#and he verbally said he saw the main character as an animal… a DOG at that.

[cyarsk52-20]

[writing-in-april]

Question and Answer

Spencer Reid x Gender Neutral Reader

Summary: Garcia gets Reader to answer some questions about their feelings for Spencer.

A/N: Hey heyyyy- here’s the twelfth fic for my 30 fics in 30 days for April! Oh my gosh 😱 can’t believe how many I’ve posted in a row already- thanks for all the love on them 🥰 This fic is based on this request- Writing Penelope along with Derek as side characters is one of my favorite things about some of my fluffy pieces! Feel free to leave something in my inbox here- I love hearing from all of you! (I promise I don’t bite lol) Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Non at all☺️- though if you see something you think should carry a warning please let me know 😌

Main Masterlist Word Count: 1.8k

When Penelope Garcia got you alone in her office she lovingly called her‘bat cave’ and said she wanted to ‘talk’ there was no escaping it. ‘Talking’ with her usually meant she was going to bombard you with questions, usually linked to some gossip she heard from someone.

It was usually Morgan that fed her curiosity. He was somehow able to be up to date on everything and everyone. A result of that was that Garcia always got to hear the latest thing he had heard. Once Garcia was interested in whatever your answer to the gossip might be, she was without a doubt going to ask.

That’s where you found yourself on one of the slowest work days in recent memory. It had been so slow in fact, that you had been almost about to leave early since you had finished your paperwork. That was until Garcia had called your name in a singsong tone, grasped your elbow delicately with her painted nails, and gently nudged you to come talk with her in the ‘bat cave’.

“Penelope- I really want to go home. Can’t this wait another day?” Your groan perhaps was a bit pathetic as you sat down in a chair, but it had been the first time seemingly in years that you had the chance to go home early. A nap sounded really nice right now and even though you loved Garcia, that was more exciting at the moment.

“Fine fine, yes I’ll let you go soon, quit your bellyaching. And, to answer your other question, no, it can’t wait,” She plopped down into her chair, tapped on her keyboard a few times to close out some files, and then focused all her attention on you, “Just quickly answer my questions- Wait, no! Actually, let’s play a game!”

Another groan, perhaps even more pathetic than the first came out of your chest, while you also let yourself slump down in your chair. Thoughts of your bed danced in your head trying to pull you into a daydream about the nap you had been planning on taking. You then tried as best as you could to keep your focus trained on her for as long as possible. If you were able to focus; it would get done faster.

“Oh hush it’s a quick game that’ll have you out of here faster.” You perked up at that, now suddenly invested in the game that was supposedly going to get you out of here quick.

“Alright- I’ll do it if it gets me out of here quickly.”

She beamed at you for a second, then grabbing one of her decorative pens and a stack of sticky notes. Rapidly she wrote down a list that you tried to peek and see, but she hid the stack with her free hand once she saw you trying to look. Once she had finished she pushed up her glasses a bit, before outlying the rules of the ‘game’, “I want you to answer my rapid fire questions and answer without thinking! It’s supposed to give the most truthful answer from what I read on the website.”

Truthfully, it sounded silly to you, but if it got this interrogation over quick you didn’t mind playing the game. Plus whenever Garcia gave you time to answer she watched whatever your body language was and used that against you to get more information out. She had picked up on how we did our job as profilers over the years. It had become almost as instinctive to her as it was to us whenever we read behavior. Any conversation we had was screaming non verbal behavioral tells at us; it was almost impossible to turn off. So with less time in between questions and answers, it would be harder for her to analyze your movements. Garcia could honestly probably take the classes to become a profiler just as JJ had done, but everyone knew her place was in front of her screen. That was where she worked her best magic.

As soon as you nodded your head, agreeing to start the game, the questions were dropped on you at a rapid pace. The questions had started out simple enough, to get you ready for whatever bombshell question she no doubt had coming. The whole goal of the game was to catch you off guard so you’d answer as honestly as possible.

“What’s better coffee or tea?” She still hadn’t dropped the bomb and asked the question that had the only useful answer to her.

These questions were easy and you were getting comfortable. Each time another question went by the lingering reminder in the back of your head trying to warn you to be on edge slowly slipped away. Mindlessly you answered her without thought, “Coffee.”

“Who’s your favorite superhero?”

“Batman.” That answer might have been biased, when you really thought hard about it. You changed your answer when you realized you chose Batman because you were in Garcia’s ‘bat cave’, “Wait no- scratch that it’s Spider man.”

“If you could be any animal what would it be?”

“A dog.”

“What is your biggest fear?”

Again, you answered without thought even though it was a harder hitting question compared to your favorite drink or what type of animal you would be,“Being alone.”

“Who would you kiss in the office?” By now you had felt comfortable in the short little game, not even realizing how the questions had shifted to what she had been looking for all along.

“Spencer.” As soon as it came out of your mouth you slapped your hand over it. It was no use, the admission had already escaped and made its way into Garcia’s ear.

“Do you like Spencer?!” You opened your mouth in protest, but the look on your face said it all. Garcia knew she had won when you hang your head down with a sigh, in defeat. “Oh! Morgan was right!”

A little squeak by the door of the bat cave then pulled you out of your embarrassment and Garcia out of her celebration. You were already embarrassed before and it then turned into absolute mortification when you turned to see the source of the noise. Spencer was standing there, slack jawed, holding a file he had meant to give Garcia.

His voice then came out with more stutters and pauses than you had ever heard before from him, “H-hey ggguuys ummm I’ve got to go- take a nap.”

You almost wanted to snort thinking that you’d like to take that nap you’d been planning on too. Garcia went to say something, possibly to break the tension or make it even worse, but he was already gone. He bolted out the door and probably all the way home before you had a chance to explain your answer to the question that just led to even more questions.

—-

As soon as you were finally freed from Garcia’s clutches you bolted as well. Except instead of going straight home to your comfy bed you had been daydreaming about you bolted to someone else’s apartment.

“Hi, Doc.” Was the first thing you squeaked out when Spencer had opened up the door to his apartment after your polite yet incessant knocks.

He blinked at you a few times, perhaps trying to convince himself that you were really here. Clearing his throat he then replied shakily,“Hi.”

“C-can I come in?” It was your turn to stutter now, you wouldn’t lie and say you weren’t nervous about what his reaction might be. The only thing you were sure about is that he wouldn’t be outright disgusted by your feelings. You both had worked with each other for many years, becoming closer each day by day as time continued to tick by. At this point you’d call him your closest friend and you knew he wouldn’t call you disgusting for developing feelings for him. If he was going to let you down he would start by saying it’s only natural. Though, you still felt an ache in your chest even when assured that he’d at least let you down gently. Your relationship with him would be forever changed either way this conversation went.

He swung the door open more after a moment of trepidation, gesturing you through the door. You spent no time gazing around at his apartment, you had been here many times before. Instead you made a beeline for the couch, the comfiest spot to sit. You wanted to be at least comfortable if he was about to break your heart.

“C-can I ask you a question?” He fiddled with his fingers as you both sat down on his couch.

You brought your knees up to your chest as you had slipped your shoes off before sitting down. You also made sure to avert your gaze away from him, not sure if you could handle looking at him in the eyes, “What kind of question? Is it the same one as before?”

“N-no, um- well kinda… Yes and no?” The end of his jumbled sentence went up in pitch, making his own answer sound like another question.

You decided to give him a little mercy, doubting that there was any question he would ask that you would be uncomfortable with. And, you already had a feeling you knew what the question would be, “Alright Doc, I’ll let you ask your question. Go easy on me ok?”

Your little joke on the end was supposed to help him feel less nervous, but going by his awkward laugh it might have had the opposite effect. He still was able to get his next words out with a bit of confidence, “Was your answer back at work- umm honest?

Your heart fluttered at his question, beginning to beat harder in your chest as you prepared yourself to give him an honest reply. You were nervous to answer, even though you knew exactly what it was going to be deep down in your heart. Taking a deep breath you then answered the question with a simple answer, “Yes.”

He seemed relieved at your answer, relaxing his shoulders just enough that you noticed. You’d have to thank Garcia later, for finally getting you to answer the question honestly. Though, just by analyzing his behavior quickly you could tell that he still had something to say and/or ask, “Do you have another question?”

He nodded in response, his body language becoming even more closed off then before. His leg was now bouncing up and down as an attempt to soothe his building nerves. You then gave him what he had been looking for after his first question, permission to ask another, “You can ask another question, Doc.”

Tense silence sat between us for a few moments while I waited for him to speak up. He then got his courage back a little, though he still looked at the ground and fiddled with his fingers when he asked, “Would you like to go out on a date?”

It took no time to process the question, the answering instantly coming to the front of your mind. You then spoke with no trepidation, giving him a simple honest answer, “Yes.”

Ask Me Anything

—-

Tag lists (fill out this form to join any):

All works: @shotarosleftpinky @oreogutz @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar @s1utformgg @takeyourleap-of-faith

All MGG characters: @muffin-cup @willowrose99 @princesssmooshie @peterpanouat @anaagraceeberr

Spencer Reid/CM: @calm-and-doctor @destiny-tsukino @safertokiss @slutforthegubes @onlyhereforthefanfics @jareauswifey @princesssmooshie @peterpanouat

[doctorbunny]

MILGRAM theory time: Haruka!

This isn't going to go super in depth (famous last words) but there's a few heavily debated parts of Haruka's MV I want to share my findings/thoughts on because I think this is my new special interest and during my quest to get best boy's song to 1 million views I have been looking over his first MV with a fine tooth comb so to speak.

Disclaimer: As the Jackalope said in the "This is the MILGRAM" trailer, we don't necessarily know everyone's crime from just the first video, its possible that a lot of things will be re-contextualized in the second MV, however I am not psychic or bilingual and thus will only be working with content released before August 20th 2021 and translated into English (which could cause some language/cultural details to be lost on me as translation is not a 1 to 1 process).

TW for discussions of ableism, child abuse, murder and animal death. Also this is really long so sorry to all the people that follow me for non-MILGRAM stuff

Firstly, I want to start on the topic of Haruka as a person. He is disabled. He does not have 'the mind of a child' (although he is 17, making him legally a minor in both North America and Japan). He is not just 'child-like'. And he is not mentally ill (well he might be, in the sense that many disabilities like Haruka's have strong comorbidities [where a person has two or more conditions but neither directly causes the other] with anxiety, depression and PTSD, but usually when I see people talk about him 'struggling with mental illness' they go on to refer to aspects of his disability). Sometimes on tumblr, people like myself, will see canonical traits written into a character and identify them as being traits associated with our disabilities/mental illness and headcanon them as such. Sometimes this even involves saying things like "It's basically canon!" Although we understand that these characters were probably not the result of a writer intending to write a disabled person. When I say that Haruka is being written as a person with a neurodevelopmental disability, I mean the writer intended to write a disabled character and wrote them in a way that they wanted the audience to pick up on. As an autistic person (which is one of many neurodevelopmental disorders and also something I probably didn't have to specify because who else would be writing an essay about a series they got into a few days ago at 11 o'clock at night) I really like how Haruka has been written so far. There's definitely some parts of him that have been exaggerated so abled normies can pick up on his disability (namely how his MV 's main motif is really child-like drawings) but the writers also included a lot of smaller details I appreciate like how it is noted he avoids eye contact when talking to other people and is depicted as nervously pulling at his sleeves in official artwork, or how he says he finds his prison uniform (which has tight straps) 'relaxing' and when he gets nervous/tense, he will dig his fingernails into the palm of his hands. (These last two potential being examples of 'self stimulation' [aka stimming] where a person seeks out specific sensory stimuli in order to help regulate their nervous system/emotions, in this case the tight uniform creates a comforting, secure feeling [you may have heard about some people preferring to sleep under weighted blankets for this reason] and digging nails into his palms sounds uncomfortable/painful but is done in an attempt to deal with a greater sensory discomfort caused by the situation/environment) I also appreciate the depth he is written with, he struggles to communicate verbally but in his MV and interactions with other inmates is shown to have insecurities, opinions and a consistent thought process (this is all basic character stuff but unfortunately not always present in disabled characters)

Also I want to add that (in terms of what we've been shown so far) Haruka did not kill anyone because of his disability/mental illness. Disabled people are not inherently more innocent than abled people. But there is no disability/mental illness where a symptom is that you kill people and real people have to live with the stigma when you speak carelessly and suggest things like "Haruka is the kind of mentally ill person who kills people as a cry for help" 🧂 (or at the very least real people have to read BS like that and cringe). TL;DR Haruka is less child-like and more onion-like (as in, he has layers) 🧅🧅🧅

Now is the actual theory stuff, oops:

Every prisoner in MILGRAM is supposed to have committed murder in some way, obviously considering Yuno just had an abortion (which i personally do not consider an act of murder) whilst Mu literally stabbed someone to death, this definition is stretched a bit. But it is not agreed upon yet who Haruka killed/how many people he killed or why he killed.

In his MV he is shown to have chased after his dog into a forest, seen something off-screen, then beaten something into a messy pulp with a rock. Some people think the dog is a red herring and that Haruka actually killed his mother/the girl from the fireworks show/his brother. I do not agree.

First: I believe Haruka when he says he doesn't have a brother. The MV literally starts by Haruka looking in the mirror and then switching between the him now

and a really similar looking younger child who just so happened to be a key feature of his memories (I don't have the vocabulary to explain it but its like cinematic parallels that establish this is the same person at different points of their life)

Its not impossible that this is Haruka's secret younger brother, but i think its unlikely. I saw someone saying they had to be different people because Haruka looks less happy than the child but like, most 17 year olds are less visibly happy than when they were 7 (or however old the child is meant to be). Life happens.

So when Haruka is shown pushing the child around and eventually strangling him, this isn't meant to be literal (homicide or suicide), but a representation of how conflicted Haruka feels about his younger self, who may have committed the murder (if you've ever been kept awake cringing at memories of something you said in the past and wishing you could go slap some sense into your former self, this is like that but 10 times more self loathing). The lyric "I am always repeating yesterday," implies he might think about this specific past event a lot.

Moving on, its pretty well accepted that Haruka's parents were abusive in some way and Haruka internalised a lot of it: he constantly apologises, he says in his interrogation questions that his one wish come true is that "[he] want[s] to be loved" and describes in his MV how when he couldn't find the words he was looking for ("you're unfair") one of his parents "would get angry at me and say “You’re hopeless.”". He seems to know its unfair but also still says he 'loves' his family, possibly mistakenly believing it is his fault, but also showing an awareness of his situation (and how his parents might behave).

Now, the MV is stylised in a way that makes certain details unclear, but there is one clear detail showing that Haruka's dog was killed

This is the first close up of Haruka and the dog. Haruka's mother is just out of frame supervising, but they look pretty happy. Notice how the puppy has a silvery chain for a collar. Somehow, this dog gets out of the house but only Haruka is shown chasing after it (whether his mother was searching elsewhere or didn't bother following her disabled son into the forest is unclear). Either way, young Haruka is now in the forest, unsupervised.

By the time he finds the dog, there is already blood, suggesting it was initally attacked by something else.

is this a sigh of relief from a boy whose finally found his beloved pet or a jealous weakling glad that nature took its course and he is finally free of that meddling mutt stealing all his mummy's attention? /j

I think this shock at the discovery that 'there is blood on his hands' could imply that rather than literally getting the blood from his dog, Haruka has seen his already injured dog and realises that if the dog got out because of him (he is previously shown to be aware his parents seem to blame him for everything) then he is the reason his dog is injured/dying and will be blamed for it. (this scene plays over the lyrics "It’s fine, though it’s really not It’s really fine, though I don’t really think so When I tried to understand it, You’ll make that disappointed face again" suggesting he is trying to avoid making his parents disappointed and letting the family pet escape into danger is something that could make them very disappointed)

now we get into rock murder (this is present-day Haruka implying that this is either: not how the scene really played out; the writers really wanting the audience to know that this was Haruka's doing and not someone else's; or this turns into a separate incident that happened much later [although note that the red sky and blue moon is the same as when young Haruka first appears at the start])

b the corpse is beyond mangled now, but its clearly the dog because the silver chain collar is still there, to the right of the body. (circled in red for your convenience :3)

My hypothesis is: Haruka didn't set out to kill his dog, but upon finding it injured (we don't know the severity aside from bleeding and also it not being able to run away from Haruka kneeling down above it w/ a big rock so it could range from treatable with a lot of vet help to already on death's door, TBH I don't think Haruka would know the difference) He knew he'd be blamed for this; made into a villain who let the poor puppy come to harm. He panicked and killed the dog out of some idea that it would make him the victim here (since he'd be found crying over a dog corpse, which might make a parent go comfort him rather than getting angry about what could've happened to the dog). This is over the lyrics: "I cried, I screamed I wanted to be a pitied and loved weakling I was in denial, I was in denial I just had to make sure I’ve become a victim, I’ve become a victim" (there's another theory that he was also jealous of the dog, which could work here too, since this is not some calculated plot; rather its a rash decision) This ties in with his Japanese song title (translated as Weakness) which is a play on a phrase sort of like "The strong eat, the weak do not" to become "The weak are eaten by society" or "The weak eat each other to survive" [once again I am reminding everyone this is based on second hand information from the youtube comments section (from users mitchki and Alphaistic) because I do not speak Japanese] This second meaning (The weak eat each other to survive) makes sense under the reading that Haruka killed his dog in order to 'survive' making his parents disappointed for the dog escaping.

Miscellaneous points:

We don't know where Haruka's necklace came from yet, it must be a gift since the most expensive thing he's ever bought was cotton candy. The younger child in the video isn't wearing it and neither is his mother or the girl in the purple dress.

Haruka's home seems quite big, at the start we can see a large flower garden outside the window and there's a forest in walking distance. This might suggest his family is quite wealthy

Haruka probably did go to school at some point as homeschooling is not a legally accepted as an alternative to public schools in Japan. (However it is estimated that up to 5000 families homeschool, this is uncommon) A lot (about 62%) of Japanese schools apparently have a 'special needs' classes and there are about 505 schools focused on educating intellectually disabled students (although I do not know which sort Haruka would've needed as whilst intellectual and development disabilities can be comorbid they aren't the same). Now, if children aged 7-14 don't go to school, their parents receive a fine, but its possible that if Haruka's parents are wealthy, they just paid it to avoid sending him to school. (This might imply they wanted to hide him or were generally ashamed of him in some way) However high school education (for students over 14) is not legally required and its likely that even if Haruka went to elementary/middle school, he hasn't been around people his own age in at least 3 years. As he seems quite lonely and glad that the other prisoners give him attention.

I don't think Haruka's parents are divorced and if they are, its not his father who left. Haruka mentions in the 30 questions that he thinks he disappointed his father. But still includes him as part of his family ("My father and mother and me"). A theory I've seen is that his father was disappointed by his son being disabled and left. but developmental disabilities (especially in non verbal and semi verbal children like Haruka) can be diagnosed before the age of 3, so I feel it is unlikely that Haruka would bring up his father if he left that early in Haruka's life

All MILGRAM prisoners have covered one of DECO*27's older vocaloid songs (DECO*27 is a well known producer who composes the music for MILGRAM) Haruka covered 'Two Breaths Walking' (https://youtu.be/puXLfVWrz2Q) which is about a boy's first relationship and how his mother's jealousy set him up for failure as the relationship becomes toxic (specifically it has some very funny out of context lines like "Whose breasts are you sucking on now?") so yeah, mommy issues: the song (Also: some people say in the song, the boy kills the girl at the end, but this isn't literal, TBW is the first of a trilogy of songs about the same relationship, it is followed by Android girl then Two Breaths Walking: Reloaded and the story resolves with the couple reuniting as adults and getting in the relationship again, although its not necessarily as abusive as before, its still implied to be codependant ending on the line 'We should live like oxygen tanks, sucking breathe from the words each of us exhale, until our last breathe')

In all seriousness, the scene where younger Haruka is walking through the city with his mother but it keeps repeating until older Haruka pulls the younger one away might indicate an attempt to focus the happier memories of his parents (since this is also over the lyrics "Why is it breaking? Tell me why? Please don’t change If I tried and couldn’t say it, You would get angry at me and say “You’re hopeless.”" which depict a worse scene) I think both his parents are still physically present but have become far more emotionally distant, not giving him as much attention, which exacerbates his loneliness from not having any friends his own age to talk to

And if one of his parents did leave? I think its likely his mother since she is shown disappearing out of his reach after the dog-incident (inferring she got angry/disappointed in Haruka anyway) This could also be where he got his necklace from: Its something his mother used to wear (although this is 100% a guess) and that's why its shown to be important to him

This one is just me, but i didn't realise until a rewatch that when Haruka is watching the younger him and the girl running together, the background has fireworks. Haruka mentions fireworks being a key memory to him so I wonder if this was one of the first/last times he got to make a friend...

On three separate occasions in the interrogation, Haruka mentions not liking animals. Despite this, he is depicted as sleeping with a rabbit plush and on his birthday art (I'd include that too but tumblr only allows 10 pictures per post, so here's a link) he is standing next to a giant blueberry and strawberry cake with two bunny themed biscuits at the side. Through my experiences of seeing Japanese fandom art on pixiv, sometimes rabbits are used to insinuate a character is cute and timid in fanart.

Meaningless details: Haruka sleeps with his necklace on; he sleeps on a bed and not a futon; at first I thought he woke up holding his plush's hand but his hand is merely next to the toy; and considering the state of the pillow and blanket, I wonder if he moves a lot in his sleep or if the is just because in this case he seems to be waking up from a nightmare about the dog incident...

Final note: I've spent so many hours writing this I don't remember if i was building up to any big finale or not but I hope you enjoyed reading this! Feel free to add on in the comments/reblogs.

[zghostreviews]

Review of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt(2010)

Summary: PASWG is an anime centered around these two angels, Panty and Stocking Anarchy, and a priest named Garterbelt. The dilemma the Anarchy sisters face is that....well....they were kicked out of heaven because 1. Panty is horny on main, and 2. Stocking is an extreme glutton. They land in Daten City, where they are presented with the task of exterminating spirits. The spirits drop heaven coins when killed, so the Anarchy sisters have to collect a certain amount of these heaven coins so they can get back to heaven. Oh, and there’s also stripping scenes every time they transform, so this had the repressed baby gay in me panicking the first time I saw it.

Now onto the review!

How the fuck did I find an anime like this??/

Well at the time, PASWG was still fairly new. I think I discovered it, not long after the release. From what I remember I came across the “DIETO!?!?” scene at the time where it had essentially become of meme status. After this I came across more scenes from the show and 10 yo me was basically like, “I GOTTA watch this”. So I did, through YouTube once more ‘cause I was an OG anime watcher, we all had to watch anime episodes in parts back then.

----------------

Japanese vs English dub

Ight I’m doing this early this time, since it’s kinda essential with this sort of anime. 

Japanese dub pros

-You get the memes, and the full phrase said when the demon sisters transform, and that’s about it

-RRRRRRRRRRules!

cons

-When watching the japanese dub, most of the jokes WILL fly over your head because you’re either focusing on reading the subtitles, and because many places have a different sort of humor from each other.

I first watched this in japanese with eng. subs, I didn’t quite get the jokes at all, not just because I was still a child, but because it just wasn’t funny to me. After 3 episodes I switched over to the english dub, I found that shit funny as FUCK. At one point that shit had me W H E E Z I N G.

I suggest watching the anime in your native language since it’s less likely the jokes will fall flat, and because verbal jokes, to me, didn’t translate well at all too well. Eventually, I did watch the anime in both languages, but here, the english dub was superior, and that’s coming from someone who usually NEVER watches english dubs.

--------------------

Characters

7/10

Honestly, the only one I didn’t really like was Briefs, he literally was just simping for Panty the entire time until Panty found out he was attractive and decided to fuck him literally. At the end of the anime, he was apparently essential because his dick in particular was the literal key to heaven....for some reason....

Aside from that, I fucking LOVED the demon sisters, both because they were hot, and because I liked their character. My brain even now is immediately just like: Demon girls.....HOT, when I look at them. I specifically love Kneesocks out of all the characters tho for multiple reasons....speaking of Kneesocks, she was also ranked #2 as a fan favorite at the time this anime was released.

Before the demon sisters made their appearance though......Stocking was my favorite, she was just WAY too relatable. She was the original big tittied goth girl everyone wanted to date. Also her popularity prolly heightened even more with how Gainax decided to end the series.

Panty is a bitch sometimes but I like her, though if she were a human and not an angel, she would DEFINITELY have every fucking STD in the world tbh.

Garterbelt......is a very questionable dude to put things mildly....

Chuck is chuck. I like Chuck. 10/10 best dog. Reminds me of Gir from Invader Zim, pretty sure he’s based of Gir tho.

The ghost things, I still liked them more them Breif...well....except for the vomit ghost and the shit ghost after all. That shit was gross, no pun intended.

-------------

Music

10/10 

Music like the Anarchy sisters’ “Fly Away” transformation theme, and Demon sisters’ “I want You” transformation theme and “D. City Rock” was done by Teddyloid! You may recognize his name for he did the music for the anime music video, ME!ME!ME!

-----------

The Ending

What the fuck was that?/10

Seriously Gainax, what? What the fuck did you leave us on a cliffhanger for??? Just to make us suffer???? Nobody asked for that, and now y’all have been making us wait for a season 2 for more than a decade. :(

At least there’s a PASWG cafe....even tho most of us can’t go to it ‘cause we’re too poor to be able to go to and from Japan.

--------------

Is it worth watching even with the cliffhanger?

Hell yes! This anime is a classic! Now would be the best time to watch it too since we’re all isolated rn! There’s only 12 episodes (excluding OVAs of course), this is probably the funniest shit I’d ever seen in terms of vulgar humor, the 1st 2-3 episodes are rocky at first but I promise it will grow on you in such a weird way.

Plus if Gainax does decide to revive it sooner or later, at least y’all who watch it now wouldn’t have to suffer as much as us others have had to!

That’s it for this review, peace out

[foxymuses]

an incomplete list of headcanons for sirius black:

there was a period of about 6-8 months between running away/being disowned and receiving his uncle’s inheritance when sirius had absolutely nothing to his name but the misc junk he’d shoved in a bag when he left the house to go to james. the potters, ignoring sirius’ claims they didn’t have to, bought him a moderate amount of items including but not limited to clothes, school materials, and various items for the room he’d already claimed at their house. when his inheritance kicked in, he tried to pay them back. they refused.

sirius was always more afraid of his father than his mother (which is the opposite of regulus). the reason is that his mother was more concerned with appearances outside the family, but was content to simply act as if sirius didn’t exist when they were at home, which was fine for both of them (and on some occasions, the worst that would happen is she’d scream and yell and be generally unpleasant, and true she’d be the one to force a hair cut or destroy his ‘revolting’ muggle/gryffindor items). however his father was the disciplinarian. his father rarely raised his voice, but was the first to raise a hand or wand to correct behaviors or punish misbehaviors, and though sirius would stand up for himself and was not scared into silence, there were many instances where he would show up to the potters in the middle of the night, or return from mandatory holidays during the school year, with signs of magically induced injury.

following that, sirius is always the first to jump to the defense of others, completely disregarding his own safety or the danger of the situation, and has been known to laugh in the face of those that think they can fight him, and generally doesn’t react to anyone who rises to attack him either verbally or physically, but whenever his father even shifted slightly, sirius would tense and brace, and there were several instances in public where a disagreement would start and though often the marauder’s were nearby and out of ear shot, they’d know things were going poorly because sirius, who never ever shows fear to anyone, would flinch

it’s clear from prisoner of azkaban that sirius could have escaped at any point. all he did was become padfoot and get past the dementors who weren’t looking for or caring about animals (literally his words). there is no true reason he had to wait twelve years except for dramatic story telling. that being said, the shock of the situation prevented any of this from logically settling in his mind for the first few weeks, and then after that, the dementors and their constant soulsucking presence did make it easier for sirius to blame himself for james and lily dying. he convinced them to make their secret keeper peter instead of him, he didn’t try hard enough to keep them safe, he should’ve actually killed peter, fuck what’s happening to harry, where is he, does anyone care about him, is he being taken care of, what’s remus doing, does remus think sirius did it, does remus hate him, is remus okay, it’s another full moon please let remus be okay, fuck if he gets out he’s going to strangle peter --- on and on, and it definitely gave him a huge amount of guilt on his shoulders, and regret, and despair, and while i personally don’t think it would have taken him 12 years to finally fucking decide to leave, it definitely did take several, especially since telling time within the walls of azkaban is near impossible

ON THAT NOTE, HOWEVER, it is this very guilt and anger that allowed him to muster the determination to finally fucking escape. even amidst all this guilt and fear and sorrow, sirius was strong enough to stay sane under the influence of the dementors and his own perceived failure, that he consciously made the decision to trick his way out. it was this very fury he felt towards peter and the injustice that he suffered because of his coward of a supposed best friend that fueled sirius’ ability to withstand the trails of being a prisoner at the worst wizarding prison. once his guilt subsisded enough for pure unadulterated hate to seep in, it was just a matter of deciding the best time to stage an escape

I REPEAT, I DO NOT BELIEVE IT TOOK HIM 12 YEARS at most, i would figure, personally, it happened in four or five. which, while following my canon divergent main verse, would still allow time for sirius to clear his name and fight for custody of harry, which he does successfully, by my canon, when harry is about seven. SO EVEN IF sirius isn’t instantly cleared as my main verse would like, he still winds up a single dad.

he has horrible nightmares after azkaban, regardless of when he gets out or how long he was there or whether he ends up raising harry. i personally would have it so that he and remus end up living together, both because sirius has his inheritance to support them, and because they’re the last two marauders and trusting others is hard for sirius to come by after everything, so living with remus is Safe and Easy, and he does everything he fucking can to make up for all the full moons he missed, but regardless of how Hard he tries to get back to some semblance of a normal life, he has severe ptsd from prison and he doesn’t sleep well and he doesn’t eat much and he drinks more (in verses where he doesn’t have custody) and he smokes a shit ton more and he spends more time as padfoot than he does as a human because being a dog is just so much simpler and he has fewer worries, and remus is fucking worried as shit about him because sirius was always the strongest of the four of them (fight me on this i dare you) and to see the confident, arrogant, and generally easy-going carefree rebel that was sirius black in school turned into a jumpy, irritable, shattered shell of himself is hard and sirius never truly recovers from that damage, he just gets better at hiding it, and he does a hell of a lot better at healing when he does have custody of harry because harry gives him purpose in a way that remus can’t.

when sirius inevitably comes across peter again, he does try to kill him. whether he genuinely fails or subconsciously stops himself because peter, as much as sirius resents and hates and would love to grind him into little rat pieces, was a friend and was someone sirius trusted and cherished and would have protected with his life, and no matter how much he very much wants to kill the bastard, he can’t

shifting gears a bit, but sirius had never and still doesn’t really see himself ever getting married. he never even wanted kids until harry came around, and even then, the only kid he’ll ever have is in my canon divergency where he raises harry himself. in that verse he is more open to a co-parenting relationship (re: when he’s with @gavrele‘s gabe, or if he were to be with remus or another marauder’s era character who survived either by au or in canon), which can be considered romantic or merely a mutual desire to raise this orphaned child, but in that instance, he still probably wouldn’t want marriage, because it makes him seriously uncomfortable just thinking about it, and at the very most he would just agree to mutually wear signifying rings but not actually make it official, so that way if at any point he does feel weird about it he won’t feel bad about taking the ring off for a few days until the feeling passes

he learns of regulus’ dying while he’s in azkaban and listen canon sirius was very ‘meh’ about the whole deal, which really pisses me off, so my sirius was very torn. and it doesn’t help that most people just write reggie off as disappearing, they don’t know the story, they just assume he died in the war or voldemort disposed of him or something, doesn’t matter, he learns that regulus is gone, and his father is gone, and his mother ends up dying shortly before he gets out, and sirius is alone really and truly, and when he returns home for the first time in years, he manages to convince kreacher to explain the situation because even if he doesn’t particularly like kreacher, they both loved regulus, and sirius crafts a makeshift grave for his brother which he visits reguluarly, and though he doesn’t usually say much except “hey reg”, the first time he broke down sobbing because he tried so hard to get regulus to see the right side of the war, but he didn’t try hard enough, and he should’ve worked harder to keep reg safe, what an awful brother he was, he only ever thought of himself, if he just took regulus with him when he ran away maybe they could’ve avoided this, fuck he’s sorry he fucked up, he’s so proud that regulus stood up to voldemort in the end, he doesn’t care if it was for selfishness or fear or whatever, he’s so proud, he wishes regulus would know how proud he is

he actively keeps harry as safe as possible, doesn’t let half the shit that happens happen to him, fully supports and listens to him whenever the kid says ‘something is going on”, talks with him through it, tells him all the stories of james and lily that he can, never treats harry as less than his own blooded son because to him harry is his son, but he also never tries to replace james with himself, and harry knows how much sirius loved james and lily and how sirius only wants harry to be safe and happy, and merlin did he cry the first time harry called him dad and told him that he knows sirius isn’t his real dad but its okay to have more than one dad, he still loves james too he just loves sirius as much, and when he saw sirius almost crying, he asked if that was okay, and sirius could not express how absolutely perfect that was and later when talking to remus, remus had to hold a conflicted sirius for at least half an hour because he adored the idea but god he misses james so much, he wishes this wasnt the situation but it is and fuck it hurts (remus is uncle, by the way)

he literally stands between snape and harry, and dumbledore and harry, and does not let lucius anywhere near harry (and only allows cissa after a tentative no-children meeting, where they agree to not be enemies but rather awkward cousins like they are, and sometimes even let draco and harry play together) and harry is raised knowing about the prophecy, and since he’s raised in the wizarding world he’s not a commodity, by the time he starts hogwarts, everyone has kind of gotten over the hype so he can be mostly normal, and yeah strange things keep happening but the second harry tells sirius (because harry is raised in an open and loving environment where talking about things is encouraged), sirius does shit about it, and yeah voldemort wasn’t vanquished, he is still waiting, and sirius can’t be everywhere, but when harry says voldemort is back, sirius fucking rallies and essentially one-man-armies the ministry into fucking doing something about it because he lived through that hell in his last few years of hogwarts, he lost friends to it, he is not going to watch it happen again and nothing is going to hurt harry period

naturally, this means he doesn’t die in the department of mysteries because when the dreams start happening, harry talks about them with him, and they work it out together.

sirius doesn’t get a job because he doesn’t need one, and all of harry’s inheritance from james is purely harry’s, sirius doesn’t touch an ounce of it, and in fact regularly adds to it of his own inheritance, but sirius is seen roaming random places offering assistance, usually in regards to muggle nonsense (think hands on mechanics stuff) because he’s good at it and he doesn’t know what to do with his time, but he never lets them pay

he helps fund the weasley’s prank store. ron is a little odd, and hermione is sometimes annoying, and boy does he have a soft spot for neville because sirius knows about his parents, and you can bet that rather than lifting the map from filch, sirius straight up gave it to fred and george, and remus later confiscated it from his now-permanent DADA position (or whatever position remus wants, tbh) and sirius got an earful before telling remus he knew the other would give it back to them, which he did

i could continue but i should probably start another post to do so SO THERE YOU ARE

[mangataonegdaj]

Mun, whats your opinion on FMA 03 vs FMA:B? Do you like one better? Do you like them both? I would like to hear your thoughts!

first off – i apologize , anon , for not getting to this ask sooner . i had an exciting last weekend of summer at the beach , i started work again this week , and i started a class for my master’s degree . i am only just now able to get to this .

secondly – though i enjoy both 03 and brotherhood, in my personal opinion i find the 2003 original series vastly superior for a plethora of reasons, the most biased (though not most important) one being that fma 03 was my first anime, and i watched it when i was twelve years old. it was world-shattering for me ( in a good way , if that makes sense ) and never before had i watched something like any sort of series in which a character i knew and loved so dearly straight up died . it pierced me right through the heart and has towered above other series ( even others with title/main character death ) .

however , more detailed reasons ( an abbreviated list ) fall below…

* I LOVE THE MANGA-DIVERGENT STORY after episode 25 ( which roughly aligns with episode 6? of brotherhood ) . it wasn’t just some garbage thrown together willy-nilly it was carefully executed, carried harsh messages, and contained mature thematic material . it wasn’t crack or a waste of space

* i find 03 to be more of a “brotherhood” than anything … you have ed and al, russel and fletchr, rick and leo, scar and his brother, and so many unique stories revolve around all these brotherly relationships … including scar wishing to tell his brother he loved him in spite of everything , having been inspired by ed and al’s bond.

* i found hughes’ death more suspenseful and the entire build up/during of that scene. envy didn’t change back into his default form after shooting hughes as gracia and laughing, hughes (though not portrayed to have obvious/assumed experience taking a life) doesn’t hesitate to slash envy’s throat open whereas in brotherhood he freaked out. 

* 03 hughes has more screentime like hello i would appreciate that blessing of a man more in my life?

* episode 25 was extremely personal ; roy contemplating human transmutation and taking his own life , demonstrating that hughes was there in his weakest moments . brotherhood didn’t quite get that ring

* 03 features roy directing his vengeance for hughes’ death on not only envy but pride (03 pride, that being bradley) as well, but in a far more subtle way considering the hand he played in his best friends’ death was from afar. in brotherhood it’s as though the entire focus is on envy and nothing else in the constructed corruption in the military . it was a subtle take and i appreciate such subtlety

* 03 ed gets shit on for no character development even though there’s a scene when he straight up acknowledges how he’s grown and changed ?? but how he admits to weakness as well . he grows from immature and selfish to mature and selfish including realizing revenge against tucker was unnecessary , only after he went through much soul-searching and reflection . ed’s “growing up” is recognizing that revenge doesn’t solve anything about his own selfish impulses and tucker was better left to his own shitty , pathetic fate . 

* protags straight up sacrifice their lifelong goals ( roy going after bradley and ed stopping his act as the military’s dog for al’s sake ) isn’t something i usually see . roy and ed verbally acknowledge how similar they are for these reasons. “ there is always something more important than yourself and your dreams “

* also roy fucking put his left hand out for ed to shake it after thinking about saluting with his right . his left hand .

* 03 art with the deep shadows , harsh light , and hard lines is so much better like in my opinion brotherhood is actually … really ugly ? lskjdkjf there was no nice way for me to say that . brotherhood’s art was 100% faithful to arakawa’s art style but it Did Not translate well into animated form from paper . the art of 03 was better than the art of many anime even today .

* honestly i like that roy was the one ordered to kill winry’s parents instead of scar having done it… roy hesitating to attack ed because he saw a flashback of an ishvalan child soldier he had to kill when given the issue of extermination was a good subtle push for the audience to see his ptsd

* the morally ambiguous and controversial themes i feel like were delivered better in 03… nothing is black and white and soldiers ( fan favorites guys ) committed worse atrocities than the people we love to hate like shou tucker and it holds soldiers responsible for their actions even if there’s regret.

* um the desert-dwelling people in brotherhood are pasty ass white people… meanwhile in 03 they actually have dark skin / hair / eyes

* perfect commentary on racism and imperialism-realistic psychology of characters

* i prefer 2003 homunculi origins and how they’re capable of being killed / their weaknesses. also 2003 sloth is superior.

* 2003 lust and sloth are total foils yet are both extremely feminist and sympathetic villains. good female characters all around, and rose turns out to be the strongest of them all, willing to lead and stand for her people with her actions even after being raped and bearing the child of an amestris soldier ( partially a message showing actions speak louder than words and partially a relation back to ed’s message to her of saying “ you have two strong legs, get up and use them ” )

* back to ed’s development , he’s complex and realistic and relatable . he has as much growth to do as any 15 year old

* the show is beyond thought-provoking ( again reminder i was twelve when i first watched this i got my world flipped upside down and everything was spinning after episode 49 though maybe that was because of the spinny room during dante’s monologue… ) and it makes you question your own metacognitions + shows you it’s okay to be wrong + life is full of morally gray encounters

* 2003 has better symbolism in many aspects

* amazing music through the whole series

* scar’s character development good lord

* the fight between og greed and ed in which ed actually kills greed and the trauma that weighs on him after he does so ( especially because greed more or less withheld information from ed ( he was already weakened ) and ed was 100% sure he couldn’t actually kill greed )

* i preferred dante as a villain to father just because of her philosophy but father was ok i guess

* brotherhood didn’t really have it’s characters recover from trauma as clearly / if at all imo

* ed and winry together was super duper forced imo and shoved down my throat for days from everyone and their brother . winry’s character got a nuke dropped on it during briggs arc imo ( even tho i love the briggs arc exclusively because of olivier )

* 03 did some things badly but brotherhood did more and worse

this all said 03 isn’t without it’s flaws ( see last point ) but there’s ?? so much more life in the os than brotherhood in my opinion . and it’s brought about in so many ways , both bold and subtle .

also episode 37 exists .

[mynameisdreartblog]

Architectural Styles 2

Leo: Mission Revival. So, my mom wants to run from a senatorial seat this incoming election, and I think it'd be really hopeful if you campaigned for her Napoleon Dynamite style. I know that's a lot of info to lay on you at once, so I'm gonna give you some resources to aid you with the campaign as well: dates, notes, mottos, early poster designs, bare speeches, and decorative pencil toppers. Oh, and I also must tell you that you're one of her contenders for a running mate, and you have a three-month period to set all this up before. All this is awaiting you only if you agree to any of it. But, I'd really favor you a lot more because I handmade this fancy suit just for you and I made sure to put Scooby-Doo patterns on your tie. No, they didn't have Velma — your favorite — because Scooby's the icon, and they're not gonna waste money printing designs of the other characters. Also, I'd like to mention that, on a $50 basis, I'll come to your house and suck your cock for this if you don't do it. I expect a response from you by tomorrow. […] I like you but only because you come off strong, and I like people who come off strong. You're the exact opposite of the guy who cut me off in that jeep with obnoxious stickers, and that example is exactly the model we need for… the running mate of a senatorial politician: that's what we need at this moment. […] Listen, I can flatter you all day with my compliments, but the choice (at the end of the day) is ultimately yours… but it'd really make my mom happy if you agreed, so please do it? Ok, that's it <Oro pulls out a gun.> You listen here, you piece of human garbage. You will be my mom's running mate when she runs for a senatorial seat, and you will do it in a humorous style à la Napoleon Dynamite. Did you fucking hear me? You will help her run, and you will get a Scooby-Doo tie! FUCK YOU!

Taurus: Akbari. A trucker hat, left abandoned on the highway; how sad. It was probably a long-gone reminder of a time of joyous festival by the roadside, but it's best not to linger about those thoughts for too long; you could end up feeling remorseful over what happened. [,,,] Anyways, let's get back to getting in the nitty-gritty of this abandoned truck stop. First things first: break through the entrance; get the crowbar then. Argh, you see the, unf, glass here is very strong here because what the truck drivers used to do is, well, to put it harshly: they rammed themselves into the place usually on accident. It would leave the place with a ton of damage and a lighting condition that eerily warns of domestic verbal abuse <the glass is lifted out of the window frame, offering an entrance into the truck stop.> […] I love these places because they're like convenience stores on meth, and this location in particular was part restaurant, part hotel, and part gas station: a three-way tie between unsanitary conditions! […] Purpose? Why, there was no purpose here except the pure curiosity of it all. There were no Hopper-esque scenery that we could take in, nor beer we could stash, nor are there any gas pumps to feed myself with. «Wait, what?» We're here purely for the adventure: this baby's gonna be demolished by the next month, and we gotta make a lasting impression of what once was while we still have the chance. […] Woah, is this the ice machine I saw on that internet video? It is: it's a Hoshizaki ice machine! «Uh, Koil? There's still trucks outside.» Wow, a 2014 calendar for Paris glitz, and it has kittens too! Aw man, you can still smell the grease left on these fryers. Oh, and there's a bag of Jelly Bellies here too? «Koil, they're coming inside; they have flashlights and batons!» Ooh, a headset! I bet this is wired up to somewhere that's still operating: "Ah yes, please come in, Olligestaia, we're having an emergency here: I just shat myself." «Koil, they're right outside the door, I can clearly hear the barking dogs and intense yelling to get out of the establishment!» Yo, they got a TV!

Aquarius: Art deco. A cop thought that we were smoking weed when we were actually smoking plain-old cigarettes. You see, that's how you mess with their heads: you make it look like you're doing something illegal, but you're actually doing something in the same vein as what they presumed you to be doing only legal. I could picture the look on his face, he looked at us with a disappointment in his eyes that he couldn't bust some younglings for three ounces of weed (thanks for the stash by the way, Ali), but at least I didn't give him candy cigarettes instead. You know, the ones that always felt and tasted like chalk and came in those superhero-themed boxes? Yeah, I ended up circulating those enough as a young age to build up a drug empire somewhere in India: it's crazy how that turned out, but I don't associate with that much anymore (I just let it do its business and I have a coconut in the receptionist's desk with a recorder to answer any complaints). [,,,] <Roaches scurries to taste the crumbs of the candy cigarette left on the ground. Comically, its tiny coughs can be heard from attempting to eat the repackaged chalk.> […] Heh, that was a fun run-in with the law… wait, I'm above twenty-one and I've been so for years now. Why the fuck was he investigating us for illegally smoking when I'm clearly not a minor? Was I with other people who happened to be minors? Was that what set him off? Wha-, those candy cigarettes are getting to me, man. I think I may've imagined that entire encounter: those kids weren't there with me, that cop wasn't there to approach me, and you weren't here to talk to afterwards… where's that goddamn chalk? I need it: it's the only thing that holds the cure to my newly acquired madness. […] <The roach has now started its own miniature drug business from the stash of crumbs it managed to take upon its initial encounter. It's build a monopoly based on the supply.> Come on, where is it? Don't do this to me, Ali.

Pisces: Maghreb. I specifically remember there being an entire roleplay here involving some sort of anime-esque sky fortress that revolved around three main characters interacting with each other. What compromised the structure of it was a single person who had a godlike presence within the world: he watched over a giant, green field of earthen hills that was populated by titanic golems. What he led on was that he was secretly the master of these beings, but he was also a creator that struggled with restraining his own madness. They were our star of the show and an explicit name was never given, only "Dr. G." — I swear, he stole that from somewhere. [,,,] Accompanying Dr. G was a distant traveler from an astronautical world: his name was unknown, but he went by MC and said that his backstory consisted of being chased down by intergalactic bounty-hunters before landing on the planet of Dr. G. On that planet, he had a newfound purpose to write and create filthy beats. [,,,] Then there was… Austino. He was the one whom Dr. G despised with all his might but had to keep around for necessity. Austino was the one who'd make it his job to annoy all other characters and break the fourth wall as often as possible. He was the one whom, in past roleplaying sessions, Dr. G often tried to murder but kept reanimating to spite him… Oh, and there's Pandora, I guess. […] I might be misremembering this, but I'm pretty sure there were various homoerotic elements within it at various intervals, as there was a scene where Austino stops to showcase everyone else this cool thing he found online, and it was the Moby Huge (a three-foot dildo). […] It was weird as hell, and all I remember from the climax was that some green dude appeared at the end and foreshadowed what I'm doing now after an epic battle between a demon — created by Dr. G — that imitated the powers of MC. I think it was for the purpose of a hero's trial, or something? […] Dr. G later tried creating a cyberpunk roleplay, but it never went anywhere.

[kit-kat-draws2798-blog]

Just gonna put this here since I haven't really done much else tbh Lack of inspiration hit me like a brick. Love him pls he's precious- ✦General Information✦ Name: Oliver King Nickname(s): Oli, Ovie, etc Age: 19 years old Gender: Male Species: Otter kemonomimi Preference: Homosexual Height: 5’0 ft (Very smol) ✦Reside✦ Living Location: In a studio apartment near the college he attends ✦RELATIONS✦ (Name): Colleen King (mother) Oliver is pretty close to his mother and likes to hang out her when he has the time. They do puzzles, card games,etc and chat. (Name):Samuel King (Father) Oli has a close relationship with his father, doing some kinds of sports together. They like to swim and go on short hikes. (Name):Livvy King (Little sister) Oli's relationship with his sister is pretty decent, but is a bit hard. They have about a 14 year age gap, so it honestly depends on the situation. They do generally get along though. (Name):Akuma Akuma is Oli's bf and he loves him to pieces despite how dangerous he is. Would do almost anything for him~ (Name):Ace Wellingstone Ace has been Oli’s best friend for a while now, ever since they were children. They have always been very close, and Oli feels like he can tell him anything. However, Oli is completely unaware of Ace’s romantic feelings towards him. Poor bby, he’ll never really be able to be with Oli since he’s in love with Akuma :’D (Name):Dawn Will be added later once this character is more developed (Name):Finian Will be added later once this character is more developed (Name):Raiden Labs Oli and Raiden get along pretty well despite a 5 year age difference. They hang out sometimes at the hideout whenever Raiden isn’t too busy. They like to talk and listen to music together. (Name):Ryan Prescod Oli’s abusive ex boyfriend. He used to mentally and verbally abuse him in the time they were together. This resulted with Oli having some insecurities from his belittling, and has grown to fear him. Just the sight of his face scares Oli. ✦PERSONALITY✦ -Caring: He has a soft spot for helping people, will go out of his way to assist others. -Cheerful: Oliver is a huge optimist and tends to see the good in everything and everyone. -Neat: Loves to keep everything tidy and organized! He gets a bit stressed when things aren’t in order.. -Considerate: He tries his best to be conscious of other people’s feelings/needs, and gets sad when others are upset. -Energetic: Seemingly has unlimited amounts of energy, even after doing a strenuous activity. He doesn’t get tired easily. -Gentle:Hates hurting anyone, tries to be as soft as possible. -Loyal: Is like a dog in this aspect. -Playful: Loves messing around and having some goofy fun. -Sweet: He’s like sugar dear god. -Quiet: Usually like this around strangers or people he doesn’t know very well. He likes to make sure they’re comfortable with something before bringing it up. -Pure: Doesn’t really get adult humor somehow even though he’s 19-- also doesn’t really swear. -Clumsy: He’s not super clumsy, but tends to trip on the stupidest objects all the time (Ex: Falls up the stairs a lot) -Gets distracted pretty easily. Makes him a tad forgetful as well sometimes. -Excitable: Goes for anything he likes-from tv shows to friends- he gets hyped easily. -Insecure: The main reason being because of his Ex, who mentally/emotionally abused him. -Naive: Ties in with him being pure, he’s a bit too trusting and caring. -Soft hearted: Being the overly kind and trusting boy he is, he often gets taken advantage because of it. -Sensitive: Not hugely so, but he does take mean words a bit more to heart than others. -Weak: He’s not very strong and can’t fend for himself very well. ✦LIKES/DISLIKES✦ Likes: -Anything that has to do with water. Particularly swimming. -Cute things/people -Hugs -Animals. Pretty much any of them. -Outdoors -Flowers and plants in general -Bees. They help the plants grow :3 -Pastels -Sweet and salty foods -Soft clothes and items -Watching tv with people he likes -Doodling -Autumn -Hot Chocolate -Baggy clothes and scarves -Rain -Etc Dislikes: -When it’s overly hot or cold -Anything even a little spicy -People getting hurt or upset -Lack of inspiration -Loud noises -BUGS (Especially moths) -Rude or hurtful behavior -etc (He’s pretty positive, so not a lot of things actually bother him) ✦Skills✦ -2D artist (Draws traditionally and digitally. He specializes in a cute cartoony like style, and often paints with watercolor) -Is a really good swimmer. Could’ve gone professional if he wasn’t so into his art. ✦BACKGROUND✦ Childhood: Oliver was born and raised in a city called *insert name*. He lived with his family that consists of his mother, father, and little sister. He had a very normal and happy childhood and has a strong relationship with his family. He was one of those kids you’d probably call a goody two shoes. He didn’t really do anything wrong and spent most of his time either with his family, friends, or finishing up his schoolwork. Despite Oli being a naive child, he was pretty smart and had good grades. Adolescence: Middle school was pretty much all around the same for Oli, nothing really changed for him until freshman year of high school. That time was the one that really shaped him, and not really in a good way. That year he met this boy named Ryan Prescod. He was the captain of the football team, tall, handsome, charismatic. Oli couldn’t help but to completely fall for him. Ryan however, saw an opportunity in this. Oli is the kind of kid that you could manipulate into doing most anything and Ryan liked that. He used warm and loving words to get Oli in the palm of his hands. He saw him as a means to get what he wants, not for a loving relationship. Ryan was really sweet and caring at first, but shortly after they got together, he began to show his true colors. When Ryan didn’t get his way, he’d insult and belittle Oli, to the point it made him actually believe that what he said was true. It was definitely a mentally/emotionally abusive relationship. Hell, he would sometimes beat him a little, but only in spots where the bruises and cuts could be covered up. Ryan even tried to control who he was hanging out with and for how long. This went on for about four months, until others intervened and broke it off. That left Oliver broken for a while, with insecurities that Ryan instilled into him. Oli still acted like he usually did, keeping these things to himself. The last thing he likes to do is worry the people around him. He silently suffered with these fears and insecurities. After all, this happened, Oli got anxious when he started developing even a slight crush. Fearing it might end up like the last relationship, or that he just wouldn’t be good enough. About two years later, in junior year, in his English class, he was paired up with this boy named Akuma. He was infamous around the school for getting into violent fights with other kids and other horrible rumors that liked to float around. Of course, Oli was intimidated at first but was curious to see if he was truly as bad as everyone painted Akuma to be. The two boys would butt heads a little during the time they worked together, but after some time, they got along for the most part. Despite Akuma’s bad reputation, Oli got attached to him and wanted to get to know him more. Akuma was reluctant at first, but let him stick around anyway. They became pretty close after a while, and to Oli’s surprise, started to really like him. He began to panic as soon as he realized this, old memories of his last relationship flooding back onto him like a tidal wave. It took him a bit to calm down and come to terms with his feelings. He realized, based on what he knew of Akuma, that he would most likely never do that. He actually became really sensitive and agitated whenever Oli was even the slight bit injured or when he just looked upset. When Oliver eventually built up the courage, he confessed to Akuma when they were alone. Akuma eventually accepted his feelings and they started dating. They decided to keep it to themselves for a while, eventually gradually telling the people close to them. It was mostly due to the nature of their relationship and their vastly different lifestyles. Adulthood: Currently, Oliver is a nineteen-year-old college student studying art (specifically illustration, a little bit of animation). He lives in a studio apartment near the school but often likes to stay at his bf’s place. Although it is kind of far away from his apartment. He's pretty content on how his life is going so far. ✦ Other Info✦ He has a sun tattoo on the left side of his chest. (I’ll add more as I develop him <3) Note: I will be adding more outfits for him because he needs all the outfits All feminine ofc Also I don't mind adding more relationships for him, I'd prefer kemonomimis tho, as that's the kinda universe he's set in. Also I might redraw this later as I'm not really too happy with it--- ;;v;; Character and art(c) Kit-Kat-Draws Design by @/BurntUniverse Some of the other characters mentioned belong to KoKo-The-Rabbit

[theactor007]

101 questions: Answers

Ok since SOMEONE wanted me to answer all 101 questions...( if it's the person I'm thinking it is...just know you suck). It's almost 6 in the morning be grateful. So here we go! Long add post ahead just a fair warning. (I need to stop reblogging this crap.)

1. I have white walls, blue carpet, black desk, and a variety of colors and hues due to posters, pops, collectables, etc.

2. Probably my drama/ Chorus teacher, Mrs. Monahan. She's the one who taught me the most about my life.

3. Theatre, Kingdom Hearts, learning, laughing, Lilo and Stitch, (wow I'm a dork)

4. Lol I don't drink coffee

5. My so called "dad bod." How I am with women I like.

6. Accept that you have flaws. They are as much a part of you as the good stuff. But don't focus on the bad focus on what makes you strong, unique. You are you and that's beautiful.

7. I do not have stuff animals.

8. Probably drawing.

9. Usually in the fetal position on my right side on the left side of my bed.

10. Being on stage, the imagination of kids, making someone else smile.

11. Small town easily.

12. Two story house on the beach. Hardwood floors, a balcony overlooking the water, and a game room.

13. I'd honestly love like three dogs. A husky/wolf mix, Tibetan Mastiff, and a Shepard.

14. I have not dyed my hair as of now. But I am looking into getting some darker low lights. I'm yet.

15. To each his own. I personally don't have one, but I'm not gonna judge if you do.

16. Look at 15.

17. Art is all around you. Just use what you see and feel to guide your pen/brush/body etc.

18. I was in middle school. I just got off the bus, was in a really good mood bopping along. I walk in the house, didn't even lay my bad down when I saw my sister with tears in her eyes. She looks at me and says We're picking Funeral music now. My Great Grandmother. So yea.

19. Not so much playlists as much in the order they are in my phone.

20.

My best friend, Nate, Kerry, a few others.

21. Honestly as much as I try to, no. My main priority is making Every one else happy. Usually.

22. Usually typos.

23. Demon Hunter if you like metal. Dear Evan Hansen is amazing. I've been listening to Gorillaz recently so them too.

24. Plain.

25. Yea it's worth a shot at least

26. Nah I didn't see the eclipse. Tried to. But nope not really.

27. Nature is peace. Makes you realize you a part of something bigger than you. The birds chirping, the breeze, just beautiful.

28. Well I'm a hardworking, kind-hearted, socially awkward 22 year old. I enjoy theatre, video games, and making people happy. I will do anything and everything for my friends. I'm a proud dork, but with a wise mind.

29. I listen to basically anything. My music goes from Heavy metal to rap To Game music to Broadway to Disney to 80s.

30.

Probably Hot Topic. Most of my wardrobe is graphic tees. And no better place to get it from Hot Topic.

31.

I really don't shop at either. Name brand I guess?

32. What are s.o clothes?

33. I started Tumblr 2-3 years ago..something like that. I made it cause the girl I liked said I should make one. She help me make it and everything.

34. Wash my face every now and then. I really don't have a face care plan tbh

35. I prefer freckles, but both are equally cute!

36. Hate. And peas.

37. I used to have hot wheels cars. I loved organizing them into lines. Drive em around and line em up. Idk I was wierd.

38. Eh depends on the day

39. Games I use. Pops just sit there. I really don't buy a whole lot of expensive things.

40. Standardized testing in schools. Don't get me started.

41. I am constantly asking for advice. Can't learn if you don't know.

42. I mean prefer bras off but anyway!

43. Lol comfy. T-shirt, shorts, and flip flops is where it's at!

44. Honestly one of the better dates I've gone on. We went to the jazz festival and ended up going to a very nice restaurant. Watched the band play for a while. Went to the movies after and then went back to her place and we talked for like 3 hours. It was a good time. (She later went on to break my heart, but moving on!)

45. I am Christianso that should answer it.

46. I don't drink nearly enough water. I should drink more but I don't.

47. I mean it's good. It's unique. My hair naturally makes a nice little swoop so that's nice.

48. It's cloudy but the sun should be rising here soon.

49.

I'd like to think of be a King, but chances are I'd be a Prince. More like the Other Prince in Into the Woods. The one who isn't Charming.

50. If I'm dressing up it's my black button up, blue jeans, and whatever the nicest pair of sneakers is. (I don't dress up a lot)

51. My hair, my kind-heart, my ethics,

52. I'd like to think I'm open minded.

53. I don't judge. Come as you are. Everyone's got stuff that has made them who they are. If I can be one person who they can talk to about that stuff then I've done my job.

54.

I like to plan ahead as much as I can, but I have ADD so you do the math.

55.

Love learning, Hate the education system.

56.

German Shepard/Sharpei mix named Stitch. He's about 70 pounds of fluff and is as much a dork as I am. He's all bark no bite. Hes loves whoever comes in.

57. I don't like milk.

58. Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Overwatch, LOZ, Assassins Creed, oh and Lilo and Stitch.

59. Pandora.

60. Brave.

61. LILO AND STITCH!

62. (I'm getting my questions from my gallery cause I'm on mobile and I didn't get 62 so yea)

63. Once I get the notification that it needs to be updated it takes me like two weeks of ignoring it to actually update. Once I get tired of the notifications like 20 min.

64. I'm in mobile so it's this stupid question list. I still hate you.

65. Lilo and Stitch probably. STITCH and I have a lot in common. The themes, soundtrack, artwork absotuly beautiful. The jokes are still funny. The characters still amaze me. Just amazing.

66. I've seen one Studio Ghibli movie, Princess Monoke and I enjoyed it.

67.

If I'm playing games headphones are off. If music it's cranking loud as it can get!

68. All the time if by doing small things even If I don't say it verbally.

69. Kingdom Hearts, pops, Lilo and Stitch, I feel like I've answered this question a couple times.

70. God I want a partner. Someone to cuddle with, talk about life with, someone who will listen to me and support me. Someone I can be me around with.

71. Dr. Pepper

72. I'll talk to anyone who will listen. But the person who knew me the best and most intimately was the reason I created this Tumblr. Hope your doing well kid.

73. Ok let's see. Thomas Sanders' personal blog, FuckyeahKingdomHearts, the few mutuals I have, y'all know who you are,

74. To be truly happy with the one I'm supposed to spend forever with.

75. Of course! Is there any other place to sing?

76. I shave like once a week maybe. Mostly the cheeks. I trim my mustache and goatee if needed.

77. Over worrying.

78. Sometimes.

79. There are good and bad days. I try to.

80. It was like freshman year ( maybe 8th grade.) But I went with some friends around a riche part of town. Lol I went as Joseph from the Bible, like no joke. Got a lot of candy. It was good time.

81. It was the last day of third grade. I went to climb the monkey bars. I got to the first bar and fell cause my hands were sweaty. Bit my head on all three rungs to the ladder on the way down. Busted my head open and went home early. I think I still have the scar.

82. I'm tired man it's late for me. Long night at work.

83. My stupid ass had to reblog this. And I was expecting like answer like a few questions. No big deal. NOPE!! Some anon was like hey do All of em! So here I am on mobile, without Wi-Fi, I've been working all night, I've had to take pictures of this just so I can get it done. And I've been going at this now for like 2 hours. It's past my bedtime! I'm pretty sure I know who asked me this, because they have a habit of asking this type stuff. And if it is just know you suck so much. Ok end rant.

84. I say i don't care what people think, but I do. A lot. I worry that I'm being annoying or that I'm being that kid that everyone says hi to out of pity. I worry that I may bother some people. When in a relationship i constantly worry that I'm not doing my job right. That I've made her unhappy or something. It's a bad habit.

85. If both parties are working at it yes. Long distance can work. You gotta have a lot of trust. If there's the slightest bit of mistrust it can crumble in an instant.

86. Depending on how much younger. And yea if date someone older. I went on a date with a 35 year old once. Granted didn't know she was 35 till the date but she still had a great time.

87. Jim Carrey, the late Robin Williams, my great-grandfather whom I was named after, Obama, Hayley Joel Is many, the voice of Stitch.

88. I honestly don't remember.

89. 21st. I got my tattoo on the day before. Then me and my friends went to Disney Springs for the day and had a great time. A lot of laughs. I didn't drink but still had a great time!

[mystorymylifemywords]

The Coon, The Mammy, & The Brute: Stereotypes In Black Cinema

    Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines stereotype as a “standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.”  Within the world of film, African-Americans have been depicted in a stereotypical light since the very first motion picture.  These stereotypes, although not as obvious today, still exist.  Names such as Mammy, Coon, and Brute, among others, are the stereotypical categories which African-Americans in film have been placed. Collectively, the human characteristics of African-Americans in film have been that of lower life forms that thrive on sex, muscle, and stupidity.  

    The questions being examined are why, after years of African-Americans attempting to gain equality, do these stereotypes still exist in modern film?  What are the roots of these stereotypes?  Finally, what can be done to change the perception of African-Americans in film?

    This essay will dive into the history of the people and films where these stereotypes originated.  Films such as Birth of a Nation, Training Day, Gone with the Wind, The Emperor Jones, Monster’s Ball, Imitation of Life, Jerry Maguire, and Bamboozled, among others, give a clear display of the aforementioned stereotypes and how they have evolved over the past 100 plus years. The actors who portrayed these characters are almost as important as the affected films.  Actors such as Lincoln Perry, Willie Best, Mantan Moreland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Denzel Washington, Hattie McDaniel, Halle Berry, Queen Latifah, and Paul Robson, to name a few, depicted these stereotypical roles, which led people to believe these stereotypes were and are art imitating life.

    Dr. David Pilgrim of Ferris State University describes the stereotype of a “coon” as a “lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon.”  The “coon” originated out of slavery.  Many slave owners believe the African-Americans working for them were lower life forms and could not do the requested work because they did not have the brain capacity to stay in constant thought or concentration.  From their actions, slaves were seen as lazy, dumb-witted, and scared.  All of these characteristics make up what we now know as the “coon”.  Many African-Americans would agree that the “coon” is the most demeaning of all African-American stereotypes in film.

    The truth during that time, slaves did not want to do the work because they did not feel as though they were being treated fairly. Laziness came from working 20 hours a day, 6 days a week.  Their fright came from not knowing when the Overseer would beat them for not doing the job the way the Overseer saw fit; they never felt as though their work would be seen as good enough.  Their slow or dumb-witted nature came from attempting to speak a language that was not their native tongue.   At the time, it was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write; their education on the language and culture was slowed to shackled crawl.

    Donald Bogle, a cinema historian, with a major focus on African-Americans in cinema, wrote about his disgust with the portrayal of the “coon” stereotype in his book, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, stating:

Before its death, the “coon” developed into the most blatantly degrading of all black stereotypes. The pure coons emerged as no-account niggers, those unreliable, crazy, lazy, subhuman creatures good for nothing more than eating watermelons, stealing chickens, shooting crap, or butchering the English language.

    The most notable for his portrayal of the “coon” stereotype was Lincoln Perry, known to most as Stepin Fetchit.  Perry’s played the same “coon” in all of his films.  Despite becoming the first African-American to headline a movie and one of the first African-Americans to earn over $1 million, Perry was seen as someone who brought down his race.  His characters were always abused verbally and physically.  Perry’s most notable films were alongside Will Rogers.  In these films, Perry would play more of an animal than human; following Rogers around like a dog while shucking and jiving at the drop of a hat.  Bogle said of Perry:

His appearance, too, added to the caricature. He was tall and skinny and always had his head shaved completely bald. He invariably wore clothes that were too large for him and that looked as if they had been passed down from his white master. His grin was always very wide, his teeth very white, his eyes very widened, his feet very large, his walk very slow, his dialect very broken.

Daniel Leab, from his book, From Sambo to Superspade: The Black Experience in Motion Pictures, added:

Fetchit became identified in the popular imagination as a dialect-speaking, slump-shouldered, slack-jawed character who walked, talked, and apparently thought in slow motion. The Fetchit character overcame this lethargy only when he thought that a ghost or some nameless terror might be present; and then he moved very quickly indeed.

    From Perry’s legacy spawned other actors who wanted to follow in his footsteps like Willie “Sleep N’ Eat” Best and Mantan Moreland.  Both of these men were ridiculed in Spike Lee’s film, Bamboozled.  Best and Moreland-like characters were played by actors Tommy Davidson and Savion Glover. The film is a portrait of what is wrong with race within American, both in the early 1900’s to today.  Glover and Davidson played two homeless men who used their “educated feet” and “slick-smooth talk” to get into television. Their dancing, singing, and denigrating speech led to the murder of Glover’s character after he was kidnapped and forced to tap dance for his life as gunshots were fired at his feet.

    Today’s depiction of the “coon” is less blatant, but still offensive.  Cuba Gooding Jr.’s portrayal of football player, Rod Tidwell, in the movie Jerry Maguire has been the closest image of the stereotype since the 1960’s.  Gooding’s dancing, singing, creation of words, and consistent wide smile, showing those “pearly whites,” is reminiscent of Lincoln Perry and Mantan Moreland. His Oscar acceptance dance and celebration did not help his cause.  Since that day, Gooding has been typecast as a “coon” in American society.

    The term “mammy” was orated to the world in the 1927 film The Jazz Singing starring Al Jolson.  In the final scene of the movie, Jolson sings the song “My Mammy,” while in blackface, which entered the term into the world’s vernacular.  “Mammy” is described as a happy (always smiling), hard-working, overweight, caregiver for white slave masters’ children.  Marilyn Yarbrough, co-author of Cassandra and the "Sistahs": The Peculiar Treatment of African American Women in the Myth of Women as Liars, describes the stereotype as:

Mammy is first and foremost asexual, and accordingly, in this society she had to be fat. Most portrayals of Mammy depict her as an "obese African American woman, of dark complexion, with extremely large breasts and buttocks…." By doing this, male slave-owners could disavow their sexual interests in African American women. By characterizing Mammy as an asexual, maternal and deeply religious woman whose main task was caring for the master's children and running his household, the slave-owner found in her the perfect slave. She was a loyal, faithful, but still untrustworthy member of the family who always knew her place.

While Wikipedia describes “mammy” as “dark skin, with a heavyset frame and large bust, and overall matronly appearance, complete with an apron around her waist and a kerchief on her head. She is overweight and dressed in gaudy clothing, as well as genial, churchgoing, and spiritual to the point of delusion.”  These two representations, which are very similar, are the general representation of the stereotype.  However, historian Catherine Clinton says, in The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South, those depictions of “mammy” may not be an accurate:

Records do acknowledge the presence of female slaves who served as the "right hand" of plantation mistresses. Yet documents from the planter class during the first fifty years following the American Revolution reveal only a handful of such examples. Not until after Emancipation did black women run white households or occupy in any significant number the special positions ascribed to them in folklore and fiction. The Mammy was created by white Southerners to redeem the relationship between black women and white men within slave society in response to the antislavery attack from the North during the ante-bellum period. In the primary records from before the Civil War, hard evidence for its existence simply does not appear.

    With all of that said, the “mammy” character in film is represented by the stereotypical description given by Yarbrough and Wikipedia.  In the classic film, Gone with the Wind, the “mammy” was played by Academy Award winning actress, Hattie McDaniel.  McDaniel’s character was not known for her beauty or intelligence, but rather for rearing children, cooking, cleaning, and being accessible to her master; a classic representation of the stereotype and the likely reason why McDaniel won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, she knew her role and played her role to the supreme pleasure of the overseeing voters.  In an unrelated sign of the times side note, McDaniel was not permitted to attend the award ceremony due to the color of her skin.

    Soon after the release of Gone with the Wind came Imitation of Life.  Louise Beavers “mammy” character epitomized the stereotype.  Beavers’ character loves and cares for her white family’s children so much, she forgets to tend to her own daughter’s needs.  Along with doing whatever her family tells her to do, Beavers signs away the rights to her famous pancake mix, making the white family rich while she lives the life of a pauper in the basement of the family’s home.

    One would think, after 60+ years, the “mammy” character would have disappeared from all of cinema.  It was the believed the Black Power and Women’s Rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s would killed how African-Americans and women are portrayed.  However, 1995 saw the release of Billy Madison starring Adam Sandler and “mammy’s” return to feature film.

    Theresa Merritt played “mammy” or “Juanita” the overweight, jolly, unattractive maid to Sandler’s character’s family.  From her big laugh to her over-the-top singing to her willingness to do whatever needed to please the family, beyond the duties of a maid, the “mammy” was back in play, but audiences did not notice it.  Washington Post film critic, Rita Kempley stated Merritt’s role was “shamelessly patterned on Miss Scarlett's Mammy” from Gone with the Wind.  Why would this character be placed in a mid-90’s movie? The racial insensitivity was striking, yet went mostly unspoken.

    A movie that did spark some controversy was 2003’s Bringing Down the House starring Queen Latifah and Steve Martin.  In this film, Latifah plays an ex-convict who blackmails Martin and hides out in his home. While she is there, Latifiah acts like a 21st Century “mammy.”  She cooks, cleans, and raises the children while using her hip hop style and slang.  Latifah’s “new age mammy” wears bright, tight clothing, and hair-weave, however, when she first meets Martin, she is dressed like the stereotypical “mammy” caricature. Yes, her character is a far cry from Hattie McDaniel, but as the times change, so do styles, but apparently not African-American stereotypes in film.

    Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines the term “brute” as a “characteristic of an animal in quality, action, or instinct.”  In early film, “brute” was used to define African-American male actors who showed animal-like force, rage, and sexual hunger.  Dr. Pilgrim describes a “brute” as “an innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially White women.”  

    In the time of slavery, males were not given a name or alias that indicated strength because it would elicit unwelcomed fear amongst slave owners.  Instead, after the slaves were emancipated, the white man openly called African-Americans “brutes” and claimed, because of the rage they held inside during slavery; anger and lustful hunger would be unleashed upon white women and white people across the country.  

    Writer Thomas Nelson Page is the man created for colloquially coining the term “brute.” In his book, Red Rock, a black politician is charged with raping a white woman, showing his thirst for the purer race, and his lust of sex and empowerment over a weaker sex.  The character was later lynched for committing the crime.

    The worst thing a black man could do in the early 1900’s was rape a white woman, or be accused of raping a white woman.  Most accusations led to the man being lynched or beaten for violating the purity of the white female.  In film, this became prevalent in D. W. Griffiths’ Birth of a Nation.  The film is most commonly known for its cinematography and usage of cutaways and wide-angle moving shots, but it is also known for its famous, or infamous, “Rape Scene.”  The “Rape Scene” contains no sex or even physical touching between the “black” man and the white woman.  

    The scene begins with the “black” man looking at the white woman from behind a tree as she puts clothes on the line to dry.  The white woman doesn’t notice him, at first.  When she sees him, she screams, and runs away into the mountainous, rocky desert landscape while the “black” man lasciviously gives chase. The white woman runs until she comes to a cliff.  The “black” man shows excitement because he has her where he wants her.  As he comes closer, the white woman inches closer and closer to the edge of the cliff.  When he gets too close, about 15 feet, the woman turns and jumps off the cliff to her death.  The “black” man flees while the white settlers attend to the fallen woman.  

    I use the word “black” in parenthesis because the character in the movie was “black,” but the actor playing the role of the “black” man was white.  Most of the actors who played “black” characters were white men wearing blackface make-up.  No African-American was allowed to touch or come near any white woman during the filming of the movie.  Long Island University Professor Melvin Sylvester said, “This one film also lead to outspoken outrage by many African-Americans, including the NAACP organization. To no avail, the NAACP tried to have the film banned or parts of the film censored or deleted. Most of the black roles were done by Whites in blackface, with only selected scenes for African-Americans in this film.”

    Birth of a Nation shows the ideology of the time.  In the “Rape Scene,” the pure fear and terror of the “brute” coming near the white woman was enough for her to take her own life.  She did not know if the man wanted to talk, she would rather die than be seen conversing with the “brute.”

    The most famous “brute” was Paul Robeson.  Robeson was a tall, strong fellow with a very deep voice.  Although he had degrees from both Rutgers and Columbia Law School, one would never know that from watching his movies.  In almost every movie, Robeson was either singing in his deep baritone voice, beating someone up, or looking for sex.  His role in The Emperor Jones (1924) is his most famous and where his “brute” character has received the most ridiculed.  

    In The Emperor Jones, Robeson plays “Brutus Jones,” a man who is on the run after he kills a man, flees to a West Indian island, and crowns himself emperor.  The character’s name, “Brutus Jones” is an early indication of what type of stereotype is being portrayed in this film.  Like all “brutes,” the character kills, attacks, and lusts over women. In the end, the “brute” is killed after a white trader convinces the emperor’s subjects to rebel.  To show that the subjects did not believe Robeson’s character was human, they believed they could only kill him with a silver bullet. The movie also contained other African-American stereotypes, such as, the “coon,” the “tom,” and the “pickaninny.”

    Although the film was a success and was revived several times, it was another step backward for African-Americans.  What is more puzzling, why did Paul Robeson take so many roles as the “brute”? Robeson was known for his stance against racism.  He even quit his job as a lawyer because the white secretary would not take dictation from an African-American.  To this day, despite his success as an athlete and lawyer, people do not know why Robeson did not stand-up against the majority, as he did with Senator McCarthy, and refuse to act in films where African-Americans were made to look less than human.

    The “brute” character has changed since the early 1900’s when Birth of a Nation and The Emperor Jones were released.  The “brute” is now seen as a pure criminal, whose rage and sexual appetite are fixed on African-American women, along with other minorities.  In the 2001 movie, Training Day, Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a dirty, rogue street cop.  This was the re-birth of the “brute” in the 21st Century.  

    Washington’s character was intense, angry, animalistic, sexually hungry, and stupid. His character was the opposite of Ethan Hawke’s, clean good cop character.  The movie made it seem like black was evil and white was good, much like the feeling taken away after watching Birth of a Nation.  A racial divide had been made, and one of the world’s best actors, Washington, was caught in the crosshairs.  Moreover, the director of the movie, Antoine Fuqua, an African-American, helped further propagate the stereotype portrayed by Washington.

    The second problem with the movie came months later, when Washington won the Academy Award for his starring role.  Much like when Hattie McDaniel won for Best Supporting Actress in her role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, it appeared to the African-American community that Washington was being credited for playing the role he was supposed to play in the eyes of the White-American community, the “brute.”  In his prior movies, Malcolm X (1992) and The Hurricane (1999), Washington played smart, articulate men with dreams of power and peace.  Arguably, Washington’s role as “Malcolm X” was his best, but the 62-year old actor does not believe race played a role in his Oscar losses or his win, “I don't put too much into that. The year I was up for Malcolm X, Al Pacino won for Scent of a Woman (1992). He had been nominated eight times. If he had lost, what would he have blamed it on? I've been nominated four times and I won once, so who would Pacino blame had he lost?"  These comments came after Rev. Jesse Jackson accused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of institutional racism. After looking at Washington’s body of work and his competition in 1992 and 1999, I would have to agree with Rev. Jackson.  A black actor must follow the path and portray the characters whom the white audience can relate.  Historically, strong, intelligent black men aren’t given a chance in this country due to the fear of the majority that the minority will work together, rise up, and overcome the oppression that has faced them since the birth of the nation. On the silver screen, the majority wants the minority to imitate the life they perceive to be correct way for races and cultures to cohabitate.

    After all of this, the question must be asked, what can be done to change the perception of African-Americans in film?  How can they change the stereotypes?  In order for a change to occur, people must be educated on the real lives African-Americans lead.  Not all African-Americans sing and dance.  Not all African-American males are strong and undersexed.  Not all African-American females are subservient and submissive.  African-Americans are just like any other person that walks this planet, we aren’t all alike.  Some are educated at places like Harvard, Oxford and Princeton.  Some are scientists and doctors.  Some are teachers and principals.  And yes, some like to sing, dance, and cook, but each person is different in their own right and no one should pigeon hole an entire race by categorizing them as a specific type of person.  This study goes outside the scope of film; art imitates life; the viewing public sees what life has presented them on the silver screen. These movies, for the most part, are not presented as fantasy; they are presented as a representation of what is happening in the real world.

    African-American actors and actresses are also to blame for the continuing to play the stereotypical roles offered in today’s motion pictures.  These actors have the choice to take a stand and not take roles that will demean and disgrace an entire race.  The actors and actresses are just as responsible as the screen writer, producer, executive producer, and director.  The actor and actress are the mouth piece of the motion pictures’ hierarchy.  If an actor or actress refuses to take a role because it makes fun of or can be seen as making light of a specific race in terms of stereotypical characteristics, it will only cause the production houses to become more creative and work harder to remove the stereotypes.  

    A prime example of actresses taking charge and turning down demeaning roles; the 2001 film Monster’s Ball starring Halle Berry, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role, was originally turned down by Angela Bassett and many other African-American actresses because they felt the film did not portray the African-American female in the best light.  Bassett told Newsweek, “I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film. I couldn't do that because it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality.”  In a July 7, 2002 article, USA Today Op-Ed writer, DeWayne Wickham said, “The movie is a leering, fanciful look at interracial sex from a white perspective. Its highlight is the union between a grunting, groaning, lust-filled beautiful black woman and an unsuspecting white guy on whom she throws herself.”  Wickham goes on to say, “In the eyes of too many Hollywood filmmakers, white people make sensuous love while black folks have crude sex.”  Art imitates life; Hollywood holds the paintbrush and owns the easel.

    Movies leave indelible impression on everyone, especially young minds; hip hop artist Jay-Z stated on his album American Gangster, “Scarface the movie did more than Scarface the rapper to me; that is more to blame for everything that has happened to me.” Those words ring true when you see African-Americans taking roles where their characters degrade and disparage the people they are supposed to represent.

This piece was originally published in 2008 and re-purposed in 2017