#also no nuance because this is actually a very simple question and “it depends” falls into yes

[mdhwrites]

Why Can I Say So Much About The Owl House?

I effectively got asked this on Twitter and A: If not for all of yours asks, I probably would not even half of the blogs I do about TOH, if not closer to a tenth. B: I’m an analytical person, like talking about things like this and writing is my passion. Above all else is C though. The writers of TOH obviously know what a good story looks like... But they don’t know WHY it looks that way. They understand that character arcs are good so the more character arcs, the better. They understand that rivals to lovers is a great archtype ripe with storytelling possibilities but also that people complain about couples only getting together at the end. It understands that fantasy tropes are mocked so it’s good to mock them or lampshade our own use of them instead of asking if that mocking is in good faith. This one especially rings true for this concept to me because of how many times the show will try to claim they’re not using a fantasy trope before going “OH! We actually NEED to use the trope to make our story function, almost like the thing we’re mocking is actually just a part of fantasy storytelling as much as it’s a trope.” It’s very much so a “What do idiots on Twitter complain about” method of learning writing. You learn it by what people criticize as much as you learn by what is praised. The Cinema Sins approach effectively where there’s no nuance. The point is to attack every ‘problem’ you can claim in a product mixed with the question of “What do people praise the most about Avatar?” And for a simple story... That can work. It’s part of why S1 works. In general, S1′s storytelling is very much so nothing special but it’s done with charm and confidence. The only problem is that the show is setting itself up for larger topics, themes, concepts, etc. that it also isn’t prepared to tackle at the same time because there’s not enough thought put into each element so that they don’t contradict each other. Or, for that matter, function as a whole instead of disparate parts. From a narrative standpoint, this is a NIGHTMARE. You’re in effectively a narrative uncanny valley where all the elements for a good story are there but the skill of the writers, their priorities, etc. like that are NOT equipped to cash the checks their pencils are writing. It’s effectively a mindset that will ALWAYS have a crash happen narratively where things just fall apart and you’re going to divide audience the second that happens depending on where they land on the twin sides of the Uncanny Valley. And while ruinous for a story... It’s amazing from the standpoint of a teaching perspective. Most bad works after all have a core rot to them. Their main character is bad, the concept from go is flawed, the writing is just atrocious, etc. like that. Most have works one or two glaring flaws that tank the rest of the work, or that rot is purely in the form of lack of effort and it’s just boring with little to even care enough about to analyze. TOH IS different in that way. There is obviously a lot of love put into it. A lot of passion and a lot of confidence. It understands ALL of the tropes that work well for the type of story it’s trying to tell. On paper, TOH actually has a really good story and the different elements have a lot of potential for different ways for that story to go. But you need to know WHY those elements are useful for the story being told. If you don’t... You’re making a stew without the meat. There is no core flavor because you’ve shoved everything into it regardless of if it clashes, if it needs to be prepared in a certain way to work, if it needs to be cooked in an entirely different way before being added, etc. like that. It can’t even really have any real inventiveness to it like using bread as a scoop because it’s checking boxes. It’s saying “X is liked so we do X.” You need to know the why before you can give a unique answer to the problem that X solves or the like. This is probably why things most praised about TOH are titles. Swap Luz for a guy and how much changes, especially since Luz is bi? But because Luz is female, she’s heralded as part of a new wave of female protagonists that she is nowhere near the start of. Amity could have been an asshole dude and not much changes with her either but making her female as well gets you titled as the first openly gay, Disney TV cartoon (which god if that’s not a lot of caveats). It’s stuff that is frankly more easily answered in a panel than ever on screen because they’re elements that don’t matter to the show, as much I appreciate it for inclusive. It’s not an LGBTQIA+ story though. It only happens to have those characters. It’s not a story about race and ethnicity and being an outcast, Luz just happens to be Afro-Latina and no one rejects her simply for who she is. It’s not a story about gender because the show steadfastly refused to say racism and bigotry exist outside of just being a part of how we know the bad guys are bad people. It wants to be praised for these elements, it wants to appear smart about and unique for having them... But it’s a basic fantasy story at the end of the day. It’s none of these other things and it hardly wants to be any of them, even as it also won’t commit to just being another fantasy story. And... I guess that is kind of the personal motivation behind this. I LIKE basic fantasy stories. I LOVE fantasy as a genre in general. I think it gets WAY too much shit and that people try way too hard to claim to not be like other fantasy stories, either with gratuitous sex and nudity (Hi Game of Thrones) or constant subversion like The Owl House. TOH giving a middle finger to its genre though, while also not being willing to actually commit the proper care and attention to be something more complex is INFURIATING to me as a writer. I mean... I’m still angry just from a conceptual standpoint that Reaching Out has this setup:

Character A is normally brash and impulsive and energetic. Due to issues with their father, they are acting more reserved, scared and cautious, specifically because he DIED. Character B is normally more reserved, cautious and thinks things through. Due to issues with their father, they are acting more brash, impulsive and putting themselves in danger to prove themselves. And they’re dating. And Reaching Out does NOTHING with what is narrative GOLD. What is usually so hard to setup in a story because you want to show these sorts of contrasts, you want these sorts of changes of pace, you want this sort of reasonable, unreasonable conflict sources because they are such perfect ways to show how characters interact with their own problems, with others, what other sides of them can look like, etc. like that, LET ALONE WHEN THE TWO ARE IN A COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP! And the whole episode the two aren’t actually different from their normal behaviors, including Luz lying since that’s not new behavior for her, outside of Luz showing that despite death and loss being on her mind, she doesn’t give a fuck about that Amity is actively putting her life potentially at risk in this tournament. She literally gets BORED watching Amity fight and so joins herself for the sake of a distraction. Which... Different blog. I’ve made my point on how misguided these writers are but GOD there’s so many reasons why Reaching Out is one of the worst episodes of the series in my opinion. But that is also an example of what I’m talking about. They are trying a LOT. And failing a LOT. And instead of being really basic failures, figuring out what went wrong is an interesting puzzle and it’s understandable why some may not see the flaws, unlike with a more blatantly bad work like The Room or Teen Titans Go. Talking about either of those would be boring and almost pointless because... Look at them. Their flaws are so obvious and blunt and simple that you could teach with them but it’s not exciting and you’re going to run dry pretty quickly because neither ambitious enough not to be making the same mistakes over and over and over again. And for someone who’s brain NEVER turns off... I find ambition that obliterates itself far more compelling than something that is just straightforwardly bad. So I want to talk about it. Talk about the whys that the writers didn’t get. ======== I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[katebishopofearth]

20 questions for 20 writers

tagged by @wheelsup-sevenup

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 69 (nice 😏)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 317,923

3. What fandoms do you write for? Marvel (mostly ironwidow) and Our Flag Means Death. I have some Clexa fics from back in the day but haven't written for the fandom in years.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? i'm kinda surprised by these but i guess that older fics and multichapter fics have more time to accumulate kudos? - Something Worth Living For (2498 kudos) - A Night of Drunken Revelry (564 kudos) - iron masks and spider kisses (534 kudos) - Broken (485 kudos) - The Art of Taking a Blade (461 kudos)

5. Do you respond to comments? YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. I try to reply to every comment because each one is literally the best part of my day.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oof. The shit I've put Natasha through lol. Probably falling. which is Natasha reflecting on her life as she falls to her death on Vormir. dream. is also up there, it's about kid!Natasha learning to love Yelena as a sister.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? "happiest" is not quantifiable lmao. In the context of canon, maybe Something Worth Living For, it was cathartic and healing to give Clarke and Lexa their happy ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yup it's happened a handful of times, luckily few and far between, but they always feel like getting a splinter stuck in my skin for days afterwards.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've written light smut of the sapphic variety. I'm ace so smut is never about the sex for me, it's about character dynamics, power and intimacy. For example, the (non-explicit) sex scene in iron masks and spider kisses is about Toni baring her deepest secrets to Natasha and letting herself be vulnerable with her, and Natasha's acceptance of Toni's scars and past.

10. Do you write crossovers? Nope. My brain doesn't work that way.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I think that some of my very early ironwidow fics have ended up on Wattpad :/

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yup I've written a few early ironwidow fics for a challenge waaaaaay back in 2014, with the talented @auripigmentum, @kuailongs and SatinSatire. They helped me find my footing with writing ironwidow: Chemical Reaction (Tony gets kidnapped, Nat comes to his rescue), Never Simple (Natasha finds out secrets about her own past, angst ensues), and Good Intentions (speakeasy era AU that still lives in my head rent-free)

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? i'd be lying if i said anything other than ironwidow. It's the ship I keep coming back to for over a decade.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh god. The teen vigilante Avengers AU I was writing in 2014. Idk if it'll ever see the light of day but it was my all-consuming pride and joy for months.

16. What are your writing strengths? idk, you tell me. probably putting characters through angsty situations lmao. Also action scenes (thank u Warrior Cats).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? actually writing lmao. It's hard to get into the mood/mindest for writing. Also writing multichapter fics – my attention span isn't built for anything longer than a 5+1.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I rarely do this because I know that code-mixing (mixing two or more languages when speaking) is incredibly nuanced, varying depending on language, context, and individual speakers. I pretty much only do this when the character canonically code-mixes in speech, and I try to stick to how they would speak, in order to sound as natural as possible.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Warrior Cats when I was about 12 on deviantart. Good times.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Oh MAN. It's hard to choose a favourite child. I don't think this is my most well-written fic, but the question is asking for a favourite fic not a well-written one, and it's probably iron masks and spider kisses. I loved exploring fem!Toni, and her relationship with her gender and femininity. It's a specific flavour of ironwidow that I haven't found in many other fics (tho there are a couple out there that definitely influenced how i wrote this fic). It's also truly a labour of love – I started writing this around the time Endgame was coming out, and wrote it over a time of enormous change, angst and upheaval in my life.

This was so much fun! I love talking about my writing haha and sharing older fics.

Tagging: @queeenpersephone @autumnwoodsdreamer @missmacfire also i'm realising that i don't remember which of my mutuals is a writer (it's 1 am u can't blame me for this) so if you're a writer – especially if you're on the OFMD fic server – consider yourself tagged!

[slowlyreadinghouseofmirth]

Page 7

In truth, he had never liked her as well as at that moment -> Selden's affections here are plain to see, made so especially by subordinate clause 'in truth' which conveys an honesty and freshness about his feelings. Most importantly, he likes her when she is being her true self, unconventional, and willing to take risk. It's likely informed by his disillusion with high society and finding commonality in someone willing to disregard its etiquette. This is where Lily is unique.

There's also this sense that Selden likes Lily because she is impulsive and this sparks his curiosity to try and understand why she does the things she does-- understand Lily as a person.

He knew she had accepted without afterthought: -> This reaffirms Lily's lack of hesitancy, which alludes to how willing she is to be in Selden's company. It also shows how comfortable she is with him as she is aware of the rumours that could occur but never merits them with being a possibility, showing great trust.

Alternatively, being aware of the risks and having not afterthoughts could suggest that she doesn't fully understand the risks' depth and nuance as in future the situation at Monte Carlo would suggest, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

he could never be a factor in her calculations -> there's a colon that separates this clause from the previous one which suggests this is an explanation for Lily's certainty. To me this would point more towards Lily not really associating the risk of rumours with Selden because she trusts him so much. i.e she does not think of him when she thinks of the risks. But given that they are going up to his apartment it seems strange that Selden would not think himself a factor in her decision. It's therefore possible that he thinks that Lily does not think of him worthy of great consideration.

Also the noun 'calculations' would suggest a lot of thought had gone into the decision where it was previously implied it was one of impulse. This seems like Selden thinks that Lily is playing an intricate game, which further demonstrates his curiosity about her and need to understand her.

there was a surprise, a refreshment almost, in the spontenaity of her consent -> This further contrasts Selden's perception of Lily's 'calculations' and I think the narration is a fine weave between objective reality--where Lily is impulsive-- and Selden's subjective perceptions-- where Lily appears impulsive but there is something more complex informing her decisions. I think this is meant to show that Selden is blinded somewhat by his affections for Lily, seeing things deeper than what are there or what everybody else sees. Alternatively, we as the reader lack Selden's sight into the complexities of Lily and so she is introduced to us as other people see her, which isn't well at all, and we have to learn how Selden sees her. It's a challenge to care for Lily as he does.

The spontaneity invokes a light hearted and refreshing feeling of being in love which mirrors the honest of truth mentioned earlier.

So there's Selden's surprise at Lily being so spontaneous which draws back to a previous point about she is unique for being impulsive almost reckless. It's like we get a sense of her character and her environment from how the two are at odds with each other. Lily is impulsive; noone else of her class should be like that. In a way that makes her free from the system and yet shows her struggle against it but ultimately her struggle will be more defining.

She noticed the letters and notes heaped on the table -> I assume that this is a reference to future letters although I don't know if they would be the same ones. If they were, I don't even have the mental capacity to unpack that. Just the thought that Lily's fall is inevitable, that even when she is happy, having a nice time, an unknown omen lurks within the same room that will bring her sorrow... oh its symbolic, for sure. But I don't want to think about it.

Lily sank into one of the shabby leather chairs -> the verb 'sank' shows how at home Lily really is with this kind of surroundings, how the shabby whilst not fashionable or expensive, is comfortable. From this we and the the pile of letters we get an image of a a slightly disorderly but well-lived in home. This is one of the tragedies where we see the possibility of what her future with Selden could look like where it is unconventional but Lily is comfortable at home even with it.

"How delicious to have a place like this all to oneself! What a miserable thing it is to be a woman," -> I love Lily's exaggerated turns of phrases like 'delicious' and the exclamations; I think Wharton's emphasis on these exaggerations is to capture Lily's innocence through her speech by making it similar to that of a child who is easily excitable.

Again with the exaggeration but this time with 'miserable', we get the sense that Lily has found the world difficult as a woman to live in but miserable seems too strong of a word, certainly at this stage in the book and is sort of hidden within her other hyperbolised expressions. Maybe this creates a kind of cry-wolf situation where, when Lily properly starts to struggle, people don't take notice not only because it wasn't the done thing to do to talk about struggles but also because of her melodramatic personality, everyone thought the same stuff was happening as it had before and Lily was making a big fuss over nothing.

There is repetition of 'miserable' in association to being of female sex further down the page which is another example of Lily's melodrama. But at this point we as a modern audience start to question if she is actually alright (or at least I did). I'm not sure if a contempary audience if the time would have given the strict taboo over discussing any kind of struggle financial/physical health etc. let alone the discussion of mental health. From the impression I get of the time, the only real source of outlet for people struggling with mental health beyond self medication was art, which makes me wonder as to the position Wharton is writing this from.

she leaned back in a luxury of discontent -> The juxtaposition of 'luxury' and 'discontent' raises an important theme that wealth does not equate happiness and that Lily is not happy as a socialite but happy in the company of Selden, and that actually money is the source of Lily's unhappiness. In this specific context, she is lamenting her lack of freedom to live the lifestyle that Selden does.

"Even women," he said "Have been know to enjoy the privaledges of a flat." -> Putting the discourse marker directly after the subject of 'women' breaks it apart from the rest of the sentence and emphasises the extraordinariness of women being able to live independently. But it also raises the possibility of it and suggests that Selden thinks Lily is extraordinary and unconventional enough to achieve the possibility if she chose to.

"Oh governesses– or widows. But not girls– not poor, miserable, marriageable girls!" -> Again we have the breakdown of womanhood into distinct classes like governess, widows, and girls,which creates the idea that there's no intersections between any of them and is a reflection of of societies fixation for categorisation which loses sight the complexity of situations and problems. And it also makes it easier to place social stigmas like those on governesses and widows. Those stigmas are made apparent here but in contrast to how Lily describes girls, being a governess or a widow seems desirable.

In the list of adjectives 'poor, miserable, marriageable', marriageable is equated to these other adjectives and we see that Lily associates marriage with a poverty of kind, of the heart.

It's also interesting that Lily talks about herself as a girl where Selden speaks of her as a woman. Lily plays up her innocence as she has probably been taught to to make desirable marital match, but with that Lily carries around an air of immaturity and naïvity; she's still very child-like. Perhaps that's a part of her that's trying to cling to her youth so she doesn't have to face her future where she will need to marry to survive. Lily sees her adulthood as a constraint on her and her desires whereas Selden sees her potential.

"you mean Gerty Farish," she smiled a little unkindly. "But I said marriageable–" -> Okay so definitely a little tone deaf on Lily's part buts she's honest to a fault and her honesty is refreshing and entertaining.

I'm no expect on autism and don't claim to be but there's something about Lily's mannerisms here that reminds me of people who I know and am very close with who are autistic. And it makes me wonder if Lily was autistic and neurodivergence was recognised in her time if her fate would have been any different.

"Her cook does the washing and her food tastes if soup. I should hate that you know." -> I just love the imagery of the first sentence, it strikes my funnybone. I guess it also illustrates that Lily's privileged upbringing if she thinks this is a bad situation to live in.

Okay I'm going to bring in a bit of a technical term to describe the verb 'should'. So it's a modal verb (expressing possibility based on context) but specifically a deontic modal verbal, meaning that Lily's hate depends on social rules. When she says she should hate it it implies that society wants her to hate it but she wouldn't necessarily hate it. That's what that verb phrase implies in today's english, but language has changed since the time it was written so it may not have been written with this meaning, especially as a signifier of an older text is the use of modal verbs in places we wouldn't today and a lot more of them.

The shift from Selden's reflections to the quick dialogue and short simple sentences of action creates a lively and charged atmosphere that feels almost flirtatious in its rhythm but by the nature of the content is more domestic (preparing afternoon tea). The balanced turn taking feels comfortable in that they both have equal power in the conversation, being allowed to say what they want to and being listened to. It goes towards simulating what a possible future could be and also shows how happy they are in this moment.

[wisteria-lodge]

Character Analysis: Sorting The Old Guard

@sortinghatchats has a brilliant personality/character analysis system based on the four Hogwarts houses. At this point it’s become much more interesting and nuanced, which is part of why I’m moving away from using the names of the houses.

Here’s how it works. Everyone gets two houses – a Primary House and a Secondary House

YOUR PRIMARY IS YOUR MOTIVE. IT’S WHY YOU DO THINGS.

LION Primary’s sense of morality and ethics comes from inside. Things just feel right or they feel wrong.

BIRD Primary gets their morality and ethics from the world outside them. They decide what they think is right.

BADGER Primary is focused on the good of the group. Who cares if something is technically “moral” if people are getting hurt?

SNAKE Primary is a lot like Badger, but instead of protecting the group, their highest law is the well-being of the individual people they love.

YOUR SECONDARY IS YOUR METHOD. IT’S HOW YOU DO THINGS.

LION Secondary gets their power from being direct, honest, completely themselves. Their “plan” is just keep going until someone stops them. If they see a locked door, they kick it in.

BIRD Secondary collects tools and skills. They build things, find things, learn things. If they see a locked door, they go through their box of keys until they find the right one.

BADGER Secondary is fair, hardworking, and shows up. They’re good at getting people to trust them, and good at getting people to help them. If they see a locked door, they knock.

SNAKE Secondary knows the right mask to wear for each situation. They’re adaptive. They go in the back way. They find the third option.  They’re the ones who know how to pick the locks.

And now let’s talk about The Old Guard. Also, SPOILERS.

***

Nile Freeman is a bright Badger primary, defined by her groups. “I’ve got people who love me,” is the first thing she tells the team. And follows that up with, “I’m a Marine.” We meet her in uniform, part of a squad. Getting back to her family is her main motivation. (And it’s a “my family” thing - not a “my mom” or “my brother” thing.) Family continuity and family history mean everything to Nile, and that’s so Badger. Religion is also used as visual shorthand for “Badger” a lot, and Nile’s got her cross necklace. And she doesn’t want to kill people. Doesn’t matter if they’re the bad people who killed her, they’re still people. Badgers can’t ignore that.

Nile’s challenge is figuring out a way to separate from her family (and become an immortal commando) while still keeping her healthy, shining Badger intact. And she does it by expanding. It’s not just about protecting America and her family anymore. She looks at the wall outlining all the good the Old Guard has done, and her community expands to include them, and all of humanity.

She’s definitely got a Lion secondary. Yes, she’s willing to run into the villain’s stronghold with a bag of guns and not much plan - but this is an action movie, that stuff is kinda a given. I’m thinking more about when she has to lie and say her miraculous healing factor is an experimental skin graft – she hates doing it, she’s so bad at it, you can see her skin crawl. Nile is powerful when she is able to just lay out what she believes. People like Agent Copley and the Afghani women just feel the honesty and conviction bleeding off her, and come around to her way of thinking. 

Nile also has a Bird secondary model. Smashing down walls isn’t appropriate all the time, so a lot of Lion secondaries learn to use one of the mellower secondaries as backup. Nile’s Bird is subtle, but it’s there. She applies her anti-militant training to the situation, and thinks they should “follow the money.” She can identify a Rodin sculpture across a dark cave. And she spends a while trying to reason away the fact that she’s immortal (considering hypnosis, drug trips, all that fun stuff.)

Andromache the Scythian aka “Andy” is also a Badger primary. But a very old, very tired, very burnt one. She’s been protecting humanity for about ten thousand years, and she feels all the people she wasn’t able to save. Andy starts off the film doubting whether any of it mattered, if she was actually able to protect her community at all. Because she can’t protect everyone, she is forced to shrink that community down. She can protect Nile, Joe, Nicky, and Booker – and that has to be enough.

The situation with Quyhn is a good look at the sort of darkness that can live inside a Badger Primary. Because Andy stopped looking. She could have spent hundreds of years pouring money and time into finding Quyhn - and neglected the rest of her team, and by extension humanity. But Andy’s a Badger primary. That’s not a thing she can do.

(A Snake primary would never have stopped. Someone like Nicky would burn the world, if that’s what it took to get Joe back.)

If your preferred weapon is an ax or a hammer, then you’re a Lion secondary. That’s just how it works. You are too direct and too smashy to be anything else. Ms. “I always go first” Andy, leader of the group she thinks of as an army? Even when she’s discouraged and exhausted, her Lion secondary is still so loud. She has a bit of a Bird secondary model: she sets up rules like “we don’t do repeats, it’s too risky,” and establishes code words linked to specific maneuvers. But you can tell she’s a little uncomfortable with that kind of thinking. She wants to hit things with an ax and give inspirational speeches. And also threaten people.

Which means that Andy and Nile match perfectly. They are both Badger Lions with Bird secondary models. And that makes perfect sense. Nile was “born” at the same time Andy lost her immortality. They are both warriors. Nile is the one who will “go first,” when Andy isn’t able to anymore. She’s the one who gets Andy’s ax at the end. She’s the new Andy. Andy’s redemption comes with waking her Badger primary up, and training a replacement. Or as she puts it, “I think you showed up when I lost my immortality so I could remember what it was like (…) that there are people still worth fighting for.”

Nicolò di Genova aka “Nicky” fights for Joe. It really is that simple. His backstory tells you everything you need to know: he fought in the Crusades until he fell in love with a Muslim, and had to choose. On one hand - religion, country, job, society, security. On the other hand - the man he loves. For Nicky the answer is obvious. Because he is such a Snake primary.

As long as he’s with Joe, he’s fine. Agent Copley is trying to explain himself, Nicky doesn’t care. “I’m sure you’re bringing us to the person who paid for your betrayal. There’s a TV [on this plane] Joe!” The villains can talk all they want about the greater good and moral imperatives and changing the world. Nicky is just bored. “A fine justification. I’ve heard it so many times before.” None of that stuff matters to him.

His secondary is harder to spot, underneath the really loud primary and the really loud Lion secondary model. But I think I see a Badger secondary. Nicky’s a caretaker. He brings Andy her favorite candy, sets up Nile for the night and shows her where to sleep. Joe says that Nicky’s heart “overflows with a kindness of which this world is not worthy,” and I get that they’re in love, but that’s still some serious character testimony. I’m also going to throw in the fact that Nicky’s a sniper. Being a sniper is not like hitting things with an ax. It’s all about getting in place and being careful and patient. Badger secondary traits.

Yusuf Al-Kaysani aka “Joe” actually takes the time to lay out rules he lives by. Which is interesting, because the only other people in this film who do that are the villains. Those guys are not motivated by personal loyalty: they’re either Lion or Bird primaries motivated by “the greater good.” The Old Guard is a very Loyalist movie. When we get our big Theme Scene, the French shopgirl tells us, “Today I put this on your wound. Tomorrow you help someone up when they fall. We’re not meant to be alone.” That’s the ethos of the movie. It’s very Badger.

Joe gets how Badger Primaries work. He gets Andy, and the best example of this is when he comforts her by saying Quyhn “would be insane” by now. He’s basically saying, “you don’t have a responsibility to her the way you have to the rest of us, because she’s not really a person anymore.” It’s dark, but so is Andy, and that line of reasoning would make sense to a Badger primary.

Joe also understands Nicky’s Snake primary. He  knows he’s Nicky’s world, and he never stops demonstrating that. He has Nicky’s back when they fight (Nicky passes things over his shoulder without looking). He has Nicky’s back when they sleep (as the big spoon). He learned Italian for Nicky, and when Nicky is freaked, Joe just shows up with that “his kiss still thrills me, even after a millennia” speech. But that speech is also him explaining his worldview to the guards, the same way he bothers to tell them, “You shot Nicky. You shouldn’t have done that.”

When Nile asks, “Are you good guys or bad guys?” Joe responds, “Depends on the century.” He is interested in those large moral questions, and the answer he has decided on is a combination of Andy’s Badger morality, and Nicky’s Snake morality.

And to go with that really complicated Primary, I think Joe really is just a straightforward Lion secondary (another reason he gets Andy). I mean... he literally headbutts people. 

Sebastian “Booker” Le Livre, whose nickname is a very silly pun, is the most vaguely drawn character. I’m not sure if he turns Nicky and Joe over to Merrick because he wants to die, or because he wants to find a way to help Andy die. Or both. But either way, he is a very burnt Snake primary.

Booker seems to be the only one who kept up contact with his family after learning he was immortal. As a result, he got to watch his son die painfully with “hate and despair in [his] eyes,” blaming his father for not loving him enough to save him. It’s been about 150 years, but Booker is not over this.

That is a very Snake primary love, and when it comes down to it, Booker is a Snake with no people he can throw himself into loving the way he loved his son. (No wonder he drinks). He wants more emotional intimacy from Andy than she is able to give him - not in a romantic way, they have more of a sibling dynamic. But look at the betrayal in his eyes when he learns she’s lost her immortality: “Andy, look at me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

This is the exchange right after Booker betrays the team:

JOE: You selfish piece of shit. NICKY: Joe, leave it, please… BOOKER: What would you know of the weight of all these years alone? JOE: You’re a very pathetic man Booker. NICKY: Joe, stop. BOOKER: You and Nicky always had each other, right?

Nicky is sympathetic. He’s a Snake primary like Booker, he knows what living without a Person must be like, he knows exactly why Booker did what he did. Joe doesn’t. He only sees how Booker has failed to look at the big picture (like Joe would have, because he’s a Bird, that’s how he thinks) and that he made an objectively dumb call. Joe is angry at him for the rest of the movie. But the others, who know what it’s like motivated only by personal loyalty… they kind of get it.

To round things off, Booker is a Bird secondary. You can tell by the way he collects skills. He’s the operation coordinator, the quartermaster, the driver, and the tech guy. He’s also not afraid of a plan with steps. Nile calls him, “the brains of the operation” (although she’s probably being nice). Still, Booker is a good example of the way Bird secondaries aren’t always smart. His plan was pretty objectively terrible, but that was because his primary was so compromised.

tl;dr

Nile – Badger/Lion (Bird model)

Andy – Burnt Badger/Lion (Bird model)

Nicky – Snake/Badger (Lion model for fighting)

Joe – Bird who has built Nicky’s Snake morality, and Andy’s Badger morality into himself/Lion

Booker – Burnt Snake/Bird

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 264: You Either Die a Hero...

Previously on BnHA: The kids of 1-A sat around waiting for something exciting to happen, and then it did happen, and they were all “!!” Over on the front lines, the heroes charged the Ol’ Villain Hotel with poor Kaminari crying the entire time, but we’ll excuse him since he is only in the second grade. Tokoyami gave him some gentle encouragement by reminding him of how hard he can slappa da bass, while Midnight told him to think of his one true love in order to find his inner courage, so he immediately thought of Jirou and everyone was like WHOA DID THEY REALLY JUST, and yeah, they kind of did? Anyway so Cementoss ripped the building open and Kaminari got all Thor on us and started battling this other electric guy, and then we cut to Hawks and Twice, who were having a friendly conversation similar to the friendly conversation Hawks had with Best Jeanist on the very same day that Jeanist abruptly went missing and was never heard from again! Hey, wait a second. You guys don’t suppose...??

Today on BnHA: Re-Destro gathers in the basement with all his followers and they’re all like “Re-Destro!!” and he’s all “what??” and they’re all “the heroes are attacking!!” and he’s all “:) :) :) the fuck??!” Outside, the heroes continue to wreak havoc, and between Edgeshot, Midnight, Honenuki and Toadette, I’m pretty sure they have actually killed some of these guys. But that’s silly though because heroes would never actually kill someone. Speaking of heroes not killing someone, back in the hotel, Hawks is all “(Ò‸Ó)” and Twice is all “(இ‸இ)” and then Hawks is all “I’m gonna arrest you but I’ll help you get through this and get back on your feet again afterwards because you’re a good person” and Twice is all “WHAT THE FUCK NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN” and does the whole Sad Man Parade thing. And Hawks is all “I don’t want to fight you!” and Twice is all “TOO BAD” and meanwhile Dabi is running up the stairs all “time to start some shit” and then the chapter ends. So while I’m relieved on behalf of Hawks’s soul, I can’t help but be a little concerned on behalf of his, uh, life. Shit.

okay, so! I finally have time to read this damn thing. but before I start, a couple of holdover thoughts from the prior chapter!

firstly, I want to go on the record now and say that I’ve decided once again that Hawks, in spite of all appearances, is not a murderer. you hear that Hawks. I’m putting my neck on the line for you. gonna look like a real stooge if you go and murder Twice before going on to fight Dabi to the death while we cut to Noumu!Jeanist taunting Bakugou

but in all seriousness, I just can’t reconcile it with what we know of Hawks’s character. his behavior during the fight against Hood almost got him exposed because he couldn’t bear to let anyone get hurt or to let Endeavor get killed. I know the HPSC got their claws in him at a young age, but in spite of that I don’t think he’s harboring a dark side. to me he always just comes off as tired and struggling to do the right thing even though he never asked to be put into this kind of position. he’s smart enough to understand the whole “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” thing, but he’s also young enough to still hold to a certain idealism, and juuust cocky enough to have faith in his own cleverness and convince himself that he can somehow achieve this mission without sacrificing anyone else’s life

so in short, I don’t buy the dark!Hawks theories. I just can’t. but I guess we’re about to see! and my guess is that Horikoshi will probably have Dabi interrupt before Hawks can reveal his hand either way, because Horikoshi is just like that. what a troll

(ETA: I forgot that sometimes Horikoshi also likes to troll by giving you exactly what you want but in the most painful way possible. shit.)

now, moving on, the other thing I wanted to quickly address is Viz’s translation of this very important line from last week! so as a reminder, here is readheroaca’s version

and here is Caleb’s

I’m actually really glad I’ve been reading the fan translations first, because it made me more aware of the potential nuances in this scene. so is KamiJirou actually being confirmed here, or not?? and I spent 20 whole minutes digging into this more the other day because I have no life, so here are my findings!

first, here is the actual Japanese panel

and while I don’t speak Japanese, I can read hiragana well enough that I was able to plug it into a couple of translators to basically figure out what was being said. so here’s the full dialogue:

どこかの誰かじゃ

難���いなら --

今一番大事なものを

心に据えな

so the part in bold there is the line in question -- 大事なもの (daijina mono). “daiji” means “precious” or “important”, but the thing is, “mono” for whatever reason is written in hiragana and not kanji. and the word mono (which can be singular or plural btw) can hilariously mean either of the following depending on the kanji used:

lmao. so basically the bottom line is that from what I can see here, Horikoshi purposely didn’t specify! now I could be completely wrong; maybe this is a common enough expression that Caleb felt comfortable deciding that he meant “person.” or maybe he just guessed based on the context. or maybe he just said “fuck it, you only live once” and just went there because why the heck not

anyway, so that was fun, and for me it reinforced the fact that I really do prefer to have at least two different translations to compare in order to get the most complete picture of what exactly is going on here in this stupid manga that I obsess over week after week! so now let’s finally get to reading this thing

oh my

I have so many thoughts whirling around in my head right now, such as “oh my god look at all these secret entrances/exits the villains apparently had” and “wow the heroes are so thorough” and such, but ngl, right now the biggest one is “why are they all entering so slowly??” seriously though. let’s just gradually meander on in single-file. no rush. meanwhile 800m northwest and 1 km east, Cementoss is literally tearing the building in half and the other heroes are charging full speed all “ARGGHHHHH.” and over in Jakku, Miruko kicked a door open so hard it killed a guy. but we’ve all got our own styles I guess??

at least this one guy 800m north of the hideout is doing some doorbusting. sheesh. be more exciting please

oh hey it’s this place

behold. the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf. well there’s an eye-opener and no mistake

LMAO THESE GUYS DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING YET OMG

oh my god. first of all wtf is that shirt. and second of all oh my fucking god, let me just shut up and read this is amazing

SDKLFJLSJK

LMAO

oh man. Re-Destro is one of the few characters whom I really want to see die. come on Horikoshi. don’t be a fucking coward. he’s had it coming ever since he killed that little mouse. and let’s not forget Giran. JUSTICE FOR GIRAN

oh we’re actually cutting back to this fight!

I wasn’t sure if we would! shounen authors have this habit of showing the start of a really cool battle only to then cut away to a bunch of other stuff and leave us hanging for a dozen chapters, so yeah. of course, that may still happen. I’m just lucky that I’m invested in virtually every single thing that’s going on right now, so it’s a win-win for me no matter where we cut to next

(ETA: lmao there really wasn’t much more to this fight to speak of. but what do you want to bet Horikoshi will try to pull this shit with Dabi and Hawks next week though.)

holy shit

this looks like when I attempt to build a gingerbread house. that’s uncanny

lmao Kami

YOU’RE DOING GREAT BUDDY. KEEP IT UP CHAMP

(ETA: Kaminari’s ridiculous smiling face is the balm we all need in these troubled times. tempted to ask him if he wouldn’t mind heading up to that telenovela happening over in Twice’s room and telling them all to lighten the fuck up.)

Lefty is all “does he have an absorption quirk?” because apparently he’s one of the two people that never watched the U.A. Sports Festival? how does anyone in this day and age manage to come across one of the 1-A kids and not know what their quirks are. and you’re a fucking general or whatever too, aren’t you? god you suck

so now he’s all “I BET YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HANDLE... A FEW MILLION VOLTS” jesus christ. I bet you he can! but still, that’s awfully murdery of you. and to think, he’s on your side!! Kaminari are you really sure you want these guys as your friends

YOOOOOOO FUCKING KAKASHI ALL UP IN HERE DOING HIS HUMAN YONDU ARROW THING WHAAAAT

straight up prepared to be massively disappointed in Viz when they inevitably translate the “Ninpo” part instead of leaving it alone and letting everyone bask in these sentimental Naruto vibes. and also ngl I prefer for Edge’s lines to be as close to the original as possible so I can better imagine them in my head. stupid sexy Edgeshot

holy shit “I’ve pierced a small hole in each of your lungs” !!? WELL ALL RIGHT THEN, YOU SADISTIC WARRIOR OF THE NIGHT. YOU HEARD HIM BOYS. I’M SORRY, BUT HE’S ALL OUT OF FUCKS TODAY

OH HEY Y’ALL, MIDNIGHT HEARD YOU WERE KICKING ASS AND DECIDED TO JOIN IN, HOPE THAT’S ALL RIGHT

and if it’s not all right, well. tough

can you imagine. you’re just a simple villain, chilling out in your Hilton Garden Inn HQ and minding your own business when all of a sudden the walls come to life and some fucking shinobu busts a small hole in your lungs, and then you just fall asleep. sometimes life comes at you hard

now Kamui Woods is doing his whole Lacquered Chain Prison thing, but we’ve already seen that one so I’m not gonna bother showing it! tough break Kamui!!

OH MY GOD IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS

HALF OF THESE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY UNCONSCIOUS WITH HOLES IN THEIR LUNGS, SO SURE, HONENUKI, LET’S GO AHEAD AND FUCKING DROWN THEM TOO LMAO

LOOOOOOL OH CHRIST

CLASS 1-B WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE!!!

LMAO AND NOW SHE’S STANDING WITH HER ARMS UP OVER HER HEAD ALL SMILING LIKE ERI AT THE FUCKING CONCERT. A COLD GOD IN AN UNCARING UNIVERSE. WHAT THE FUCK

oh shit everybody shut up we’re cutting back to Hawks!!

but you pulled it off because you’re so damn smart. so now let’s stand around and explain your plan to everyone. what the fuck, Hawks

(ETA: and the thing is, now I’m thinking that by “incredibly difficult” he doesn’t mean that it was the cipher part that was difficult lol. that part was child’s play. any simpleton could do that. no, the difficult part was betraying his new friend. anyway so how’s everyone doing? what a fun chapter!!)

hey everyone I still have unwavering faith that this man is not a killer just FYI

what does that say about me I wonder. let’s just completely ignore everything being presented on screen here. also what the heck happened to all this furniture? did he upend the entire room with his crazy feather attack, or is that damage from Cementoss’s shenanigans?

HAHA!! FUCK YEAH

I KNEW YOU WEREN’T A KILLER YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!!

fuck yeah. of course, I realize that by betraying Twice so harshly like this, Hawks has still found himself on lots of people’s shitlists. but I would just like to put out a friendly reminder that Twice, despite being the nicest and most loyal guy you will ever meet, is still a terrorist who was going to kill a lot of people because he’s friends with a guy who wants to destroy the entire world. so basically there’s just no clean way out of this and it’s all very tragic

but anyway if it’s any consolation, I fully expect Dabi to turn up in the very next panel and be all “BLARGH! IT’S ME!” before we commence with the single sexiest battle in this manga to date

lmao Horikoshi. “but before we get to the sexy battle let me just twist that knife up in there real good!” jesus

friendly reminder that despite all appearances, Hawks is still objectively the good guy in this scenario. anyways for real, how are we all doing this afternoon. how many death threats has my bird son gotten today. I’m afraid to check. poor Twice is so trusting and I really hate to see him cry like this, poor baby. but I’m sure it’s also tearing Hawks up inside as well but we’re just not seeing it

and here we have Hawks, about to unleash his Mangekyou Sharingan

“are you sure you don’t think this sinister maniac looming in the shadows with the deranged look in his eyes is a ruthless killer, makeste?? are you really sure?” Horikoshi asks while pouring every last inch of malice he can into a single chilling panel

and yes, you bastard. I am sure. fuck you, how long are you going to make me sit here looking like a complete ass. look, we get it!! either way, Hawks is clearly a compelling actor! but the question is, which one is really the false face? is it the smiling, easygoing Hawks who always seems to have a faint hint of sadness in his eyes? or is it this menacing figure stripped of all mercy? is it really so crazy to go ahead and say that it’s the latter? huh?? [pokes Horikoshi in the chest] huh?????

anyway so Twice seems to slowly be progressing his way from despair to anger, which is probably not good. heh. fuck

maybe I was wrong about Dabi showing up and saving Twice, maybe his arrival will actually save Hawks instead lmao

anyway Hawks is still being all cold and creepy, and he’s all “you have my thanks.” and Twice is still crying, so maybe he’s still more sad than angry. well this is starting to drag out now though so if a certain spicy flame boi wants to make his grand entrance now, he’s welcome to do so anytime

oh shit Hawks is throwing me a bone!!! yessssss

YOU SEE!! THE SAD LOOK. HE DOESN’T WANT TO DO THIS. HE’S A GOOD BOY. oh my god I just realized how tense I was. hahaha what is this chapter

FINALLY OMG

NOOOOO I THOUGHT IT WAS DABI SNEAKING UP BEHIND HIM. OH MY GOD I CAN’T. WAS THIS HORROR MOVIE SERIAL KILLER ANGLE REALLY NECESSARY THEN, HORIKOSHI. WHAT THE FUCK

TWICE SHUT UP YOU ARE DIGGING YOUR OWN GRAVE!!!

fuck!!! this is why I was so sure he was going to die! because he won’t go quietly; he’s not the type to ever betray his friends. to him the League are basically the only family he’s ever known, so of course he’s not going to just be all “okay sure I’ll go to prison and let you reform me”

so then what, Hawks?? you didn’t fucking think this through you stupid kind-hearted punk!

sob!!!!

is that one of Hawks’s feathers slicing open the mask. sing it with me guys. to the tune of Jingle Bells: fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuuuuck

OH MY GOD NOOOOO

I WEIRDLY WANT TO COVER MY EYES LOL OH GOD. I DON’T WANT THIS BUT I CAN’T LOOK AWAY HELPPPPP

FUCK ME, IT’S REALLY HAPPENING. HE COULDN’T BRING HIMSELF TO KILL HIM AND NOW HE’S SCREWED HIMSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE OVER, FUCK

FOR FUCK’S SAKE HAWKS YOU COULD HAVE JUST KNOCKED HIM OUT THEN!! YOU JUST HAD TO GO AND FUCKING TRY TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED IN DEIKA CITY, HAWKS. DO WE REALLY WANT A REPEAT OF THAT. SURE, WE’VE GOT CLASS 1-B OUT IN THE BACKYARD MORE THAN READY AND WILLING TO KILL ANY NUMBER OF BITCHES BECAUSE THAT’S HOW THEY DO, BUT STILL

oh shit!?!

lol excuse me are you really just going to end it there? fucking seriously. Dabi running up the stairs with the crazy eyes while Hawks regretfully thinks of himself and his side as “hero scum”?? fff

and that last part! holy shit! again, I don’t buy into any of the dark!Hawks theories, and that includes the theory that Hawks will turn on the heroes and end up siding with the villains (because, again, it has nothing to do with him liking the villains, or secretly resenting the HPSC; it’s strictly on account of the whole “the villains want to destroy the entire world” thing. like. unless you think Hawks is cool with all of that of course). so I have to admit this was very startling for me to read

but I do think this is probably just some of the inevitable self-loathing finally spilling over after being forced to play this role and do all these things for the sake of the greater good, rather than him hinting at a desire to turn against the so-called “hero scum.” but still, that’s probably as dark as we’re gonna get from him, and ngl, it’s some heavy stuff

goddammit. feel like we need to cut to some wholesome class 1-A antics or something after all of that. as always, angst is a double-edged sword that I always anticipate and love but am also destroyed by sigh

[disneyat34]

Lady and the Tramp at 34

A review by Adam D. Jaspering

Lady and the Tramp begins with a quote by Josh Billings. “In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy… to wit — the wag of a dog’s tail.”

The pithy observance frames the movie: dogs are good. It’s a simple premise. It’s a universal premise. It’s a beloved premise. It’s a marketable premise. People will want to pay money to see a movie about cartoon dogs that fall in love.

For such a simple story, Lady and the Tramp had a lengthy production history. Disney employee Joe Grant drew a springer spaniel named “Lady” in 1937. Walt Disney asked Grant to produce a storyboard for potential projects. Grant obliged, but after several false starts, nothing came to fruition. Lady was a character in search of a project.

Grant left Disney Animation Studios in 1949. His abandoned creation remained behind, unused, somewhat forgotten. In 1953, production began on a new movie featuring dogs. Disney Studios scraped together various, unrelated dog-related material in preparation for the film. Lady finally found her purpose. 

“Lady” was pulled from the archives; her species changed to a cocker spaniel. “Tramp” was inspired by a 1945 short story called “Happy Dan, The Cynical Dog,“ written by Ward Greene. Disney even drew inspiration from his own life. After once standing up his wife on a date, he gifted her a puppy in a hat box as an apology. Lady is introduced this way in the film’s opening scene.

It’s easy to consider Lady and the Tramp a simple story, and there’s no shame in that. Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan were all spectacles in design and delivery. Disney was well within their rights to slow things down. Lady and the Tramp is both conventional and approachable subject matter. It focuses on the world around us, making the ordinary seem every bit as fanciful and majestic as a far-off land.

Lady and the Tramp is set in the 1910s, forty years before the film’s release. While the period is arbitrary to the story, it’s essential to the film’s appeal. Setting the film in the near past gives it a unique feeling of nostalgic charm. It’s familiar, but also slightly foreign. Enough to pique interest, not so much it alienates. It makes adults think of their glory days, and children think of their grandparents’ house.

Choosing the proper era is a delicate tightrope. Too recent, and it seems old-fashioned but unseasoned. Too far back, it seems ancient and unapproachable. The science behind choosing the right era may be nuanced, but the solution was a foregone conclusion. Disney himself chose the 1910s specifically to recreate his own childhood. A fringe benefit of owning your own film studio.

Lady and the Tramp sets the entire movie from a dog’s perspective. Physically, and dynamically. The movie focuses on dogs and their diminutive vantage point. They spend more time with human ankles than with human faces. Dogs are the main characters, but the world is still decidedly human. 

Human buildings, human society, human owners, and human dominance. The dogs relate to each other as neighbors, but they still respect and acknowledge their roles as house pets. The dogs have their own understanding of the world around them, and are powerless to affect it.

The first fifteen minutes introduces us to Lady and her day-to-day life. She’s a dog, and as such she has no real responsibilities. She has no goals, no ambitions, no wants, no desires. She eats, she sleeps, she gets head pats from her masters. She has a pair of friends who stop by occasionally to say hello, but beyond that, she’s very dependent on her owners.

As time moves on, we the viewer learn Lady’s owners are expecting their first child. Lady, having no context for this, is left clueless as to what is happening. All Lady can comprehend is the construction of a nursery, and uncharacteristic exhaustion from the mother-to-be. To the animator’s credit, Lady making inquisitive faces for ten minutes straight never seems forced or repetitive.

It would seem the movie is trying to make a parallel to sibling rivalry, the animosity between children for the attention of their parents. The only difference being, instead of an older and younger child, there’s a dog and a baby. Assuming this was intentional and not subtext, it simply doesn’t work. 

Sibling rivalry begins after the birth of a newborn; the eldest child acts out for attention, rebelling against the redefined roles in the family dynamic. They resent they must share attention. This doesn’t happen when one of the participants is not a child, but a household pet. The most beloved of pets mandate less affection than a biological child. 

Even Lady, a dog with human attributes, can’t fault her masters for focusing more attention on the baby. Regardless that she is substantially humanized, a dog like Lady is still just a dog. There is an argument that Lady could hypothetically resent the shift attention. She is depicted wanting more facetime and interaction with her owners. She does clearly understand she has lost something.

She could resent the shift, but she doesn’t. Despite being a cartoon, Lady has no autonomy beyond being somebody’s pet. She’s not being neglected, and she’s not being mistreated, so she has no leg to stand on. The baby takes precedent over the dog. Any more than acceptance of the fact would paint Lady as selfish. This film is a romance, and Lady is supposed to be an upright, worthy heroine. She can’t have such a negative trait.

One shouldn’t fret over Lady’s circumstances anyways. The quasi-sibling rivalry concept is abandoned early. Lady doesn’t need to fight, strive, or earn attention from her owners. She doesn’t need to understand how she and the baby each fit into the family. She doesn’t have to revaluate her life of privilege now that elements have been upended. Because Lady’s masters up and leave and won’t return until the film’s conclusion.

What prompts a couple in 1911 to abandon their newborn child for several days is never explained. Is it medical? Is it business? Is it a vacation? Why do both need to leave and why can’t the baby come with them? It’s never addressed or explained. It’s questionable, uncharacteristic, and happens for no reason than to fulfill plot requirements. Lady can’t fall in love with Tramp until Lady flees her home, and Lady won’t flee her home unless Lady’s owners are gone. So Lady’s owners just... leave for some reason.

The nameless infant is left in the charge of Aunt Sarah, an apparent spinster relative to one of the parents. Throughout the Disney catalog, villains are hateful, greedy, angry, and callous. There is no other villain like Aunt Sarah, though. She’s not evil in intent, but so blindingly ignorant to what’s happening around her, the ignorance becomes a form of malice.

Aunt Sarah, embodying a key tenet of old maids, has an affinity for cats. Not only does this mean she has inherent disdain for Lady and all dogs, she brings her two pet cats into a decidedly un-catproofed house. The pair knock over vases, rip up the curtains, and torment a goldfish. Aunt Sarah, in her deliberate ignorance, blames these obvious feline crimes on Lady.

The two Siamese cats are as subtle in design as they are in deed. They are yet another racist caricature that make trawling through the classic Disney films of the 40s and 50s awkward. The animators were flat out deliberate in their disrespect. All they had to do was draw cats. The cats didn’t need to have human attributes at all, especially not Asian characteristics. The animators did not have to give the cats oversized, slanted eyes or buck teeth. They did anyways.

The main offender is their speech. While not a flattering representation of East Asia, it’s also not accurate even in a mocking way. Whatever accent these Siamese cats are speaking in, nobody on planet Earth has ever spoke that way, ever. It’s not Chinese, it’s not Japanese, it’s not Thai, it’s not anything. It’s just generically foreign. The ignorant stereotypical voice is so detached, it forgets what it’s trying to misrepresent. The cats are somehow too racist to actually be racist.

Lady goes through quite a lot in the first half of the film, but where is Tramp? As his name suggests, Tramp is a vagrant mutt (mostly schnauzer). He lives in a railyard and subsists on the handouts of kind restauranteurs. Like Lady, he also has no goals, no dreams and no ambitions. The two were destined to find each other.

Tramp’s life on the street is a stark contrast with Lady’s life of comfortable privilege. Based on this disparity, it’s easy to assume Lady and the Tramp is a film about class differences. When Lady first meets Tramp, Tramp halfheartedly alludes to the restrictions and illusions of security in the upper class, but he mostly shares this opinion to mock Lady’s discomfort. It’s not further explored.

Lady is not an upper class citizen. She doesn’t live in a society at all. She’s a pet. Her owners are affluent, but Lady’s world ends with the fence. She has no idea how the other half lives because the other half never made themselves known to her. It’s difficult to have a story of class consciousness when one character has only met five people in their entire life.

Again, another false start for the movie. Lady and the Tramp isn’t a movie about sibling rivalry, or classism, or the protection of a home from intruding racist cats. The movie sets up different plot threads, and all are a means to nothing. The film is about Lady and Tramp: two cartoon dogs falling in love. It’s what we were sold on. Why does the film try so hard to avoid delivery?

After being muzzled by Aunt Sarah, Lady flees, bumping into Tramp in her panic. Here, finally, Lady and the Tramp begins in earnest. Tramp suggests looking for ideas at the zoo. It’s an impractical solution, perhaps appropriate for a dog’s dexterity and resources. A dog can’t exactly walk into a hardware store and buy wire snips.

The zoo scene is filled with pleasant gags. Incidents with alligators, hyenas, and an extended scene with a beaver are delightful. What became a trip designed for practicality slowly blossoms into a date. The animosity and distaste that previously defined their relationship has disappeared. Finally, our promise of romance has been fulfilled.

The issue is, now the movie is half over. A normal romance story would have the two leads courting before the first act ends. Lady and the Tramp has been meandering, wasting time, establishing too much scenery that’s going underused. If there were payoffs to all these loose threads at the film’s climax, that would be one thing. But very little receives any sort of callback.

Lady and the Tramp is a movie of fluff and filler, and all of it is in service of one scene. The one scene that rescues Lady and the Tramp from obscurity and irrelevance. The scene that immortalizes its place in film history. The scene where Lady and Tramp share a plate of spaghetti. 

Lady and Tramp share a plate of spaghetti while being serenaded by an Italian love song. They’re enamored by the music and the candlelit setting. They take up the two ends of the same spaghetti strand, moving closer to each other in the middle. When they finally meet, they have their first kiss. Inadvertent, but welcome all the same. Anyone waiting patiently has had their romantic thirst sufficiently satisfied. 

The spaghetti scene has entered the cultural pantheon of romantic moments. It’s been alluded to, referenced, and parodied countless times. It’s more famous than the movie itself. It took a long time to get to, but Disney Studios didn’t blow the opportunity.

There is a distinct lack of purpose and urgency in the film. For long stretches of time, nothing of significance happens. The dogs walk around, the dogs see things, the dogs go places, the dogs talk. Sometimes its to the story’s benefit. Sometimes its to fill silence. Sometimes its to justify the detours. The movie is about two dogs falling in love. It’s paced so poorly, Lady goes on her first date with Tramp, then is ready to break up with him in less than twenty minutes.

This is the issue with Lady and the Tramp. As it turns out, the premise is not whether you would enjoy a movie about two cartoon dogs falling in love. Some viewers would readily accept, while others would require something more substantial. That’s not the premise. The premise is, if you were fully willing to watch a movie about two cartoon dogs falling in love, how much are you willing to endure before it happens?

The conflict, of what little there is, is the standard boilerplate romantic miscommunication. The type of problem that could easily be solved if one party could vocally explain the circumstances, were they were not obstructed by separation or one party’s stubborn refusal to listen. In the case of Lady and the Tramp, Lady is picked up by a dogcatcher and interred in a dog pound. She has her tags, so she’s only being detained for several hours. It’s just long enough to meet one of Tramp’s jilted exes, who regales Lady with a song about how much of a womanizer Tramp is. Or whatever the equivalent of “womanizer” is for dogs.

Regardless of the plot development, this jazzy song and dance number is occurring inside a dog pound. A pound that is very blatantly a stand-in for prison. The inhabitants are incredibly woeful and resigned. Some are actively trying to escape. Some have accepted their fate, singing melancholy dirges about their situation. One dog is literally executed off-camera. This is an incredibly downbeat, sullen, depressing environment. Doubly so that it occurs in what was until now a very uplifting and idyllic picture. 

Prior to Lady’s apprehension, Lady and Tramp had a brief but heavy discussion about their future. Sure, they love each other. The night was wonderful, and they’d love more. But Tramp enjoys his freedom. Lady enjoys being a pet. Tramp quickly changes the subject before either is forced to face the consequences. All of this is now compounded.

We arrive at the climax; Lady is scorned by Tramp’s playboy disposition. Tramp is trying to re-evaluate his life ad hoc before the girl he loves escapes him forever, but can’t. Lady tells him off from her doghouse. Concurrently, a rat sneaks into the nursery, terrorizing the baby. Just an ordinary rat. He’s not giant, he’s not rabid, he’s not frenzied. He has evil-looking red eyes, but he’s just a rat.

Despite the argument, Tramp helps Lady and saves the baby. Aunt Sarah, useless babysitter that she is, witnesses none of this. She comes in too late, finding the screaming infant and the stray dog. Aunt Sarah calls the dogcatcher, who immediately apprehends Tramp. Lady realizes how much Tramp was willing to sacrifice for her. Tramp really had changed, and Lady really did love him. With a series of well-placed barks, Lady is able to communicate to her human owners the exact situation.

We’ll ignore how Lady’s owners return from their contrived absence at the exact moment Tramp is being carted off. We’ll ignore how Lady’s owners understand precisely what is happening from a series of barks. We’ll ignore the humans’ staked interest in Tramp despite never seeing Tramp before, ever. We’ll also ignore how much more invested the parents are in the dogcatcher fiasco than their baby being attacked moments ago.

Tramp sacrificed everything to assist Lady. And in a turnabout, Lady sacrifices nothing. The dogcatcher’s truck is stopped by one of Lady’s friends, a geriatric coonhound named Trusty. Trusty almost dies in the process (suffering only a broken leg thanks to Disney magic). Lady’s owners adopt Tramp, taking on the extra burden of another pet. Tramp forfeits his rambling vagabond lifestyle. Lady has given up nothing at all. It’s not that she doesn’t deserve a happy ending, but couldn’t she at least muss up her coat?

Lady has four puppies in the film’s epilogue. Her owners previously had trouble dividing attention between a baby and one dog. Now they have a baby and six dogs. The dogcatcher is a very prolific figure in Lady and the Tramp. He’s clearly overworked due to the town’s overpopulation problem. One would think both Lady and Tramp would be fixed promptly.

Lady and the Tramp is a movie that is self-conscious about its simple premise. It tries to mask its inferiority complex by dressing it up in weightier ideas and concepts. Very few of these additions are explored to any sort of fruition. As such, the most core romance is denied proper focus. 

The romantic element is unfulfilling except for a few scenes, which entirely save the film. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Lady and the Tramp (excusing a few questionable cats), but there’s also little good to say in its favor. Unless you really, really like seeing cartoon dogs fall in love.

Fantasia Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cinderella Alice in Wonderland Pinocchio Bambi The Three Caballeros Lady and the Tramp Peter Pan Dumbo Melody Time Saludos Amigos The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad Fun and Fancy Free Make Mine Music

[itsclydebitches]

Just browsing the RWBY reddit. Seeing your post about Oz on there. The usual backlash against you and the idea that RWBY owe Oz an apology. Honest question. Is it just that their probably teenagers? Not experienced with nuanced storytelling? Think lying is always a bad thing to? It's obvious RWBY are not fully in the right. What fan wouldn't see that aside from just young people? I hate this fuck adults mindset in the fandom. Cordovin should have put them in jail at the end.

All fandoms have a very wide range of ages, RWBY included, so I doubt it’s as simple as assuming they’re all teens. Rather, I can think of a number of different factors, any one (or multiple at a time) that might be at play: 

They are in fact teens who identify very strongly with the main cast, to the point where a “screw adults” rhetoric is not just appealing but very logical from their perspective. In the same vein, you have people of any age who have very straight-forward moral views: lying is bad and Ozpin had no right to do it. Period. The problem with this is less the actual belief and more the hypocrisy, as usually the mindset conveniently doesn’t apply to the person’s favorite characters---more on that below. 

They’re fans, young or old, who haven’t been trained in/practiced much media analysis. Ozpin’s situation is a complicated one, requiring that fans recall, understand, and are willing to interrogate a HUGE number of details since roughly Volume Two. A lot of the hatred for Ozpin I see here on tumblr is rooted in really simplified “analysis.” e.g. people honestly asking, “How can you root for him when he got Pyrrha killed??” without understanding (or being willing to accept) that “got Pyrrha killed” is a flawed statement on multiple levels.

Connected to the above, fans who are really active in the fandom all year round and become immersed in theories, headcanons, and the like until they feel like canon. We only get RWBY content for a few weeks out of the year. The rest of the time fans are circulating various perspectives, often biased depending on who you follow. So there’s very little material demonstrating Ozpin’s complex nature vs. a great deal of material (fic, fanart, metas, personal posts about how much you hate characters, etc.) painting him as simplistically evil. That’s then the mindset fans are in when the next volume comes along and it’s rather difficult to break. What do you mean he’s a flawed good guy? I’ve been reading Ozpin hate for nine months out of the year. 

Fans who are invested in their faves and have no desire to grapple with their more loaded mistakes. Yang is a good example of this, given that she’s one of the most beloved characters while also having a range of flaws. Some flaws---like snapping at someone in frustration---are easy to deal with because we know how close the group is, we know how this show functions, and we know she’ll be forgiven within a very short period of time, if anything as deep as “forgiveness” is even needed. We shrug and move on. More loaded flaws though---like her treatment of Ozpin---require fans to balance a love of the character with a critique of their actions, which a lot of people simply aren’t interested in doing. Acknowledging the ways in which Ozpin might have been in the right and the ways in which the group might have been in the wrong requires that they take a number of faves out of that “cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure, can do no wrong” category. Few fans want to acknowledge that maybe their perfect Ruby shouldn’t have ripped secrets from a mentor. Or perfect Yang wasn’t justified in her manipulative bird anger. Or perfect Weiss shouldn’t be drawing her weapon on Qrow. Or perfect Pyrrha made a horrendous mistake by going after Cinder, etc. For all the people who claim they want flawed characters, fandom is filled with fans who fall in love with characters and then will simply not hear a word against them, not unless (like that snapping example) their flaws are incredibly easy to get past. They want, “My fave is flawed because she yells sometimes but she’s improving!” not, “My fave is flawed because she bought into the rhetoric of a murderous bandit and has been using that to undermine the team’s trust in their leader for weeks now.” 

Connected to the above are fans who are neutral or iffy about Ozpin and thus have a “one strike and you’re out” policy that, notably, doesn’t extend to any other character. You lied? That’s it. We’re done. I was on the fence before but this proves you’re not worth investing in. When others point out that a LOT of our cast has either kept information quiet, manipulated how information is presented, or straight up also lied, they’re exonerated because the fan already likes them. They are invested in keeping them looking pure next to Ozpin’s impurity. And they just keep adding justifications indefinitely. Yang is allowed to keep the Spring Maiden quiet because of trauma with her mom. Oh, Ozpin has trauma too? Well he’s a thousand years old so he should have gotten over it by now. Oh, trauma doesn’t work that way? Well... and on and on. 

Fans who believed Ozpin was an evil mastermind for six years and have been waiting impatiently for the day when his duplicity is finally revealed and they can celebrate being one of the ones who weren’t duped. “The Lost Fable” once and for all debunked that theory. Ozpin is a flawed man trying to do good, a subversion of the puppet-master archetype. It’s hard to say, “Damn. Guess I was wrong about his character,” especially after years of investment in his supposed immorality. So they just don’t. They tweak the new information and find ways to explain how he’s still actually, truly evil. It’s just even more horrendous because it’s subtle and sneaky and kinda hard to notice because it looks like he’s a good man most of the time, but I swear to you he’s not...  

Fans who are attempting to be socially conscious but haven’t gotten the intricacies of that down just yet. Meaning, there are a lot of RWBY fans here on tumblr and tumblr has always been a site that heavily merges social justice with fandom. You read a RWBY post on your dash, then a post about white privilege; more RWBY, post about domestic violence, etc. Generally speaking that’s great (I’m all for learning in low-stakes environments), but that can also create very simplistic views, particularly for those who are young or who are just learning about such issues. Ozpin (Remnant geography and reincarnations aside) appears white. He’s a man. As far as we know he’s cis. He’s doesn’t seem to need his cane outside fighting and is therefore not disabled. He’s in a very significant position of power. He is, in short, everything “bad” that tumblr fans learn to spot in the real world. Ozpin, in that real world context, has a lot privilege and people automatically conflate that with being an aggressor. The villain. We’re living in a society where white guys are raping women and continually getting away with it. Now here’s this white guy preying on Pyrrha! (Again, no close analysis.) The merging of fandom with real world issues makes it very difficult for some people to view Ozpin with any sympathy, particularly when they only have a narrow understanding of these issues. Ozpin a victim of domestic abuse? Pff, that doesn’t happen. The man always abuses the woman. He can’t possibly be the victim here, so by default he must be the villain who tried to steal Salem’s kids away---because we all know that kids are always better off with the mother. That’s just natural. (You can see then how a lot of outdated assumptions color our readings of fictional characters.) 

Straight up trolls. Some people don’t actually care about RWBY. They just enjoy antagonizing others about their views of the show. Or just insulting people for... reasons? It’s not about any investment in the debate. It’s about the rush they feel typing out a curse-laden post about how wrong you are and how much you suck. Are they actually wrong? It doesn’t matter. Saying you’re wrong makes the poster feel right and therefore powerful. 

[statusquoergo]

Ok now i'm curious. How would you personally write a heterosexual Marvey?

Well! This is something I have…never before considered. Alright, I guess the first question is which of them I would cast as a woman, and I think I’m gonna have to go with Harvey. Because this show is supposed to be primarily a drama with occasional romantic elements rather than primarily a romance with occasional other elements, I think Harvey’s character being a woman introduces more avenues for interesting plotlines; with a younger woman trying to make it in a man’s world, you’re pretty limited to the typical, uh, feisty young woman trying to make her mark in a man’s world. Not that there’s not room for such a thing, but I do think it’s been rather done, and I don’t even want to imagine how often Suits would recycle the “you slept your way to the top of the company” argument for Mike once they hooked up. (So often.)

As before, we’ve got the powerful, arrogant, bored power lawyer forced to interview Harvard candidates for an associate’s position she does not want filled. She’s just nearing the end of her tether when a bedraggled young man stumbles in, on the run from the cops, and spills weed all over her interview room floor. What does she think? My first impression is that she’s going to have a bit of fun with him; she doesn’t want to hire him, but she wants to break up her dreary day. Now I suspect this would play out similarly to canon, except with much stronger overtones of the Harvey character’s power and poise; as a woman—a very powerful woman, but a woman nonetheless—I imagine she would go to greater lengths to put Mike in his place than Harvey actually did. Not just “hard work, long hours, high pressure, I need a grown goddamn man,” but an explicit display of what their dynamic is going to be: She is the boss, he is her subordinate, this is a fantastic risk and a deeply stupid decision, and she can destroy him at any time.

This sounds like I’m going into D/s territory, doesn’t it? That wasn’t my intention at all…

I think the biggest difference in conduct would actually be the supporting characters. Well, no, overall the show would have to be much more balanced; with Harvey and Donna, and Mike and Rachel, as I discussed previously, we audiences came in primed to imagine them ending up together, so they could be thrown in as couples any which way at any old time, and while Mike with a female Harvey character would be heteronormativity as usual, the power imbalance could cause problems that would need to be addressed. But, like, skillfully. Mike can’t just promote himself to COO and be done with it.

So anyway I think that amidst all the case law, and the suits, and the covering up Mike’s secret, Rachel and Donna could become very interesting characters. Without the role of “Harvey’s girl” to fall back on, Donna could remain much more in line with her s1 casting, when she had actual agency and wasn’t quite so…infuriating. And bossy. She could develop into a real character, that is, with a non-Harvey-related personality of her own; I’d like to see her given an arc to pursue her acting dreams, for instance, maybe one in which it doesn’t work out as she thinks it will and she gains a more nuanced (and humble) understanding of the world around her. She can still be a badass, but a badass with some depth. And maybe Rachel and Mike try dating before they decide they’re better as friends, or Rachel realizes Mike is interested in Harvey’s character in a more-than-platonic fashion and doesn’t want to compete. Not that I want her to become a simple romantic foil, or merely a facilitator for their relationship! But I would like to see her as Mike’s best friend and an awesome lawyer in her own right, brilliant but struggling. (Going to law school while still being a top paralegal at a major corporate firm is hard!) If Harvey’s character is Mike’s romantic interest, Mike is going to need someone to confide in both personally and, on occasion, professionally (because he could probably not go to Harvey’s character quite as often as in canon for every little thing; at a certain point, the romantic tension would be too heavy), which would be a great way to display Rachel’s legal prowess more consistently than it was in canon. She wants to be a lawyer! That’s awesome! Maybe Mike showing up is the kick in the ass she needs to really get going! He can support her in school, she can support him at the firm with his dangerous secret, they can have sleepovers, it’ll be fantastic.

While all that background noise is going on, of course Mike and Harvey’s character are growing closer and learning to balance each other out; quite similarly to canon, Mike is becoming more mature and less naïve, Harvey’s character is becoming less uptight and more openly caring (in measured doses, of course). We the audience have adjusted to the age discrepancy (or forgotten it, depending on how this plays out) and are getting impatient as perhaps Mike begins to realize that he’s interested in Harvey’s character in some serious kind of way. (I bet Harvey’s character knows it too but refuses to entertain the possibility because, you know, power dynamics.) In this light, the most logical point in my mind for them to finally acknowledge their mutual attraction is right before Mike leaves the firm to try his hand at investment banking; I could see Harvey’s character teasing the possibility of them getting together now that Mike is no longer under her purview, and I think I talked earlier about the idea of them resisting for a brief interlude before realizing that they desperately want to be together, so Mike being at Sidwell’s would facilitate that well. Then of course they have to figure out what to do once Mike comes back to the firm, but I bet they’d get it. Eventually.

Essentially the show would be a much more polished and carefully planned version of itself. That is to say, there would be planning. Each season would be meticulously scripted from end to end. No scrambling on the back half. No forcing token romantic moments into otherwise non-romantic scenes just to remind everyone that these characters have to end up together come hell or high water. Also more real characters, fewer caricatures. I’m sure to do this thing properly would require much more consideration and thought than what’s occurred to me here, but this is the blueprint I’d start with, I think, if that gives you some idea of where my head is at!

[dreamcatchersza]

My Chat with Katt: The Afro Punk

I remember my first encounter with Katt. I was having lunch with a few colleagues, most of them men, when I heard their indistinct chatter about someone they were seeing through the glass walls. My curiosity made me look up from the heavenly meal I was devouring and I saw her. This blue haired, mysterious lady who was now awkwardly waving at us, trying to demagnetize our fixed gazes.

 Almost a year later, after getting to know the person behind the garments, I get to feature this lady and her very interesting and beautiful relationship with fashion. This is My Chat with Katt:

 ·         How would you describe your style to those curious?

I do not think that I have a particular style per se̒, but the word EMOTIVE comes close enough.

There are days when I wear torn, over-sided jeans with hoodies that fall just above my knees and there are days when I rock a flowery frilly frock with a pink cardigan. Then there are days that I look like a horror villain that’s stirring a witch’s brew and then the next day I look like I was sneezed out of Tim Burton’s imagination. It depends on the story, it depends on the feeling. It also depends on the lie I want to tell.

  ·         One of the biggest statement pieces I’ve seen you wear, is your hair. What draws you to changing your hair colour(s)?

In High School I was constantly told to wear my hair a certain way and colour was forbidden so all that money and hours of sitting down while someone is pulling on your roots lasted for a weekend. Sigh. So I suppose this is vengeful expression. I can be whoever I want to be every single day. It’s fun. Colour is fun. And it’s hard to have a frown on your face when you have pink and purple hair.

 ·         What is the difference between fashion and style, to you?

What’s the difference between the roots of a tree and its flowers? One is not less important than the other. It is a beautiful symbiosis. Fashion offers options to one’s style but how you assemble the pieces together, is where style comes in. Though the leaves and flowers might fall over the year, the roots are still clutching onto the earth. This is how I see the two. Fashion is seasonal, how you wear that particular item of clothing, hair, accessory or shoe pertains to your identity, your roots, your style.

Fashion says, “This is cool”. Style says, “This is me”.

·         How has your experience been, navigating your way through society with your alternative style?

It was pretty difficult, especially given the fact that during my young adulthood, I was a township girl that wore full goth garb. It was weird. I have an awkward stance with social interactions so looking kinda weird, didn’t work in my favour. But I couldn’t help it. I had to navigate through the awkward stares and convince myself that I wasn’t doing anything particularly wrong. I made the right choice because I am expressively liberated today.

 ·         How have the African people, with their different layers and textures, influenced the way you view fashion?

I do not have Afrocentric pieces in my closet but what I have taken from Sechaba saka is how Aricans take such pride in who they are. When I look at our older generation and our younger pride, I see how they have taken ownership of their heritage.  It is inspiring to see how this generation is starting to wake up and engage in the history of their identity. I am most fascinated by those that are leaning towards Afro Punk. More and more of our generation are merging old African clothing with new age grunge. It’s beautiful. It’s Evolution.

 ·         Who is your style icon?

Where is a guillotine when you need one… LOL

This is a very difficult question because I do not really have one but I do “borrow” from everyone, even the IT guy. I have been inspired by @magavilhas, Billie Eilish (she reminds me of her at her age),  I can tell you who reminds me that it is ok to still be playful at this age; it is that bad badd that “has been stealing your man since 1928”, @baddiewinkle!

I literally watch the fashion channel as if I am watching the omnibus of a captivating series. This is perhaps my way of seeking new ideas that will inspire me to evolve my style. Can a mannequin be my style icon?

·         How has your style changed over the years?

In my pre-teens I adored Aaliyah so I copied her A LOT! Baggy, baggy, baggy. I wish I could say with hint of sexy but the word was not in my vocabulary at the time. At about 15, Rock music found me. I was scrolling through radio stations and I happened to land on 5FM. 5FM in 2002, the days of Barney Simon. I was hooked. Being a tomboy, black jeans, studded belts and chains, spikes and printed shirts with customized boots were like uniform. In my early varsity years, I explored more with goth pieces and took a darker aesthetic to my look. Plenty of leather.

At 22, I toned down the goth and started exploring with colors. LOTS of colours. LOTS of multi-coloured clothes. I even explored the skaterboi look, DC head to toe.

The skirts and dresses came in at 25. I was seduced by this feminine aesthetic when I discovered “Jessica Day”. It actually turned out to be a form of therapy (topic for another day). Looking and feeling lighter helped me discover my playful side. But I still kept my grungy boots.

Today I am mosaic of every piece of cloth that has ever touched my skin. It’s a mess, but it works. I think I am going through another transition. I am not quite sure where it’s going but man oh man, is this journey going to be fun!!!

(LOL to myself: I was walking down the street wearing three different hats the other day and I thought to myself, Ï should do this more often”)

 ·         As a creative living in Jozi, what would you say has been the wildest thing you’ve ever witnessed when it comes to fashion?

 What is interesting nowadays is that a lot of people are trying so hard to be different that they start looking the same. A wild fashion statement for me comes from that creative misfit that does not succumb to “trends” or what’s cool out there. Nerds are my people; let them have their revenge. I don’t go out much so Instagram is my Jozi. After the AfroPunk festival, I discovered a duo called @adhiambondomba. Now they are an African version of Steam Punk! Their metallic pieces merge Science Fiction with Tribal Art. They are a little ahead of their time.

·         Being an up and coming director, how would you describe your directorial style?

I am still peeling the layers so I am exploring different mediums and different ways of storytelling. What I will not waver from is telling an honest narrative that relays the human condition. When I was in film school, the worst film I directed was when I was trying to be “too cool” and show off with the medium. Worst mistake and most imperative lesson learned. I like to keep it simple and tell a clear, concise story that translates the hidden truths of mankind. I especially love subject matters that nobody wants to touch. Breaking Bad and Shameless are the best examples when it comes to the human conditions that I would like to confront.

 ·         Which actor do you dream of working with and why?

Another guillotine moment…

Locally – Craig Palm. I have not seen him in a while. He played a character named Angel on a South African drama series called YIZO YIZO.

Even though she is based in England now, I would like to work with Sade Giliberti. She is a muse for most of the kind of females I would like to write for and about.

Internationally – Michael Fassbender, I have plans for his teeth. His many, many teeth.

Ben Whishaw – He had my heart at Perfume : The story of a murderer. There are so many nuances that have worked for the dexterity of his facial muscles. He understand the power of countenance.

·         If you could speak one thing into existence right now, what would it be?

My own house in a quiet place, with more garden than brick.

 @Katlego.Mojela on Instagram  

[mallbee40-blog]

Criminal Defense - What Is Important To Realize Before You Hire An Attorney

How to Engage a Criminal Lawyer In the past there were a famous financial planning commercial that portrayed a typical looking guy in the pajamas positioning a butter knife by his chest in the breakfast table while talking over the phone to someone explaining the way to perform incision. For a brief matter of moments, the screen splits to disclose the individual on the other side with the call would be a surgeon. At this time, our dumbfounded man with the breakfast table bluntly exclaims: "Shouldn't you be doing this?" And, in doing so, noted the obvious point: we depend on professionals to manage vital matters. In that case, surgery to those well-trained to take action. This holds true when your liberty is on the line. If your life or possibly a loved one's freedom is in peril, you'll need a criminal lawyer. Amazingly, there are some people that, when faced with the specter of rotting inside the bowels of jail, will elect to handle the difficulty themselves or seek the counsel of an friend who has a friend who practices some sort of law but knows the prosecutor. Meanwhile, others rightly believe they desire specialist help but accept the search just as if we were holding buying a deal in some recoverable format towels at Walmart. That a lot is the wrong approach. With regards to picking your surgeon, the guy packing your parachute, or perhaps the person protecting your freedom, don't "bargain shop". Keep in mind that; you will pay in the long run. It really is much better to pay a bit more money beforehand instead of pay using your life in the end. At the end of the day, it is just money and, should you be free and, you can actually create the money you allocated to your defense back but, should you go to jail the few pennies you cash in on a day won't figure to much even after serving a protracted jail sentence. I recognize that many law abiding citizens don't have an effective defense lawyer on "speed dial". Lawyers aren't created equally. We can be found in all shapes and sizes. But, there is a common misconception that graduating from law school and passing the bar exam infuses you by incorporating form of inner knowledge that creates you that can deal with any legal matter. This just is not so. Consider it, if your head hurt and also you had a persistent nose bleed, can you call your dentist? Podiatrist? Probably not. Instead, you should call an inside medicine doctor or perhaps a neurosurgeon because those doctors are trained with the precise problem. Exactly the same ought to be said for the attorney. I'm a defense lawyer. As a New Orleans prosecutor, I prosecuted more than a hundred cases including drug possession to murder. Now, like a defense lawyer, I will be proud to deal with probably the most famous state and complicated federal prosecutions in our area. I do not write wills. Don't call me about a pending bankruptcy. We have no idea the way to handle those cases and I will do neither of us any favors only make use of case to master. Amazingly, some lawyers are really in need of business they put themselves available practicing all sorts of law imaginable. Please be cautious about any attorney praoclaiming that they handle "no fault divorces", "slip and falls" and "death penalty cases." I've spent many hours, indeed years, honing my craft. Anyone defending your lifetime should too. Remember the old adage "jack coming from all trades and master of none"? You borrowed from it to yourself to employ a professional devoted to their area of law that you need. I really believe those lawyers who seemingly take all cases do so given that they require the money to cover their light bill. You will do your service by staying totally free of these individuals. Something you have to realize is always that lawyers are salesmen. So, much like your tour through the used car lot, you need to keep your guard up instead of fall for gimmicky slogans and B.S. sales pitches. It is best to straighten out the real trial lawyers from the pretenders and get the next questions: 1. Do you try cases before juries and, if that's the case, the number of have you taken to trial? Real trial lawyers try cases. Fake trial lawyers claim they fight cases. 2. What experience do you have with this kind of case? Remember, all lawyers aren't made the same. Do you would like your homicide case handled with a person focusing on traffic court? I would not want my liberty for everyone as somebody else's "learning curve"!

3. What percentage of your practice is dedicated to criminal defense? I'd be wary of general practitioners. I quite like dui. I realize nothing about property disputes, wills, or even the nuances of regulatory law. Like everyone else wouldn't want me litigating your servitude rights case, you wouldn't the town's top lawyer picking the jury to your armed robbery trial. Let's be honest, anyone cannot possibly master multiple unrelated regions of the law. There exists truth inside the nugget of advice, "jack of trade, along with a master of none." 4. Which kind of access do you want to ought to the lawyers? Some people take your fee and disappear. I know have no problem providing my cell phone number with a client. We assign a dedicated paralegal to each file who can answer basic questions concerning the case if needed. You can expect the client with copies of the pleadings which can be filed in the event that and promise to analyze materials with these; even when they are incarcerated. This raises another point: we routinely visit with jailed clients and accept their collect messages or calls. If your potential lawyer just isn't readily available, you might want to re-consider. But, with a minimum, you need to understand the amount of access you will receive for your money. 5. Clearly communicate your objectives. Expectations are very important. In case you have a preferred outcome at heart then it is imperative you communicate that to your lawyer. A catastrophe will occur in case you need a dismissal of charges but the lawyer considers "quick guilty plea." Be clear. And, expect the lawyer to counsel you whether your main goal is realistic. Please, bear in mind, that some folks around will say anything to acquire your money. Or no grandiose claims are made, demand that they can be put into writing. I promise you will see some quick back peddling. You should be aware: no lawyer can promise outcomes. If your potential lawyer engages in any of these activities, leave immediately: 1. The Guarantee: No lawyer can promise an outcome. Countless families have hired our firm after originally engaging a lawyer who said, "pay me x, and Mr. Client will get away from jail." Whether or not this were only that simple. When you hear those words, demand the promise be put into writing plus a clause to get a 100 % refund in the event the promise is not fulfilled. 2. No receipts or Scope letters: Keep clear associated with a lawyer unwilling to stipulate the particular scope of their representation as well as the fees involved. If you don't have a commitment on scope expenses, please don't act surprised when requests for more cash keep coming and you really are left to believe true is just not progressing as you anticipated. Also, be highly suspicious of any lawyer that will not supply you with a receipt for payment accurately reflecting into your market owed. Any lawyer refusing for this might be legal counsel who pockets cash "off the books." Our firm gives receipts and reports every penny earned in fees. And we don't rely on "high interest loans through the IRS." 3. Solicitation: It is unethical for any lawyer to directly solicit your organization. Advertising is permitted but is susceptible to stringent regulations and scrutiny. A legal professional cannot call you or knock on your door saying 'I know you are arrested and I might help." Should this happen, slam the door or belief. This conduct are certain to get the attorney disbarred. Also, contemplate it, if the lawyer would prefer to engage in an unethical practice to really get your business, what quality of representation think you will receive? 4. Promotes Influence: Any lawyer that heavily focuses their practice on criminal law will probably be knowledgeable about the prosecutors and judges. We understand them all. There is nothing special that. Don't be misled by "I be aware of Judge" or "the prosecutor and i also are friends". I would not know a judge or prosecutor happy to a single thing illegal to aid your case. Any suggestion on the contrary can be a federal crime for bribery and public corruption. At the best, knowing the prosecutor and select will give you worth getting into ? the way they handle similar cases and resolve giving her a very issues. Nothing at all. So, don't be misled by attorneys who brag about being golf buddies using the judge. All sorts of things that you just owe it to yourself to go and obtain the best defense attorney within your budget if you are under investigation. Be skeptical of men and women making "pie in the sky" promises and make certain you communicate your expectations. Most of the people should be able to find quality representation cheaply. Once your list of candidates narrowed, you need to lean towards selecting from those qualified lawyers that he feel at ease. After all, you have to trust this person and the advice they give. Your life is determined by it. For more information about Law please visit web site: check it out.

[maiji]

7, 12, & 19 for the 21 Questions?

7) Favorite antagonist?

Yu Yu Hakusho has a fantastic range of antagonists. There are simple, wicked, gross assholes ready-made for you to hate, and complex, highly relatable and sympathetic villains you feel for, and desperate people forced into things they don’t really want to do, and friendly opponents who become fun fighting buddies, and old friends turned enemies, and people you think are gonna be the ultimate bad guy but then they don’t really, and just about everything else in between. For the most part, I appreciate characters as a spectrum of important aspects in storytelling even if I don’t personally like them as, say, people I would want to hang out with. But if I don’t personally like them, I have a hard time thinking of them as “favourite” even if I recognize their narrative value. For example, Toguro Ototo and Sensui are incredible antagonists, and I find them both highly complex and nuanced and interesting and sympathetic in many ways. And if they were real I would be like, UHHH your obsessive, inflexible way of thinking IS A REALLY BIG ISSUE, you really need to get some help for that RIGHT NOW because YOU ARE VERY SCARY and I do not feel comfortable being around you… you know? 

In 30 days I answered this question with Jin. I do feel like in some ways that was a bit of a cop-out answer on my part, as is almost any other antagonist who comes over to the protagonist’s side. So let me try to pick an antagonist as one who never comes to that in the series.

SO. Let’s talk about… KAZEMARU lmao. 

Remember him? He’s that guy who might’ve become Genkai’s student if Yusuke didn’t fall into a bog. Too bad. He was so close!

Poor problematic Kazemaru. First of all, it’s a challenge to show pictures of him because of the manji on his forehead. For those who may not know, the Buddhist manji is a benevolent symbol of universal forces in motion that still appears on maps today to indicate the location of temples. Unfortunately, it bears an extremely hard-to-ignore resemblance to an infamous symbol used in World War II by Nazi Germany. For this reason, plus the fact that he’s not really a character on most people’s radars, I was super surprised that he made it to the cover of the 25th anniversary Blu-Ray box set… where they thoughtfully have him obscuring his own forehead with his pose. Anyways, just getting that out of the way first.

So why do I like Kazemaru? OK, we all know I have a tendency to like obscure characters, especially ones with a lot of potential, and what little we know of Kazemaru is super interesting. He’s a modern-day ninja who works as a private bodyguard for VIPs  - this already sounds like a really awesome premise for a story, right? He’s dead serious about entering the trials to become Genkai’s successor, and he stands out pretty early on, just KILLING it in the game room with his incredible karaoke skills lmao. He’s actually a really horrible singer, but his dedication and stamina are amazing, and the spirit energy he emits is so off the charts even normal people can see it, which cracked me up so much. Furthermore, his technique, the Reikihou (Spirit Cannon) is very similar in principle to both the Spirit Gun and the Spirit Wave - it’s almost like a midway technique bridging the two. To be perfectly honest he probably would’ve been a much more appropriate pupil for Genkai than that slacker delinquent Yusuke. But then we wouldn’t have a story haha.

I assume after he loses to Yusuke’s ridiculous dumb luck, he goes back to his boring ordinary life where he protects rich underworld bosses from assassins or– ACTUALLY I SUDDENLY GOT AN AWESOME (to me, in my head lol) idea for a short comic that I REALLY WANT TO DRAW. But what do I do about his forehead? :( The one time I’ve drawn him, I got around it by putting him in profile, but obviously I can’t do that for the whole comic. I recognize that regardless of the original meaning or intent, it’s a symbol that can create such an unpleasant and visceral reaction that it can’t simply be ignored. Should I give him a bandaid? A tuque?? Turn it into a four-square grid? Write KAZEMARU on his forehead??? Any thoughts???

12) Favorite brotp(s)?

Ooh I nearly fell down a rabbit hole with this question! I love this type of relationship and Yu Yu Hakusho is full of them! Kuwabara and Yusuke are a super obvious one. Yusuke, Jin and Chuu, another fun one along similar lines. I also love the relationship between Keiko and Botan, they’re such girlfriends and such a great duo (see the Saint Beasts chapter). Actually all the key ladies in the series - Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, Yukina, Genkai, and Atsuko (the latter in the manga, edited out in the anime) - have such a wonderfully supportive and close and butt-kicking relationship. I love it. And Raizen’s whole story is the Tale of The BrOTPs That Split Up And Then They Realized They Were Wrong And Came Back Hundreds Of Years Later To Save The Day.

With so many great choices, it’s hard to pick. But a relationship that immediately springs to mind and that I do believe absolutely exemplifies brOTP is the quartet of KUWABARA, SAWAMURA, KIRISHIMA AND OKUBO.

(This page always cracks me up. They’re trying to figure out why Kuwabara is so down… this is after the Yukina rescue. And Kirishima at peak handsome roflmao)

These guys are so amazing. They’re supposed to be this stereotype of rough and tumble Japanese schoolyard delinquents in this baby yakuza gang and all four of them are so gallant and honourable and loyal and such sweethearts true to their morals. They’re so earnest and supportive of and dedicated to each other, whether it’s with their fists or in studies or just about everything else, seriously the epitome of “I got your back, bro" or those heartwarming stories you read about tough-looking guys talking about their feelings and helping each other and other people out.

Volume 1 Chapter 7 “Promise”/Episode 3 of the anime - “追いつめられた桑原! 男の誓い”, where they all band together and promise their teacher to not fight for one week and to get passing grades on a test to help Okubo keep his job and support his sick mom and his family, is one of my favourite stories in the entire series, as noted in my 30 days answer. 

It’s just a moving showcase for the awesomeness of Kuwabara, as well as the relationship of all five characters (Kuwabara and his gang, and Kuwabara and Yusuke) and it’s so damned charming. It just really inspires me to BE A DAMNED GOOD PERSON WHO WORKS HARD AND IS TRUE TO MY MORALS AND MY FRIENDS.

19) What do you think about the new art style seen on the new ova? Do you like the new art style or you still prefer the original?

I think it’s fine. No particular love or hate feelings over here. I think it works and it’s a solid update without straying into “whoa what happened” land. That said:

I don’t know if I can say that I have a preference for “the original”, particularly since episode-to-episode consistency and art style in “the original” varied a lot depending on the director. There are some episodes and directors I love, and other episodes I’m like uhhh I really cannot stand how people’s faces are rendered here… lol.

As an artist I am very conscious and aware and appreciate greatly that drawing is hard, animation is hard. Beyond production challenges, it’s not only mass audience tastes but also artist styles that shift; it’s been over two decades, after all.

I do actually like what I’ve seen of the screenshots more than some of what I’ve seen for the new 25th anniversary merchandise or event promo art.

I’d like to see how the animation itself actually looks when the full thing comes out. Right now we only really have stills or brief snippets. 

Also, I was super amused when the OVA screenshots first came out and comments were going around about how big the eyes were… because they’re pretty comparable to the size of how Togashi was drawing them in the manga. The eyes for some characters were really big even around the end of the Dark Tournament hahahahha. I mean, you be the judge.

OVA screenshots:

A few manga screencaps from throughout the series (sorry my writing is so bad lmao, I HAVE NO timE to FIX THIS lol):

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING! xD!!

[sml8180-side]

Morgan Romo

(This is just going to be a bit of an info dump on my character Morgan Romo. There’ll be her general information, and the headcanons I have for her (there are a lot of them-) so, this’ll be a long one)

General Information:

Full Name: Morgan Louise Romo

Age: 25

D.O.B: 15 August

Gender: Female (dfab)

Height: 5 ft. 2 in.

Orientation: Bisexual

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Secret Agent*

*: In most continuities. Alternate versions of Morgan can often be depicted as some sort of detective, officer, private eye, or an android (much like Connor from Detroit: Become Human)

IEA Information:

Agent ID:  E-05-09

Agent Rank: Elite

Agent Status: Alive; Active

Number of Years Active: 12

Agent Specialization: Undercover assignments, high-risk missions

Number of Completed Missions: 83

Successful Missions: 83

Failed Missions: 0

Security Clearance: Level 5; Top Secret+

Headcanons (Human):

01: Thalassophobia Morgan has a mild form of Thalassophobia (which is the fear of open/large bodies of water). She is not a strong swimmer, though she is able to swim. She will go out on a boat, but will not look out over the water or go into the water herself. This stems from a handful of traumatic experiences she'd had with deep/open water, the even which mainly caused this took place when she was just a child. Morgan had been out swimming with her parents, and learning to swim at the beach. There was a sudden incident that caused her to go under the surface of the water, and her foot got caught in a gap in the rocks, which didn't allow her to surface. The young girl had nearly died, having to be put in the hospital to ensure that she didn't dry drown, as she had coughed up a fair amount of water when she came to once she was brought back on land.

02: Discovery Being a secret agent, Morgan is terrified of being discovered. She is careful to not break cover, but has had many close calls. She has been trained to avoid suspicion, and keep a low profile, and feels that she would not only put herself in danger if discovered, but she would also fear the failure coming along with that discovery.

03: Philophobia Morgan suffers from a form of Philophobia (the fear of falling in love, emotional attachment, or close relationships). This stems from the nature of her job, as relationships can be incredibly dangerous. Those close to someone in Morgan's position can often be in a dangerous position, themselves, running the risk of being kidnapped or even killed as a way of getting to the agent. Morgan doesn't wish to put anyone innocent at risk, and so she doesn't get close to people. She doesn't have any proper friends, and was only in one short relationship before she went into training, which didn't end very well. She doesn't associate with her family, either, not wanting to put them at risk, despite the fact that they never got along very well. She has vowed to herself to never get into a close relationship, especially a romantic one, and to never start a family, as to avoid putting anyone in danger.

04: Adermatoglyphia Morgan has a genetic condition called Adermatoglyphia, which causes her to not have the ridges associated with fingerprints. Instead, her fingertips are entirely smooth, and she leaves no fingerprints behind. Despite this, she still wears gloves at all times, especially while she is working.

05: Morals Despite the nature of her work, Morgan does have at least some morals. She won't target children, tries not to go into the world of torture as long as there is some other option, and she won't kill anyone who is innocent. She'll go into the gray, yes, but she won't kill someone who hasn't done anything aside from maybe being an asshole. If she's called upon to take someone innocent out, she'll technically do it. What'll happen is Morgan will go and find someone who closely resembled the target, someone who isn't so innocent, and take them out instead, making it look like things fell through properly. Then it's just a matter of cutting contact between the target and the order, making it look like the true target is gone. Morgan would rather die herself before she kills someone who does t deserve to die, especially if it can be avoided.

06: Handedness Morgan is primarily left handed, aside from when she's using a firearm. During one mission, which qualified her for Elite status, she had been tightly restrained by her target, a "doctor" who ignored all medical and moral laws. In attempting to get herself free enough to take the man out, Morgan very nearly broke her left wrist, and received bad scarring on both wrists and ankles. Following the mission, Morgan had to change hands when wielding a firearm, as the recoil would aggravate the injury. She had to qualify with a handgun to be promoted, and did so with her right hand. To this day, she still shoots right handed, as a gun with too much kick back can still prove painful for her left wrist.

07: Family Connections Though Morgan doesn't always get along with her family, and rarely ever contacts them, she still cares for her parents, and they do still care about her. Despite the sometimes strained relationship the agent has with her parents, her relationship with her grandparents, specifically her mother's father, is much better. Morgan has a soft-spot for her grandparents, and was very close with her grandfather on her mother's side. If asked, she'll often state that he was borderline crazy in a number of ways, and would often visit when he heard she had ended up in the hospital. Though it would seem he'd start to lecture the young woman, he'd actually question why she had gone head-long into dangerous situations without him there with her. Morgan's "Crazy old man" as she'd call him, passed away when she was about 22. At his funeral, she had seen an unfamiliar, uninvited man there there. The man had given a short eulogy, placed something in the old man's casket, and silently remained at the back of the venue for the rest of the event, leaving without a word. It wasn't until several months later, days following her Elite promotion, that Morgan found out who it was that had been there and why. The mysterious man had been a former Elite, sent to serve as the Agency's send off to a well-decorated and respected Special Agent. The item that had been left with the old man had been representative of all the years he had spent serving with the agency in some form, whether as an agent, driver, or informant.  

08: Alcohol Morgan rarely ever drinks. She says it's because she doesn't like how it'll impair her, as she doesn't want to be impaired and get into a situation where reasoning and reflexes will count. Really, this is only a part of it. The other reason is something she keeps more private. Alcohol, even in smaller quantities, can make her fairly sick. She has a mild alcohol intolerance, and her body doesn't break it down properly, which can put her out of commission if she has too much. She's fine if she has a single drink, but she needs to have water just after. As for what she drinks, it's usually something with a lower alcohol content, to help prevent her from getting too sick. Usually she'll stick with a simple light wine or beer, but she won't get anything much stronger.

09: Smoking While undercover once not long after being promoted, Morgan took up smoking. She smoked for about two years, and decided it would be better to quit before she started to depend on it any more than she already was. She's been doing well, rarely actually smoking at this point, and using nicotine gum to help with any major cravings and ease herself off the substance entirely.

10: Trypanophobia Morgan suffers greatly from Trypanophobia (the fear of injections/hypodermic needles). This wasn't too much of an issue as a child, oddly enough, but following the Wallace Incident (in which Morgan, on her first Elite-level assignment, was captured and nearly killed by Logan Wallace [who intended to kill her using a lethal dose of an unidentified drug]). After this incident, Morgan has been terrified of needles, to the point where she has been black-listed from taking on any assignment which could involve them, and to where she sometimes has trouble even going in for stitches after being injured on other assignments.

Headcanons (Android):

Android 01: Communication Though she's meant to work in espionage and law enforcement, often undercover, Morgan doesn't quite have a grasp on the subtle nuances of human speech and communication. She often takes background roles to get her information while undercover, so it often poses little issue. When speaking with humans, though, it becomes fairly clear that she doesn't fully understand things. Her way of speaking is fairly rigid and analytical, being very precise and containing very few contractions (she says things such as "It is", "Do not" and others, rather than "It's" and "Don't"). She also has trouble with her own body language, despite being able to normally read the body language of others, thanks to her lie detecting features. Morgan also doesn't curse, and doesn't always understand certain sayings and idioms, which can lead to some confusion on her part. Overall, she tends to have trouble connecting with humans, and even other androids who are more acutely aware of the more subtle details of human communication.

Android 02: Potential Deviancy Currently, Morgan is a fully compliant android with little to no sign of deviancy. Though, under the correct circumstances, she could become deviant. CyberLife has installed an extra fail safe within her programming. Along with an Amanda-like handler, Morgan will experience what is much like a very bad headache (up to migraine levels of pain) if her systems detect prolonged deviant behavior. If she was determined enough to do so, Morgan could push through the pain and fully deviate, though it would be extremely difficult.

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 1X10 - 7:15 AM

Unfortunately, I’ve no jokes popping out at me for my opening this time, but a little birdie told me you should head below the cut.

(Got that one in at the literal eleventh hour! I work for my lovely readers ;) )

Press Release Mary Margaret and David continue to grapple with their unrequited love, and Emma and Regina grow suspicious over a mysterious new stranger in town. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Snow White yearns to ease her breaking heart as Prince Charming’s wedding to King Midas’s daughter approaches. General Thoughts Past During my review of “Snow Falls,” I commented on the fact that as that would be the only time we’d get any substantively meaty Snow and Charming scenes for quite some time and that every other episode’s flashback would depend on how well that episode handled them, I wasn’t joking and this is the first episode where you feel the effects of it. (For more on that, head on down to “Flip My Ship”). It’s weird, I never saw the nuance in King George, but damnit, he is right. True Love being worth fighting for regardless of the obstacles is one of the central themes of OUaT, and I think for the most part, the show does a good job of showing that. However, we sometimes forget that that pursuit is not without its consequences (Depriving others of the prosperity and peace that David and Abigail’s marriage would bring to their kingdoms), and here, George lays that out in no uncertain terms. Is he most likely acting more in the interest of himself and his kingdom more than anything? Yes, but the validity of what he’s saying still remains. His plans and reasoning are well thought out and admirably complex. I feel guilty. In the past, I just saw him as this one note villain, but holy hell: a few years can really do a lot to change one. I wish we saw more of him, only to see more of this viewpoint. Snow and Charming definitely do end up winning the day, but the idea of sacrifices and bloodshed are for the most part all but abandoned after this episode. The fact that David, immediately after hearing what George has to say, writes a letter to Snow discussing how he’s willing to abandon everything else without a second thought for her almost makes him unlikable in the face of that. The only thing that save his is that damnit, Charming lives up to his nickname!

Snow’s aspect of the story is interesting too. We see these two sides of her battling. The first side, of course, is her love for Charming, and that’s strengthened both by the letter she receives and the fear she has of losing him to his arranged marriage. However, what’s really clever is that the fear she had back in “Snow Falls” didn’t go away, and Rumple, Grumpy, and George help to reinforce her own doubts by giving the pursuit of love an actual cost - one’s heart, freedom, and potentially not theirs, but their beloved’s life. It’s a very clever use of characters. Actually, after a day or two, I realized that Snow’s arc was even stronger than I gave it credit for. In this episode, despite having her reservations about love, she does overcome them despite what I pointed out, and it’s only the fear of Charming dying that makes her back off. The ultimate resolution is so much like the character herself: Tragic, but not without that bit of hope always by her side (In this case, her new friendships and the breaking of David’s marriage). Present So I basically had no strong thoughts on this episode (Apart from dread at a certain aspect, but I’ll discuss that shortly) until we see Mary Margaret nearly fall down the cliff. 

Then it hit me: The David and Mary Margaret storyline is this episode is the most fanfic-y, romance novel-y material I have ever seen (And that’s not a bash against it at all). Like, you get that mutual pining, David saves Mary Margaret after some tension, they’re stuck in a cabin together, they both love animals. Entire weeks’ worth of soaps don’t have half as many romance tropes as this storyline does! That said, the more I see of David Nolan pre-broken curse, the more I dislike him. He simply refuses to own the choice he makes and with these small windows of time the show is giving us, it’s either unrealistic or horrible of him to jump from one woman to the other. And yeah, at this point in the series, Abigail wasn’t too kind, but David didn’t know that, in hindsight, she hasn’t done anything more than be annoying, and everything we’ve seen of Kathryn has been delightful, patient, and kind thus far. I really feel like there needed to be more of a time discrepancy or evidence of some real trying on David’s part before suddenly doing whatever he could to see Mary Margaret. It makes David’s speech after releasing the bird so eye rolling to listen to (Though Josh’s puppy dog eyes and loving gaze make me really wish there was more to it) because while he claims that he has feelings for Kathryn, the most we’ve seen of it is a shaky scene together outside the Nolan house and a kiss that is now spoiled with the knowledge that it came right after David made a move to go see his crush. As for the August and Emma storyline, well, for one thing, they have a fantastic rapport. August’s ability to dodge questions like a skilled Mario Kart player dodges banana peels faced off against Emma’s focused and pointed questions is the greatest battle of wits. It positively glued my eyes to the screen, and the fact that I can say that despite knowing exactly what happens is so cool! Insights I love that opening shot! For one thing, it grants a special level of ambiguity as to what realm we’re in for those slow first couple of seconds. For another, they get Henry walking towards August through his reflection in the motorcycle! The cinematography of this show is so under-celebrated, and my ful props to them! Also, completely-unintentional-and-thus-hindsight-ily-badass foreshadowing of Henry riding a motorbike in the future! So I’m aware I’m 100% wrong about this wacky theory, but follow me on this. The episode is called “7:15am” and the most famous time on the show is 8:15. Is this, alongside a significant time for David and MM, an allusion to the fact that they’re figuratively one step behind the curse? I started blushing out of secondhand embarrassment when Mary Margaret revealed how much she knew about David’s schedule. “Love is the worst. I wish there was a magic cure.” It’s called booze! Wow! This is the first time I’ve seen Snow and Red have a scene together in a while! I missed their friendship! I find it so interesting how stories of The Dark One are kept under such wraps. In the “Desperate Souls,” the Dark One’s existence is borderline common knowledge because of how the Duke yielded him. However, Rumple - possibly due to fear or just a desire to be left alone - took the opposite approach and kept his reputation so quiet over the centuries, so much so that his mere existence is now questioned. Given his rather large...estate, what do you think he had to do to make that happen? Yay!!! We get to see Snow’s cloak again!!! Also, I don’t care if it’s just a set - the design for the scene between Rumple and Snow is creepy and beautiful! I love the atmosphere! It’s simple and shady! Rumple’s going on about all this anti-love stuff and I’m like, “Let’s talk in a year, bro.” Seeing Charming send out that bird makes me wish for a scene where the two of them spoke of Snow’s uncanny ability. ...Also, nice transition! XD I actually forgot that Grumpy gave the basics of his origin story before his episode came out. “Give us our best shot.” I can’t help but feel like that was so intentionally slightly off the mark from “our best chance,” showing that something’s not quite right. I love how as MM is getting her coffee at the end of the episode you can just HEAR the “fuck” as she hears the bell. Arcs David and Mary Margaret finding each other - One thing that I can say is that we get development here. Look, I’m not a fan of cheating plots, but it is interesting to see Mary Margaret and David struggle to find a happy middle ground in an emotionally complicated situation. That said, the lack of time and real commitment to being with Kathryn makes me question why they’d even bother having the cheating subplot. Snow and Charming finding each other - This episode builds right off of both the conclusion of “Snow Falls” and the insight of “The Shepherd.” Additionally, I like that Snow and Charming aren’t stuck in the “Do I have feelings for this person” phase of their romance for long because it allows for the rest of the arc to take off well from here. The Mystery of August Booth - We get a brief introduction of this arc here, and it wastes no time connecting to the main players: Emma and Henry. There’s also a cool subversion where we get an immediate insight into something that would otherwise be a several episode mystery in another series. However, both the man and mystery are still prominent and we as an audience know there’s still leagues to explore with him. Favorite Dynamic Snow and Grumpy. While their friendship is given very little time to build, not a second of it is wasted. Even as I know how Grumpy’s story ends up, those first niblets we get here make do a really good job painting his emotional dilemma and making a connection to Snow’s quest. Snow - in turn - gets to build off of Grumpy’s negativity by showing both optimism that opposes him cynicism and kindness when Grumpy and Sneaky leave the jail cell despite them intending on leaving her there. That wish for happiness is so sincere that it could melt steel. And the reciprocation that blossoms as the flashback progresses is just wonderful. Writer Had to do a bit of research (And by research, I mean a Wikipedia article, full disclosure) for this one because while the story (The basic actions and plot points) was written by A&E, the teleplay (The dialogue and smaller actions) was written by Daniel Thomsen. Thankfully, in regards to breaking this down, this information does me quite a few favors. Last time, I wasn’t able to do more than theorize what each writer contributed to the scripts, but right now, I can do a bit more to discuss the finer points. First, let’s tackle A&E’s role. I genuinely feel for the basic layout of this story. Regarding the past, I have no complaints. The broad strokes of emotional buildup work and the conclusion feels completely earned. My thoughts on the present prove to be more challenging. I don’t like that it ends as a cheating story, per se, but if that was to be the story, the basic layout of it does work. There’s a proper building of stakes and the big picture character beats hit home. However, execution is where I have my problems, so let’s tackle Daniel Thomsen. Again, I really have no problems with the execution of the flashbacks, save for oddly amazing piece of development for the villain and his motivation that is just kind of brushed aside. But that’s just a matter of doing too good a job. My issue is really with the present events, or just the things that aren’t on the page that really should be. It’s hard for me to feel sorry for David for walking out on Mary Margaret when there’s hardly an implication that he’s giving himself and Kathryn a fighting chance. I know I’m supposed to be feeling how he’s caught in between these two sets of memories and the kiss at the end does retain its weight, but so often during this episode, I just wished that he would make a choice and stick to it. What makes this all the more aggravating would be if there was just one or two more lines about making an effort there. And for a while, Thomsen was showing that through David and Kathryn’s interactions and the way he talked about her and things were feeling more like a real push-pull for him, but it was ruined the moment David said that he had been planning his coffee trips to coincide with Mary Margaret. At that line, my faith was shattered and it harmed my perception of the character. Rating 8/10. This was an entertaining episode to watch. Snow’s journey in the flashback was such an exciting story to witness, especially when it comes to seeing her interact with all of these characters for the first time. This is Ginny’s episode to shine in both realms and the show makes sure that you know it through the array of emotions she pulls off throughout the runtime. So much of Snow and Mary Margaret’s character is expanded upon through all of this. The present stuff is pretty flawed for reasons I explained above, but damnit, this show knows how to sell fairytale magic and fate and some impressive forest locations, music, shots, and animal habits really sell the scope of the small story. Flip My Ship Snowing - I love that lingering effect that’s clearly been had on Snow. Love nestled itself into her like coins in a couch sofa. But at the same time, there’s still that cynicism from the last episode and while love is pushing it out, the tragedy of their circumstances still keeps it there. And the cute look as she’s watching Charming go off to pack - both times! That is a woman in love! And then the sorrow when she has to end things with Charming is so hard because every gleam of her eyes just screams that this is the last thing in the world that she wants to do! AND as she’s walking away, she looks like she’s gonna collapse from utter sadness! DAMNIT, GEORGE! Swan Queen - Emma’s so flirty in that scene by the car and it’s just adorable against Regina’s no-nonsense business attitude! Captain Swan - “Not a day goes by that I’ve not thought of you.” Oh, that line brings back retroactive parallel memories! :D

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Thank you for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this rewatch together! See you all next time and...be careful of the fruits you eat. They maaaaay be from a poisonous tree. ...If you can’t tell, I love a good stinger.

Season Tally (81/220) Writer Tally for Season 1: A&E (31/70) Liz Tigelaar (17/20)* David Goodman (16/50) Jane Espenson (16/60) Andrew Chambliss (8/40) Ian Goldberg (8/40) Daniel Thomsen (8/10)* (* = Their work for the season is complete)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Hey, so I know you say divination always works, so I was wondering what is you opinion on the whole determinism vs free will thing, and how do you think that relates to divination?

Hey there!

Ok, so this is actually a pretty common question in my RL, but I don’t remember if anyone’s asked me here, so thank you for asking this!

Aight!  *cracks knuckles and neck joints*  Let’s talk about fate!

Divination is the use of magic to discover hidden information through the reading of signs and omens.  One can watch the omens already present in reality, or one can wield a divination method to artifice a microcosm and read that way.  That’s the basis of lotcasting systems like rune-casting, cartomancy, bone throwing, and a lot of other methods.

And it works!  Which is what leads us to the question of today- why does it work, and can it be wrong, and if it’s never wrong, what does that imply about our free will and choice?

So, here’s the thing- divination only gauges the state of things as they are and are headed.  It can predict the future insomuch as it can tell you where things are going, and seeing as humans aren’t the only factors in their lives (we also have things like weather and other natural occurrences, as well as non-human factors that are related to humans like machines, for example), there are a lot of contributing factors which influence our daily experience.

Divination systems always operate under the principle that things like that exist.  The I Ching moves not with an implication that humans are the most important factors of decision-making in a person’s life, but rather that humans should focus on what behaviors will make one into an ideal person.  The runes treat all things as if they were alive and potentially sentient- even mountains can bleed.  Therefore, their lives are equally important in comparison to ours, and our job is to make sure we’re living our best life.

What does all of this mean?

It means that humans have free will to a degree.  Within their paradigm of experience, within their natural limitations, they have the ability to make freer choices about how they will act and react in regards to their environment and circumstances.  It doesn’t mean they can get their way whenever they like, in whatever manner they choose- there’s always a cost.  You want to fly?  You need to build a flight-capable vehicle that can carry you, because you’re not a bird or a bat or a bug.

Now, determinism argues that with as many factors as are at work upon a person’s life, their window of free will is so diminished that it might as well not even exist.  This argument usually defines “free will” as “ability to get my way,” not “ability to choose.”  And even when philosophers try to argue the idea that even our perceptions of life are tainted by various human limitations, thus preventing us from having truly free will due to lack of perception and comprehension, they still miss a key factor, which is that we still have the ability to self-determine.

Ok, so if y’all have read all of that, then here’s my perspective.

For starters, fate is not just the combination of acting factors- it’s a nuanced system.  There are several kinds of fate, which the Greeks discussed in their descriptions of the five Moirai (surprise! there aren’t just three!) and their descriptions of “fortune” vs. “doom” vs. “luck.”  One kind of fate is “why you’re here, what your purpose is.”  One kind is “what will eventually kill you because of what you are.”  And one is “what allows you to affect the overall design and tweak things.”  There’s also “where you are in the design,” and “what about you will FUCK EVERYTHING UP.”  Each of those was associated with one of the ladies of fate.

So, when divining, one must recognize all five kinds of fate.  Sometimes, a reading will be mostly about the more gentle kinds, telling the client how things are coming about without hedging them in.  Other readings are more about their nature and virtue and act as sort of a mirror.  Still others are very focused on what will happen and cannot be avoided.  It all depends on the querent, the question, and the facility of the divination system to adequately reflect information, but all kinds of fate are based off our nature and our tendencies.  Changing fate is really harder than people realize, because it’s costly.  It requires us to change ourselves.

Divination will always do its best, but some questions aren’t suited to the medium, so it will give you an answer that is garbled or unhelpful.  When that happens, recognize that it isn’t the system being dishonest, it’s the system being unable to parse properly, or possibly it’s your own limitation as a reader.

Now, to answer the last question associated with divination and determinism: are divinations confining to the fate, preventing the action of free choice?

Absolutely not.  They can’t be.  They’re just information-seeking operations within a system which has that information.  If a person changes the layout of that information by influencing those factors, divination will read the new pattern.

That being said, there is such a thing as “diviner’s paradox.”  If one is reading someone’s fate, and the divination medium states that the querent is going to leave your store and go to a restaurant with friends wherein they will meet a really influential romantic partner, there’s a clear opportunity for them to gum up the works.  They can just not go to the restaurant, or they can deliberately go in with a bad attitude and alienate the potential lover.

If you read their fate as “you will fall in love in three days,” your divination isn’t so much a simple reading as a fatebinding to an outcome, and they just broke your spell.  You’re going to need to purify and reset your divination system, so as to get it functioning properly again.  And next time, maybe don’t tell them anything they can easily defy and wreck, or better yet, give them conditions they can choose from to acquire the outcome they desire.

So that’s my experience of how divination and fate works as a whole!  Tl;dr version: fate isn’t what most people think, and neither is free will, but divination doesn’t impede free will, and fate will still come to pass even considering our free will.  Want to change your fate?  Change yourself!

Hopefully that answered your question!

[scripttorture]

1/2 Hi! I'm the one who asked about the magical "truth serum." Thanks for answering my original question! I don't know if this changes things, but the police and the laws themselves have been portrayed as ineffective and often brutal, and the society that I'm writing about is already shaking itself apart because of huge injustices. The only times I've shown the spell in action, it's with people who were eager to co-operate anyway, and when it started to hurt the interrogation fell apart.

2/2 My MC does have lasting psychological damage from his encounters with them. If the way to proceed is to show that this technique is worse than useless, that it's one more reason why the prisons are filled with unjustly convicted people, and that the police who do this are torturers with everything that goes with that, I do think I'm in a position to write that.

For readers generally theoriginal ask with my original response is here.

 Yes that contextchanges things. It means that I think I completely misunderstood the originalask. That happens occasionally and I’m sorry about that. Thank you for being sounderstanding.

 A lot of askers tend toapologise for sending in long asks but honestly more information is morehelpful for me. Having wider context for the story helps. We’re tackling toughsubjects here and I think detail and nuance is incredibly important

 Knowing that you’reshowing this as ineffective makes all the difference.

 The original ask wasabout effects, both on the victims and society more generally. I’m going tostart with the MC, this is going to apply to victims generally though.

 I’ve got a summary ofthe commonpsychological effects of torture here. Symptoms are generally the same nomatter what technique is used (there are a few exceptions but even thoseinclude the common symptoms on the list). Victims won’t all experience the samesymptoms and it’s impossible to predict who will experience which symptoms.

 As a result I tend tosuggest picking symptoms based on what the author feels fits the character andoverall story best.

 Given the way you’reusing this magic I think memory problems would be an excellent fit for thestory.

 In the long term aftertorture memory problems can manifest in several different ways and theseproblems can occur separate or together. Broadly speaking they come in aboutthree categories: memory loss, intrusive memories and inaccurate memories.

 Memory loss can mean forgetting the traumatic incidententirely but that’s not a very common form of problem. More commonly what itmeans is forgetting chunks of time immediately before and immediately aftertorture. It can also mean a sort of long term forgetfulness which makeseveryday life much more difficult. Learning new things, remembering wherethings are, being on time- simple everyday things like that become a lot moredifficult.

 That sort memoryproblem is incredibly common and rarely shown in fiction. I’ve actually had afew survivors contact me to say they weren’t even aware what they wereexperiencing was a symptom.

 Intrusive memories are alot easier to explicitly link to torture. They’re basically continuallyremembering and going over a traumatic event. It means that the character isconstantly reminded of torture, by small everyday things. And those remindersprompt an extremely vivid, detailed memory of the abuse they suffered. It meansthinking about what they survived almost all the time.

 Inaccurate memories aremuch harder to identify as a problem from ‘inside’. They feel like normalmemories and people experience them generally are convinced that their memoryis accurate.

 They usually affectmemories of and around torture and they’re often about details. Someone mightsay that the door of the room they were tortured in was on the left, when infact it was on the right. They can affect things like remembering exactly whodid what when and in what order.

 This can makeprosecuting a torture case extremely difficult.

 For your story inparticularly I want to highlight the work Morgan et al did with US soldiers.The soldiers, who all had years of front line combat experience, went through afake capture scenario as part of a ‘training exercise’. Some of them were thenput through a ‘high stress’ interrogation which included shouting, abuse andthe sorts of clean beating US rules allowed at the time. The other had a‘low-stress’ interrogation, a chat over a hot drink.

 Morgan then tested themthe next day to see who recognised their interrogator. Depending on how theywere asked to identify the interrogator between 51-68% identified the wrong person. Most of them wereconfident they’d gotten the right person. (The paper can be found here: C AMorgan et al, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry in 2004, 27, 265-279pgs)

 The interrogations werearound four hours and I think this study is really relevant to what you want towrite. Don’t worry too much if you can’t access the paper itself. The generalpicture of memory problems are more important than the in-depth statistical andmethod analysis the paper concentrates on.

 I’ve stressed all ofthese memory problems for a reason: I think you should show this magic as worsethan useless and I think this is the most sensible way to tackle it. It’s not alie if you honestly think it’s true and our memories are incredibly prone toflaws especially when we’re stressed or in pain.

 To put that a bit morebluntly: what we think is factually true canchange if we’re in pain.

 And those falsememories can persist and feel just as ‘true’ as accurate memories.

 The next thing I thinkyou really need to consider are the police officers themselves. There’s lessresearch on torturers then torture victims but what we have overwhelminglysuggests that torturing other people causes severe mental illness in thetorturer.

 Idiscuss the kinds of effects it has in another ask here (the questionitself involves mentions of rape and sexual abuse but there are no graphicdescriptions in the question or answer).

 Have a read through ofthat because whether you focus on any of the police as characters or not ifthis system comes down that’s a lot ofpeople with those symptoms who will be out of work. Their society is goingto have to come up with a way of coping with that.

 That can take a lot ofdifferent forms. In Soviet Russia it was lethal purges. In South Africa it wasthe Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the aftermath of the Bosnian war it’sbeen one of the most successful series of war crimes trials in history.

 On the nicer end you’relooking at long term mental health programs and re-training programs, jailsentences for the worst offenders and a structured plan to get these peopleback into the community in a healthy way.

 On the worse end it’signoring the problem and ending up with a lotof people who are violent, traumatised and can’t hold down a job anymore. Thatmeans a massive uptick in homelessness and problems related to addiction (iemore demand for health services then the set up can support).

 Those are problems forthis society afterwards. During all of this the problems are gonna be a littledifferent.

 This system will haveabsolutely destroyed the public’s trust in the police force. In a way that goesbeyond the ways torture normally destroys the public’s trust in the policeforce. There is normally a drop in people volunteering information to thepolice when the police torture but in most scenarios that’s because they’reafraid people they know will be tortured not because informants are at risk oftorture themselves. But everyone istortured in this scenario, including the witnesses and the people who reportcrimes.

 Simply put people willstop reporting crimes.

 The police might usethat to argue that crime has dropped and what they’re doing works.

 In fact you’ll have asystem of more or less complete collapse. I don’t know whether crime wouldactually rise but it would certainly go unpunished.

 With no onevolunteering information and a general culture of silence the police wouldprobably respond by arresting people at random. This is pretty common inpolicing systems that have come to rely on torture.

 Not only does this meanmore brutalised, injured people and less trust in the police it also creates aculture of fear. Because under these circumstances people tend to assume that there is a reason the police took the peoplethey did. They assume the raids and the disappearances are to do with someunder lying logic even when none exists.

 I think the best thingto read for the sort of societal affects you might see is Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. And luckily it’snow available for free over here.

 The only parts of Fanon’sbook I’ve read in detail are his psychiatric notes on patients he treatedduring and after the Franco-Algerian war. These included torture victims,torturers and the families of both groups.

 But the majority of thebook is about the injustice of colonialism, shaped by Fanon’s experience of France’sbloody, unjust policy of mass detention and torture of Algerians during thewar. (For further reading on France’s torture practices in Algeria see H Alleg’sThe Question)

 You’ve essentially gota society where there is no law enforcement and at the same time citizens areperiodically and randomly pulled off the street and tortured. There’s going tobe a lot of fear and a lot of distrust of authority. People may or may not haveformed their own parallel social systems already (with their own law enforcersand their own back-room courts).

 And that’s now edgingtowards @scriptsociology’s area of expertise. This is going to be an intensely fracturedsociety with a lot of genuine grievances and a lot of really profoundly illpeople who’ll need help. I strongly suggest consulting @scriptsociology if youwant this society to be rebuilt or come together, because it’s a lot easier forsocieties in this situation to fall apart rather than come back together.

 That may not havecovered anything but I think it’s a decent broad overview. If you’ve got any morequestions feel free to ask as soon as the box is open again. :)

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