#alt/non essays

[tempestgnostic]

On Therianthropy

or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Label

As with all identity groups, the therian community has dealt with its fair share of misinformation, ignorance, and exclusivity throughout its storied history. For quite some time, I felt connected to the label—in that profound way when something just fits—yet, I wasn’t certain if I fit the bill. I had seen the common misconception that therians were limited to only “Earth animals.” There are many issues with this definition, and plenty of folks have gone over this already. This discussion between irritatedandroid and spiritus-sonne was one of the first posts I saw that gave me some background on this misconception, and it struck a chord with me.

As I began to look into it more, I kept finding challenges to what I thought I knew about therianthropy. Below is a snippet of the forum post that ultimately led me to identify with ‘therian’ as a werewolf rather than ‘otherkin.’

You can find the page right here if you’d like to check it out for yourself! The author is Lynna Landstreet/Lynx Canadensis at time of posting. (9/18/1999 on alt.horror.werewolves)

This might get a little lengthy, so here’s your courtesy readmore.

This word, ‘liminality,’ is everything that I am. Liminality, balance, breaking down false dichotomies—this is what it means for me to be a werewolf. As a quick disclaimer, there are almost certainly werewolves out there whose self-perception is similar to mine, but they use ‘otherkin’ instead. That’s completely fine! As who-is-page points out in this post, “While it’s important to understand the definitions of various labels for a variety of reasons, these labels are not the end-all be-all to what you can or cannot call yourself or identify yourself by.”

I’ve written previously about how my werewolf identity is deeply intertwined and ultimately inseparable from my queer identity and my experiences as an autistic person. I don’t just toe the line between person and animal—I practically live in the split tongue of therianthropy. I’ve made a home at the crossroads as an autistic, nonbinary butch who’s had top surgery and is on HRT, who rejects boxes and binaries like the plague.

I embrace the ways in which I challenge norms, call out injustice, ask “Why?” and “Why not?” of my society. It’s the reason I named myself Taliesin, after the influential Brittonic poet and bard. He lives on as a creative genius and master satirist, and—according to legend—a figure who can be invoked and channeled by poets who continue his legacy. I carry on the name of a trickster figure who connected with the universal creative spirit—the Awen—and aim to do the same myself whenever I create art of all kinds.

I see my own ‘purpose’ in life as self-defined, not fated, and I find strength in the fact that I can be part of an ever-shifting process of change. Above all, it is transformation—the divine lesson of The Werewolf—that lies at the heart of my therianthropy, and that’s pretty damn therian, isn’t it? The word resonates with me almost as much as my own name, and that’s enough for me.

I encourage all of us to consider how our language can help us understand each other, and how the hard-and-fast rules and restrictions proposed by even the most well-meaning folks can be counterintuitive. It’s not that any label can “just mean anything” — rather, labels can offer a general framework to describe and relate our experiences to others. A label should be the start of a sentence, not the period at the end.

I’ll close on my favorite part of Page’s post, linked above: “Identity is unique, it’s not something that can be charred well-done and then flipped into a tupperware container for tomorrow’s lunch.”

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

i love showing my partner the way phannies react to dnp doing anything because it’s endlessly funny to get an outside perspective. like yes it’s weird that we react to dnp doing anything with rage and terror but we’re having a good time i promise. the majority of us being mentally ill is completely unrelated i swear.

[fstbmp-a]

but also i'm the girl (gnc) that makes all their characters transfem and gay so y'know maybe i'm a lil' biased.

[dinocanid]

The voluntary/involuntary debate (-is making me lose my mind)

I don't see anyone saying this, but something being missed in the whole "therianthropy (and otherkinity) is completely involuntary!" conversation is that so much of the argument is overcorrection, and it's being treated as a binary when the lines are all grey. Which makes the constant back and forth feel very tiring.

First: context

10-ish years ago (even today in some crotchety circles), therianthropy-focused spaces were chomping at the bit to "weed out the fluff" due to the surrounding alt culture at the time (teen wolves) and the release of a few documentaries that many considered quite cringe-y and embarrassing. They went "oh god, we can't be associate with those weird people" and, while that wasn't the only contributor to the gatekeeping and grilling culture at the time, it was a significant one. So any new therians hoping to join communities were often grilled the hell out of, because people wanted to check if they were ""real"" therians and not those "fluffy teen werewolves" on TV. Therianthropy wasn't a game or a trend, it's a part of you, which is true. But "it's not a game" got bastardized into "it's involuntary" due to overcorrection and a lack of preserving nuance. Regardless if you think you were born a therian or if someone goes "I really want to be a [nonhuman animal]" and starts to embrace that identity, that's still therianthropy. "I want to be this, therefore I'm going to be this, and I am this" is still therianthropy.

This problem isn't unique to therianthropy either, "otherkinity must be involuntary" is also a result of overcorrection, more specifically due to the ableism and damage kinnie culture has done to the fictionkin community. Dragonheart Collective wrote a concise essay on this, so I will link that [right here] rather than repeat things, other than I have noticed "voluntary" be conflated with "kinnie" when it should not be. "Being kin isn't just relating to or liking something" got bastardized into "otherkinity is involuntary" by the community. Regardless if you think you were born otherkin or if someone goes "I really want to be a [character or nonhuman creature]" and starts to embrace that identity, that's still otherkinity "I want to be this, therefore I'm going to be this, and I am this" is still otherkinity.

Second: nuance.

No, involuntary doesn't inherently mean "it's a game". What counts as voluntary or involuntary is so blurry that a common conclusion can rarely even be reached on what it means. Things that have been seen considered voluntary:

Noticing the identity and choosing to embrace it versus shove it down and dismiss it

Waking up one day

Really wanting to be something and deciding to embrace it, versus dismissing it

Was born with the identity but picks and chooses which parts they prefer to focus on and explore

etc. along the above lines

And these are all perfectly fine ways of experiencing therianthropy and otherkinity, people have been having experiences like that for years. This is completely normal and nothing new and it's so tiring seeing people point fingers at places that these things didn't even come from, like TikTok.

"But what about linking then?"

This debate is much older than "-linking" terminology, which in and of itself is a product of this very debate. People made new words because so many were arguing if someone's identity is real if it originates in a particular way. This doesn't change how "-link" terminology should be used today, but it is worth noting that those are perfectly normal ways to experience otherkinity and therianthropy even if these other terms exist. It means you can use whichever personally feels best to you. It does not mean that people need to be shoved out of the non-link labels.

[monscrow]

intro post, i guess!!!

last updated 30/nov/2024

let's all be respectful. i am not going to tell you what to do; if you want to celebrate about bob bryar's passing, so be it, but this is NOT the place for it- please go somewhere else. i firmly believe you cannot defeat hate with hate.

⚠️flash warning for blinkies at the bottom⚠️

free gaza, free palestine, stop genocide. you don't agree? block me.

i go by both mons and crow.

my pronouns are they/them, he/him and any neos/xenos that you think would fit either comedically or off of vibes.

lvl 16, so, a minor !! beware

aromantic, graysexual, something like that; qprs are sick asf and all hail relationship anarchy.

art sideblog is @monscrowarts

super amazing pretty boyfriend !!!<3 🍎

audhdcd (asd + adhd + ocd 😻😋) and hEDS. i use tonetags, feel free to ask for clarification!!!

bday is oct 7. 🎉🎉🎉

i'm mexican 🇲🇽!! i speak both spanish and english.

timezone is cst/utc-6.

i say slurs i can reclaim (mainly the f and t queer ones) and swear a lot, though if that makes you uncomfortable please either block me or lmk so i can try to tone it down when around you.

i love interacting!! feel free to tag me in stuff, send some asks (be it on anon or not), or message me! moots can ask for my discord even if we've never actually talked before. though i suck at keeping consistent, nothing personal i promise</3 /gen

i tend to spam-reblog so do with that information what you will.

some tags you might see me use here and there:

#mons rambles ← just my thoughts, ideas, opinions, and whatever i feel like throwing into the tumblr void.

#ask a crow / #anon asks ← askbox replies.

#save / #art save / #fav / #hellsite faves ← these are more for myself, but yeah they're pretty self-descriptive. just in case you get curious or anything.

#🍎 ← beloved.

hyperfixations/interests/things i'm passionate about !!! i guess, kinda

→ mcr (+ most of the members' solo projects)

→ killjoys (california + national anthem, but mainly calif and fanon)

→ demolition lovers lore (i have literally written like at least three different essays about it for school help me i'm so serious)

→ emo/alt/diy culture

→ will wood

→ bandom in general

→ graphic design, arts and crafts, illustration (that's right y'all graphic design IS my passion 😔)

→ fnaf

→ cosplay/costume-making

→ d&d

→ crows (no way, crow, really???)

→ australian shepherds

→ the umbrella academy (s4 isn't canon in my heart + currently reading the comics !!! )

→ gravity falls

→ neurodivergencies/psychology/disabilities (this one's pretty meta ngl)

→ lgbtqia+ identities (emphasis on the aroace-spec ones + relationship anarchy)

→ politics/activism

→ linguistics + conlangs

→ fantasy in general (high fantasy, magic, vampires, tieflings, you name it)

→ boardgames

→ the count of monte cristo (2024) (also i just bought the book so i'll be reading that too !!)

→ parkour civilization

→ WEBFISHING !!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LET'S PLAY WEBFISHING OMG FEEL FREE TO DM ME IF U HAVE IT AND WANNA PLAY TOGETHER :333

→ uhhhh there's more but i don't remember rn, i'll keep adding as i see fit (probably... maybe..... perhaps....... quizás........ puede ser..........)

dni

trump supporters, terfs, transphobes, anti lgbtqia+/queerphobics, exclusionists, ableists, racists, prolifers/antichoicers, proshippers/anti-antis, irl gore, pro-israel/zionists, pro-ai generated "content", pro-nft, non-critical media consumers, classists, ed blogs, sh blogs.

also, i'm aware that dnis tend to not be effective and i probably will still get shitty ppl in my inbox so i can and will block. though i'm p chill as long as you're chill. this blog is run by a very neurodivergent, mentally ill, mexican, transmasc, aroace faggot, and any kind of bigoted hatred will not be tolerated.

blinkies made with blinkies cafe !!!

pssst btw, before you go, if you read my intro post i'd heavily encourage you to like it, so i can know!!! :] (/nf though!)

[centrally-unplanned]

I saw this slightly-old post making the rounds recently by former alt-right memelord Walt Bismark, on how the alt-right "won" in the late 2010's - positing that as the cause of why it generally vanished. I agree overall with the vanishing part, its not gone-gone ofc but it waned as a cohesive movement. But I saw a lot of people (and generally not alt-right figures) agreeing with its conclusion and I am a bit more skeptical of those.

Its largely a personal essay so I wont address most of it, but it has a summary of five main points that outline essentially "the agenda of the Alt Right at the beginning" to evaluate success upon. Bismark thinks they won on all five, but overall I think this is playing a trick of inventing an enemy to claim you defeated. Anyway, the points:

1: Shift the “Overton Window” of acceptable public discourse to make it politically viable to openly discuss the interests of white people in mainstream politics, in the same way black people or Jewish people discuss their collective interests. 

This one I will grant a partial victory - there was a legitimate intensification of "white as identity" in politics, a making explicit what was implicit in the 2010's. Now ofc I consider this to be a classic horseshoe moment; the hard left at the time was also extremely interested in abandoning race neutrality and valorizing racial identity as an organizing principle, and did it in a very ham-fisted way that the right capitalized on, so it was an easy battle to win - but that is what it is, ofc the wider environment defined the goals & strategy. I mention it however because I do think this is only partial, and the gap between implicit and explicit isn't that relevant. He mentions as an example of this success:

Affirmative action was of course squashed by SCOTUS and the necessary legal infrastructure is being deployed to burn it down. Mainstream conservatives are mobilizing a lot of resources and energy to this end.

But conservatives have been fighting affirmative action for 20+ years, easily. Here is a 1999 article on precisely such a campaign, I literally just googled "conservatives affirmative action [year]" and I get results each time, 2003 had big cases (the Bollinger cases) on AA, etc. I remember "affirmative action bake sale" memes from like 2006 at my uni! What changed between Bollinger and 2023's Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard is that conservatives had just had enough time to stack courts, and wait for Supreme Court justices to die. That just...takes time to do! The strategy hadn't changed between 2003 and 2023. And meanwhile, did they win? They won that court case, sure. What do you...think the ethic makeup of the next Harvard class is gonna be? Wanna take some bets?

His other listed victories are things like:

"Vivek defended the Great Replacement Theory on national television and remained a major Trump surrogate. The SPLC would have marginalized him for that 10 years ago. Today because of polarization and MAGA closing ranks they can’t do shit."

And like, the Southern Poverty Law Center would have successfully marginalized a Republican politician in idk 2003 are you completely high right now? Strom Fucking Thurmond was an active Senator in 2003! This is the repeated tactic here, the imagined enemies - there was never a time where liberal institutions could consistently force conservative politicians to kowtow, so you can't claim it as a change.

This is why I mention the social justice horseshoe, because he has this point here:

These days you can complain about quotas etc. being unfair to you as a white man and it’s not inflammatory or low status among centrists and conservatives. Even non-woke liberals won’t really hate you for it, just quietly think you’re a bit of a chud. This was not the case in 2015. 

And this is partially correct, I agree there was some norm shift. But that is because in ~2010 there really weren't any quotas against white men, it wasn't a thing almost anywhere outside of university applications, so the complaint would make no sense. What happened was that starting in ~2012 a huge left cultural movement started that just openly supported active discrimination against whites, Asians and men. They were a small minority of course, and never had much power, but they got enough power in certain institutions like non-profits and universities that there was a string of just very obvious cases of clear racial discrimination against in particular whites & asians (both men and women, white women often got it very bad in this wave). And the large majority of people just saw that and went "uh yeah racism is still bad?" and so now you can say that because its actually relevant to say. From that lens, is this a successful cultural victory on the part of the alt-right? In some sense sure, but really its more a cultural failure of the hard left. The status quo just kept on chugging along.

Ugh that point went long, the others repeat so we will go through them quicker.

2: Elevate identity issues like anti-immigration and the promotion of traditional gender norms to the center of Republican politics. 

A fake enemy here - anti-immigration was already a huge issue for Republicans in the 2000's. It had a huge wave under Obama actually, it goes in cycles like that. And it responds to material conditions; it's a big issue again right now because the immigration numbers spiked massively under Biden, its just way worse of a problem now (primarily due to the booming economy of course). Again a partial victory for the first part, I agree its more salient due to Trump platforming it, but I'm skeptical that it is a big shift - people are memory-holing the Tea Party movement really badly here for example.

And the second point is just obviously false, Republicans always cared about that, and they care about it less now, giving up the ghost on gay marriage for example. The Alt-Right coincided with a decline of the influence of the Religious Right, and it shows on this issue, 0 points.

3: Make it socially acceptable to discuss HBD and the resulting moral implications for leveling mechanisms like affirmative action. 

Peak "log off" moment, it was always acceptable to discuss this outside of liberal/professional circles and there it still isn't acceptable to discuss it. Charles Murray wrote the Bell Curve in 1994 and his been an American Enterprise Institute Scholar for this entire span of time. This is confusing churn for change - the mid-2010's had a bunch of big, mainly online fights about HBD, and then everyone just sort of moved on with the status quo pretty much unchanged. Nothing like education policy, even in Republican circles, has shifted over this.

4: Convince conservatives to stop ceding moral authority to liberals and allowing them to determine who on the Right is verboten or beyond the pale. Make it unacceptable among conservatives to “punch Right” or purge people for wrongthink. 

Sigh, again when have Republicans ever ceded moral authority to liberals? Harvard University could not condemn Newt Gingrich in ~2009 and make him change his mind about anything. And "Republicans don't self-criticize while Liberals eat themselves alive" has been a complaint for literally decades, you would hear that as far back as say Clinton and things like the 1999 WTO protests. Its both true and exaggerated - the Tea Party primaried Republican candidates for wrongthink in 2010, and Trump did the same thing! With disastrous results for the Republicans in 2022. I really, really don't think you can look at Trump's Republican party and say they solved the Wrongthink problem.

5: Expose and dismantle the hypocritical attitude that allows neocons to militantly support Israeli ethnonationalism while brutally repressing any white identity politics domestically.

This one is just a lolwut moment, "brutally repressing any white identity politics domestically", like what does that even mean? Name the concrete policy proposals George Bush implemented in 2007 than Donald Trump didn't in 2018 around this topic. Again a fake enemy, they were never repressed by the right, and ofc are still hated by liberal institutions like universities.

Moving on from any specific point, I think its very telling that very little about free trade vs protectionism or isolationism/support of autocracy abroad enters this list. Because beyond immigration those are the big shifts the Trump movement (which is the mechanism the alt-right has to claim for making its impact) has ushered into the party. They didn't change its stance on sexual politics or "race & IQ" or anything, those haven't changed, but meanwhile the party has completely flipped on things like tariffs or opposition to Russian military expansion. But of course those don't align neatly at all with the issues the Alt-Right fought about in 2015.

The reality the Alt-Right can't escape is that they used Trump as their mechanism for change, and Trump never really cared about any of their goals beyond immigration. He used them and then pursued either bog-standard Republican policy or his own mercurial, autocratic whims, eventually channeling all of this energy into election denialism. I really don't think if you pulled aside frikkin Ryan Faulk in 2014, asked him to put down his graphs about Raven's Progressive Matrices of black Caribbean students, and said "Hey 10 years from now all of this energy is being channeled into pretending that a failed real estate mogul didn't lose the 2020 presidential election", that he would look at that outcome and think Mission Accomplished.

I don't want to fully oversell, there are for example wins Bismark doesn't mention (School choice comes to mind, the biggest conservative win of the past decade besides the protectionist swing). The Alt Right was an influential movement, it earned its place in history. But I do not think it is an example of being a "victim of its own success". I think instead it should be understood as part of the "radical froth" of the 2010's, that bubbled over and then evaporated like its more intense leftwing peers did. It made some mark and then got left in the dust.

Net ranking of the 5 points: 0.5 for Point 1, 0.25 for Point 2, 0 for the rest, 1.25/5.

[puckpocketed]

about

*had a wave of younger people follow me recently (hello will smith hockey enjoyers) that’s all g, this is a 99% sfw blog and anything otherwise will be marked properly. but my main blog @.sailorvee is not. i am an adult. you are the master of your own destiny etc etc. but please be aware that you might see nsfw content if you choose to also follow me there.

deepest and sincerest apologies if you came here because I was posting about one or more of your guys. this is a Sharks blog first and foremost. navigation, housekeeping, and tierlist below

This is a part-time Australian Ice Hockey League blog that follows the CBR Brave! I take photos of home games when I can, find them under -> #puck!cam Otherwise, feel free to filter #auspuck.

When not LARPing as my local team’s socmed manager:

I write essays about hockey -> #my writing

all gifs i've made filed under -> #puck!gif specific team tags will look like this: #p!gif:[team abbreviation] eg. #p!gif:sharks, #p!gif:wings

transcripts -> #puck!script

gif requests -> #p!gif:req

I also gif my guys and their goals, passing sequences, poke checks, plays that go nowhere, little things I think are super cool -> #puckpocketed details series

I poke around at prospects and produce very unserious vibe checks, filed under -> #puckscouting

I also paint once in a blue moon. watch out!!!!

TIERLIST & politics

Sharks Hockey first always forever ! <3

keeping things light. no enemies only babygirls i havent met!

The most narratively satisfying things are tragedies and tragicomedies!!! All Things Through Her (The Bit)

players aren’t their orgs. If I say I like a team, this doesn’t mean I like every player, and vice versa!!

The narratives are lying to you!!! LOOK PAST THEM. THE HOCKEY TELLS THE TRUTH!!!!!

I love hockey SO much !! Love of the game comes before ANYTHING, including teams!!! Talk to me about strategy. Show me spinoramas and ankle breaking dekes and head fakes and set plays. Talk to me about face-offs and your favourite underrated blorbo.

no seriously please send me propaganda i love propaganda i am a hair trigger away from adopting new guys. i've done it mid-game and id do it again!!!!!!!!!!!

Team rivalries don’t matter to me. My girls are beating the hell out of each other? The beautiful gaeme ...

i’m here for a laff and it truly aint that serious <3

Do Not expect me to have any couth about the CBR Brave!! I keep things light with the NHL but all that doesn’t apply here — I WILL be spiteful and unhinged!! im sorry the sports nationalism got to me!!!

that being said: CALIFORNIA SWEEEP!

housekeeping

hey please dont be weird in the tags of my posts about teams/players i clearly like. yeah even That Team. i don't want to hear about how you hope someone "escapes" or how much you hate xyz player. make your own post.

this is a non-rpf blog. I might lean into the narratives but tbh I’m not into men and don’t get much out of romantic shipping. Nothing against it though! I think everyone should engage with hockey however they like as long as it does no harm to themselves or others. Ride that ship into the sunset my loves we are holding fins 👍

gifs, videos, memes, photos by me will come described with alt text. I try my best as someone who has used a screenreader in the past, but please let me know if I miss anything.

30/07/2024 sources for any media i post will be linked to a live site + using the wayback machine when I can, or just live websites when I can't (in the case of youtube videos). yeah ok i finally gave in @ that one anon calling this wikipedia editor behaviour you are correct and WHAT OF IT!!!!!!!

5/08/2024 - NOTE live website links always precede archive links whether I label them or not. if there is no link 'pair' it means the wayback machine can't snapshot the link i put up. In the case of twitter/instagram and other such sites that require a logged in device to view certain pages i will do my best to grab the direct img link and archive that.

[ link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link ] <- self explanatory, long form.

[ x, x ] <- single source of media, will use for aesthetic purposes on gifsets and formal web weaving. same with: [ x || y // x || y ] <- "//" double slash denotes a new source, x is the live link, y is the archive link.

if a link or source is not immediately obvious I may have: 1) done an in-line link, click any underlined or bold-underlined text; 2) I might have missed it by mistake, please be patient and maybe shoot me a flag about it in my inbox/dms if you want !!! we are all human and I'm doing my best <3

I'm aware this is not the most fastidious archival practice! my goal isn't to be the arbiter of archival standards for sourcing. I don't know how long I'll love hockey or these teams, how long tumblr will be around, but going from here I'd just like this blog to be a place where fans years from now can come back to and not have to do as much digging as I did to source media.

[madamepestilence]

A PSA on American Politics

My blog has largely become an America-centric political blog, especially regarding the US 2024 election. I've made a few posts about it, as well as a video essay. (Note: Claudia de la Cruz is no longer a viable candidate; I'll explain in this thread.)

I'm going to speak to y'all directly now.

The Democrats. The Anarchists. The Communists. The Socialists.

Listen to me.

The whole Vote Blue No Matter Who method is only supporting fascism. I'm not sugarcoating it: Biden is a fascist, people who vote for him are voting for fascism, and if you're voting for Biden just because you're scared of Trump winning the election, you are a fucking coward.

I know I'm going to get flak for that, but it needs to be said - I'm not babying Democrats and fellow leftists. We're grown-ass adults and we need to strategize like adults. Both Trump and Biden are fascists; this isn't about, "minimizing the damage," this is about preventing fascism.

So what is my plan? Do I have solutions? Yes, I do, and here they are:

Part I: The 2024 US Presidential Election

Don't vote for Biden. Don't refuse to vote either - anyone who tells you voting is useless is trying to deceive you.

Vote for third party Independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West, Ph.D.. Dr. West is a triple-college-educated self-described non-Marxist Socialist candidate for the 2024 US presidential election.

You may initially have your doubts for a few reasons, so let me assuage them for you.

Whataboutism A: What about Trump and Biden?

Biden is not any better than Trump. Trump openly admits his racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. because the Republican party no longer needs to hide these factors.

We live in a state in which the Democratic party will constantly try to compromise with the Republican party, and the Republican party has had such a significant portion of their party indoctrinated into the alt-right that it's their political base now.

See: (YouTube:) Innuendo Studios: The Alt-Right Playbook: The Death of a Euphemism

Biden just continues using euphemisms to hide his fascist rhetoric. Biden is also directly monetarily and militarily supporting a fascist apartheid colony -- Israel-occupied-Palestine -- who are committing a holocaust in Palestine.

He has also supported known fascist political figures, such as the known fascist Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Trump and Biden are both fascists - the only difference is how openly they admit their fascism.

We cannot let this system continue. In the modern United States, the American Democratic and Republican parties effectively have the same goals. The Democratic party may claim that it wants progressivism, but it has shown quite the contrary.

Democrats get elected by comparing themselves to the Republican party by being, "not as bad," while Republicans have to come up with increasingly jarring reasons for election - as, the Republican party already achieved their past goals, and have to move the goalposts - and make implications that the Democratic party is not advocating for drastic enough nationalism.

Capitalism and fascism are compatible with each other, as are the primary American politics parties - they are malleable and are merging into fascism. This is the main danger of neoliberalism.

See: (YouTube:) Innuendo Studios: (The Alt-Right Playbook:) Endnote 2: White Fascism

For that matter - I would not be surprised if Biden uses the lukewarm world war occurring right now--

(and yes, I'm calling it that - there are global efforts to support Palestine, embargoes against Israel-occupied-Palestine, polarization about Palestine and Israel-occupied-Palestine, a war in West Asia spearheaded by Israel-occupied-Palestine, Iran is bombing Israel-occupied-Palestine for their genocidal fascism, Iran directly threatened the US if the US retaliates for Iran's anti-fascist action, and even Irish Member of Parliament Clare Daly directly called out Biden for fascism and claimed that Ireland disowned him)

--to declare emergency powers to gain an, "emergency," term (fascist dictatorship). If Trump gets elected, he would also have the possibility of doing the same.

We are entering fascism. It needs to be stopped.

Whataboutism B: What about the Spoiler Effect?

The Spoiler Effect is largely a concern I've been presented with by cowards who want to vote for fascist US president Biden in the 2024 election.

Historically, the Spoiler Effect hasn't really been a problem in the US. Our election system may be the worst election system currently in use, but people have been so focused on the parties they care for that it hasn't really been an issue.

Furthermore, most people have a drastic misunderstanding of how the Spoiler Effect works. People assume that because the Republican and Democratic parties are currently in power that there are no other options.

This is not how elections work or have historically worked in the United States.

When parties have fallen out of favour in the US, they have historically been replaced by different parties. This has happened multiple times.

See: (Wikipedia:) United States presidential election § Electoral college results

and compare to

See: (Wikipedia:) List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin § Timeline

to see the drastic and broad revisionist application of, "Republican," and, "Democrat," to refer to multiple different parties.

If you're completely unfamiliar with the concept of the Spoiler Effect (or are just interested in viewing alternative voting systems),

See: (YouTube:) Primer: Simulating alternate voting systems

With this in mind, and with our collective agreement that the Democratic party does not have the interests of the people in mind, we can fucking replace the Democratic party with an actually leftist party.

Independent leftists, the Communist Party USA, the Revolutionary Communist Party USA, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, even a new leftist party (that might even merge the leftist front into a Commu-Socialist Party) -- any leftist party vs. the Republican party?

It will lay bare to the world once anew what a Leftist vs. Fascist party system looks like.

Remember the drastic contrast between the German Democratic Republic (a real socialist country) vs. Nazi Germany (who, by the way, were masquerading themselves as socialists because it was popular, despite initially building camps for communists)?

Let's not let the fascists in power again. A truly leftist America is the only way to the future. Fuck your moderate politics.

We have a problem right now and we need drastic change right now, not gentle fidgeting while we compromise with fascists and let people suffer in the meantime.

Also See: (YouTube:) Innuendo Studios: The Alt-Right Playbook: Always a Bigger Fish

Whataboutism C: What about Gerrymandering?

I'm gonna keep this one short and blunt: Not voting is only going to reinforce gerrymandering. Vote your fucking representatives out and get better representatives. End of.

Whataboutism D: What about Claudia de la Cruz and the Party for Socialism and Liberation?

To be blunt, De la Cruz has not shaken up enough support to cause the national news concern. Dr. West has.

It's even gotten to a point where national news have been trying to avoid discussing Dr. West -- as it keeps increasing support for him -- to instead discuss known fascist candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr..

On a secondary note, the PSL has an internal Conservative 5th Column, and has frequent issues with discrimination.

This runs the risk that De la Cruz may be a Republican plant, and even if she's not, the PSL is not currently the kind of party we want to put in power.

Whataboutism E: What about known fascist Harlan Crow?

For those unfamiliar, I've received complaints about Dr. West's campaign receiving funding from known fascist Harlan Crow. The primary person who shook up a stir wanted an explanation from Dr. West, and apparently didn't look for one.

This amounted to... $3,300. That's not much.

Crow donated $500 directly to now-dropout Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, as well as a whopping $100,000 to Chris Christie's political action committee, Tell It Like It Is.

Dr. West only received about 30% of the equivalent donation Crow granted to Christie. Dr. West has a history of interacting with another Conservative, Robert P. George.

During his life, Dr. West's beliefs have not changed and he's wisely using the system he's been placed in -- and taking advantage of smaller Conservative news media as a pinging board to get airtime on national news media -- without being bought out.

Dr. Cornel West actually directly responded to these concerns, having directly argued that any donations he have will not have any strings attached, and that he cannot be bought out.

Whataboutism F: What about poseur politics?

To be fair, I haven't seen a single person bring this up, but I have no doubt this worry is sitting in the back of people's minds. I'd like to assuage this concern pre-emptively.

Dr. West is fortunately not a poseur. Dr. West has a long history of participating in leftist politics, including, but not limited to:

Civil rights protests inspired by the Black Panthers and Malcolm X in his teenage youth

Supporting social spaces in neglected areas such as prisons and churches

Becoming the first black person to graduate from Princeton University with a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) with a dissertation called Ethics, Historicism, and the Marxist Tradition (later renamed to The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought)

Protests and divestment to help free apartheid South Africa

Participating in the Million Man March

Being arrested for protesting the shooting of Michael Brown

Being the senior advisor for 2000 Democratic candidate Bill Bradley, then Green Party candidate Ralph Nader

Obstructing the front of the US State Department in protest of Israel-occupied-Palestine's oppression of Palestine in 2000, including similar free Palestine protests in 2007 and 2011

Being an advisor for 2004 Democratic candidate Al Sharpton

Being arrested for participating in the 2011 Occupy D.C. and Harlem Wall Street protests

Affiliating with the Revolutionary Communist Party USA in 2014 and directly contributing to the formation of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network

Rescinding support for Barack Obama in 2014 after realizing his imperialist tendencies

Participating in 2017 counter-protests against the Unite The Right Rally, in which he directly commented that Antifa saved their lives

You don't have to worry about Dr. West being a poseur. He's been doing this for a long time.

Whataboutism G: What about Project 2025?

If you believe that winning a single election is going to make the fascists spontaneously give up on Project 2025 -- which you're likely basing on the specific year in the project's name -- you are a fool.

They're going to continually attempt it until they succeed. We can't let fascists into power, and this includes Biden.

Vote for Dr. Cornel West.

Whataboutism H: What about Ballot Access?

Dr. West has actually been very intelligent with how he's working for ballot access across the US. However, it's not a magic black box - you as a voter need to actively help him get ballot access.

If you don't know how to do that, Dr. West has a website with an interactive US state map, which include instructions for how many votes are required to gain ballot access in each state.

Dr. West also provided the actual necessary legal documents to gain signatures, instructions for how to get votes from people, and even created political propaganda -- both free and merchandising -- to help raise awareness for Dr. West's political action.

He was also wise with how he's gathering ballot access. In states where Independent candidates have an actual chance of ballot access, he's remained Independent.

In states where it's not really possible, he's either joined a local leftist party, or created a new party called the Justice for All Party, which allows him party backing for ballot access.

With this process, Dr. West has successfully already gained ballot access in 5 states: Oregon, Utah, Alaska, Colorado, and South Carolina.

If Dr. West is creating events, he has a page where he show's he's going, of which he's already done many nationally. Alternatively, if you'd like to create your own, he also has a page where you can host campaign-approved volunteer events.

If you're wondering about how well Dr. West listens to people, he largely interacts with any news media - even if it's small - to discuss his campaign and beliefs. I also reported some broken links on their website, and within a few days all of the reported links were prepared.

Dr. Cornel West will make an ideal socialist president.

Part II: Legislative, Judicial, and Local Elections

We cannot let this start and end at presidential elections. We need to seize power in all parts of politics.

Affiliate yourself with leftist parties - or create your own - and run for local elections. It's become clear that socialism is extremely popular in the US right now, and the US has a rich history of socialism.

See: (YouTube:) Second Thought: America's Forgotten Socialist History

We also need to go past that. We need to seize power in the legislative and judicial branches of the US, in that order. Using those same leftist parties, get leftists elected into positions within Congress and the House of Representatives, and push the US into majority leftist legislative power.

Once this has been achieved, we need to combine a leftist president with the majority leftist Congress and House to pass legislation to create term limits for the Supreme Court.

We can then have further legislation passed for SC Justices to be elected by the common people, rather than fucking appointed by whoever happens to be the current president.

This can let us fill the Supreme Court with more leftists, and having seized all three branches of government, we can begin major modifications to the US Constitution - or even retiring it for a new US Constitution - to initiate the socialist age of the US.

Whataboutism I: What about the history of attempts of Socialism/Communism?

Hakim, a West Asian leftist YouTuber, has excellent videos on what actually caused the fall of the Soviet Union, the mistakes of former socialist attempts, a response to a worldbuilder's assumptions about why (socialist) revolutions fail, and instructions for how new leftists can contribute to modern socialism.

(Also, if you're just looking for more blatantly leftist YouTubers, I also recommend Slavic leftist Yugopnik.)

Also See: (YouTube:) Sisyphus 55: The Revolution Will Not Be Uploaded (Also has a donation fund for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund)

Part III: Micronations

Wait, what?

I don't know how much they're going to really help, but it doesn't hurt to have alternatives in the event the US fully sinks into a fascist dictatorship.

If you lead or participate in a leftist micronation, establish mutual recognition and trade routes with other micronations and work on true independence that doesn't rely on the US's assistance (water, plumbing, electricity, internet, etc.).

Utilize your lack of recognition as a country to have dual citizenship, where you can provide for your citizens, but also, more importantly:

PARTICIPATE IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

Being a part of a micronation does not absolve you from your duty as an American citizen to fucking vote. Vote in local elections and vote in national elections. Get. Leftists. In. Power.

Micronations are the backup plan in the event of an emergency as a point of resistance against state oppression.

Prioritize voting in American elections. Vote for leftists.

Vote for Cornel West for the 2024 US presidential election.

[wistsandmagic]

Transformers Headcanon Time 3: There's A THIRD?

Today's Subject: Cybertronian Sex and Gender!

Been a while since one of these came up, huh? I haven't been idle, however, despite the lack of writing about it. Remedying some of that NOW. Again with the disclaimer that this is for a fan continuity, the Eterna AU, so please take everything with a grain of salt. This is how it works for this particular AU, and if it does not align with your own personal headcanons, that is perfectly fine! Your headcanons are yours, not part of this particular fan continuity!

Once again again, we’re going to condense things and call Cybertronians AND the colony-worlders by the umbrella-term “Cybertronian” because it saves me typing and helps with my brain fog, keeping things clearer when I write.

Necessary background: Cybertronians are, as humans define it, an asexual species. They have no genitalia as humans define them, everyone has the exact same thing -- a Spark -- and that is all that is needed. No external genitalia, no internal genitalia or genital organ structures. As mentioned in Headcanon 2: Electric Boogaloo, all Cybertronians are capable of forming a Gestational Forge or laying eggs if they reproduce on their own, and thus there is no sexual difference. With no genitalia, they are not a hermaphroditic species, they are truly 'lacking sex', and thus, asexual, in the scientific (non sexual orientation) way.

HOWEVER.

Cybertronians have 3 distinct 'neurological genders': Mech, Fem, and Novi. There has been debate about increasing this to 4, as the 'Novi' category has two very distinct subtypes, and among the Novi themselves the distinction has resulted in a split into two more neurological genders, Novi and Eda, but legally, there has been no change. For the sake of inclusivity, Novi and Eda will be referred to as separate neurological genders in this essay.

The neurological patterning covering the processor is distinct enough between the four to call them 'genders', with Mech neurological circuit patterns tending toward branched lines, Fem toward interlocking rings, Novi toward connected starbursts, and Eda toward concentric ripples. It is also common for Novi and Eda patterning-structures to be far more dense in certain areas than either Mech or Fem.

There are, of course, variations and 'intermediate' steps in between each of the four types that might equate to the spectrum of intersex individuals for humanity, but there is so much individuality in these variations that they have not been classified as a 'true' fifth gender. Most bots who fall into the variation spectrum personally lean toward one of the other genders, and if they do not, Cybertronians and humans actually share a word for this: Agender.

Mech, since the encounter with humans, has become equated to 'male'. Fem has become equated to 'female'. Novi and Eda donot seem to have a biological human sex counterpart, as 'intersex' among humans has too much variety to easily compare to a Novi or Eda. The closest human terminology seems to be 'nonbinary', and while for humans sex and gender seem to be two separate things, the term is accurate enough for a Cybertronian, as they are biologically sexless, with no reproductive difference between Mech, Fem, Novi, Eda, or any variations in between. Any and all Cybertronians can be a sire or a carrier, barring health issues or other barriers caused by frame type incompatibilities, and their neurological gender has nothing to do with reproductive viability.

Under Functionism, by long-enforced decree of the Senate, only one in thirteen bots born or forged, whether via The Well, Hotspot, or the increasingly-frowned-upon Carrier methodology (whether or not it was achieved via carrier self-splitspark or with sire(s)), could be deemed a Fem, with none being deemed a Novi or Eda, in an attempt to force the population to self-regulate types of alt-modes and enforce classist boundaries. Fem-designated bots were exclusively limited to small, slight frames, deemed weaker and thus more protected and 'fragile' than their forced-Mech counterparts.

Before Functionism, bots born were simply scanned as their protoforms solidified and settled into circuitry patterns, and their gender revealed. They were not locked into this gender, either; as they became more themselves, they were free to transition if they so chose, and their new pronouns in Cybex (and later Neocybex) would reflect the change. They were not limited in body shape nor alt-mode according to their neurological gender, either, only by what their bodies would accept, which varies from individual to individual, though anecdotal preferential 'trends' do tend to appear among the genders.

Mech body-types in general lean toward larger, bulkier, and comparatively stronger than the others, with their alt-modes tending to reflect this, being larger trucks or heavier cars, including muscle cars, large planes, helicopters, or starships (bombers, shuttles, or gunships), larger boats in the old days when Cybertron had oceans, or heavier-duty construction equipment. Beastformer Mechs tend to be bulkier or more heavily-armoured animals and insects for their body size, with longer teeth, horns, antlers, claws, and/or heavier shoulders than their Novi, Eda, or Fem counterparts.

Fem body-types in general lean toward shorter and more lithe than the Mechs, though not necessarily as tiny as what they were forced into under Functionism. They also tend to be much faster, and their alt-modes tend to reflect this, leaning more toward motorcycles, drag-race cars, smaller compact cars, fighter jets or reconnaisance planes, small 'bubble' style helicopters, or smaller starships, such as starfighters, small watercraft like jetskis, or small versions of the mech construction equipment, designed for tighter spaces or handling more delicate parts. Beastformer Fems tended toward sleeker and more lithe than their mech counterparts, albeit with sharper teeth and claws, with some beast alts foregoing things like antlers or horns entirely, in return for being much faster and more agile.

Novi and Eda body-types run the gamut much more than their Mech or Fem counterparts, though in general they fall somewhere in between, though they are more prone to extreme outliers in size and weight. There are exceptions, just as there are for Mech and Fem, so this is not a hard and fast rule, though many Novis tend to have slightly longer limbs and/or digits in comparison to their body than their Mech, Fem, or Eda counterparts, regardless of the rest of their frame. Edas, meanwhile, tend to have thicker shins and feet in comparison to other genders of similar builds, and tend to be slightly more sturdily-built than a Novi of the same frame-type. Novis and Edas both are much more likely to be standard race cars, '4-wheeler' style and amphibious/hover ATVs, small bi-planes or steath fighters, wind-powered watercraft like sailboats, small submersibles, and 'lamprey' style spacecraft that are designed to attach to larger craft and serve as close-quarters guardians. Beastformers tend to have smaller antlers or horns than Mechs, in some cases lacking them entirely like Fems, depending on Mech-to-Fem ratio in their given areas, while Novi and Eda Beastformers tend to, surprisingly, actually have longer fangs and claws than their Mech counterparts, though not as sharp as most Fems'. In the case of Insecticons and Avianformers, Novis and Edas tend to be more brightly or intricately patterned than either Mech or Fem of the same insect type, and their wings tend to be longer or more numerous than either of the others, though a Novi will lean more toward excessive patterning, while Eda lean more toward excessive colouration.

Under the Functionist Senate, Novis (and Edas, as a result) did not exist, and they were typically relegated to Mechs, with a rare Fem occasionally actually being an Eda or a Novi. In addition, any bot that would have otherwise been a Fem whose birth protoform was too large to reasonably accomodate a forced alt-mode that was typically assigned to Fems -- such as a motorcycle -- was assigned to be a Mech, whether or not their neurological patterning readily accepted a Mech-stype altmode or not. Many later 'transitioned' Fems discovered that they had a much easier time scanning and maintaining a Fem-style altmode than they ever had as a Mech, validating their decision to transition. On the other hand, any very small birth protoform tended to be assigned as a Fem, with the same results for forced-feminization as for forced-mechanization for their assigned-Mech counterparts.

Novis and Edas, on the other hand, often found themselves unable to take an alt mode of any kind, as their neurological programming tended to reject forced alts at a young age of both types, and many children and newbuilts, whether they were assigned Mech or Fem, found themselves altless until a much later age than their peers as a result, unless someone took pity on them and assigned them an alt that would have, once upon a time, been a 'true' Novi or Eda alt, now divided up between the Mech and Fem approved alt-mode lists for frame type.

Nowadays, Functionism does not exist, and thus bots are free to be who they are, without being forced into a narrow definition decided by others. This is, sadly, taking some getting used to for quite a few bots, and going has been slow. The rejoining of the lost colonies to Cybertron, however, has helped in this regard, as most of the lost colonies split from Cybertron before the rise of Functionism, and never developed the strict gender roles and alts forced upon their originator planet.

[tempestgnostic]

Thus Spoke the Half-Serpent

I can’t recall the first time I laid down next to the water’s edge and yearned for a home I’d never known. I must have been very young; it wasn’t until much later that I learned shame. In those halcyon days, in the peace between the trauma of birth and adolescence, I dreamed of swimming with nixies—the ones I’d read about in my copy of Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. It would be years before I gave up waiting for a soulmate to appear beneath the surface of our neighborhood lake.

I joined the swim team just before the curse of puberty began to take hold. (I didn’t transition until my early twenties.) It was the closest approximation I had—yet, kicking around a pair of human legs felt just as wrong as the way my chest began to jut out beneath my swimsuit. I went to competitions across the state and did quite well, until dysphoria caught up with me and strangled my ambition.

My daydreams shifted as part of my identity once again rose to the surface. I was nearly always human from the waist up, but at times had the body of a massive serpent below. Other times, it was replaced with the digitigrade legs of a wolf, or even the body of a giant spider or scorpion. The serpent’s tail was always the most euphoric, though—the rest felt like using active imagination to cope with the ostracization I felt, being misunderstood and bullied relentlessly by peers. (To be a queer, autistic kid in Kansas is a kind of torture that should be reserved for the lowest circles of Dante’s Hell.)

I could write for hours about how snakes and their habits continued to pop up in the most interesting places—how I was once a ‘proud Slytherin,’ back when I was still ignorant of JKR’s legacy of hate; how euphoric I felt when I realized that getting a forked tongue is not uncommon in the body mod community; how the gods and spirits I encountered on my pagan journey kept pointing me to the serpent in increasingly obvious ways; how even my personal philosophy began to reflect my ophidian nature. “I slough off truths like snakeskin. The world is always changing—why should I remain the same?”

This—and so much more—rapidly coalesced into an awakening that truly began right after I allowed myself to accept my werewolf identity. I had ‘broken the seal,’ so to speak, and the kaleidoscope of my personal mythology erupted from that pinprick of light. Suddenly, it made sense why I sometimes expect to feel scales instead of skin beneath my waist, or why I find myself to be clumsy and awkward when I try to dance, unless my movement is serpentine and centered in my hips. It explained why I sometimes feel the swift forward extension of a viper’s fangs from the roof of my mouth when I open it just so.

When I get in bed, I wait until my legs fall asleep first, overlaid in such a way that they seem to melt into each other under the blankets. When my knees aren’t acting up, I allow the rhythm in my hips to carry me across the room as I dance to the music in my head. I dream of sunning myself beside a calm river, enjoying the feeling of warm rocks beneath my scales before slipping back under the surface. In my mind, I see silvery moonlight reflecting off of the water after nightfall.

There’s a beautiful young femme sitting by the water’s edge, enjoying the cool breeze. Something keeps her there, even as she sees me skim the surface of the water, striped scales suggesting half of my species. Cottonmouth. She speaks to me like a soulmate, our love a foregone conclusion, and I offer my hand with a gentle smile. I’ll teach her how to swim, and I promise not to bite—hard. She laughs, and my butch heart swells.

[jessenigma]

My Favorite New Manga Reads of 2023

For the past few years on twitter, I've made threads of some of my favorite manga and light novel reads from the past year. This year, I decided I would move it over to two tumblr posts.

After the cut are some of my favorite titles that I picked up for the first time in 2023.

Talk to My Back, Yamada Murasaki

I like to pick up something a little more unusual at least once a year and so at the beginning of this year, I picked up this 1980s alt-manga title about the life of a Tokyo housewife played out in short vignettes. It's a frustrating read because of how real it feels and how much it feels like things haven't changed as much in the last 40 years as I'd like, but it's all the more fascinating for it. The essay at the end discussing Yamada Murasaki's work and placing it in context was a nice bonus too.

When a Cat Faces West, Yuki Urushibara

I love Yuki Urushibara's Mushishi (slow though I have been to actually finish it), so when Kodansha announced a license for Urushibara's much shorter series, I was there for it. It has a cool concept - there are areas of "flow" that will pop up out of nowhere and shift people and places out of time and space and one guy has tasked himself with helping people fix issues caused by it - but mostly it feels like Mushishi but set in the present day. I love a series that's just vibes all the way down.

Skip and Loafer, Misaki Takamatsu

I was absolutely smitten with the Skip and Loafer anime, so when it ended with what felt like a pretty definitive "we are not making a second season of this" final episode, I started the manga. A high school slice of life series lives by its characters and Mitsumi is the more adorable dork ever. The other characters are equally delightful, even when I don't necessarily like them, and I'm so eager to dive deeper into their lives.

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (light novel), Mikage Sawamura

This series feels a bit like what you'd get if you crossed The Case Files of Jeweler Richard and The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window: a college student with a supernatural ability to hear lies that alienates him from everyone meets a folklore professor with a mysterious past fascinated by mysteries, and together they investigate possibly-supernatural events. It's a bit silly, but the relationship between the leads is interesting and there's a lot of fun urban legends in the mix. There's also a manga adaptation that I haven't yet picked up, but maybe one day...

March Comes in Like a Lion, Chica Umino

I was curious about this one from the second Denpa announced the license just because of how much I'd heard about the series for years now, and it did not disappoint. I love a good story about a depressed and lonely teenage boy sublimating his feelings into an obsession with a uniquely Japanese pastime, especially when there's so many people around him wanting to help him stop being alone. Now I just wish that the release wasn't quite as slow as it has been, even if I know the many reasons why...though at least I still have the anime to rewatch while I wait.

Don't Call It Mystery, Yumi Tamura

After reading Basara and Wild Com, I was eager to get my hands on a newer series by Yumi Tamura, and the fact that it's a modern-day non-fantasy series made it all the more interesting. Totonou's incessant observations about the things going on around him are delightful, especially when they lead him straight into all kinds of dangers or even just leave everyone around him wishing he'd stop talking for about five seconds. I just want to pat him on the head and ask him to make me some curry.

After the Rain, Jun Mayuzuki

I got a card for the Japan Foundation's ebook library not too long ago, which has been great for picking up a lot of books that aren't available in my local library's collection, including this series. I had heard about it but was a bit hesitant because it's about a teenage girl who gets a crush on her much older boss...but hey, why not give it a try from the library? I'm glad I did because there was such a sweet relationship between them that ultimately helped them both out of the ruts they were in with their personal lives and dreams.

River's Edge, Kyoko Okazaki

I still can't decide if I actually enjoy Kyoko Okazaki's work or not, but I got a little closer to it with River's Edge. It's a harsh story about disaffected teenagers who find a dead body, but somehow it feels less depressing than the other works of hers I've read because they're teenagers and there's still the possibility that they can escape the lives that are dragging them down. I will say this - Okazaki's stories are never boring, whether I enjoy them or not.

Her, Tomoko Yamashita

I got a little overambitious this year and ordered the Italian release of a Tomoko Yamashita title I've been wanting to read for years. Can I read Italian? No. Did I think maybe I could figure it out kinda okay because I've studied French and Spanish? Yes. Did I end up reading everything through a translation app? Also yes. But this collection of interconnected stories about women and relationships was excellent despite the language barrier. I was thrilled to finally see the context for the kiss between a younger woman and an elderly woman that I so admired in Yamashita's 15th anniversary artbook, and its story was a touching exploration of what "normal" means. I would love to see this in English, but unfortunately I can't see it getting picked up.

Glitch, Shima Shinya

I was thrilled that Yen Press decided to pick up another title from Shima Shinya after Lost Lad London, and Glitch has been well worth my time. While it is a fantasy story about a town full of glitches in reality that I'm excited to see play out fully, what really caught my eye is the sheer amount of diversity in the characters - one of the leads is nonbinary, there are mixed race characters, there's a lesbian couple, etc. It's all part of the story but not in a didactic way, which I appreciate immensely. Shinya's art also makes me so happy, and I hope Yen continues to get more of their work.

Lilies and Voices Born Upon the Wind, Renmei

Speaking of diversity in characters, I enjoyed this series not only because it was a nice yuri with a motorcycle lesbian (always a bonus in my book, the motorcycle) but because it had some really thoughtful discussion of asexuality in multiple forms. I wish I could've gotten one of the printed copies that were available for purchase at one con, but alas.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, Hiromi Sato & Kamome Shirahama

Did we really need a cooking series spinoff of Witch Hat Atelier? Probably not. Am I glad we got it in English anyway? Absolutely. This is basically an Olruggio/Qifrey slowburn domestic au fanfic and I adore it. And I love that they keep up the conceit about magical ingredients in each chapter's recipe, even though they are legit recipes you can actually make with the real ingredients recommended as substitutions. What Did You Eat Yesterday? but with witches, clearly an ideal combination.

Scribbles, Kaoru Mori

I am not actually a diehard fan of Kaoru Mori's work - I drifted away from A Bride's Story when I ran out of volumes at the library - but I do unabashedly adore her art. Scribbles is just perfect for me with its pages from her sketchbooks and her commentary about things like the ideal skirt tightness. I bought this in hardcover and all and will continue to get the other volumes in hardcover even though I almost always get Yen Press titles digitally because it's so much cheaper that way, that's how much I like it.

Innocent, Shin'ichi Sakamoto

I've had my eye on Shin'ichi Sakamoto's work for a while because I saw a bunch of panels from Innocent on here and fell in love with the art. What I did not expect was that the violently erotic story about a French executioner would actually get an English license. It's gorgeous and violent and weird and I am so here for it. Now, if I could just be sure that Dark Horse actually plans on releasing the whole thing...

Barbarities, Tsuta Suzuki

Much like with Innocent, I saw panels from Barbarities on here ages ago and wished I could read it without much hope, given the lack of other licenses for Tsuta Suzuki's bl since SuBLime's relicense of A Strange & Mystifying Story ages ago. But thankfully I am getting to read this nebulously historical drama with all of its social machinations and pretty men getting flustered by other flirtatious pretty men. And such nice clothes!

A Home Far Away, Teki Yatsuda

Kuma really gets some stellar licenses and A Home Far Away was especially good. Set in 1990s America, it reminded me of nothing so much as My Own Private Idaho crossed with Banana Fish and made me weep absolute buckets in the end. I don't think it's for everyone, but if you were ever an aficionado of depressing 90s queer cinema like I once was, this might be one for you.

À vos cotés [Tonari ni], Basso

I was shocked when the announcement for the French release of this title crossed my twitter timeline earlier this year - France has even less by Natsume Ono than the US does, but one of their publishers managed to get one of her actual bl titles published under her bl penname? So naturally, I had to get it. It's super sweet, about a young man who likes to take photos of horses at a racetrack who meets a much older man, and I swear reading it was just like reading her non-bl work only this time the two characters actually got to say their feelings out loud. This would be a perfect addition to several mainstream US publishers' bl lineup, and I would be the first in line to buy it if they did license it in English.

Dear, My God, Nemui Asada

More by Nemui Asada in English! I love Asada's work for its unique storylines and this one didn't disappoint, with a story about a priest having sex with a cult member to help save him and another story about a guy who ends up with a talking plant. It's a bit disappointing that it's only available on futekiya - when will we get some of these titles in print already?

Ikigami & Donor, Hiko Yamanaka

Hiko Yamanaka is another one whose work is always a bit outside the mold, and Ikigami & Donor is an interesting sci-fi bl about powerful "living gods" who have tremendous abilities but can't heal from injuries without blood, bodily fluids, or tissues from one specific donor. It's a fascinating concept and the way the relationship between one ikigami and his donor played out made for an interesting story. I hope to see more from Yamanaka one day.

[queerromancerecs]

Rules and guidelines

This is for recs of published queer romance and romantic fiction. What does that mean? Romance must central to or a significant part of the story, and at least one of the main characters must be lgbtqa+.

Published works means traditionally published, indie-published, or self-published. This includes free works and works published by authors available through their blogs or websites. It does not mean fanfiction. Fanfiction rec blogs exist already, please use them.

Fiction includes purely prose work as well as webcomics and graphic novels.

Romance means genre romance and also fictional works with a strong romantic element. The difference between the two is that genre romance requires a happy ending or a happy-for-now ending, and romantic fiction does not. This should be made clear in the rec itself under Genre. If the story is part of an ongoing series and the ending is not yet clear, please say so in your recommendation. Erotic romance is also allowed but again, indicate that under Genre.

(e.g. for a genre romance book that is also fantasy, label it Genre: Romance and then add a sub category if you like. If it's a fantasy novel primarily, then label is just Fantasy.)

Lgbtqa+ means queer. It can mean m/m. It can mean f/f. It can mean nb/nb. It can mean an m/f romance with a bi heroine, a trans f/m love story, an aro character finding a life partner and feeling weird internal feelings about it, three ace people falling in love and never having sex, and so on and so forth.

Content tags: You don’t need to list all triggers, as that is impossible. But please at least list any of the obvious ones under "content tags" Suggested content tags would be like: SA, attempted SA, CA, CSA, graphic torture, etc.

Recs can be only a few sentences or a full essay. Just say what you like about it and why you feel others should read it.

This blog is really to help promote the smaller creators, but trad pub is cool too. Just remember to check the blogs tags for the title first because trad-pubbed stuff tends to get recced all the time everywhere and might have been recced already.

Recs must also include a link to the work: the author’s website, Smashwords, Amazon, wherever, but at least one, as well as a picture of the cover. (In the case of art-heavy work, more pics can be used.) Please use alt text for any images.

No self-promotion from authors. No non-romantic genre fiction.

Required format:

Cover Image (if it has one)

Title (including series name if applicable)

Author

Summary: (c & p the professional one or write your own)

Genre:

Ship type: (m/m/m, f/f, nb/trans m, etc)

Why you like it:      

Content tags if applicable                                                                          

Link

If you have questions about a rec, you can ask about it. Situations will be assessed individually.  

Entries with incorrect format will not approved but you will be contacted for any necessary corrections/additions.

Hate speech and harassment are not allowed. I will happily block you.

In the interests of disclosure, this blog is run by R. Cooper, a queer romance author. Obviously, I will smile and be very happy if my work gets recommended here, but I am not going specially tag it or comment because it feels a little sus for me to do that. If the format is correct, I will just approve any such posts like the others.

[o-xurxur-o-sosoj]

Ideas I have going in my head for things to write about:

+ cannibalism (a big topic with many avenues to pursue)

+ mixed race identity and species dysphoria

+ archetropy and what we owe to each other

+ non-dualistic alterhumanity

+ foraging and mushrooms

+ rural alterhumanity, redneck alterhumanity

+ narcolepsy and what it's like to dream

+ cripplepunk therianthropy

+ The Alt-Right Furry Worry: A Transspecies Slippery Slope (this is gearing up to be a video essay tbh, since this requires me to look into political and legal sources)

if any of these intrigue you or give you ideas, I highly encourage that you reblog this and comment. I know Tumblr etiquette is usually about silently reblogging and commenting in tags, but legit, I wanna know if these thoughts raise other thoughts or curiosities in folks while I'm chewing on em. I get the best ideas going from conversation, so please feel free.

[innuendostudios]

A new video essay has appeared. The second Protagony, this time looking at Abed Nadir and the weird way modern audiences treat the fourth wall.

If you like this video and would like to see more Protagony, Alt-Right Playbook, and what else have you in the future, consider backing me on Patreon!

Transcript below the cut:

The doors open. The line starts to move. The usher takes your ticket and points in the direction of your seat. Preshow music plays over the soundsystem as you side-shuffle past the knees of the folks in your row. You stick your bag and your jacket under the seat and sit down. You leaf through the playbill, futz around on your phone, until music starts to fade. The lights in the auditorium dim and the lights come up on the stage. The show is beginning.

This is one of those plays set in a single location: three walls on the stage represent the interior of a French bistro. French bistros typically have at least four walls, and that’s where you come in: the lip of the stage - what theatre nerds call “the proscenium” - is where the fourth wall would be, and it’s your job to pretend it’s there. Or - let me rephrase that: it’s your job to ignore that it’s not. That is the bargain you make when the lights go down.

To the characters onstage, everything inside those walls is real, and nothing on the other side of that fourth wall exists. The ambient noise, the guy two rows down and four seats over who’s clearly playing Words with Friends, even you yourself, you are - and this is a nerd word again - “non-diegetic.” You’re here, but you exist outside the story.

That is, until…

[Picasso at the Lapin Agile]

EINSTEIN: My name is Albert Einstein

FREDDIE: You can’t be, you just can’t be!

EINSTEIN: Sorry, I’m not myself today. (fluffs up his hair so he looks like Einstein.) Better?

FREDDIE: No no, that’s - (pause for laughter.) No no, that’s not what I mean. In order of appearance.

EINSTEIN: Come again?

FREDDIE: In order of appearance. You’re not third. (aside, to audience member) Excuse me, ma’am, can I borrow your program? (to Einstein) You’re fourth. It says so right here: Cast in order of appearance. I knew you were fourth. I knew it when you walked in.

[/Picasso at the Lapin Agile]

This is what we call “breaking the fourth wall,” and Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile is a great show for demonstrating it because the character Freddy literally reaches his hand through the wall and into the audience. Like many fourth wall breaks, this is played for laughs, because it’s a kind of narrative transgression; you’re not supposed to do that. When the diegetic intrudes upon the non-, the audience is reminded of all the things they were ignoring: that this is not a French bistro in 1904, but a bunch of plywood flats and actors in pancake makeup and period dress. The disbelief that was suspended is brought back to school, as it were.

But what I want to highlight is how durable the fourth wall is. For starters, in order for this joke to work, the audience has to be already suspending its disbelief; the boundary must be drawn before it can be broken. And, shortly after this gag, Einstein exits, Germaine enters [“Sorry I’m late”], Freddy makes a little wink to the audience [“You’re not late, you’re fourth”], and the scene continues as if nothing had happened. The audience wraps itself back up in the story, and the fourth wall is rebuilt, so that, when it’s broken later in the show [“When will you be there?” “When the play is over.”] it’s funny again! If the wall had stayed down, that joke wouldn’t work.

Why do we build the wall? So we can have a wall to break.

Often enough, these acknowledgements - in theatre but also film, novels, video games - any time a narrative reminds you of its own artifice, it is contained such that it does not disrupt the narrative too much. It operates like the soliloquies in Shakespeare or the songs in musicals. When Deadpool speaks to the audience, everyone around him goes deaf.

But what I got curious about, when I first read Francesco Casetti’s Inside the Gaze - or rather I read the glossary because it’s very dense Italian film theory and I was nineteen - was, what if you didn’t make that bargain when the lights went down? What if breaking the fourth wall wasn’t a disruption of the narrative, because the story is built such that the artifice is part of the narrative? Can you break the fourth wall… diegetically?

Now, that was a punchy idea as a teenager. As a man in his late thirties, I am aware this idea has been approached many times in many ways throughout the history of storytelling [Brecht: “Am I a joke to you?”]. We’re currently living in a golden age of metanarrative where most major properties have folded the audience’s relationship to that property into the text. But I wanna talk about my favorite example: Abed Nadir.

Now, my feelings about the show Community are… mixed, but I love me some Abed. [“pretty adorable”] Abed is a pop culture-damaged perpetual college student raised by his television, who loves TV to the point where it’s his primary metaphor for looking at the world. In other words, he’s an American millennial. His tendency to filter his life through sitcom tropes is lent a certain pointedness by being a character on a tropey sitcom. Por exemplo, when Annie asks him for help [“Phoebe and Chandler” clip], or when the new school year coincides with the conclusion of the previous season’s arcs [“self-contained capers” clip], or when it looks like he’s going to spend the day locked in study hall [“starting to feel like a bottle episode” clip]. In these moments, Abed Nadir is not breaking the fourth wall. He may not fully understand that real life doesn’t have bottle episodes, but this is real life to him. He’s not seeing the cameras pointing at him, he’s not disrupting the narrative by winking at a sitcom audience.

But there is a sitcom audience - we are the sitcom audience - and the writers did just use Abed to wink at us. “Cooperative Calligraphy” is a bottle episode. Abed is speaking diegetically to his friends, who read his comments as the pop culture references they are, but they double as things a person who was breaking the fourth wall might say. [“This is totally meta” clip] The rules of narrative are not transgressed, and, yet, we are, all the same, constantly reminded that we’re watching a work of fiction.

This kind of interreference, in which a sitcom points constantly at itself, at other sitcoms, and at “The Sitcom” as a medium, can come across kind of masturbatory. David Foster Wallace argued that the pop culture reference in mass media serves three functions: “(1) to help create a mood of irony and irreverence, (2) to make us uneasy and so ‘comment’ on the vapidity of U.S. culture, and (3) most important, these days, to be just plain realistic.” I would say (2) is far less prevalent now than when he was writing.

The reality is this: how you gonna write a twentysomething millennial in 2009 who doesn’t talk a lot about what’s on television? This is a conundrum many writers face. There is still the High culture urge to make art that is timeless, that avoids what Foster Wallace referred to as “the frivolous Now,” and the Low culture necessity of not looking dated eight months after you air. This can be approached many ways: you can avoid reference and just take the verisimilitudinous hit; you can create fictional, in-universe pop culture for your characters to reference; you can reference pop culture that is old enough to be considered timeless, functionally setting your story in a different “frivolous Now,” e.g. the way Sex Education and Life is Strange are both canonically set in the present but are aesthetically set in the late seventies and early nineties, respectively; or you can embrace chaos and just reference contemporary culture.

But, once you’re a show on TV with characters referencing other shows currently airing on TV, things might get a little meta, especially shows that lean into it the way Community does. So what does this do to the fourth wall? That supposedly sanctified construct, the violation of which is most often either a failure or an act of deliberate anarchy? How are we to suspend disbelief for stories that don’t even pretend not to be fake, and whose primary pleasure is in acknowledging the fakery?

Abed is, to me, a distillation of the modern audience’s more intricate relationship to the fourth wall. Art imitates life, and when much of life is spent discussing popular art, popular art begins to discuss itself. And art that discusses itself requires a more liminal relationship to the fourth wall. These days we don’t choose to either see it or ignore it, but pay both kinds of attention at once, letting the fourth wall, as needed, fade in and out of visibility, like glass when it catches the light, or seeing your face in the monitor when it fades to black. This was maybe inevitable in a media-saturated environment where the lines between audience, participant, and creator continue to blur, where we watch even straightforward media with an eye towards how it’s made, because we imagine making something like it ourselves one day, or because any viewing experience is potential #content. In a world where it is rarer and rarer to experience art in a darkened theatre that shuts out the world, but where it’s watched on phones during bus rides, in the background while cooking, in an open tab while writing emails. We keep fiction and reality running in tandem, shifting between them with little more than a saccade. The real world isn’t forgotten but edged out of the foreground during a cigarette break.

What tickles me is that Brecht violated suspension of disbelief to create distance between the fiction and its audience. But postmodern reflexivity just makes Abed relatable. He watches TV the same way we watch Community. You can imagine him watching his own show and responding much the way I am now: OK, so you want me to mentally construct a fourth wall that the performers will pretend is there, but the writers will constantly - and entertainingly - bring to my attention its nonexistence, such that I need to suspend my disbelief while thinking about the fact that I am suspending it, which should be mutually-exclusive modes of thought, but, to even understand what I’m watching, I’ll need to do both at once?

Cool.

Cool cool cool.

[kateelliottsff]

The History of the World Begins in Ice

I’m delighted to announce that, in Summer 2024, Fairwood Press will be publishing a collection of stories and essays from the Spiritwalker (Cold Magic) universe, titled

THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD BEGINS IN ICE:

Stories and Essays from the World of Cold Magic.

That’s right! A collection of fiction and non fiction from and about my Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk adventure set in an alt-fantasy 19th century Earth alongside a perilous spirit world, and including Phoenician spies, well-dressed men, revolutionary-minded women, and of course lawyer dinosaurs.

The collection will be published in a trade paperback edition and an ebook edition. It will contain eleven stories and eleven essays, as well as an introduction by N.K. Jemisin.

Each story will have an illustration by a different artist. The collection will include “The Secret Journal of Beatrice Hassi Barahal” with all 28 of the original Julie Dillon illustrations, previously published only in a 300 copy chapbook edition. Here’s the narrator of the trilogy, Cat Barahal, as drawn by Julie Dillon.

Nine of the eleven stories were previously published. The other two are being written specifically for this collection.

If there is enough interest, Fairwood Press will produce a limited edition deluxe hardcover edition with two extra color plates (by Julie Dillon), a fold out triptych (by Kelsey Liggett), and a chapbook insert of the infamous smut chapter, “Chapter 31.5,” from Cold Fire. I can’t promise exact figures (and recent cost of paper increases may mean my guess is way out of date) but likely in the $40-50 range for a book of about 100,000 words.

You can express interest here (comment below or reply via email) or by writing directly to Fairwood Press. If you are interested, please (if you can) write in as soon as possible since creating a deluxe edition will take additional work, monetary investment, and time (that we would be delighted to take on).

Pre-order information will come as soon as it is available.

I first started thinking in autumn 2018 about producing this collection with a Fall 2020 publication date to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the publication of Cold Magic. Events conspired against me at the time, by which I mean I didn’t have the energy or time to move forward with it.

So I am incredibly thrilled to work with Patrick Swenson and Fairwood Press to bring this long-dreamt-of project to life and share it with all of you Spiritwalker fans.

[final-fantasy-as-literature]

Maycomb Blume and "Reading" Loveless in Rebirth

Heya, folks. SPOILERS ahead for Rebirth. Loveless is the only thing that should be spoiled, but I do mention foreshadowing for another event without stating the event.

Content Warning: Death is mentioned, and there is an image of a skull being held by David Tenant. This should be the only time I have to provide a David Tennant warning on this blog /s.

I've let this blog go dormant since I started it and emptied it out, but I wanted to use it. Originally, I started this blog to chronicle my readings of FF7, FF8, and FF9 as adaptations of Xiyouji, but that didn't feel like an easy thing to start with.

I did have the first section of a close reading of Loveless as it appears in English posted here, but I wanted to restart with pointing out how "reading" video games more deeply can be rewarding and is something you probably already have the tools to do if you went to primary school in the past 30 or so years. I will throw the close reading back on here when I've edited it, but I want to be doing something with this blog that isn't quite so deeply analytical to start. I also like adding images to break up text, and this is one of the few places I can do that with alt text for accessibility. Tumblr doesn't like outside links, though, so win some, lose some.

I wanna focus on Loveless from Rebirth with one critical lens among many that you can use to find your own meaning from it. You can even use weaker lenses, like the monomyth and its mother goddess guiding a hero or a Wagnerian reading, if you want. Loveless is a story about heroes on the stage set to music, even if it doesn't neatly line up with either lens. One could display how it resists interpretation by those lenses, for example. In any case,

You Probably Already Know About Literature

Loveless is a play. Even being in a game, it is a play that bears features common to European and American plays and operas from the 16th Century to the modern day. While some parts may be foreign to what you were taught in school, like the operatic portion at the beginning and the lead-solo at the end, the three-to-five act structure with exposition, rising action, climax, and falling action is something quite common to primary education in a lot of countries.

If you were taught this in primary school, you were probably also taught it through a few key authors, artists, directors, and playwrights. If you're from the US, those names likely included some people like James Baldwin, Harper Lee, Kurt Vonnegut, and maybe a few authors from South America like Julio Cortázar or Laura Esquivel. Without doubt, though, I bet you had to read Shakespeare.

That isn't without good reason. Regardless of what you think about him or his works, Shakespeare's words have been enjoyed and remade countless times around the world in many languages. His dominance of theater of a European style is to the point that some of his lines in isolation, ripped of their context, are enough to call to mind the drama on stage to much of the world.

If I say "To be or not to be..." most native English speakers are already finishing the line or jumping ahead to picture a skull in hand, dramatically lamenting a fellow of infinite jest who now has none who would mock his grin. I've seen the same happen with "Ser o no ser..." and "Sein oder Nichtsein..." in non-literary conversations.

David Tennant not mocking Yorick's grin as Hamlet. Image retrieved from Yorick on Wikipedia, originally from BBC article Bequeathed skull stars in Hamlet.

But, that aside, a piece of Loveless begins before the play, somewhat like the earlier events of Hamlet reflecting in his own play within a play.

You Probably Already Know How to Find Out More About Literature.

If you went to school in the age of the internet, you probably had to do research online to back up your writing in an essay on some piece of media you might not have cared about. Maybe you just found a website, reputable or not, that made an argument you could pull a quote from and stick in your writing. Hopefully, though, there was at least a time or two where you genuinely connected with a piece of assigned media and wanted to see what you could find from scholars about the plot, symbols, style, etc. to inform and elaborate on your own thoughts. I want to do that second one with Aerith's pseudonym for the solo at the end of Loveless, Maycomb Blume.

If you put "Maycomb Blume" into a search engine, I'm using Google through a VPN on a clean device, you're probably going to see a wall of FF7-related pages discussing the name. Unfortunately, those aren't the best sources for doing more than stimulating reflection on your own ideas. Most of them seem to come to a homophonic conclusion that it sounds like "make em bloom" that first appeared on a fan Twitter account. However, you might see an article or two about a book by Harper Lee set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama - To Kill a Mockingbird.

If you look into them, you'll see that they tend to be reflecting on the resistance, or lack thereof, to oppression present in the novel by its protagonists. At first, that may seem tenuous, but let's follow the string and look into the Maycomb part of Maycomb Blume. A large piece of Final Fantasy VII is resistance or lack of resistance to oppression bringing characters together or pushing them apart, after all.

If you look up 'Maycomb' by itself, you will quickly find that it almost exclusively refers to the fictional town of Maycomb invented by Harper Lee. Google Ngram Viewer confirms this, showing virtually zero mentions of 'Maycomb' until the release of To Kill a Mockingbird. As a deliberate choice of translation, they sure did pick a unique word, no? But what about the "Blume" part? That isn't exactly an uncommon word, and it has myriad variations.

The results of a Google Ngram Viewer search for Maycomb, showing the sudden increase in the appearance of the word Maycomb in text after Lee's publication. Image screenshot from Google Ngram Viewer on October 19, 2024.

If you keep digging and do more looking, you might find that one of the most famous, influential, and controversial literary critics, Shakespeare scholars, and Harry Potter-haters in the world, Harold Bloom, was the editor for an anthology of critical essays on To Kill a Mockingbird. If you know anything about him, you might be aware of his idea that all works of literature are essentially "remakes" that carry influence from the ideas and stories they are latecomers to. This idea is what he called the anxiety of influence.

Harold Bloom, the man who hated Harry Potter before it was cool. Image retrieved from Wikipedia, by Bernard Gotfryd and originally obtained from the page Bernard Gotfryd on the Library of Congress website.

So what did Bloom have to say about Lee's most famous work in this text? Not much, as he was the editor of the volume, but he did say that the protagonists weren't what one would call heroes, but reflections of a sensibility that saw itself without the need to change in the face of racism:

The crises of [Scout’s] book confirm her in her intrinsic strength and goodness, without wounding her sensibility or modifying her view of reality.

So, where our initial look might lead us to a simple homophonic "it sounds like 'make em bloom,'" our deeper look leaves us with a lens from a scholar most focused on works of poetry on the stage, the anxiety of influence, and a theme with which to use that lens with, growth of a protagonist in the face of oppression. These tools seem appropriate for a work that is explicitly part of a "remake" of an earlier work that deals heavily with oppression, how people do or do not resist it, and what that leads them to do - so how well do they apply to Loveless?

You Probably Know How to Apply This to Loveless

Again, if you went to primary school in an English-speaking country in the past 30 years, you were probably taught the basics of how to apply critical lenses to any media you consume. If you had to read A Modest Proposal and discuss how well Jonathan Swift satirizes the plight of the poor in Ireland and upper-class reactions to it, you were being exposed to rudimentary Class or Marxist Criticism. In the US, you might have also been exposed to it while reading The Great Gatsby or The Grapes of Wrath. If you had to analyze the symbols in an Edgar Allan Poe work and explain the ideas, sensations, emotions, and images they called up for you and how well they served the work as they were written, you were being exposed to rudimentary New Criticism. In the US, you might have also been exposed to it while reading Song of Myself or listening to I Have a Dream.

Edward Manet's interpretation of the visit of the raven, both chaotic and clear. Image retrieved from The Raven on Wikipedia, originally on the Library of Congress website linked by a dead link.

The anxiety of influence, or Bloomian criticism, is just like those lenses in that it is a tool for you to apply as an individual reader. Primary schools don't often use even rudimentary Bloomian criticism, though, because it requires a knowledge of a canon, or a body of important works at its simplest, but introducing you to a canon is part of what studying literature in primary school does. Once you have at least a familiarity with a canon, you can start to identify how works influenced by that canon build upon it to deliver their own stories in a way that might or might not change how you read those original works.

Remember how I brought up the "to be or not to be..." soliloquy near the start of this? Are you minimally familiar with Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear?

If yes, you can apply rudimentary Bloomian criticism to Loveless.

Actually Doing It

The operatic bit of Loveless and the title itself mirror the central tragedy of King Lear: three would-be heroes vie to prove their love for King Lear and all but one are proven loveless. Even more in-line, they are a blonde would-be hero who is imprisoned (Cordelia), a would-be hero with black hair who is slain (Regan), and a would-be hero with red hair whose life is cut short (Goneril).

The Three daughters of King Lear by Gustav Pope. From left to right are Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia. Image retrieved from King Lear on Wikipedia.

The three would-be heroes of Loveless raising their swords. Of the three, only Alphreid on the left is given explicit name, but parallels between the three and other characters within and without the Compilation may be drawn.

While there is a "mother goddess" in the mix, understanding it here without a background understanding of possible precursors (like Campbell's mother goddess or the Guanyin of Chinese/Japanese Buddhism from which he derived it, in part) would only serve to make this longer in explanation. As it goes, she is one of the primary features of the play which connect Loveless to Final Fantasy VII as a whole, but understanding the reason for her inclusion is impossible without looking at FF7 as a whole. As it stands, Loveless can be understood as a work in its own right in a similar way to how Hamlet's play can be understood as a character in the play rehearsing his own mode. That is; Loveless is informative even without understanding Remake and Rebirth in whole.

Already, though, we see that we've reached the point of tragedy of King Lear: it is not long after the imprisonment of Cordelia that she is hanged and her father dies of grief and madness. The Fool, though, appears to deliver the reveal of Bloomian clinamen, the swerving away an author (or authors) makes from the precursors when they create their own misprison (work of art/poetry/literature/etc).

Where King Lear ends shortly after Cordelia's imprisonment, Loveless only truly begins there, and the Fool, a character used to communicate the true nature of things, appears. It is fitting, then, that the character who communicates the true nature of things appears again here as the only character without change or loss in title, being the Fool in both King Lear and Loveless. He introduces us to Alphreid, who himself calls back to the madness of loveless Shakespearean tragedies with his "To proceed... or not to proceed!" line after the tutorial.

Cloud as Alphreid putting on his theater shoes and reminding the reader of the question.

Where Hamlet and Cordelia are condemned to tragedy because of their rejection of love or the rejection of their love, though, Alphreid is freed and empowered by his newfound acceptance of the Goddess' love through the hand of Rosa. This reveals the tessera of the work, the fragment that can be used with other fragments of the work to show where the author (or authors) suggest that the precursors did not go far enough. Hamlet and King Lear, then, are filled with nothing but villains and victims who refuse to embrace the power of love of all things. This makes sense, as those were tragedies.

This blends with the daemonization the work employs, a Counter-Sublime in reaction to the Sublime of the precursors. This is the evidencing of the tessera from before in the way even nature, thundering with Alphreid's rally, reveals in Loveless the counter to the Shakespearean idea that lovelessness flattens all. Where Cordelia and Ophelia die to lack of true love from even one person, Alphreid becomes empowered by love for all things. This reflects even in the reader's/player's ability to progress no matter who they declare their love for among Varvados, Garm, and Rosa, as love conquers all and lack of love flattens. Garm and Varvados, who refuse love, can be expected to fail as long as the player continues.

In hand with the application of the daemonization employed is the kenosis, the breaking device used by an author (or authors) to empty their own work and that of the precursors of their nature as literature. Here, the authors remind the reader that they are playing a game by forcing them to interact to continue Alphreid's story, breaking the illusion of the game's reality while highlighting that Hamlet and King Lear can be put on the shelf as well if you don't wish to continue. Yet, the reader does.

And, when they do, they find revealed in it the reality of the second-to-last revisionary ratio of the anxiety of influence, askesis, the movement stressing the individuality of the author (or authors). They find it most clearly in the Fool of Loveless, pleading with the audience in soliloquy where he calls upon central, humanizing lines of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, and Troilus and Cresside to humanize the creators of his misprison and the misprisons embodied in its precursors,

Cait Sith as the Fool doing his best to evoke pathos for the reader through allusion to the end of things.

Friends, lend me your ears. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar) Our inspiring hero's and indomitable princess's tale draws to a close. Only one act remains. Parting is indeed such sweet sorrow. (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet) But as they say, all good things must come to an end. (Chaucer/Shakespeare, Trolius and Criseyde/Troilus and Cressida) Though it is our wish that this tale remain with you long after we are gone.

Emphasis and parenthetical additions mine.

Almost in those words, the Fool draws the reader of both King Lear and Loveless to consider the work as its own unique and novel expression; though, the Fool of King Lear simply tasks the reader with recognizing the application of Lear's lessons. The Fool of Loveless, however, calls on the reader to keep the work as a novel piece with them even as they finish the work.

Even more, it seems to remind the reader that an end in death is soon to come, for Mark Antony was lamenting the death of Caesar in his "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." speech, Juliet was foreshadowing in a good night that her cherishing might kill Romeo when she described parting as sorrow and grief, and Chaucer was describing the parting of Criseyde despite the pleas of Troilus when he said, "every thing hath ende" (which Shakespeare later modified). For all of these works, the Fool seems to be showing the ways in which this story will show an end isn't quite so simple - that a death isn't so simple as ending everything for those who survive.

The last of the revisionary ratios of the anxiety of influence, the opening of the work near the end of the author's (or authors') life that reveals the precursors' influence which is apohprades, is evident across the work in the blatant allusions we just discussed and in the name of the trilogy of works that contains it: Remake.

Cloud putting on his standoffish act as Alfred. The translation has served to better the depth, as even Alphreid is the portmanteau of Siegfried and Alberich from The Ring Cycle, highlighting Cloud's dualism.

As the creators of the 1997 release age and face death's tyranny, the anxiety of influence begets renewed misprison that causes the authors to reveal the precursors to their work with their reactions to them. Isolated to just Loveless, a reader can see a return of Shakespeare into a work that originally copied the format he used without clearly showing his presence to reveal a new reading of his most prominent tragedies. This reading, even, mirrors that of Bloom's reading of To Kill a Mockingbird: the tragedies of Shakespeare were preventable or survivable for more of the characters with the same force that could have prevented the crisis of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Why Does This Matter?

Because the curtains don't have to be blue if they mean something to you or the person that made them, and finding meaning in even just a small part of a work can reveal meaning to you in the whole and in other things you enjoy. If we can see Loveless as a take on growth through love of all things and people in the face of oppression influenced by a myriad precursors through baby's first Bloomian lens, we can do that with the Remake trilogy as a whole, even before it is completed. That, even, is just one critical lens that can be used. Jacob Geller has a critique of Midgar as presented in Remake through the lens of architecture and an Akira Kurosawa film that leans towards Class/Marxist Criticism, for example.

I know this was long, but I am rather determined to help people understand that the literacy skills and canons their teachers tried to impart on them are useful outside of reading those same canonical works. Final Fantasy VII suffers from surface-level readings (as opposed to something like Silent Hill or Outer Wilds), but we don't have to read any work like that, especially if we can evidence more deep readings with the text.

So, thanks if you read this far; though, you probably didn't need me to tell you about this stuff if you did.

If you're interested in the Xiyouji thing, it isn't my bigger project, but I'm gonna be semi-regularly posting readings of characters, locations, fiends, concepts, and events as seen in Remake and Rebirth through the lens of adapting Xiyouji. I'll probably be posting Barret Wallace as Sandy first, but it is a tossup between Red XIII as Red Boy, the Trio as the Three from Gensomaden Saiyuki, or The Crow's Nest's Colin as the Crow's Nest Zen Master after that. I wanted to start with this to demonstrate the idea in a smaller part and remind people why they were taught media literacy in school, though. The The Norse Myths That Inspired Final Fantasy VII guy, M.J. Gallagher, seems to be trying to do that in a way, too, but he went a different direction from Dragon Quest and the king of Xiyouji adaptations that come from Japan who helped make it - Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball.

The first appearance of Goku by Akira Toriyama also beginning his journey as an adapted Monkey on a cloud towards becoming the Buddha Victorious in Strife. Image retrieved from Goku on Wikipedia.