the monsters who don’t need to eat humans, he doesn’t see an opportunity for a better outcome - potentially even an easier outcome since he doesn’t have to make enemies of the entirety of monster society - rather he sees a threat to his plan to starve the monsters back into an animalistic state.

And if that whole subplot isn’t explicit enough, Minerva’s internalized need to project strength also results in his physical body wasting away in secret from a condition he believes to be untreatable, but the moment he finally breaks down and admits he needs help Emma is able to point to a solution, one that again doesn’t come across as a cop out because again it takes the form of another character the audience was already introduced to a long time ago.

In a story arc that the second season of the anime adaptation apparently cut entirely, wow the more I hear about anime season 2 the worse it sounds.  And after the first season was so good....

...

Anyway, I tried to pick just one thing and this post still turned into a colossal gushing word cascade, and there are so many other elements to talk about.  Like how The ‘Mothers’ and ‘Sisters’ are menacing villains with seemingly no empathy for the children, but when Sister Krona realizes she’s lost the power struggle with Isabella she leaves the kids tools to help them, and then when Mother Isabella realizes the children have escaped, she covers up the route they used in order to buy them a little extra time to get away.  It’s these little touches - just as much as the short backstories that follow them - that show us how, while they might uphold the system out of fear for their own lives, and might have rationalize their part in it in order to live with the horrible things they’re doing, the mothers and sisters don’t actually hate the children.  Knowing that makes it believable when in the end Isabella does turn on the system, and every single one of the other mothers and sisters join her.

The bit when the fighting is mostly over and she tells the Mother at the house “it’s over, now we can just love them” and the other woman breaks down crying is so sad and human, it makes me tear up thinking about it..

Like I said, all the villains are characters, not just monsters.  They all have motivations for the horrific things they do - sometimes irrational, often selfish, but not even the most unforgivable of the monsters are just evil for evil’s sake.

Again, I’m rambling.  It’s just...  I’m used to these sorts of pitch dark dystopias being, for lack of a better term, kinda fashy in their messaging?  Or at the very least deeply cynical and misanthropic and just kind of mean spirited.  And TPN is so completely the opposite of that, in so many ways.

[kookiebunnii]

what happens after || kim taehyung

→ summary: in another universe, do you think we could’ve ended up together? OR exploring how your memories with taehyung intertwine with your slow recovery from a life without him.

→ pairing: idol!taehyung x reader

→ genre: exes!au, post-breakup angst

→ word count: 4.4k

→ warnings: n/a

→ a/n: i always wanted to write something exploring the feelings of separation after a relationship. there’s a lot of works out there detailing the process of falling in love, but i think there’s something redeemable in the process of recovering from love as well. 

●●●●●

The morning after might be the hardest part.

After a night of tossing and turning, drifting aimlessly between sleep and consciousness, the sun rises like it always does. When the dawn breaks, you open your eyes slowly, hoping that when you open them—Taehyung would be there.

But of course, he isn’t.

Because if he were, you’d already be in his arms. Taehyung loved to hold you while he slept, as if it comforted him knowing that he had you within his grasp. You never minded it, because the warmth he exuded was critical for lulling you into your dreams with ease. He smelled nice, like soft detergent on freshly washed sheets mixed with something so uniquely him. You would languidly lay in bed, curled into his chest, resting happy knowing that he’d still have you when you wake the next day.

When you broke up with him the night before though, this unrealistic expectation somehow still remained. It persistently presses against your heart, trying to win out against reality, until you were forced to longer believe in it. Gazing forlornly at the empty pillow next to you, missing the person who used to always sleep on the right side of the bed, your heart breaks all over again.

If you close your eyes tight enough, grip the blankets hard enough, you could almost feel his arms around you again. You could see Tae, dark locks messy with sleep, grumbling in annoyance as you try to poke him awake. He always mumbles ‘five more minutes’ before pulling you closer and burying his face in your neck. You’d always let him have his five minutes; in fact, you grew accustomed to setting your alarm a few minutes earlier just to ensure the two of you would still be on time. You wonder if he knew this.

Laying there in a bed that suddenly feels too big, you have no choice but to accept the fact that this was only the first day in the rest of your days without Taehyung. If you could push past the pain you felt today, things would get better. They had to, because how else were you supposed to survive a break-up?

But the loneliness and the hurt have made their residence within your chest, and you feel too weak to face the day. You can barely get yourself out of bed, so you decide to call into work sick that day. You were a star employee, so they surely would offer you a day off if you really needed it.

You spend the rest of the day staring at that empty pillow.

●●●●●

Prior to meeting Taehyung, you’d never dated a celebrity or anyone with as much popularity as he had. Given how big he and his group were, you should expect his face plastered everywhere you went in advertisements and other endorsements.

It was overwhelming, to say the least.

On your way to work you’d always listen to music, something upbeat and catchy to pull your attention away from the fact that he was everywhere. You wonder when they’ll remove the BTS advertisement for Chilsung Cider from the interior of this subway train. It’s been here for the past few days—surely they’ll have newer product placement coming soon. Despite the cheery beat of the current song playing from your earbuds, you can’t help but notice the small smile on Tae’s face. It’s the one he uses for professional things, the kind that makes his eyes glitter just enough to seem real. But you knew with aching familiarity how to easily get that boxy smile of his, his laughter contagious when you managed to crack him up beyond just a few chuckles.

Smiling sadly, your eyes lower down to the thin watch on your wrist. You’ll be on time for work as you typically are, so you should quickly get your act together. You were a radio show host, which meant that you had to make your voice engaging for those morning commute listeners. Being a professional meant separating work matters from personal ones, and it would be easy to tell if you were depressed about something.

God, what if your co-workers ask you what’s wrong? What if they find out that you’re no longer with Taehyung and just give you pity looks for the next month? You’d probably go insane.

Pressing your lips together instead of biting them for fear of ruining the gloss smeared over them, you briskly walk towards the radio building before dispelling those thoughts out of your head. You could be professional. Just for a few hours, you could keep it together.

Even when you dash past the photo on the wall, an old picture of you and your co-host holding up fingers hearts to the camera alongside world superstars BTS, you gather the pieces of your heart and hold them together.

●●●●●

Wow, did mint chocolate ice cream always taste this heavenly?

Burying your spoon into the icy dessert with renewed vigor, you pull the fluffy blanket over your belly as you commence your feasting. You haven’t had this flavor in a while given that Taehyung didn’t seem to appreciate it all that much, so you were grateful to be able to indulge in it once again. It wasn’t like it was your favorite flavor of all time, but you appreciated the crisp notes dotted with hints of creamy chocolate. You’d take toothpaste-flavored food any day of the week if it tasted this yummy.

You stop shoveling ice cream into your mouth when you remember the ice cream dates Tae used to sneak out of work to bring you on. He loved this one ice cream parlor down the street, always getting the same flavor no matter what. You liked to venture out of your comfort zone a little more, and given how often he took you there, you were close to trying almost all their staple flavors—not counting the seasonal ones. He’d always sneak a kiss from you afterwards, just to claim that he was able to sample all the flavors too. It always made you laugh, but you appreciated his small displays of affection. Especially towards the end, when the two of you began meeting a lot less frequently.

You place the sweet dessert back into the freezer, sighing and running a shaky hand through your bird’s nest of hair. It felt terrible to still reminisce about something that would never be, but you recently chose to forgive yourself when these flashbacks happened. Taehyung was one of those loves you would never forget because of how impactful his presence had been. So maybe if it took you a few weeks or even a few months to finally get over him, it’s acceptable. You knew without a doubt that you truly loved him. But of course, that did not lessen your obligations in relation to finally splitting away from depending on him.

Outside, the sky is glowing with brightness despite being seven in the evening. You lived in the city, meaning that the streets would be alive well into the early morning hours. It was loud and oppressive in the beginning, but you grew accustomed to it shortly after moving here for work. You wonder if you would even be able to fall asleep now without the hum of traffic underlying your dreams.

Maybe getting some fresh air, being around lively human interactions, and just living a little would help you move on. At this point you were ready to try anything. After all, it couldn’t hurt. You weren’t in the mood to cook today anyways.

You decide to dress a bit better than usual, if only for your own self-confidence. Your hands automatically reach for your favorite blouse and your most comfortable jeans from the interior of your closet. A lot of articles you own were actually gifts from Taehyung, so you’re grateful that you still have a few things that you could keep without reminding you of him. You wonder when you would feel comfortable wearing those dresses and belts he purchased for you. He bought them to show off “his girl” but now that you weren’t, did you still have a right to wear them?

When you finally escape from your worries, the cool night air blowing the strands of your hair with a carefree hand, you breathe deeply and try to exhale any stress still entrenched in your body. Tonight was about forgetting. It was about starting over.

It’s Friday today, so the streets are littered with happy couples, arms tangled together and their faces alit with adoration and happiness. You wonder if you looked as lovesick as they did, before ultimately deciding that you probably had. Tae was rarely able to walk the popular streets with you during rush hours, and even then he always wore a black cap with a matching face mask. The two of you grew used to ducking into alleyways whenever he spotted a large group of people heading towards the two of you. You remember feeling the hard brick wall pressing against your back as you waited out the crowds, glancing over at him periodically to smile mischievously at him. Maybe it was the thrill of almost being caught, or maybe he just liked your playful side, but he would usually choose to pull down his face mask just to kiss you when the two of you were hiding. These kisses were different than the post-ice cream date pecks. He’d always linger for a second or two, giving your bottom lip a greedy nip or ghosting the tip of his tongue across yours. No matter how many times he did this, your stomach always did flips in response.

The restaurant you picked is packed today, so you decide not to dine in. It would be rather weird to eat by yourself, especially amidst such a high-energy venue. Thankfully, your simple sandwich is completed rather quickly. You thank the waitress working the front desk before gripping your paper bag, heady with warmth, and head to the closest park.

One of the first places you discovered when you moved here was this community park. It is surrounded by large buildings, but that only added to the appeal of a small oasis surrounded by the mess of city life. You often came here after work, if only to stroll around the well-worn paths and think through how your day went. In the beginning, it had been difficult for you to adjust. Especially in the entertainment business, the higher-ups always demanded more of you. They wanted humor and fun, for you to pull fresh news out of the idols which fans craved. You had to be peppy, excited, and well-versed in the background of whoever you were interviewing. It was tough, but now you knew you had built up quite the reputation for yourself. You enjoyed meeting a variety of artists, most of whom quickly signed up for a repeat interview with you after the first round. You received the recognition and praise you craved, and you knew that you could only soar higher from here.

There are a few people walking their dogs tonight. You give each passing pet a smile when they look up at you with their round eyes and lolling tongues. Having a soft spot for animals, seeing them always made your heart feel lighter even if it was just a glance. Finding a bench is easy for you, especially since most people opted to stroll around this evening. The first bite is always the best, and it rings true tonight without fail. You chew slowly, enjoying the savory celebration over your palate before you slip back into your thoughts again.

You wonder what Taehyung is doing right now. His schedule must be busy, given that he was preparing for his comeback soon. You knew it was right of you to break up with him early enough that he would still have sufficient time to practice, since his work would always be his priority. It would be careless of you to end things with him close to his performances. You loved him enough to think things carefully on his behalf.

You remember how much you cried a few weeks ago, when you couldn’t even leave your bed to make it to work. Every time you blinked, he appeared behind your eyelids. It hurt so much that you never thought you could heal. You hated yourself, hated the universe for tearing the two of you apart. Whatever semblance of perfect love you found was replaced with the growing pain of your careers. You were climbing in the ranks, your days booked with more and more artists hoping to use your show to rise in popularity. BTS was traveling the world, performing for the masses and wooing fans with their genuine personalities in video interviews. As the two of you climbed higher, you also drifted further apart. You were beginning to feel the emptiness of being able to count how many times you had seen your ex every month on one hand.

The sandwich is quickly consumed, so you toss the empty bag into the trash can next to you and let out a sigh. Even though you wanted to not think about Taehyung tonight, it was difficult. Everything reminded you of him. Every time your mind wandered, it somehow ran after whatever remnants of him you still had. However, it was starting to hurt less and less. Instead of having your eyes brim with tears every time you thought about the way he used to look at you, you began to treat it as a silent acknowledgement of the past. You were satisfied with this development, but simultaneously fearful. What would it mean when you could finally think about Taehyung and feel nothing? Would that somehow invalidate everything he once was to you?

Your blouse isn’t doing much to protect you from the chilly night air, so you decide to take another lap through the park before retiring for the night. It’s difficult to see the stars, given the pollution and bright lights, but you like to imagine that they are there—shining down on you. They guide you back to your apartment, never leaving your side even when you shut the door behind you with finality.

●●●●●

Months have passed, and you are busier than ever before. Your coworkers have also began inviting you for dinners and other events more often. At first you were hesitant, not the social butterfly that most people expected radio hosts to be, but you quickly adapted. Everyone was friendly towards you for the most part, and the chatter helped ease and distract whatever sadness your heart was holding on to.

Christmas was around the corner, and you knew without a doubt that the entertainment world would be hosting a multitude of parties for the season. You were willing to join the tight-knit ones where only a handful of people were gathering for some red wine and conversation, but when your coworker invited you to a large rooftop celebration with some celebrities, you couldn’t help but hesitate.

“It’ll be fun! I’ll stick by your side all night if you’re that worried,” you coworker had chirped, a newbie at your company but who remained sociable and energetic nevertheless.

You had laughed nervously, waving her worries away and agreeing to attend. That had got her to finally leave you be, as you fiddled with the lid of your coffee cup and wondered what excuse to give when the date came around. Unfortunately, when December 24th finally did roll around, you simply stared at the calendar hanging from your wall and acquiesced.

Your closet is different now, as most of the items Taehyung purchased for you are now stowed away in a box in the corner. The newbie at the company, her name was Luce or something, had told you that people would probably be dressing nicely for the event. She then spent the rest of your lunch break yapping about some dress she had ordered online while you tuned out to play with the hem of your pencil skirt in nervousness.

Looking at your options, you finally settle on a scarlet dress that you hadn’t worn for a while. It was one of your first pricy purchases after your first paycheck, as a gift to yourself, and you were thankful to find that it still fit you perfectly. It was nothing scandalous, but definitely very different from what you were used to wearing. Pairing it with your beige trench coat, you check your makeup once more in the mirror before heading into the night.

The taxi drops you off at the location with little trouble. The sounds of the party are quick to descend on your ears, so you hand your coat to the coat check quickly before heading upwards to find someone you knew—just to stick around for the party so you wouldn’t feel isolated.

String lights have been strung elegantly across the sky, and you realize that it truly is a wondrous sight. Heat lamps are placed strategically across the floor, and a number of attendees are already sipping champagne and giggling with each other. Almost immediately, you see the coworker you thought of earlier, bounding over to you like an overeager kid and beaming with enthusiasm.

“You actually came!” she smiled, eyes wide as if you were merely an illusion.

���A promise is a promise,” you reply, accepting the flute of champagne Luce snatches from a nearby table to hand to you.

“Do you want to meet some people with me? I think quite a few of the celebs here know you already.”

You take a sip of the drink, appreciating the bubbles across your tongue and the slight flame that blazes in your chest when you swallow. You nod, deciding that socializing was only customary.

Your coworker is right to note that you actually recognize a lot of people in attendance tonight. The awkward feeling you had quickly faded away as you caught up with familiar faces and new ones alike. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, happy to take a break to visit their friends and family for the holiday season. Their respective companies all allow vacations during this winter season, so their happiness is well-warranted.

It is only on your third glass of champagne, a red color brushed high on your cheekbones, when you take notice of his figure flitting in and out of your view. Taehyung is dressed in a beautiful midnight blue suit, the color flirting between blue and black. His hair is dyed a bright blue, likely due to promotions for his recent album. You can’t pull your eyes away from his tall figure and the way his lips pull in a polite smile at every person who greets him. He looks exactly the same, but then again, would a few months really change a person?

Suddenly, everything is too much and whatever progress you’ve made in the past few months flies out the window. You want to run out the door and back into the safety of your apartment across the city. That sensation only heightens when his dark eyes meet yours, and your stomach drops in fear and trepidation.

The thing about Taehyung is that he’s never shy with you. Even after months of being separated, he still holds your gaze in his own without fail. The two of you used to have staring contests, ones you would always lose, and this moment also feels akin to that. You choose to accept defeat the moment you apologize to your acquaintance and set your glass on the table. Heading straight for the stairs, reminding yourself to grab your stuff from the coat check on your way out, a part of you wonders if he will follow you. It’s fruitless, because what could he even say? You would only shake him off and apologize before running away again. He knows better than to chase after the girl who got away.

When you’re finally miles away, dress discarded on the floor, lying in the center of your cold bedsheets and staring at the ceiling—you realize that you still haven’t moved on.

●●●●●

The beginning of 2020 is nothing if not full of surprises. For one, you quit your job. If anyone were to tell you that you would leave your well-paying occupation one day to pursue a career as a painter, you would probably laugh in their face before recommending one of your psychiatrist friends. However, that joke was your current reality. Unable to take the stress of keeping up with every new act knocking on your door for an interview combined with the way the male high-ups expected you to laugh at the right times and talk pretty during interviews, you handed in your resignation at the end of January.

Perhaps the dumbfounded looks on their faces were worth the loss.

The next day, you book the earliest flight for Paris. You want some inspiration for your art, and what better inspiration could you derive than from a city with a rich history and a penchant for beauty? You had always been into the arts, so this transition came easily. Taehyung used to tell you that you were gifted, but you never took heed of his words. After all, his compliments were freely given to you when he was in a good mood. In reality, the most he ever saw of your skills were the doodles you’d scribble on his hand when he was unconscious from a nap on your couch.

These days, you rarely thought of him. It was reassuring for your heart, knowing that you were slowly accepting a tomorrow without him. The process wasn’t without its pain, but you were thankful at your resilience. You knew that he was doing just fine, as your mutual friends kept you updated whenever they felt like sharing.

Paris at night is a rare type of beautiful. Staring up at the Eiffel Tower, you admire its curves and lines as people glide past you without paying you any heed. You probably stare at the structure for a good 10 minutes without moving, your eyes appreciating the classy nature of its architecture before you decide to head back to your hotel. You wanted to sketch this monument while its shapes were still imprinted on your thoughts.

Turning around to see Taehyung staring at you, the fear you had felt at the Christmas party doesn’t rise up to coil around your throat. It surprises you, even though you had already admitted to moving on considerably. He is still unfairly handsome, his hair back to the natural deep chestnut you were familiar with. When he steps forward, caution enunciated in that single step, you give him a smile to reassure him.

“Long time no see,” you breathe, tucking your hands into your windbreaker.

“Yeah,” his deep voice resonates in that single word of affirmation.

“Would you like to grab a croissant with me?” you offer, unsure how to proceed but deciding to be polite regardless of how uncomfortable everything seemed.

He nods, his tall form quickly falling in step with your own. Taehyung doesn’t say much throughout the entire journey to your favorite bakery, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk underneath your feet.

Sitting outside the store, a warm baked good in your fingers, the silence is considerably more bearable. Eating with satisfied bites, you watch the passerby glide past with radiant smiles and laughter, joking around in French. When you finally brush the crumbs off your lap to glance at Taehyung, he is watching the same crowd as you were. He seems to feel your eyes on him, because he meets your gaze. When you look into his eyes, no more than a few feet separating the two of you, you realize the lack of hurt that typically panged with every mention of him last year.

The realization empowers you, ballooning your heart in your chest. It is not happiness you feel, but something akin to a peaceful acceptance.

“In another universe, do you think we could’ve ended up together?”  

His question echoes in the recesses of your mind, and your fingers unconsciously tighten on the thighs of your leggings. This same thought had plagued your dreams early in your break up, as you prayed and wished that if things were different, if your careers didn’t demand so much from the two of you, that maybe there would be a happily ever after and an “us” to hold onto. But this universe, these conditions, were reality. You couldn’t ask him to sacrifice his love for singing, his appreciation of his growing fanbase, his dream—for you. He couldn’t request the same of you either.

“Maybe. Namjoon used to talk a lot about that,” you chuckle before continuing, “Multiverse theory or something like that.”

Taehyung nodes, a small smile appearing across his face when you mention his hyung.

“If he’s right about that, then I suppose so. In another world where you are nothing more than a normal boy and I am nothing more than a normal girl, I’d like to think we could’ve made it work,” you whisper, and when the words leave your lips without shaking, you are proud of yourself.

“I can be happy with that,” he says.

He walks you back to your hotel room, keeping to his thoughts as he does. You don’t mind, knowing that Tae often retreated into his thoughts when he was considering a topic deeply. You momentarily consider asking him why he was in Paris but decide against it. If he was ready for aimless conversations, he would start.

When you reach the hotel interior, a large chandelier illuminating the white marble tiles underneath your feet, he finally pauses to give you his final goodbye. He looks like he wants to say something more, maybe to ask to meet again or something of that nature. Instead he swallows and exhales, “We don’t need another universe to continue being there for each other.”

“No, we don’t,” you agree.

He turns around, bidding you another a small goodbye when his eyes briefly flit to your face. You offer him a small wave in response, watching his broad back retreating out the room and the sliding glass doors. Heading straight for the elevator doors as soon as his silhouette disappears from view, your shoulders relax instantly in the safety of the enclosed compartment.

Perhaps this universe still had a lot left to offer.

[dragynkeep]

*BBC narrator impression begins*

Oh dear. It appears that Rooster Teeth Productions have cocked up Miss Blake Belladonna's fairy tale allusion upon wrapping up the story arc with her Beast.

We now turn to the well-informed pair of siblings, Owl and Luke, for their conclusions on how the allusion to Belle even fits any longer.

*BBC narrator impression ends*

The hell happened to Blake and her supposed to being Belle? Sure, in the original Beauty and The Beast novel, Beast's real name was Adam. Duh.

But let's take off our "Fuck RT" caps for one second for a more in-depth analysis. Does her Belle allusion really even fit anymore?

nerd fixation on beauty and the beast goes into overdrive.

did it ever really fit? belle in most iterations wasn’t a freedom fighter, she wasn’t part of an oppressed class, hell in most reading & a love for books & adventure wasn’t a defining trait of belle’s. it was her kindness, contrasted to the spite & greediness of her sisters, who wanted only monetary things from their merchant father. hell, even with the development of blake in volume 4 where we find out she’s basically the princess of menagerie; that contrasts the original belle as she was a merchants daughter turned peasant after he lost his wares at sea, who’s sisters abused her & made her clean & do work in order to try and buy their home back. the only time she’s ever really applied to a “belle” allusion is reading with disney’s iteration of belle, & every other rwby allusion in that team takes from the original tale, not any other more modern iteration. also i don’t know where you heard the beast’s name being adam in the original tale from but from what i’ve researched, he was only ever referred to as la beté & adam was a name given purely for the disney version.

now, the most defining traits of blake in the show are her drive for justice, her determination, her courage, being defined as a faunus, but isn’t above despising or hating those who are prejudicial & pick on those who are smaller than them. taking all of those into account, she honestly fits esmeralda better than any other fairytale protagonist, or quasi protag in this case. so many of esmeralda’s lines in the movie feel like they could’ve come straight from early volume blake, so much of their defining characteristics match up far better than blake & belle. like some of these lines?

you mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people.

[ silence ! ] justice !

what do they have against people who are different?

you saw what he did out there. letting the crowd torture that poor boy? i thought if just one person could stand up to him then...

you speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help !

i don’t see any. [ see what? ] monster lines. not a single one. now, you look at me. do you think i'm evil?

LITERALLY THE ENTIRETY OF GOD HELP THE OUTCASTS !!

blake being esmeralda is the one time i would endorse rooster teeth taking inspiration from the disney iteration instead of the actual source material as there is a lot of anti romani sentiment in the novel that disney managed to make less egregious [ by having esmeralda actually be romani instead of a french girl who was stolen by them & was a sex worker. ] it also keeps in with her french theme & doesn’t allow for any vagueness around what her potential coding could be; blake can be poc & french, many roma are.

blake being esmeralda also lends to some actual poc representation on screen without falling into the oofness of making blake black / poc with her current mother’s name meaning a slur. the belladonnas could still exist in the storyline if wished, just don’t have them be blake’s parents. blake could finally count for some very rare romani / gypsy rep that we don’t see in media often, let alone animated media; & with her being nonsexualized most of the time & her defining traits being her righteousness & her compassion & drive for justice, she wouldn’t fall into the stereotypical traps of a sexualized gypsy.

also fun fact, red is an unlucky colour in romani / most gypsy cultures; which could be a cute nod to adam being unlucky for her & their cause.

so yes, this is my blake should’ve been based on esmeralda propaganda post ♥