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artist-issues · 5 months ago

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Sounds like Moana 2 felt like the rushed tv movie it was supposed to be.

THIS IS THE MOANA 2 CRITIQUE POST

I'm tired of excusing things with the word "rushed." If you have less time to produce, you should simplify what you're trying to say. That way, all your small amount of time can be spent on carefully building the best way to say it. Moana 2 felt very unfocused. It felt like it was trying to say:

"You Can’t Survive in Isolation" (but like why not? why do they need their neighboring islands? Don’t make up a reason—tell me the reason the movie showed you.)

"There's Always Another Way” (what? As opposed to what? One way? What One Way was Moana demonstrably sticking to before the not-really-villainess sang her song? Wasn’t finding that One Way ((“learning where to go by remembering who you are/where you’ve been”)) the whole point of the first movie? Now we’re throwing that out the window?)

"Together But a Little Different" ("Different" as in 'In-New-Circumstances' not "Different" as in 'We’re-Different-So-It’s-Hard-to-Relate-to-One-Another,’ which would've been the better, more cohesive sense of ‘Different’.)

“Something-Something Stories Are Important” (literally they just substitute the phrase “we’ll die” with “our story will end.” No mention of why that’s bad, or what makes a story a story, no reason why stories are important, or what for, just throwing the word “story” around vaguely.)

And none of those "themes" I listed just now had a lot of work put into them. That’s it, in a nutshell. But I can flesh-out my argument for those, and present what I think they could’ve easily done differently, if they’d just picked one and worked hard to make it simply good. SPOILERS BELOW.

“You Can’t Survive in Isolation”

We're told in a quick vision that Moana's people will die if they stay in isolation—but there's no showing us that.

In fact, what we've been shown is that they're thriving, they're fine by themselves. They were in the first movie. They are at the beginning of the second.

So we're not convinced that they need what the whole adventure is supposedly about. Compare that to the first movie! Totally doesn't measure up to the storytelling quality!

In the first movie, the whole first act sets up the idea of darkness reaching through the ocean from Tefiti's missing heart, killing everything. That’s especially bad for Moana’s people. We know that because we’re shown how Moana's people are so deeply connected to the ecosystem of their island, and how every part of it is needed for their way of life to continue—then were also shown that Moana has a deep, personal longing to leave the island. There’s a real connection to home and an urgent need to leave it, and that creates really good emotional tension.

So by the time we're shown (not told in one scene, or through snatches of overdone dialogue, but shown) how the darkness will destroy everything if she doesn't go, we really believe it. We have lots of reasons to empathize with and believe in Moana’s reason for going on this mission. We also feel for her having to make the big decision; we’ve been shown that she’s trying to live up to her responsibilities, and leaving the island would seem like a dismissal of those responsibilities, but we can also see how doing nothing and staying actually would be a dismissal. We feel that tension because they showed us several believable reasons to feel it.

But when Moana is singing “Beyond,” which is supposedly about her conflicting feelings about leaving, and the need to go? I’m just bored. Not emotionally invested. I just saw her going back-and-forth, leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back, one song ago, in “We’re Back.” And everything was fine during that song. Leaving-And-Coming-Back is the dream she’s been living as a voyager. So why is she suddenly convinced it’s a hard decision to…leave-and-plan-to-come-back?

“Because the last voyager died doing this mission she’s about to go on! She might die too!” Okay but all you did was tell me that. You didn’t show me Moana nearly-dying (like she did the first time she tried to cross the reef, or the first time she tried to tackle Te Ka on her own) and then realizing, “gee, oh no, I could die this time,” and then having to make a renewed decision to go anyway. You didn’t put work in, so I don’t believe it.

But the emotion Moana is feeling about leaving is also undercut, like I said, because there doesn’t seem to be a need for her to leave. All they did was tell me that Motunui is in trouble if it stays isolated. But no proof. They were fine isolated from other islands in Moana 1. They have been fine up until now in Moana 2. One random vision of an empty pavilion for three seconds isn’t going to make me forget that and believe that continued isolation will do anything negative to them.

And another thing, what does “uniting with other islands” even mean?” Why would it be such a good thing?

Nobody mentions trade. Nobody mentions learning from one another, or demonstrates learning from one another. Honestly, having Kele teach Moana or Moni or the Kakamora, an actual other-islander, about farming would’ve been a great demonstration of “why we need to meet new people and get out more.”

Having Kele LEARN TO SWIM would have been a SLOW ONE DOWN THE MIDDLE.

But nooo. They just half-bake suggest the idea that the old man doesn’t like leaving his comfort zone, but then never let one of the others have a real conversation with him about why he needs to learn new things from new people. NEVER. It’s just “bouncy vague song, almost-jump-in-the-water-under-coercion BUT NEVER ACTUALLY DO IT, banter and one liners” for the rest of the movie! (And don’t tell me Kele “learning to speak Kakamora” was an example of him “getting out of his comfort zone.” No. Kele never demonstrated a lack of desire to meet and learn new things from strangers. He demonstrated a hatred of fun and the ocean. All the others could also understand the Kakamora literally whenever they needed to, so that wasn’t a special-character-arc for Kele.)

Even though, my point is, they could’ve easily had a character arc for Kele. And that would’ve had something to do with “learn new things from new people, or die stagnant and stuck in your ways,” look, see, a mini-object-lesson in one character’s journey about the theme of the movie. But noooo

They could’ve done the same type of “learn-something-new-or-die” with Moni. Have him be convinced that doing things the “traditional Motunui Wayfinding Way” on this, his first adventure, is the ONLY way to do things. But he’s not good at it, no matter how much head-knowledge he has. And then the Kakamora (or literally any non-Motunui-character) could’ve shown him a newly-developed style for him to learn and grow.

They could’ve done the same type of “learn-something-new-or-die” with Loto. But nope. She just has a really poorly-done, poorly-written, poorly-performed snippet of a song where she mentions how… “perfection is a myth, the journey is just failing, learning, then death, no destination, ever.” But that ridiculous, absolutely absurd worldview is not portrayed as something she’s wrong about or needs to grow out of. It’s portrayed as a good, quirky, revolutionary thing.

But that’s not the same thing as portraying the value I’m describing. Loto just sings about it and invents-and-reinvents canoes. She does not learn how to make canoes from outsiders. She doesn’t learn anything from anybody. She is portrayed as a solitary genius with her own ideas who’s never once shown to be wrong about anything in the whole movie, and everything she tries works. She never messes up or makes a mistake, for all her singing about it. So she never actually “falls on her face, then gets up and learns.” Even though learning from others would be the literal only way for her character to portray the idea of this vague theme they throw out there, “You Can’t Survive in Isolation.”

The point is: there is no reason, in-movie, SHOWN, for the audience to believe that Moana should “re-unite the islands.” There’s no believable demonstration of why that would be a good thing, and no believable demonstration of why not doing it would be a bad thing.

So then why do we care if she risks her life and Maui’s life to re-unite the islands? For a bunch of nameless nobody background characters to show up for a five-second afterparty on Motunui at the end? Ridiculous.

Moving on.

“There’s Always Another Way”

So BUMP ALL THAT, I GUESS.

Matangi, everybody’s Cherished Hope for a New Villain, sings a song and it’s about “get lost, there is no one way, there’s always a different way.”

Fine. Cool. Whatever. The whole point of the first movie was that there’s this symbolic, ancient, WAY of sailing and living your life bravely. And Moana doesn’t know what that One WAY is because her tribe had forgotten it, so she has to learn it. It’s cool, because you navigate by looking at where you’ve been, to see where you’re going. It’s the whole “remember who you are in order to face life’s challenges, not hide from them.” That’s “the Way.” But whatever. Dump that down the toilet, new movie. You know why? Because everybody’s obsessed with “There’s No One Truth,” and “There Is No Right and Wrong,” and “Let’s Experience Things Just to Experience Them, the Journey is the Destination Because We’re not Going Anywhere!” Blah blah blah ridiculous inane sewage slop.

BUT whatever, fine, IF you mean it in a “There’s Lot’s of Ways to Solve Most Problems, Try Try Again,” sense, that’s okay. That’s true for most problems (not all, but most, certainly there are more than one ways to sail.) Sure. that message, if that’s what they mean, is fine. That’s the sense in which Moana takes it, at least, when she dives down to touch the Core Island and break the curse instead of it rising.

But you know what? Yeah. They don’t flesh it out. They don’t take time to show that that’s what’s happening. Moana doesn’t try to teach her new crew how to sail, and they suck at it, but if she lets them do it their own way or whatever, then they work—and she learns there’s “more than one way.” That doesn’t happen.

The Kakamora that joins their team doesn’t solve all his problems with blow darts, or violence, or whatever—and then Moana, or the kindhearted Moni, or the peaceful Kele, tells him, “no, there’s another way, you don’t always have to do things your violent way.” That doesn’t happen.

Loto has one moment where she applies the way she was already living according-to, from the moment we meet her, not a NEW way, to the canoe so that the gang can out-sail magical waterspouts. And it works for like twenty seconds, is played like a great triumph, before they all get smashed into the ocean anyway.

Kele, again, would’ve been a great example of “learn to do things in a different way, or problem-solve by try-trying again.” Because he’s old and they set him up as hating life for no reason and not wanting to do new things. But they didn’t do anything with him.

And guess what else—at the end—when Moana has her own demigod powers, and her own magical-arm-tattoo ripped off from Tears of the Kingdom—guess what her magic power is?

To stick her oar in the water, and light up one current or “path” for the boat to take to a new destination.

A Path. ONE SINGULAR SOLITARY WAY.

Not “a new way.” Not “all possible ways.” Not “multiple ways.” Not even two ways. One. Even though the big lesson she sacrificed her life for, even though the one and only song Matangi got to sing, was about how “there’s always another way.”

WHILE they’re singing a reprise of, “We Know THE Way.”

It’s like being in a conversation with someone who starts a sentence and then forgets what they were saying halfway through, and winds up saying worse than nothing.

“Together, But a Little Different”

Like I said, if you told me that the Main Point of the movie (not one of many vague ideas, but the Main Point) was “Together, But a Little Different,” I immediately would’ve said:

“Oh, so it’s about having to adjust to long-distance relationships. Maybe even death.” Or, maybe, because I saw the trailers, I’d go, “Oh, so it’s about keeping what makes us unique, but uniting when we need to, in spite of our differences. ‘Together, But a Little Different.’”

No. It’s not about any of that. It’s just a phrase the Grandma’s Ghost says whenever she hugs Moana to remind her that she’s still “with her.” She’s still with her; she just glows and can shapeshift into a manta ray now! That has tons of application for real life. 🙄

It’s supposed to be her words of comfort to pass on to Moana, who can then pass it on to the people in her island, so they know that she won’t “ever really leave them.” But like. Then why should I care that she’s leaving them? Why should that be sad? If there’s no sacrifice in being apart, in leaving for the adventure, then the adventure keeps feeling low-stakes and boring and kind of pointless.

If you tilt your head and squint, it’s also maybe-applying to Moana’s pointless ugly annoying Little Sister character, Simea. Simea is in the movie so that someone can be immature for three seconds about how Moana’s always gone from home. And I do mean exactly three seconds, that’s all the emotional drama we get, and it’s not built up to either. She says, “Never come back? -sniff sniffle- I don’t want you to gooo!” And then runs away and then Moana takes a break from singing the next day to briefly explain to Simea about how she can pass messages through the ocean. Then she’s fine.

But the way this theme is thrown around, you think it would mean, “Moana Has to Go Away Sometimes, But if You Remember Her She Never Leaves You.”

But seriously. Again I say to you, who cares? We know Moana is coming back. We know that. Nobody in the audience seriously believes she’s never coming back when she leaves for this adventure. If we did, maybe we’d care that Simea cares. But we don’t.

Even when Moana “dies,” and it’s the perfect time to be like, “seeee, what we feeeared has happened, she’s dead, she can never go home to Simea!” THERE IS NO FOLLOW-THROUGH. There’s not even a cut to Simea back on Motonui, feeling through the ocean or the Force or whatever movie mumbo-jumbo that her sister is gone. And there is not even a deadline, in the movie, for Moana to accomplish this mission, so it’s not like she could be running late and we could get some scenes of Moana’s family mourning. Simea having to do something, take some big step, that show’s she’s willing to go on even if she can’t be with Moana anymore because she believed Moana about how she’s always with her—something like that.

My point is, Simea has no real point, so she doesn’t add to this “Together, But Different.” idea at all. And we already know that it doesn’t mean, “overcome our differences” from what I said in the first Theme.

But what they could have done? They COULD have gone whole-hog and MADE MOANA A BELIEVABLE DEMIGOD. Instead of a vague joke about tattoos that leaves the question open-ended, a pointless and theme-breaking display of shiny superpowers, and no other change to the status quo—

—they could’ve shown that there are consequences to that action—maybe she’s a Demigod of Navigation, or something like that, and the condition is, she can sail around connecting islands, but she can never stay on one too long. So she’ll never be able to live with Simea and her parents again on Motunui, but it’s the price she has to pay to connect the islands. Then she’d have to show Simea how they can still be “Together, Just a Little Different.”

Or someone could’ve gotten hurt or disabled, giving off the idea that even though everything is “different,” they can still be “together.”

Maui could’ve died and passed his fishhook powers, AND MINI MAUI, on to Moni or Moana. “Together, but different.”

Nothing, nothing at all like that happens. It’s just a pretty phrase that could’ve meant something, but any meaning it actually has hamstrings the whole emotional weight of the story instead of fueling it.

“Something-Something Stories Are Important”

The thing here is. I already said it. You can’t just say words and expect them to be impactful, in a story. You’re supposed to show what they mean and why they’re true, and THAT’S what creates an impact.

So when you’re talking about “stories” in a story, you definitely should not have nothing to say.

And I can feel it. I’ve seen none of the promotional material, I don’t watch the interviews, I haven’t checked BuzzFeed or ScreenRant or the Disney Youtube page in a while, but I can feel it.

I can feel them trying to say, “Something Something, ‘Storytelling’ is a big part of Pacific Islander Culture!” I can imagine the headlines. “[Actor or Disney Exec Name Here] Invites You to Celebrate Your Story with Pacific Islander Heritage Month!” They’re so into “culture as a marketing tool” these days.

But they say it so lazily. Just repeating the word “story” over and over in the movie doesn’t pay tribute to how important “stories” are to Pacific Islanders. Or to anybody.

You know what makes stories impactful? They point at truth, when the darkness and misunderstandings and evil of the world threaten to distract you or hide the truth. That’s what makes stories impactful. I’m sure Pacific Islanders use stories in that way—to pass on what they believe to be true, in a way that can be retold and remembered.

So MAKE THAT THE THEME OF YOUR MOVIE. Instead of just having Moana replace “Nalo wants to kill us” with “Nalo wants to end our story” for Empty Effect—instead of having Grandma say something about “your e

Okay okay.

Nalo is a silly, lazy villain. He is clearly a Thanos rip-off in design and introduction in a literal post-credits scene, and his most-present form, in the movie, is just a big ocean thunderstorm. But the laziest thing about him is that he’s the Conflict that everyone is trying to rise up and overcome, and the whole reason he sunk the Island was “He gets power from humans being divided.”

That’s never explained. It’s never shown at all why he gets power from the vague “humans are divided” thing. He has no scenes. He has no interactions with other characters (till the end-credits scene.) A range of his power, like “here’s what it looks like when the humans are divided—oh, now here’s how much less-powerful he is when they’re together!” is never shown. So. No consequences if the heroes fail, no change to the status-quo, villain-wise, when they win.

If Nalo wanted to end their stories, though, that would be another thing.

Stories are meant to be told. They’re for the benefit of others. So what they should’ve done is made the secret key of Nalo’s power hidden. Unknown. Nobody knows how to beat him. And he’s not sinking some unfindable island in another dimension. He’s just devouring the resources of the weather with his ever-more-powerful storms, (kind of like the darkness leaking through the ocean from the first movie) and nobody can stop him.

But that’s because each island, around Oceania, has clues to how to beat him. Clues in their stories. But they can only sail so far from what they know before his storms kill them. So he’s literally making them weaker by using his power to keep them apart, and making himself stronger by defending his weakness. Now they can’t Wayfind to each other, and learn one another’s cultural advancements or stories or beauties, because Nalo is powerful enough to make storms that rip their boats apart. But if they could learn from one another’s stories about the things their ancestors used against him, they could get rid of him.

That’s what they should’ve done. Shown why Nalo was a threat and how the Main Theme was the key to overcoming that threat.

They did not do that.

They made stories just a hot button word to be thrown around with no impact. In a story.

The point of this post is that Moana 2 had a lot of potentially-good points, and it made none of them, so it was totally unsatisfying. If it had just focused on one, the other little benefits they were trying to fit in could’ve been mentioned more naturally.

The way that Beauty & the Beast is all about ONE theme: “True Love is Self-Sacrificial.” But because of the tools it uses to tell that story—a beast that it would take a lot of self-sacrifice to be stuck with forever—you get little side-themes thrown in, supporting and draping decoratively over the ONE theme: “Beauty is Found Within, So Don’t Be Deceived By Appearances,” etc.

Moana 2 should’ve just picked the Story One, and it could’ve had that theme, and it’s cultural-nod cake, and it’s unifying-effect cake, and EATEN IT TOO.

And we could’ve eaten it. And WE could’ve enjoyed it! But no. Money money money lazy lazy lazy.

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mikeysagereblog · 9 months ago

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⊗ superhero cartoons to watch when little!!! (or big, they're that good imo!!) ⊗

✧.* i've been wanting to make this list for a while now, mainly because i wanna talk about my fav cartoons/open up opportunities for other littles to find something awesome to watch!!! there's gonna be a lot of ranges in age ratings to add some variety for older/younger littles :)

✧.* also, i'd like to put a disclaimer here and say that a lot of these are on streaming services that i own, but other littles may not. i would also like to say that there are ways to get around a paywall if you can't afford certain streaming services!!! you can find full episodes on youtube/other sites for free!!! (just use an adblocker if you're on a site other than youtube if u can!!)

✧.* another disclaimer: any regressor of any age can watch any of these shows!! i just wanted to put the age ratings for those who want to stick to media that's more in their age range!! so, don't feel like you have to limit yourself from watching certain shows just because of how old you regress to!!

✧.* spectacular spider-man (2008-2009, 2 seasons): suitable for 7-8+, but i'd say it'd be okay for littles who regress younger to watch, too!! honestly, my all-time favorite spider-man cartoon!!! not only is it fun to watch while little, you can truly appreciate the show when you're big, too!!! josh keaton's voicework as spider-man is just- ahhhh it's so amazing imo!! the story is really good, the animation/style is just so iconic, and the colors are very easy on the eyes!!! (especially if you're sensitive to bright colors when little/in general) absolute banger of a theme song, too!!!

✧.* x-men: the animated series (1992-1997, 5 seasons): rated for around 7-8+, but i do admit that there can be some scary scenes for especially younger/more sensitive littles. honestly, this show is great!!! i loved all the different story arcs, how colorful the show is, the characters themselves- a lot of cool stuff about this show!!! be warned, there's a sudden drop in quality during season 5... i think they switched animation studios/va's or something because season 5 is NOT the best season of the show, i'll tell you that... 0_0

✧.* x-men '97 (2024-present, 1 season so far): rated for 14+, so this show is more suitable for teen regressors. it's a continuation of x-men:tas, and oh man... this is it. my favorite cartoon of all time!!! the animation is just oh so beautiful!!! the fight scenes are awesome!!! the soundtrack- oh golly the soundtrack!!! the remastered x-men:tas opening is just- wow!!! but, there's definitely reasons why it's rated 14+... not gonna spoil anything, but there's a lot of scenes in the show that can be upsetting for younger littles. trust me, watching some scenes when you're little is just- too much sometimes... (speaking from experience) it's an amazing show, but watch at ur own risk if you're a younger regressor!!!

✧.* batman: the animated series (1992-1995, 4 seasons): i'd say it's for around ages 9-10+, since it can be fairly dark at times. (same goes for a lot of batman related media!!) honestly, this show's pretty good!!! the style of the show is very dark visually, so it's easy on the eyes for those with bright color sensitivities!!! the artstyle itself is also very nice to look at!!! the voicework is amazing as well, especially kevin conroy's (rip) performance as batman himself!!! from what i can remember, the plotpoints were also pretty on-par!! i remember liking the show a lot when i was a kid!! :)

✧.* hulk vs. wolverine (not a show but an animated movie, 2009): this one's rated pg-13, since there's depictions of violence. but, i gotta say- this movie had me hyped up when i watched it as a kid!!! this was part of a straight to video two-movie collection, (the other being "hulk vs. thor") and i gotta say... this movie was awesome!!! the fight scenes were rad as heck, the animation was amazing, even deadpool was in the movie!!! (which, fun fact, was his first appearance in animation!!! other than the 2 second cameo in x-men:tas) very fun movie!!!

✧.* these are just some recommendations!!! i really liked these when i was a kid, and i hope you'll like them too, if you decide to watch them!!!

✧.* (also yay!! finally have a new banner!!! + i updated my blog's theme because nightcrawler is so awesome and he's literally my cg guys!!! he said it himself :3)

#sfw agere #sfw interaction only #sfw littlespace #sfw regression #age regression sfw #age regression #xmen agere #xmen #x men agere #spiderman #spiderman agere #batman #batman agere #wolverine #hulk vs wolverine

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elainsgirl · 5 months ago

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I tried to get myself to like gwyn and azriel but I just couldnt. Ill look at fanarts and stuff but I just cant SEE it.

I fear they would be boring. People call elain and azriel boring and cliche but be fr... thats literally gwyn and az. you can literally see how their story would develop. it would literally give feysand and nessian.... im tired of seeing the same stuff.

Hey anon 🫶

You’re so right. At one point, earlier on in the fandom, I too tried to get myself to see where gwynriels were coming from and what the appeal about Gwyn and Az were. It’s nothing special. There is nothing unique or interesting about Gwynriel.

I promise this is related to my poimt. Lately, there’s this discourse going on about the decline in individuality and quality of books. After 2020, people have started to notice that recent books are no longer as intricate as books once were. Every book within a genre feels the same. The plots, characters, dynamics, tropes etc - are all mirrors of each other. There isn’t individuality anymore when it comes to books within a set genre. Now, a genre that rlly increased in popularity was romantasy. Over the last few years, which trope has become increasingly more prominent? Enemies to lovers. Which fmc character type is more favoured? The sassy, “I can do it all”, powerful warrior who is the best at everything and is great at wielding a sword type. Almost every single book thats comes out will be advertised as enemies to lovers. The fmcs themselves have all become similar. Another point I would like to add in: when it comes to these sort of books, there will be lots of banter between the couple and the fmc always proving the mmc wrong - sometimes even challenging him. Aside from acotar: many of us are also readers who consume other genres and books/series. I think its fair enough to say, many of us consume all types of “popular” books. I can guarantee that many of us have read enemies to lovers books or even have it as a favourite trope. When you are constantly consuming a specific type of media, as a reader, you will want more of whatever you are consuming, limiting your mind to other possibilities. As an example, if you constantly are reading enemies to lovers books’ -> you won’t really like anything that is not enemies to lovers. Obviously, we all have our favourite genres and tropes we love to consume BUT we should always be open minded to try new things. Ok, slightly of course but back to my point:

Gwynriel fits in the checklist for your standard couple: in a fantasy, “enemies to lovers”, book. . Girlboss FMC that can do it all and shoves it to do the dark, broody MMC.

. “Banter”. The couple “challenging” each other

. MMC’s dark trauma and past that only the FMC can help him to heal

you get my point. People love gwynriel and it is so popular due to its lack of originality. They are such cardboard copies of a typical EtL book + we have literally gotten not much scenes on them -> it is so easy for their stans to self-insert and virtually put on any HC they want onto gwynriel.

Now compare that too elriel? There are not many “soft”, “feminine” fmcs. The recent one I can think of is “Evangeline Fox” from once upon a broken heart. So you already have Elain Archeron that stands out as an fmc from the norm - people aren’t used to her character type therefore view her as weak and boring. Elriel is far from enemies to lovers. They do not banter. They’re not the type of characters to draw attention to themselves or their relationship. Their dynamic is more mature instead of fun and childish. They have more dangerous stakes then anything gwynriel can have. Their story is more unique -> people aren’t used to that as it isn’t often potrayed in books anymore therefore they are disliked and people find them uninteresting.

Gwynriel is popular as it lacks originality. Elriel is hated due to their unique dynamic.

When I see gwynriel fanarts, the concept is lovely but knowing that Gwyn and Az don’t even like each other romantically and Az was ready to beg for another woman, it usually puts me off. I can’t view them as a couple since the books do not potray them as potential LIs.

#I think I made 50% sense #elriel #pro elriel #azriel shadowsinger #azriel acosf #gwyn berdara #elain archeron

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crimson-and-clover-1717 · 4 months ago

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‘I’m here, Ed; I’m here.’

Lighthouses are symbolically significant to Stede’s characterisation, and part of that is as a representation of toxic masculinity and patriarchy. One is highlighted during Stede and Mary’s wedding ceremony standing for the ideals of heteronormative marriage which is often steeped in traditional masculine norms. We see a lighthouse also as the setting for Ned Low’s torture. And of course, Ed fails to heed the warning of the lighthouse, cracking upon Stede’s rocks as he returns to a white patriarchal hegemonic society in which Ed cannot follow.

But Stede’s truer characterisation is not so much the lighthouse structure itself, which keeps him trapped in behaviours to which he is not suited and grows to abhor, but the lamp within. He brings light to Ed’s purgatory in season two, both physically with the lantern, and through love, shining into the darkness of Ed’s subconscious.

With all of this in mind, I’m a little obsessed with the lighthouse in Ed’s Kraken recollection. Is the lighthouse part of a true memory, or is something else going on here? I like to think this scene is not only symbolic in its use of Kraken imagery, but also that of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse is certainly a symbol of toxic masculinity here, forming the backdrop for Ed’s stumbling, drunken father. But I also feel the shining lamp represents Stede. Ed is reconstructing the memory as he speaks; and we learn later it’s a fictional recollection insofar as the suggested realism of a literal Kraken is a psychological protection mechanism. Ed’s recreating a version of events he can just about cope with in the retelling. And as Ed tells the story to Stede and the crew, it could be Stede ends up inadvertently and symbolically in the memory as the lighthouse’s lamp.

GIF by captain-flint

We know a motif throughout the show is the subjectivity of memory and storytelling. It could be that a version of Stede is inserted here by Ed’s mind as a comfort. It’s only recently the pair fused their collective imaginations into the lighthouse fuckery, an ingenious moment of skill and playfulness which Ed later says was more fun than he’s had in ages. What if Ed’s best and worst memories begin to collide as his identity enters a state of flux?

It might also reflect the beginnings of Stede shining a light into the dark crevices of Ed’s mind. Helping Ed to begin to explore the unacknowledged parts of himself. Stede, even at this early stage, is starting to have a psychological impact upon Ed. Later, in the bathtub scene, Stede really does reach those hidden corners. Not through force or interrogation, but by simply bringing his bright self to Ed’s side, ready to listen impartially to whatever Ed wants to bring from the shadows, allowing Ed to speak his truth aloud for the first time without fear of judgement.

But, I have another twist on the lighthouse lamp, and it’s an abstract one. Because I love metaphysical readings of this show, such as Chauncey being a partial manifestation of Stede’s mind, or mirrors, which weren’t there before, appearing suddenly on the Revenge alongside Ed.

In this reading, the lighthouse and its lamp do exist as reality within the show’s metaphysical setting, and are part of a true-ish memory. There is a timeless quality to Ed and Stede’s relationship. They’re children currently, unknown to each and unmet. But they already belong one to the other. The universe knows it. Time knows it. Physics knows it.

In his darkest childhood moment, Ed was never truly alone. The lighthouse lamp is Stede, and the future promise of Stede.

#stede bonnet #ed teach #the lighthouse #lamp #hope #timeless #love as physics #metaphysical #every universe #I’m here ed #they belong to each other #ofmd meta #ofmd

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 17 days ago

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Yeah I'm gonna talk about the Andor rape scene.

First, disclaimer, I don't watch Andor, or any Disney Star Wars show. I did watch Rogue One, and it's probably the best thing Disney Star Wars ever did, which isn't saying much. So if you want to dismiss what I'm saying because I didn't see the scene and don't have the "context" or whatever, go fuck yourself because the only context I need is that there's now a rape scene in Star Wars.

Which is bad. It's stupid and retarded and it changes Star Wars forever for the worse. Star Wars isn't Game of Thrones. It isn't a dark, gritty, realistic portrayal of war and tyranny. It's a space opera, and while some space operas do "go there" with regards to rape and graphic content, it's not required, nor is it the norm. Star Wars was one of the space operas that didn't go there. It never needed to. You understood that the Empire was evil because Darth Vader was torturing people and they blew up an entire planet. The empire were the bad guys and the good guys were defined by standing up to the Empire. And even with that simplistic concept, the movies were still good. No one went to see Star Wars and thought "well, Vietnam just happened so I don't really think I can believe this portrayal of war unless some villages get napalmed and some women get raped". They said "oh wow Luke Skywalker is awesome he blew up the Death Star!" or "laser swords? Awesome!"

The idea that everything needs to reflect reality is such a braindead concept, but I'm not surprised that's the defense the showrunner is going with. Everyone involved with Disney Star Wars at every level has shown that they don't understand Star Wars at all. Not from a storytelling or character standpoint, or a meta, cultural standpoint either. "It's for kids" is never an excuse for bad or lazy writing, but it is a reason why explicit scenes aren't included. For decades, the most explicitly violent thing in Star Wars was Ponda Baba's arm getting cut off in the Mos Eisley cantina. That happened within the first half of the first movie, and the series never felt the need to try and top that because explicit content was never the point of Star Wars. It never needed to resort to cheap emotional ploys to get you to feel for the characters. Which brings me to my next point:

Aside from stories about rape, rape is never necessary in fiction. In fact, I say 95% of the time it's a crutch bad writers use because that's the only way they know to evoke a visceral emotional reaction. It's lazy and uninspired. It lowers the quality of whatever it's in. If you can't get someone to hate your villain without making them a rapist, then you're a bad writer. But this rape scene in particular is actually damaging to the original trilogy (as so much of Disney Star Wars is). Because the explanation is that you can't have a story about war and resistance without rape. Which means that the Empire is now known to have rapists in its ranks. Andor takes place in the same timeframe as the OT, which means that the same Empire that tried to rape that woman is the same empire that had Princess Leia captive on the Death Star for at least a few days. Do you see where I'm going with this? If your assertion is that rape must exist in the Empire to portray war and resistance accurately, then Princess Leia had to have been raped while in captivity, because the same Empire that captured this woman also captured her. But that never happened. We know that never happened because it was never so much as hinted at. She was tortured for information, but she was never raped. No female captive in the entire Star Wars saga, both the real Lucas stories and the fake Disney "canon", was ever raped. So by the directors own reasoning, the only Star Wars property to ever portray a realistic (where "realistic" is seen as good and "unrealistic" is seen as bad) version or war is season 2 of Andor. Which is massively insulting to every other Star Wars movie and show ever made. Even The Acolyte, which is objective trash, doesn't deserve to be implicitly slighted because it didn't depict rape. Star Wars is not about reflecting reality. It's about the fight between good vs evil. It's about family and belonging and standing up for what's right. Universal concepts that anyone can understand even if it's nothing like what you read about in the news everyday. And that's what it should always be.

Goddamn I hate that Star Wars is being ruined like this. I hate it so much.

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anim-ttrpgs · 6 months ago

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The skill point allocation system in Eureka is very elegant.

Is the principle of evening out to 0 something that has often been used in ttrpg design? If so, can you name other games that inspired Eureka in that regard? Or did you come up with it for Eureka?

"All skills can be -n to +n with a cumulative total of 0" seems too usefull, too elegant, as to never been utilized before the year 2024.

I came up with it independently and have literally never seen it anywhere else. I have thought the same way about the Eureka! Point mechanic, though similar things have been done before in other RPGs, just never applied to mystery investigation gameplay. Why hasn't anyone done this yet?

I feel like it must have been used somewhere else at some point in the 50 years of TTRPGs that have been made, I've just never seen it. i agree it feels like too good of an idea to not, like, practically be industry standard, but then again, TTRPGs are not a very innovative industry. It's very stagnant. Most TTRPGs that have come out in the past 50 years have just been D&D clones to some degree or another, and most "innovation" I see has just been "what if we unknowingly reinvented the wheel except this time we made it hexagonal instead of octagonal," total Tesla cybertruck style innovation.

The industry is kind of uniquely set up for that. It's one of the most monopoly-dominated industries/artforms in existence, with one game (of greatly varying quality and thoughtful design between editions) completely dominating it for all 50 years of its existence and being allowed to basically fully define what a "TTRPG" is. The biggest alternative to D&D for the past 20 years has been Pathfinder, which is just like D&D but a little better designed, and before that its biggest competitor was World of Darkness, which, if you actually read their rulebooks, are also designed pretty much like D&D except for some text at the beginning which basically says "you can ignore these extremely dungeon-crawl-y rules to focus more on narrative, don't be like those dumb dungeon crawl players," which if you have been following this blog you know is a load of crap.

Call of Cthuhlu, another big veteran contender for the industry that is still going pretty strong, has been the standard for "investigation" gameplay for nearly 50 years, but it's just a Lovecraft hack of RuneQuest, which was designed for, you guessed it, fantasy dungeon crawling. That's why even though CoC adventure modules do tend to play pretty well with Eureka, most of them are still structured as a short line of like 1 or 2 clues to follow to get the PCs into a spooky scary enclosed dungeon-like monster-filled location as quickly as possible, and you have advice like (uncharitable hyperbole) "if the PCs get stuck, make evidence fall from the sky and land at their feet."

Plus, you have big "actual play" podcasts who really really champion the whole "ignore the rules when they get in the way of your pre-planned three-act-structure plot" and the mega-monopolgy with marketing money making it a selling point that if you ignore the rules enough "D&D5e can do anything."

TTRPGs are also a relatively young artform without a ton of mainstream attention until pretty recently (which, as I mentioned, has been eaten up by D&D5e, Pathfinder, and big "actual plays"), and they are a hard one to participate in because playing a single TTRPG requires a ton of time investment compared to most other popular art forms like books, video games, music, and movies.

All this results in many, many people who play and even design TTRPGs literally never having played anything that wasn't WotC-era D&D, barely one or two degrees of separation from WotC-era D&D, or "it's not important if it's WotC-era D&D or not if you just ignore the rules!" Oh and PbtA and BitD players and designers, you're not immune to this! Those are just the "D&D5e can do anything!" of the indie scene and no they really really are not the best framework/engine for every single game ever!

For all the talent, study, effort, and respect for the artform across the A.N.I.M. team, not even we are immune to this. I haven't played nearly as many TTRPGs as I would like to have before calling myself a "learned" TTRPG designer. There might be some obscure game from 2004 I've never heard of that does some of Eureka's stuff already, that if I had read, I could have made Eureka even better by improving upon and learning from the mistakes of others rather than working in uncharted territory.

So, in conclusion, to use the film industry as an analogy, it's like if, during the past 10 years of every fucking mainstream movie being about superheroes, aspiring film makers, who have watched between 0 and 1 movies that weren't about superheroes, are having the "novel" idea of "what if.. a movie wasn't about superheroes!" and then trying to make a movie not about superheroes with no non-superhero experience or study. And Eureka: The Movie is good and innovative because A.N.I.M. Studios watched a measly 10 different non-superhero movies and studied film theory before making it.

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sanjoongie · 3 months ago

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𝒟𝒶𝓎 𝒩𝒾𝓃𝑒~ 𝒟𝑒𝑔𝓇𝒶𝒹𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃

The Menu

🩶Pairing: Ex! Merman! Park Seonghwa x Human! Reader (f)

🩶Au: modern mermaid au, supernatural

🩶Trope: ex's to lovers

🩶Genre: smut, angst

🩶Rating: 18+, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

🩶Warnings: degradation (m), mentions of the light system, nipple pinching, masochist! seonghwa, sadist! reader, sub! seonghwa, dom! reader, jerking off, rough handjob, orgasm upon command

🩶Word Count: 1,530

🩶Summary: when your ex shows up, needing money, you do your best to give him the best orgasm of his life so that he can leave and never come back into your life.

🩶Day Eight: Yunho | Masterlist | Day Ten: Mingi 🩵

You walked into your apartment above the seafood restaurant you worked after a long 12 hour shift and threw your purse to the floor. You took off your shoes and your jacket and sighed as you put your keys in the porcelain bowl in your hallway. You padded slowly, planning on collapsing on your couch for a few hours.

Unfortunately, that was not in the cards for you. On your couch was your ex looking extremely worried.

You sighed heavily. “Seonghwa, this is an abuse of the key I gave you.”

Seonghwa stood up, brushing his hair behind his ears. “I know. I’m sorry, but--”

“--but you need some money,” You finished his sentence. There was only one reason he would come. “Seonghwa, you have to find someone else to do this for you.”

Seonghwa’s socked foot dug into the old wooden floors of your apartment. “I didn’t want to come back. I wanted to give you some space. But the others--they just coddle me. They don’t give me what I want.”

You rubbed your face tiredly. Seonghwa was… something out of myth and legend. Somewhere in his ancestry was a mermaid or merman. It explained his… odd predicament. Your ex-boyfriend didn’t come cum; instead he came pearls. It was his only means of money because Seonghwa was never an official citizen. Seonghwa didn’t have a birth certificate or a driver’s license. He mostly lived with support from friends or partners.

You had been one of them, once upon a time, when Seonghwa had also worked at the restaurant. You had become a toxic relationship and had separated for the better. You let Seonghwa keep his key to your place in the situation that he needed a place to crash but it had only been a month since your break-up.

“It’s not been long enough, Seonghwa, my feelings for you…” You swallowed bitter resentment.

“I know I’m asking a lot. I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t desperate. We can split what I get back for selling the pearls. Just know that… I don’t get good quality ones without you…”

You mistakenly made eye contact with Seonghwa and that was where all resistance was melted away. Seonghwa’s eyes, on the verge of teary, pleaded with you but there was a hint of darkness there; darkness that always seemed to convince you to do the dirty things to him that simply floated his boat.

“We don’t have to split. Just give me twenty percent. That’s enough. You just make sure you have enough to survive so that you don’t have to come back.”

You turned towards your bedroom and when you didn’t hear Seonghwa follow you, you snapped at him. “Come on then! I want to sleep some time tonight rather than dealing with your needy ass all night.”

That tiny bit of degradation was all the Seonghwa needed to understand the scene had begun. He was immediately behind you, hovering for more instructions.

“Are you already dumb with need that you need me to tell you to get on my bed? You are honestly such a needy slut, god Seonghwa.”

Seonghwa whined in the back of his throat but did as he was told. He was about to strip when you held a hand up. “I don’t think so. I’ll decide what you take off.”

His big eyes watched you as you knelt on the bed and slowly made your way to his lanky form. “Look at you, already sporting a chubby in your pants. Does it hurt, Hwa? Does your dumb big cock hurt because you need relief?”

Seonghwa nodded, a pout pulling down the corners of his lips. “Please. Please use me.”

“You’re so pitiful,” You mock sighed. “All you need is a hand wrapped around your cock and you’re a happy slut, aren’t you Hwa?”

Your hand slipped up his thigh, that clenched when you touched him. His whole body was already shaking with need. It was so easy to get him worked up. You moved your hand up but you avoided his clearly twitching cock in his pants. Instead, you slipped your hand under his shirt. He whimpered as you didn’t stimulate him but instead raised his shirt until it was pushed up to his chin.

“Please,” Seonghwa begged.

“You will be given what I decide you deserve, Seonghwa,” You said in a cold tone.

You straddled his thighs, sitting back as you admired the beauty that was Seonghwa’s torso. His flat stomach, the smooth expanse of his chest, the way his hips made your fingers want to dig into them. You growled unconsciously and Seonghwa’s eyes lit up. Your hunger for him was never the problem in your relationship.

You roughly undid his jeans and yanked them down past his hips. His slim length bounced against his pelvis. He already had precum leaking from the tip, the only fluid he would release tonight, to aid in the pearls travelling through his body.

You made direct eye contact with Seonghwa. “You better use the light system or so help me Seonghwa, I will spank your ass if you hold back on speaking your mind. You need to let me know if it’s too much. You can’t just let yourself get washed away in the feeling.”

And that was where your relationship had become strained. Seonghwa couldn't take care of himself. He could be so turned on from the way he enjoyed things rough that he never stopped when it became a red scenario.

Seonghwa nodded and you pinched his nipple in retaliation. “Use your words. Or are you too dumb to do even that?”

Seonghwa let out a noise of pleasure at the pain and immediately began to babble. “Yes, I remember the light system. I will tell you when it’s too much. But it’s going to feel so good, I don’t think I’ll have to!”

You gripped Seonghwa’s face tightly in one hand. “Seonghwa.”

“I’ll be good! I promise!” Seonghwa said, despite his face being squished.

“Good boy,” You praised him.

You wrapped your hands around his length, one on top of the other and began to roughly jerk him off. His hips shot off the bed, immediate pleasure zooming through him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his tongue lolled out.

“Such a pretty slut, aren’t you?” You mockingly cooed at Seonghwa. “Looking so fucked out and I’ve only just started?”

“ ‘so good,” Seonghwa slurred. “Make me come fast. Make me want more.”

“Such a needy slut,” You tsked. “Do you think you deserve to come so quickly?”

To prove your point, you release his dick and it bounced against his stomach once again. It throbbed there, leaking still along his stomach. Seonghwa sent you big puppy-dog eyes up at you. “Please. I like it when you’re rough and quick with me. Like I’m not worth your time. That you’ll just make me come and discard me like trash. Please.”

“You’re awfully demanding of someone who came in here begging to be pleasured. Aren’t I the one in charge? Shouldn’t I decide how you come?” You raised an eyebrow at him.

Seonghwa started to hump the air, that’s how desperate he was for further pleasure. “Use me,” he whined.

You grabbed his dick with two hands again and began to rotate your wrists as you moved up and down his length. You rubbed your palm roughly against the head of his cock as you came up, making Seonghwa’s thighs shake.

“I can--” His tongue came out to lick his lips, “--I can come? Right? Please let me come. I can’t--hnnnnnn--please please say yes!”

“Fine, come all over my hands you desperate slut,” You commanded.

With a desperate cry, Seonghwa did exactly that. Pearls shot up into the air and Seonghwa let out a drawn out moan as he came pretty much everywhere. You winced as you heard small taps on your floor, indicating that the pearls were indeed going everywhere. It was going to be annoying to find them all later.

Seonghwa’s bare, sweaty chest heaved with his come-down. His eyes were heavy lidded and his lips slightly parted to adjust for his breathing. “Thank you,” he said with a raspy voice.

You let go of his cock like it was burning you and you leaned back to get off Seonghwa. He sat up immediately, locking his arms behind the small of your back. His eyes travelled over your face. You didn’t know what he was looking for but you knew instinctively that you shouldn’t give it to him.

“Don’t, Seonghwa,” You warned him.

“Star,” Seonghwa said his pet name for you and you put a hand on his chest to push him away.

“I said don’t.”

Seonghwa let you go this time. Even though all he wanted to do was hold you and tell you that you were actually good for him, he knew that you weren’t receptive to it, just after calling him a desperate slut. Perhaps in the soft morning light he could convince you that the distance you put between the two of you was more harmful than you intended.

Perhaps… you’d keep him this time.

🩶Day Eight: Yunho | Masterlist | Day Ten: Mingi 🩵

#pirateeznet #lapydiariesnet #ateez smut #park seonghwa smut #seonghwa smut #fff25 #topaz's work #ღatz #ateez seonghwa smut #atz smut

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gemsofgreece · 6 months ago

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speaking of greek films, do you have any recommendations? maybe even of the romcom variety? i've only seen zorba

And here's me whose ass still hasn't watched Zorba and even more embarrassingly I kinda thought it was a fully American movie adapting the Greek novel with some Greeks contributing, like actress Irene Papas and the music score by Mikis Theodorakis. It turns out you're right though, the film was directed, written and produced by the Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis but then it was distributed by 20th Century Fox so it was a Greece - USA production.

I don't know if you can speak or are learning Greek though because Zorba was a co-production and it was mostly in English but a fully Greek production is in Greek and most don't get subtitled for international audiences. I will give you some personal recs but I can't guarantee you will find subtitles easily or you will have to do some severe digging. I have made the recs in an older answer so I am linking that post:

I will give a more updated rec list too:

Faves of mine:

From the link above the ones I would advice one to not miss are:

Η Κάλπικη Λίρα (The Counterfeit Coin, 1955). It's not only my favourite Greek movie but it's also in the All Time Top 100 Best Movies of International Cinema list of some very legit major institution that I am forgetting now XD It's a social dramedy with top tier comedians and drama actors co-starring and it's basically four different life stories connected through the same counterfeit coin.

Αχ, αυτή η γυναίκα μου! (Oh, that wife of mine!, 1967) It's a situational comedy. It's hilarious but if you don't know Greek, I don't know how well it translates to a different language. Man desperately wanting a promotion gets in a chaotic situation when his playboy boss first gets outraged and then obsessed with his wife, without knowing her true identity.

5 λεπτά ακόμα (5 minutes more, 2006) I still think this movie is very underrated. It's a metaphysical philosophical dark dramedy with a great understated score. You can find it on youtube, obviously without English subtitles and with bad quality but hey at least it's on youtube! A morally neutral man with jealousy issues dies and is given five more minutes in the mortal world, which will determine his afterlife.

Το Τανγκό των Χριστουγέννων (Christmas Tango, 2011). Romantic drama. A soldier gets unintentionally entagled in the unrequited / forbidden romance of his mysterious aloof commander. Now this movie has a queer element. It does not have a queer happy end but it has both straight and queer themes and honestly it's a beautiful movie. You can find it on youtube.

Ρεμπέτικο (Rembetiko, 1983). Drama. The tragic life of a female singer of the then underground Rembetiko music scene, the music genre the Greeks of Asia Minor brought along after the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the population exchange between Turkey and Greece in the first half of the 20th century. Personally, I am not crazy about this movie but this doesn't mean necessarily anything because it gets good reviews in imdb even outside Greece. But I personally recommend it for its INSANE score and songs. These songs have become emblematic in the Greek music scene. The composer, Stavros Xarhakos, makes a cameo in the movie.

I still recommend the other recs in the old list too, especially the comedies. Also, like I have said, you can't go too wrong with Greek comedies of the 50s-60s in general. Since I said that, here's a list of faves and critics' choices of Greek movies from the 50s-70s.

Some other faves not in the old lists:

Το χώμα βάφτηκε κόκκινο (Blood on the Land, 1966). A Greek Western! Who would have thought but it is good! When I say western, I don't mean Cowboys vs Natives of course, but I mean land property disputes, rural, animosity gets out of hand, social class inequality etc etc and it is actually linked to Greek social history of the 20th century. And finally a Greek movie that takes good advantage of the Meteora. The movie was a nominee for best foreign film in the Oscars .

Strella, 2009. This is a strictly 18+ movie. It is a queer movie BUT it is also a very edgy movie, like, it can be perceived as extremely edgy no matter if you are a member of the LGBTQIA+ community or not. It's not the imagery that makes it edgy but the plot at some point takes a serious left turn. So, only watch if you're into weird cinema territory. I have warned you. Personally I am not into weird cinema but I liked this one. Man gets out of prison after years of incarceration for committing a murder. He befriends and soon gets into a relationship with a trans female sex worker. The protagonist, Mina Orfanou, is actually a trans woman and she was really praised for her performance in this.

Ιφιγένεια (Iphigenia, 1977). Directed by Michael Cacoyannis like Zorbas, this is a movie about the myth of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's daugher, with an all-Greek cast. It is kind of those theater-to-movie films so don't expect Troy level of production. It has very minimal sets. Also, it's the 70s, the bible and sandal era, so the costumes are really anachronistic and inaccurate but other than that it is a good movie. It was nominated for the Oscar for foreign language film. And it's on youtube with English subtitles.

youtube

A few other recs:

Antigone (1961). Even more than Iphigenia, this is almost pure theatre filmed. The acting is theatrical, the staging is theatrical, it's all just theatre really. This is a very loyal adaptation of Euripides' Antigone. The acting is very good.

America America (1963). A movie by Greek American filmmaker Elia Kazan that I haven't watched yet but it is very famous. Biographical historical drama, inspired by Kazan's uncle. The struggles and feats of a Greek of Anatolia, Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey) trying to secure a passage to America in the late 19th - early 20th century. It is an Academy Awards winner.

Πολίτικη Κουζίνα (A Touch of Spice, 2003). The life of a boy and his relationship to his beloved grandfather, who instilled in him the love for cooking and astronomy, as they part ways when the boy and his parents are deported from Turkey after the ongoing tensions started from the incidents of the Istanbul pogrom in 1955, while the grandfather is able to legally stay behind. I wouldn't put this movie in my faves but it is very aesthetically pleasing and has a wonderful score. It is also an introduction to the special historical bond Greeks have with Constantinople / Istanbul and the tragic story of it all.

Έτερος Εγώ (Heteros Ego / The Other Me, 2016). Crime Mystery. This movie is very popular. I think it's overrated but you can judge for yourself. It is on youtube. I personally liked more the TV series that was its continuation (the first two seasons only, because the third was horrible). It is suitable for 17+ audiences. An eccentric criminology professor is summoned to investigate murder cases where the murderer cites quotes by Pythagoras.

Man of God, 2021. If you are a Christian / religious, watch it. I would like this movie more if the director had not forced all the cast to perform in English in order to make an international screening. It takes away from their performance because it is so unnatural and illogical. But otherwise it is an interesting topic and the actors try their best despite that massive handicap. This is the true story of Saint Nektarios of Aegina island and his unfair defamation by the rest of the clergy.

Η Φόνισσα (The Murderess, 2023). Unfortunately this movie does not hold a candle to the original novel of Alexandros Papadiamantis written in 1903 - quite possibly the first feminist literary work written by a man - but it is your next best alternative unless you can read the book or a translation of it. In this case, totally skip the movie and read the book, which is excellent and my favourite Greek novel. But if you watch the movie, just know it took many liberties for the worse. It has good acting and cinematography though. The story explores the life and mind of Frankoyannou, a hardened peasant woman, as more and more female infants and young girls are found murdered in her village, including her own grand-daughter.

Miss Violence, 2013. This movie is incredibly disturbing and I wish I could forget what I saw. If you like disturbing cinema, obviously 18+, watch it. It sickens you to the core though. An ordinary 11 year old girl commits suicide the day her ordinary family celebrates her birthday. Minute by minute we learn more about the family though and minute by minute we realise this is not a regular family AT ALL.

More weirdness. If you actually do like weird cinema, then you can also explore Yorgos Lanthimos' old Greek movies. These are easier to find since Lanthimos is globally famous now. Dogtooth was his Greek movie that was a nominee in the Oscars. But he has a couple more. (By the way, Miss Violence makes Dogtooth seem like a My Little Pony episode.)

More length. Theo Angelopoulos was an acclaimed Greek director, famous for his slow lengthy movies that explore philosophical and other themes. Several movies of his are acclaimed internationally. His most awarded ones are Ο Θίασος (The Travelling Players, 1975), Ταξίδι στα Κύθηρα (Voyage to Cythera, 1984), Το βλέμμα του Οδυσσέα (Ulysses' Gaze, 1995), Μια Αιωνιότητα και μια Μέρα (Eternity and a Day, 1998), Τοπίο στην Ομίχλη (Landscape in the Mist, 1988).

More Kazantzakis. Since you have watched Zorba the Greek, a film based on the novel Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas by Nikos Kazantzakis, perhaps you will be interested in two more movies based on other novels of his, even if they are not purely Greek or Greek productions. The first one is the very famous The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) starring Willem Dafoe, directed by Martin Scorsese. The problem is that this movie is often very misunderstood as edgy / anti-Christian / atheist whereas Kazantzakis' intent with his book was kinda the exact opposite so he probably rolls nonstop in his grave with some readings I have seen being made of the movie, even here on tumblr. Scorcese obviously focused more on the edgy factor than Kazantzakis did, further encouraging such misinterpretations but you could still be able to understand the meaning of Kazantzakis' book through the movie, now that I told you that Kazantzakis was essentially a secular theological / Christian philosopher. The other one is Ο Χριστός Ξανασταυρώνεται (Christ Recrucified / He Who Must Die, 1957). A French / Italian production, also featuring the Greek actress Melina Mercuri. A Greek village in Anatolia in 1920 (Modern day Turkey) stages a Passion Play for Easter. Staging the play leads to them rebelling against their Turkish rulers in a way that mirrors Jesus's story. There is also a Greek TV series adapting the novel in 1975 - 1976, which is closer to the book and gets better reviews and you can watch it in the streaming platform I recommend below.

ERTFLIX. Ertflix is the state TV's OTT platform and it is entirely for free, while also available internationally. It has both desktop and app formats and you can also add it to several TV boxes, Chromecast, Roku etc For the free service that it is, it has an abundance of series, movies and documentaries so I can never stop praising it...! There you can find numerous Greek movies / series / documentaries to watch, plus even more foreign stuff with Greek subtitles if you're learning Greek and need to practice. Plus it has interviews, the invaulable archives of the state TV and so much more. In Greece it is not necessary but for using the platform abroad you will have to register as a user but it is entirely for free. Ertflix I love you. Below is a screenshot with some Greek movies available now:

Scroll to the Greek cinema option (or to the Greek series). The site is built in both Greek and English.

Where you can find ERTFLIX:

The aforementioned TV series based on Kazantzakis' novel.

Upcoming movies of Greek interest:

Maria. The biopic of Maria Callas, rather her last years, starring Angelina Jolie. Is Jolie a good casting choice for Callas? Well, no. People say she does a good job in it however. I don't know about that and I am going to be sceptical because I love Maria Callas and I don't think she can be easily (at all) imitated. I 'll watch it though. From the trailer I see Jolie did a very legit job with Callas' speaking manner and accent, this is hopeful. Part of the movie was filmed in Greece too.

The Return. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, this is a retelling of the last part of the Odyssey, once Odysseus has returned to Ithaca and has to reclaim his rule and home from Penelope's suitors. It is a realistic retelling, not featuring the gods, based on the trailer I saw. I had my reservations for this casting but Fiennes looks good as old Odysseus IMO and Binoche is a brunette French, of course she can pass easily as a Greek. They are also both good and serious actors and I am sure they give their best in the movie. The drawback is that it's like we return to the 70s with these poor and anachronistic costumes and sets. And also aside from the protagonists, who would have thought there was so much diversity in Ithaca / s, a REAL, TINY and REMOTE Greek island. Telemachus looks like the blondest of Swedes and then the Ithacians have apparently descent from Scandinavia to Southeast Asia to central Africa. Amazing. Ithaca, the New York of Bronze Age. At least Fiennes (in this) and Binoche do pass as Greeks... What makes the movie a little promising for me is the amazing physique Fiennes achieved for it: the parts half dead old beggar and parts godly warrior king. He nailed it. The scene with the bow, I know already I will get the chills.

From this alone I know Fiennes is doing a terrific job in this. He is always invested very seriously in his movies.

Anyway, one third of the movie is shot in Greece and ERT (the Greek State TV) is actually a co-producer (a rarity with international movies of Greek mythological interest nowadays), so once it's done from movie theaters, it is going to be available for free on ERTFLIX... apparently globally. I so hope this movie does not disappoint me.

A lot of these can be found in links in greek-movies.com but you didn't hear it from me.

#greece #movies #cinema #movie rec #film rec #greek movies #greek cinema #greek culture #anon #ask #long post #tw long

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dukeofdelirium · 9 months ago

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/greenfiend/760014880863649792

these people are gonna explode when S5 drops

“who cares about his crush”

1) it isn’t a crush, he’s in love w Mike and

2) hundreds of thousands of ppl care just on tumblr alone

“the story is about monsters”

I mean… yeah, somewhat. But those monsters very clearly represent something. Like homophobia and the AIDS epidemic, which tie in to Will’s character and also into Mike and Will’s relationship. I mean, the allusions to this have been very on the nose every season, especially s2 with how the doctors/scientists treated Will in comparison to how gay men were treated during the AIDS epidemic.

“His scenes are pointless distraction from the larger story”

Will is literally the confirmed main character and focal point of the 5th and final season. He was the entire reason this story even happened at all. He was the one singled out and taken to the upside down. He was the focal point of the entirety of s2. And in s3 and s4, the moment he isn’t the focus, the show declines in quality. The entire time that Will is focused on in these seasons, the writing forces you to feel bad for him and forces you to simultaneously hate anything and anyone that is upsetting him. S3 and s4 weren’t about some gay kid pining hopelessly over an unattainable straight friend. It was written to make you hate Mike and El together. It was written to make you want Mike to be with Will where he actually acts like himself again. It wasn’t about Will being alone and sad, it was about Mike not being with him when you know he should be.

What do these ppl think is gonna happen in s5? Do they actually think that Will is going to confess his undying love for Mike that is unrequited and that Mike will be like “that’s weird of you Will and I don’t feel the same but we can stay besties <3” and then Will is like “no Mike I totally get it, I’m gonna kms now so you an El can go to the local village with 3 waterfalls” and then he just walks into the upside down and dies and it all fades away or something? 😂😂😂😂😂

The upside down, the monsters, all of it is a manifestation of Will’s trauma and emotions. It’s a metaphor for the homophobia and abuse he has experienced as a young gay kid, as well as being closeted as a survival tactic… hello, Will is trapped in a cold, dark and lifeless world where nothing can survive (he can’t breathe, the air is toxic, it’s suffocating) and he is forced to hide there but he is really good at hiding (bc you get really good at hiding who you are in order to live) and his best friend Mike, who is literally a Paladin in D&D (like his knight in shining armor) must rescue him from this scary world (the closet) *wink wink nudge nudge*

It’s literally a gay love story between childhood friends with the cool sci-fi and horror elements tacked on enough to where you won’t notice it until you either care enough to analyze the show OR you watch the final season and it slaps you across the face in a very unsubtle way (byler endgame)

#stranger things #byler #anon #byler is requited #byler is endgame

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idv-sunsxin3 · 1 year ago

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Horropedia // Dating Headcanons

Note// First Reverse: 1999 writing. A bit suggestive in some parts. This is my version of Horropedia, so if you don’t like it,,,, you might as well have to write your own because this is meant for my self-indulgence;; sowwy <//3

// preferably female s/o- gender neutral is also okay since I didn’t exactly mention a specific gender :)

As a strange autistic guy, I just imagine him to be the type of guy who probably have indirectly confessed to you earlier before you can even realize that months after- like you're just laid down on an armchair and you suddenly connected lines on the previous lines you once heard him before-

"Ah, hey! I've been waiting all my life to meet someone like you, so I had to come and say hello."

...he literally just say a simple remark with that smile as he gifted you a spirit catcher pistol- and then left....

Sometimes, you might not understand him. But you eventually asked him out on a date (in a normal way for once-).

"Oh? A date? Great! Let's go get coffee together. " :))

Little do you know, he also plans to have a ghost hunting date after that---

___

Kissing scenes in horror films? Horropedia at first felt a bit skeptical about them, finding that unnecessary... Until he got a crush on you, and then FELL for you - That's when he lowkey wondered in his autism brain... how would a kiss with you feels like?

Oh gosh, so many possibilities;;;

Horropedia would slowly realize the fact that he would unconsciously check his mouth breathing and fix his hair a bit whenever he spots you entering the room. "Who knows when that kiss scene happened cough cough -"/hj

There was a time Horropedia sneakily slipped during those ironically cute kissing scenes in a horror movie.. You may think you would just slip away from the unknown opportunity he would be searching for - But no, you wouldn't even get the peace to resume watching or have time to recover from a jumpscare that happened few minutes ago when there is this silly dork softly nibbling and smooching on your face and neck like that;;;

aaaand now you're making out with him in the middle of the movie ..

It seems there are now more reasons for him to ask you to stay over. ;)

He wants to impress you so bad ever since the moment he heard about you - You just happened to be... ordinary? But at the same time, refreshing... someone who easily connects with almost anyone.

Darn, I think you’re made for him. ☺️ (lol)

At first, he wanted to be the Mr. Mysterious and only introduced himself to you as "Horropedia. "... At some certain point after, he would bashfully let you call him "Joshua." Just don't get too cocky...-/ih

If you're just as comfortable with dark humor and other kinds of morbid stuff, there is this small scenario where you and Horropedia would roleplay a bit as to help him make up stories involving these morbid antagonists and anti-heroes...- He would be kinda a bit down bad if you say Wednesday Adams stuff technically./hj

He is not sure If he has the right to die or laugh when he gets called "Joshy"... it's cringe, but he finds your silly demeanor very cute and funny.

You happen to be a big listener when it comes to horror movies, horror stories, and horror video games- whatever horropedia rambles at you at 3 am. as if it is a nearly daily basis/ih

He loves sharing hobbies with you, even cherishing the moments when you get to do whatever activities with him that are close to his interests and what he's passionate about...

You can already tell he's not interested in anything else other than that sense of thrill he has for phenomenon or violent drama... but he'll try his best to be flexible when it comes to giving you quality time... Like crafting, cooking, maybe painting?

You might know what he will create in his own hands...- ghost cupcakes, a sculpture of Friday the 13th's killer, Michael Myers mask---

Jumpscares are out of date for him, of course, but then... he still watches those classical horror movies once in a while since they're pretty much fundamental to the art of fear.

Ironically... He does like surprise back touches! Well... As long as it doesn't have to imply his poor posture, back hugs are good to go.

He finds it pleasant to have you sit next to him or on his lap as he plays those Indie horror games(?), "mmmm... Dark deception? World of Horror? Resident Evil? The Last of Us? What about Outlast? What do you think, Babe? :))"

FNAF would be obviously a breeze for him... Bro, imagine him going crazy about fnaf lore, hahahha-

DDLC gave him mixed feelings. He is half glad his baby is not that mad crazy because of that/ih

LITTLE NIGHRMARESSSS- Man, imagine him having these silly moments with how he just concerningly reacts so happily at a kid eating a gnome who just offered a sausage oh gosh-

Watching horror movies with him would be like watching a live commentary channel as you feel a slim hand rubbing your waist throughout the movie.

You might have mixed reactions alongside him when accidentally encountering sex scenes on horror movies...- things might get awkward but he would make sure to close your eyes if you don't like to see that kind of stuff- intercourse is not the option,,,, mass arson it is/ih

I can only imagine Horropedia calling you either your name, Babe, Baby, or Boo (NOT PUN INTENDED I SWEAR FJNFNF;;) Is usually your name being called normally. Unless he is so so happy,,, or is because he just did something you probably not going to like~ 😇✨️

“Is your name Boo? Because you’re making me scream in delight.” ♥️

Oh boy-

#reverse: 1999 #horropedia x reader #horropedia #reverse 1999 #reverse: 1999 x reader

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xannador · 7 months ago

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Thank you!

A big thank you to everyone who got a copy of Mostly (h)Armless! I think that for an obscure little fancomic it did really well! About 30 copies have gone where none can ever take them away again. I've also finally received my own version and I am happy about the quality.

I've now unpublished it but turns out you can never entirely take a book off the store once published. You can't edit it to be something else either. (which is what I had hoped to do, I have a bunch of unpublished original comics lying around). So it's just kinda going to sit there for all eternity, unavailable for sale. I sincerely hope it won't give me problems later on.

Anyway, if anyone is curious about one day printing their own comics, here are a few things I have noticed that I will definitely remember for my future printing endeavors:

Most glow and blending effects like Lighten, Color dodge, Hard Light, Linear dodge (add), etc don't look that nice in print despite looking awesome in digital.

Make your line art thick enough.

soft shading looks bad, cell shading looks good. (But it's better to fully fill shapes with a contrasting color rather than doing fancy lighting.)

Consider shading in black rather than color. (optional)

Details and soft lines are usually lost and a waste of time (Mostly in case of a colored book. Black and white may be different)

Keep panels spaced far enough apart.

Draw big panels. Small panels aren't as nice to look at and the eyes are naturally drawn to the larger panels.

Gradients don't look very nice either. Unless they have a light color.

Vintage comic textures and effects actually looks nicer in print than digital (which surprised me).

In dark scenes, rim lights are essential to make the character pop out. M(h)A would've looked like ass if I hadn't added those.

Stay away from the borders of your page, especially the left and right ones. Not just for the text but for the drawings too.

Keep track of which side of your page will be closest to the spine, keep a distance from that side especially. Because your book will be folded and part of the page will be hidden (the thicker your book, the more will be lost).

fancy panel compositions are cooler in digital...

contrast contrast contrast...

Don't be afraid to use pure black a lot.

Don't be afraid to use white a lot.

The 3D shake effect is also not that cool on print. But looks gorgeous on digital.

To myself… keep the font size consistent…

If text is outside a text bubble, it should have a high contrast stroke

Text should always be high contrast in general.

Motion blur is really cool in digital but not so much on print.

Keep black silhouettes black, avoid adding any kind of subtle glow or texture.

Text bubbles can have color but they should be light (again high contrast) watch out for saturated green or blue or red. Test in greyscale. Contrast should be more than 70%.

Line art should not be colored. Keep it black for print.

Hard borders are better than soft borders. On everything.

white panel borders are better than black panel borders.

But white borders with a black stroke are probably the best (cause more contrast).

Again light colors are better than dark colors. To do dark scenes it might be better to just use black and contrast with a lighter color.

Line art perfection is not that interesting, especially in regards to hard surface shapes like robots. (Might be personal taste though. I enjoyed looking at robots with messier line art more than those where I did perfect brush strokes.)

Beware dark blue and purple...

Compositions and colors of both the left and right page should always fit together. I think I did that pretty well here at least.

If possible make your total amount of comic pages devisable by 4. (so 24 pages total, or 28, or 96, you get the idea) not including the cover and back. Or else add a little extra drawing to fill the remaining pages.

I think that's about everything I can see based on my own print. I'm sure that a fair few of the things that I found looking worse in print than digital could be resolved by just being... better at converting your files. There's the whole CMYK color mode thing but in my personal experience that has been such a pain to work with, and each time my prints looked worse attempting to convert the file rather than had I just left it in RBG and let the printer do the guessing work for me.

So if you're like me and you're hopeless at this technical mumbo jumbo printing stuff, I think just avoiding the things I mentioned while drawing should get you well under way to having a nice print. The most important thing to remember is that digital and physical media are two entirely different beasts and if you are interested in getting your comics printed it's easier to adapt your workflow to that from the start rather than going back and altering. A lot of the mistakes I made here are rookie ones and I should have known better. But it's very easy to get lost in the process once you've started. I hope to improve my next print significantly. Once I can make RBG look good, I might try CMYK again.... Maybe. Potentially. No.

Hope these tips can be of service to somebody. They'll be a useful archive for myself in any case. If anyone wants me to elaborate more on a specific point, I'm happy to explain.

#self publishing #print on demand #amazon self publish #printing #comic print

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