#anyway i just get annoyed by the trope cause its SO common and i hate if its a shortcut for actually writing

[purpleandstarlight]

It continues @hateweasel

-I never listened to Fly me to the moon - but I always connect it to a canon kiss between two queer characters in a trilogy I really like bc after it one of them goes back to his room while humming it. Then that arc of yours with the crazy villain dude who sang it came and past me was afraid it would ruin my good memory associated with the song (but I genuinely forgot it until now).

-I wasn't impressed with that arc's villain's intelligence and didn't understand his beef with Ciel since from what I understood back then it was his own fault for touching sacred objects wrong??? Like don't be surprised if you get cursed while playing with ancient magic artifacts dude...(not criticism towards the author, just the character who's being needlesly petty lmao)

-I then said, and i have really no context for it but that just makes it funnier: "Ciel seems unimpressed...Wich is peak Ciel behavior, but this time he's right." I guess it was about the arc's villain?

- Cameron [about Alois, Ciel and Audrey]: They are horrible supernatural creatures that kill people!!!!

Me back then: Bestie, Audrey is just half reaper? He doesn't do a reaper job either??? And reapers don't kill anyway they just collect the souls of the dead???

(I understood that he was manipulated by the villain so he probs got a lot of shit wrong. Before the whole "trying to get back with Kris while he's amnesiac", me and my friend gave him the benefit of the doubt and defended him a bit. But reading this now its still funny to me)

-Me shitting on the arc's villain name with my friend. I didn't even remember the whole name but I was sure it sucked and we were very vocal about it (again, bullying the character, not the author). I just generally had beef with the dude ig, I realized just now that I kept insulting him for everything...

-i was SO hype about the rest of the 7 going around spying Cielois on a date...wich. understandable. It's peak me behavior. I'm there for the funny hijinks. You actually call them "the backseat boys" while they're on a taxi in that chapter, i realize in my first reread, and it always makes me lose it for the giggles since I assume it's a reference to the backstreet boys? I don't know them I just know the name but ITS A FUNNY PUN.

-Oh God DaffyDucks's introduction chapter...The moment he was fighting with the seven to sit next to Alois my gaydar buzzed, no lie. After he started being sleazy with Alois, I was genuinely just creeped out and annoyed by him troughtout the whole arc and never really stopped. I hate him even now. I cheered when Ciel kicked his ass.

-DLTD: By that afternoon, Ciel had rid himself of the rest of the sensational seven

Me: LOL

DLTD: ...(including Alois)

Me: ... :(

Me: NO WAIT I MISREAD!! IT SAYS EXCLUDING!!! :DD

(Genuine Rollercoaster of emotions I had while reading that single sentence)

-Gabriel Bailey saying he would stop being a cop made me so sad. I was like "More power to you but I'm gonna miss you dude" cause I thought we wouldn't see him again?

Then my friend said "You know, cops saying they will stop being cops in fiction is usually a death flag" and I shat myself.

-I genuinely said (and I'm Copypasting) "NHA BC CIEL AND DAFFYDUCK DO BE HAVING SOME TENSION IF U KNOW WHAT I MEAN 💀" and then i followed it with (not Copypasting but translating in english) "Nha I'm kidding. Daffyduck isn't blonde he's got no chance."

-I said this at like 4 am. At 11:31 I then barged into the chatroom after this hours long silence with "Okay so DaffyDuck is an ally now but I still hate his guts".

- I then said "In the end DaffyDuck was working with the bad guys like i thought at the beginning of the arc but he was only being manipulated. I gave him much more importance than what he has." and my friend jokingly pointed out that a lot of people get manipulated in DLTD so I said "To be fair it's a common trope in every story, but not as many stories are so long as to have space for many repetition, so it's understandable that it happens a lot in this"

[tlbodine]

Why the “Intelligent Asshole” Trope Needs to Die

I was watching a video essay about Rick & Morty earlier and it got me to thinking about all of the intelligence tropes I hate or roll my eyes at in fiction. I feel like I’ve maybe talked about some of this before but it keeps annoying me so here I am again with a poorly organized rant. 

Intelligent People Are Curious 

This is a huge one that the media always gets wrong. The “genius” character in a show is always so keen to tell everybody about why he’s right and all the rest of them are idiots. He knows that his views are correct and everyone else needs to get in line. This sort of intellectual rigidity doesn’t match with most actual smart people. 

If there’s a unifying characteristic among most really intelligent people, it’s an awareness of what they don’t know and an insatiable curiosity to learn more. 

Curiosity for its own sake -- not material gain or a desire for status -- is arguably a major benchmark of intelligence. It’s a defining characteristic. Smart people want to know how things work, and why, and what happens if the conditions change, and what factors influence those conditions. Smart people do not dogmatically cling to their own knowledge and beliefs in the face of conflict, evidence, or for the power of lording over less intelligent people -- assholes do that. 

And “intelligent asshole” is such a common trope now that it’s like the two things have to go together! Which is just...baffling. Most of the really intelligent people in the world -- folks I think we can all agree are geniuses throughout history -- are not and were not especially arrogant people. In fact, a lot of them were notably very humble. 

This is really important because there are a great deal of people out there in the real world -- not fictional characters, but living breathing personalities who work to directly impact the world we live in -- who lean hard into that “genius asshole” trope and try to bully people into doing what they say because they’re so “rational” or whatever. And that’s just. That’s not how intelligence works, and that’s certainly not how being a decent human being works, and it’s not even really how “effectively getting anything accomplished” works! 

Anyway, this brings us back to the Rick & Morty video. 

I really enjoy Rick & Morty. I had never seen it before the lockdown, at which point I binged the entire series twice back-to-back because I found it so delightful. I don’t engage with fandom as a rule, but I am peripherally aware that the R&M fandom is kind of terrible and that maybe Dan Harmon, the creator, is also kind of terrible? But I didn’t give it much thought because I’m happy to engage with media on its own terms. 

So it came as a bit of a surprise to me when I was listening to this particular video analysis and realizing that there....are maybe people out there who think that Rick is the hero of the show? Like people who are watching it and genuinely coming away feeling like Rick is right, that he’s a character worth emulating, that he’s some kind of ideal to look up to? 

And that’s just....that had never occurred to me? Like, Rick is an extremely interesting and compelling character, but I thought the show made it very clear that he is not only deeply flawed, but that is the guy causing all of his own problems. He’s “the most intelligent man in the universe” but he can’t seem to stop himself from repeatedly self-sabotaging and failing to identify or correct any of his own flaws or lack of emotional maturity. 

Like...I feel like the show makes it pretty clear that Morty is the main character,  the one who grows and develops and calls Rick out on his bullshit and has a moral compass and does the right thing (and the necessary thing) when the story calls for it. I kind of thought the point of the show was to satirize Rick’s whole character trope by showing just how pathetic he is, to the point that even he is aware that he’s a tragically irredeemable screw-up who wants to make things right with his family but can’t actually figure out how to do it. 

Anyway -- knowing that there are at least some folks out there idolizing Rick and Rick’s notion of intelligence (and the pain of being smart in a world full of idiot sheep) does certainly explain why it may have such a famously awful fanbase. Yikes.

Mainstream Portrayals of “Intelligent” Characters in Fiction Contribute to Anti-Intellectualism in Real Life

There is a virulent strain of “rationalism” overtaking certain segments of the society, and a real cultural problem with anti-intellectualism and science illiteracy overall. And although I certainly don’t think we can blame TV for that, our pop culture concept of intelligence sure isn’t helping matters. 

Here are a few of the flaws with pop culture “geniuses”: 

They are certain that they’re right all the time. We already talked about this at the beginning, but it bears repeating. Real geniuses don’t “know” that they’re right about everything just because “they’re so smart.” If a truly intelligent person believes something to be true, they’ll usually have reasons supporting that belief, and they will be willing to cite the evidence and how they drew the conclusions that they did. If the thing they believe is something that exists in the world in a tangible way, they’ll have evidence to show that -- direct observations of the thing, or observations of that thing’s effect on other things. If the thing they believe is a bit more esoteric, they’ll at least be able to provide a logical proof for why the argument makes sense. Formal logic is an entire aspect of philosophy and mathematics that everyone always seems to forget about, but it sure is important! 

They appeal to (their own) authority. This goes hand-in-hand with the above. An information source is not more trustworthy than another source because it’s intrinsically “better” -- instead, a trustworthy source can explain how it came to its conclusions, what dataset was used in the study, the methodology of the study, and so forth. I run into this all the time when trying to debate, say, vaccine efficacy. The anti-vaxxer will ask me, “Well, if your source says X and mine says Y, why is your source better?” And the answer to that question is, because my source has rigorous scientific principles applied to it and I can look at the study for myself and see how well-conceived it was. 

They are always a certain kind of “scientist.” Quick, you have to come up with a brilliant character for a TV show -- what do you do?! Well, odds are good you make them some kind of physicist or mathematician. Or, even better, make them some kind of engineer who’s also a math genius! Yeah! Somehow “math is for smart people” became ingrained in our social consciousness, despite the fact that advanced mathematics skill is just one (honestly pretty limiting) way of exploring intelligence. Where are the genius poets and philosophers and social scientists? Hell, where are the genius biologists? 

Intelligence = Magic, I Guess? I get that TV and such is a visual medium so you have to do something to dramatize your character’s intelligence, but it’s kind of silly that characters in fiction who are supposedly really smart are shown being smart....primarily by inventing cool gadgets, or performing some magical kind of “science” that doesn’t actually have a real-world equivalent. Being smart in a lot of fiction seems to mean “can do things that are inaccessible to the other characters but only because they’re kind of bending the rules of the narrative” which is....lazy? I get that it’s way harder to write a super smart narrative than it is to have your genius just spontaneously come up with the answer to a problem that nobody reading the story could have solved on their own, but it’s not really showing your character using intelligence. It’s telling us the character is smart in a pretty insulting way. 

These flaws don’t just make for weak characterization -- they have a genuine spill-over effect where we see real-world folks out there marketing themselves as geniuses on the basis of “I have the best ideas because I’m really smart” but without doing the genuine intellectual labor required to, y’know, back up their claims. 

IQ doesn’t mean much. It’s a racist and classist measurement of very limited types of intelligence (mostly pattern recognition). And I say this as someone who has a 152-point IQ (go ask my high school special ed program administrator!) -- the number means nothing, and the type of intelligence it measures is limited in scope. 

Yes, some people are quicker thinkers than others. Yes, some people are more educated than others. When faced with the same information, some people will derive answers more quickly by virtue of having brains that are better at identifying patterns, memorizing information, cross-referencing that information to come up with novel conclusions, and so forth. Some people are smarter than others, by that criteria. But that in no way means those people are better than anybody else, and it certainly doesn’t mean that their ideas are always correct or even good. 

This is one reason why I love the anime Dr. Stone so much. Yes, it’s sometimes fanciful and it’s 100% wish fulfilment, but it’s so damn refreshing to see a character who understands and values science as a method of hard work. Senku happens to be the most knowledgeable person left in the universe, but even he knows he’s not smarter than everyone else -- he spends a lot of time training other people and teaching them what he knows, he values their contributions, he marvels at what Chrome was able to achieve without any formal education at all. And, of course, while Senku is aloof and prickly and vehemently non-sentimental, he’s also the furthest thing from a nihilist. His specific goal is to use science to help everyone, to save everyone, and he fights in direct opposition to people who think they should have the power to decide who lives and who dies in the stone world. 

I want more characters like Senku, and less of....all that other bullshit. 

Where there are real geniuses in the world, they are marked by 1.) Curiosity 2.) Humility 3.) Willingness to put in the work. 

So miss me with your “asshole genius” tropes. They’re boring and shallow and just serve to give real-world assholes an excuse to be dicks to people based on some sense of superiority and authority conferred to them by a pop culture understanding of human hierarchization and pseudo-meritocracy (spoiler alert: it’s privilege, not merit, that puts most of these folks where they are). 

[redxblueihateloveyou]

I'm surprised people see Tadashi as the victim in his relationship with Ainosuke, when it's Tadashi the one who time and time again takes away Ainosuke's agency, without being able to see that he is throwing him unto unhappiness. I can't help but think that if Tadashi was not working at Shindo's house, Ainosuke would have maybe left or broke with the family. But he can't do that if he wants the relationship with Tadashi going on, seing how Tadashi is set on enforcing the family rules...

Hmm.. I def agree with the fact that Tadashi is not what most fandom makes out of him, my man (I mean, Adam’s man) is a 100% Slytherin. But I disagree with blaming him for this, after all the revealed info. The environment they were both raised in made their situation complicated.

I like Tadashi a lot, he’s probably my fav thing about this anime, bc he’s a dark horse, and I’m once again surprised, that so little ppl see him for who he really is, portraying him as an innocent puppy, which he is definitely not.

Now to why I think both Tadashi and Adam are victims of the dad and aunties in this situation. 

We can of course say “if only they told each other how they really feel...”, but like we can say it about any love story really. Every author knows it’s no fun. The truth is that yes, they both hurt each other, and yes, if they were honest about their feelings things would’ve been different, but as I’ve already wrote under that “toxic” commentary on YT, lets look at the whole situation from both of their point of views:

We know that Adam when he was little always treated Tadashi as an equal, he never ever thought of him as someone lower than him and after their fall out, the only reason for this “harsh” treatment (well, besides their confirmed kink) was that Adam tried to get a reaction out of him, so Tadashi would stand up for himself, bc Ainosuke got mad about Tadashi caving to his dad’s wishes and abandoning him, when he needed him the most. 

But now, knowing the fact that Tadashi was his dad’s secretary and was under his control, let’s see it from his perspective: Tadashi wanted to stay by Adam’s side, Adam’s dad implied that if Tadashi did say smth, he’s gonna be.. well, dismissed and they won’t see each other ever again. That’s what caused Tadashi to stay silent in that moment. Ainosuke instead saw this as a “he’s not on my side” thing, well, because. Tadashi won’t tell him his problem, bc dad and aunties control everything, so even if he does tell him, what a teen would do really? He didn’t have any powers back then to make his dad do anything. 

And that’s when it all gone to shit, since they both were hurt for their own reasons. It’s easy to say leave the family, but 1stly nobody explained to Adam still that he’s physically and psychologically abused by his family, he sees it as them “loving him” and sadly also loves them, bc nobody told him, that love wasn’t supposed to be like that really. He definitely feels that smth is not right and feels emotionally exhausted there bc of this treatment, but did he ever consider leaving? I really don’t think so. He feels obligated to be worthy of a family, who “loves” him.

Do you think, for example, that Akashi Seijuro hates his dad for what he did to him? No. Does he understand that he wasn’t at fault for what happened to him and that his dad instead of comforting his child after his mother’s death, who was his only safe haven, made everything worse? I don’t think he does. Like his mom gave him basketball, an escape from all that family’s obligations and strictness. After her death, it was the only thing left that brought him joy, but his dad ruined even that, saying that if he’s gonna be bad at it/lose, he’d take it away from him too. Does Akashi see this as emotional abuse? No, he sees it like “well, I have to be the best bc I was born in such powerful family, so if my dad says that I must be best at everything, then I must.”

I personally hate such parents a lot. To me it doesn’t matter if Adam’s dad didn’t know about aunties hitting his child. Like if he was too busy to notice this and have no time for his kid and made his childhood miserable, it doesn’t make it any better really. 

Same as with Akashi’s dad. Some are like “he was probably also grieving about his wife”. Emm? He was like this from the beginning, bc he treated Akashi not as his son, but as his heir. And yes, that’s different things. Same with Endeavor and Todoroki. Your child is not your post production thing.

2ndly they were too young, even if they knew about each others feelings and he didn’t feel obligated and told everyone to fuck off, they’d be on the streets now, but also Adam’s dad doesn’t seem like a guy who’d leave them alone really. Also eloping seems very romantic, but I don’t think it is, esp when you’re teens. Did you want him to sell some expensive watch and go live on Hawaii or smth? Bc finding a decent job there would be difficult at this age, esp with everyone knowing who your dad is. Chen Ke from “Antidote” survived bc he was 27 and had connections and some great friends. Adam was in high school, where would he go exactly?

Now let’s go back to now. Obviously all this time it didn’t even cross Tadashi’s mind that for Ainosuke he comes first and that he would throw everyone under the bus to make Tadashi stay with him. As we see at the end, he legit believed that Adam was planning to send him to jail and didn’t get that he said it just to shaken he up and that he knew who he’d set up for this from the beginning. 

To Adam obviously it doesn’t matter whether they’re in a quarrel or not, he would never him go. Yes, he’s mad at him, he’s angry and hurt, but Tadashi’s still the person he needs the most, he’s still the person who brightens his days, even tho he deliberately behaves like he annoys him. He always looks at him and looks at him and looks at him, but then hisses smth to hurt him. Bc he knows that he needs him, but he also hates that he needs him, bc he thinks it’s unrequited.

And that’s how their classic romance goes in hellish circles. No one wants to talk as usual. Adam is mad Tadashi is like that bc his dad turned him into a slave with no opinion, while Tadashi is scared that Adam would be taken away from him bc of his ugly family. 

Now I still think that no one and I mean no one can take Tadashi from Adam now, he is his precious. So my plan is... if Tadashi made aunties do smth against him or to get rid of him, aunties will go for sure. The problem is Tadashi still doesn’t get that he comes first, so we’re stuck in this hell still.

So anyways, my point is Adam’s heart basically sings “you got a hold of me, don’t even know your power” to Tadashi, but he doesn’t hear it, bc of his insecurities, the way he was raised and his status. But yes, he holds all the power. He’s both Adam’s sanity and insanity. No matter how cheesy it sounds he was basically his only ray of sunshine in the darkness, if you take it away, that’s what it leads to, that’s why Ainosuke-sama needs more ppl who care for him. I don’t want anyone to die next time, just cause Tadashi and Adam fought about where to put their new couch lmao. I’m kidding, but you know what I mean. And kill the aunties, pls seriously, we need to be free.

Also ppl need to remember that like lots of animes/characters are parcially inspired by some other animes/characters, also the chosen seiyuus are also very important, there are lots of stuff like jokes and references, that creators use, from characters being fully inspired by smth like “Assassination classroom” characters based on KNB, to little stuff like Levi dressed in Akashi’s uniform in chibi AOT bc Hiroshi Kamiya. Utsumi already said before stuff like she sometimes think of a perfect voice for the character and then fully forms him, we also know her clear love for sports animes. So yes, I doubt Tadashi/Kuroko thing is a coincidence and even tho someone was like “zone? is this knb or smth?” I was like no, zone is actually a common thing in sports, even tho most associate it with KNB including me, it’s not like its their invention, but there were things inspired by this for sure, and from other sports animes too and no, I don’t mean the basic sports anime tropes, I mean, like way too specific things, some character designes, too. And yes, Langa appearence and personality wise is a rinharu child for real, I can literally split his scenes in “that’s Haru”, “that’s Rin”.

That’s why I’ve said that this situation in fandom reminds me of Kuroko/Akashi situation a lot, bc same as here in KNB ppl for some reason automatically thought that Kuroko is this innocent sheep and Akashi is the wolf (but also like it was Akashi who chose to dress as red riding hood, while Kuroko was a wolf lmao), not even seeing who is in reality more dangerous and who can easily control who. It just buffles me bc it’s not some deep analisys really. I mean once again there’s a reason for the saying that the sub holds all the power over the dom. 

And like just bc someone yells or threatens ppl constantly doesn’t necessarily mean he is a psycopatic killer, and just bc someone is quiet and doe-eyed, doesn’t mean he isn’t. I didn’t think we needed to explain this to someone, but aparently we do?

And it honestly kills me just how superficially ppl are watching things these days. It really gives me war flashbacks to stuff like the last mdzs s1 episode, where ppl started to comment things like “how LZ can be so heartless” lmao. Or that anonymous ask “do you think haru misses rin?”. Like you don’t see thing at all? Grey substance no needed, while watching things?

P.S. I also would die to see Adam vs Tadashi race just bc I for some reason can bet all my money, that it’s the same situation as with Akashi refusing to ankle break Kuroko, no matter how mad he is. I just can’t imagine Ainosuke hitting Tadashi in the face with a board. Like 100% sure he wouldn’t even try tbh.

[icharchivist]

cries think I made my ask too long so like half of it got deleted bc I typed it right into the askbox. anyways. I come bearing a3 thoughts! at first i was gonna watch the spring/summer and autumn/winter ones and then give my thoughts on both but. turns out i had too many thoughts lol? which i shouldve expected but i actually kind of... got bored by the first two chapters of this event! so i skipped and went to the stranger. and then went back. (1/?)

and then i got to like "tsuzuru and kazunari are having a fight?" and jumped on that like a starving wolf bc helllll yeah! i rly adored kazunari in sardine search, i think he was great! hes just so nice and has good vibes. he and taichi are kind of similar i feel? but i think their respective ages contribute to a lot of difference in their characters. why does it feel like this askbox limit personally wants me dead. (2/?)

anyways! i rly enjoyed the improv scene devolving to a real fight. admittedly i was kinda surprised that the content of that improv wasnt rly too similar to their actual fight? like normally a3 has the story of the play run parallel to like the actual real character drama so i thought the improv might function as the play in this event... it was still good tho. the scene i mean. (3/?)

also i rly liked tenma ragging on them afterwards. like he was mean but. first i adore tenma. second he just felt like. a different meddling type to muku lol? like the vibes he gave me were always like... im going to be a considerate leader and watch out for the ppl under me! therefore im gonna make sure theyre doing fine! aggressively. i think tenmas also just like a friendly person who likes to take care of others in general? like im not saying hes omi or anything but just like. (4/?)

that time he offers his car ride to juza so they can go to school together like hes surprisingly open compared to his initial prickliness. also ive got thoughts abt the tenma juza SSR conversation thing i read. one day ill make a tenma and juza fic and complete a trifecta haha... but thats something for another day! back to the actual story. the way tsuzuru dives right in after kazunari! that was so nice. like its easy to see how much they care abt each other. (5/?)

to the point where like even while theyre fighting theyre like angry but still like fairly quiet bc i think theyre both at least trying to be considerate of each other. ah the moment kazunari didnt respond to tsuzuru trying to talk to him i KNEW he was sick tho. felt proud of myself for calling that one but also the reason i knew is bc i have used the "character being sick during an argument causing them both to make up with each other" trope myself before so uh. like recognizes like haha. (6/?)

anyways the cg there was fuckin beautiful like kazunari looks so sad in the middle bit but then u see his shy smile? like hes sick but hes also like. happy to be there. idk. lovely. i adore kazu i think hes just deeply sweet to other people. tsuzuru telling him "you make everyone around you feel as bright and cheery as the things you design” is so wonderful too (7/?)

now im thinking. ah tsuzuru probably feels quite drained after a script and such (i know i am when i finish any piece--its like the emotions just rush out of me) so i like to think that like yknow. kazunari dropping by his room or whatever helps him set himself back to normal! but also when tsuzurus like oh u left ur magazines here! i suddenly remembered. wait shit kazunari and tsuzuru arent even roommates. wonder how much they bother masumi lmaooo. anyways overall very good story! (8/?)

some more thoughts: itaru and citron were so cute in this event! just like. citron saying itaru winking makes his heart skip a beat and itaru quoting citrons wrong sayings (which. i am also guilty of today i told my brother "we'll jump that bridge when we cross it" so) also i love how yuki is like "thank god i wasnt partnered with that hack" but like. yuki. u could literally just not talk about him. like its so funny to me yuki is like wow i hate tenma but he wont shut up abt him haha (9/?)

i also was a lil taken aback at hearing itaru go "for the lulz" tbh... like it fits him. but im mad it fits him? anywaysss thats all i had for this one! im gonna watch autumn/winter and go say my thoughts on that soon. sorry the ask was so broken up, idk what happened!

OLA FRIEND! Glad to see your thoughts again omg :3c

tho omg the fact tumblr deleted it all + the ask limit was all so evil D: poor friend.

I'm putting my answer under a read more because. Well. *waves hand* it got long.

The non-play events can be perhaps a little harder to get into because unlike the plays events that you start with a clear idea of at least the main plot (re: "they are preparing a play, i know the leads so i know who it will focus on"), non-plays events take a little longer to first set up what event they're participating in, how to prepare for it, and then bring up the conflict and which characters are going to have something to do with said conflict. So i can understand that they're a little harder to get into when we know the plays awaits.

On top of that, the first few events still were a bit tame because since it was early when the app released, i think they didn't go too heavy at once in case some people were still stuck on earlier chapters (esp since especially Winter is hard to unlock)

ANYWAY glad that it sucked you in on the second read :3c

So glad you were invested in that conflict!

Totally agreeing with you about Kazunari, and very good point about Taichi as well! they aren't the Puppy Pair for nothing :'D (Yuki took one look at both of them together and just Knew. His suffering knows no end (lovingly)). But yeah i think they have a lot in common, they both are the really bright and friendly figure, both also started in overcompensating a bit because both wanted to be popular in some ways.

But we do have, on one hand, Kazunari who wanted that rather late in his life while Taichi always thrived for that, the fact Kazunari made friends easily and it's just that he was scared of getting to the next level, while Taichi always struggled with this quest for popularity. In a way too both of them were at least scared to share a part of them, Kazunari worrying to show his thoughts, and Taichi being a spy and all of that... which impacts them really differently considering the guilt it puts on Taichi. And then you add their age into the mix, especially the fact Kazu is the oldest of his troupe and Taichi the youngest of his, it makes them fairly similar all while being fairly different.

both are so interesting to me and i love them bothhh, so it's always nice to see them have focus.

admittedly i was kinda surprised that the content of that improv wasnt rly too similar to their actual fight? like normally a3 has the story of the play run parallel to like the actual real character drama so i thought the improv might function as the play in this event

i love how you are seeing the patterns a3 tends to do it's so neat!

It's true the fight isn't really similar to their actual fight, though i do love that they had "swapped" their personality for the act and ended up insulting each other for theirr swapped personality. Like, Kazunari insulted part of himself in Tsuzuru's character and Tsuzuru did the same?? and then the fight escalated and the way Kazunari broke character hurts bc it's really that Tsuzuru hit where it hurts. But yeah it still wasn't too relevent to their actual fight, though i think the thing is that their fight was as such mostly because they tend to clash often due to their personalities rather than just this singular reason why, so to have the play go more "it's their personalities the problem" kinda hurt lol. But yeah still agreed that it didn't reflect much on the plot itself

I was rereading the improv bit to answer correctly and man since we're going to talk about Tenma next, i just. Love that when Kazunari, breaking character, his eyes sad, tells Tsuzuru "you have no rights talking to me like that..." it then cuts on Tenma being upset. Bc like. Exactly like you say, he wants to look out for the people under him. and like. Kazunari is his friend. A friend he also snapped at once and insulted for being who he was, so he probably could have relived a bit of his fight with Kazunari seeing those two fights; Except that now Kazunari is one of his closest friend and he doesn't like that.

Also like. It was also because he could still hide under the plot of the improv but it's so rare, and it never happened before that point, that Kazunari stands for himself in a "the way you treat me is unfair"? Like again re: his fight with Tenma, when Tenma snapped at him, while Tenma was unfair with him, Kazunari took the blame, called himself annoying and all yaknow?

The fact Kazunari is starting to accept that he can take more place for himself is something the whole Summer Troupe have been trying to help him work on, but especially Tenma. Tenma is always there trying to push Kazunari to say what he means, to express his feelings, to stop hiding.

And for once, Kazunari does that in front of everyone... and it's because he's breaking because of his fight with Tsuzuru.

I think Tenma probably felt it was even more of a reason to get involved like, this is the thing he's been working on with Kazunari about, and now he's being all hurt about it, not on Tenma's watch!

And i totally agree with your take on Tenma! (and would LOVE to read the Tenma and Juza fic once you get to it :3c). I think, Tenma is really caring and is trying to take a place as a caretaker and all, but unlike Omi, he has absolutely no reference for it.

Omi is the eldest of multiple brothers and everything indicates his parents have always been lovely to him. Add to it how he ended up leader of a delinquent crew he was clearly looking after, Omi has a history of taking care of people, of nurturing them, and he knows what he's doing. Meanwhile Tenma grew up on TV sets, mostly surrounded by adults and not by people his age, mostly getting advice from being ordered around by directors i think. And his parents are distant, hyperfocused on their job, not really nursing with him. So Tenma meanwhile really didn't have a family emotional support and was in situation where he couldn't befriend other kids his age. His only reference was probably Igawa (his agent) and i think for a long time he didn't exactly see it, and Igawa remained mostly professional so there was probably the idea of it not being sincere? That Tenma had to grow out of.

So like, they're both extremely nurturing and caring, but my point is that Omi has experiences in it and is at ease with it, while Tenma has been so alone and in places were he had no support system that even if he wants to support others, he still struggles with how to do it because he has no set exemple. And that's his development in the main story arc, to learn from how Izumi shows she cares in order to care back at them all.

Like i mean the way Tenma yelled at them about their mistakes at first feel like he would have picked it up from some directors on TV set yaknow? Probably hearing them say that with no consequences on others actors, seeing it worked, didn't think "that's an abuse of power and the actors probably all think badly of their director for that" but "wow that works", tried it on his troupesmates and realized this is... not how that works. And it's spending time watching how Izumi encourages them that have him fix his way to approach it.

So yeah i got lost too into it but like. I feel you on Tenma i love him so much and i love his development so to see him get pissed and involved there? was really nice. even if he was aggressive about it. He's still learning.

ANYWAY back to Tsuzuru and Kazunari, totally agree with what you say next. They still care a lot about each other and yeah they're at a point where this consideration they have for each other make their anger more quiet than trying to attack one another (Banri could NEVER-). so yeah totally agree with you!

DLKFJDLKF i LOVE the reasoning on "recognizing that Kazunari was sick". Your writer's powers making you see through... *coughs* unlike Tsuzuru....

AND YEAH ALL YOU SAY ABOUT THE CG.. YEAH. Kinda crying thinking about it again now LDKJFLKDJF It's just. Everything about it is so soft and tender. The things Tsuzuru tells Kazunari are soo so sweet sobs. They're just adorable i love those kids. and also i feel you for Kazu he's just that great huh?

The whole set up about Kazu dropping by his room is so so cute! I love it! Like probably the very first time Tsuzuru braces himself because "oh no i'm not in the mood to stand mister hyperenergy himself" but Kazunari quickly adjust his energy so that Tsuzuru can just recharge without being overwhelmed. Yes it would drive Masumi completely nuts. Which i think is a plus for Tsuzuru like, hey, if Masumi gets annoyed once in a while it's a win. But yeah also i think that Tsuzuru and Kazunari should really have the Artistic Soldiarity of Students in Art school Probably Working Until Very Late To Complete Their Projects. Would love if at the end Tsuzuru gave it back yaknow?

but yeah their story was really nice i'm so glad you liked it! :D

oh god yeah Itaru and Citron were SO cute in it too, i also love the comments Citron makes about Itaru's winks. Just there flirting in front of everyone like those two embarrassing friends huh. (probably with Muku being all starry eyes considering he greatly admires both Itaru and Citron and, well, Romance.). And yeah i love how Itaru ends up so much into Citron's rhythm (and this idiom you said? is glorious actually, 10 points for you)

DLKFJDLKF what a call out toward Yuki. "yes i hate Tenma,no i won't shut up about him, also if YOU say you hate Tenma i'm going to stab you with my needles, have a nice fucking day.". I love their dynamics so much aha

And yeah Itaru is there cursing us the whole time with the fact he's the greatest nerd ever and it fits him perfectly. It makes me laugh so hard.

Thank you so much for having shared your thoughts there! it's always a blast to read through them and i dearly enjoyed it! (+ it makes me relive the event a little and it makes me soft!)

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! So glad you had so many thoughts about all of this, what a blast.

thank you for sharing, and looking forward the Autumn/Winter reactions :3c

Take care!

[morbidoptimisim]

Why do you ship Jinx and Raven? The reason is that I ship BBRae and StarfireXRaven (Well not in Teen Titans in Alternate DC Universes)

TLDR: 

-I’m a lesbian, that’s why. 

Long answer: 

( THIS IS NOT A BASH ON  BB/Rae SHIPPERS, U JUST ASKED FOR MY PERSONAL OPINIONS;; )

-Beast Boy is afraid of Raven & her powers and uses his goofs to power through that instinctual? response. While he demonstrates far more maturity in some of the older comics (which I approve of well enough), he’s not equipped to handle a relationship with Raven in the cartoon. Even in fanworks, the only time he comes across with any centering, is when he’s depicted in animal form; I find that incredibly telling. -I can’t get behind shipping their original cartoon counterparts, since I’m personally NOT a fan of the “annoy the girl till she likes you” tropes that a LOT of media push into het relationships.  the whole “opposites attract” thing is… not an excuse? If they weren’t part of the same crime-fighting team, I doubt Raven and Beast Boy would have any shared interests AT ALL, which leads me to believe that Raven is more of a victim of heteronormativity than anything else. You can’t look at her and tell me she’s not composed of queer coded markers, lol. &  Admittedly a lot of my dislike for this ship boils down to my absolute hatred of the “loveable douchbag” trope forced down everyone’s throats since the 80′s/90′s. Don’t get me wrong, I Iike Beast Boy as a character and he works well as a friend, I just don’t see the Raven/BB “no really! he’s her ‘missing half’! He’ll ‘change her for the better’ and ‘get her out of her shell’!” appeal. 

Personally, I feel that out of all the Titans, Beast Boy is the one most affected by Raven’s demonic aura. That he can smell the unsettling demonic signature in her body & it sets the animal instincts off within him to be exceedingly wary around her, which he feels guilty about, and is why he tries so hard to come across to Raven as though it doesn’t actually bother him, and like he’s completely fine with her and her ‘creepy’ bits; not knowing that his denial and good intentions, actually make it harder for Raven to trust him & feel comfortable around him, as his forced joviality sets off her empathic warning bells. There isn’t much either one of them can do about the state of things however, so they try to ignore it best they can, though Beast Boy feels like Raven’s biting sarcasm and passive aggression is a silent challenge for him to work harder around her and Raven mostly just feels tired.    

*Coercing a girl into saying yes just cause she’s tired of saying no & she thinks everyone expects her to give into him eventually anyways, is NOT a fun ship dynamic for me. 

-Starfire & Robin I ship together, but as they grow into Kori and Nightwing I actually headcanon that they keep an open invitation for Raven to join them; both Starfire and Robin/Nightwing handle Raven’s abilities and personal boundaries a lot better, especially in the older comics. I don’t think Raven would join them as a permanent fixture of their relationship, but I imagine its a fun exploratory period for the three of them for a brief handful of times.  

I see Robin/Raven specifically not so much as a sibling dynamic as an adopted-guardian and their troubled-ward dynamic; essentially: they’re doing their best to cope with their semi-awkward positionings. -Robin is both her team-leader AND mind-linked ‘sounding board’. Raven meanwhile, is always the ‘tragic little girl’ that Robin feels he has to 'Save’.

She uses him as her gage for human/Earthly morality, and he knows it, and they both know that it puts a lot of pressure on him; so he usually ends up attempting to give her he thinks she wants. -Which is difficult, since Raven usually doesn’t know what she’s looking for, and doesn’t often inform him of any results or formed opinions that occur afterwards.

She shares a similar relationship with Starfire; being the stand-in for a true connection with Blackfire that Star could never have but always desired.

Raven/Robin would never work out because they’re too similar and would feed into each other’s negative habits too much; never sleeping, diving too much into work, ect. Theyre good work partners, not good dating partners.

Raven/Starfire is cute, but Starfire is IN LOVE with Robin. Starfire/Robin is one of the few m/w canon ships I actually enjoy. I’m not breaking them up, even in headcanon. So it’s threesies or nothing, lol.  

-Jinx: 

Okay, so; remember when I said Beast couldn’t handle Raven? 

well, what about a girl who HAS MAGIC and KNOWS WHAT ITS LIKE FOR THAT MAGIC TO BE INHERENTLY VOLATILE. Jinx walks down the street, six people are getting struck by lightning, tripping, or having their parking meters expire, and other such ‘bad lucks’; she knows what having an unsightly power is like. She’s fought with Raven before, and *beaten* her in battle before. She knows what Raven is routinely capable of. she went to SCHOOL for STUDYING HEROS and how to defeat them. She grew up in more of a real-world setting?? Like;; Jinx might be the ONLY QUALIFIED person to help Raven with her situation? Ex: “Hey, maybe you ever think instead of demons… its also PTSD? Let me google some shit and ill hook you up with something for that” 

and she’s a TOP STUDENT. she LEADS A TEAM. She’s smart, resourceful,, she’s capable of taking things seriously and having fun without being scared off by raven’s power or cynical moodswings. I feel that Jinx would be one of the few capable of tempering Raven’s behaviors constructively. -The girl’s dealt with the Hive all her life. she’d be able to withstand Raven’s bluffs and threat displays, no sweat while also remaining unadmonishingly instructive.   

And Raven meanwhile, can show Jinx that having dangerous powers doesn’t make villainy her only option WITHOUT sacrificing the capabilities having those powers or past experiences bring (*cough unlike how kid flash dismisses them cough cough*) (I HATE Jinx/Kid Flash but i’ll save that rant for now)

They could help each other out with their traumas, theyre more likely to have common interests,,, (types of books and music preferences, spellwork, ect) 

There’s just a lot more potential for exploring their personalities and moralities together. ^^

The “enemies to friends to lovers” trope is especially gay, which I, a homosexual, vastly approve of;;  

-I ship Raven with a lot of “darker” themed girls. Jinx. Ace. Ravager, Blackfire would be fun; Cassandra Cain maybe. Lady Death. Rogue.   

[mikeshanlon]

iwwv anon and PHEW OK. I def did not expect that essay and now I feel bad cause I KNOW my thots r not gonna be articulate or right. nonetheless! i think Oliver does qualify as an unreliable narrator cause hes. very oblivious but not like... Richard papen (who is a whole ass clown don't get me started on tsh) but not like addy from dare me(I will support till the day I die that dare me is da like I WILL die on this hill) who sees what she wants to see. 1/?

i think he just... thinks that his friends r diff ppl than they actually r? that doesnt rly make sense but yea. what I mean is that everything the characters do is coated in that empathetic view Oliver has which is usually wrong? so we don't get an objective look into the characters. meredith is my girl like I love the hot popular girl trope deconstruction but at the end of the book she's not at a great place like she's w someone that doesn't love her like she needs to be loved... 2/

I guess the most probable ending is that James never meets Oliver again and that everyone is kinda stuck on what happened but that's soo sad and I really don't want to think abt it. ngl iwwv wasn't like my fave book ever and I really don't understand why people are so obsessed with dark academia sometimes but what i rly liked abt the book is that despite how fucked up everyone is and how toxic they r to each other they do at heart care abt one another...3/

like I rly liked that esp cause at that point the only other da book (other than dare me!) that I had read was tsh and godd every character is so fuckinh annoying and they all hate each other. i was super confused by it till I saw someone saying that it's satire and I felt my mind explode. I feel like this is so long but I didnt rly properly answer all you wrote sorry! I think its a pretty good book tho it has some crazy quotes like hold awn Im gonna look at the highlighted stuff on my copy.. 4/

Were you in love with him?” “Yes,” [...]Yes, I was.” It’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is, I’m in love with him still. LIKEEE PHEWW OK OK OK. WE OUT HERE. that line literally made me go crazy. I'm so sorry for any spelling mistakes or like general mistakes I made here English isn't my first language, it's 1am and I wrote this in the notes app w/o looking it over. so like.. NOT a professional review lemme tell you. 5/5

 Ahh im so sorry I did not see this before I yeeted for a month!!!

Oooh okay first of all dare me as a DA… I’ve only watched the show but like yeah I see the Elements for sure.

Also yeah I can understand what you mean abt Oliver being an unreliable narrator now… Ig my view of unreliable was more like they are purposefully twisting the truth or omitting facts or just literally don’t know shit but I get how personal bias can make the narrator unreliable. I do think the assertion that Oliver thinks his friends are different than they actually are makes sense. He sees James in a very positive light and though I like James a lot and think he is better than, like, Richard, he definitely has darker moments and manipulates Oliver at times (again I’d like to think it’s not the most nefarious thing in the world but like him just being shitty bc he’s in a dark place and he one, wants to do anything he can so Oliver doesn’t figure out he fought Richard so Oliver still thinks of him the same way/bc he knows Oliver would do something stupid like get himself arrested for James; and two, is very jealous that Oliver is with Meredith after Richard dies and has sort of a somewhat positive outcome from Richard’s death versus James being riddled with guilt and anger). And yeah, the probable ending is they never meet but I refuse to acknowledge that so LGNRG. Also that line makes me go CRAZZZZZZZZZZY!!! There are so many great lines, both using Shakespeare and on their own and its like okay give me a moment im going bonkers…

Personally, I haven’t read that many dark academia novels yet (bc for some reason i can barely finish a book rn sigh) but the concept interests me. I think what’s compelling is the setting/atmosphere of like ~mysterious college vibes~, and the idea of a sort of niche, obsessive bond and pursuit of knowledge with a tight knit group of friends (and the like inherent homoeroticism in every single DA elrngenrg). Like Dead Poet’s Society (the film I haven’t read the book) isn’t Dark in the same way most other dark academia is by like, obsession and death and manipulation (though of course there are dark elements with Neil’s storyline), but I think the other building blocks of academia are present there in a more wholesome way and you can see why people are drawn to that idea. As for the more Dark aspects I think it’s interesting to analyze things like group psyche, obsession, manipulation, etc, like what went wrong for everything to take such a dark turn???

 But, like everything else, it really has to be done well or else its just like okay….… I’ve tried to read TSH twice and I may try again but from the 100+ ish pages I read I totally get what you mean. IWWV is so interesting to me bc the characters are all very compelling and multifaceted and I like that they are a close friendship, we come in after 4 years of them spending all the time together and to me that is apparent. Like you said, we can see fissures and problems especially as the novel continues but there is care there between them. That also makes the decision to let Richard die much more interesting and sinister imo, as well as how all of them interact with each other after he dies, and how the roles of the group change without their “leader” so to speak. Also, maybe it’s just bc I like Shakespeare, but I think the academia part of IWWV is so much more accessible compared to TSH. Like I don’t know every Shakespeare play or anything so I didn’t understand every nuance or was like immediately like oh this is from Cymbeline or whatever the fuck, but you could understand the gist of things and it made sense that they spoke in Shakespeare lines bc that’s all they’ve been doing for four years and also theatre kids are Like That. Their pretention also provided any Layers to the story, like the parallels between the characters they play and their own arcs, how some of the lines echoed their own thots, foreshadowed, or they were able to say things through Shakespeare (I’m thinking of like, Oliver realized he loved James during Romeo and Juliet, the foreshadowing that James was going to ruin Richard’s life and that he dislikes Meredith/Richard when he quotes Mercutio at the start “A plague o’ both your houses”, the exchange Oliver and James had onstage and had that kiss during King Lear before Oliver was arrested,etc.) (Also I think the structure of some of the dialogue being formatted like a play really helped make it feel more realistic and immersive). Versus TSH which is just so pedantic and dense and hard to follow at times im like I get they are smart but what??? And maybe that’s part of the satire aspect (or maybe im dumb) but like donna I read TGF I know you are pretentious and info dump abt random obscure shit anyways so erglknerg. Like to me there was a Point to all of the academic Shakespeare stuff in IWWV and it was the soul of the book, and M.L. Rio made it very interesting—like the way that the directors reimagined the plays and had Julius Caesar be like a modern political play, the cool mirror shit in King Lear, the Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet performances where they did them at events and interacted with their environments (which were one of my favorite parts of the books bc I just think that concept is so interesting), etc. For TSH the shit they did literally just felt like “okay look at them they’re smart see you can’t even keep up!” like okay… I felt lost a lot and only like snapped into reality whenever Henry (?) was like oh… murder….. and even then I was like idk what this dude is saying but like he’s being darksided LMAO. And I also agree that it’s just like… Richard being thrown in the middle of this group could lend itself to some cool ideas but its hard to believe that he fits into the friendship group and hes just like hell yeah I love Greek so much and lets go kill this guy other than like okay ur gay and stupid and just want to impress Henry or whatever his name was (which he was but I digress). It’s just not as impactful to me as this close friend group falling apart. Ik TSH fans might be angry if they see this (and of course I haven’t finished the book so my perception may be warped but I also kno many ppl felt that way u did) bc I’ve seen ppl say IWWV is just like TSH but “lackluster” or whatever and while I can see some parallels (mostly b/w Richard and Henry and Alexander and Francis), I really think M.L. Rio expanded upon common DA tropes and the interesting parts of TSH but made it her own and interesting and oh yeah there are actually multiple compelling female characters and LGBT characters (and no incest)!!!

[clouds-of-wings]

I wrote this like 3 weeks ago and actually got over it since but @tardigradedeathposture wanted to read it, so here’s the lightly edited rant.

---

I was going to not write about how crap I thought the Witcher TV show was but it keeps bugging me and whatever here’s my rant.

So as my followers might know, I played the games (yes even the first) and mostly liked them, especially the second, which I think is a great game and actually better than the third, which I still enjoyed. The first, well, had its moments. I’ve read the first book about 5 years ago after playing the second game for the second time but couldn’t really get into it, I watched the old Polish TV adaptation and found it sort of quaint but nothing special. So of course I was skeptical of the prospect of a TV show but also sort of interested.

Well good things first. I thought Henry Cavill played Geralt pretty well actually. People hated him when he was first introduced but I think most were won over by his performance. He isn’t quite like the Geralt I know, but that might be due to the script. Second good thing, Jaskier isn’t quite as incredibly annoying as he is in the games, though still annoying. But at least he isn’t a pimp here. Third good thing, Chireadan, because Elves <3

But apart from these aspects, I think I haven’t watched such a stupid show since Once upon a time (which was so terrible that it caused my gallbladder to ache non-stop, so I had to stop after the first half of season 1. Witcher didn’t do that, so I guess it wasn’t quite as bad as OUAT). I know the series follows the story laid out in the books, and actually my problem isn’t even what happens, but how it’s presented, in that story and characterization manage to be tepid and tropey and also illogical and self-contradictory.

Take Yennefer for example, because her character annoyed me the most.

Now I’m not a fan of her in the third game either but at least she has a consistent (terrible) personality and a will of her own there. I read that she’s a better character in the books, so okay. Maybe they butchered her on the show. I honestly don’t remember the book I read very well anymore, as I said, I couldn’t get into it.

She is explicitly said and shown to do very badly during her mage training and to be bad at court politics, she’s barely even shown doing magic before the last episode, but she gets to “ascend”, whatever that means, while the other (far more deserving?) students get turned into eels. Later her teacher says she was the best student she’d ever had (?? when? where?) and gives her trust and responsibility for zero reason and Yennefer goes on to save the day, sort of.

She gets, in one of the most unrealistic scenes on the show, cosmetic surgery that involves an extensive spinal operation and the removal of her uterus WITHOUT NARCOTICS and half an hour later she wows everyone at the prom ball. IIRC, in the books and the games the sorceresses and sorcerers alter their appearance using, uh, magic instead of having some guy rip out their spine. And the sorceresses explicitly make themselves beautiful because “that’s what their clients expect”, just like the sorcerers make themselves appear as “venerable” old men - because it’s the pre-conception their clients have. It’s subversive, John-Karen, because the mages somewhat cynically show themselves to be genre-savvy by exploiting the... why am I explaining this. It’s obvious to everyone except the idiots who wrote the show. The point is, it’s not about their personal empowerment, but they could have done something with Yennefer’s “ugly to beautiful” transformation and they didn’t, so that sucks too.

From the whole way she’s presented, it becomes clear that she would be a terrible mother (”happy childhoods make for boring conversation”), yet we’re supposed to feel sympathy for her quest for fertility. And she’s constantly bitter about her lack of it - when the surgeon told her very clearly that she’d be losing her fertility as a side-effect of the operation and she explicitly agreed to it. This wasn’t something that was forced upon her yet she acts like it was.

Just like in the game, she has zero concern for other people’s wishes or boundaries. I mean she cast magic upon a bunch of people and made them sexually assault each other, and the show just frames it as “sexy lady hosts an orgy”. Then she accuses Geralt of not paying attention to other people’s boundaries because he made a wish she doesn’t even know the specifics of (lol).

Yennefer is a pretty terrible person, which would be fine in terms of character, if she were actually presented as terrible. Yennefer actually has pretty exactly the personality of Cersei Lannister, but Cersei was intentionally portrayed as vicious, power-hungry, dishonest and irrational. We weren’t supposed to see her as a good person and that made her a great character. Watching Cersei was fun and interesting. Watching Yennefer is grating because in any sane universe, a woman like that would not be the hero. That’s also why I think it’s absolutely false to call TW “the new GoT”. TW is worse than even late seasons GoT.

However, the show loves her so much that it randomly gives her super-powers whenever it suits. In the fight in front of the dragon cave, she’s as good with a sword as Geralt, even though she has no training and no muscles and he’s literally been mutated to become a better fighter. In the last episode, she easily deters the attack by Nilfgaard and then destroys their camp (??) with magic when up until then she was only ever shown to be very bad at magic. (Unleash *~the chaos inside you~* god who wrote that script?)

But in the end, almost her whole story is determined by the effect she has on men. Despite all her qualities that we’re supposed to blindly believe she has, it’s her looks and the fact that some men like her constant pointless insults that determines what happens to her. The archeologist guy in the beginning is the only one who stops her from totally failing at mage training. The king she wows with her good looks and her early 21st century dress becomes her employer. Geralt and the Elf guy falling for her. The knight guy she manipulates into going to dragon mountain with her. Her only skill that she is somewhat consistently proven to actually possess is the ability to charm and seduce men with her beauty and her sparkling personality.

Unfortunately, this characterization is somewhat common among “strong female characters”. All the important female characters on American Gods are that way as well. Wonder Woman is (in the film, I haven’t read the comics) close to it as well. Random pointless superpowers, but her story is actually determines by everyone being head over heels for her because she’s pretty. I don’t really know why this counts as “feminist”, but for the media industry apparently it does. I think it’s rather the opposite.

But, god, Yennefer wasn’t the only terrible character. I also hated the way they portrayed what were apparently supposed to be Scoia’tael adjacent Elves in the first episode. Can you imagine Iorveth or Yaevinn make common cause with those planless caricatures? I absolutely love the clearheadedness and ruthlessness of the Scoia’tael in the games. They rebel against human oppression with the decisiveness of people with nothing left to lose. The Elves are portrayed as a mentally somewhat superior race who see themselves as the rightful owners of the land and are absolutely furious at humans using brute force to disinherit them. I love the absolute lack of moral high ground and of “virtuous victimhood”. I love the elitism turned to bitterness. I love the way they frame things like telling Elvish legends as acts of resistance (which is something that has plenty of real-life parallels). I love (since it’s fictional and all) the vicious treatment of human civilians, since, you know, from the Elves’ perspectives there are no civilians among the humans. In the games, you’re clearly made to understand that both the Scoia’tael and their opponents have committed terrible acts, and then, because this is war, you’re expected to pick a side anyway. Which was both easy and fun for me as a huge Elf stan in general, but I love that it’s not supposed to be an easy choice.

So I’m just talking about a short scene in the first or second episode, because that was the only time we see Elves who have Elf-specific problems, but I just hated that scene, because it steps into exactly the tropes that the games avoided. They complain, act irrationally and are portrayed as helpless, morally pure victims who won’t actually do anything that will do more than just slightly inconvenience humans. Toothless! Exactly as Hollywood would like oppressed peoples to be, righteous in their suffering, maybe stealing some bread but that’s all they will do.

Another thing that really bothered me was how unpolished it was. Hahaha! Terrible pun alert. They took everything Polish out of the story, see what I did there? I would have loved to see those houses with the flowers painted on them for example that are based on a real Polish village. What we got was just a bland Medieval(TM) world that could be anywhere and had no discernible features. It also obliterated the charm of the costume design. I found myself longing even for King Henselt’s unbelievably stupid belt because at least it had some character. And the weird and awesome creature design as well. None of it was on the show. Can you imagine that in a million years creatures like the three Crones from TW3 would show up on the show? Of course not, because a female character who won’t give the viewer a boner is obviously not worth showing.

And I don’t even understand how they managed to include Geralt being aware of his outsider status and thinking about it and to somehow make it boring anyway. But I’m really tired of writing and thinking about this now, so this is the end of my rant about like... half the things that annoyed me about the show.

[idio-cies]

AWAE comparisons, expectations and analysis pt.III

So, the first scene we have of Gilbert and Anne in AWAE, 0103, he saves her... so that already completely fucks up everything as the context is needed for that scene. All this does is show the audience that this is Anne's love interest because he saved her and she lives in a world where she wishes everything to be romantical (It’s also just a huge trope). The effect of school being the topic of their interaction "we should probably get to school, eh?" is prominent considering that it is home to their rivalry etc. I very much appreciate Gilbert in the series to ask if there were any dragons that need slaying. It shows his humour, the fantasy element but also his cockiness. So what I can't quite decipher from Gilbert following Anne to school and trying to get her to tell him her name is very vexing. The only conclusion I have come to in the respect of Anne is that she was scared; of him teasing her, of him following her until she was in the sanctuary of school or she was just generally shocked of his presence. The reason I say about the following to school is because he then comes in with her meaning it was where he was also headed to, or that she knew he wouldn't be leaving any time soon and might as well introduce herself.

The way Gilbert was asking for her name though shows immaturity though "What? Can't tell me your name?" etc

Anyway, the scene where she is rescued in the books, is their turning point.

I shall explain.

Chp 28: Gilbert obligingly rowed to the landing and Anne, disdaining assistance, sprang nimbly on shore.

‘I’m very much obliged to you,’ she said haughtily as she turned away. But Gilbert had also sprung from the boat and now laid a detaining hand on her arm.

‘Anne,’ he said hurriedly, ‘look here. Can’t we be good friends? I’m awfully sorry I made fun of your hair that time. I didn’t mean to vex you and I only meant it for a joke. Besides, it’s so long ago. I think your hair is awfully pretty now—honest I do. Let’s be friends.’ For a moment Anne hesitated. She had an odd, newly awakened consciousness under all her outraged dignity that the half-shy, half-eager expression in Gilbert’s hazel eyes was something that was very good to see. Her heart gave a quick, queer little beat. But the bitterness of her old grievance promptly stiffened up her wavering determination. That scene of two years before flashed back into her recollection as vividly as if it had taken place yesterday. Gilbert had called her ‘carrots’ and had brought about her disgrace before the whole school. Her resentment, which to other and older people might be as laughable as its cause, was in no whit allayed and softened by time seemingly. She hated Gilbert Blythe! She would never forgive him!

‘No,’ she said coldly, ‘I shall never be friends with you, Gilbert Blythe; and I don’t want to be!’

‘All right!’ Gilbert sprang into his skiff with an angry color in his cheeks. ‘I’ll never ask you to be friends again, Anne Shirley. And I don’t care either!’ He pulled away with swift defiant strokes, and Anne went up the steep, ferny little path under the maples. She held her head very high, but she was conscious of an odd feeling of regret. She almost wished she had answered Gilbert differently. Of course, he had insulted her terribly, but still—!

Honestly, she is so relatable. Anyhow. It just goes to show how instantly she regretted it, but Gilbert got the message, and "stopped" pursuing her. He was still young too don't forget. This has and hasn't happened. It kinda did in 0209, but not really, because I'm not so sure about Gilbert's nature as he had other things on his mind, and also the context of Anne being jealous.

What gets me is that "half-shy half-eager expression in Gilbert's hazel eyes"- this is what he expresses in 0104.

The fact that their first interaction in the series is of their turning point in the books, already gives them a different perception of how they are going to interact. This is a typical trope for couples do be set up, especially ones that are archaic in terms of the man saving the woman. They technically start off on good terms, where she may be grateful of him/perhaps attracted to him already.

I can't believe we missed out on him winking at her though, that was their first interaction, and yes Anne believes he is Handsome- again why I think she may have just been in silence because she was shocked.

Chp 17: "'I think your Gilbert Blythe IS handsome,’ confided Anne to Diana, ‘but I think he’s very bold. It isn’t good manners to wink at a strange girl.'"

When Gilbert offers her the apple I assume it's the equivalent of the candied heart Gilbert attempts to give her that she is an utter savage over:

Once, when nobody was looking, Gilbert took from his desk a little pink candy heart with a gold motto on it, ‘You are sweet,’ and slipped it under the curve of Anne’s arm. Whereupon Anne arose, took the pink heart gingerly between the tips of her fingers, dropped it on the floor, ground it to powder beneath her heel, and resumed her position without deigning to bestow a glance on Gilbert.

It doesn't say how he tries to get her attention though, so I like how the series actually shows the attempts of Gilbert with the apple and paper etc because again, it's ambiguous, I know that earlier films and series have shown different attempts also.

However, the reason Anne doesn't respond in the series is that she wants to be liked by people and was literally told not to look or speak to Gilbert because Ruby likes him. This can explain why the phrase was "I'm not talking to you" instead of saying how rude and hateful he was, as I have mentioned before, this goes into how his character is presented also. I will get onto the Ruby sitch later.

You also get a sense of Gilbert's character by how he was welcomed, his humour, but also the way he holds himself. He is beloved it seems by the entire class (much like Anne was in the books and comes to be, all except Josie Pye and then Billy in the series also and his miscreants to an extent). He does have that joking nature like when they ask him about the Rocky mountains claiming they were "big" and "rocky" and then also when he teases his friends, instead of the girls. He is 99% still original Gilbert though. Later when he is admiring Anne's enthusiasm when she reads and he says to Charlie "She's good, invested" it does make her more accepting to the boys. Gilbert holds a lot of influence on the class, as seen by his interactions with Billy and the other boys in the class, this acceptance of who Anne is, is likely to prevent some bullying. It's just that Billy and Josie are horrible (and I hope they redeem them because they've set it up!) and people think to much of what other think of themselves, like any child growing up in school. This is why 0104 is so important for Anne, It's all well and good that Diana is her friend, but she also falls privy to the peer pressure of school life; the whole class do like Anne in all actuality, because she is different and kind etc. Literally it's only Josie in the books that just doesn't seem to grow to love Anne. Anne is seen as being this person that comes into your life and you can't help but love her. It's what I find interesting about the slate/carrots scene.

Anyway, as you see Prissy, Tillie and also Jane all look shocked, but also sorrowful.

Prissy is more astonished because of Mr Phillips, but also when Gilbert confesses it was his fault (also does this in the books etc) he looks around to the boys in some kind of astonishment almost as if to say "shut up" or “Why”.

The only one we are shown to enjoy the display is Josie. 

Though Ruby seems to be at odds because obviously Gilbert was trying to grab Anne's attention.

When Anne gives her name when they enter the school, we see the same sort of shot that is given to us in the last scene of S2

They only have switched places and the lighting is different. The camera is level, but the positioning of them shows distance, but that they are on common ground.

So when it comes to the scene where he calls her carrots its really interesting. Bearing in mind that Series Gilbert doesn't tease girls as Gilbert in the book etc does; he still has the want to gain the attention, but for Gilbert in the books it honestly sounded like he was restraining himself, but got too impatient and yanked her hair, but there is no explanation of him calling her carrots, it certainly wasn't on purpose because of his honest apology straight after they were let out of school.

‘I’m awfully sorry I made fun of your hair, Anne,’ he whispered contritely. ‘Honest I am. Don’t be mad for keeps, now.'

For some reason it's always whispering.

See this is what I don't get about Gilbert in the series, he honestly just really wanted to see her face and to talk to her because he found her intriguing, but I can understand why Anne saw him as teasing her, especially after he responded with the "You just did" and smiles. I suppose to a degree his not hearing her when he tried to give her the apple could also come across as taunting, but that bit in of itself was him being kind so it just must have messed with Anne.

But if you watch the scene where he pulls Anne's hair and calls her carrots 1. you see how cautious Gilbert was, like he was approaching a frightened deer 2. you see how Anne was on the brink of snapping anyway because she was breathing heavily 3. you see how Gilbert was still immature as he looked at her face a couple times, then looked at her hair, something in his head though "yeah, that's a good idea" (you see a quick expression on his face where he gets impatient) totally yanked her hair, still whispered carrots but still trying to look at her face even as she brought up her slate and whacked him.

Really, all he wanted was to see her face, which is incredible, but maaaannnnn he's as impatient as her! What annoys me though, he never apologised... it bothers me.

But that concludes that scene. They couldn't skip the carrots scene, it's too iconic, but it still shows you how Gilbert is still immature, it's just he's more awkward, as per with the rest of the season. Gilbert and Anne really do go the distance with staring at each other instead.

But, it is all about miscommunication! Because feelingggsssssss

I suppose I should also talk about other scenes in between such as when she reads The Fisherman, which is very fitting for them as well, mainly on the part of Gilbert.

The basis is that this fisherman lives out at sea, is lonely in the dangerous life he leads. I don't think it was a coincidence with the cinematography we had in season 2 which expresses how this poem could have fared for Gilbert. Gilbert was looking to where his calling was, that either being his vocation or where he wanted to be, he was searching and to no avail really. This restlessness can be dangerous in the metaphorical sense of not finding love, and being content with one's self. There's a bit in the poem that says "with scarce a friend" this is turned around by him befriending Bash. Without Bash and Anne's letter, I doubt Gilbert would have ever come back to Avonlea. He would have succumbed to being a restless spirit. Even when he did come home he was searching still. Gilbert had to grow up fast after his father fell ill, and then died, and so did Anne in general as it seemed as soon as she could walk, she was sent to work.

There is a significance of the apple I feel. It was either that or just an aesthetic which it most likely was, but the woops- god, he must have felt like he was being so suave.

Anyways, there isn't really much more comparison I can do, except to say the significance it gives. Afterwards there is no mention of Gilbert teasing the girls. I honestly think the teasing was just him biding the time, and then when Anne came along he was like "OMG I've found my wife". Gilbert here also has that experience as that's why he tries to get her attention just as much as any other Gilbert, and trying to get a good look at her face. He needn't look any further. I will probably go into detail later with other stuff as that's where the comparison will come in.

1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13

[mild-lunacy]

The Man Behind the Curtain

I can only assume I used to be a lot more laid-back, less analytical than I am now. Plenty of total nerds love Star Trek, though, and even write books like 'The Physics of Star Trek'. To be clear, I admire that sort of analysis; analysis should be fun. Unfortunately, though, TNG came on cable recently and all I could think was that it really pained me that in a roomful of aliens, everyone was human. Human, human, human. Ugh.

This is another nerd thing, I realize that. This is the flavor of tilting-at-windmills some teenage fanboys in particular seem to like, right up there with whining about why certain writers can't be faster and how sci-fi didn't use to include so many people of color. Or perhaps that's not fair, and it's more the people who went on and on about how Luke Skywalker Was Wronged. But no. Isn't this arguing about certain foundational things that no one does or should care about? After all, everyone accepts that budgets are what they are, and humans don't care about aliens anyway. It's just... the latter really frustrates me, when you're talking about aliens, you know? It seems childish, or patronizing the childish audience, perhaps.

The fact is, I'd group 'human aliens' with a bunch of things we just accept in genre fiction, or the price of admission. So it's actually more like complaining about 'fated mates' in sci-fi romance or how everyone is inevitably made hot in Hollywood adaptations. To be honest, those things do irritate me too. You could-- or possibly should-- add that it depends on how it's done. That's the reasonable way to go. But the way I feel that it needs to be done is for some lip-service to exist, some justification either for the 'human alien' or the 'fated mate' scenario in question. Star Trek TNG often doesn't bother having the aliens even be a different color. Often they're just white people with different ears or noses. Possibly you could do horns.

Sadly, I very much relate to the whiny nerds, for I am one of them, even though this is the sort of thing I handwaved away with BBC Sherlock. Plenty of analytical people in fandom complained about how the cases (or their resolution) didn't make sense for one reason or another. This was particularly true in Series 4, though there were always those grumbles. I myself never cared, because I was there for characterization and style. Still, when the 'heightened reality' genre is badly done, or you're not distracted by the characterization, it grates. Sort of like going to an amateur theater hour where everyone's wearing third-rate paper costumes.

I complain, even if inconsistently, of course, while I realize that certain silly tropes allow the very concept of 'genre'. A trailblazing work like LoTR crosses every t and dots every i; JRR Tolkien even created a language and a fictional history book to suit. He went back to the original legends and their languages and made something of them. The people writing in the epic fantasy *genre* can-- and often do-- just wave in the direction of what elves are and what they're doing, then throwing in an evil master and a few other magical races. Many writers focus on the character relationships and take the plot elements a bit for granted. Or more than a bit. After all, genre fans have been there, done that. We can connect the dots, right? And a source such as Conan Doyle might be more rigorous than its adaptations in BBC Sherlock in some ways, but plenty of people famously laugh about the timeline errors. So not every writer's idea of 'serious work' is the same, or perhaps it's more accurate to say that Conan Doyle was never truly serious about Sherlock Holmes regardless. From what I can tell, Moffat and Gatiss *were* serious, but had different priorities and interests.

One thing I've noticed is that different writers as well as audiences have different attitudes and approaches to the idea of logical consistency in fiction, or 'common sense'. Like, certainly, it's common sense that actual aliens would have to be alien (and very not-human), communication across species would be very difficult, and love takes time. That said, it's certainly inconvenient. Just like certain plot points would not be easily overlooked (unless they're handwaved away), such as Sherlock's fake suicide and subsequent torture in Eastern Europe. That too is inconvenient. How important is it that things stand up to logical analysis depends on the individual, though. If I had to guess, I'd say most people care more about how a story makes them *feel*. Even writers.

I get it. In the end, I just find it annoying when I can't buy in anyway, 'cause I hate noticing the man behind the curtain. When the aliens in a sci-fi story are pretty much human, I feel like the 'sci-fi' element itself doesn't matter, so I always see the artificiality of the world. Same with romance and too blatant a usage of 'fated mates'. The thing I *want* to see (outside of a comedy) is a writer who takes the elements of genre seriously. At least *some* chosen elements besides characterization, as was the case for Moffat and Gatiss. I want a writer to appear to think at least somewhat about the unlikely things they've created, wanting them to make some sense, even if their actual story focus is on characterization. It's a lot to ask, I know, especially from a story I otherwise enjoy. That's the buy-in I need from an author to provide my own buy-in, basically.

[gch1995]

I went on to TV Tropes, and found a list of bad writing tropes. Sadly, most of them apply to every character on OUAT.

Aesop Amnesia: The more times a character is taught a lesson without learning it, the lower the viewer's opinion of him/her and you.

(Rumple, Belle, Emma, Snow, David, Hook, and Regina from S4-S6. I don’t think anyone on this show who lasted past season three ever really learned anything new after the first two-and-a-half seasons from past experiences. They just went back-and-forth until they came back full circle to the same points they were at before in the end of the Neverland arc at the end of S6-S7. The writers could not stick to positive character development, or write realistic regressions at all. I didn’t really hate the characters for it, just the writers behind them)

Angst? What Angst?: Make your characters react realistically to setbacks or tragic events. Too little angst makes them appear callous or ditzy.

(Literally, everyone on this show. There were no realistic human reactions anymore after the first two-and-a-half seasons)

Character Derailment: Characters can grow, but don't suddenly mutate them into something else.

(Let’s see, Rumple, Belle, Emma, and Hook seemed to be the biggest sufferers of this trope on OUAT)

Character Shilling: Having characters suddenly talk up another character for no real reason doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

(A lot of the Rumbelle drama from S4-S6)

Chickification: Be careful when you decide to make an Action Girl less action-oriented; if not done properly, it will annoy your audience.

(Emma Swan after she got together with Hook)

Compressed Vice: Don't have a character develop a bad habit or flaw out of nowhere solely for the sake of setting up An Aesop (doubly so if it contradicts previous facts about the character), and especially don't show its consequences in a hamfisted, unrealistic manner.

(Rumple and Belle from S4-S6, tbh)

Conflict Ball: Don't have a character cause conflict just because the plot says so.

(S1 Regina, 3B-6A Rumple and particularly Belle, Hook, and especially Zelena)

Creator's Pet: Treating a certain character with tons of love when they really don't deserve it is never a good idea.

(Hook, Regina, and Zelena)

Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy: Making the story excessively bleak and giving absolutely no hope will only tire out the audience until they lose interest in the story.

(3B-S7 of the entire series)

Demonization: Some of your potential audience may actually see where this position is coming from, if not actually agree. You'll turn them off by your exaggerated portrayal. It also makes it seem like the position you hold isn't nearly as solid as you think, since it can only stand up to strawmen.

(Rumple from S4-S6, and not in a good way)

Designated Hero: Having your hero Kick the Dog and still expecting your audience to see them as a paragon of virtue because you say so doesn't usually work; rather, it makes your hero unlikable.

(H00k, Snowing, Emma, Belle, and even Henry at one point or another. Pretty much every once truly heroic character on this show after S3 at one point or another)

Designated Love Interest: If you say that two characters are in love, don't make them hate or be apathetic to each other, actually go out of your way to make them love each other. Otherwise, it just feels contrived

(6A Rumbelle on both sides, and Belle’s characterization after the town line scene with Rumple, but that was just OOC. 5A CS on Hook’s side, and the main reason why I hate CS so much is because Jmo and Colin have no chemistry. It was forced)

Designated Villain: Having your villain come across as harmless or even too benign and still expecting your audience to see them as a monster because you say so doesn't usually work; rather, it makes your villain petty and perhaps far too sympathetic.

(Rumplestiltskin in 5B)

Die for Our Ship: Attacking a rival of your pairing of choice doesn't necessarily make that character a bad person and makes you look petty.

(What they did to Rumple, Belle, and Rumbelle to prop up Hook/CS, and Nealfire’s death).

Distress Ball: Don't have a character get kidnapped for no good reason.

(I actually haven’t thought of too many instances in the series, but Gideon in 6B. There was no point for him to rip apart Rumple and Belle with character destroying Drama™️ in 6B, so that Gideon could be kidnapped by the Black Fairy and become the “big bad” because there were no lasting or serious consequences for it in the end, anyway. Gideon had his memories erased of his upbringing under the control of the Black Fairy for 28 years and his time as a villain by deaging him back to an infant with a blank slate mind, so what was even the point of committing all that character assassination of his parents, getting him kidnapped, and making him the big bad decoy villain of 6B? It was just for Drama™️, which is bad writing.)

Draco in Leather Pants: Have an acceptable reason for making a truly evil character suddenly be nice. "He or she is hot!" will not do.

(Hook, Regina, Zelena, and even Rumple on a few occasions.)

Dull Surprise: Have your characters emote during events that would make a real person do so.

(Belle’s complete lack of trauma after being locked up for 28 years, but there are more instances of this on this trash show, sadly.)

Failure Hero: While having the hero lose from time to time adds some realism to the hero and drama to the story, if they lose every single fight or mission, not only will it destroy any and all tension, but the reader will feel bad for relating with the hero.

(BELLE from S4-S6)

Faux Action Girl: If you say that a girl is strong, then make her strong. If said Action Girl comes off as too weak, the audience will begin to hate her.

(Sometimes Belle and Emma, I guess)

Hero Ball: Heroes are expected to make bad decisions every now and then, but when they do this against all common sense it becomes annoying.

(Emma, Snow, David, Henry, and particularly BELLE)

Idiot Ball: When the character is suddenly acting like an idiot.

(Rumple and especially Belle from S4-S7)

Informed Wrongness: If a character is actually in the wrong, prove it.

(Rumple wanting to use the shears on the Rumfetus in 6A. Still don’t understand how or why it was ever proven it would have been so awful when they would have prevented Gideon from living a fate that was far worse, and Aladdin was fine. Also, Rumple has said himself that magic couldn’t be used to make someone love you on numerous occasions, soo...But whatevs..I also don’t get how Rumple taking back the curse “ruined” Killy’s sacrifice).

Jerk Sue: Having a character be a complete Jerkass who gets away with it just because the author designates them as such and says you should support them does not make for a strong character, and is more likely going to turn out be a case of Creator's Pet, and often The Scrappy. Also, it tends to look like a half-assed effort when the author just throws in some secondary throw-away detail in an attempt to make you feel sorry for the character and expect you to not get upset when they behave like a jerk for no other reason than they feel like it at the time.

(ZELENA!)

Moral Dissonance: Don't have the hero behave contrary to their usual morality and be completely oblivious to it.

(BELLE, EMMA, SNOWING, EVERY “HERO” ON THIS SHOW after 3A!)

Most Writers Are Male: Don't write women from ignorance, stereotypes, and/or in unsympathetic ways (either in the form of misogyny or over-sexualization).

(The writing for Emma and Belle in seasons post s3 ish in their relationships with Rumple and Belle, but for different reasons. Belle got dumbed down and turned into a harpy and a hypocrite with Rumple to vilify him, while getting declared “strong” for emotionally abusing him, leading him on, or doing shit like banishing him with nothing. Meanwhile, Emma turned into a codependent and violent stepford wife with no personal values, or life outside of Hook.

Also, the whole “evil is sexy” trope in female villains was offensive).

Out of Character: Moments when the character does something that he wouldn't normally do without any justification.

(Every character on this show at one point or another 98% of the time post season three ish. Yeah, the sad thing was that it wasn’t just moments of OOC ness, but overall characterizations in general)

Protagonist-Centered Morality: A character's moral standing should be based on their actions as a whole, not solely on their actions toward the main character. A sure sign of a Mary Sue or a Designated Hero.

(Hook, Emma, Belle, Snow, Henry, Regina, )

Race Tropes: Tread carefully with these. Having a minority character act like a walking stereotype screams lazy writing and will upset people

(OUAT did this a lot)

Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Bashing a female character for liking/doing traditionally-feminine things is another form of misogyny, and can piss off the audience.

(I think they’ve done this sometimes)

Romanticized Abuse: Make sure that your romance is actually a reasonably healthy relationship. If abuse, either physical or emotional, is presented as sexy or sweet, the characters could become Unintentionally Unsympathetic, and viewers may get the wrong idea of what an acceptable real-life relationship requires

(Captain Swan, Rumbelle at times, and even Snowing at times)

Ron the Death Eater: Have an acceptable reason for making a truly good character suddenly be mean. "I hate him or her!" will not do.

(BELLE at the beginning of S6 with Rumple before he started screwing up, and in 5x18 in the UW with him)

Satellite Love Interest: Define your characters by something other than being the lover or crush for The Protagonist, or the archetypal "perfect" boyfriend/girlfriend.

(Belle for Rumple, but they didn’t always portray her as the archetypal perfect love interest for him either)

Strangled by the Red String: People going directly from being strangers to being genuinely in love is not very realistic or satisfying to watch. If you're going to make two characters fall in love with each other, try to take it slow.

(Emma and Hook)

Strong as They Need to Be: Don't have characters suddenly gain or lose power without any explanation.

(The whole loss of Rumple’s seer ability after he was resurrected. Was it ever explained? The only thing I can think of is that he wouldn’t have done a lot of the OOC stupid shit that he did if he could have seen the future)

Stupid Sacrifice: Characters shouldn't give up their lives for nothing (if the character is not a Martyr Without a Cause).

(Rumple and Belle in S7)

Villain Ball: See Hero Ball, only swap "heroes" and "villains".

(Rumple on-and-off-again from S4-S6)

Villain Decay: Don't have your antagonist lose their power and competence without a good reason

(RUMPLE from S4-S6. Seriously, he was honestly the worst possible main antagonist they could have chosen, and the least competent! )

Wangst: Make your characters react realistically to setbacks or tragic events. Too much angst makes them unrealistic and annoying.

(Every main character on the show, tbh, but especially Belle )

What an Idiot!: Characters should not make unrealistically bad decisions to drive the plot.

(Every main character on the show at one point or another from S4-S7)

Wimpification: Stripping the action, common sense, and strength from characters to add Wangst is a good way to piss off the audience.

(Rumple, EQ, Belle, Emma, Snowing, Hook, and every main character on this show)

@0ceanofdarkness

@ishtarelisheba

@done-with-ouat

@jxhniarty

@rufeepeach

@rumplestiltskin

@toewsgirl42

@forzaouat

@foreveradearie

[theoldlesbianwithcats]

Remember that French TV show (Dix pour cent) I told you about, that made their lesbian main character sleep with a man? Now that character is pregnant with him of course, but the creator of the show Fanny Herrero (a straight woman) has a very good reason, don’t worry!

“Andréa is gay but she’s liberated enough to, on a one-night-stand, have sex with a man and not have a problem with it, because her sexuality is mature and fulfilling enough that she doesn’t ask herself questions. From the beginning, I knew that this character would have a very rich, complex and liberated libido, and for me that goes beyond sleeping with women. I think Andréa is more modern than that.”

Did you hear, ladies? A modern woman with a rich, complex, fulfilling sex life = a woman who wants to have sex with a man! How progressive!

Anyway, for once a Buzzfeed article about lesbians isn’t completely awful, so @sespursongles and I translated it in English :

Why movies and TV have to stop making lesbians sleep with guys

Marie Kirschen, Buzzfeed France, 14th May 2017

Like recently in the TV show Dix Pour Cent (Call My Agent in English), it regularly happens that characters introduced as gay or lesbian eventually sleep with a person of the opposite sex... to the gay fans’ great regret.

Andréa Martel is a small revolution. The main character of France 2′s TV show Dix pour cent, whose second season just ended, is charismatic, stylish, loudmouthed, beautiful, touching, badass, funny and... a lesbian. A lesbian main character in a prime time TV show on a big national channel ? It’s never been seen before in the French audiovisual landscape, so timid about LGBT themes.

There were a few made-for-TV movies about female homosexuality, often quite badly done, a few secondary characters, sometimes a bit clumsy. But nothing as exciting as this at peak viewing time. Andréa is a multidimensional, very well-written protagonist. Her homosexuality is there, without it being a problem, without being hidden. The icing on the cake, Andréa is wonderfully played by Camille Cottin. THE star of Dix pour cent, that’s her.

Like many lesbian viewers, hungry for visibility, I was hooked immediately. And then there was the third episode of the second season, broadcasted at the end of April. Andréa is competing with her boss, Hicham, to seduce a model. During a party at a castle, Hicham ends up winning the game : he enters a bedroom with the model. But that’s without considering Andréa’s hurt ego who, a bottle in her hand, decides to join them. Her catchphrase : “You didn’t think you’d have her all to yourself?!” But, as this improvised threesome begins, Andréa and Hicham forget immediately about the pretty blonde, kiss passionately and roll on the bed. Reaction of the abandoned model (and our reaction) : “Seriously ? (sigh)”

After loving women openly for eight episodes, Andréa abandons a blue-eyed goddess for her cruel, manipulative boss? Some viewers were a bit surprised, even disappointed.

[Tweets embedded in the article :]

@RomainBurrel (journalist for a cultural magazine and a gay magazine) It sucks to see one of the rare and best lesbian characters sleep with a dude... @PrincesseYuyu LET US HAVE A LESBIAN IN A FRENCH TV SHOW, DAMMIT, STOP SHIPPING HER WITH HICHAM. It depresses me.

@keedz75 Of course the gay character can’t be happy being a lesbian and must answer heterosexual fantasy by becoming bi

“I received a few harsh remarks”, tells Fanny Herrero, the creator of the show, to Buzzfeed. “There are gay women who took it badly. I can understand it because it’s quite rare to have a lesbian main character on TV, so we shouldn’t make her sleep with a guy, I get it. The relation to sex is quite liberated in Dix pour cent, there’s a freedom of tone, I thought that freedom of tone was enough and that it would let us play with the codes.”

Fanny Herrero clarifies that, if she’s straight, there are two gay women in the writing team. Visibly upset by those reviews, she concedes that :

“Maybe I took it too lightly. At that moment, we didn’t realize it could hurt. Maybe we should have been more delicate, but we write characters, we don’t write for a cause. From a writing point-of-view, we have a chessboard of characters that we animate and sometimes we exaggerate a bit for dramatization. Maybe we’re going to push characters faster to places where, in real life, they wouldn’t go, where it would take more time.”

Beyond Dix pour cent, if that little twist made people angry, it’s because it adds to the long list of films and TV shows where a main character is introduced as a lesbian (we’re not talking of bisexual or questioning characters, but characters clearly presented as gay) to make her have sex with a man a few minutes after.

The film lesbians hate the most

One film in particular embodies this trope: Chasing Amy wins the Oscar for Most Hated Film of the 90s in the lesbian community. The hero, played by Ben Affleck, befriends Joey, beautiful and liberated. He asks her a series of stupid questions about gay women and wonders how lesbian sex can count as "real sex" since, he reasons, there can be no real penetration without a penis. When - wait for it - he falls madly in love with Joey, she tries to make him understand that his advances are inappropriate and that he doesn't respect her identity… before jumping into his arms, in the rain, like in the worst kind of rom-com, and deciding that she’s found "the one".

One night, after some (obviously amazing) sex, she tells him why she ended up falling in love with him, because he "gets her". Ben reacts with a joke: "Can I at least tell people all you needed was some serious deep dicking?" Needless to say, after watching this film I felt like throwing my computer on the floor and setting it on fire. A few other examples? In The Kids Are All Right, a lesbian mother played by Julianne Moore, whose sex life with her partner has gone stale, indulges in an affair with Mark Ruffalo's character (and unlike the boring lesbian sex, their hetero sex scenes are muy caliente). In Gazon Maudit, Josiane Balasko's character decides that she must have sex with Alain Chabat in order to get pregnant. When it comes to TV shows - the only lesbian couple in Queer as Folk faces a serious crisis when Lindsay cheats on her girlfriend with a particularly unlikable jerk (and again, their hetero sex is very sexy while Lindsay — literally! — falls asleep while having sex with her girlfriend.) Same thing in the American Skins, in which the lesbian heroine falls for a boy right from the beginning, or in the Netflix show Dear White People, where we discover that the teacher who refuses to marry her girlfriend to resist "heteronormativity" is having an affair with a young male student. This plot twist applies to the boys as well. In The Wedding Banquet, a closeted Taiwanese gay man ends up having sex with his beard. More recently, in Toute Première Fois, the gay protagonist, about to marry his partner, has to come out "in reverse" to his family after meeting a beautiful Swedish woman. On TV, Clara Sheller's gay best friend ends up sleeping with her, just like Hannah's in Girls, who suddenly becomes interested in the group's hottie for no apparent reason. The list goes on and on… Viewers always complain: why add an all too rare gay character only to straighten them up, even temporarily? This kind of storyline is criticised as an overused trope. The "lesbian sleeps with a guy" plot line is one of the three major tropes condemned by the website "LGBT Fans Deserve Better", that listed 46 characters in this category. "Did we have to do that?" fumes lesbian website Autostraddle about Dear White People. "Haven’t we been fighting against this ridiculous trope for decades?" With this trope, screenwriters also contribute to making bisexuality invisible. The idea that one must be either gay or straight is an example of casual biphobia. Screenwriters, if you feel like the character you are creating could be attracted to both sexes, why not just label them bi?

A cliché that echoes homophobic remarks

Of course, we could oppose to disappointed fans the fact that, in real life, those kinds of stories can actually happen. Homosexuality is not only about desire, it’s also a question of identity. It can happen that a person identifies as “gay” or “lesbian”, because they think it’s the label that represents their identity the best, but one night, they end up with someone of the opposite sex in their bed. Sexuality is sometimes more fluid than cultural identities we identify with. It’s not about banishing those stories from our screens. But we can question their recurrence : why are those stories present so often in fiction when, in real life, it’s frankly not the most common?

Also, in real life, it also happens for example that straight men, drunk or not, end up sleeping with another man. Again, sexuality is sometimes more fluid than the labels we use to define ourselves. But this story is barely told. How can we explain that the gay-who-goes-both-ways cliché comes back so often in fiction, when its straight equivalent is so rare among the ocean of straight roles?

Above all, if that trope is so annoying to concerned viewers, it’s also because it echoes those old homophobic tunes we keep hearing all day, and that it seems to validate : “You’ll find the right man/woman”, “How can you be so sure that you’re not straight? Did you try at least?”, “It’s only a phase”.

With that bonus point for the lesbians : according to some people, a relationship between women can’t be considered “real” sex, so they will end up sleeping with a men at some point. I can’t count how many endless discussions I’ve had with straight people who wouldn’t imagine that I could be not interested by males, even though I’m a lesbian. When I mention my love story, some people can’t help wondering what I do in bed. Of “homosexuality” they only remember “sexuality”, and for them “lesbian” means porn. If you type “lesbian” in Google, the first results you’ll find will be many porn scenes where people of the opposite sex make an appearance. So dudebros think it’s legitimate to try their luck...

[Tweets in the article :]

@BabascoGueria 1 lesbian character out of 1000 and even she has to sleep with a guy. How original.

@BabascoGueria Some homophobes harass lesbian women and are convinced that they can convert them. Thanks for perpetuating that cliché.

What if it was that old idea that gay men and lesbians are above all hypersexual beings, free from norms, with wild sex lives, that made the writers do with them what they’d never do with their boring straight characters? Would it be easier for them to imagine a rock’n’roll Andréa surprising us with her conquests, rather than the boring Mathias Barneville ou the funny Gabriel Sarda— even if, in reality, there are many Mathias who can also have sex with men...

Beyond hetero sex, motherhood

“Andréa is gay but she’s liberated enough to, on a one-night-stand, have sex with a man and not have a problem with it, because her sexuality is mature and fulfilling enough that she doesn’t ask herself questions”, thinks Fanny Herrero. “From the beginning, I knew that this character would have a very rich, complex and liberated libido, and for me that goes beyond sleeping with women. I think Andréa is more modern than that.”

The writer highlights the fact that, on the other hand, she would have never written that same intrigue for the character of Colette, way more traditional. [Colette is Andréa’s love interest. Andréa slept with Hisham after Colette dumped her.]

In Dix pour cent, the hetero sex especially permits to continue with the question of motherhood, since Andréa gets pregnant. “I wanted to confront Andréa with that question, because she’s more rough with her relation to motherhood. I wanted to make a portrait of a woman who becomes a mother differently from what we usually see, I wanted her to be upset by that pregnancy.” For the writer, there’s no question of making her plan an ART (assisted reproductive technology), to make her take a train at Gare du Nord to go have an insemination in Belgium, between two appointments with JoeyStarr and Juliette Binoche. Not the character’s type. It had to happen to her. Hence the “threesome” option.

And that pregnancy is also used to make Colette come back, suddenly moved by Andréa who’s lost in that situation. And that’s where Dix pour cent makes a quite clever move, which puts it, in spite of a few mistakes, lightyears away from Chasing Amy. Hicham being particularly hateful and Colette being adorable, the viewer ends up wishing that Andréa wins the love of her ex-lover back and that the boss of ASK, the biological father, leaves them alone. “I found that interesting to tell myself what the viewers would think : ‘no she’s not going to sleep with a man, we want her to go back with Colette’”, says Fanny Herrero, amused. “I like tickling that kind of emotion.” A plot twist that, for once, we hadn’t seen coming.