#and it seems to be pretty strong too

[theghostinabadbook]

Their designs are so good I almost forgot they are horrible people

[taraxippos]

I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?

Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate

-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)

-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.

-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.

Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.

-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.

But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')

In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.

All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.

-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?

-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.

I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.

WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.

And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.

Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.

[shakingparadigm]

hey guys do we fw ivan till luka and hyunwoo in a boy idol unit

[wellhalesbells]

ehhhhhh

I have rarely felt so bad about watching/enjoying a show as I do about watching/enjoying Hawaii Five-O???

I'm trying to tell myself it's okay because the fact that I have all these issues with it clearly means that I'm engaging critically with the media I've been presented but.... well, most of the time I would drop shit that sucked this hard. Also.............. I'm pretty sure it's going to cause me to develop an eye twitch.

The racism is nooooon-stop (especially towards Arabs, like, if my brother-in-law caught me watching this, I would be both embarrassed and ashamed... there are three times - so far - that we get to see Muslim/Arab men not be the villains and each time is so wrapped up in white savior narratives that it's entirely moot), the sexism (Danny listing how great his team is and then just goes: and Kono's a fox I had a crush on, that's not a personality trait, that's not even an action she performed, that is literally just what she looks like which SHOULD BE the least important thing about any human you know??? let alone someone you've worked with for seven years. She is also made to consistently be around men who are disgusting and creepy with her - could be anyone's job, somehow is Kono's - and then the show eventually tries to redeem these men by giving them more complex backstories than Kono gets to have... if not for her mother/surfing, her only backstory is her relationship [*coughs*what Max praises her for when he leaves.... also not a personality trait*coughs*], NO BUT THE SEXISM (there's a group of girls locked in the cargo area of a truck and Steve is fighting their (1) captor and he knocks his gun away, has him completely distracted, and you don't think any of those girls might.... help? Join in? Want to shoot this fucking dude with the gun that has been dropped practically at their feet? Nope, nuh uh, they're just there to watch Steve be heroic, to be audience to his epic masculinity. EW. JUST EW.), these specific examples are all from season seven too so what should be improving is literally nose-diving into even deeper depths of misogyny. There's also classism in nearly every episode in some fashion and fatphobia almost every time Jerry or Kamekona or Flippa make an appearance. Plus, y'know, the police brutality that the show is built on.

I'm also pretty sure Peter Lenkov (based on the articles that have come out about his on set abuse, particularly in regards to Lucas Till) really has a chip on his shoulder about Scott Caan/Danny (who is short, blond, has attractive qualities that rely more on bone structure than ruggedness) and regularly tries to back him into traits he considers more 'feminine': wanting to stay out of danger/wait for back-up/you know... use brain rather than brawn, makes him more fashionable (including that scene about the lingerie that definitely could be read more than one way), making him be 'the nag,' etc. I just REALLY HOPE it bothered the fuck out of him that Scott Caan has more of the traditionally masculine qualities than his rock hard ode to masculinity that is Steve McGarrett/Alex O'Loughlin.

[hottoepecker]

[mariocki]

Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)

"Don't you give a shit about getting this strangler off the streets?"

"What would you prescribe for the man, a firing squad?"

"That's not a bad idea. Mainly I don't want him back on the streets in a few years - or sooner, if some misguided shrink discovers he can find his ass in the dark with both hands."

[bingus35]

Sulong Bepo hype aside…… bruh.

I expected Law to lose. And comparing to what happened to Kid pirates, this is pretty tame. But still, this chapter is so damn sad.

I should be happy Law and Bepo escaped, but man… Something about seeing the ships destroyed is just extremely upsetting to me. Pirates are by nature a bunch of misfits looking for a place to belong. Their ship is their home, their refuge, their place in this world. To destroy that… ugh :(

(Even his iconic hat is left behind. Seriously wtf Oda)

And this part just breaks my heart. Bepo tearfully dragging Law away while begging him to live. Law begging Bepo to come back, despite having zero chance to win, because he can’t handle losing his family for the 3rd time. Ugly crying rn

[front-facing-pokemon]

[therehavebeenstranger]

womens sports are so important for many reasons but like today at barre class i tried out some heavier weights and thought "maybe i should drop down actually...should i be letting my shoulders get this big?" and then IMMEDIATELY thought "Ilona Maher would NEVER say that" and kept using the heavy weights lol

[mar64ds]

I want to see more post-game fan content where the amalgamates are included, I want to see them with their families, I want to see that Alphys goes visit them not out of guilt but because she cares and she helps out if they need any help, I want to see other characters interacting with them!! I love you amalgamates

[yamanoskk]

Girls and spirits are seeking for ‘something’.

Either the ownerless place to live, the cause of this brand new incident, or simply want to unleash their provoked will.

---

A fanart based on the demo of Touhou 19!

Gonna looking forward the full version too!!

[hypotenussy]

You know what? Maybe I'll get through college purely for the sake of learning to write strong academic papers to prove my mom wrong about things.

[slayerdurge]

having played a decent amount of bg3 now i can say with absolute certainty that i'm going to durgetash hell

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

phewww okay I finished the episode and I am so split because on the one hand this is like a passable cool fine name, but on the other hand tummy buddy life was so stupid and senseless and caused so much chaos that I'm sad to be rid of it like that

[artheresy]

Currently… oc ifying both General Huaiyan and Argens Regia (High Elder of the Xianzhou Zhuming) because I have a multi chap fic planned all about my personal headcanons (I have a lot) for Yingxing’s childhood which will later bleed into some other fics I have planned to write and ah it feels so

So nice

I have a bunch of stuff planned yet again, adding another fic to my list but I really do want to write all of what I have planned, I’m just putting the original planet with the transflormation(?) disease on the back burner while I focus on this

Many plans, it’s going to be fun, sorry that I’m so obsessed with Baby Yingxing and Huaiyan and the Zhuming, I just need to know more and I won’t be able to probably for multiple years from now ToT I need to scratch my itch and fill in the gaps

This will in fact also be where I fill in the gaps in my head for how I see Yingxing’s family having been because I can and I have opinions

[onmentalsafari]

I always see the posts about whether or not mu qing is a bad person has he done bad things blah blah and I somehow feel like it's the wrong lens to look through. what I like to keep in mind is that I don't think he has ever compromised on his own morals (although obviously, his morals involve a lot of making compromises for the greater good). Even when he apologises to xie lian he refuses to say that his actions in the past were wrong, only that he understands the need for an apology. I don't think he has any regrets (he needs to be spotless in that sense because it's what lets him look down on others so much lol he's so proud of his moral consistency)