#asia rambles

[anthonybrxdgerton]

That moment when you realize you don't have beads with numbers and you can't make "and i was born in 1989" bracelet 😭😭

[camelots-daffodil]

My friend has a lizard and it’s been kicked out of his house due to landlord difficulties so huge score! I now have a lizard

His name is Cole short for coleslaw

[willowsz-plants]

HAPPY TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO MY FAVORITE OWL HOUSE EPISODE, ANY SPORT IN A STORM!!

here, have the blorbos

HAPPY HUNTLOW MEETING ANNIVERSARY!!!

[welcometogrouchland]

Also I am. Constantly forgetting how fucking funny Hunter is. We never give him enough credit for how funny he is because his life is so fucked up but I swear 90% of his lines are just bit after bit after bit. He's not even trying either. Anytime he actively tries to make a joke it falls flat but if you just put him in a Scenario he'll find a way to be so over invested and yet out of touch/at odds with whatever's going on. He's so autistic

[skadren]

so. let's talk about exoticism.

for those unfamiliar with the concept, exoticism involves the mystification and stereotyping of the culture being depicted. it's closely linked to orientalism, which in academic discourse is used to describe a specific eurocentric attitude or obsession directed towards the "eastern world", or the "orient".

(for reference, referring to that region as "the orient" or "oriental" is considered in extremely poor taste these days.)

this attitude places outside cultures as the "other", the "exotic". it posits that things from these cultures are fundamentally different; they do not belong and never will.

these things are seen as fascinating, but always lesser; something to be observed and made sense of, but in a way that results in subjugation and exploitation. instead of understanding the subject in its original context, it is taken out of place and forced to conform with a preexisting western understanding of the world. it is, essentially, stolen and put on display for clueless gawkers for the displayer's own benefit.

crucially, the person doing it is often oblivious to their own biases. they believe they are being objective and apolitical. but their interpretation of things is inherently biased, informed by their own preexisting worldview-- particularly when they are trying to impose their own understanding within the bounds of said worldview, rather than being willing to venture outside of it, or even simply accept that things can exist outside of it.

fandom of east asian media has a problem with exoticism-- specifically, in othering, stereotyping, and willfully misinterpreting various east asian cultures so they can cite it as an authority for more fandom credibility points for their preferred interpretation of the source material, telling everyone that's what it actually means, source: trust me bro. unfortunately, people eat it up every time, because most of them simply don't know any better.

i think on some level, that's why these people do it; subconsciously or not, they know that it will be difficult for people to question them or prove them wrong, given both the language barrier with the source material and the current internet landscape. they want to seem smart and culturally aware, and rely on their audience's cluelessness to sell their otherwise illogical or paper-thin argument.

i see it everywhere, gone unchallenged because no one seems to notice. and when you say anything it's "why are you ruining other people's fun" and "you're just being too sensitive" and "it's not that serious, it's just fandom" and "well you KNOW what i really mean (i'm a good little internet activist and therefore i can't be racist!)"

and it's harmful; a lot of discussions in these fandoms promote racist stereotypes, including the demasculinization of east asian men and the infantilization of east asians in general. they perpetuate the idea of our cultures being inherently more pedophilic, incestuous, or predatory. they cast us as being inherently strange and foreign, mystical and incomprehensible, who think in fundamentally different ways from you, who are normal.

no one seems to think that a fandom built around purportedly liking an east asian creation can be pervasively and overwhelmingly racist towards its very culture of origin, but that brings us back to the original definition of orientalism: a fascination, an obsession-- one that inherently degrades the object of that fascination.

regardless, i have argued in the past and will still argue that it's crucially important to engage in the cultural context around a work when trying to interpret it. it's just that when trying to perform this sort of analysis, some important questions to ask first are: is this overgeneralizing or stereotyping an entire group of people (or more)? is this actually applicable in the context of the media i am trying to analyze? is this sensationalizing a certain belief or practice that i don't fully understand?

is this what it actually means, or am i imposing my own standards of what i think it should mean?

[swiftlydnp]

the way they're still trying to get international dates fills my heart...thank god they're communicating properly with us🥺 I just hope something can be done i wanna see them so bad😭😭😭

[secriden]

something i really appreciate about prapai is that even at the start he never pulls the asshole rich guy move of trying to buy/impress sky by throwing money or expensive gifts at him/his problems.

when sky makes it clear he's not interested, prapai almost immediately bounces back and decides to 'try again'.

rather than getting angry, in an unexpectedly sweet move, mr playboy "i love my freedom" goes for actually getting to know sky.

i mean yes, he's absolutely still just trying to get into sky's pants at this point, but at the same time this isn't a move from the rich asshole playbook at all.

when prapai shows up at sky's dorm unannounced again, it's clear he doesn't really have a plan other than 'try to be sexy around sky' and he fails terribly at this because prapai is NOT as smooth as he thinks he is.

he's so, so bad at flirting, but...it absolutely works in prapai's favour because it disarms some of sky's defences. look at sky's expressions here:

it's hard to see in screenshots, but we hear that sky suppresses a small laugh, and towards the end he's very clearly fighting not to smile. prapai's not living up to sky's expectations of finding a suave playboy type. he's ridiculous and sky is very reluctantly charmed by it.

and when they have breakfast, prapai doesn't try to show off by bringing sky to a fancy restaurant or try to make a big deal about paying for sky's meal. even though he also likely overpays for his meal.

sky leaves what looks like two 100 bhat notes while prapai leaves a single 500 bhat note. (my experiences in places like this in Bangkok says that sky left a reasonable amount/slightly more than he needed to, while prapai probably left a tip that was bigger than the cost of his meal.)

so if he wanted to, prapai could've made a big deal about this but he doesn't. this isn't for show because sky never even sees the amount prapai puts down.

look at prapai's emphasis: he queued up for it since 5am. he didn't try to pay extra to jump to the head of the line or order it to be delivered to him or send someone else to buy it for him. this was prapai's time, effort, energy and he didn't use his money to take any short cuts.

purely speculative, but assuming sky is heading directly to classes, his dorm is located within walking distance of the university, and the first class is at 8am, it's possibly around 7:30am at the earliest. which still gives a conservative estimate of prapai having a whole 2.5 hour window of queuing for the food and bringing it to sky right before his international flight and a slew of business meetings.

for a man with money, with power, with influence, this is so, so much effort.

even before prapai ends up taking care of sky when he's sick, he's already shown how real his commitment is. this is intentional, focused, dedicated pursuit. of sky. not just a warm body for sex, but very specifically: sky. because prapai is not a man who has to work this hard just to get sex.

and then there's this moment:

i think this was the moment when prapai realises that his approach was working on sky. before this point, prapai's entire strategy is 'throw stuff at wall, see what sticks,' but here he realises: sky has been moved. first, by the reassurance that prapai wasn't looking for sex anymore (at least not just sex), and second by the attention and forethought inherent in making sure sky still had food ready for him after prapai left. this is the kind of care you show when you genuinely want the best for someone, not just to make a good impression or to elevate their opinion of you, and it's working.

it's super telling that after this point in the show, about 85% of prapai's wooing strategy becomes 'send sky food', whether in person or via delivery. he's paying attention and when something works he doubles down on it with zero hesitation. and everything he does give sky either meets a basic need (food, medication, a safe space to rest) or involves directly helping sky with something he finds challenging (helping him with his assignments). primarily, prapai's focus is about spending time with sky.

and none of this, none of this, was the approach you would expect from a rich fuckboy. and i really, really love prapai for that.

[kuroananosanji]

I’ve mentioned on my priv twt that Zoro calls Sanji “廚子” (chu zi) in the Chinese translation and that somehow sounds… romantic? “Cook” or コック in English/Japanese sounds like just your average nickname among dudebros but 廚子 sounds like something you’d call your wife (if you’re some grumpy old man). Maybe it’s coz Chinese people have a habit of calling their spouses insulting nicknames (see: 臭婆娘、老婆子 which are just variations of “old hag”😭), so we can’t help but interpret zosan as some boomer “ol’ ball and chain” couple

[kaxtwenty]

Mobile Suit Gundam is a story about understanding.

[mysticalhiss]

What if Rani was a tiger. What then

[taruruchi]

Do any of y'all play genshin and/or hsr on Asia server......

[a-selkie-abroad]

i always find episodes like the ultimate enemy in shows intruiging because its like implied dan destroyed the entire world but like. thats a lot of people. and also places. is dan really going out to like, vanuatu and wreaking stuff. how is iceland going. how is madagascar affected by this. there are so many island nations. like im sure dan could pull off a collapse of most of the world trade network and governments by taking out key infrastructure but people are like cockroaches and this is dan we're talking about could he even point out Mauritius (island nation; population ~1.2 million) on a map

[nyaskitten]

It's so hard watching my favs get hit with the whiteification beam... hell I wouldn't even wish it on my least favs...

[dougielombax]

Can we PLEASE stop referring to Assyrians in the past tense!

They’re still here! (Look them up)

They aren’t extinct!

STOP acting like it!

To do otherwise is committing blatant erasure of thousands of years of living human history!

There’s anywhere between 3 to 5 million of the buggers still alive today!

Here’s some additional information.

Feel free to read and reblog.

[sideblogdotjpeg]

fuck i thought about sol bufo too hard again. did anyone tell him he hibernates when its cold or did he have to learn it all by himself. makes me sick to my stomach because i KNOW its not a reading of his character that was intended but T_T growing up alone where theres nobody else like you, or at least nobody who knows more about you than you. you have a history but no one to tell it to you. does he know the bullywugs are a family oriented people with really nice teeth. this is so stupid but im crying forever and ever. this city frog can hold so much cultural displacement and estrangement in him

[citrusbuds]

guys i miss being in a band :( i miss playing guitar and singing and having fun

(my band has yet to play together cause they live SO FAR AWAY 😭😭😭😭😭 its so over)