#anything that's not essential to the narrative

[celestialworlds]

sometimes i have byler doubt (scarred by voltron) until i realize the duffers went to one of the best film schools in the united states and know damn well how to make everything obvious but not obvious.

everything in that show is hidden under a thick layer of subtext, just like how will's sexuality was built up from season one to season 4 using basically ONLY subtext and trusting people could see what was happening. that's why i think some people get so worked up about people pointing out stuff about mike's storyline. because they're not paying attention to the subtext. it's not supposed to be in your face. the whole point of subtext is to read into it

the duffers have previously said they dont like anything to be "too on the nose," which is exactly, almost by definition, what subtext helps get rid of. it's supposed to be up in the air because its not in your face. you're supposed to ask questions. that's what makes the reveal of it so fun, and why the show garners so many viewers despite its wicked gap between seasons.

they also love trope subversions:

— the first victim trope: the first person to die in a horror film is usually the "hot one" or the "sexually promiscuous" one to "punish them" in a sense, stranger things subverts this trope by instead having nancy live, and barb die. (not saying barb's ugly shes a beautiful woman)

— the final girl trope: the final girl in horror is usually the one who somehow makes it out alive despite not really being a fighter, being innocent and essentially using whatever they have to fend off the "bad guy". stranger things subverts this trope by explicitly making nancy confrontational, a fighter and just a badass overall.

— the madman in the asylum: subverted the trope of the "bad guy" in the asylum being the villain by instead making victor creel wholly and completely innocent. he's there not because of his own doing, but of his son's.

anyways, i think its kind of expected to doubt it, actually. you're supposed to expect one thing and then be absolutely shocked when that gets flipped on its head. but i could be wrong so who knows!

all i know is that at this point almost everyone is supposed to be empathizing with will, and we know the painting lie pays off in season 5. i don't think they can easily backpedal with will's feelings this late into the series, and even if they wanted to theyve backed themselves into a very cramped corner by making will say that he needs mike and he always will. he's not going to just move on. its mike or nothing for him, and i don't think the duffers are going to pretty much break the one character theyve consistently put through hell and back every single season.

for all my non film major friends on here <3 this is what subtext is and how it works in the narrative

[i-cant-cast-that-yet]

Listen, I had a whole diatribe typed out train of thought style on aroace shen yuan, but I miss clicked somewhere and now it's gone but while I'm too tired to rewrite it all I'll give yall the spark notes.

Please keep in mind, this is mostly based on my specific experiences with being aroace-- as I myself am, and also me hard-core projecting. If this comes off as strange, it's because I'm a little strange myself. Also this probably makes no fucking sense so good luck.

Aroace Shen Yuan:

He's aware of PIDW Binghe being archetypically "hot," but doesn't personally get the appeal. He's seen the fanart, he's read through the copious amounts of papapa in the novel, he's aware that Binghe is suave n sexy n mysterious and that on paper he's supposed to be a chick magnet, but naturally shen yuan is straight so He's not into it obviously.

And you know what? I really do believe that pre-transmigration shen yuan wasn't actually attracted to fictional binghe. Not even in a parasocial or subconscious way. He was, however, definitely obsessed with his blorbo. It was about his deep fascination with the specific trope inversion binghe represented. It's the one thing that kept shen yuan engaged when the novel gradually took a nosedive beyond anything resembling a self-respecting internal narrative and fell face first into weekly updates of binghe's conquests and escapades. It's about how much shen yuan loved to read about binghe having to use his wits to overcome his obstacles when his early life disadvantages came to rear their heads and keep him from blasting through all obstacles. His weaknesses eventually made him strong, and even though that plot point was likely the first to disappear with the in-world discovery of xin mo, the promise that binghe might retain that level of intrigue kept him worth slogging through the rest of the novel.

That, and the longer the story goes on, the more tragic binghe's narrative becomes and the more protective shen yuan feels; the more righteous indignation the narrative evokes in him. Binghe is disrespected by the very text he's borne from in the perversion of his original wants. Binghe wants a home, love, stability, respect from his peers, and most importantly, he wants security and the apologies he was denied as a young boy. As the story goes on, these desires are given solutions that don't address the root causes via endless harem drama. This is likely because of xin mo exacerbating binghe's insecurities and amplifying his need for dual cultivation to manage his own unstable meridians, but for an ace shen yuan, this reliance on not only sex but meaningless sex with wives who because of circumstances outside of anyone's control cannot truly give binghe any of the emotional consolation he needs to work past his own issues, must have been infuriating. Add on the layer of vague disgust at having to be essentially coerced by an evil sword to rely on sexual encounters for both your physical wellbeing via cultivation, but also as a thinly veiled imitation of a coping method for binghe's complete lack of control over his childhood circumstances, and then to watch those real issues get chopped up into monster of the week papapa with whatever new fetish bait wife airplane has cooked up for the masses? I'd go fuckin bonkers too, man.

All of this to say, I think when shen yuan dies and ends up as shen qingqiu and then meets young binghe, he's probably intensely second-hand guilty alongside his terror and confusion. This is his Little Guy, his Big Terrible Dude, all wrapped up into a doe eyed, bruised little boy that he's supposed to bully now under threat of death. This is the little boy with so much kindness in his heart and so many more reasons to hate instead. This boy hasn't chosen hatred yet, but now shen yuan has to play his part in incubating that choice towards anger and self destruction and there's nothing he can really do about it.

He tries, of course, because shen yuan isn't going to let some nebulous system strong-arm him into abusing a child, even if in the end he can't avoid the truest of damning events in the endless abyss, he tries because he can't stomach letting this boy hurt more than fate is bound to force him to hurt himself.

But I'm losing sight of the point here. Back to the aroace funny bit.

I think that within the text of the canon svsss novel, we have enough textual evidence to safely call shen yuan demi. Yes, that man is deeply repressed, but something about his specific flavor of fond, resigned acceptance to binghe's actions post canon in relation to their marital bed n whatnot, I think he's attracted to binghe, but I don't think he's like...*attracted* attracted. This is where the grey area really begins. There's a sort of attraction that as an ace person I like, conceptually experience. The idea of having someone being like, handsome and having big muscles, and being into you, etc, that's all well and good in a vacuum, but in reality? Rather not.

I'd like to posit the idea of shen yuan being eventually comfortable trying to open up both to himself and to binghe largely because for the longest time, shen yuan still has the internal feeling that nothing in this world is real.

That binghe is still, at his core, fictional.

Idk about yall, but attraction to fictional characters is so much more palatable than attraction to a real individual. Mind you, I am actively aroace, and I've never dated in my 23 years alive, so this is real projection hours, but I digress, I myself have had a handful of crushes in my runtime that I've never bothered to act on out of pure disinterest in the act of romantic or emotional connection with others.

When you can't see yourself wanting to engage with the full complexity of another person on such an intimate level, either emotionally or physically, but you still feel deeply attached to them on a level bordering obsession, its...disconcerting to say the least. I feel like if shen yuan cared so deeply for binghe, would put up with his clingyness and his antics and his possessiveness, but never fully saw him as real? It'd be devastating if binghe even found out, and shen yuan really doesn't want to hurt him, but he can't manufacture a feeling where it doesn't exist. He's devoted to binghe, he enjoys making binghe happy, he wants to be with binghe, but he knows he isn't feeling the way his wives were written to feel about binghe and that makes him worry.

Sure, he feels 'a frission of heat' or whatever bs airplane had yapped about occassionally, and binghe's muscles do indeed 'bulge provocatively' quite often, but it's not the same, dammit. He loves binghe, but he's not quite sure he's in love with being in love. He's attracted to binghe, but none of the tropes he's been pushed into by the system have done anything but make him roll his eyes and sidestep whatever papapa plot line he's stumbled into.

And just maybe, it all makes him feel like he doesn't actually love binghe, and that he's been lying to him all over again. That he's doing exactly what shen yuan tells himself he was forced to do against his will, and that he's chosen to hurt binghe this way.

What shen yuan doesn't understand is that binghe realized a long ass time ago that his shizun isn't a very romantic person, but he is nothing but caring. That his shizun may not be a typical lover, but that couldn't matter less in binghe's eyes because shen qingqiu is choosing to keep binghe around even when it so clearly goes against what feels natural to the other man because he simply wants to have him around.

There's a lot to be said around the idea of "ace people can still love," and how it leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a predominantly aromantic individual, but that's neither here nor there, but I think there's something even more impactful to be spoken about people who can't, don't, or won't love in a "normal" or "typical" fashion, but who still choose to hold space for another in their life. For those who find themselves in love with someone who can't quite love them back "properly," but who yearn so strongly that they take what they can get. For those who don't need flowers and declarations of undying love, but a listening ear and a willing companion to spend their days with.

...

Also I think it would drive bingge up the fucking WALL trying to seduce his not-shizun and pulling out all the stops only for literally none of it to work lmao.

Anyway I'm gonna go rot in a corner at work now, lmk if I should like, elaborate further on anything or delete this haha

[queer-omens-in-the-archives]

so we've spent the past three months writing MelloNear daily, and we've worked on enough different pieces in that time that i now have some Thoughts as to the narrative purposes they each tend to serve in our own works (this is not. about canon though i suppose it DERIVES from their canon dynamic. this is very much about how we personally play with the blorbos)

by and large Mello serves to drive the plot, regardless of the position he is put in within the universe. we don't even have to actively be trying to do anything with him -- even in our more Near-centric pieces, as long as Mello is present? his emotions, whims, wants are what shapes the trajectory of the story, his emotional beats are the beats that drive the plot forward. he feels, he impulses, he injects stuff into the sequence of events. things happen because Mello wants them to (or pushes Near to make them happen if/when he himself cannot).

meanwhile Near is much less of a driving force for the plot and more of a reflective force for the story. he isn't IRRELEVANT to the plot, he doesn't do NOTHING, but most of what he does from a plot progression standpoint is reactive. like, he acts not because of an inner drive, not based on his own wants or needs, but largely when his circumstances require action of him. (by circumstances i don't just mean Plot Events. sometimes what he reacts to are his own emotions, like in sweet atonement, when they are so overwhelming that he cannot put them aside to strategise effectively anymore -- the keyword here being "effectively", because even then his first response will still often be to try to strategise.) by and large what Near does do is provide space for reflection, for thought, for analysis. things happen to him, or through him, and he thinks about them a bunch, and he'd leave it at that if Mello wasn't pushing him.

so they make for super neat storytelling when you figuratively drop them together in a jar and shake them around, because it's like. Mello pushes Near into action Near wouldn't take on his own; and then Near adds weight to Mello's direction, provides a deeper sense of spacetime, fleshes out the places where Mello takes him that Mello wouldn't necessarily stop at or consider on his own. like at their core, in the way we write their dynamic, Mello Does and Near Is. and mixing them up, you get: all of the essential elements for a compelling story!

and obviously im not like, talking in absolutes, none of this is true 100% of the time or the only possible reading of them, nuance exists etc etc. but that's the general trends we're starting to notice in our own MelloNear writing over the past few months

[ladykatibeth]

In a lot of stories (especially older ones that Nosferatu 2024 draws from) the leading woman is the passive recipient of the story, things happen to her, rather than as a result of her actions. The leading man, in contrast, is the active force—his decisions push the narrative forward.

The leading woman is also often the source of driving motivation to continue (maybe to keep her safe, or maybe because she’s his emotional center) for the man, but not a partner.

Part of what compels me in Nosferatu is the flip of this dynamic gender wise. Ellen’s decision to call out to any entity in her loneliness is what ultimately sets the plot into motion. Her decision to marry Thomas is what drives the count to lure Thomas to his castle and then reap havoc in Germany. Not giving into Orlok’s demands leads to death, and her decision to sacrifice herself is what saves everyone. She has more power of force in the narrative than any other character.

Even her failing at her goal is active. She puts her all into convincing Thomas to stay. After not hearing from him for a while she has to stop herself from storming into the solicitors office to demand information. When she chooses not to act it’s not a given, it’s explicitly a choice. She could act.

Thomas fairly gets called pathetic and useless (with affection), because he’s the passive character the story happens to. There is a choice that Thomas makes which impacts the story which is leaving for Orlok’s castle, but even that’s somewhat coerced because his employment might be on the line if he refused. Still that wasn’t the only way Orlok could have gotten him there (a more direct kidnapping by Knock for instance).

Other than that, the impact of Thomas’s decisions are all tied up in Ellen’s previous action. Him marrying her only creates the plot’s conflict because she summoned a vampire. Also he goes in with zero knowledge of this risk, unlike Ellen. Thomas goes into Orlok’s castle completely unaware of any of the context Ellen would have for why he’s being psychologically tormented. He fails to kill the monster and ends up in more peril.

He escapes and returns but is so completely wiped out he can’t really do much for a few days after. Him being alive isn’t a detriment to Orlok’s plan or something Orlok’s plan hinges on. I don’t even think the contract actually did anything except give Orlok manipulation fuel.

He’s essentially a chip that Orlok uses against Ellen in the third act. Whatever choices he makes don’t make a difference, and the narrative mostly acts upon him, rather than his action creating the narrative. He’s a passive (though not undynamic) character.

He is Ellen’s motivation though. Ellen loves him so she marries him despite the risk. Ellen sacrifices herself to keep him safe. He is her emotional center, the person who helped keep the darkness at bay, he’s her emotional support while she fights against the antagonist, and he’s the comforting presence as she passes on. She’s the protagonist, and ultimately the hero.

[sholmeser]

ary scheffer / justus knetch / snake & ocelot

[ganondoodle]

i am being so brave trying so hard to hold back writing a rant about that 'minimizing narrative noise' comment on totk sage concept art bc its actively flying around in my head like the worlds most annoying fly

[whoredmode]

going off something i was talking about the other day. i think i know why i took sriv’s terrible quality so personally. like why i felt so insulted and angered by it. it felt like a slap in the face to anyone who cared to take the early games seriously. even if that wasn’t the intention, it doesn’t really matter if that’s how it ends up coming off regardless.

sr1 is a tragicomedy, it has elements of heightened reality but at its core is a very genuine and grounded piece of work. the tone was meant to be based off (specifically) hip-hop music videos, which in and of themselves are incredibly sincere pieces of art—the visualization of something you can’t see, or in some cases the visualization of literal lyrics. pieces of art that have a point to get across, oftentimes ending in either bittersweet or sobering ways (see: playa’s death at the end of sr1). sr1 hits the beats it wants to and tells the story it wants to tell, even in the face of being a GTA clone or whatever. it had real heart. it had a point to its narrative. and i’ve actually written a longer piece discussing the use of music in the games and its love/hate relationship w gangsta rap and hip-hop if you’re curious. whether you think it did this well or not is up to your own tastes, but the intention and end result is clear.

so all that to say when sriv came along and was just unfunny jokes and badly written irony, parody, and quips placed against painfully bathetic moments and quite literally blowing up its worldbuilding. it’s like. oh. that’s how you’re sending this off. if the intention was just to “make a fun game” then sure, fine, whatever, but there’s really no need to just be so…dismissive of what came before. you’re just lying when you say the narrative of the games was never meant to be taken seriously from the start. sorry for caring?? i forgot it’s not cool to be sincere anymore. forgot we’re all supposed to have this sense of ironic detachment to all art. ok. whatever.

[firegiftlouis]

This fandom’s constant push to make Louis out to be the sexual predator of the series is gross enough as is when he’s the only Black male lead (never mind the fact that he is ALSO a victim of sexual violence but you guys conveniently ignore), but I know none of y’all give a fuck about racism 😒

Instead, I just wanted to point out how fucking wild it is that so many of you are constantly and uncritically painting the only man in the main cast so far who is confirmed to be exclusively attracted to men as sexually predatory. Like that doesn’t come off as I don’t know…homophobic as fuck to y’all???

[sammygender]

there's something really easy to me about writing precanon spn fanfiction (not writing GOOD fanfiction necessarily. but. just having an idea and turning it into a 5kish vaguely completed story in its own right. which is normally something i struggle with). and i think i just clocked why while reading something about how to write short stories (i am notoriously bad at writing original short stories i just write novels and scenes from novels instead lol).

so much of writing flowing well is about motivation... characters wanting something. and i specifically find the young winchesters so good to write for because they have these motivations so built into them.

sam wants to get free & have autonomy & stop hunting & make dad understand and all that is sooo written into his younger self and therefore to write a lil fic about him you just have to like... isolate an incident that lets you really show that. which is what ive been doing without realising it. and dean wants... not much for himself, which is just as key of a character detail! but he still has intensely strong motivations, to keep the family together and to protect sam.

this is such a testament to the character work on spn lol their motivations even precanon are so clear and they're still such complex characters and it makes them so so so fun to write. its making me realise. i think some of the failures of my own character writing is that they dont always Want things

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

the endless curse of being utterly uninterested in romance in fandom spaces

[nullcoast]

Why can't we just love eachother and help eachother and cry for eachother when we hurt and laugh for eachother when we're happy. What happened to radical acceptance and beauty. Why are we self-separating using white suppremist ideas about identity. The idea someone needs some pure property to be worthy of adopting a community is point blank a white suprematist idea. Where is the understanding of mistake and pain.

We are so alone and isolated in this generation and we are playing directly into the interests of those in power by further self-separating. Focus on some important fucking shit.

[craig960114]

why craig are take over world

essay by me (craig)

As much as Craig may seem like a simple doodle of a cat, his potential for world domination should not be underestimated. Despite his crude appearance, Craig embodies the essence of adaptability and resilience, traits that are essential for any aspiring ruler.

Firstly, Craig's simplicity works to his advantage. Underestimation is a powerful tool in warfare, and many would dismiss Craig as inconsequential. However, this oversight allows Craig to operate in the shadows, biding his time until the perfect moment to strike.

Secondly, Craig's lack of defined features makes him a versatile symbol. He can represent anything from innocence to cunning, depending on the narrative spun around him. This ambiguity allows Craig to appeal to a wide range of followers, from disillusioned citizens seeking change to opportunistic power-seekers.

Thirdly, Craig's handwritten signature adds a personal touch to his endeavors. In a world increasingly dominated by digital signatures and impersonal interactions, Craig's handwritten mark harkens back to a simpler time, fostering a sense of nostalgia and authenticity among his followers.

In conclusion, Craig may appear unassuming at first glance, but beneath his simplistic exterior lies the potential for world domination. Through adaptability, versatility, and a personal touch, Craig has the tools necessary to rally followers and reshape the world in his image. Beware the power of Craig, for his ascent to global dominance may be closer than we think.

[designernishiki]

as much as a i understand and respect ace kiryu truthers, i really feel like kiryu is the type to really take the idea to heart that sex is something vulnerable and meaningful and thus reserved for someone completely trusted and special to him– someone who feels right. after years and years he’s still never legitimately voluntarily slept with someone, always tries to turn women away or is at least apathetic when they try to get physical with him, never feels that deep and specific bond with a woman– nothing compared to some of his bonds with other men throughout his life. and maybe, hopefully, one day it’ll hit him that there’s a pretty big, glaring reason why no women have ever felt “right” to him.

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

how do terfs grapple with the fact that they're white supremacist losers who think that women are weak essentially like adult babies but that they also bear the apparent brunt of all human pain... liiike ok which narrative are we going with

[psalmsofpsychosis]

I dont think at this point i can even start on classic literature if i tried, like, i have absolutely zero patience for stories that take their goddamn time "building up" to things. "give exposition talk and show your characters doing everyday things" girl only if the everyday things contribute to the theme of the story! I dont have an ounce of interest in traditional idle starting points, "this story takes awhile to warm up and nothing happens for 45 pages" lmao bye

[sunhalf]

kairi has been dead since the beginning. btw.