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aq2003 · 8 months

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I find the decision to write the first Doctor as sort of cartoonishly bigoted in the episode with Twelve fascinating, because it shifts the blame for the racism, sexism etc present in early Doctor Who from the writers and producers to the *character*. It wasn’t the Doctor who wrote limited character arcs for female characters in comparison to male ones, and it wasn’t the Doctor who decided to use yellow-face for the characters in some episodes - that was the writers and production team. Y’know, real people. People whose legacy the current writers and producers of the show - who have also largely been white men, just like their predecessors - owe their jobs to.

And the persistent problem with continuing to sideline and tokenise the characters of some of the female companions and characters of colour in the service of centring the doctor as the (until recently) white male protagonist - that continued for most of the modern reboot in some form. Some of the elements of that were even new innovations under the modern writers (looking at you Moffat but you are not the only offender.) I mean, we’re talking about the portrayal of One as the past’s ambassador for sexism in iirc the exact same episode where Chris Chibnall reversed the previous episode’s ending of Bill surviving with Heather and re-buried the lesbians by sending Bill directly to the ‘your soul is canonically dead’ zone.

I absolutely can’t speak for the whole of the first Doctor’s tenure because I’ve only seen about 2/3 of his surviving episodes, but from the episodes I have seen, he didn’t even talk like that. There was a very big problem with that run of the show, but it was a different problem to the one the episode with One and Twelve is describing. One was weird as hell, but he was much less overtly hostile, wished much less bodily harm on minority groups and even dipped into less microaggressions and dogwhistles than most older white British people do now. That isn’t to say One’s behaviour in Old Who was something to aim for, it’s to say that a lot of the improvement in the attitude of white people in Britain over the last half-century has been performative at best, imaginary at worst, a lot of our dogwhistles are new and especially alarming for that reason - and it comforts white people to imagine that the racism and sexism of the past was overt and vulgar and unlike theirs, and that their bigotry by comparison is lesser and better and therefore doesn’t need further work; that now people affected by it just need to learn to live with it, because you’re lucky we’re not like our grandparents.

But that excuse doesn’t really work if (tw racism, anti-blackness, Islamophobia, death) some sects of British society talk more positively about drowning immigrants in the English Channel than they did 100 years ago, does it?

That excuse doesn’t work if your grandparents were actually quite a lot like you.

I live in the UK, about half the people I know watched the special with Twelve and One, and considering that vanishingly few modern viewers have seen or remember the first Doctor or any early Old Who, there was this odd awkward relief from most of the white people I watched the episode with, like they’d been absolved from Britain’s historical and current racism by the burning of an effigy. Like that bigotry coming from One’s mouth was a reassurance that this country’s bigotry had always been as cartoonish and ineffectual and easy to see as the lines Chris Chibnall and his colleagues wrote for One; that white people living in the UK now are fundamentally different than they were; and by watching Bill and One’s (still white) successor refuse his cartoonishly awful worldview, white Brits had somehow cleansed themselves and buried the past completely.

But the vast majority of the racism, bigotry, sexism in the original run of Doctor Who and still present in various forms in the show now did not actually take the form of nice clear, simple statements of bigoted beliefs from the characters’ mouths - it was in the writing. The way characters and especially cultures were portrayed. The yellow-face in one of Two’s story arcs really stuck in my mind, but the way Old Who handled nonwhite cultures in general was often horrific. The first Doctor was often perfectly polite, but women and characters of colour were sidelined and (even in instances when it was clearly accidental) dangerously misrepresented throughout the show in ways that persist well into the post-2000 reboot, because the sexism and racism wasn’t in the character.

The sexism and racism was in the writers’ room.

I don’t have any sentimental attachment to Old Who, I was born about a decade after it ended, but deflecting the cultural problems in the BBC that persist to this day onto one of the show’s characters, by having him express an easily-digestible form of bigotry much less dangerous and insidious than the one that was actually present in the early show, feels like a dangerous form of scapegoating.

Something I think would have meant much, much more would have been an apology *outside of the show* from the BBC and the show’s current writers for the wide variety of sincerely-held bigotries that were actually present in the first run of the show, and a public acknowledgement of the pervasive, insidious forms those bigotries actually often took in the show’s writing - and also an acknowledgement of the show’s continuing shortfalls in its handling of race and gender over the last twenty years - because that would have been much more productively challenging for viewers of the show (more or less the whole of the British public at some point in their lives) to have to consider. Which I have to assume is why they went down the reassuring ‘the first Doctor has died for our sins’ route instead.

This is just my two cents, I am also white and British so please take this perspective with a grain of salt.

Mm. I don’t know. This country loves letting ourselves off too easily, and the writing of One in that episode feels the like easiest and for that reason least effective way of reckoning with the way we were in the 1900s. Don’t worry everyone, at the turn of the millennium both the show and the country of Britain were reborn without sin!

this is such a good writeup anon. i don't have a lot to add - just that im asian-american and a lot of what you said aligns with rhetoric i've also seen in the states - that being this sense that racism is just something of the past rather than a fundamental, systemic issue that the country was built on. and yeah one thing that really struck me while watching twice upon a time was how one's bigotry was always framed as a joke. bill straight up says to twelve "i hope we laugh about it for 20 years" or whatever and it just reeks of "To Our White Audience: be not afraid. you're not racist like the 1st doctor who lived far into the past. see? the one black character knows we're not racist now. please give yourselves a pat on the back". and like, it's not funny to any people of color that might be watching. it's just prioritizing the comfort of white people. and it's pretty terrible that moffat (he wrote the episode, chibnall just wrote thirteen's first lines. but also i know chibnall took nuwho into its least progressive era so...) felt like he had a right to make light of this stuff when he has committed some pretty egregious crimes in his tenure himself

#doctor who #dr who #ty for sending this i wasnt aware of how.. white audiences reacted to the episode and now like #my suspicions abt it were def confirmed #12 era

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boiboiperson · 1 year

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Recently watched Nimona and it was so fucking good. However I haven't seen anyone talking about a race/racism allegory I noticed. I might be reading too much into it but whatever.

Watching the movie I felt like parts of Ballister's character can be paralled to racism in the real world. While the whole thing about him being the first commoner to become a knight thing (forgot what they're called sorry) has the most parallels to classism, I also feel like it's a bit similar to POCs first being able to join groups and stuff. Also I know there were other POC knights before Bal I'm just seeing it as an analogy.

Also the way the media in the movie treated Bal gave a whole lot of "he's a terrorist" vibes. Idk how it is in other countries but here in the UK brown people are often unfortunately associated with terrorism. As a half-brown person imma assume many other brown Brits can relate with me in that I feel like instances of terrorism by brown people is often hyper focused on by the media and news whereas terrorism by white people is often ignored or is labelled as literally anything other than terrorism despite being so.

What I'm getting at is that the language surrounding Bal by the news reminds me of racism spurred by the hyper focus on terrorism by brown people. He's called a "villain". Villains are often thoughts to be evil in nature. This reminds me a lot of what racists say; "it's in their nature" or "that's just how them lot are". This can also be seen in how no other commoner is allowed to become a knight thing after the Queen dies; they believe that all commoners are like Bal so they created a further barrier between them.

I first noticed this allegory when Nimona says something like "they see you as a villain and me a monster" (don't remember it properly sorry). Nimona is a monster because she is something they don't understand, Bal is a villain because he is evil in nature just like others like him.

Alrighty this was very long but I just wanted to point out something I ended up hyper analysing. Personally I feel like this might be one of the best racism allegories I've seen in a while. Loved the movie, give it a watch if you didn't.

Edit: rewatched the movie and I just realised that when Bal was gonna take out the phone the Director went "he's got a weapon!" NAAAA THAT WAS INTENTIONAL

#nimona #ballister blackheart #allegory #racisim #nimona movie #nimona 2023 #would add image of the knight painting over the poster but netflix wont let me take screenshots :(

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plagues02 · 8 months

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Is There Room For Four?

Chapter One - Room for Two

Summary: Simon 'Ghost' Riley didn't need a soulmate. He was fine in the black and white and gray world he was stuck in. Then one by one his soulmates start crashing into his life, bringing a new color with them. Turns out Simon likes this new colorful world his soulmates have brought him into Characters: Simon 'Ghost' Riley, Gary 'Roach' Sanderson Ship: GhostRoach, End game SoapGhostRoachKönig Work Count: 2055 Note: This was written back in 2022 and was originally posted on Ao3 Chapters: One(You're Here), Two, Three, Four

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley worked alone. He always did. It’s been like this for a while now, but it wasn’t always like this. There was a time that he was Simon when he was a freshly turned eighteen-year-old. He stayed as Simon for a good while. Until it happened.

His family was killed, and he went after Roba, killing the man that had his family killed. He remembered seeing an old mask before he started the fire. The very same mask his brother would scare him with, and he grabbed it. Simon died that day. He died in the fire, and he became Ghost.

Ghost was a cold man who cared for nothing but the job, making him the ideal guy for solo jobs. However, fate was cruel, and fate had other plans.

When Ghost was told he would be teaming up with an American, he asked to see his folder. The American’s name was Gary Sanderson. Gary? What kind of name was Gary? His eyebrow raised, even more, when he read that his nickname was Roach. He took it back. Gary was normal. What kind of name was Roach?

During the first meeting, the Brit figured out why he got this kind of name. At least part of the reason. Gary was short, almost a foot shorter. Maybe not a full foot, but close enough. He was also quiet. From his file, he learned that Roach was selectively mute, and from meeting him, he learned he used ASL. Ghost was lucky to know a few signs to understand parts of what he was saying.

On the helicopter, Ghost looked over at the mission file. Roach watched out the window before looking over at the other man when he started speaking.

“There’s one building. A decent side warehouse. We’re looking for this man-” Roach took the paper from Ghost to look at the man. “-We’re to take him alive.”

The American nodded as he handed the paper back, feeling the helicopter get closer to the ground. They were about a twenty-minute walk away from the warehouse. The walk was quiet. It seemed to be how the two of them liked it.

Roach was a follower, noted Ghost. Always a few steps behind, never beside, never ahead. He was also aware of his surroundings, looking around and having his gun at the ready.

“Two routes,” Ghost stated when they got to the warehouse and took out the front guards. “You take left. I’ll go right.”

There were a few things that Roach noticed when meeting Ghost, and even from just looking at his file. He didn’t show his face, staying hidden behind a skull mask and sunglasses. Oh, those sunglasses looked stupid with that balaclava. The headphones didn’t help.

The American also noticed that the Brit was like him. A man of few words, Gary was just a man of fewer words. Only speaking about the mission, not that Roach minded. He wasn’t one for small talk.

Finally, he noticed how Ghost didn’t like eye contact, even with the sunglasses. Roach knew this because when he tried to look at his face, the other looked around. People with trauma around soulmates often do this so Roach assumed his world was as dull and gray as his own.

Before meeting one’s soulmate, their world would be shades of gray. Color would only splash into their life when their eyes met with the other half. Roach has met many people before. He has watched pure joy over people’s faces from meeting their soulmates, but he has also seen horror spread across their faces as well. It appeared Ghost would have been one of those so he refused to look. Avoiding eyesight was the only way to not meet your soulmate. Otherwise, fate would bring you together. Roach wanted to find his soulmate one day.

Now was not the time to be thinking about soulmates. The sound of gunshots from the other side of the building altered the guards that someone else was in the building but only on one side. The American took out as many as he could before he was also noticed, taking cover around a corner as he reloaded.

Thanks for the distraction Roach thought after finishing the final few guards on his side, taking the ammo off their body. He did change guns when he realized they didn’t have the ammo he needed.

Ghost nodded at Roach when they met up in the middle. The rest of the way to the final room was a straight shot. All the guards were up front, none in the middle, and very few in the room with the man. The American barely had to raise his gun before they were all down.

“Fucking hell,” the Brit said when the door behind them slammed open. The two took cover as about fifteen more armed men came into the room.

Roach found himself taking the time to aim for headshots at those who didn’t have helmets while Ghost just shot. They made a good team, and they both noticed during this time.

Fuck Gary thought at the sound of a car engine turning on and then the car speeding away. The other man’s body language said the same.

When they were sure the fifteen men were down, the two walked to each other again. The younger man could feel the stress coming off the other’s body, knowing they had two options. They would report their mission as a failure, or the mission would take a few extra steps to complete.

“We’ll get him next time,” signed Roach when Ghost finally looked at him. “And there will be a next time.”

Before the Brit could open his mouth to respond, Roach fell into his arms at the sound of a single gunfire. Ghost didn’t hesitate to pull out his handgun and shoot the culprit, one of the fifteen guards that used his coworker’s body to survive the original shootout.

“Bloody hell,” Ghost grumbled, pulling up the other’s shirt. He reached up to click his communicator. “Ghost 0-2, target got away. Roach is shot. Immediate evac requested.”

The response took a few seconds. “Heli can be there in ten minutes. They will land in front of the warehouse.”

Ghost looked back at the younger man, who was watching him with his brown eyes. Brown? Wait wait wait,,, brown?? His eyes went back down at the wound to see red on both Roach’s paling skin and his own gloved hand. Fuck.

He looked away to see his sunglasses were on the ground beside them. They had to have fallen off during all the confusion. He turned to look back, realizing that not everything was in color. His pants were still gray, and the American flag on Roach’s chest was still black and white.

Ghost was glad his mask covered his face. It was a mix of surprise, fear, and his face was also beet red. He finally stood up, helping Roach to his feet after putting his sunglasses back on. He threw his arm over his shoulders.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said in a small voice, moving Roach’s hand to the wound. “Keep pressure on this.”

Roach watched him for a while before nodding. He leaned against the taller man, looking around as they walked. Where were the colors? They were supposed to be blinked by colors. This was anything put. Only a few colors and shades fill their world.

The helicopter wasn’t long after they got outside. Ghost helped push Roach into the ‘copter before jumping in himself. Instead of across from each other like they did on the way here, he said next to the younger man.

“How bad is it?” A voice came over the speaker.

Ghost moved Roach’s hand to look at the wound again. “Right above his hip,” he responded. “Bullet is still in there.”

“It’s twenty minutes until we’re back at base. There’s a medkit above you. Use it,” the voice said again before the radio went off and the helicopter started going up.

Ghost reached up to grab the med kit, kneeling on the ground. He placed the kit on his previous seat. Roach pulled his goggles up, resting them on his helmet, with his free, non-bloodied hand.

It was clear that Ghost wasn’t used to giving medical care, but he knew enough to be helpful. While the bullet was still in him, the Brit cleaned around the open wound and wrapped it up tightly. He also handed a sanitizer wipe to the American to clean his hand off.

Gary watched the man sit down by him again, staring ahead. Silence fell over them once more. It was more comfortable than their last silence, the two understanding each other a little more than before.

"Stop moving," Ghost only spoke after the third or fourth time that Roach shifted with a groan. "You'll hurt yourself more."

Roach froze, unsure how to react to the care. He looked out at the sky, relaxing more with another pained noise. Ghost's eyes followed him behind his sunglasses. He can't sit still, he thought, silently laughing.

They made it back to base shortly after this. The landing pad was on the other side of base than medical. Another soldier tried to take Roach from Ghost, who quickly turned that down. No one questioned him as he started heading toward the building.

It was three days later when they got a chance to sit down to speak about what happened. Ghost sat next to the American, placing a piece of paper and a pencil down on the table in front of him. Roach raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know much sign language, not American at least,” Ghost explained. “I’m not forcing you to talk.”

Roach smiled behind his mask. They were both in casual clothing, but they also both kept their balaclavas on. Ghost wore the skull one while Roach preferred a plain black one.

“Now,,, we see colors,” Ghost started. “But not all colors. Strange, isn’t it?”

Without the sunglasses, Gary saw his eyes were gray. Were they gray? Or have they just a color they hadn’t unlocked yet. He knew his eyes were brown, same with his hair. He wondered what color Ghost’s was.

Gary leaned down to write. It’s weird. I asked the doctor about it and was told it’s possible there’s more of us.

The Brit raised an eyebrow. “More of us? Like we have more soulmates?” Gary nodded. “Fucking hell.”

Ghost rubbed his face with a sigh. He didn’t want one soulmate. He obviously didn’t want more than one. His stomach dropped when he looked back to see Roach’s response to his reaction.

Roach’s shoulders drooped down, and his eyes looked sad. When they met the other’s, he looked away. The older man frowned behind his mask. He liked the man’s eyes. They were,,,

“Beautiful.”

Gary looked back at him, squinting his eyes in confusion. He felt his face heat up when the other’s hand cupped his cheek.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” Ghost, no, Simon said.

They stared at each other for a while while Simon rubbed his thumb against his face. The hand slowly went down and stopped at the bottom of the balaclava. In response, Gary reached up and did the same thing. They stared at each other, asking a silent question. Simon nodded a little, moving his hand up again. The other copied, and they were maskless.

Age showed on Simon around his eyes. They had very noticeable eye bags and were slightly wrinkled at the corners. Hair that curled at the ear, facial hair that wasn’t shaved. A few scars on his nose and cheeks. His skin had color, but his eyes and hair did not.

Gary still looked his age, a few years younger than Simon. His hair was shorter and looked clean-cut, like his facial hair. Beauty marks under both eyes. His face was more messed up than Simon’s. Scars on his cheek, nose, and one going from the corner of his lip to his cheekbone. There was almost a large one on his neck. His hair and eyes were colored along with his skin.

“...If they’re anything like you, I won’t mind them,” Simon said in a small voice. Gary smiled in response with a matching silent laugh.

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olderthannetfic · 8 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/740550153935667200/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic740123102285

Yeah, there’s been a lot of wank in DS9 fandom lately about why the fandom likes Bashir so much more than Sisko that tends to blame colorism or that Sisko’s Black identity is much more a part of his character while Bashir doesn’t have strong ties to any non white culture. ….And maybe that’s PART of it, but I think the much bigger part of it is that Bashir is presented as a type of character that female fic-writing shipping fandom goes nuts for and Sisko is not. Bashir is a socially awkward overenthusiastic arrogant nerd who has a ton of homoerotic subtext with multiple other male characters and whose canon het relationships in the show are fleeting and half-assed. Sisko is older and a devoted dad and Responsible Adult who has a long-lasting, well-developed and generally well-liked canon het relationship for over half the show’s run. I think if you had the Bashir character played by a Black man who is very in touch with his Black identity and the Sisko one played by a half-English half-Arab actor who is presented as very culturally Brit, the fandom reaction would still favor the former. (In fact, TNG has something of that type of character played by a black man in the form of Geordi and the nerdy girl shipper fandom also loves him and shipping him with Data, so….)

The analysis also ignores that other kinds of fandom exist, namely the cis dude parts of it, and they tend to favor Sisko over Bashir by a wide margin; in fact Sisko is one of the most popular and Bashir one of the least popular DS9 characters in those corners. And Bashir and Alexander Siddig himself have always had a very heavily female following (to the point of being the original name for TVTropes’ page on female-dominated fandoms), even though it is obviously not just women who watch DS9. During the lockdown in 2020, Siddig was doing these Zoom meetings where he met with fans and I went to a couple of them and was briefly in the unofficial Discord for it, and it was almost entirely women + AFAB trans and non binary people. Barely any cis dudes.

It’s weird how many analyses of fandom, even very serious academic ones (like what that paper the previous ask mentioned sounds like), don’t seem to factor in the obvious factors first, the basic nature of how different kinds of fandom work, *before* concluding it must be racism or some other kind of bigotry above all else.

Also, to the extent that Bashir ever went near ladies, it was like... Dax in the pilot or something, and I remember watching that when it premiered and going "Ooh". Even his het options were more fanficbait-y than anything Sisko ever did.

It's not an accident those papers are like that. Cut them no slack.

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hard-times-paramore · 6 months

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It was only a matter of time until I made fanart of Age of Empires 3. Decided to start by drawing the entire family tree of the game's protagonists.

Every named character - except for Phillip (he was only mentioned in the game's guide) - is playable in the game. You start with Morgan in mid-1500s and work your way generation after generation of the Black family until mid-1800s.

My favorite characters are definitely John and Chayton. John has one of the best lore and is in the Act with the best cast of characters, and Chayton is unhinged and a baddass.

Below the cut is my thought process for the drawing. Also, if anyone wants to see my Age of Empires posts, the tag on my blog is "aoeposting".

Starting with Morgan. According to the wiki and the game's guide, he had four children. Two we don't know the name of, John's father Phillip and John's uncle Stuart.

I assume, since Morgan is 200 years old by the time John is born, that neither Stuart nor Phillip were Elizabet's children. He probably had them way later, after getting married to a British woman. But since it's canon he and Lizzie had a situationship, I'm assuming those two unnamed kids are hers, and she took them and raised them as pirates.

I doubt Lizzie ever married Morgan. Though now I don't know what's funnier, them getting married or Morgan the Knight inventing friends with benefits in the 1500s and having children out of wedlock with a pirate.

Well, we don't have time to unpack all that.

So Morgan's British Wife is very posh, to explain why Stuart stands out so much when next to his woodsman nephew John. Both John's father and mother were inspired by the Settlers' design in-game.

I made John's mother be half-Mohawk, because a friend of mine pointed out John and Ká:nien are implied to have grown up together, as well as John having some beadwork in his coat.

I drew Nonahkee's new design, just gave her her old design's braids.

I made Nathaniel's wife white, blonde, and very similar to Amelia, because despite Amelia being half-Mohawk, she looks white, looks nothing like her dad, and is even asked at some point in the game if it's true her family is mixed.

For her husband, I looked up pictures of Lakota men from that time period, as well as some of the in-game Lakota exclusive units. He was particularly inspired on the Club Warrior.

And finally we get to Chayton, who is white, Mohawk and Lakota, with Brits and Scots in his family history. I did say this game was about a long string of biracial people.

He rides off into the sunset at the end of his story. We don't know if he had any children.

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1eos · 9 months

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May I have some lovely book recommendations on this day <3 😁😁 I'm trying to read more this next year

you sure can!!!!! i'll list my fave reads of the past few years:

convenience store woman by sayaka murata -one of my fave books of all timeeeeee. its basically about a woman who just doesnt fit in into 'normal' society and even tho she's happy ppl feel like she shouldnt be bc she's not progressing w everyone else. if you've been the weird girl ever this book will

ring shout - p djeli clark. a historical fiction novel where the kkk are like demons and theres this organization of black hunters. its action packed but what makes it so amazing is the emotional growth of the characters :') an all time fave

the vanishing half - brit bennett. another AMAZING historical fiction book. its abt family lines....and colorism and twins and what it means to be white passing and privilege and generational trauma. it honestly has toni morrison core vibes where there's a lot of pain but thru love all is healed!

there's no such thing as an easy job by kikuko tsumura. a bit of an eclectic read. this woman takes on different jobs and they each give her grief in a new way. very relatable esp if you hate your job 😭

the vegetarian by han kang. THEE GOAT. i will recc this book until the day i DIE. and even then. its technically a horror story abt the fallout after a woman has a dream/vision and decides to stop eating meat but its sooo much deeper than that. its such a great look at how, as a woman, everything abt you is subject to critique down to what you eat

parasite eve. thee classic scifi horror the video game was inspired by! think frankenstein but there's a love story underneath. but also you question if it was love at all bc what if the mitochrondria inside of us are just manipulating everything we do? i loved it! writing style is a bit clinical but idc

my sister the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite...i read this one in a single day it was THAT GOOD. sister is a serial killer and the fucking implications and fucked up shit that comes from lookism and family expectations and misogyny tbh. love it~

annihilation by jeff vandermeer. the first in a series but you can just read the first one. its sooooooooooooooooooo good. its a scifi book about this mysterious barrier off the coast that's slowly expanding and inside nature is reclaiming its space and most everyone that enters the barrier never returns.....another quick read bc it will have you HOOKED

yellowface by r f kuang. i don't usually enjoy satire but r f kuang really TOOK IT THERE. this is the most infuriating book you'll ever read but in the best way. this white author w an inferiority complex objectifies her friend that she secretly hates and then steals her friend's book. only thing is the friend is proudly asian and her book is abt specific cultural history so the white girl does diet yellowface and is just a massive bitch

beloved by toni morrison. how do you sum up beloved? i cannot sum up beloved. if i had to sum up beloved i would say 'love is a haunting but not every haunting is love and the only thing that can clear a haunting is love'

in the dream house by carmen maria machado. god probably the best prose i've read all year. a really beautiful but bittersweet autobiographical novel about a bisexual woman's experience with a fucked up abusive relationship and how subtle abuse can be. heavy subject matter but handled soooo beautifully.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones. WHEW. this is a horror......and this book will take you for a fucking ride i'll tell you that. its abt a group of native american men who were childhood friends and due to one mistake they're all haunted by...something that wants to get revenge on them. this book had me going 'DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?' multiple times

#asks

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 1 year

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reading updates: september 2023

AHOY EVERYBODY!!! the end of the month has really crept up on me and lo, I have no finished as many books as I thought I would by this point! but so it goes.

also I'm fighting for my life trying to get through all of the library books I have checked out, which is a bummer because there are a bunch of creepy books I want to start reading for Spooky Month! but time is an illusion and I've already made my peace with Spooky Month extending into November, so whatever happens happens, babey! but that's the future, right now we need to talk about what I've been reading for the past month.

A View from the Bottom: Asian American Masculinity and Sexual Representation (Nguyen Tan Hoang, 2014) - Nguyen's dissertation is a really fascinating piece of queer scholarship, which gets deep (pun somewhat intended) into forms of media often overlooked by academia - gay porn, softcore art films, gay indie documentaries - in search of a new understanding of Asian masculinity and bottomhood. I really like Nguyen's thoughtful study of bottoming, effeminacy, and sexual abjection, all of which he's pretty in favor of, balanced with analyses of the factors of race, class, nationality, and citizenship that complicate how gay Asian men are perceived. it's wide-ranging, it's meticulous, it's kind of hot? I love you, queers in academia.

"You Just Need to Lose Weight" and 19 Other Myths About Fat People (Aubrey Gordon, 2023) - god, okay, listen: this book was a little dry TO ME but ONLY BECAUSE I have already spent years listening to Aubrey Gordon discuss all 19 of these myths and a bunch of other shit on her excellent podcast, Maintenance Phase. if you don't listen to Maintenance Phase either start doing that or read this book! which is extremely well-researched and great for debunking pretty much every "justification" a person might off to try and make their fatphobia sound reasonable. frankly if I could load up copies of YJNTLW into, like, a t-shirt gun to just have on standby to fire at people, I would do that.

Sorry, Bro (Taleen Voskuni, 2023) - yeah you all already know about this book, which is the one in which a 27 year old brings the narrative to a screeching halt to assure the readers that it's okay for her to hook up with a 31 year old woman because despite the so-called age gap both of their brains are fully-cooked. that's not actually the worst part of this book; the worst part is that the prose is unpolished in the extreme and the main character is kind of a dumb asshole. cannot say I recommend it, no matter how desperate you may be for bisexual Armenian representation.

Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons (Anthony Christian Ocampo, 2022) - I really like the way Ocampo writes his nonfiction, which is very chatty and extremely accessible (if a little prone to editorializing). I love seeing sociologists writing from the community the community they live in, and these interviews come from second generation queer Latino and Filipino men frequenting the same LA clubs and coffee shops as the gay second gen Filipino author. it kills the presumed spectator that a lot of writing on marginalized communities can fall victim to; here, it's not that brown gay men need to be explained, but rather outsiders who need to make the effort to keep up with their lives. I especially appreciated Ocampo's highlighting the disparity between Latino and Filipino men's experiences in education, where very different sets of racial stereotypes impact their ability to succeed in white-dominated school systems; if you're curious about why Latino and Filipino men are categorized together at all in this study I strongly recommend Ocampo's other book, the Latinos of Asia.

The Vanishing Half (Brit Bennett, 2020) - it's always kind of astonishing when something that was extremely hyped-up and buzzy turns out to actually be as good as all that, and the Vanishing Half really was that good. the premise of two light-skinned Black twins separating so that one can "pass over" and live her life as a white woman is compelling all on its own, but Bennett is so committed to every possible angle of this premise: what does it mean to live more than one life? what other ways are people more than one person? it shows up everywhere through this novel: in losing your twin, in transing your gender, in drag performances, in actors, in people moving to new towns where no one knows them and becoming someone else. the moment it really hit me that Bennet Got It was a completely innocuous sentence that identified a Korean restaurant owner in California as a man who had attended medical school in Korea - even this background character, who we'll hardly hear from again, has been a different person in a different life! everyone has these layers and layers and different sides of themselves and it's just beautifully executed. mwah. chef's kiss.

#reading updates

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idealuk · 1 year

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Not to make the current viral trend all about Buddie/Dickley, but ...

... the clips in which the otherwise-platonic scenes of Alex and Henry looking at each other released in the trailer (that I’ve watched over ten times already) that are meant to reinforce the sentiment that they are, in fact, in love sure do appear to be identical to being how Eddie and Buck look at each other, and it's also not lost on me that both pairings are played by a half-Mexican 'Diaz,' with a comparably-common last name of their own, with a typically-white first name, who’s character is a son to a white mother (Alex and Eddie and not necessarily Taylor and Ryan in this case), and the other who's a Brit with dirty blond hair who’s character did not like the brunet at first only to then not be able to get enough of him.

If it looks like a queer love story, and acts like a queer love story, ...

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hummingbird-games · 10 months

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Postmortem: #CrushedVN Edition

Okie doke y'all! It's been some time so I guess we're good to dissect this project!

(I almost didn't bother with writing this up, but at the end of the day I do the dev diaries and the random--game development related--posts for me to look back on and prove I'm learning. Getting better. Not regressing. So. Might as well move forward!)

Background/Inspiration

It's like if you took my late 2022 brain and threw it into a blender!! Most of these are self-explanatory (Boys Love media I adore with emphasis on early to late teen experiences.) Let me draw your attention to The Edge Of Seventeen: not sure how many times I've rewatched, but it makes me tear up every single time. Main character Nadine is awkward AF, still hasn't come to terms with the death of her father years prior, isn't on the best terms with her mom or her older brother, and even ends up on rocky terms with her best friend too!! Anyway, that feeling of being young, and a little angry and a little sad and not feeling quite right on the inside but eventually reaching a place where things fiiiiiinally start to work out...it's just a sliver of what I wanted to capture and infuse into Crushed.

Listen y'all, I just pulled and pulled and pulled from real life experiences. I was inspired by authors Julian Winters, Leah Johnson, and Jay Coles' works (all Young Adult authors LOL! Fitting since I seem to be creating things for the teens at this juncture in my life). This all provided the base for Corey and his inner world. Also, I've been wanting to create a bookworm character...no time like the present right???

As for deciding to specifically create a boys' love visual novel of all things?? First, y'all must understand that I fought the original idea and anything related to it. This was coming off the heels of me suddenly seeing (another) wave of players throwing fits about indie games forcing you to play as a femme character. First off, no one is forcing you to do anything. Secondly, we are still at a point in video games where the majority of characters you play as are male. Forgive some of us for wanting a little variety 😑Thirdly, for those looking for games where there's even more inclusivity (choosing pronouns, playing as nonbinary/trans, and etc) I really wish that players would seek out those games that ARE being made and support them so the developers don't lose steam and drop their projects. It's so disheartening to make something that's meant to be consumed and BOOM, silence.

Anyway, all of that to say that as a developer herself who's tired of watching girls' media be regulated as Less Than, made fun of, and just overall disrespected, I wasn't interested in making any games that didn't center a female character. But back to my main point!!!

I had Heartstopper, the webtoon, infecting my brain. I was so not immune to falling in love with Nick and Charlie like everybody else. But then I was hit for the 34573847th time that I was engaging with white queer media. And I knew that if Nick and Charlie were Black Brits, they wouldn't be getting half the attention they are now. Even less if the boys were girls and we had a sapphic relationship on our hands. (But that sapphic story from Hummingbird Games is still brewing, and Corey and Jacob's story was ready first.)

Also....the biphobia is real. It's insidious. I could write a whole book about how the straights and the gays need to get their shit together. I could then write a sequel about how the Black community can be some of the worst offenders when it comes to our Bi Fam and say some of the most ignorant and devastating things. But I had limited time on my hands and decided to write a short VN instead. Once I let Corey just be, exist as the person he is, everything fell into place.

Things That Went Right...

I took a very niche, very Specific To Me, very nestled in the space between my heart and my brain and wrote a script just so I could be a part of a game jam specifically highlighting and supporting the work of Black game developers.

And I submitted the bitch on time.

I'm always down for anxiety rep!!! As a fellow anxiety haver, I say the more visibility the better!!! At the same time, it's not a one size fits all, and there were some things I dealt with that I'd never seen depicted and I figured I might as well be true to my experiences. Maybe someone would take solace in Corey the way I've taken solace in other characters for reflecting my lived experiences.

I tried new things I was scared of or didn't have time for with HSD or didn't feel confident enough to sit and learn previously: partial voice acting (and holding auditions to incorporate more), a text message system (which wasn't my own but part of learning to code for me means being able to take what others have done and replicate and/or use it myself), and implementing music and sound effects with intention. I've done it with film, but games are a close cousin in a lot of ways. A LOT of ways. I should remember that.

I still didn't do too well in the marketing department but for this game, it didn't feel like a failure. I also didn't really try. Oops. I've got to do better. I went into Crushed knowing it wouldn't have half the audience HSD does, and yet the feedback I've received for Crushed has made me want to break down into tears of relief.

I launched the game around 10 something at night my time and proceeded to be sick with anxiety for about 3 days. For three whole days I legit felt like I was going to die. And then I wanted to laugh because didn't I just make a game to express a version of the human condition?

Things That Were Different...

HSD showed off my skills when it comes to intensive planning and sticking mostly to that plan. Crushed was a jam entry that became more extensive over time and found me flying off the seat of my pants.

I also had less (aha, zero???) budget this time around. Because again. Jam entry. It wasn't supposed to be a Big Affair. But now that it's over and out to you guys, I'm not mad. You could say that it all worked out.

If I Could Go Back, I Would...

For one, I would have smacked the voice in my head that said "let's add more voice acting now". I love the feature, but there's no reason why I couldn't have done auditions after release. I was impatient and restless waiting for art assets, and my idleness led me to take on more things just to not feel useless. I Have Learned My Lesson, thanks.

I Had The Pleasure of Learning...

There will always be an obstacle in the way of game development. (And sometimes your body will be your own worst enemy, yuck.)

I don't know who my audience is (yet) for HBG but I'm always a part of it. And that's not a bad thing. If I hadn't felt so strongly about Crushed or even HSD, neither project would have happened because I would have given up a long time ago.

To the Future...

Empasis on future, but the world of Crushed isn't exhausted. It lives in the bigger universe of HSD:JY but took on a life of its own. So it's no surprise that Corey and his friends became even more precious to me. Not that I know when I'll be able to work on it, but right after finishing and publishing the demo, I outlined a rough draft for a kinetic novel sequel told through Jacob's POV. In my head, Corey's story was always half of a whole, and busting out Jacob's outline so quickly confirmed that.

(What I didn't anticipate was how loved Oke and Keegan would be, or that there would be a want for their story outside of myself??? Between us and this postmortem, I hope to sort out their deal and get the satisfaction of seeing another type of love story/dynamic I can't get enough of and share it!)

Closing Thoughts

The comments I've gotten concerning Crushed and noting the appreciation for its slice-of-life/grounded-ness is reassuring! Maybe I'll branch out to other genres, but realism will be something I always come back to. Also, making Crushed wasn't too traumatic soooooo that means I'm still making games LOL! Can't get rid of me yet!

- Gemini 💛

(some links of other posts where I went on tangents concerning the creation of Crushed; these can also be found by searching the tag "crushed vn"!)

Music Inspo and Crushed

Memes Tag Game

Game Dev Commentary: Bonus Content

#game development #crushed vn #postmortem

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cherrylng · 4 months

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Bad Taste Fashion!? [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

Be more outrageous, or be stylish! Learn the secrets of extreme fashion from the pioneers of the UK rock world

Text: Yoko Shintani

In 2009, Muse became a regular at music events. They have been lauded everywhere, from the Q Awards to BRIT, where they won the prestigious “Best Artist in the World Today” award, to being listed as one of the nominees for “Worst of the Best.” The problem was, of course, Matt Bellamy's fashion sense.

Although he narrowly missed out on the award, he was in the running for “NME Awards' Worst Dressed” along with Liam Gallagher, Ellie Jackson (La Roux), and Katy Perry (the winner was Lady Gaga). While his love of fashion is evident, both on stage and in his personal life, his taste is risqué . His taste for light, red, white, or high-contrast coordinates such as red and white or black and white, tailored jackets, uniform designs, sporty and cyber-inspired details, and thoroughly super-slim shapes……. None of these tastes are weird on their own, but when they all come together on a matte canvas, they present a strangely strong and cloying bad taste, which is a sad state of affairs. Incidentally, at the “NME” Awards ceremony, he wore a black-and-white polka-dot shirt, a silver-grey suit, and a hot black-and-white tweed coat over it. He must have really liked it since he wore the same coat to last year's “Q” Awards ceremony. However, wearing the same coat twice at an awards event is a total no-no.

However, the British rock scene, which has been led by art school graduates, has always had a taste for the kind of sleaze that makes it impossible to determine whether it is stylish or grotesque. Looking back over the past 40 years or so, it goes without saying that the 70s stand out in terms of sheer eccentricity and ferocity. With glam rock and the two stars of the scene, Marc Bolan and David Bowie, the boundaries between men and women quickly blurred, and all the rules of Western male dress were broken down, with hair and makeup becoming completely unisex. Bowie, in particular, actively collaborated with Kansai Yamamoto and other designers to create an even more out-of-this-world image by playing the fictional character “Ziggy Stardust.“ On the other hand, in Roxy Music, which was also a leading glam rock band at the time of its debut, it was not frontman Bryan Ferry but Brian Eno, who was in charge of synthesisers, who experimented with outlandish fashions.

“Dom and Matthew at the NME Awards ceremony on 24 February 2010. While Dom is neatly dressed, Matthew wears a tweed coat with a slightly different length and broader shoulders, a half-size grey suit, and a polka-dot shirt that is out! The magnetic necklace-like chain and the Aki at the collar are also out of step with current trends. The coat seems to be his favourite, and he wears it to the Q Awards ceremony as well as when travelling to and from the Big Day Out. His hair is a bit flat, and his shoes are a bit off-putting, giving off a sense of carelessness but also a strong sense of commitment. pic: Dave Hogan / Getty Images”

He wore a kimono-like dress that would put Bowie to shame, or was adorned with feathers and lamé, and stood on stage in a manner that is hard to imagine from his recent appearance as a master producer. Speaking of unimaginable nowadays, Peter Gabriel of the Genesis era, who belonged to the progressive rock music genre, was another example. He borrowed his wife's long dress and other outlandish costumes from the neck down, but his head was particularly striking, and his “flower” costume with flower petals surrounding his face is perhaps the most famous. Other than that, he was also good at wearing alien makeup that looked like it came out of a sci-fi movie, or wearing a stuffed fox's head on his head……

Another person who should not be forgotten is Elton John. Although Elton John has come out and is now enjoying dressing up openly, at the time he was venting his repressed sexuality in a fashion that was a comical interpretation of glam. And Queen, who had a huge influence on Muse musically, reigned as the leader (!) of rock fashion in the post-glam era. The late Freddie Mercury, in particular, tried his hand at many risqué styles, such as jumpsuits, ballet tights, bare-chested and sleeveless, etc……

Later, with the rise of punk, UK rock once again became stoic, but regained its splendour in the 80s. The New Romantic & Goth era had arrived. Although the two groups have contrasting tastes in colour, with the former using extreme colours and the latter monotone, they share the same androgynous fashion orientation, with glam rock as their main source of inspiration. From Culture Club and Adam & the Ants to Siouxsie and the Banshees and Alien Sex Fiend, each eccentric artist heralded the end of the century. The visual and sonic tastes of that era are, as we all know, undergoing a major revival, with young pop stars such as Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga, KE$HA, and others all looking to Bowie, Queen, and Boy George as role models. Without them, the world would be a very boring place!

Therefore, Matt's bad taste is also adorable when you look down the lineup of UK rock's most eccentric dressers. And in his case, it is his personality, the reset, the lighting, and the music that is the star on stage, not what he wears that matters so much to his fans. And yet, the discrepancy between Muse's musicality and his solid character, which lacks femininity or campness, and his glittery, watery clothing is truly bizarre, and what's more, the sparkly glitter is also extremely half-baked. The clothes show an extraordinary attention to detail, but the makeup is a complete waste of time, and the haircut is a bit careless. If you are going to do something like this, go for a Freddie-style fashion like Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, or go all out with the long hair and dreads, or paint your face like Peter Gabriel, or work with an interesting designer to provide futuristic costumes that synchronise with the stage direction, go Freaky and go for it. Then we won't be bothered by petty discussions about the worst-dressed. Or hire a competent stylist to help you find a simple suit that suits you. In the meantime, even though Freddie loved it, red-and-white coordination is too difficult and should be avoided. I'm probably not the only one who irresistibly thinks of the uniforms of the Japanese Olympic team……………….

This is the rumoured ‘Flower Man’, Peter Gabriel's stage costume from his time with Genesis. It's funny because he was very serious about it. After leaving the band in 1975 and going solo, he became very ordinary.

Brian Eno at the time he was in Roxy Music. His forehead was rising, but he wore a lot of make-up and wore his hair long. All of them wore flamboyant outfits with spacy decorations on their shoulders, etc.

Sir Elton John, who now wears an ordinary suit and flashy tie, used to take the world by storm with his huge ornate glasses and flamboyant outfits. He is a drag queen in every sense of the word!

Freddie Mercury, the king or queen of the bizarre = Queen. The familiar full-body tights costumes were originally designed by Zandra Rhodes. From kimono-style dresses with a daring take on Japanese kimonos to cross-dressing, you name it! pic : Koh Hasebe

Adam and the Ants' Adam Ant pioneered the New Romantic movement of the 1980s and stole the hearts of girls. His unique ‘pirate fashion’, with its elaborate hair and make-up, was imitated by his fans.

Translator's Notes: I do find Matt's taste in fashion to be... quite interesting at times. But in all honesty, I'm neutral to his fashion tastes, given that I use his clothes, accessories, and even his hairstyle to pin down on the correct eras whenever I reblog Muse posts lmao

And also, Freddie's fashion is always 150% fierce AF. As for Adam Ant, him looking like a slutty pirate trying to seduce the Royal Navy to chase after him is just his default appearance since the 80s.

#Matt Bellamy #Dom Howard #Muse #The Resistance era #my scan #translation #Peter Gabriel #Genesis #Brian Eno #Roxy Music #Elton John #Freddie Mercury #Adam Ant #Adam and the Ants #STYLE Series #STYLE Series 004

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badchoicesworld · 1 year

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blog guide !!

requests are closed, but feel free to send them in regardless. just expect them to be answered a little later !

this is (for now) an across the spiderverse blog !

please allow me up to a week to write up your asks

characters i write for :

Miguel O’hara

Miles Morales

Miles 42

Hobie (let’s go brit rep)

Pavitr Prabhakar

The Spot

Peter B. Parker

Spider-Noir

general info :

i cannot stress this enough, i exclusively write everything but fem reader, y’all got enough .

that being said, feel free to request anything else at all- when it’s not specified i will just assume gender neutral for the sake of inclusion

trans readers, non-binary, everything in between and all about is completely valid here and i’m more than willing to write about it <3

i do have a health condition that can catch me some days, so there may be times where i’m inactive but it should never be for long periods of time

feel free to get oddly specific with requests ! the more i can work with, the better

but i also don’t mind if they’re just general requests that don’t require a lot of detail

i will NOT write explicit NSFW, i draw the line at clothes being removed unless it has something to do with a prompt (e.g. seeing top surgery scars for the first time), some of these characters ages are not specified yet and i don’t feel comfortable potentially writing NSFW for minors. that is a crime.

there will be some requests i won’t obviously be able to complete for a number of reasons, please do not spam me if this is the case. if i’m willing to fulfil a request i will try my best to communicate with you if needed :]

i have the right to deny requests.

i do wanna say that i am a white guy so i can’t write from first hand experience, but if you request something that includes diversity like a specific race or cultural aspects i will try my absolute best to deliver accurate works. I’ll research to whatever extent i need to (if you don’t already give some information) so i can provide for groups of people that are seriously neglected when it comes to fanfiction and such. and please, in the future, if i ever do fuck up PLEASE hold me accountable and if you can show me what i’ve done wrong and what i should’ve done; what i can do to improve, i would be so appreciative- my goal is to be as inclusive as possible with my writing and the last thing i want is to offend any body of people.

finally, there will be types of writing i can’t do for specific characters. for example, spot, idk how tf i would write like a whole one-shot when my man is how he is now so i’d probably just have to stick to headcanons n such

what i will write :

requests can be either platonic or romantic dynamics, potentially other stuff if you have any ideas. just lemme know ! i do like to consider myself half decent at writing, i’ve studied english literature and linguistics my whole life and i love it very dearly <3 i’m going on to study english as a whole at a higher level (literature, language, linguistics, creative writing)

i'm happy to also apply these headcanons to the cc's, so transgender miguel for instance! just let me know :]

i typically write in bullet points because im a mess

x male reader

x nb reader (feel free to specify if they’re ambiguous, masc leaning or whatever if it’s relevant to the ask)

x trans reader

x cis reader

x spider reader

x mutant reader

character x reader

if you request multiple characters (which is fine <3) i’ll likely default to headcanons for the sake of ease

what i won’t write :

x fem reader .

character x character

NSFW

triggering topics (excluding canon events)

weird fetish/kink stuff :[

hate speech, everyone is welcome here

masterlist :

hobie brown:

how i think Hobie would react to GN!reader calling them their husband casually, even though they’re not married

hobie brown with a transgender, vigilante reader (ftm reader)

hobie admires your fighting spirit (gn reader)

hobie’s punk, you’re metal (band edition, masc reader)

where you and hobie have the most loving connection, but don’t label it (gn reader)

where hobie meets gwens older brother (masc reader)

hobie notices how startled you get when he kisses you (gn!)

hobie realises you’re not as naive as he thought ! (gn reader)

with an s/o that cries a lot ! (gn!reader)

hobie with a snake mutated boyfriend !

hobie with a butterfly mutated boyfriend !

defending his trans partner !

miles morales

miles with an artistic boyfriend riddled with anxieties

miles with a snake mutated boyfriend !

defending his trans partner !

miles 42:

miles 42 w/ an artistic spider-reader ! (masc reader)

miles42 with a butterfly mutated boyfriend !

miles 42 w/ and alien boyfriend !

defending his trans partner !

the spot:

the spot getting flustered by masc!reader

the spot falls into winged readers home (gn)

spider-noir:

spider-noir finds out you’re transmasc on a mission !

helping noir understand trans issues (deadnaming, ftm reader)

with an s/o that cries a lot ! (gn!reader)

noir finds out you wear trans tape (transmasc!reader)

defending his trans partner !

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claudia1829things · 4 months

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"THE WOMAN IN WHITE" (1997) Review

I have very little familiarity with Victorian novelist, Wilkie Collins and his work. One, I have never read any of his novels. And two, I had only become aware of his works and adaptations of his work some two to three years ago. One of those adaptations happened to be the 1997 television movie, "THE WOMAN IN WHITE".

Although a longtime viewer of PBS's "MASTERPIECE THEATER", I had never seen this version of Collins' 1859-60 novel when it first aired on U.S. television, years ago. It took streaming television for me to finally stumble across this movie. Recalling how much I had enjoyed it, I did a recent re-watch. Had my feelings for this production changed? Good question.

"THE WOMAN IN WHITE" was a BBC-TV adaptation of what is regarded as an early example of a mystery novel. Half-sisters Marian and Laura Fairlie live with their hypochondriac uncle, Mr. Fairlie, at his estate called Limmeridge. He hires a young artist named Walter Hartright to serve as their art tutor. Upon his arrival in the neighborhood, Walter unexpectedly meets a young woman dressed in white, who acquires about his plans to stay at Limmeridge. When he finally meets the Fairlie sisters, Walter realizes that Laura bears a strong resemblance to the woman he had earlier encountered. Laura and Walter develop an attraction between them, but Marian nips the potential romance in the bud when she reveals Laura's engagement to a family acquaintance, a landowner named Sir Percy Glyde. When Marian receives a warning about Sir Percy, she and Walter deduces it came from the woman the latter had encountered on his first night - a local named Anne Catherick. While heading into the woods to meet with Walter and track down Anne, Marian spots a servant woman running out of the woods, with Walter close behind. She accuses him of attempted rape. Walter is dismissed by Mr. Fairlie and Laura proceeds with her marriage to Sir Percival.

I have always regarded Collins' 1859-60 novel as a personal favorite. If I must be blunt, I have always preferred it over his other famous novel, "The Moonstone". This adaptation of "The Woman in White" is the shortest I have seen, with a running time of 125 minutes. I thought Davie Pirie of adapting the novel for a television movie. He had more or less retained the main narrative of Collins' novel. Although Marian and Laura remained half-sisters, the two characters shared the same parents, instead of the same mother. And I believe he made one improvement by allowing Marian to have a bigger role in the story's third act, which featured the mystery's resolution and the villain's downfall. More importantly, the shorter running time spared me of the final aspects of Count Fosco's arc, which I believe had unnecessarily dragged Collins' novel.

However, I do have a few complaints about Pirie's changes. I thought he had unnecessarily magnified Sir Percy Glyde's villainy by making him a rapist. He had raped Anne Catherick, when she was a girl. Although I have no problems with Pirie expanding Marian's role in defeating Sir Percy in the third act, I had a big issue with making her defeat her brother-in-law by locking him in a burning church. Pirie had transformed Marian into a murderer. And this was not my idea of expanding her role into Sir Percy's defeat. And unless I had missed that moment, I do not recall the movie revealing Count Fosco's reason for helping Sir Percy achieve his goal. Worse, the movie failed to reveal his fate before the movie's last scene.

Although published between 1859 and 1860, Collins' novel was set a decade earlier, between 1849 and 1850. Yet, "THE WOMAN IN WHITE" - at least this version - seemed to be set during the early or mid 1870s. I have no problem with this. This new setting still adhered to theme of a woman's property and marriage, considering it was set before the Married Women's Property Act 1882. Odile Dicks-Mireaux's costumes had received a BAFTA (British Academy Television) Award nomination and did an excellent job in reflecting not only this period setting, but also the characters' social standing:

I do not have any issues with the performances featured in "THE WOMAN IN WHITE". The television movie featured more than competent supporting performances from the likes of Susan Vidler, John Standing, Adie Allen, Kika Markham, Ann Bell and especially Corin Redgrave and Nicholas Woodeson. This adaptation of Collins' novel featured the second time Ian Richardson portrayed the hypocondriac Mr. Fairlie. He had portrayed the same character in the 1982 miniseries. Which performance did I regard superior? I cannot answer that. I would have to watch the older version. But I cannot deny that Richardson gave a very entertaining and fascinating performance as the unreliable Mr. Fairlie. I found Simon Callow equally fascinating as Sir Percival's mysterious companion, Count Fasco. I also have to give credit to the actor for portraying a non-English character without resorting to exaggerated gestures and an accent.

Andrew Lincoln gave an excellent performance as the emotional artist Walter Hartright. It only seemed a pity that his screen appearance and later, his role, had been limited. If I had my choice for the best on-screen Sir Percival Glyde I have seen, I would choose James Wilby's interpretation. His portrayal of the story's main villain struck me as very skillful and surprisingly subtle. I say surprisingly, considering that his Glyde's villainy had been magnified in compared to the literary and other on-screen versions. Justine Waddell gave a quiet, yet competent performance as Laura Fairlie, the catalyst and target in this mystery. Ironically, the heart and soul of Collins' story was Marian Fairlie (Halcombe in the other versions). The showrunners selected the right woman for the job, namely Tara Fitzgerald. She was superb as the forthright and emotional Marian, whose determination to protect her younger sister, led her into situations she never thought she would find herself in. Fitzgerald not only did an excellent job of portraying Marian's emotional connection to her sister, but also her ruthless determination to save the latter.

Overall, "THE WOMAN IN WHITE" proved to be an excellent adaptation of Wilkie Collins' 1859-60 novel. Due to its running time suited for a movie, screenwriter Davie Pirie made changes that either had no damaging impact and improved Collins' story. But a few of the screenwriter's changes did not serve the narrative, as well. However, one of the BAFTA TV Awards nominations for "THE WOMAN IN WHITE" proved to be Best Drama Serial. Thanks to Pirie's transcript, Tim Fywell's excellent direction and a first-rate cast led by Tara Fitzgerald and Justine Waddell, I believe the miniseries deserved that nomination.

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sneezyonmain · 3 months

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OC Post- Zylros Steelheart

Shout out to my good friend, whom I shall refer to henceforth as Vanilla Brit, for allowing me to use his wonderful characters for fet content. I'll be tagging his stuff with "vbrit ocs" as well as standard tags. DISCLAIMER: All of my OCs are actually my friend's and I's DnD characters, used with permission. Some details may be a little confusing as I've taken their standard backstories and modified them to fit a modern fantasy setting. I'll list the class for anyone curious, but it won't come into much use unless they're a spellcaster. CW: Mention(s) of parental abuse, ableism, disordered eating, nsft themes, and firearms in a non-violent context

(Picrew credit to Brightgoat's Bright's Picrew Hell, Baydews' [BAYDEWS' avatar maker!!] V2, Crowesn's TIefling Maker, and Makowka's makowka character maker II)

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Name: Zylros Steelheart

Race: Half-elf (high elf), White

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Sexuality: Bisexual (in denial)

Class: Gunslinger Fighter

Height: 5'7"

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Green

Occupation: Weapons development intern

Basic Description: Zylros has slicked back black hair, a thin-lipped face and green eyes that are more often than not narrowed in a judgmental expression. Being half elven, he appears skinnier than a human of the same height, though carries more weight than an average elf. He wears black, round glasses and fitted, button-down shirts. His skin is very clear and smooth, his nose is plain but slightly longer than average, and he has semi-pointed ears inherited from his elven mother.

Background: Zylros was born to an elven mother and a human father. His mother married his father because he was a decently wealthy shareholder in a weapons manufacturing company, even though she wasn't fond of humans, because her family had fallen on hard times. They divorced soon after Zylros was born, and shared custody, though his father's work meant that he was more often than not with his mother. His mother was generally cruel towards him, policing how much he ate and how much he weighed so he would look "more elven", and denying any of his struggles with mental health. She insisted he learn about holistic elven remedies and traditional practices, but he found the ideas to be archaic and stupid. As he grew older, he found a passion for business, science, and the creation of firearms, not unlike his father. At the age of 23 he works as an intern at his father's company while he studies at university. Personality: Zylros struggles to make friends, and defaults to being rude as a defense mechanism for feeling inferior. He replies on dry wit and sarcasm to get through interactions when he cannot do so with intellect alone. He pushes people away to avoid awkwardness, as he is very bad at carrying conversations normally. He has little patience for stupidity and things that annoy him. He has difficulty opening up and expressing his interests, and rarely appears friendly or happy. When he does open up, he has a quick sense of humor and an appreciation for niche jokes that only certain people will understand. He craves validation and affection and probably has mommy issues.

Snz Info: While he doesn't often get sick, Zylros has allergies to grass and flower pollen. He stifles his sneezes, as they are squeaky and loud and he finds them embarrassing. He isolates when he is sick and doesn't allow people to help him, as he hates how stuffy and messy it can be. Fun Facts:

He has a pet cat named Sir Scritches, who is his only friend. He would die for that cat.

He was born in the states but has a British accent, as both of his parents are from the UK.

He has ASD, though doesn't ever talk about it and has trouble acknowledging it due to his mother's insistence that he doesn't actually have it.

He is a severe germaphobe, and washes and sanitizes his hands aggressively. He wears a mask when he is sick because he doesn't want people to see his face and/or see how unsanitary he is.

Throughout high school, Zylros had a lisp and a stutter, and that combined with his severe acne at the time meant he didn't really have any friends.

He has an electricity kink.

He still wears dinosaur pajamas.

#snz #snzblr #sneeze kink #snz kink #snzfucker #sneezeblr #snz fet #snz things #Eli's OCs #Vbrit OCs #disordered eating cw #cw ableism #cw abuse #OC

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thewingedwolf · 2 years

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i am rewatching shadow & bone bc, once again, i am a parody of myself, and i really am so fond of Mal in the show, i am deeply nervous about how he’ll be written in s2 lol. not as nervous about almost everyone else - i say ALMOST bc i was not impressed with the way Jesper & Nina weren’t shown to be bisexual, like, at all, & while i think it was just clumsy writing & not malice (the same as the clumsy way they wrote Alina’s race), that doesn’t mean it’ll get better lol. also pls understand i spend half my time shitting on the darklng, ben barnes does an excellent job reminding me why i hate that bitch okayyyy

Mal already knows that Alina’s tent with the other cartographers was moved, and knows where it moved. We first see him fighting but seems like he got there, immediately attempted to find Alina, figured out she had been moved and was wandering around, then said fuck it she’ll find me or i’ll find out she got thrown in lock up again, and decided to go beat someone up so he could show off his kruge in front of her lmao

Alina is interested in the grisha. she’s smiling and curious, clearly thinks Zoya looks cool af (she’s right, Zoya is cool af). Mal spends the entire time frowning at them lol. Could be bc a grisha just crashed his party, could be mal’s general dislike of grisha and the upper class. it’s very funny either way that he just Refuses to smile until Alina distracts him

Alina experiencing A Racism but still thinking quick enough so her team can eat makes me emo but also Mal immediately being like “time to commit some crimes” every single time someone is racist to Alina is so great, get u a real man like Mal

Racism is done very messily in the show and i’m hoping it improves bc like - Zoya is insulated from most racism due to her status, but we still get that comment about “YOU from Novokribirsk?” comment from another Grisha, which seemed like a pretty obvious slight at her being Suli. Alina experiences racism everywhere she goes from nearly everyone she meets - random cooks, cartographers, servants, Zoya, and the Darkling himself. Even Genya sort of brushes off the comment about her eyes as like, typical bullying and not something very different & much more insidious. Mal looks uncomfortable at the anti Shu Han propaganda & I think that’s it? Which feels weird bc he doesn’t have the class protection Zoya has, but maybe he doesn’t *look Suli* culturally the way Zoya and Inej clearly do. Or are Mal AND Alina both supposed to be Shu Han? We know from Inej and Nina (and maybe Zoya, idk, i never read king of scars bc i would have to acknowledge Matthias & David’s deaths and I refuse) that the Suli are still mistreated on a legal level in addition to social, but are maybe treated marginally better than the Shu that live in Ravka, bc Ravka is in an active war against Shu Han. Is that the difference in what Mal experienced vs what Alina does? lol or i’m overthinking something that clearly wasn’t thought out very well before they put it in the show. I just like. Do Not think Mal is meant to be a white Ravkan, firstly bc Archie isn’t a white brit, and secondly because - look at him aksjdjd that is not a man that can really pass for white. I hope they handle Alina’s background better, especially since she’ll be interacting with other Shu characters, in s2 but i also want an explanation for Mal’s background!!!

I do think it’s funny that the sickness grisha get if they don’t use their powers is very informed in the show. Mal makes a few comments about Alina being sick all the time but she doesn’t actually look or act sick at any point in the show aksksk

Mal is so strong, like the dude is fuckin ripped, a fucking volcra tries to rip Alina away and he’s just like “yeah i can take this bitch with one hand” aksjsj

I feel bad for that lil blond boy that clearly has a thing for Alina lmao he really tries to stick up for her and she does not even notice a little bit and then he dies bc West Ravka is like “anyways don’t get captured even tho we’re at war with half the world and you have no resources, crew, or family over here” ya, they’re way better than Old Ravka smh (Zlatan is just as big of a bitch as the king and darklng dammit)

Interesting that Zoya only gets shitty with Alina after both the Darklng & Mal clearly choose her over Zoya. Mal she probably doesn’t gaf about, but it definitely stung her pride that she can’t even pull an orphan from Keramzin but Alina can. Before that tho, even if she’s thrown by Alina, she clearly sees Alina as One Of Us. She even looks visibly annoyed when everyone starts laughing at Alina and her “i’m a mapmaker” response & seems to pick up on the implied racism of the “what are you” question. It’s an annoying response that after being rejected, Zoya uses that racism against Alina to put her in her place but like…I guess it’s not wildly ooc? bleh.

Ivan and Fedyor purposefully ignoring the Shu Of It All when talking about power and privilege is 100% why Alina takes so long to trust the grisha, and so easily turns against the Darklng imo. For all they understand the danger of being Grisha, for all Ivan wants to lecture Alina about her privilege at dinner, none of them even bother to understand what it’s like now, right now, for the poor of Ravka. You serve in the army & let the Darklng indoctrinate you with his nonsense, or you flee like the mother in the first episode does, taking your chances with the slavers & the volcra & the Fjerdans. There are no good choices for the grisha, no good choices for the non grisha peasantry, and Alina’s entire existence, from the never ending racism she experiences, to the death and starvation she’s surrounded by, is a constant reminder how few choices that exist no matter if you’re grisha or not.

So like, most of the bad guys have Weird Foreign Accents and I dislike it. All the Ravkans should have Russian accents but it’s only Fedyor & a few mean servants that do. The Fjerdans all have accents. Pekka has an accent. Everyone else is just a brit, including people in Kerch, even tho they don’t even speak the same language as the Ravkans do, they speak Kerch! Why does Kaz not have some country bumpkin accent dammit

“When our closest friend is in trouble, we do foolish things.” Smash cut to Kaz doing the Dumbest shit in an attempt to protect Inej from Heleen l m a o it’s not one whipped bitch in this show it’s two (it’s three actually, Matthias just hasn’t shown up yet lmao)

When Mal & Alina are both envisioning each other & reach out to hold the others’ hand, hundreds of miles away but desperate for comfort, THAT was the moment i fell for them. Archie & Jessie are just so Powerful okay aksjdjd

feels more obvious in retrospect that he’s not trying to train her to do anything but answer to him. he doesn’t even bother preparing her for the king bc he knows he can amplify her powers, so long as she’s not fighting him.

I do not buy Baghra’s insistence that Alina’s feelings for Mal hold her back. She’s able to summon her powers when she’s angry, and Baghra takes that short cut by continuously pissing Alina off. But Alina also uses her powers whenever she thinks of protecting Mal; she protects him on the skiff & when she remembers trying to run away with him for protection, she can summon a bit of her power. It’s Alina’s compassion that gives her abilities, but Baghra has spent so much time nurturing her own bitterness, watching her son nurture his anger, it just never occurs to her that Alina’s strength comes from her desire to protect the people she loves. Alina goes from wanting solely to protect Mal to channeling her power through her anger and rejection & Baghra treats it like a win but it’s just another shortcut that clearly makes her more susceptible to the Darklng whispering in her ear, not less, and if Baghra had any goddamn sense, she would have seen that she was making her son’s job easier. But like, the darklng didn’t just come out of nowhere lmao, and you can clearly see where he gets his defeatist, manipulative, and bleak ass outlook on life from.

As a certified Matthias stan still refusing to acknowledge the end of crooked kingdom, i think it is genuinely so funny that Mal gets chest wound after gut wound after chest wound in s1 and shrugs it off, but Matthias gets shot one (1) time and dies immediately & cannot be saved by the most powerful heartrender that ever lived. leigh PLS

“you are my true north and i can see my way to you now” IM JUST.

Genya has to hurt Alina’s feelings by lying about Mal, then immediately and smoothly changes the subject to something that will make Alina laugh. She knows she has to betray Alina and she tries her hardest to soften the blow, encourages Alina to return to the blue kefta instead of going too hard towards the Darkling so she has the protection of a color and a people, warns her as best as she can to be wary of the Darklng, even while she’s helping isolate Alina from anyone who could help her escape. i’m so depressed about Genya.

Enter David and Genya loses her damn mind ansjsjdjdjd Alina is doing miracle sun summoning and Genya just watches David the whole time, who probably cannot fucking believe his luck that his weird ass boss for ONCE is letting him hang out with the meanest, coolest, smartest person in the palace instead of Ivan & Fedyor, who spend all their time flirting with each other and bullying him

Fjerda is lichrally trying to commit genocide against the grisha & Shu Han does…some jacked up shit to their grisha lol, and i did a whole post about how the Darklng is just more of the same, but so is Baghra. All their talk of looking out for Grisha, but they both treat the peasantry of Ravka as disposable. Nikolai is theeeee only valid ruler specifically bc he does think of the cost to the peasantry & to the grisha before he makes decisions (something his father and his brother also don’t do lol). And both Baghra & Aleksander allow this “us vs them” bs to permeate through their own people - no grisha healers help the first army, and Ivan reads the dead but glosses over the Otkazat'sya deaths to focus on the grisha. but this is on purpose - if you make the grisha other the Otkazat'sya, you can easily turn them against one another. neither baghra nor aleksander ever work towards like, actual freedom for the grisha by building bridges and relationships between the grisha and the Otkazat'sya, they just turn the grisha into weird, insular child soldiers.

Alina realizing she can just swing on the racists now love that for her

Mal tends to deal with his feelings for Alina bubbling to the surface by purposefully breaking the tension; closing his eyes & going to sleep when they’re thrown in the brig, cracking a joke about going to Ketterdam when he steals her food. But their convo in the woods after they’re reunited is the first time he doesn’t try it - you can almost see he wants to, when she says she cheated on the grisha test bc she didn’t want to leave him, his whole brain short circuits at what it could mean, and it’s a moment where he might have purposefully broken the tension but instead he takes a minute to think before he tries to open up abiut his own feelings - only to get derailed & heartbroken by the realization that the stag drawing wasn’t Alina trying to communicate with him, but Aleksander manipulating & isolating her. But he still doesn’t break the tension - he lets Alina hold him, and he holds her in return, & stops running from his feelings for real this time.

I do find it so funny how Aleksander sees David raising his hand to speak, initially starts to tell him to knock it off, and then realizes David will not understand why Ivan and him find it annoying & just decides to choose his battles aksjjdjd.

Also, him going through the five stages of grief when he realizes Mal & Alina are together, and overdramtigcally monologuing about the orphans of Keramzin being reunited to this random dude who has no idea wtf he’s talking about. Perfect, no notes.

Episode 7 is just very well written. All the conversations are tense, all the action is painful, all the acting is amazing. From David half in tears as he helps enslave Alina, all the anger going out of Alina when she realizes the king was raping Genya, Genya’s guilt & shame over her own hand in betraying Alina stopping her from talking even though she’s usually so composed, Mal’s helpless snarl when he says Aleksander will wish he’d killed him, even Aleksander’s inability to look Alina in the eyes because he knows she’s right to hate him it’s just that he thinks she’s a justifiable sacrifice. Meanwhile the Crows are being the most chaotic idiots ALIVE akskdkdk just perfect, excellent writing.

What i think is interesting is that Alina makes the hypocrisy argument to Genya, and it works. Genya appeals to Alina’s compassion when she admits the king has been raping her, but Alina pieces together that Aleksander placed her in front of the king to begin with. Not a soldier, just a pawn. And Genya is so struck by this argument she has no counter; she just leaves in tears. Alina tries this with Aleksander as well, to get him to see the hypocrisy in his actions - of killing the king because the king is a monster, yet using the fold as a weapon. It has the complete opposite effect because whereas Genya is aware on some level that she’s being used, Aleksander is so far removed from his own experiences as a pawn, as a target, he can’t see her point.

“all countries will answer to us. for who would oppose us now?”

means Something to me that Immediately after that nasty comment from that heartrender, Zoya sees another Suli girl (who, if we remember, someone she is friends with just called Suli trash before getting got by said Suli girl) who is about to be killed, witnesses the destruction of her home and what she will find is the death of the only person who ever loved her as a child, and makes the decision to betray the only stability she’s ever known for the glimmer of hope that Alina can offer her.

It’s also exactly what I mean when I say I hope we get an explanation for Mal’s background. In Inej’s chapters we get the sense that the Suli are a people that draw close together, even outside Ravka. Her curse on Bajan clearly hits him hard; even clearly trying to assimilate into Kerch culture, the thought that his Suli ancestors may forsake him for harming a fellow Suli really gets under his skin. So in the show, what I love is we get a small exploration of this bond that exists between all Suli as outsiders in their home countries - Zoya and Inej instinctively working together, Recognizing that bond in each other, with Inej even attempting to stop Zoya from going back to the ruins of the city, of wanting Zoya to stay with them. And Zoya, despite her pained history with her own people, despite her comments about Alina being [redacted], clearly returns those feelings. She’s so much warmer with Inej, and vice verse, then say, Jesper is with Mal (he’s not cold to Mal, he’s just Typical Jesper). The thing is - maybe you could argue Zoya and Mal kind of take a small interest in each other because they recognize the other is Suli, but Inej and Mal don’t really have that connection in the time they know each other, and Zoya and Mal are much more cordial with each other than Zoya and Inej are. OBVIOUSLY there are other factors at play. But. Whereas we get a hint of Zoya’s own complicated past, and Inej is defined by her ties to her culture, Mal doesn’t really show any of this beyond one single uncomfortable look at a Shu Han propaganda poster, and that’s likely more to do with Alina than his own background. I JUST THINK ITS WEIRD AND CLUMSY OKAY.

idek what to say about Alina’s amazing speech besides HELL YEAH THATS MY WIFE. she’s so fucking cool.

Ivan’s lil bitch ass being like “know your place” RIGHT AFTER Alina gives her “you asked WHAT I am” speech and then Jesper being like “i think the fuck not” and tossing him overboard. absolutely perfect i love that man.

Zoya looks so uncomfortable during the whole conversation by the fire. For the first time, she’s the outsider - the lone splash of color against the browns and blacks of the crows and malina. But when Zoya says she has to go back, Inej shoots up to stop her, and even Kaz attempts to dissuade her from what he thinks is no better than a suicide run. Since her childhood, Zoya has seemed alone, but just as her aunt stepped in to save her then, and the crows attempt to console her now, Zoya is never as alone as she feels.

And neither is Alina! Knowing where their stories end up going, i think it is interesting that both Zoya and Alina are very adaptable and very adept at making very loyal friends. Despite all the odds against them, with them being Suli and Shu, with Zoya being a huge bitch (which I love) and Alina constantly struggling with her own self worth, other people see just how amazing the two of them are and are willing to fight for them, with them, to be near them. Sankta Alina and the Grisha Queen. Wonderful.

#shadow and bone #grishaverse #rani's liveblogging tag #anti darkling #ben barnes is a magnificent actor who imbues a lot of depth into a character that is a textbook abuser & i love him. aleksander can choke.#i’m in mobile so i can’t put it under a cut i’ll do that later probably #rani attempts meta #there’s a lil meta here so it’s going in that tag #if u want to comment u can. u can even disagree but if ur a bitch about it i will be a bitch back

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