#a reality dictated by the will of beings above and the logic of code and data

[creatively-cosmic]

missing numbers lore

[coolgirlontheweb]

eren jaeger (Attack On Titan) - ISFP

eren is a true IFSP - his dominant Fi seeks feelings of action, and honours his own beliefs and values. anytime eren says “i’ll kill the titans” or anything he says about his goals are driven by Fi. rarely do we ever see eren try to see the other side’s reasoning or why the titans eat humans pre time-skip, unlike armin, who indeed is an Ni dom and asks “what does it, no, they want?” the second he is confronted by the female titan. in season 2 episode 8 after he is confronted with the truth about bertholdt and reiner’s titan identities, he instantly shouts, deems them psychotic mass murderers and announces that he was going to “make you die the most excruciating deaths possible”. ISFPs who display the negative aspects of Fi suffer from a lack of objectivity, are unable to relate to things outside of their personal experience and treat their feelings as fact, unaware of their own biases. pre-time skip eren is all of this and never considers exactly why reiner and bertholdt are titans. only once does he actually weigh his options and make sense of what is happening, rather than immediately having an emotional reaction to it, and that is when ymir, a Ti dom, reminds him of his situation. signs of a Te grip are prevalent here - he was inclined to blame and reproach before he employed any rational thought to his circumstance. small hints of his Ni developing appear here when he begins to rationalise on how to escape, and what being captured may mean for the future and the scouts, but this is all shrouded in how overbearing his Fi is, i really don’t see how it can be overlooked.

throughout all of the manga, eren’s dominant Fi is at its optimal expression when he cries to ramzi in Chapter 131, “i’m sorry, i’m sorry…” optimal Fi expression helps dominant Fi users feel deep empathy when seeing people suffer, and works to ensure that every person has the freedom to authentically be themselves. even though eren knows he is going to kill ramzi, he cannot hold back from saving him, and crying to him is a heartbreaking portrayal of Fi in a doomed character. In the case that he was an Ni dom, eren would find it worthless to approach ramzi in spite of the future - which he actually initially thinks before saving him from being beaten, a sign of his Ni developing but his Fi overpowering it.

additionally, an unhealthy dominant Fi can foster feelings of instability, self-righteousness and self-pitiness. whenever eren is confronted with the damning reality of the titans’ existence he reverts from a strong willed and passionate Fi dom to one who is all of the aforementioned and above all, self-blaming. the greatest example of this that i can currently think of is in season 3 episode 9 during rod reiss’ abnormal titan attack on orvud district - eren’s Fi was so unhealthy that after rumination on being the cause of so many deaths and his overall role as “humanity’s saviour” (which is a self-righteous assumption, albeit true-ish), he begins to blame and pity himself so much that he started to physically beat himself up until he bled.

extraverted thinking (Te), being his inferior function, is naturally the least accessible to him, and therefore historically the least used. pre time-skip eren shows symptoms of Te grip. Te is an assertive function and tackles challenges head on and above all, its defining feature is that it applies logical, objective reasoning to the outside world. pre time-skip eren’s Te grip meant that he was ready to pick a fight about anything disagreeable, and had an overpowering urge to correct everything that is ‘wrong’. Te grip causes inferior Te users to recognise and dislike problems wherever they see them, yet offer no solutions to them. seldom did eren ever solve problems, he relied on erwin’s dominant Te for that and followed suit, or found guidance through armin. come the time-skip, and we are confronted by a strategic and assertive eren; his Te has noticeably developed. although, he has an extremely destructive expression of Te, i.e: abuse of power and position (as the founding titan) to get what he wants and believes the weak (his enemies, marleyans, the warriors and briefly the scouts) get what they deserve. he breaks out of jail, uses extremist ideology and manpower (the yeagerists) and ignores the chain of command, and his friends’ pleas to complete his goal. unhealthy Te users tend to be blind to nuance/context and see everything from a black and white, "i'm right and you're wrong" stance. they also have an extremely inflexible approach - rarely being convinced to change their ideas and plans. eren shows ALL of this: his Te is so influential that he is blind to any other approach to the Rumbling offered by the scouts or even zeke, since we know he doesn't activate a "small-scale" rumbling, but the whole thing.

alongside his developed Ni, eren’s character seems to do a complete 180 but it’s only a development of his Ni-Te. in my opinion, the reason why his shift in personality is because alongside an actual Ni-Te development, his facade makes it so that the strategy and stoicism he has adopted becomes pronounced. an INTJ wouldn't have trouble with healthy expressions of Ni-Te since it comes naturally to them - think of yelena: whilst all of this is happening, she remains the most pacific and rational person on paradis island. eren seems calm on the surface, but the emotional stress of having to rely on Ni-Te is definitely there. you can see it in his table talk with armin and mikasa. he attempts to stay calm in the beginning but all of the emotional stress comes bubbling to the surface in an outburst of unhealthy Fi rage. something else i think it's worth mentioning is that functions operate in oppositional pairs that push and pull against each other, creating internal conflict. eren’s singular worldview and morals in seasons 1-3 meant there wasn’t any room for internal conflict, but after seeing the other side of the wall, his Fi and Te are constantly in conflict. eren’s newfound Te, wants efficiency and order, but how does he fare with losing his humanity and treating the world as a machine as his Fi is challenged for the first time?

an early signal of eren’s Ni development is the thwarting of his previously healthy Se expression in season 3 episode 22. with Ni's future orientated intuition, causing him to be uninspired by sensory experiences, his Se gets shut down as he loses his happiness to the future. eren cannot bring himself to have fun at the beach, nor experience what he and armin dreamed about from a young age, instead, he points toward the horizon, towards the future and is utterly defeated by its prospects. this is honestly so sad, it’s as though he withers away as a person after the vision of the future.

developing Ni needs a lot of introspectivity, maturing and objectivity for a dominant Fi user. eren attains these traits in 2 ways; first, he actually peers into the future through the paths. this is sort of a cheat code into developing Ni, but it nonetheless dictates how he acts post paths vision. Ni is a future orientated function, and it experiences the world through what will happen. since eren already knows the future, his Ni expression is almost forced to mature. however, the second way that Ni is developed by eren naturally is when he runs away to marley and lives among eldians in the liberio internment camp.

contrary to suffering from a lack of objectivity due to negative Fi expression, eren is confronted with the other side of the wall. as he learns about the rest of his world, he slowly becomes more objective and understanding - his worldview has broadened, and he indulges in the part of Ni that approaches the world with a unified vision. albeit a weak Ni expression, which gives him difficulty in making wise decisions in season 4 because of a lack of clarity and no positive vision of the future, eren’s Ni develops nonetheless.

this becomes evident when we contrast his talk with reiner in season 2 episode 8 to his talk with reiner in Season 4 Episode 5. in the latter eren employs a mix of Ni-Te, almost showcasing his newfound functions to us, the reader, and reiner. eren is more calculating, authoritative, objective, and aware of his long term goal and its consequences.

[stdio2020]

NICOLAS BOURRIAUD POSTPRODUCTION CULTURE AS SCREENPLAY: HOW ART REPROGRAMS THE WORLD

This book fucking rocks and affirms many things about my practice. Good to know I am on a good path. Written in 2002, the text could not take into account the level of postproduction that would ensue in the following twenty years. This is the age of the consumer-producer. Everything is consumed and produced multiple times over. Bourriaud thought that artists processing their own consumption would take on liberatory pollitical effects. Unfortunately late capitalism has simply developed such that we no longer need ‘power’ to satiate us with entertainment, we are given the tools to satiate one another.... Below are really haphazard notes, not very well structured but all very important. 

p7“Pop Art was born of a conjunction between the phenomenon of mass production and the birth of visual marketing, under the aegis of a new era of consumption” (p2)

“the works of Pierre Huyghe, Douglas Gordon, or Rirkrit Tiravanija deeply reexamine notions of creation, authorship, and originality through a problematics of the use of cultural artifacts - which, by the way, is absolutely new.” (p4)

“When artists find material in objects that are already in circulation on the cultural market, the work of art takes on a script-like value: "when screenplays become form," in a sense.” (p4)

“Postproduction apprehends the forms of knowledge generated by the appearance of the Net (how to find one's bearings in the cultural chaos and how to extract new modes of production from it).Indeed, it is striking that the tools most often used by artists today in order to produce these relational models are preexisting works or formal structures, as if the world of cultural products and artworks constituted an autonomous strata that could provide tools of connection between individuals; as if the establishment of new forms of sociality and a true critique of contemporary forms of life involved a different attitude in relation to artistic patrimony, through the production of new relationships to culture in general and to the artwork in particular.” (p7) <<So important

It is no longer a matter of starting with a "blank slate" or creating meaning on the basis of virgin material but of finding a means of insertion into the innumerable flows of production. "Things and thoughts," Gilles Deleuze writes, "advance or grow out from the middle, and that's where you have to get to work, that's where everything unfolds."01 The artistic question is no longer: "what can we make that is new?" but "how can we make do with what we have?" In other words, how can we produce singularity and meaning from this chaotic mass of objects, names, and references that constitutes our daily life? (p8) BINGBINGBING 

The activities of DJs, Web surfers, and postproduction artists imply a similar configuration of knowledge, which is characterized by the invention of paths through culture.  Finding a way through, finding bearings, the endless trace through culture...

By using television, books, or records, the user of culture deploys a rhetoric of practices and "ruses" that has to do with enunciation and therefore with language whose figures and codes may be catalogued.

Commerce is above all a form of human relations, indeed, a pretext destined to produce a relationsship. Any transaction may be defined as "a successful encounter of histories,  affinities, wishes, constraints, habits, threats, skins, tensions."(p15) << Reminds me of the andy warhol quote, “ Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

Art tends to give shape and weight to the most invisible processes. When entire sections of our existence spiral into abstraction as a result of economic globalization, when the basic functions of our daily lives are slowly transformed into products of consumption (including human relations, which are becoming a full-fledged industrial concern), it seems highly logical that artists might seek to rematerialize these functions and processes, to give shape to what is disappearing before our eyes. Not as objects, which would be to fall into the trap of reification, but as mediums of experience: by striving to shatter the logic of the spectacle, art restores the world to us as an experience to be lived.

ARTISTIC DETOURNEMENT (DIVERSION) - DJing

A pollitcal application of duchampian readymade (using a rembrandt as an ironing board or erasing a De Kooning drawing) 

The DJ’s work consists both of proposing a personal orbit through a musical universe (a playlist) and in paying attention to their sequence as well as the construction of atmosphere.  One can recognize a DJ's style in the ability to inhabit an open network (the history of sound) and in the logic that organizes the links between the samples he or she plays. Deejaying implies a culture of the use of forms, which connects rap, techno, and all their subsequent by-products.

The curatorial process is an artistic one we know that already! But it can be tighter, more specific, weilded masterfully. 

"Sometimes," Godard writes, "the class struggle is the struggle of one image against another image and one sound against another sound."

We must stop interpreting the world, stop playing walk-on parts in a script written by power. We must become its actors or co-writers. The same goes for works of art except now, the ‘power’ has given us the tools of creation such that we socially govern one another. The best marketing is user generated. pollitical agendas are spread through memesis. This is not the liberating scenario Bourriaud thought it would be in the early 2000′s

we are not saturated with images, but subjected to the lack of certain images, which must be produced to fill in the blanks of the official image of the community.

We are then very close to the "equivalence of everything, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the insignificant and the distinctive"

to signify that everything was equal because everything could be consumed

Roland Barthes, asserts that culture is an infinite palimpsest. Considering each book to consist of "multiple writings, proceeding from several cultures and entering into dialogue, into parody, into protest," Barthes accords the writer the status of scriptor, an intertextual operator: the only place where this multiplicity of sources converges is in the brain of the reader-postproducer.

Boycotts, detournement, and piracy belong to this culture of activity. When Allen Ruppersberg recopied Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray on canvas (1974), he took a literary text and considered himself responsible for it: he rewrote it.

No public image should benefit from impunity, for whatever reason: a logo belongs to public space, since it exists in the streets and appears on the objects we use, A legal battle is underway that places artists at the forefront: no sign must remain inert, no image must remain untouchable. Art represents a counterpower. Not that the task of artists consists in denouncing, mobilizing, or protesting: all art is engaged, whatever its nature and its goals. Today there is a quarrel over representation that sets art and the official image of reality against each other; it is propagated by advertising discourse, relayed by the media, organized by an ultralight ideology of consumption and social competition. In our daily lives, we come across fictions, representations, and forms that sustain this collective imaginary whose contents are dictated by power. BOOM

[magpiemorality]

Freudian Sides, A Very Long Meta Theory Post

This is a rewrite of a rambling post with my imagining of fitting the Sides into the Freudian Personality Theory of the id, ego and superego. I have never studied psychology but enjoyed researching this a bit! It’s edited and added-to to be more readable and understandable, and mainly to collect all of my own thoughts in one place for me to come back to later. If you’re interested then read on, warning that it’s a long one, full of rambling opinions from this one thinker here, but hopefully some of it is interesting. If you agree with me let me know, if you disagree with me also let me know, but I should point out that this is just one theory I’ve applied to the series and characters and there are probably loads out there that fit!

Let’s get to it~

Warnings: mention of infection, very long post, badly researched psychology!

AO3  

***

The Freudian Personality Theory

Summarised from this article

The theory that Freud presented is that the psyche/personality can be separated into three distinct parts; the ID, the EGO and the SUPEREGO. These are not physical parts but aspects of the psyche that influence the personality of a person. 

The id is the most basic instincts, deep in the subconscious, things like eating, seeking pleasure (in the sense of good feelings for the person), and survival instinct; things that won’t change as you age because they are so intrinsic (apart from the development of the reproduction instinct in those it presents itself in). The superego is the conscience and the ‘ideal self’, your most socially affected part that dictates morality and outward self you want to project into the world. It’s the bit that makes you choose to do stuff for others and follow laws and social rules, and gives you the desire to be better and improve, as well as being a source of guilt or pride if you succeed or fail at those things. The ego balances the two, trying to find the best outcome by appeasing the id while following the code of the superego. It uses rational thinking and grounds decisions in reality while still working to seek a positive overall outcome for the person. It doesn’t have the sense of right or wrong that the superego has, and failing to control the id can result in feelings such as guilt or anxiety, which it may try to unconsciously defend the psyche against as a coping mechanism. It is concerned primarily with helping the personality feel good in a socially acceptable way. 

Sides as aspects of the Personality Theory

So I found that this theory fit rather well with the sides, better than the dark sides/light sides, left brain/right brain, each side has an opposite, disorders vs productive aspects, conscious vs unconscious aspects, all theories which are interesting but never quite rang true for me. The way the theory presents the aspects as independent workers that influence the personality of the person lines up very well against the personified Sides, affecting Character Thomas as he utilises them. 

In that regard I see the sides we see during the series more as entities brought to life and assigned personifications semi-consciously by Character Thomas rather than the aspects of the psyche brought to life, or the sides of his personality brought to life, because I believe that a) he has changed them prior to and during the series by interacting with them consciously and semi or subconsciously assigning them personifications, and b) they all perform multiple roles and duties beyond what their named ‘role’ in the series is, so just sticking to that doesn’t fit, or would require a whole host of other characters that we don’t know about to exist, which I personally don’t see working well within the series (Orange notwithstanding; that’s a discussion for another time!). 

In order to reconcile those things my thoughts were to place each side within the Freudian theory and then explain why they might not entirely fit using points a and b as supporting evidence. 

Firstly, Virgil and Remus would be the id, the instincts and base functions, easily able to disrupt and overwhelm the main psyche if left unchecked. Too much attention paid to these can result in feelings of guilt or anxiety, influenced by the Superego, and overall I think the id is a mess of conflict of instincts as well as survival wars with curiosity and impulse. So, Remus is pure impulse and represents several base instincts such as sexual and morbid. 

The ego is of course Logan and Janus, with their logic and rational thinking and defense of Character Thomas over everything else, which adhering to social values and concepts. They are very much the self control sides and do exactly that, working together not only to keep Virgil and Remus satisfied and not overwhelming, but to do the same for the superego sides. They don’t bother themselves with wrong or right, but prioritise Character Thomas’ well-being, sometimes over the superego as well, keeping that in check just as easily as they keep the id in check. Logan is a notable foil for Remus and often Virgil, and Janus has proven his own desire to act in this way. Perhaps while the superego was essentially in charge this is why the id sides became disordered; because Janus was only able to do half of his role and overcompensated by forcing the id down entirely rather than offering compromise along with Logan and keeping the superego in check at the same time. The feelings of guilt that catalysed that must have been fairly great, which matches up well with Character Thomas’ religious upbringing and how that would have interacted with puberty and his growing sense of self.

That leaves Roman and Patton as the superego, which just fits!! Patton is the conscience and morality side but in many ways so is Roman. He also firmly believes in the code of right and wrong, perhaps recently shown to be influenced by Patton or perhaps he simply feels it more strongly than Patton. We certainly know him to be a product of that way of thinking, with the half of creativity concept. And as Character Thomas’ career aspirations it is interesting to look at him because had there been another career of choice he would perhaps have been entirely different, or if you prefer to look at it the other way; Character Thomas may have chosen to pursue a career in performance because his superego and ideal self is incredibly theatrical and performance orientated. They also both strive to be the best people they can be, more so than any other sides holding themselves to lofty standards and their own account in the model of ‘best’ that society has taught them! The religious influence can’t be downplayed here. And they do influence Thomas's negativity over first Virgil- with Roman’s constant animosity towards the side before the acceptance- and then Remus- from Roman and Patton as well, while Logan the ego is more concerned with neutralising the threat Remus poses instead of fearing him. It could be said that Patton even influences Virgil's reaction to Remus, turning the id on itself by guilting survival instinct into attacking the other instincts as dangerous. Finally, if left unchecked themselves by the ego they also get out of hand and become neurotic and overwhelm the psyche too. Patton caused the distinction between light and dark and is responsible for many feelings of guilt and poor conscience for Character Thomas, while Roman often feels insecure and unsuccessful because his ideal self is too out of reach for reality. They need the ego to stay in touch with reality and to function best for Character Thomas, in cohesion with the other sides. 

Keep reading for the final part of my 'analysis';

How Character Thomas muddled things up

To me, this feels right for how the sides were all formed, with the added caveat that I think the choices Character Thomas made of assigning them personality traits has skewed the picture somewhat. For example as mentioned above; I don't think Remus was initially ‘Creativity’ at all, but that the impulsive thoughts he brought to the table were labelled that way because of the superego's guilt and influence not being held in check by the ego during formative years for the psyche. 

Now the main problem in the Sanders Sides canon is that the sides, well, exist. The fact that Character Thomas sees them consciously and has subconsciously personified them has influenced and changed facets of each one in a very interesting way, character-wise. The superego’s control over everything has inspired Character Thomas to demonise certain aspects that would otherwise have been perfectly natural and safe, albeit in controlled doses. Instead we have the entire id forced subconscious and then breaking out to bring Virgil to the conscious fore;  But let’s look at this more on a character by character basis (because I apparently need to write it this way!).

Remus, who would have just been base instincts but also due to suppression has become disordered as intrusive thoughts, but thanks to Character Thomas’ conscious personification of Roman, was subconsciously remodeled as ‘dark creativity’, even though the two function in completely different ways in the show, and in this theory. Roman’s creativity, aka the imagination, is a conscious choice that Character Thomas chooses to use, and he actively chooses not to think ‘dark’ thoughts in his imagination. Remus is more impulsive and base and subconscious, uncontrolled and not so much creativity as original thought coming from those instincts and, mainly (I’ll keep on at this thread forever I swear) impulse. Interestingly in the Vines, if they exist within the same universe, then Remus’ impulses have in fact been regularly satisfied through (as mentioned many times before) jumping out of a car, setting things on fire, all the butt selfies, etc. His Intrusive Thoughts title could therefore stem from mainly the repression of his aspect of the psyche; by forcing the baser instincts down on the principle of them being ‘wrong in the eyes of society’ the superego and Character Thomas unwittingly created a sort of malformation where impulse becomes more negative and unwelcome because there is no outlet, like an infected wound, trying to lash out and instead of being cowed by the moral conscience only forming harder around that idea (that society would view them as bad) in order to do the lashing out. Think of it as a mental association of base instincts and those thoughts and impulses with ‘don’t think this’ and ‘bad for you and for society’. The pink elephant thought experiment is incredibly relevant here. The more repressed instincts are, the more they wildly act out and become disordered. 

Virgil as the more survival instinct side of the id had a similar experience; through some means, probably overinfluence of the superego he became disordered as well, his survival instinct shifting from physical danger to more often social danger, and his expression as Anxiety was a malformed way of working his role for Character Thomas and responding to the control and repression the superego exerted over him. The intrusive thoughts and anxiety disorders that Character Thomas experiences I would theorise came from the id trying to balance an overzealous superego- and the impact of the superego imposing societal concerns on an aspect of the psyche that should never deal with the outside world- with the ego overwhelmed by the superego as well. It’s intriguing that when he was accepted/became a ‘light side’ his name was not changed from Anxiety to something more reflective of his job, however I suppose there’s a case to be made that once an aspect has become disordered, leading to mental health issues, it’s probably incredibly hard for it to turn back and ameliorating the symptoms is often the best solution. Accepting Anxiety in this case was the best thing they could have done, and accepting Intrusive Thoughts will hopefully come along soon as well. 

Logan is fairly simply personified and distinguished and luckily mostly saved from the complications of personification, but not of the peronification of the others. They all have to function to keep themselves in check now as conscious beings, removing some of the responsibility from the ego as Character Thomas and the sides have started to think rationally for themselves. This has resulted somewhat in Logan becoming less relevant and useful and not being listened to as much, which we have seen in the show recently. He's still needed of course but his function has lessened with the development of the sides as personalities, and is perhaps going to be the next side to have to come back into balance as the rest of the psyche learn they need his guidance as well as their own (and I think it would be interesting to see Janus have to fill his shoes and struggle to do all the work, requiring him to come back full force). 

Janus has suffered from the personification in much the same way Remus has; through demonisations. But I think mainly this resulted in Janus being unable to do his own role as a balancer of both sides because he was overwhelmed by the guilt of giving in to instinct and therefore put even more effort into forcing down the id, mainly Remus, and abandoned his ‘put yourself first’ role for Character Thomas, which Logan struggled to fill in a way Character Thomas can relate to. Seeing them work together and playing to their strengths would be wonderful, and the latest video demonstrated some of that ability to tag in, although Logan was a little sidelined by the situation.

The superego is where things get really messy, and it’s emblematic of the power and preference Character Thomas has given the superego in the past that they’ve developed so much and have so much to them. But just as their opinions and concepts haven’t really developed past his childhood developmental stage, their personifications haven’t either. Instead they’re quite a mishmash of traits Character Thomas most valued in his authority figures and his ideal self at that same age, not quite fully developed or cohesive characters. 

Roman is first up. Ah, Roman. We know that he represents, to Character Thomas, his creativity, passion, romance and femininity. That’s a lot of things for one side to cover, even in the Sanders Sides universe way of explaining things where most sides have just one ‘job’. Add them together though and you can easily end up with the superego, or at least a part of it. Roman is, in my eyes, inarguably the aspect of ideal self. He is the most reflective of the outward personality of Character Thomas, and fulfills the role of his career driver and general motivation in life. He, perhaps in conjunction with Patton although in some respects more than Patton, drives the feelings of success and failure and the pride or guilt at attaining or not attaining the standards the superego as a whole set for Character Thomas to reach. He’s the role model, the person Character Thomas most wants to be (albeit exaggerated), and most idealises and idolises from the media he consumed as a child. Again; undeveloped past that age. He also deals quite literally in the control of the id’s impulses; he is a Disney prince ready to fight the Bad GuyTM. Patton may be the driver of that decision but Roman will carry it out no problem. In fact, the entire Accepting Anxiety arc was fascinating for showing how the ego and psyche as a whole needed to correct the superego’s behaviour primarily in order to lessen the negative effects of the id, rather than the way they’d gone about things before of just fighting against the id directly and suffering the backlash. It’s why the most recent episodes with Patton and Janus were also so interesting; a well-functioning ego can exert enough control to tame the superego and thereby control the id as well (but that second part I think we have yet to see, with the purging of the ‘dark sides’ narrative from Roman to come, no doubt). 

And Patton, poor Patton. Morality AND childishness AND the dad side AND The Heart? Morality and being the dad side fit the superego aspect perfectly as moral authority figure types and duties, and I’ll admit right now that this theory renders most of my characterisation of him as a chaotic good fairly redundant in favour of the authority figure lawful good/neutral (but fanon is fanon and canon is canon and we only draw from the latter for the former’s pleasure right?). The Heart also makes sense. I’ve seen it characterised as the emotional side, feeling all emotions, which was a train I was fully on until recently! I think his title of The Heart makes more sense in line with the superego’s outward looking conscience; he is the primary aspect responsible for gifting the psyche with that magical pride, or chastising it with the ever-feared guilt. He feels good, or bad, there’s not a lot of nuance there, and indeed in the series he rarely displays emotions other than those two, and those emotions affect the other sides often more than him himself. Nostalgia might be one other emotion you could cite, but that’s not unique to him and is more a facet of Character Thomas’ being a person. I suppose it could be rationalised as something the superego wants to think about or aspire to because it inspires the psyche to be better, or because it was a time when the psyche was better, pushing the ideal self onwards while simultaneously backwards to retrieve and recreate those wonderful moments. There weren’t really many bad memories in the nostalgia episode that I can remember, certainly. And the fact that the superego controls the nostalgia is interesting as well. But the childishness... well it’s far more of an id thing to be childish. In fact it really suits the fact that the id develops at birth and then does not change with age! It’s a thing that I’ve noticed changes a lot in characterisations of Patton everywhere, even somewhat within the series itself as it doesn’t quite mesh with the rest of his character apart from being a nice sort of gimmick or front. It doesn’t quite feel genuine, although the naivete of his being unable to understand many jokes or adult concepts fits absolutely spot on with my own theory that Character Thomas’ superego stopped developing after forming when he was young. Childhood is also when the religious influence would have started and impressed a huge amount of morality on Character Thomas right when the superego was formed and along with Roman’s very black & white/disneyesque thinking and personification this supports my theory, only further supported by the fact that the main development in the series recently has been when the childishness or childish concepts have been left behind more for responsibility and culpability and shades of grey thinking. It all feels a lot like a late bloom into adulthood. Patton has started to accept his role in the psyche and learn how to control it; primarily by not trying to control everything else and leaving that to the professionals of the ego. His part in the latest video was the least childish his characterisation has been, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that it felt more genuine than he has done previously. Character Thomas’ aspects are finally growing up!

So in conclusion; by making each side more conscious of their role CT has both helped and hindered them, taking them from their original roles in the psyche and warping them a bit, but now allowing them to return to a stable, balanced and organised structure, which is also their original and healthiest one, conforming to the Freudian Personality Theory.

That was a really long way of explaining why I think this theory really lines up against the Sanders Sides characters as a great framework for their existence and functions. This will absolutely be informing my own interpretations of them in canon-setting fic going forwards, and I’m intrigued to see what anyone else thinks! 

If you made it this far; well done, go have a cookie or two on me, you’ve earned it!!!

[mittensmorgul]

I’m rewatching 13.15, A Most Holy Man, right now, and... and I remember when it first aired. The reaction was largely “meh,” or “the noir format doesn’t really do it for me and the episode was kinda boring overall.” It’s possibly the s13 episode I have the least amount of posts for on my blog. It was largely skimmed over as mostly irrelevant, with the only takeaway being:

A. They got the macguffin they needed to progress the A plot by the end of the episode

and

2. They really should’ve cut that scene of Dean going on about how he’d kill everyone who tried to steal his car...

But... this was a Dabb episode. I wrote this post back in May, but I think it merits an additional look now:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184946657745/so-im-still-out-ahead-of-the-tnt-loop-but-i

Because this single episode functions as a microcosm of their entire lives, at least thematically, if not in a 1:1 fashion. I mean, it is just a 42 minute episode. There were only so many twists and layers they could reasonably shove in, and the Rule Of Three is a convenient metric for demonstrating the pattern in narrative shorthand that invites us to consider the unspoken “etc. etc. ad nauseum” ourselves.

I’d go into the entire structure of the episode, but I’m hoping that just explaining the outcome-- after reading the post I linked above-- everyone will be able to see the parallel itself without me having to write 5k words on the subject today. :P

Let’s start with the exchange at the end of the episode that prompted this realization. Because it’s a bit of chicanery:

FATHER LUCCA: I think I got shot. [DEAN lifts up FATHER LUCCA’s shirt to see only a little blood.] DEAN: Looks like he just grazed you. A few more inches to the left and, uh... FATHER LUCCA: It’s a miracle. [SAM and DEAN, with FATHER LUCCA behind them, search the warehouse and find GREENSTREET still hiding.] GREENSTREET: I didn’t know this would happen. I… I’ll give you anything you want, huh? DEAN: The blood, where is it? GREENSTREET: It, uh… doesn’t exist. SAM: You… what? Wait a second. You told us– GREENSTREET: Exactly what you wanted to hear. It was just a bit of… DEAN: Chicanery? GREENSTREET: Exactly. DEAN: Well… chicane this. [DEAN punches GREENSTREET to the ground.] ACT FIVE EXTERIOR – WAREHOUSE – NIGHT [There are police cars outside the warehouse. A policeman leads GREENSTREET to a car and sits him inside.] GREENSTREET: No, no, no, no. Wait. Don’t – you – you – you’ve made a mistake.

For a refresher, Greenstreet was the author of this entire bit of chicanery. For a while, it appeared as if it was actually each of the other people involved:

Margaret Astor, the first person we meet, and also the one APPARENTLY holding all the cards when they walk into the final deal, who ends up backstabbed (well shot in the back anyway, close enough) by her own assistant

she sent them to Greenstreet, who introduced the term “chicanery” to the narrative, which I’m gonna focus on next, because despite all his plotting, his narrative didn’t end the way he wanted (he’s getting hauled off to jail, but heck, at least he didn’t end up dead like most of the rest of these conspirators...)

Greenstreet sent them to Scarpatti, with the partially true information that he’d been the one to have the artifact stolen in the first place, only to learn that it had been stolen from his man in turn...

(and remember, the skull isn’t actually what Sam and Dean need... it’s the currency they believed they needed in order to trade for what they DO actually need... it’s a bit of a chicane... which I’ll get to... sorry for this meandering on the way to the conclusion, but this little side journey is 100% relevant... you’ll see what I mean in a minute)

While investigating Scarpatti’s side-detour, they end up having to investigate a murder, and inadvertently stumble over Father Lucca Camilleri... but Sam and Dean have no idea that they’re now traveling through this episode with the thing THEY actually need. But rather than just... take what they need because that fact hasn’t been revealed to them yet, or even continue to pursue the currency they believe they need to trade for the elusive thing they need, they selflessly choose to do the morally right thing despite believing that in doing so they are forfeiting their chance to get the macguffin they need.

Ain’t it just Winchesters vs The Cosmos on a microscopic level?

Because one thing I’ve learned about Dabb as showrunner is that his absolute favorite thing is gleefully pointing back at canon and explicitly clarifying things. It’s not always obvious, he tends to be incredibly subtle, but if you’re looking for it, it’s impossible not to see in pretty much all of his writing. He LOVES messing with prior perception, and making us work for the satisfying moment where all the pieces fall into place.

Chicanery and the chicane. THAT ITSELF IS A CLARIFICATION. From vague to specific. Because “a chicane” is a very different thing than “chicanery.” And it’s all a bit of a winding deception.

For reference, the definitions of these two very different words:

chi·can·er·y /SHə��kān(ə)rē/ noun, the use of trickery to achieve a political, financial, or legal purpose. "an underhanded person who schemes corruption and political chicanery behind closed doors" synonyms: trickery, deception, deceit, deceitfulness, duplicity, dishonesty, unscrupulousness, underhandedness, subterfuge, fraud, fraudulence, legerdemain, sophistry, sharp practice, skulduggery, swindling, cheating, duping, hoodwinking

and

chicane (/ʃɪˈkeɪn/) noun, a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety.

What the definition of “chicane” doesn’t provide is that in auto racing, a chicane isn’t seen as a “safety” measure, but an obstacle. If you’ve ever watched road racing, the chicane is where a lot of drivers wipe out. It’s a choke point where everyone HAS to slow down, but when you’re RACING each other, the objective is to remain out in front, you know? Jockeying for position, trying to get through the obstacle as quickly as possible to get back to direct racing toward the finish line. So while a chicane literally slows the racing by design, forcing drivers to adapt to the physical reality of safely navigate through the pinch point while not wrecking themselves, they need to maintain absolute focus to retain their position, as well. It’s not about slowing down for safety but about finding the balance point between “safely navigating through without wrecking myself or being wrecked by the other cars trying to achieve the same objective I am” and “but we’re still racing and I can’t let anyone pass me so I’m still gonna push it as fast as I can while still conforming to the laws of known physics.” It’s... difficult.

THREE TIMES in this episode, they use the word “chicanery” before Dean clarifies it to “chicane.” For reference, out of the other 306 episodes of this show that exist at the time of writing this post, they’ve used “chicanery” a grand total of ZERO other times. Seems significant, yes?

In the same way the show has frequently used Wizard Of Oz imagery to convey these same points, with the reminder in the end of the “you had the power inside you all along” sort of themes, this episode takes it one step further. Which... logical considering the nature of the spiral narrative, that when it comes around again, the circumstances aren’t exactly the same. Think of it in terms of that racetrack with the chicane.

In the case of the plot of this episode, a similar comparison can be drawn to The DaVinci Code, since through most of the wild goose chase running through all the games and puzzles, the guy is literally traveling with the object he seeks. It just doesn’t become obvious, like with Dorothy and her Ruby Slippers, until they’ve worked their way through all the puzzles and subterfuge along the way. As Dean says in Scoobynatural when Sam points out that if he knows how the episode ends, why don’t they just get to the point already, and Dean replies “Because sometimes it’s about the journey.” Rather intuitive meta observation about the point of the narrative structure, yes?

Back to our road race analogy now, after passing through the chicane chicane. Every lap, the drivers are driving through the same essential course. The shape of the road doesn’t change in the most fundamental way. The same parts are still paved, the walls around the edges don’t move, etc. But each time they drive around, other conditions vary. Their tires wear down so their traction changes. Heck, the drivers themselves are wearing out physically and mentally. Maybe a dude’s just thirsty or has an itch on his nose or just has to pee real bad. Maybe the wind speed or direction has changed. Maybe the sun has moved so different turns become more tricky with a glare in their eyes. Their engines are slowly shifting as wear and tear of operating at a high performance level alters performance. Their brakes might be wearing down. They may be in need of more fuel and are driving more conservatively, or may have just gotten new fuel or new tires or made some other alteration to their car that shifts not only their ability to go faster, but changes how they handle corners, etc. But there’s also the factor of all the OTHER cars driving around them. Maybe they’ve hit the chicane all by themselves because they’re out ahead of the pack (or trailing far behind it). Maybe they’re clustered tightly together with other drivers. Maybe there was a wreck that altered the road surface... cleaning up fuel/oil spills, sand or dirt having “spilled” out onto the road surface, maybe a slight drizzle started making it more slippery, or even random trash has blown from the stands into the road, or debris from a wreck-in-progress hampers their progress. There are SO MANY FACTORS at play that make each lap around the course an entirely different experience, you know?

Same with the spiral narrative. The major landmarks might be similar, but everything else is new.

And the moment Dean says “chicane this” and punches the author of this series of events in the face, that’s basically 14.20, yes?

They’re tired, and they’re on the last lap, and they’ve been through this chicane so many times now. And they’ve just been told that after every lap, Chuck refused to wave the checkered flag. They kept reaching the finish line over and over, only to discover it was also the starting line and the race was still going. And each time through Chuck’s big chicane, he’d deliberately change those variables, so the more experience they gained on the track, there’d always be a bit of new debris to navigate, a new difficulty level added.

And now in 14.20, it’s like they finally caught him in the act of throwing thumbtacks down on the road, you know? They caught him at his tricks.

And like, to use a favorite metaphor of Dabb’s, it’s like the roadrunner and the coyote. Only the roadrunner had always known all along that the coyote was laying traps for him and always found the most hilarious ways to foil the coyote’s plans and turn it back around on him. It took them 14 seasons for TFW to finally pull a roadrunner.

This has always been Dabb’s ending, because it’s actually the story he has been telling all along. The spiral’s broken, and instead of continuing lap after lap with no end in sight, they’ve finally realized they can just... stop driving in carefully paved loops and drive in a direct line to the finish.

(and maybe the only way to make it to the finish is to pave their own road around all of Chuck’s chicanery... it’s gonna be some heavy lifting and some rough off-roading, but it’s the only way to get off the track to victory lane)

(apologies, this is the sort of place my brain goes when Mr. Mittens is watching nascar at Road America in the background... but it’s super apt, and full disclosure, I started writing this about an hour before he turned the tv on. I was already on this road course >.>)

[sacrilegiovs]

(  josefine  frida  pettersen  ,  cisfemale  ,  she  /  her  ,  fire  emblem  :  three  houses  )  *  &.  i  know  it  must  be  scary  for  you  ,  edelgard  von  hresvelg  ,  after  not  surviving  the  takeover  .  to  turn  into  someone  like  edelle  hjördis  ,  a  twenty-four  year-old  code  enforcement  officer  at  city  hall  ,  right  here  in  castle  town  .  just  remember  that  you  are  as  ambitious  as  you  are  relentless  ,  and  to  be  wary  ,  be  safe  ,  be  true  to  who  you  are  :  neutral  through  and  through  .

hi  demons  it  me  ,  a  piece  of  garbage  !  this  is  ,  uh  ,  VERY  spoiler  heavy  so  …  i’m  sorry  ab  that  JSDHFNDJDHC  here’s  a  pinterest  board  for  edelgard  tho  bc  i  luv  my  daughter  !! 

TW.  food  /  drinks  ,  blood  (  pinterest  )  +  child  abuse  &  death ment.  /  trauma  (  intro  )  .

BEFORE  CASTLE  TOWN  .

edelgard  von  hresvelg  .  the  fourth  daughter  of  the  emperor  and  out  of  all  her  siblings  she  was  the  only  one  born  with  a  (  minor  )  crest  of  seiros  .

however  when  she  was  nine  ,  edie  and  her  mother  were  taken  by  her  uncle  to  the  holy  kingdom  of  faerghus  .  unbeknownst  to  her  back  home  ,  the  insurrection  of  the  seven  was  taking  place  —  reducing  her  father  to  nothing  more  than  a  political  puppet  .  her  own  uncle  was  one  of  the  key  conspirators  .  though  her  mother  eventually  married  the  king  of  faerghus  ,  edelgard  continued  to  live  with  her  uncle  .  during  her  time  in  the  kingdom  ,  edelgard  befriended  dimitri  and  the  two  spent  a  lot  of  time  together  ,  unaware  they  were  step-siblings  .  soon  after  she  turned  twelve  ,  edelgard  returned  to  the  empire  …  without  her  mother  .

then  shit  got  real  .

imagine  going  home  after  three  years  only  to  find  that  your  father  has  been  stripped  of  his  power  .  imagine  going  home  after  three  years  only  to  be  subjected  to  painful  experiments  with  your  ten  siblings  .  the  adrestian  nobles  supported  the  crest  experimentation  performed  by  those  who  slither  in  the  dark  ,  no  matter  the  cost  of  it  .  it  wasn’t  them  or  their  heirs  ,  so  why  should  they  have  qualms  ,  right  ?  now  ,  imagine  your  father  ,  who  was  rendered  practically  powerless  ,  objecting  and  trying  to  stop  it  with  all  he  had  left  …  but  ultimately  being  unable  to  do  anything  besides  sit  back  and  watch  this  relentless  torture  of  his  children  .

all  in  the  name  of  crests  .

most  of  her  siblings  were  driven  mad  or  died  from  exhaustion  .  in  the  end  ,  edelgard  was  the  only  one  to  survive  and  retain  the  sanity  that  had  been  lost  by  many  other  hresvelg  siblings  .  because  of  her  success  ,  she  bore  a  second  crest  now  .  the  crest  of  flames  ,  and  a  major  one  at  that  .  due  to  the  stress  that  having  two  crests  brought  ,  her  natural  brown  hair  turned  a  silvery  tone  .

and  her  view  of  crests  ,  the  church  of  seiros  ,  and  the  caste  system  of  fódlan  were  altered  forever  .

she  arrived  at  garreg  mach  monastery  to  complete  her  education  when  she  was  seventeen  ,  and  was  resolved  to  reclaim  what  her  father  had  lost  .  her  admittance  marked  the  first  time  in  ages  since  a  member  of  the  hresvelg  family  sent  a  member  to  the  officer's  academy  .  she  would  soon  become  the  house  leader  of  the  black  eagles  .

sometime  before  meeting  byleth  ,  edelgard  took  on  the  guise  of  the  flame  emperor  ,  and  her  suit  used  agarthan  technology  to  heavily  distort  her  voice  for  protection  purposes  .  believing  that  she  would  have  a  straightforward  time  unifying  fódlan  without  the  future  leaders  of  the  kingdom  and  the  alliance  in  her  way  ,  she  hired  bandits  to  assassinate  dimitri  and  claude  ,  respectively  .

a  quick  deviation  from  background  telling  .  to  be  honest  i  feel  as  if  this  act  in  particular  highlights  just  how  young  and  ,  ultimately  ,  inexperienced  edelgard  really  is  —  because  she’s  so  quick  to  put  an  assassination  attempt  on  the  table  .  how  she  made  a  seemingly  solid  enough  plan  ,  yet  despite  everything  ,  it  still  failed  .  we  have  to  remember  the  fact  she  was  a  teenager  in  the  beginning  .  a  child  .  yes  ,  one  willing  to  commit  murder  because  she  saw  it  as  the  most  viable  option  ,  but  a  child  nonetheless  .  however  ,  it  also  showcased  how  ruthless  she  can  be  .  ruthless  in  the  sense  that  she  won’t  stop  at  anything  to  get  from  point  a  to  point  b  .  in  edelgard’s  case  ,  she  felt  her  goals  were  far  greater  than  her  own  personal  feelings  .  towards  dimitri  ,  towards  claude  ,  towards  …  well  ,  everyone  (  as  we  see  during  the  conflict  of  the  holy  tomb  ,  specifically  during  the  black  eagles  run  .  she  didn’t  want  to  fight  her  friends  ,  but  she  wasn’t  above  giving  the  order  to  kill  anyone  who  tried  to  stop  them  .  she  was  already  resigned  to  the  notion  that  ,  in  order  to  fulfill  her  chosen  path  ,  she  needed  to  do  things  she  didn’t  necessarily  want  to  do  .  )

ok  ,  back  to  your  regularly  scheduled  programming  .

as  mentioned  ,  she  needed  to  strategize  in  ways  that  she  may  not  have  enjoyed  .  teaming  up  with  those  who  slither  in  the  dark  ,  irregardless  of  her  own  hatred  and  disdain  for  them  ,  was  a  huge  one  .  they  had  a  common  enemy  :  the  church  of  seiros  .  and  as  they  say  ,  the  enemy  of  my  enemy  is  my  friend  .  with  full  intention  of  turning  on  them  once  her  war  against  the  church  was  over  ,  edelgard  allied  herself  with  the  very  people  who  were  responsible  for  her  trauma  .  for  the  greater  good  ,  she  undoubtedly  told  herself  .  it  had  to  be  done  .  in  my  own  personal  view  of  edelgard  ,  she’s  pragmatist  .  meaning  the  church  /  crests  /  caste  system  were  the  focal  point  of  her  takedown  ,  and  what  she  may  logically  be  able  to  achieve  .  she  could  only  wage  one  war  at  a  time  .  plus  ,  with  TWSITD  believing  she  is  an  ally  ,  in  theory  it  would  be  much  easier  to  get  to  them  …  opposed  to  if  they  were  still  completely  in  the  shadows  .

equality  through  force  .  it  might  not  be  the  best  choice  ,  but  it  was  a  choice  that  edelgard  considered  long  and  hard  .  it’s  pretty  implied  that  edelgard  believed  in  meritocracy  ;  none  of  that  birthright  bullshit  that  the  caste  system  brought  upon  fódlan  .  and  certainly  no  more  crests  dictating  who  and  who  wasn’t  a  suitable  leader  (  a  prime  example  being  miklan  :  she  outright  expressed  sympathy  towards  him  ,  even  called  him  an  impressive  leader  ,  despite  not  having  a  crest  of  his  own  .  )

now  i  would  like  to  point  something  out  .  actually  ,  a  few  things  .  i  recall  most  clearly  in  silver  snow  ,  it  was  said  that  edelgard  DEMANDED  that  her  father  relinquished  the  emperor  position  to  her  ,  when  in  fact  ,  that  wasn’t  necessarily  correct  .  we  can  see  her  coronation  as  emperor  if  byleth  chose  to  go  with  her  when  they  had  high  enough  support  .  if  anything  ,  her  father  appeared  to  be  understanding  when  she  convinced  him  .  however  despite  the  obvious  antagonistic  viewpoint  characters  had  on  her  in  silver  snow  ,  the  only  route  she  was  clear-cut  painted  as  a  true  villain  …  was  azure  moon  .  the  same  route  it  was  confirmed  she  had  many  long  thoughts  and  presumably  discussions  about  how  to  proceed  with  her  plans  ,  before  she  settled  upon  throwing  the  entirety  of  fódlan  into  a  war  .  her  declaration  of  war  against  the  church  of  seiros  and  all  its  allies  was  not  a  whim  .  does  that  make  it  right  ?  no  ,  i  don’t  believe  she  was  right  for  pulling  everyone  into  that  chaos  .  but  whether  she  was  right  in  the  way  she  went  about  it  or  not  ,  she  wasn’t  entirely  wrong  either  .  the  church  wasn’t  an  innocent  party  !  edelgard  only  had  half  truths  ,  which  can  be  just  as  dangerous  as  knowing  everything  or  nothing  at  all  ,  if  not  more  .

but  that  all  being  said  ,  i  am  pulling  edelgard  from  crimson  flower  .  because  regardless  of  her  actions  ,  i  still  didn’t  feel  it  was  right  to  paint  her  solely  as  the  villain  when  she  wasn’t  the  only  one  who  made  severe  mistakes  .  we  have  seen  she  is  capable  of  expressing  guilt  and  remorse  for  her  actions  .  however  unlike  most  ,  edelgard  knows  she  cannot  waver  from  the  bloody  path  she  picked  .  it  goes  back  to  what  i  said  earlier  ,  of  her  being  resigned  to  the  fact  .  personal  feelings  needed  to  be  pushed  aside  in  matters  of  war  ,  especially  this  far  into  things  .  for  her  to  give  up  would  mean  all  this  bloodshed  was  for  nothing  .  she  couldn’t  do  that  .  not  just  for  her  own  ideals  ,  but  for  fódlan  itself  .  even  speaking  beyond  unification  under  adrestia  rule  ,  it  would  have  been  worse  for  her  to  say  ‘  okay  no  more  war  ’  without  any  resolvement  ,  and  for  things  to  ‘  go  back  to  the  way  they  were  ’  despite  that  not  being  a  logical  reality  ...  it  would  make  everything  cheap  ,  like  it  never  mattered  to  begin  with  .  no  ,  she  intended  to  see  her  plans  out  even  if  it  killed  her  .

she  dug  her  grave  and  she  was  fully  prepared  to  lie  in  it  .

in  crimson  flower  ,  she  was  lucky  to  survive  it  ,  and  i  would  call  the  war  a  pyrrhic  victory  in  any  case  .

after  byleth  abandoned  the  church  to  stay  with  her  ,  edelgard  organized  her  former  classmates  into  an  elite  task  force  that  was  known  as  the  black  eagle  strike  force  (  although  BEST  ,  black  eagle  strike  team  ,  was  right  there  …  an  opportunity  missed  ,  i  suppose  )  .  despite  all  her  efforts  ,  they  spent  the  next  five  years  locked  in  a  bitter  stalemate  with  the  kingdom  and  the  alliance  .  though  with  byleth’s  return  and  aid  ,  she  was  able  to  swiftly  conquer  the  leicester  alliance  .  instead  of  killing  her  old  friend  ,  edelgard  spared  claude  and  forced  him  to  go  into  exile  .

after  beating  back  an  attempt  by  the  church  to  retake  garreg  mach  ,  edelgard  began  military  operations  against  faerghus  in  earnest  .  she  first  conquered  arianrhod  ,  a  fortress  on  the  western  border  between  adrestia  and  faerghus  .  afterwards  ,  she  began  a  direct  march  for  fhirdiad  .  dimitri  and  rhea  moved  to  intercept  her  at  the  tailtean  plains  ,  but  rhea  was  driven  off  and  dimitri  was  slain  in  battle  *  —  an  execution  by  her  own  hands  .

the  group  finally  arrived  in  fhirdiad  ,  and  rhea  ordered  the  city  burned  to  the  ground  in  order  to  slow  them  down  and  transforms  into  her  ultimate  form  ,  the  immaculate  one  .  edelgard  ,  byleth  ,  and  the  black  eagle  strike  force  engaged  her  in  battle  .  ultimately  ,  the  empire  emerged  victorious  and  rhea  was  slain  .  with  all  of  fódlan  under  adrestia's  dominion  ,  edelgard  finally  began  the  reforms  she  always  wanted  to  bring  to  the  nobility  and  the  crest  system  ,  and  began  a  silent  war  against  those  who  slither  in  the  dark  .  *

(  *  -  basically  just  copypasta  from  her  wiki  because  i  didn’t  feel  like  rewriting  it  JDHBSFCBHDHN  )

AFTER  CASTLE  TOWN  .

the  memories  of  edelle  hjördis  are  different  .  edelgard  von  hresvelg  doesn’t  exist  ,  and  there’s  no  reason  for  edelle  to  believe  otherwise  …  right  ?

the  only  child  of  a  well-known  politician  ,  edelle  is  expected  to  follow  his  footsteps  .  and  she  did  ,  sort  of  .  it’s  on  a  smaller  scale  for  now  ,  working  as  a  code  enforcement  officer  at  city  hall  —  she  says  it’s  a  stepping  stone  ,  solidifying  groundwork  for  the  bigger  leagues  .  if  she  ever  gets  there  .  code  enforcement  isn’t  easy  in  any  capacity  ,  and  it  renders  her  particularly  busy  .

everything  is  fine  .

yet  she  can’t  help  feeling  like  there  are  missing  pieces  .  like  maybe  somewhere  ,  somehow  ,  she  has  siblings  in  some  form  .  like  a  hidden  family  that  her  father  keeps  secret  from  her  and  prying  eyes  of  public  media  .  maybe  it’s  all  loneliness  carved  from  parental  absence  .  a  scenario  created  in  her  mind  to  ease  her  from  the  gnawing  feeling  of  solitude  .  that  must  be  it  —  there’s  no  other  explanation  .

everything  is  alright  .

there’s  this  dream  that  haunts  her  so  frequently  .  perhaps  if  she  finds  a  name  to  the  face  ,  she  can  lay  him  to  rest  properly  .  there’s  an  indescribable  sorrow  that  follows  the  execution  of  this  man  —  one  she  doesn’t  understand  ,  one  she  doesn’t  know  if  she  even  wants  to  understand  —  but  it’s  one  she  can’t  seem  to  shake  .  it’s  persistent  and  makes  its  presence  known  in  her  mind  ,  and  all  she  wants  is  for  it  to  vanish  .  farewell  ,  king  of  delusion  .  she  remembers  saying  those  words  (  was  it  truly  her  ?  )  in  this  vision  .  she  doesn’t  know  how  it  can  be  real  ,  it’s  impossible  ,  but  it’s  as  if  her  hands  were  sticky  with  metaphorical  blood  that  never  leaves  .  her  stomach  churns  in  response  if  she  thinks  too  much  of  it  ,  so  she  tries  to  ignore  it  .  it  doesn’t  easily  work  ,  but  she  has  to  try  .

she  remembers  taking  classes  at  castle  town  university  as  a  political  science  major  .  in  rare  moments  ,  she  found  herself  doodling  little  portraits  of  people  —  not  that  they  were  really  any  good  ,  or  that  she  even  showed  anyone  .  but  if  someone  looked  at  the  back  of  her  notebooks  ,  they  can  surely  find  a  badly  drawn  figure  or  two  .

she  doesn’t  know  what  this  weird  crown  is  that  she  randomly  has  ??  unbeknownst  to  her  ,  it  was  her  —  edelgard’s  —  crown  as  adrestia’s  emperor  .  she  just  …  had  it  one  day  ,  and  that  was  that  .  it’s  hidden  in  her  closet  at  home  ,  as  she’s  unsure  of  what  to  do  with  it  .  curiosity  bested  her  a  few  times  and  yes  ,  she  has  tried  it  on  for  size  .  it  fits  almost  too  perfectly  ,  like  it  was  meant  for  her  .  there’s  something  missing  .  there’s  always  something  missing  .  edelle  can  never  figure  out  what  ,  though  .

all  in  all  ,  despite  the  differences  ,  edelle  is  still  as  ambitious  and  relentless  at  achieving  her  goals  as  edelgard  was  .  only  thing  is  ,  she  doesn’t  realize  the  extent  of  it  .  stubborn  until  the  very  end  ,  edelle  can  be  described  as  a  workaholic  for  the  most  part  ,  but  there  are  peaceful  moments  where  she  takes  time  for  herself  and  those  who  manage  to  get  close  to  her  .

uh  idk  what  else  to  write  so  that’s  it  for  now  .  we’ll  see  what  happens  in  the  future  .

FUN  FACTS  .

edelle’s  birthday  is  june  22nd  ,  aka  canonly  edelgard’s  birthday  (  22nd  of  the  garland  moon  )  ,  which  makes  her  a  cancer  sun  .  as  a  cancer  rising  and  water  sign  sun  in  general  ,  myself  ,  i’m  really  not  surprised  .  this  is  kinda  self  drag  lol  but  water  signs  are  notorious  for  being  manipulative  and  knowing  when  to  use  the  cards  to  their  advantage  ,  and  that’s  exactly  what  edelgard  does  .

although  this  being  said  and  being  the  astrology  heaux  i  am  ,  if  i  had  to  assign  her  moon  +  rising  signs  ,  i  would  probably  say  capricorn  moon  (  show  a  lot  of  initiative  ,  in  it  to  win  it  .  do  not  want  to  feed  into  another’s  beliefs  about  victim-hood  .  can  excel  in  things  that  require  cold  blood  and  seriousness  .  )  and  scorpio  rising  (  likely  to  experience  life  as  a  constant  series  of  obstacles  or  crises  .  confronting  darkness  in  the  outside  world  through  facing  extreme  situations  .  others  may  find  you  somewhat  inscrutable  ,  mysterious  or  just  hard  to  read  ;  likely  to  play  your  cards  close  to  your  chest  .  )

she’s  still  5ft  2in  ..  we  love  the  shorties  in  this  house  ,  ok  !

unlike  edelgard  whose  hair  was  originally  brown  ,  edelle  always  had  her  signature  white  hair  .  although  ..  she  does  have  a  slightly  “  goddess  green  ”  tint  if  you  look  at  her  character  portraits  closely  .  personally  i  believe  it’s  due  to  her  crest  of  flames  ,  since  the  color  is  vaguely  reminiscent  of  sothis-byleth  .

the  mention  of  her  drawing  little  pictures  of  people  comes  from  the  fact  she  drew  a  portrait  of  byleth  in  crimson  flower  ,,,

nightmares  by  all  time  low  was  another  song  i  had  in  mind  for  edelgard  ,  i  won’t  even  lie  ...

[plagueamon]

Code Geass MBTI Challenge Turn 9: Kyoshiro Tohdoh - ISTJ

With the exception of Anya and a few members of the Akito the Exiled cast, Kyoshiro Tohdoh is the character on our list with probably the least amount of information about his personal thoughts, views and experiences. With that in mind, I still think that the show gives us just enough of a glimpse into his personality in order to be able to type him accurately, to the point where I actually had to retype him a few times and overall was given more to think about than I originally expected. Before I start explaining this character’s functions, please keep in mind, that this post will contain heavy Code Geass spoilers, so consider yourselves warned. With that out of the way, let us analyse why Kyoshiro Tohdoh is an ISTJ.

Dominant Introverted Sensing/Si

Tohdoh’s Si is actually very comparable to Ohgi’s, because they value very similar things, but diverge in what further conclusions they do with those values based on their auxiliary and tertiary functions (this is coincidentally perhaps the best opportunity we will ever have to compare an ISFJ to an ISTJ). Much like Ohgi, Tohdoh largely bases his values around Japanese tradition, however he does not see them as something to be explored and shared with others (Ti and Fe), so mach as he uses it to dictate the rules he wants to see himself and his surrounding world world to develop in accordance with (Fi and Te). This sometimes makes him appear much more narrow-minded than he actually is, simply because he has a very specific idea of what he wants to achieve for Japan and for himself and is very determined to make it a reality. In truth he is actually very capable of applying this personal system of principles to others, which is what makes him a competent teacher and role model for Suzaku.

A common trait of dominant Si-users in fiction is that they can be both idealistic and practical in their mindset, with Si being tied to tangible evidence and facts by being a sensing function, while also being introverted and therefore highly subjective and personal to the user. Tohdoh himself embodies this balance quite well: we often see him talk in ways that are sentimental, with topics like honour and his hopes and fears for Japan’s distant future being brought up a lot, but, as Zero mentions during his prison break-in in R1, all of Tohdoh’s legendary success comes down to careful planning and intelligence work. In fact, it seems that Tohdoh himself understands this very well, as we never really see him refer to his work as “miracles” in a non-ironic manner, despite being seen as such by his followers. At his core Tohdoh still very much prefers to deal with factual details, planning out his operations and insisting on taking part in them personally, solidifying him as both a skilled and passionate tactician and leader, and, much like with Ohgi, this is the potential that Lelouch sees in him.

Auxiliary Extroverted Thinking/Te

As stated above, Tohdoh’s success as a leader mainly comes down to methodical and meticulous work combined with a fairly tactical mindset. His Te is certainly an important component of this, as we see him rely on it when he has to step out of his Si comfort zone. We see several examples of this happening when Tohdoh doesn’t see an obvious answer to a problem: his usual response is to trust in Zero’s judgement even if he has to blindly follow orders without a clear understanding of what his leader is planning. This demonstrates a healthy use of auxiliary Te, as it shows his willingness to abandon his immediate instinct to systematically observe the situation by himself (Si) when there is clearly no point in doing that, instead going with a more conventionally rational Te approach and trusting Lelouch because he has proven to be effective in the past. This is both supported and kept in check by his Fi, which gives him a degree of confidence in his judge of other people’s character as well as stops him from being a blindly devoted follower with no clear direction of his own. Compare this to Ohgi, who trusts others (Zero in this example) based on his perception of their sense of morality and trustworthiness (Fe), while his tertiary Ti balances this notion out by making him question his own judgement and thinking of the benefits of a given decision that is independent of ethical questions.

To put it in a somewhat simplified manner, Te is a form of generalist logic, developing a systematic “one size fits all” way of looking at a problem for the user, as they mature. The higher Te is in the functional stack, the more its logical system is complex and willing to account for exceptions, meaning that the kind of over-generalising behaviour that Te-users are often stereotyped for is much more commonly seen in unhealthy, immature or low (in terms of the stack) users. A much more healthy use of Te is comparatively rare in fiction or isn’t recognised nearly as often, however Tohdoh’s tactical ability and respect for authority provide good examples. Neither of the two are things he carries out blindly or out of principle, in fact he demonstrates a high degree of autonomy when deciding to trust his comrades and his superiors - instead these choices come from an understanding that this kind of trust the most reasonable course of action in most difficult situations.

As a soldier these qualities make Tohdoh outstanding.

Tertiary Introverted Feeling/Fi

Tohdoh’s Fi comes out in most of his unhealthier moments, meaning that he enters a Si-Fi loop. Whenever he finds himself in a difficult situation with no apparent solutions provided by his first two functions and nobody else to follow, Tohdoh is prone to giving up all hope and surrendering to his fate. The excuse he uses to justify this is also very evident of an unhealthy use of Fi: in his mind he chooses death to preserve his honour and deserves his fate for his personal failure. With Fi being a function that focuses on very personal values, this is an example of using it defensively instead of finding the inner strength to maintain hope and readiness for an opportunity to improve the situation. This almost causes him to reject a chance of freedom that Zero is basically handing to him in R1. It usually takes an external perspective (Te) such as Zero’s or that of his fellow Holy Swords pilots to “snap him out of” this internally focused state and show him that he can still find a reason to continue fighting without sacrificing his life and that his honour is not compromised by such a choice.

On a somewhat healthier note, Fi also puts an interesting spin on the direction of Tohdoh’s dominant function, giving him a firm belief that a person should keep true to their goals and principles no matter the cost. This is why his initial disappointment in Suzaku disappears to a large degree, when he learns that his former student’s life choices are in full accordance with the ideals he holds. While he still sees Suzaku as an enemy, Tohdoh develops a respect for his willingness to follow the path he chose despite being seen as a traitor to the Japanese by almost everyone and even encourages him to continue. While his Fi isn’t high enough in his stack to make relating to others necessarily easy, it does give him the ability to readily acknowledge that there are subjectively justifiable reasons behind everyone’s actions, no matter how different the person in question may be from himself.

Inferior Extroverted Intuition/Ne

Tohdoh does not get as much screen time or opportunities to speak as some of the other characters on our list, however because of his brutal honesty and overall being based on a fairly common fictional archetype, it isn’t very difficult to understand his fears and weaknesses as a human being. Dominant Si is a function rooted in personal experiences and principles (both moral and logical) that are very personal to the user and allow them to find a place for themselves in the world they inhabit. A common way for inferior Ne to oppose this is the fear of loss of one’s self and the personal principles that make us who we are. This makes Tohdoh reluctant to make decisions that contradicts his ideas about the kind of person he should be and the ways in which he should act. This kind of insecurity provides an understandable explanation for his Si-Fi loops: trying to avoid execution to him is similar to refusing punishment for his failure to liberate Japan, and that would go against his understanding of what he should stand for. This is why he only agrees to escape his prison when offered a chance of redemption.

On a more general scale, inferior Fi makes it hard for Tohdoh to truly understand other people’s motivations and plans when he doesn’t see the evidence leading up to them. Given that Lelouch is Ni-dominant and hence much more willing to rely on theoretical approximations and calculated risks rather than playing it safe and going with the facts, this tends to happen often and Tohdoh is often left having to trust in his leader’s competence without actually knowing what he is up to. Being mature and relatively healthy, however, Tohdoh does not tend to be bothered by this too much, recognising when his life is in capable hands instead of giving in to a fear of uncertainty, as unhealthy or immature Si-doms can often do.

However, please keep in mind that this is only my opinion on the matter and I will welcome any criticisms or alternative opinions to discuss them. If this article was interesting for you, stay prepared for next time, when I shall discuss the MBTI type of Diethard Ried.

[bloggong]

Take #2 on Post-Modernism

Okay, photo kinda unrelated but healthy reminder.

Wowza, what are these regular updates on this tumblr huh?

Anyway, today was Day 1 of YF camp, and as usual our camp speaker Greg already put out a few absolute bangers (apart from endorsing Mr Shai Linne ofc).

I find it interesting that as of late, more and more church messages and sermons have been centered around the danger of subjective truth. I remember my Church Pastor addressing it a while back, and even before him, I can vividly recall Paul Washer talking about it as well. Effectively, whether the rebuttal arises from the post-modernist's refusal to accept the presence of irrefutable absolute truth, or from the unwillingness to submit to an ultimate authority which governs their decision-making, their worldview crumbles into irrationality and darkness (Wow harsh words but I'm sure Paul and the other apostles were as, if not more harsh).

Anyway, the reason why I am writing this post as I take 176 to West Coast Park is because of something Greg spoke about on Day 1 of YF Camp. In addressing the need to discern the truth, alongside the need to recognize that there is 1 truth, Greg cut to the heart of a topic I have been getting into as of late , namely, presuppositional apologetics.

Presuppositional apologetics (or presupp, for the cool kids), is an apologetic method coined by one Cornelius Van Til. Such an apologetic originated from Van Til's rejection of the other methods of defending the faith that he was presented with, (the evidentialist argument, creator-creation argument etc), a rejection arising from the notion that such apologetic placed the unbeliever as the "Judge", with "God" being put on trial.

In his rejection of said methods, Van Til acknowledged the supremacy of the Word of the immutable almighty God, the Bible, as the absolute standard from which any value judgement or decision must be made. Moreover, another piece of justification for the presuppositional method of defending the faith, one I find very compelling, was Van Til's reference to Romans 1:18. If the unbeliever, is truly as the Bible says, "[suppressing] the truth in unrighteousness", then this means that they already know the truth of Scripture. 

In effect, no men or women who denies the truth is without excuse, for all of nature screams the Glory of God, and attests to the existence of an immutable and loving creator. In this light, the apologist should not put the Sovereign God on 'trial', allowing the unbeliever to decide if the Father is 'real or not'. 

Rather, the apologist should presuppose (hence the name hehe) the truth of the Bible, and seek to prove the existence and legitimacy of the Father and Christ through the daily assumptions the unbeliever makes about reality, since they know God exists, and are rejecting it in unrighteousness. Another thing I appreciate about this apologetic method is its emphasis on the moving power of the Holy Spirit. In true Ephesians 2:8-9 fashion, presupp highlights that only by the grace of God can men be saved, and only the Spirit can sanctify a depraved people.

Romans 1:18 Unbelief and Its Consequences

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness

Alright, now that I've laid out the groundwork of Presuppositional Apologetics, I want to link it back to Greg's talk today. Throughout his talk, I couldn't help but link it back to the unconscious, inconspicuous post-modernism that has seemingly permeated the secular mindset on all levels.

Oh and before I forget, bruh Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Something key about presuppositional apologetics is its emphasis on tracing an observation to its root. In other words, it rationalizes every occurrence observable to scripture. To give an example, Van Til would argue that secular morality, logic and axiomatic theory, and an innate sense of justice, are all proof of a transcendent omniscient omnipotent God. In the same strand, presupp forces the apologist to begin their apologetic from the position of every word of the Bible being true. So should the unbeliever question whether they can prove the Bible is real, the response is "Yes I can. The Bible tells me so."

While I can understand the apprehension one might have adopting such an apologetic method, the more you think about it the more it makes sense.

In his book, "Defense of the Faith", Van Til begins by espousing on Ultimate Authority. Whether one is a Christian, an Atheist, a Materialist, a Monotheist, Polytheist, Pantheist, or any other belief system, they unconsciously submit to an ultimate authority. Most of the time such an authority is logic and sense perception, though in some cases it can extend to axioms and morality.

Regardless, the presuppositional apologist takes these assumptions, and points out how without God, they cannot make sense. For the sake of clarification, I will explicate on Morality, especially in the post-modern worldview.

For a post-modern Atheist, they would argue morality is subjective. Should a society or culture advance past a certain point, morality can fluctuate and change with it. In other words, any feelings of injustice exist because of this unspoken shared moral code that everyone agrees on.

The issue here is twofold.

Firstly, for an atheist, morality should not matter. If men really is borne not in the image of an immutable God, but is just a bunch of chemicals, or on a more macro-level, quarks bouncing off each other, then there is no basis for morality. Really, men is just a bunch of chemicals acting a certain way at a certain temperature. In that case, why should one dictate a certain moral action? What differentiates men from a bottle of coca cola that is shaken and opened, with fizz leaking out. If men has no intrinsic value, then why is there even a debate about morality? Arbitrary concepts like right and wrong, which a debate attempts to determine, do not exist if the two debaters are composed of noises concocted by atoms in motion. Some atheists would argue that morality arises from a need for mankind’s self-preservation. Here, the question becomes one of degree. Where does such a rule extend to. If morality is innately understood by every human, yet is entirely subjective, then does this mean that because my morality states that I will kill anyone with squeaky shoes, a squeak from your Converse Sneakers warrants your death?  Evidently that is not how morality works. Morality is not simply composed of two groups of people shouting at each other, with the louder group determining the morality of the system. If men has an awareness that things like murder, sin, and adultery are wrong, but this is not to arise from the presence of a Just God who has placed in every men and women’s heart a notion of his justice, then where does this morality extend to? Even if I can agree that within my family, we share a sense of morality, why should this ethical code extend to those outside my direct sphere of influence? If someone’s long-term longevity is of no direct interest to me, why is it wrong to rob your neighbor? In the same vein, why is it wrong to wage war on other nations should their interests not at all align with mine?  Here, the atheist’s argument for having a coherent moral system completely falls apart. This is what Van Til calls the futility of the non-Christian worldview. In the futility of the Atheistic Worldview, we observe the “impossibility of the contrary”, where in the absence of any other explanation for morality, the Christian worldview can account for one.  Similarly, for the secular Post-Modernist, they are quick to state that while something might be true for them, it does not have to be true for others. In short, subjective truth. This is dangerous for many reasons, but on the logical front, it is self-contradicting. Many Post-Modernists will even admit that they do not know what is ‘true’ for sure. All one has to do to refute the post-modernist is ask them if they know THAT to be true. If the post-modernist cannot claim to know anything to be true, their argument is incoherent and any knowledge claims are inconsistent with their worldview, in which case their worldview likewise crumbles into absurdity. To quote the man, Mr Paul Washer, in his indictment of the post-modern mindset, “either I am right and you are wrong, or you are right and I am wrong, or we are both wrong, but we CANNOT both be right!”

Hopefully through this very brief example, it has become clear (to at least some degree) how the presuppositionalist is to defend the faith. In having a consistent and coherent epistemology, the apologist is to hold up the ultimate authority of the Bible above all other things. Only through this can a logical argument emerge. Yet, and this remains key, regardless of the apologetic one employs to explain the faith, I pray that the a love for the unbeliever, a love that mimics the love of Christ, is what motivates our pleading with them. The apologist is to plead with the unbeliever as one pleads with blinded people in a burning building. While I often times find myself trading blows with others when talking about the faith, especially in using presupp, we have to remember above all, to hold fast to the truth of the gospel, that God became man, and bore the wrath of all who believe, such that they might in grace, find eternal salvation.  Brothers and Sisters, let us encourage each other in the time we have on this earth, that we preach as dying men and women, to dying men and women, that they might in grace and mercy, find the salvation that they know to be true, and know of the sweetness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Matthew 8:1-4 

Jesus Cleanses a Man with Leprosy

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a man with leprosy came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

This might become a running theme, but as usual I’m going to end with an excerpt from Shai Linne’s song “Startling Mystery”

“Sovereign Lord, who can truly understand Your depths? You give us life, You're the source of every man's breath Your mysteries, the sharpest of minds can't guess They stand perplexed, can't fathom what you plan next In the garden, we failed Your command's test We transgressed, now our world is a grand mess Lord, You're perfect, so why should You demand less? Man's best is only a sinking sand quest

But through Christ, watch God saving hand flex Redeemed the people, North, South, East, and West Glorious robes, in the Promised Land, dressed We stand blessed, all because of the Lamb's death 

So as we're liftin' up our praise to You, receive it, Lord The object of our affection, whom we adore Fallen in our misery, You darted into history The pardon of iniquity, startling the mystery

The oceans, the planes, the mountains, the rain The universe proclaims the glory of Your Name And what am I that You called me to Your side? And took this heart of stone and broke it open wide”

Friends, keep each other in prayer, that we walk in a manner that is pleasing to our King. 

Coram Deo 

-Gong 

6:16pm

12 December 2020   

[culturalsociologyblog-blog]

“Piropo: compliment vs. harassment. The cultural practice of catcalling in South America”

By Pascuala Migone

“All women like to be complimented. Those who say they are offended by it, I don’t believe it. There is nothing nicer than a piropo, even if it is accompanied by a vulgarity.To be told what a nice ass you have, it’s fine”.

(Mauricio Macri, current Argentinean president, 2014).

Gendered violence towards women, in its various expressions, is a critical issue in Latin America[1]. While the alarmingly high rates of homicides and rapes of women are widely condemned, there is no consensus towards other -less evidently violent- practices in this line.

Piropos are unauthorized comments of implicit or explicit sexual connotation made in the public space, almost exclusively from men to women, in contexts where there is no affective relationship to justify it. Sometimes whispered to the ear, other times yelled, they can be also accompanied by gestures and meaningful looks. The degree of intensity varies from "flattery" on the physical appearance to remarks of a strong sexual nature.

Although street harassment is not exclusive of Latin America, its magnitude is exponentially greater than in other parts of the world. In Santiago, for example, 85% of women and 97% of young women (18 to 34 years) surveyed declared suffering from street harassment during the last year[2], while in a similar study in Amsterdam, the percentage falls to 59% and 80% respectively[3]. The major problem is that, although certain forms of harassment -such as public masturbation or groping- are socially condemned, catcalling is not. Moreover, it is deeply installed and even valued in contemporary Latin-American culture, as Macri's comment illustrates.

Symbolic interactionism can provide an interesting perspective to understand this phenomenon. This micro sociological paradigm suggests that individuals act toward things -including other people- based on the meanings they have for them, and these meanings are a result of social interaction. Thus, the social realities or cultures are not given, but created and modified through interpretation and collective action between individuals (Blumer, 1969).

Under this lens, piropos –on which historical origin there is no consensus[4]- do not come out of the blue, but are an outcome of the concrete social interactions. They are a symbol of female and male roles expectation (Schutz, 1962). They are also an expression of how social interaction between men and women is characterized by inequity at multiple levels in the region. The fact that this kind of interaction exists, that so many men feel the right to assess and judge unknown women’s physical appearance, reflects a more generalized social logic, where women continually occupy inferior positions when compared to men.

To make the point, it is important to describe this interaction in detail. Piropo is usually characterized by an asymmetry: it never occurs in a context where a woman is accompanied by one or more men, but only when she is alone or with other members of her gender. It usually involves a group of men and fewer or one woman, or an adult and a minor. Also, it is a verbal behavior that does not expect to obtain a positive response or even establish communication. The speech is addressed to someone unknown and it is not done as an honest seduction, but rather as an attention seeking and male power assertion in the public space (Gaytan, 2009). When walking down the streets, women are exposed to a large chance of being objectified because of their gender and its perception.

Gender studies perspective provides a key point here: gender is not biological, but socially constructed. What a society defines as male or female is not given, but arbitrarily constructed and context-dependent. In this way, norms and discourses influence how gender is perceived and constructed under given social and cultural conditions (Alsop et al, 2002). Based on these perceived sexual differences, in most cultures “femininity” and “masculinity” have been linked to the domestic and public life, respectively (Ortner, 1972). That being said, the focus here is not on delving into the roots of these associations, but on how piropos constitute a frequent interaction that expresses them.

In this line, West & Zimmerman (1987), provide an interesting interactionist analysis. They maintain that gender is not a quality of individuals, but a product of day-to-day practices and behaviors that emphasize "femininity" or "masculinity". Thus, gender is embedded in and constructed through everyday interactions. The category operates as an ideological device, which legitimates certain understandings and limits in a society. Along the same lines, Henley (1977) borrows Goffman's (1959) ideas of individuals as actors on a theatrical stage[5], to argue that gender is used in different ways in performances by men and women. Their behavior, use of space and body language all express different positions towards each other. For example, women are more likely to enjoy less personal space and freedom of expression in public spaces, while men express their dominance over them through behaviors such as staring.

In this way, piropo can be understood as an expression of masculinity, a form of performing and reaffirming masculinity and its dominance. On the other side of the interaction, the victims’ usual reactions involve trying to maximize personal space usage by walking faster, looking at the ground or changing body language in anticipation of piropos (Vallejo, 2013). When gender dictates relations of power, piropos become devices or expressions of how these hierarchical positions are maintained in a patriarchal social order.

The most complex aspect of this matter is that the practice is deeply rooted in Latin American culture, and even justified as part of the folklore. The Chilean case is a good example of how the unequal interaction described above is mirrored in the public debate. Three years ago, the Observatory Against Street Harassment was created. Through a strong campaign, this organization managed to install the discussion about street harassment in social discussion and across various media, and is currently seeking to push a law against it.

The discussion has elicited opposing views: those who defend it are mostly men. They argue that as long as the compliments are not "too explicit" or accompanied by physical aggression, they are harmless. Many even assume that women enjoy them. According to a survey of Inter-American Open University, among those who admitted giving piropos, almost 60% believed that women enjoyed them. Moreover, the fight against it has often been framed as a "feminist overreaction", showing that women's speeches and experiences are more easily trivialized or discarded in patriarchal systems.

The problem is that tolerating certain forms of gender violence leaves room for ambiguity. If it is taken as something subjective, the boundaries blur. Every unsolicited comment about a woman's body is violent, not only because it ignores the possible psychological consequences, but also because it expresses the legitimation of the implicit idea of ​​ownership over women bodies, as if they were objects that men have the right to classify. This is clear when considering that the more women exhibit their bodies, the bigger the chances of receiving this type of harassment.

In this essay, I illustrated how the piropo, as an everyday practice, made invisible and naturalized, expresses a gender inequality. In Latin America, protective legislation and preventive educational policies are urgently needed. Recognizing and condemning street sexual harassment, as a form of gender violence, is a way of rewriting our cultural codes and therefore, the way we interact on the street. As Blumer (1969) states, meaning- making is an ongoing, interpretative process. To reject this behavior, at all levels, is to understand that public space belongs to all of us, that walking on the street without fear is not a privilege, but a right that both men and women should enjoy.

 References

1.       Alsop et al. (2002). Theorizing Gender: An Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press in association with Blackwell.

2.       Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1-47.

3.       Gaytan, P. (2009). From piropo to disenchantment. A sociological study. Biblioteca de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana México.

4.       Goffman, E. (2012 [1959]). The presentation of self in everyday life. In: Craig Calhoun et al., eds. Contemporary sociological theory. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 46-62.

5.       Henley, N. (1977). Body politics: Power, sex, and nonverbal communication. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

6.       Guerra contra el piropo: ahora lo definen como acoso callejero (2014) Retrieved from https://www.clarin.com/sociedad/Piropos-molestos-mayoria-mujeres-recibirlos_0_Syimvf05vmg.html

7.       Observatorio Contra el Acoso Callejero (2015). Encuesta 2015: ¿Está Chile dispuesto a sancionar el acoso callejero? Retrieved from https://www.ocac.cl/el-observatorio/

8.      Ortner, S. (1972) Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture? Feminist Studies, Vol. 1, No.2. pp. 5- 31.

9.      Schutz, A. (1962). Collected papers I. The Problem of Social Reality. Edited and introduced by Maurice Natanson, The Hague.

10.  Small Arms Survey (2016). Retrieved from http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/about-us/highlights/2016/highlight-rn63.html

11.  Vallejo, E. (2013). The Invisible Violence: Street Sexual Harassment in Metropolitan Lima. Retrieved from: https://www.ocac.cl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/E.-Vallejo-Rivera-La-violencia-invisible-acoso-sexual-callejero-en-Lima-metropolitana.pdf

12.   West, C. and Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender & Society 1(2): 125-151

[1] There is currently no comparable global data on the subject. However, the 2016 Small Arms Survey on violent deaths indicates that, among the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicides in the world, 14 are Latin American or Caribbean.

[2] Representative survey of women over 18 in Santiago, carried out by the Observatory Against Street Harassment (2015).

[3] Representative survey of women over 15 in Amsterdam, carried out by the City Council (2015).

[4]Although there are no reliable sources, the practice of the piropo is supposed to have a Spanish origin, derived from the Greek word pyropus (=fire red). This, given that during the Golden Age, men gave rubies to the women courted. Over time, this was associated to the act of "giving" something precious to a woman, including “compliments”.

[5] Goffman investigates social interaction from a dramaturgical perspective, where people interact with each other as actors performing on a stage.

[fallingfromaboveget1033-blog]

Reflection Lim Pei Yi, Celine (A0157523E)

• Introduction

The video games lecture that was introduced to us in week 4 was one which is one of the more interesting and relatable topic to us as the three of us were into playing video games at some point of our lives, and we hope to relive that video gaming times.

Our project, Falling From Above is a 2D platform game made with the Unity Platform. We have decided on using the robust Unity platform as it allows cross-platform development and can support up to 27 platforms in total, as well as the extensive features it has. Moreover, it was the most popular game-development platform and there are plentiful of tutorials online on their Unity documentation pages and various social platforms such as Youtube and Udemy which we can learn from.

 • Critically Analyse your project

Analysis - Written, Visual, Procedural Rhetoric

Written rhetoric is depicted in the “How to play” scenes in our game, where we explained the rules by which the game is governed. In our game, players can get extra points if they collect additional powerups or break tiles. Players points are also deducted if they collect durians (spikes on the durian cause the animals to get injured).

Visual rhetoric is represented in our game by placing different difficulties on the number of times an ice, grass and wooden tile takes to break. It can also be seen through the characters that we have designed. The characters, lion, elephant and turtle are also designed to give off the fierce, gentle and innocent appearance respectively, to portray the animals’ character. 

Procedural rhetoric is portrayed through the different levels. The three characters in our game is also crafted with three different levels of difficulties in terms of the speed which they descend. The rationale behind this is because the animals have different weights and their gravity differs.

• How does it connect to ideas you have learned?

During the lecture on the history and development of computers, we learnt that a computer is an object which is able to take in a stimulus and change itself according to specific rules. With the evolution of universal computers, we are able to create something virtually or physically based on codes and we figured it would be a good opportunity to explore programming a game since it is challenging and none of us have tried coding a game before.

As we learnt about the varieties of video games in week 4, we know that video games have evolved both digitally and physically over the decades.

Since video games on mobile phones have been more popular in recent times, we decided to use mobile devices as the platform for our project. However, since we are utilising the Unity platform, we also have the options to create our gameplay in a PC or mobile setting. 

• Analyse the affordances of digital media it uses.

Janet Murray’s four affordances asserts that everything made of electronic bits is potentially participatory, procedural, spatial as well as encyclopedic (Four Affordances in Details).

Procedural being composed of executable rules, participatory being inviting human action and manipulation of the represented world, encyclopedic being containing high capacity of information in multiple media formats and spatial being navigable as an information repository and/or a virtual place.

Our game, Falling From Above, is designed to be more Participatory and Procedural side, rather than the Encyclopedic and Spatial side.

It is more Participatory as most of the time, the game is dependent on the user controls to function. 

It lies high on the Procedural affordance because it follows a set of rules in the game to navigate from a scene to another. For example, from the scene where a character is chosen, till the lose scene, the game is governed by game conditions that dictates which scene is displayed next. 

It lies low on the spatial affordance as it makes use of the space visible to the user to create a descending effect, which also means that the virtual space is very limited dependent on the device of the user’s screen size. The descending speed of the character increases in proportion to the user’s score, in order to challenge the user.

It also lies low on the encyclopedic affordance as it does not exactly contain loads of information as compared to other forms of digital medium.

• How does it make use of the new abilities of computers? 

Since our game was created on the Unity platform, it has different build settings incorporated into it so that the developer can build the game in different devices such as on a Windows PC, MacOS, Android or even iOS.

For each of the devices, it will create different builds that corresponds to the development environments. It makes use of the new abilities of computers because programs in the past were not congruous enough to integrate all the different developments into one, like the current Unity. With the rise of recent platforms like Unity, developers can write their code once, and develop their games on various devices all at once.

Additionally, the Unity platform also has a function for collaborators to share their codes with one another using revision control. Hence, it helps our team share and collate our code easily when we are implementing the logic of the game. 

• How does it build off other projects you have seen?

This is my first attempt of building a 2D game application. As a beginner developer on the Unity platform, I felt that we built this project with a clear goal in mind – to create a simple game with a storyline and interactive. I actually got inspired to create this game whilst I was reminiscing about a game called “Icy Tower” – it was also a 2D platform game where users have to climb up a tower by jumping and performing tricks and stuns. In comparison to that, even though the graphics were nowhere comparable, I felt that it builds off the competitive spirits that users have to break their high score in our game.

During one of our tutorials, we also explored creating games with OpenProcessing and creating the pong game with HTML and CSS, which sparked my interest for building cooler and more innovative game like Falling From Above.  

Future Versions 

To make the gameplay more interactive, there are a few ideas that I have come up with. One of them is to transform the game into Virtual Reality game where players envision themselves as the character in the game, running away from the monsters from the mountains. The player will be placed in a free falling setting from the beginning of the game, and challenge themselves by taking steps to their right or left to avoid obstacles or pick up powerups.

Future Improvements

Another improvement that I can make was a suggestion given by Teacher Dennis in class, where he mentioned that the 2D Collider object of each of the characters can just be limited to their legs instead of the whole body, which makes the game play smoother and more navigable.

Conclusion

With the creation of Falling From Above, I have learnt many new skills including drawing the characters pixel by pixel from scratch using Adobe Photoshop and picking up a new language C#. I have also learnt how to navigate through the vast functionalities that the Unity platform has to offer, and would have to say that these six weeks of coding experience is a challenging yet accomplishing one as our team saw the progress of the game from nothing to what it is today.

Citations:

Four Affordances In Details

https://inventingthemedium.com/four-affordances/

[mys123]

A New Code of Ethics for Game Design

Today games form part of everyday life, people of all ages and walks of life now have access to games like never. Due to this the industry has seen a rise in profits, in 2016 the industry was valued at over $99.6 billion and is predicted to appreciate in value over the coming years(Newzoo Games Market Research, 2016) An unprecedented audience is being exposed to the materials produced by companies around the world. However, there is a lack of clear delineation between target markets. “The average age of someone who plays games is 35 years old” (Computer and Game, 2015), but these games are being played by people of all ages - including young impressionable people. As such the games industry has a moral duty to protect those at risk of harm from exposure to inappropriate content.

  Game designers produce a piece of content which will be played by gamers of different ages, races, religions and genders. This is a wide demographic, and while it is impossible to create a game which will be enjoyable for all, it is important to recognise that a game could contain aspects deemed offensive or disrespectful to others. A game designer is faced with many decisions as to which features of their game should be included to bolster profits and which pieces should be excluded to avoid damaging the games marketability.  To protect the game production companies and the individual designers it could be beneficial to produce a code of governing ethics which gives moral guidance as to whether a game should be exploring certain topics and to hold accountable the companies who choice to produce games which are grossly inappropriate for general consumption. This response will cover alternative codes of ethics that could be adopted in the context of Game design to offer an easier way to aid designers when having to maneuverer their way around various issues with regards to sensitive content they want to create.

  Given the wide age range of a target audience, the companies producing games must consider whether a games’ content is too graphic or harsh to be viewed by its intended audience.  The current principles dictate they “Strive to create content appropriate for our stated audience”(International Game Developers Association (IGDA), 2015).

  Some games companies have run into problems when releasing their content to the market. An Example of this is the release of postal 2, which was subsequently banned by the UK government “because of gory violence”(GRIFFITHS, 2015). Another case like this includes the ban of RapePlay by amazon, refusing to sell the game to the UK market through their website. This type of game is an example of freedom of expression taken to its limits by introducing the public to a rape simulator. Games such as rape simulator bring to question the current code of ethics intended for use by developers.

 Current ethics give no obvious or outlined boundaries to what exactly can be created by a designer. It leaves the designers open to explore their content but at the same time it raises the question, are there some areas that we should be addressing? When the lines between reality and game become blurred the risk of negative outcomes increases such as increase in child violence and mental health(Kirsh, 2003). While there should be a freedom to create, games have a responsibility to protect society from undue harm and pain. Therefore, a code of ethics should be created to dictate that in the event where games such as ‘GTA V’, where reality and games come together should be treated with great responsibility.

  When looking at many other situations, where ethics would come into play, one that stands out among the rest and the most obvious, is medicine. Where decisions and ethics take centre stage in all decision making within wards and surgeries around the world. Looking more closely at the ethics of medicine identifies four core principles making up their ethical code, they are: autonomy, which is decision making of the patient. Beneficence, balancing benefit versus risk, non-maleficence avoiding the causation of harm and justice, distributing the benefit risk and cost fairly. Taking each of these four core principles as they are and extrapolating them to the games industry sees these codes can also serve a purpose within the games industry too.

 ·         Non-maleficence – not exposing the game players to harm several studies have looked at the influence of violent video games on young people exposed to them

 ·         Beneficence – wanting to provide entertainment to the gamer additionally some game developers have claimed their games allow players to explore concepts virtually thus preventing them from doing so in their everyday lives such as violence and criminal activities

·         Autonomy – respecting the player and their freedom to choose to play the game, the parents of young “at risk” individuals carry a role in policing their children’s game play however these parents often do not understand the content of the game and the implications to their children hence a stringent rating system should be given to games to allow parents to better protect their children. However, a recent publication published by Ofcom suggests that “the majority of those aged 25-44 now play games to some extent”(Ofcom, 2016) as such we should be able to produce mature content targeted at this audience.

 ·         Justice – while we have the responsibility of protecting society from exposure to inappropriate materials there is the designer to consider game design is not only a form of entertainment but the designers’ expression of a concept. In that dragon cancer- the designers were not aiming to create a fun game but to channel the pain of the loss of their child and produce an piece of art, to educate others. A game such as this should not be held to same constrictions as a game made solely for player entertainment such as GTA.

  These four codes of ethics present the medical community with strict guidelines to safeguard their patients. So too it should be the responsibility of employees of the games industry to deliver products that will not harm their audiences in a way that could affect them both emotionally and/ or mentally. By providing these, four principles, extrapolated from the medical world to be used in the gaming industry could mean that Designers, artists and coders would have a more outlined and specific guideline during and after creating and releasing content for the public around the world.  

  Looking more in depth at the game RapePlay in the context of our newly proposed code of ethics, the simulator enables players to experience a simulation of the life of “sexual perverts” in which they gain rewards for successfully raping women (Kingston, no date). Non-maleficence – This game would inevitable trigger anybody with PTSD and rape survivors in its graphic portrayal of rape. Beneficence – the game does not appear to offer any kind of benefit to society except that it might provide some players enjoyment. Gamifying this unacceptable act is a step towards desensitizing players and subsequently increasing its acceptance within our society. Autonomy – The player has made the choice to play a game which is of a very mature nature and as such we could argue that it is an informed decision and thus those at risk of being emotionally triggered could choose not to play. Justice – we should be giving equal opportunity to play any game we so wish that we are willing to purchase. However, the grounding of this argument is that by allowing a game such as this on to the market, we are exposing gamers to the opportunity of stumbling upon it and deciding to give it a go.

  Furthermore, having carefully referred to these four codes of ethics the prospective developer should ultimately decide whether risk outweighs the benefit. In this game, the benefits of it are enjoying the game, whereas the risk as mentioned above is more serious and could cause lasting effects, therefore it would not be likely to be approved through our proposed code of ethics.

  In contrast to the game discussed previously an example of a game that would be acceptable by the proposed ethical codes is Minecraft. The games intended audience is for the younger generation, which means that anybody can play this game. Ethically this game poses no risk to its intended audience. The game contains limited real life resemblance and everything within it is staged within a fictional universe. The nature of the game means players must harness the available resources to survive. This includes gathering resources such as stone and wood to craft them into tools. In certain situations, the game creates challenge by spawning monsters, forcing players to defend themselves against harm however the action of killing is undereducated with a lack of any blood, gore or graphic imagery.

  Players are given the opportunity to create and to build fantastical structures. Due to the games logic, players have been known to create fully working calculators, this is a credit to the games design. This game is a prime example of benefit versus risk and within this example the benefit to society is first and foremost fun and bringing players together. The BBC released an article about Minecraft after its success on the market and came across Christy Wyatt, a mother whose son struggled at school found that her son having Minecraft in common with others, who he normally wouldn’t talk to “brought them together”. Minecraft is a prime example of a game that poses no threat or harm to society. It offers many benefits and is safe for all ages ranges due to its cartoon nature.

  Having given two examples of the extremes on both ends of the spectrum, an example of a game which poses both a concern and a benefit to gamers is GTA V. This game does pose harm to younger individuals who may come into possession of this game. Due to its mature nature content in this game is deemed inappropriate for an audience younger than the age of 18 years old. Within GTA V there are scenes such as those with Trevor Philips (One of three main characters), where he can be seen torturing another person. Such things can be deemed wildly inappropriate by the newly proposed code of ethics and would violate the first principle. However, the whole story of the game and its world revolves around a story of crime, drugs and violence. Under the principle, Autonomy players have the choice of choosing to be what they want to be. However ­­­GTA V “has come under fire for its depictions of torture”(Trotman, 2014) creating turmoil in the media over its content

  Providing the games industry with clearly outlined principles such as the ones proposed in this discussion, could ultimately prove to be an easier, even more defined way of understanding how content being created will affect the intended audience.  Games are becoming more complex and more realistic whilst pushing the boundaries of our technologies limits. It is hard to get away from the fact that now more than ever, more people expect games of certain genres to be just as graphic or if not more than in reality, distorting a true representative of life into entertainment with shock value and excitement. Yet, though this is true it is important to try and keep society safe from technologies’ ability to affect our behaviours and the way we interpret our reality.

   Game developers of course keep in mind that their content must try to conform to rating systems if they are to be sold in that country(Ratliff, 2015). However, despite these government ratings requirements, they do not cover all aspects of the games’ content to a degree, which would prevent content that might trigger players in a harmful manner. Therefore, it is paramount that if a code of ethics, such as the proposed ones in this discussion, were to be implemented instead of the current principles they should also be backed by governments.

  Bibliography

 ·         Computer, A. T. H. E. and Game, V. (2015) ‘ESSENTIAL’. Available at: http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf.

·         GRIFFITHS, M. (2015) Video game bans: the debate about guns, GTA, and real-life violence | The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/video-game-bans-the-debate-about-guns-gta-and-real-life-violence-10057296.html (Accessed: 2 April 2017).

·         International Game Developers Association (IGDA) (2015) Code of Ethics - International Game Developers Association (IGDA). Available at: https://www.igda.org/?page=codeofethics (Accessed: 2 April 2017).

·         Kingston, J. (no date) Japan in transformation, 1945-2010. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=76IuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT159&lpg=PT159&dq=rapePlay+creater+why+did+we+create+the+game&source=bl&ots=kae2jEq2hq&sig=8eynZWgjPx63UKsiSqNA3PTkIyA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6vpjD94XTAhWkA8AKHZuVAWkQ6AEILTAE#v=onepage&q=rapePlay creater why did we create the game&f=false (Accessed: 2 April 2017).

·         Kirsh, S. J. (2003) ‘The effects of violent video games on adolescents The overlooked influence of development’, 8, pp. 377–389. doi: 10.1016/S1359-1789(02)00056-3.

·         Newzoo Games Market Research (2016) The Global Games Market 2016 | Per Region & Segment | Newzoo. Available at: https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-games-market-reaches-99-6-billion-2016-mobile-generating-37/ (Accessed: 2 April 2017).

·         Ofcom (2016) ‘Adults’ media use and attitudes report’, Online, (April), p. 182. Available at: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/media-lit-10years/2015_Adults_media_use_and_attitudes_report.pdf.

·         Ratliff, J. A. (2015) Integrating video game research and practice in library and information science. doi: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8175-0.

·         Trotman, A. (2014) Grand Theft Auto 5 banned by retailer over graphic violence against women - Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11270982/Grand-Theft-Auto-5-banned-by-retailer-over-graphic-violence-against-women.html (Accessed: 2 April 2017).

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[fallingfromaboveget1033-blog]

Reflection Cheng Wun Jing (A0185505A)

Introduction Video games are proof of the amazing advancement in technology where it has developed from 2D to Virtual Reality games. After learning how to code the simple ping pong game on Open Processing platform, we were inspired to create our very own video game. Thus, Falling from Above is a game that we hope can portray what we learnt from the past weeks in class. 

Affordances

Janet Murray says affordances are a concept used in the field of human computer interaction to describe the functional properties of objects or environments that allow for particular uses. Within her definition she states that the digital medium has four affordances that make up every designer’s palette representation in any digital format or genre. They are participatory, spatial, encyclopedic and procedural. (Murray)

A digital medium is defined as a physical way of storing media or archiving it. It can hold data, graphics, audio, and video. Creativity is expressed by the engineers who embraced the prospect of cyborg architectures and technologies that changes the human history of 500 years of print culture. (Murray) This shows that digital medium is extremely flexible where people constantly find new ways to express themselves digitally.

Procedural affordance is where the computer is treated as a procedural medium composed of executable rules. According to Murray, when creating a digital artifact, users can use it in many ways. For example, a book can only be used one way – can only read from first page to last page. The main and most critical difference between digital media and all other forms of media is its procedural element. Participatory affordance is the relationship between any person and any digital object where there is interaction, which means a person has a role to play. This person can manipulate and contribute to the content of the digital medium. Encyclopedic affordance is a digital medium that contains an immense amount of information in various media platforms where it is impossible for people to see it all. Its capacity can range from any kind of media formats and genres to processing any logical representation. Spatial affordance involves information regarding virtual space. It can represent space using maps, images and video but is not a visual representation. (Murray)

Analysis

Falling from Above is a game that is more geared towards Procedural and Participatory. This is because the game consists of scripts that whenever the user clicks on this particular button, there are a procedural set of rules that the computer processes and proceeds to give the respective outputs. For example, when the user clicks on “How to Play” on the main menu, the scripts changes from the main menu scene to the “How to Play” scene and the user can choose what to do from there again. Even in the game scene when the user is playing, whenever the user press on the left or right button, the game is following another set of rules for the animal in the game to move accordingly. This also shows participatory as it needs the user to control the movement of the animal during the game. The user is able to choose the characters in the game and without the user, the game will not be functional. Thus, this game portrays the trait of being more interactive.

The game is definitely less encyclopedic and spatial. This is because the game does not include as much information on multiple media formats as compared to other digital medium such as Facebook. The game has limited navigation where the main menu only has four navigations.

Unity as a platform has characteristics of all of the four affordances strongly. Unity has a strong procedural affordance because it is a platform that is built to facilitate the procedures according to the user’s preferences. There are so many functions in Unity that has their individual set of rules for the computer to follow. There are procedural generation tutorials in Unity where once the user clicks into, a certain set of videos will appear accordingly. The making of a 2D game where there are different scripts to dictate the logic of the game, are all stored in the Unity platform and the software must work step by step in consolidating the scripts and producing the result for the game to function. Thus, high procedural affordance in Unity enable efficient processing and compilation for our game Falling from Above. Unity also has a strong participatory affordance as Unity platform is all about one’s development and creativity of one’s own personalized application or game. The user will develop a game from scratch and he or she can easily control how the game works, how it looks and what it does. Unity has a flexible and open-minded environment for user to explore creatively. For Falling from Above, we were able to creatively think of a storyline and based on the exact story, design the game according to it. Moreover, Unity includes many information such as tutorials on many different types of coding, forums and threads for people to share information and consists of information of the technology that the software can utilize. For example, they have readily available information on real-time revolution, multiplayer services and PiXYZ software. This shows that Unity has a strong encyclopedic affordance. For Falling from Above, we needed to go on forums to debug our codes, watch the respective and relevant tutorials to code the scripts and all these resources are available on Unity platform itself. Unity’s website and software also shows how organized they are in allowing the users to navigate easily and finding information quickly. The platform not only uses words but also uses many images and videos to explain certain information to the users. Thus, Unity has a strong spatial affordance.

Written, Visual and Procedural Rhetoric

Written rhetoric is a technique of using language in written form to persuade, convince or influence an audience. Visual rhetoric is a means of communication through the use of visual images and texts. Procedural rhetoric can bring about a concept that explains rules and processes not simply through the use of words or visuals but through the processes. For games, procedural rhetoric conveys a particular ideology and portray a rule based on representations and interactions. It is also where core concepts deal with rhetoric as means of learning through rules and processes. Procedural rhetoric is different from Murray’s definition of procedural in the sense where procedural rhetoric refers to the core practice of software authorship which means the algorithms that model the way things behave and not so much to have the ability to execute a series of rules. (Bogost)

Analysis

In Falling from Above, written rhetoric is shown through the “How to Play” scene where instructions on how the game works were stated in text such as the points accumulated and how to break the land or tiles. Visual Rhetoric is illustrated through the same platform in images of the land or tiles and through the images of the characters. On the second scene of “How to Play”, the different food was also shown to the users instead of being in the word form. Procedural rhetoric is portrayed through the difficulty levels depending on the weight of the animals. The three different animals are elephant, lion and turtle. The weights are clearly differentiated where the elephant is the heaviest followed by the lion and lastly the turtle. Hence, the elephant will fall faster than the other two animals. It can be inferred that the elephant has the highest difficulty level with the fastest speed and the turtle is the easiest level with the slowest speed. The script for the coding of the speed for the individual animals is the algorithm that determines the gameplay.

Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Tangible User Interface (TUI)

GUIs let users see digital information only through a screen where users can interact with through remote controls such as mouse, keyboards and a touch screen. GUI represent information (bits) through pixels on bit-mapped displays. (Ishii)

Analysis

Falling from Above uses GUI to conduct the game. The game works on Microsoft Window, MAC OSX and android which are GUIs and allows the use of the screen to interact with the keyboard. When the game is being played on a computer, the controls needed are a screen, keyboard and a mouse. When the game is played on a phone, it uses the touch screen function of a mobile. All of which has no direct interaction and engagement from the digital world to the physical world.

TUI builds upon our dexterity by embodying digital information in physical space. (Ishii) There are games that were implemented using TUI from WOWCube. For instance, a 2x2x2 Rubik’s Cube consists of eight identical elements working as a whole and streamlined gaming processes such as mazes. It is based on a mixed reality approach which combines twisting and shaking the cube in reality with digital actions. (Revolvy, n.d.)

Figure 1 https://www.revolvy.com/page/WOWCube

Future Versions/ Improvements/ New abilities of Computer

For Falling from Above game, I feel that it is possible to implement TUI instead of GUI through a similar concept from WOWCube. If the game was in a 3D physical form, it would be in the shape of a cylinder and consists of 2 segments where it could rotate right or left. This would serve as the controls for the movement of the animals to move left or right as they fall through digital actions. Breaking the land or tile would require a shaking action of the entire cylinder.

Other improvements could be to include Virtual Reality elements where the player themselves would be the animals. The player will be dropping down the sky and instead of breaking the tiles or lands, they must land on the tile or land so that they will not lose the game. In order to do so, they have to run and jump either right or left to land correctly. The food that the animal collects in Falling from Above is something the player can also collect where durian make them loses points to the score and other food allows them to add points to the score. In the virtual reality game, an element that could be added is someone chasing them from above. This adds excitement for the user where the idea of being chased continuously feels so real in the virtual reality environment that it creates an adrenaline rush.

Similar Projects

Crossy Road is a similar game to Falling from Above in terms of the concept which is to continue playing for an endless series of roads and obstacles as far as possible without dying. For Crossy Road, the player must tap to go forward or swipe the screen left or right to avoid obstacles such as trees and cars. For Falling from Above, the player has to avoid hitting the durian and has to clear the obstacles which in this case are the land or tiles by swiping the screen right or left or pressing the keyboard buttons.

However, Falling from Above added twists such as accumulating power points from food. Collecting food increases power points for the animal to be able to break the land or tiles. Moreover, users also have to take note and avoid the durian fruit as the durian fruit will decrease the power point. There are more elements added to the game in hopes to instill a pinch of thrill and excitement among users during the game. Thus, attract users to play the game continuously. The game is also more difficult as the added elements requires users to react quickly to the changes.

  Bibliography  

Bogost. (n.d.). Procedural Rhetoric.

Ishii, H. (n.d.). Radical Atoms: Beyond Tangible  Bits, Toward Transformabel Materials.

Murray, J. H. (n.d.). Inventing the Medium .

Revolvy. (n.d.). Retrieved from  https://www.revolvy.com/page/WOWCube