#and yeah exactly those toxic traits will never fully go away

[inkykeiji]

I just want a whole like tattooed dabi thing, I’m just gonna gush real quick- don’t mind me.

Dabi probably has a very calm motherly s/o, honestly. Someone who can take his attitude and mood swings with a grain of salt. No matter how angry and loud he is no matter the threats he yells at he she still talks very very soft and careful to him like:

“Dabi, you’re okay. I understand you are upset but yelling at me won’t solve this issue, all it’s going to do is give yourself a headache or make your throat sore, okay? How about we sit down and just talk things out, yeah?”

He low key (high key) really enjoys being babied sometimes and won’t admit it. I feel like he has PTSD or something around those lines and when he’s coming down from an episode his sweet girlfriend will hold his head to her chest and let him listen to her soft calm heart beat while she runs her hand through his soft hair and trace his tattoos. He would be hiding his face deep in her chest as broken ugly sobs shake out of him and those boney large hand would be gripping onto her like a life line.

I feel like he will trigger his episodes from like him yelling at her and she will make a face that reminds him of his mother. Like she will have like a shocked kind of upset face and it reminds him of how his father use to yell at his mother and treat her so horribly and he’s like “oh fuck, I’m turning into him” and it would just make him more upset. There’s definitely been times she’s had to restrain him from breaking something or leaving. Just her holding his wrist together in one hand and bringing him close to her. No matter how much he pulls at her hair like some spoiled child or screams at her she would keep holding him until he just- let’s it out and curls his Long lanky body around her smaller one 🥺

I feel like a girl he would go after- or this “s/o” would be keigos younger sister. She is use to being the motherly type with him even though she’s the youngest. He had a tendency of just losing himself at times and she would take care of him. Keigo is 100% not okay nor happy with his little sister going with his dangerous “friend”/drug dealer! It’s also that selfish side to him where he doesn’t want to share his little sister or want her taking care of anyone but him. She’s just so lovely and motherly, he just doesn’t want her to be used by anyone even though technically he’s using her?

Dabi is 100000000000% overprotective. If one person stares at her too long he takes it as a personal threat and she’s constantly trying to keep him at bay as if she’s pulling a wild angry dog by its leash.

“Honey enough, he didn’t mean no harm. It’s a busy street, he didn’t mean-“

“He KnOcKeD yOu dOwN-“

“Todoroki Touya, e n o u g h”

They would probably break up at some point because he got busted with drugs and murder charges and when he had to go to prison she knows she needs to move on. Keigo won’t stop complaining for her to move on but she can’t. She’s never loved anyone like how she’s loves Dabi. Maybe they had a kid together right before he gets locked up so when he gets bailed early and shows up at her door and she opens it he’s greeted to a whiny little toddler that looks oddly just like him in her arms.

She tells him that he got her knocked up and if he wants to be in their life he has to go to rehab and stop all this mess. Of course he goes radio silent for months and it breaks the now ex s/o heart because she really thought dabi loved her and would do anything for her. Fast forward a few more months and.. dabi’s at her door step???! She would be so shocked and was about to lecture him but he’s standing there awkwardly holding a few papers and she reads it. He’s been sober and clean for the past few months and even went to rehab like she said! Now they can be a little family! He still smokes cigarettes and what not but it’s a start.

She was glad he was getting his life somewhat together. He was still a asshole at times and seemed like he always had a cigarette or blunt in between his lips but she can tell he’s trying. He even gained a little weight from not doing any hard core stuff anymore! Not too much but now he has a cute little plush belly. He’s still very boney and lanky but now just with a little plush belly! How sweet! She’s so proud of him, she really is.

There’s times he has withdraws and she’s there to comfort him. Hold him closely like she use to and gently sing to him while rocking him back and forth to get his mind off of it.

Don’t tell him he’s gone soft some, he’ll still murder you. That asshole-y scary vibe is still in him and he’ll still beat anyone who fucks with him to a pulp but he just has a soft spot now for his little family 🥺😔

Okay I’m done gushing. I just hate it seems like he never has a happy ending with like any fic I read and this has been plaguing my mind ever since I read your little sister keigo fic where he was on the track team and I was so upset that there wasn’t more to it so i just thought of that. He’s still an asshole, don’t get me wrong and the sister should still totally dump him and never speak to him or keigo because they are hella toxic, but she still loves her brother and her boyfriend and just can’t get herself to do it! I’m sorry, I’m just gonna be on my way now. 🥺😌💓

anon babie 🥺🥺 this was so beautiful and cute thank you so very much for sharing it with me!!! i agree with most of your headcanons for him here 🥺 also, just a tiny lil side note, there WILL be more of little bit of poison in me (the fic you’re talking about!!); a part two and a part three!!! <3

[amwritingmeta]

You don't think killing Dean the way they did was contradicting to his character arc and development?

Hello, lovely!

As the initial shock of watching Dean die is wearing off more with each passing day, I can tell you that no, I don’t think that killing Dean the way they did was contradicting to his character arc and development. 

Let me explain.

And let me be clear, I’m basing this on my hopes and wishes for the narrative, for Dean, and they, in turn, sprung up from my reading of the narrative. 

My reading has always, as all meta readings are, been wholly subjective, though I’ve striven to be objective, trying to base my reading in my understanding of narrative structure and possible production choices as much as possible. The initial shock after the finale came from how the delivery of Dean’s endgame stepped outside of what I wanted and had grown to expect in those weeks leading up to it, due to 15x18 and queer love suddenly being a stated part of the narrative. 

Letting go of the idea of a long and happy life for Dean with Cas as a human on Earth, because that was simply the framework my brain invented to give them a happily ever after, I’d like to take a look at some of the other hopes and wishes I’ve had for Dean, in no particular order:

Dismantling the toxic masculinity ideal

Non-performance

Open communication and honesty

Self-acceptance leading to self-worth leading to self-actualisation 

Integration

Clear sense of identity

Learning to let go of need for control

Learning to trust

Feeling deserving of happiness and embracing it

Ending the codependency 

Teamwork and sharing responsibility/not feeling it’s all on him

Admitting to himself that what he longs for is to love and be loved

Believing in deserving to have a future

The world balanced out (no more firewall)

Putting the past to rest

Letting go of Protect Sammy as predominant purpose

Letting go of fear

No more Butch and Sundance/blaze of glory ending

Now, the more I think about all of these things in relation to S15 in general and the final three episodes in particular, the more those finale three episodes make me feel nothing short of delight for our characters. (sorry but it’s true) (I feel the distress of our family and it’s just horrifying but oh I do feel we need to take a breath together and calm down)

Here’s what I see. And what I see may come off as dismissive of people’s frustration and anger and disgust with the finale, but it’s not meant to be. I’ve always read this narrative how I described above, knowing that it’s impossible not to be subjective, but striving for objectivity.

Striving for objectivity by looking at what’s come before, the threads I’ve seen them pulling on, the overarching themes that have been consistent for fifteen years, the character traits that have been explored and narratively stated over and over again, and basing my analysis in these narrative constants.

So first, let us ask ourselves: was Dean’s death foreshadowed in S15?

The simple answer is that yes, it was.

It was foreshadowed by Amara saying that she wanted to release Dean from his anger, it was foreshadowed by Billie asking if it wasn’t time for the sweet release of death, and it was foreshadowed by the heart symbology peppered throughout the entire season.

Had it been coming for a long time?

Well, yes, it had. There were only two ways that his arc could end: him living or him dying, right? He’s died a lot, which is why I thought it should end in him living, finally, but let’s look at what the narrative tells us living constitutes:

fear (of losing his brother and of what’s around the next bend), as Dean admits in 15x17: he’s always afraid

pain, because the pain of losing Cas will never go away

Has Dean decided to deal with that? Yes, he has. He’s decided, by 15x20, to accept the loss, to look to the future, to not give up, to keep on fighting. He’s not even self-destructively looking for a case to distract him: instead he brings Sam to a freaking pie festival. Yeah? Dean is living his life.

This means that we’re shown him as having let go of toxic masculinity because he’s wholly non-performing at the start of 15x20, he’s openly communicating and being honest about the pain he feels over losing Cas, but as opposed to Chuck’s version of the “perfect ending” which was always tragic, where Dean losing Cas meant that he saw no purpose to living or fighting anymore, Dean takes that pain and is able to handle it because?

Because of Cas. Because of Dean internalising Cas’ view of him. Because of Dean being shown in 15x19 to grieve Cas, to want Cas back, to go through the motions (getting drunk etc.), only for him to realise (and yes the execution is lacking but I’m going to go with the narrative we have for the sake of this reading) that Cas isn’t coming back. 

By the end of 15x19, Cas’ words have taken such hold that Dean not only eases up on control and is shown to confidently share the responsibility for de-powering Chuck by working as a well-oiled team machine with Jack and Sam - because he trusts them, he’s also symbolically allowed to fully integrate by refusing to kill Chuck, because his Shadow (toxic masculinity as passed along by John the Bad Father Figure) (John also has a good side but he had a very bad side, for sure) no longer holds any sway over Dean, and because of Cas’ words, because of Cas’ faith in him, through Cas’ love for all that Dean is, Dean is given the sense of self-worth needed to finally be able to move into self-acceptance, allowing him to self-actualise, to integrate.

Cas saved Dean’s life AND saved Dean from his crappy self-view. I mean. It’s kinda fucking remarkable that this reading is right there for the taking.

So here we have the narrative ticking boxes like JAYSUS, yeah?

Let’s look it:

Dismantling the toxic masculinity ideal

Non-performance

Open communication and honesty

Self-acceptance leading to self-worth leading to self-actualisation

Integration

Clear sense of identity

Learning to let go of need for control

Learning to trust

Feeling deserving of happiness and embracing it

Teamwork and sharing responsibility/not feeling it’s all on him

Believing in deserving to have a future

The world balanced out (no more firewall)

And this, all of it, is thanks to LOVE. 

Because this is a story about love and... love.

So Dean being able to integrate thanks to Cas’ love is, to me, all about Dean opening himself up to the fact that what he wants, truly wants, and has always wanted (and needed, for that matter) is to be loved for who he is, and to allow himself to feel that very same unconditional love for another.

In the act of letting go of needing Cas back to somehow validate that love or validate Dean actually truly being deserving of receiving and giving love, we get the unconditional aspect of it underlined. There’s no dependency anymore. No fear attached to the emotion. Just the love itself, untouched by death. The healthy side to that profound bond that’s always kind of tripped these two up before. I mean. I think it’s kind of breathtaking.

Also, I’ve been told there’s an application that we see on Dean’s desk for him to get a job as a mechanic, which seems to me an underlining that Dean is looking to the future and in so doing is shown to feel deserving of happiness and embracing it. Something that I feel is established at the beginning of the episode, even without this detail, but is brought into focus thanks to it.

Dean doesn’t want to die. He has no desire to die. The implication being that he’s trying to make the best of what he’s got and is completely honest with himself about what he wants. Not owning a bar, but working on cars. The good side of John getting a nod, or so I would say. Especially poignant in an episode so heavily focused on Good Father Figures. 

I haven’t seen the detail of this application for myself though, I just trust my sources. :)

Now we get to the meatier part of this reading: Dean and Sam.

What do we have left on the list of hopes and wishes of stuff to be addressed as pertaining to Dean?

We’ve got:

Ending the codependency 

Putting the past to rest

Letting go of Protect Sammy as predominant purpose

Letting go of fear

No more Butch and Sundance/blaze of glory ending

I wonder if you might already be seeing where I’m going with this, but for good measure, let’s discuss the death scene and what it narratively results in for Dean and for Sam.

Dean and Sam end up in that barn because they’re two men who will not stand for harm coming to innocent lives, especially when those innocent lives belong to two little kids. This is who they are at their core.

Dean is killed by a vampire wearing a mask. Yeah. Someday perhaps I’ll make proper sense of it. Point is: Dean is impaled on a rusty nail that imbeds itself in his heart and sort of holds him together until the moment of his passing, giving him time to ask his brother to stay (zero performance and only vulnerability) and tell Sam exactly what Sam has always meant to him.

Which, for Dean, is vulnerability on steroids. Honesty times one thousand. In your face true identity flares of beauty.

This scene is stunning. When I watched it the second time around last Saturday I was blown away. Jensen makes this scene what it is, because it is such an absolute mirror of Dean’s scene with Cas and the differences to Jensen’s acting choices are paramount to the emotional significance of either. (oh Misha was extremely paramount to the declaration of love, don’t get me wrong, but here we have Jensen pivotally impactful, since he’s in both)

And through this mirroring we have two major threads of this narrative on display and effectively highlighted and tied up: the familial vs the romantic.

Because this is a story about love and... love.

The thing that I’ve been turning over in my head a lot is the codependency aspect here. I’ve had issues with it. Could it only be broken by Dean’s death? 

And no, I don’t think that’s what’s happening here at all. 

This moment is absolutely about the codependency breaking. In part. But it’s also about Dean going out bittersweetly, suddenly, without any glory or blaze, and it’s a very human, very real, very grounding moment to me for his arc: he didn’t expect it to be today, but it is.

*i’m seriously cry*

And Sam’s grief is so raw. I wish Sam had gotten to break away on his own. I’ll always wish that for him. That he could’ve seen his worth as a leader and leaned on that and on his love for Eileen, but Sam’s arc was always, always dependent on Dean’s progression, and this is what Dean’s arc needed in his final moment: clarity, honesty, trust, faith, letting go. A voicing of the fear, of the past, of what got them here, of the dependency - it was always you... and me - and both of them choosing, in the moment, to recognise the finality of it.

The entire show has revolved around these two men’s absolute inability to let go of each other and the stupidity and recklessness this inability has resulted in. Choice after choice serving to bring about the near apocalypses they’ve kept finding themselves in.

And reflecting itself in that has been the dependency Dean has felt for Cas’ presence, his annoyance and worry and fear whenever Cas has disappeared, how Dean’s progression has stopped in its tracks whenever Cas has been removed from the narrative.

So for this scene of the familial love allowing a letting go of that dependency to reflect itself once more so beautifully in how the romantic love allowed for a letting go of that dependency is kind of. I don’t even know. Everything glitters?

Dean finding peace ultimately has everything to do with having met, known and fallen in love with and having been loved by this angel of his. 

But is that canon? 

I mean, it’s subtextual canon, which is good enough for me, because it was all I ever expected and it’s such a blatant statement through the couples in love losing each other leading into Dean and Cas losing each other that there’s just no doubt in my mind how we’re meant to be understanding what these two men mean to each other, and from that draw the conclusions of what it is that’s influencing Dean’s moment of integration.

Does Dean’s death make a statement that happiness and love can only be found in death?

No. It really does not. Because that’s not what the narrative message is. Because Sam finds love and happiness by living his life. And I sincerely disagree with Sam being depicted as being depressed his whole life (the way Dean was with Lisa) because he lost his brother. Sure, there could’ve been pictures of all the found family when Sam is on his death bed, but he’s also thinking about the brother he lost and that’s simply a visual establishing of this fact. Could there have been more? Sure! But that doesn’t mean that all Sam cares about was Dean for all his life, living it in grief and loss. 

Sam loves his son, helps his son, laughs with his son, is a good father figure to his son, and this thread is pulled on throughout the episode: the good father figure thread. 

Dean’s goodbye to Sam isn’t just a brother saying goodbye to a brother.

It’s a father bidding farewell to his child. It’s a father gently relieved to not have to watch his son die. To get to go first. And yes, sure, that’s sad, but it’s also very human and real and says so much about their relationship.

Dabb era has hit the father/parental thread so hard that the Good Father thread running through this episode makes perfect sense to me.

Dean goes to Heaven not to find Cas, not expecting Cas to be there, but finding Cas there all the same (reward for letting go and having faith that if he’s meant to, and why wouldn’t he be, then he’ll see Cas again *headcanon*), and more than that, learning that Cas has made Heaven what it is now, moved Heaven away from trapping souls in endless memory loops (which was benevolent enough, but completely missed the point of what it means to be human) and that now there’s discovery and exploration and more life to be lived, because Heaven is overflowing with free will, with choice, with all the possibility for longevity and happiness.

The eternity that Dean deserves. 

Created for him by Cas. 

Cas ensuring Dean’s death is not an ending, but a beginning. That it’s not a prison for Dean’s mind, but instead a homecoming, filled with the prospect of reconnecting with all the people Dean has ever cared about, ever loved.

I mean, the fact that Cas’ prevailing faith in Jack has enabled all this is like strobe lights for the fucking brain.

And the irony is that while I focused entirely on how Cas needed to be grounded and choose to live a human life on Earth, the narrative had other plans (okay yeah the writers) and instead brought Dean to Heaven, and immortality.

It takes away the final obstacles for giving these two a happily ever after.

It also reflects itself in how Mary, in Heaven, is “complete”. She’s with John. She’s at peace. She’s happy. And who have always been fairly strongly tied (through mixtapes and whatnot) to Mary and John Winchester? Yeah. 

Also, Cas the angel will never age and will never die, and him with human Dean, watching Dean grow old and die only to go visit Dean in his little Heaven always made me depressed. Human!Cas took care of that, but left the Heaven conundrum wide open. And now it’s just gloriously fixed. 

And, speaking of, Cas got to FIX HEAVEN. And he’s fixing it together with his son. All of that faith, all of that struggle, completely rewarded. And Cas building that Heaven in wait for Dean to arrive, because if Dean hadn’t died in that barn (take me back to the night we met...) Dean would’ve died at some point, and Cas can wait, he just wants to make sure there’s happiness waiting for Dean when he arrives. I’m sorry but OMFG. I’m just so happy for our Castiel!!

Could Dean not know happiness on Earth?

I think he was on his way. I think there would always be that pain and that fear, but he was ready to accept that and make the most of it and live his life. Only... his heart is missing, because his heart went away, and perhaps there’s this chance that he’ll find it again, because he always has before, but he doesn’t know, and he doesn't expect it, and that’s okay, he can wait, and then he’s brought to Heaven, and there it is, and he smiles that smile and Heaven is basically complete apart for one final piece.

Because of course Dean would wait for Sam. 

Now. I realise this is my reading of this narrative. No one needs to accept it as the begin all, end all reading. I’m only hoping that it will offer a counterweight to the absolute and utter negativity being bandied around as the only true begin all, end all, because I do not see it or believe that it’s all there is to this finale.

There’s beauty here. And discounting it, at least the possibility of it, even if it’s not exactly what I’ve laid out in this reply, because of frustration of not getting textual Destiel is not doing anyone any good. We got subtextual Destiel, we got subtextual bisexual Dean, and it’s confirmed. To my mind, it’s confirmed.

That’s everything I ever dared expect. And that expectation came solely from how clear the subtext has always been, how invested the writers have seemed in it, and the actors too. 

And Cas is canonically queer. 

Which is fucking amazing and truly enormous and I’ll talk very gently about why I don’t feel his death was a case of BYG in a separate post, but Cas is alive in the narrative as it’s been presented to us, and he’s in love with Dean and they get to be together in the Heaven Dean deserves, remodelled for Dean by Cas. If that’s not the beginning of a happily ever after, then I don’t know what is!

Thanks for asking, love. I’ve been meaning to write all this down and have spent the afternoon doing so. It’s quite cathartic!

xx

[kitkatopinions]

I'm aware of the cross tagging from FNDM in rwde since sometimes I look in it at times, but I think what irks me is about Adam.

The guy is already dead and FNDM just can't let go that anyone that are fans of him just have to shove in there face "See? See? He's ALWAYS been emotional abusive since the beginning, you guys are abuse apologist!" He was charismatic in a degree because he had a lot of loyal followers, and if I remember correctly didn't he not give a shit Blake was in Beacon? Why is the FNDM so keen on people that don't agree with them? It's such a waste of time.

The Adam topic is honestly a... Hard one, with a lot of layers. I fully believe he was always meant to be Blake’s abuser and a plain straight villain. But he used to be a much more nuanced character, who let her go and focused on his own goals. He got coerced - yes, full on coerced - into joining Cinder’s plan, but seemed to lean into it and wanted to use it to his advantage. In season three, he delved into much worse territory, stabbing Blake, trying to cut off her head, and maiming Yang. This obviously ought to be considered evil. But he still let Blake run away and continued doing his job rather than chasing her down and killing her and Yang, clearly implying that he cared about a lot more than just Blake.

The treatment of the faunus/racism allegory really damages all of their Faunus characters in the first five season minus maybe Velvet. Adam was no exception to this. He should’ve been a very different character than what we got even in seasons 1-3 because he was a strong voice in their only pro-Faunus rights activist group, and seemingly a leader of one of the branches. CRWBY never should’ve made the only pro-Faunus rights activist group in their story a violent terrorist group that wanted to destroy peace and take out white people non faunus. And one of the leaders of that group being an abuser and a total monster? Not a cute look. That feels like straight up propaganda. Especially after revealing Adam’s brand mark, and dropping details about him being a slave in songs and outside content.

And then the writing staff decided to take a character who seemed to care for his cause and care for his people (he rejected Cinder’s offer for him to join them because it would do nothing for the Faunus, and then only agreed when she threatened his people,) and they stripped him of those two good traits and made him act as though he’d only ever been using the White Fang for power and to get at Blake. He stalked her for days (when he’d willingly let her get away without following two times before,) and he turned into nothing more than an abusive ex. I got tripped up enough on RT’s terrible to choice to make him such a monster in the first place, but stripping him of the few good points he did have just to... Make Blake sadder, maybe? Make him seem less sympathetic? That sucked. And if they were going for trying to make Adam less sympathetic, they shouldn’t have freaking showed us the SDC logo burned into his face! There’s nothing satisfying about watching an oppressed former child slave and allegory to people of color, with a company logo branded onto his face, get murdered due to no real fault from the heroes and die alone after having his character reduced to ‘abusive ex’ by careless white writers who just last season had been shoving ‘people of color should stop hurting themselves and just prove they’ll defend white people from other people of color and then they’ll earn respect’ into their narrative. 

Honestly, I’m not an Adam stan. His character didn’t get a lot (and his voice acting wasn’t the best tbh,) and the character he did have was largely unlikable to me personally. The reason for that is the writers’ miserable failure of an allegory that came across as very propaganda-ish and white comfort driven, but I’ve just never really... Liked him all that much. However, a lot of people saw potential in Adam, and liked who he could’ve been a lot. And there were other people who liked Adam as a villain. Both of those things are perfectly valid. I don’t know much about the Adam stan community, but I personally have never once seen anyone in the RWDE tags excusing Adam’s actions in the show or trying to say they were alright. What I have seen is people acknowledging that Adam’s character was severely mishandled, or writing their own, new versions of Adam’s character where they try to handle him well or treat the topics at hand with more respect than the writers did. Other people literally just acknowledge Adam’s pain, and that’s totally valid too.

I’ve dealt with crosstagging in other fandoms and pro tags getting lots of anti people invading and trying to pick fights. And even main character tags, people should realize are going to be used by people who enjoy the character, and attacking them for it or commenting on their posts to try and get a reaction is mad annoying. Antis should use filterable tags. RWBY megafans are always getting mad at RWDE posters if they so much as use the main tag even if they have a drove of filterables, but they refuse to use any proper tags themselves. It can be so frustrating when you’re just trying to share content about a character you like with other people who like that character, and you get people coming into your comments going ‘you know they did A right?’ ‘you know they’re a bad person, right?’ ‘Oh so you love (insert immoral thing here)?!?!’

It’s honestly toxic. Adam - the character - did horrible things no one should excuse. But A. He did those things because he was written to do them, and people ought to be able to look at that writing and see how it’s harmful. And B. Liking a character is not approval of all of their actions. People can stan villains. There are Joker stans and Tom Riddle stans and freaking Moriarty from Sherlock lovers, I think RWBY fans should be able to get past Adam stans. And C. Softening characters for your own personal headcanons is a-okay, and shouldn’t be something you get attacked for. This is especially important to remember in characters that you look at and say ‘this should’ve been done differently because the character they did give us is insulting or a bad portrayal.’ It’s easy to become attached to characters you think were done dirty by their clearly biased writers. I have a long string of characters I just write different in fan fiction, because I got mad at how they were handled, for all sorts of fandoms. People need to understand that not everyone is going to see RWBY and the RWBY characters exactly how they see them. People have different favorites and different interpretations, and even if that interpretation isn’t one hundred percent right in canon, well guess what? Canon isn’t king, people have every right to headcanon whatever they want.

You got me ranting. XD But yeah, I personally think RWBY fans should leave Adam fans alone, so long as they aren’t hurting anyone. Obviously, I don’t know all the details, but yeah. I’m a firm believer in the benefits of ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ tags for character content. I’ve been trying to use ‘pro Ironwood’ for instance in mine. I know it wouldn’t get rid of all the antis, but it’s worth a shot.

And the amount of RWBY megafans who literally go to the RWDE tag and look at posts specifically tagged and marked as anti rwby eight ways to sunday just to pick fights... Astronomical. People who don’t like to see it should filter it out and make their (and our!) experiences much better.

So... Those are my thoughts on that.

[unorthodoxpartofyourworld]

Daenerys as a anti-villain (more like Hero Antagonist, really)

Okay I feel like I’m already walking into a den of dragons writing this but it’s been on my mind for a while.

Here’s the thing fam: I love Daenerys. She’s badass, strong, independent, intelligent, and all around a very interesting character. She’s inspired me more than once over the course of the 4 years I’ve been watching the show. She has such an interesting and controversial arc and she’s also such a charismatic character that you can’t help but root for her. 

Quick fact about me: I love villains. Anti-heroes, anti-villains, morally grey character and complex morals are intriguing and fascinating to me. That’s what makes Game of Thrones THAT much more interesting to me. There are no black and white characters. Each character is a dive into complexities and realities of humanity, war, love, politics, desperation, family, loyalty, etc etc

I love the show bc each character isn’t what you expect them to be. I expected to hate Cersei Lannister and for a while I did, but more than anything, she forced me to think about why I hated her. I was in high school when I started the show and I can say that Cersei Lannister more or less single-handedly got me truly interested in pursuing ethics (philosophy major now what’s good Nietzsche). And the more I thought about her, the more I analyzed all the other characters and just WOW there’s so much in this show (and the books!!!!!!!) that are just exploring humanity and the many faces it has. 

I can write a meta for every single character and what I think about them but Daenerys is fascinating to me bc I think she’s GRRM’s crowning achievement. He took this young, naive girl and transformed her into this powerful warrior queen while subtly creating this journey where she becomes more callous, dark, and unreasonable all while she’s wearing this mask of justice and truly believes that what she’s doing is G O O D.

She’s one of the only characters that’s so bitterly argued about (and considering other GRRM characters, that’s quite a feat) bc there are so many questionable aspects of her story but she is so sure of herself and her arc is so inspiring and tragic that we can’t help BUT root for her. 

But see, there’s a reason why the attack on the loot train in Field Of Fire was told from Jaime and Tyrion’s perspective. We’ve seen Daenerys taking over with fire and blood before, but those were all told mainly from her perspective. And see, what she did wasn’t morally reprehensible either - she was trying to save millions of people from slavery and frankly brutal conditions. But that’s the lovely thing about GoT. Nothing is ever that easy. Economic realities, rebellion, complex power structures and THE REALITY OF WAR turned her righteous mission into a bloodbath and more or less a failure (read: Meereen). While it turns out okay (more or less?) Daenerys is still in this position with what equates to a nuclear weapon and in her eyes, she has justification to do what she has to in order to reach her goal. But see, Daenerys also plays into “the end justifies the means” school of thought and THAT IS DANGEROUS. But still, throughout this whole sequence, we see bits and pieces of these emerging dark consequences, but the story overall is focused on her as a warrior queen with the power to change the world. ‘Dracarys’ became such a huge hit in pop culture and throughout the fandom. She’s iconic. She’s kickass. She’s strong. She uses her power for what’s right.

(What I love about this is that it’s so fucking real. When someone truly believes in their goals and will go to any lengths to achieve it, this “the ends justify the means” rationale comes in and that’s so common in real life and it’s this fascinating look into how rationale like this can become toxic and dangerous, slowly but surely)

Fast forward to season 7, we’ve got our girl claiming the Iron Throne as her right and all this talk about taking Westeros back, but I think for the first time in the show, the consequences of her plan are truly unveiled with honest, gritty realism. Field of Fire shows the harsh reality of what Daenerys’ path to the Iron Throne will actually cost not just the other houses, but all of Westeros and millions of civilians. 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this whole sequence is through the eyes of Jamie “the Kingslayer” Lannister. “Fire and blood” is exactly what this man has been trying to avoid. We’re meant to see the destruction and chaos through Jamie’s eyes. We’re meant to realize exactly what war with dragons actually means. Also, we don’t really know much about the mad kind, save that he was paranoid, mad, and was a pyromaniac. But Daenerys? We know her. We’ve seen her grow, change, and evolve into this powerful woman who holds values and tries her best to be just, fair, and embodies a queen. This is another example of how GoT delves into morally grey characters, actions, and the reality of truly seeing all sides of the story. 

Daenerys is not evil. She’s not crazy. I don’t believe that she’ll ever be evil or fully go crazy. Daenerys is the character that could’ve been perfect, amazing, the chosen one. She’s fierce, she’s powerful, she’s just. She’s a shoo-in ….until we take a closer look at what she’s paving the road to the Iron Throne with. Fire and blood.

At the risk of seeming really childish (blame my little 10-year-old sister), I want to parallel her to Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda. Hear me out!

Tai Lung’s backstory is actually pretty heartbreaking. He was taken in by Shifu when he was just a baby and brought up as Shifu’s own son. Shifu sees he has a talent for martial arts and begins to train him. Tai Lung spends all this time excelling and working his ass off and everyone praises him for it. He’s smart, powerful, talented, and straight up badass. He seems like a shoo-in for the Dragon Warrior, right? And see, his intentions weren’t bad either. He wanted to become the Dragon Warrior. He had goals, ambitions, and he truly believed that he was the best warrior for the title. He trained hard, he pushed himself, he refused to accept failure, doing in what his eyes, was justified. 

But then comes Oogway, the all-knowing turtle. (Man, if only there was an Oogway in GoT - wait, Bran???)

Oogway sees “darkness in his heart” and refuses to let Tai Lung have the Dragon Warrior scroll. Hearing this, Tai Lung goes nuts, destroying everything in his path to get the scroll, trying to steal it, and ultimately, forever confirming that he - without a doubt - could never be the Dragon Warrior. 

(gif ain’t mine)

See, Daenerys believes she is the rightful heir to the throne. She works her ass off for it. She builds armies, raises dragons, overcomes impossible odds, allies herself with the right people and sets sail for Westeros, a place that she was told people still cry for a Targaryen on the throne. Everyone around her believes in her and follows her because they buy into her agenda (copyright: Marco Rubio’s excuse for accepting NRA donations - that’s a whole other rant). She gets praise and support from almost everyone surrounding her. She’s in a bubble. When she gets to Westeros, she realizes that this will be an uphill battle for her. She is seen as a foreign invader, a strange queen with the power of dragons in her hands. Yikes. 

When Tyrion’s plan doesn’t work out and things don’t go her way, what does she do? She flies to the Reach and burns everything in sight. The battle itself is surreal and the damage is horrific. 

(gifs not mine)

And see, the thing is, IT’S WAR. It’s hard. It’s gruesome. Things have to be done. It’s WAR. But when you have DRAGONS, essentially a Westerosi nuke, and you use them so freely and easily, that says a lot about how you see the world and the people you’re conquering. She doesn’t really see them anymore. 

Yeah, I know, rather bold statement, but let me back up here. Remember when I said that even with a just cause, the idea that the end justifies the means is a dangerous rationale? THIS IS WHY. 

When your end goal justifies anything and everything you do along the way to get there, it erases the weight of the consequences. It erases accountability. I thought it was curious how Dany was rather rude and dismissive of Tyrion this season and I realized that now that she’s so close to her goal, her rationale is becoming toxic. Tyrion and Varys keep her accountable, but she’s slowly pushing them away. She threatens to burn Varys (albeit, after having him promise to TELL her when she’s out of line, but that entire scene was wrought with threats and tension) and disregards Tyrion more and more. Her accountability is being erased. 

So she does things like this. She does things like burning the Tarlys for refusing to bend the knee. Because it’s a small sacrifice to the end goal of peace and prosperity in Westeros. She floods a field of unknowing soldiers with fire. Because they are preventing me from my birthright, the Iron Throne. She wants to rush King’s Landing with her dragons (thankfully, Tyrion talked her out of this one). Because I am the only one who can change the world. 

And that is what makes the most compelling villains. The ones who believe that they’re genuiney doing the right thing. A lot of my favorite characters are these anti-villains - Light from Death Note, Rodrigo and Cesare Borgia from the Borgias, almost all the villians from Once Upon A Time, Gabriel and Lucifer from Supernatural (tbh most supernatural characters who am I kidding), Sandman, SCARFACE, Loki, the list goes on and on (and tbh MOST GoT characters fit this mold bc IT’S A SHOW ABOUT EXPLORING MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS)

To end this rant, here are two definitions from the TV tropes website. Decide for yourself who fits into what. 

An Anti-Villain is the opposite of an Anti-Hero — a villain with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues. Their desired ends are mostly good, but their means of getting there are evil. Alternatively, their desired ends are evil, but far more ethical or moral than most villains and they thus use fairly benign means to achieve it, and can be heroic on occasion.

A Hero Antagonist is a character who is an antagonist (that is, they oppose The Protagonist), yet is still technically a hero. They oppose the main character and may not even have Sympathetic P.O.V., but their objectives are things like Saving the World, foiling evil plans, helping the helpless, and otherwise working For Great Justice. A tweaking of the narrative could easily make them a sympathetic protagonist, and thus, a proper example of The Hero.

TL;DR Dany isn’t this evil villain, but I do believe that she’s going to come out as an antagonist bc so much of her arc is about her goal justifying everything she does to get there. 

Sorry for the ridiculously long ramble! Lmk your thoughts

[evil-genius-things]

That's a very good point, thank you for explaining it to me. I also felt pretty miffed when I first watched that scene where Hoho puts Ed down for burning the house, because I felt the same way about Ed accepting responsibility for everything. It's something I find interesting about his character: I do believe that burning his house down was, in part, an act of running away, and part of the date of his watch is a reminder to never run away again. He naturally displays avoidance, but he consciously fights against it. He doesn't let himself forget. I think that makes him really strong.

I do still think he practices avoidance here and there - don't get me wrong, though, there's no shame in it. It's a normal response to trauma, not something he should be put down for. LOOKING AT YOU, HOHENHEIM. (I do know that scene was tough love, but dang...)

Also, another good point about Hohenheim running away! I'm sure a lot of that coldness he had towards Ed was actually anger at himself for running away that he was projecting onto his son. To be fair to him, I'm not sure he actually knew about Father's plan to sacrifice Amestris until he started researching at home, then left to go stop it... and before that, there wouldn't be much of a point staying near Father. Not when there was nothing he could do for the souls of Xerxes. Father's presence would only be a reminder of that. The thing about running away: it's one thing to run away forever, which is unhealthy, but it's okay to distance yourself from a mentally harmful situation. For example, removing yourself from a toxic relationship.

Ed wasn't ready to fully face his trauma yet until he got the push he needed from Hohenheim and dug up the remains of the transmutation. Because of that, he was able to stop running away from something he hadn't even realized he had been running from. That's how I see it, anyway... honestly, the dynamic between Hoho and Ed is a whole different can of worms and a big debate in and of itself.

But yeah, I do agree with you on most counts. Ed is only human and occasionally needs an extra nudge in the right direction, but the amount of responsibility he willingly takes onto himself is both very admirable and very worrying. This is exactly what makes those occasional displays of avoidance so interesting, imo! The two traits should be paradoxical, but somehow they both manage to fit within his character. That's good writing.

It's always SO NICE to see mental health depicted with care in fiction. Especially in war stories. I've read so many stories that have the characters have traumatic backstories and/or experience traumatic events but seem unaffected by them from a mental health standpoint, and it's always irked me. FMA was such a breath of fresh air. And the characters actually had character outside of their traumas, though those were still shaping aspects of their lives. It's a very respectful and humanizing take. <3

Edward Elric Has PTSD

I mean, we all already knew it, this is just hard evidence of it.

Ed is a character who not only has a very traumatic past, but also experiences a variety of traumas throughout the actual series. Because of this combined with his young age, it's pretty easy to come to the conclusion that he would have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (a mental condition that arises from extremely stressful and emotionally overwhelming situations).

I did a bit of research and found that PTSD is generally characterized by three main symptoms: intrusive memories of the trauma, avoidance of triggers related to the trauma, and emotional dysregulation/negative changes in mood.

Let's see how each of these applies to Ed, shall we?

Intrusive memories: These often manifest themselves in nightmares or vivid flashbacks. Ed has multiple nightmares and flashbacks throughout the series.

Avoidance: Basically, this is avoiding people, places, and things that remind you of the traumatic event, in order to distance yourself from the pain as much as possible. Ed literally burnt his own house down to achieve this. (There were other reasons he did so - I believe him when he says he did it so they couldn't turn back - but Hohenheim wasn't wrong in his claim that Ed ran away.)

Emotional dysregulation: This is a broader symptom that manifests in things like self-destructive behavior, overwhelming guilt/fear/horror/anger/shame about the event, irrational outbursts of anger and aggressive behavior, hypervigilance, and exaggeratedly negative perceptions of oneself and/or the world. Sound familiar?

It's an easy enough to conclude that Edward Elric has PTSD, but it's amazing to actually see that illustrated accurately by the manga/anime. Arakawa did her research, and I did a lot of crying while watching the show :"D

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Taika Waititi explains the origins of his Oscar contender 'Jojo Rabbit,' why he ended up playing Hitler, and what it was like directing in costume

Taika Waititi spoke with Business Insider about his acclaimed Nazi satire, "Jojo Rabbit."

Waititi wrote and directed the movie, and also stars as an imaginary Adolf Hitler who the main character talks to.

Waititi said the first draft of the script was more dramatic and didn't include the Hitler character.

Almost five years after Waititi wrote the script, Fox Searchlight said it wanted to make the movie, as long as Waititi played the Hitler character, "which was lunacy to me," Waititi said.

The director eventually agreed and the result is a movie that is building Oscar buzz.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

  Taika Waititi's eyes widen when he spots a couch in the room where his interview with Business Insider is set to take place. He goes straight for it and lies down, stretching across the entire piece of furniture. Moments later, he takes off his shoes to get even more comfortable.

Waititi will take relaxing moments when he can find them. His last few weeks have seen him pin-balling from Disney's huge fan event D23 in Los Angeles, to the Toronto International Film Festival, to the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and now back to LA.

But the actor-writer-director isn't complaining.

He's currently a hot commodity in every facet of his career. On the acting side, there's roles in anticipated projects like the Disney Plus series "The Mandalorian," the Ryan Reynolds comedy "Free Guy," and James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad." Waititi has also begun work writing "Thor: Love and Thunder" (coming out November 2021), the sequel to his successful first directing effort of a Marvel Cinematic Universe title, "Thor: Ragnarok." But what he's focused on most as he lies on the couch is his latest directing effort, "Jojo Rabbit" (in select theaters on Friday).  

Written, directed, and starring Waititi, the movie is a unique coming-of-age tale: Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is a young boy living with his mother (Scarlett Johansson) in Germany at the height of the Nazi regime during World War II. Jojo wants nothing more than to grow up to be a loyal Nazi and even has an imaginary friend who is a Nazi: Adolf Hitler himself (played by Waititi).

But the boy's life is thrown for a loop when he learns that his mother has been letting a Jewish girl hide in their house. 

In typical Waititi fashion, the story is original, full of heart, hilarious at times, and showcases the talents of its actors (particularly Johansson). All that adds up to a movie that you will hear more about as we get deeper into award season (especially after the movie won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival, which has led to Oscar gold for numerous past winners).

Business Insider spoke to Waititi about switching quickly from drama to dark comedy in the early drafts of writing "Jojo Rabbit," why he knew casting a major star to play Hitler was the wrong move, and what it was like to direct while in his Hitler costume.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.


Jason Guerrasio: The source material for "Jojo Rabbit" is Chelsea Winstanley's book, "Caging Skies," but did your time spent in Berlin painting during your 20s influence the story at all?

Taika Waititi: No. I stole some of my friends' names that I grew up with while living in Berlin and put them in. While I was in Berlin, I was living the life of an artist so it was very free. Germany was very vibrant and liberal. The club scene was incredible. I think I drew more on the World War II films that I'd seen and some comedies.

Guerrasio: Speaking of watching war movies, was "Empire of the Sun" one of them? Because in some ways I compare the journey of Christian Bale's Jim character with Jojo's. 

Waititi: I definitely watched it in the last few years. I would have watched it to specifically look for something. 

Guerrasio: Even John Malkovich's character in that movie has a similar father figure-like relationship that Sam Rockwell's Nazi commander character has with Jojo. 

Waititi: Yeah. You're right. So there's that. "Alive Doesn't Live Here Anymore," that was more for the mother relationship. Ellen Burstyn is the greatest single mother character that's ever been committed to screen. She's so good in that. Having a mother who raised me by herself I was really struck by watching that film. And having kids myself, I also just fully realized how hard their job was. And not to just keep a kid alive, but to shield them from bullying and prejudice and the darkness of the world. Trying to keep their lives bright and happy even when you're feeling like s--t. Not to take it out on them, trying to raise a good person. 

Guerrasio: Scarlett Johansson's character is a mother who really knows how to keep her interactions with her son not as toxic as everything around them. Is that a character trait your mother had?

Waititi: When I was growing up I felt it was pretty chill but obviously there are certain things, and again, being a father now, there are just things kids do that piss you off. [Laughs.] With Scarlett's character I thought a little of [Roberto] Benigni in "Life Is Beautiful," where he is distracting his son from what's really going on around them. He never loses it at all. There's the one moment with Scarlett in the living room where she just snaps and then remembers herself. But I really wanted people to fall in love with her. I wanted the audience to see her as really the only grounded force in the film. Everyone else is running around like headless chickens and all she's trying to do is keep the kid safe. 

Guerrasio: Did you get any rehearsal time with her? I would think with her schedule you only had her for a limited time.

Waititi: Yeah, we just talked. We talked a lot about it. 

Guerrasio: Did you feel that was enough?

Waititi: Unless you are searching for something, I'm not really sure you need much rehearsal. I felt the script was really in a place where I was really happy with it, and if there was anything we were searching for dialogue-wise, we could just talk about it and go off and try to execute those notes. And then there's also having amazing actors. With Sam and Scarlett, you don't really need to overthink it. I've learned that over the years, if you know someone is really good and they're smart and you have had those homework discussions earlier then most of your work is done. 

Guerrasio: Let's change it up and talk about Hitler.

Waititi: I've brought this on myself. 

Guerrasio: It sounds like early drafts of the script didn't have him in the story, right?

Waititi: The very first draft didn't have him, but then I started all over again. 

Guerrasio: What was the lightbulb moment?

Waititi: The book, I'll be straight up, is not a comedy. It's very much dramatic. And I was just about to do "What We Do in the Shadows," and I felt then that I was only interested in doing this if it's a different story from these World War II films. Knowing myself, I knew eventually I was going to put humor into it somewhere. When I rewrote it, I just started typing and it just kind of wrote itself. It only took me a couple of weeks. And I don't usually start at page one but I started and basically wrote all the way through. And the Adolf character came about and the script hasn't changed that much since. It's really hard to explain because the only time it's really happened to me is with this script.

Guerrasio: So in the rewrite that's when things get outlandish. 

Waititi: Yeah. The first version wasn't a comedy. 

  Guerrasio: That first draft was more true to the book?

Waititi: Yeah. I wrote the first draft with a friend of mine. It was brilliant but it just didn't feel like me. 

Guerrasio: And also you probably asked yourself, "Do you want to do a serious movie on this subject?"

Waititi: "Do I have to go to work and feel sad and angry all day." So I started again. I didn't even have this idea in my head of having this imaginary friend. I think I wanted to get rid of the father. I wanted to have this life in the house small and simple. Just the kid and the mother. In the book there's the kid, the mother, the grandmother, the father comes back and forth. There were just too many characters to try and do this. So I got rid of all of that and then just gave him a friend.

Guerrasio: How did you end up playing Hitler?

Waititi: It was never my intention. The furthest thing from my mind was me playing him. Then we shopped it around to a few agencies, not even specific actors, and asked, "What do you think of the script? Who do you think would work?" Back when we were getting this off the ground it was all about what actors are a box-office draw when it came to making period movies. So a lot of the investors said, "We need an A-lister to play Hitler." I could see why they would say that, but weirdly it's not like that anymore. 

Guerrasio: And if you cast a star, all I'm going to see in that role is that star.

Waititi: You're exactly right. So, let's come up with a name. Big movie star. 

Guerrasio: Um … Brad Pitt. 

Waititi: If it's the Brad Pitt Hitler movie that's all it's going to be known as. 

Guerrasio: It's true. 

Waititi: And he'll be the only thing on the poster and it will distract from the real heart of that story which are these kids. And I want to see a Brad Pitt anything movie but it would have taken away from what the story is trying to deliver. 

Guerrasio: So you have to take the role. 

Waititi: And it was [the movie's distributor] Fox Searchlight's decision.

Guerrasio: Really?

Waititi: After I finished shooting "Thor: Ragnarok" they came in and said they really loved the script. This is four or five years after I wrote it. They said they really want to make it but they said, "We're only interested if you play Hitler." Which was lunacy to me. 

Guerrasio: What was their pitch? Why?

Waititi: They made a good point which was that particular role is written a certain way and it needs to be handled by the person who invented that character. Part of it, like we said, is the celebrity distraction thing, but also because the way I wrote it, and because I knew how it needed to be played, it fell on me. And it actually made it easier to play because I didn't have to deal with someone else filtering what I was trying to do. They were right, looking back on it. If I worked with another actor maybe that person would have researched it too much or tried to do a more authentic version of Hitler and pulled away the buffoonery I was after.

Guerrasio: So what was it like on set directing in costume? 

Waititi: Yeah, it was horrible. 

Guerrasio: Did you address everyone on set the first day of shooting? "Sorry guys, it is what it is." 

Waititi: I did actually have to do that. I was just embarrassed on set. Having to be dressed like that and having to talk to people. Often I took off the mustache between set ups or put a hat on. Or I would take the jacket off. But still, you catch yourself in a reflection and you're reminded. For most people it's something like seeing themselves and going, "I forgot, I got a haircut yesterday." For me it was, "Ah, I forgot, I look like Hitler."

SEE ALSO: The Nazi satire "Jojo Rabbit" is a heartfelt coming-of-age comedy by the director of "Thor: Ragnarok" that feautures an amazing performance by Scarlett Johansson

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source https://www.businessinsider.com/taika-waititi-jojo-rabbit-interview-backstory-playing-hitler-2019-10