#bc the girl is ann

[brokenhardies]

just finished p5r and i am an emotional wreck

[choccy-milky]

smooth, seb 👍 ((redraw of this scene from the goblet of fire))

[haaam-guuuurl]

[w-i-t-c-h-y-g-i-r-l]

when someone needs an actress to absolutely devour the role of a queen, they call her

[boobchuy]

hell yeah

[cosmosnout]

Portgas D. Anne

[personallyfive]

jealous

[guiltyonsundays]

In defence of Will Ladislaw

George Eliot's characterisation of Will Ladislaw is one of the few aspects of Middlemarch that is not universally praised, with no less a person than Henry James commenting in 1873 that he lacked “sharpness of outline and depth of color”, making him the novel’s “only eminent failure.” And while Will's character is certainly not as clearly defined as some of the other characters in the novel, I believe that this was absolutely intentional on Eliot's part. Middlemarch is full to the brim of characters who believe they know exactly what they want—not least among them, our two protagonists, Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, whose ardent ambitions and inflexible attitudes lead them into catastrophic errors of judgement and unhappy marriages.

By contrast, Will's lack of strongly defined goals and his changeability are almost his defining character traits. He's aimless and pliable, prone to rapid mood swings and drastic career changes, with even his physical features seeming to "chang[e] their form; his jaw looked sometimes large and sometimes small; and the little ripple in his nose was a preparation for metamorphosis. When he turned his head quickly his hair seemed to shake out light."

Will’s inscrutability is closely tied to his ambiguous status within the rigid class structure and xenophobic society of Victorian England, with his Polish ancestry and “rebellious blood on both sides” making him a target for suspicion. He is repeatedly aligned (and aligns himself) with oppressed, marginalised, and outcast populations—Jewish people, artists, and the poor.

He serves as a narrative foil for characters like Lydgate and Edward Casaubon, who prioritise specialist expertise above all and are consequently incapable of broad knowledge synthesis. He critiques Casaubon's life's work as being "thrown away, as so much English scholarship is, for want of knowing what is being done by the rest of the world." By contrast, Will serves as Eliot's defence of the value of a liberal education. One of the first things that we learn about him is that he declines to choose a vocation, and instead seeks to travel widely, experiencing diverse cultures and ways of life. He has broad tastes and interests, trying his hand at poetry and painting before eventually pursuing a career in politics.

He also functions as a narrative foil for Dorothea. Will is initially apathetic to politics, whereas Dorothea initially professes herself to be disinterested in art and beauty. This is perfectly encapsulated in their exchange in Rome, when Dorothea declares, "I should like to make life beautiful—I mean everybody's life. And then all this immense expense of art, that seems somehow to lie outside life and make it no better for the world, pains one", to which Will replies, "You might say the same of landscape, of poetry, of all refinement [...] The best piety is to enjoy—when you can [...] I suspect that you have some false belief in the virtues of misery, and want to make your life a martyrdom.”

By the end of the novel, Dorothea unlearns some of her puritanical suspicion of sensual pleasure, whereas Will becomes more serious, compassionate, and politically engaged, dedicating his life to the accomplishment of humane political reforms. They are both flawed individuals, who ultimately become more well rounded through their relationship with each other. Admittedly, Dorothea's influence on Will is more significant than his on her—and once again, I believe that this was intentional on Eliot's part.

In my opinion, the negative response to Will Ladislaw at the time of Middlemarch's publication (and in the centuries since) was and is profoundly informed by gendered expectations of masculine dominance in romantic relationships. Will's marriage to Dorothea has often been described as disappointing, with many readers and critics viewing the ambitious Lydgate as the embodiment of the ideal husband that Dorothea outlines at the beginning of the novel—a talented man engaged in important work for the betterment of humanity, to whom she can devote herself.

However, one of the central themes of the novel is that people are often mistaken in their beliefs about what they want, and Dorothea's marriage to Edward Casaubon certainly demonstrates that she would not in fact be happy living her life in submission to a man who does not respect her opinions. I firmly believe that Lydgate's misogynistic attitudes and expectations would have made it impossible for him to be happy in a marriage of equals with a woman like Dorothea. He is explicitly drawn to Rosamond Vincy because she has "just the kind of intelligence one would desire in a woman—polished, refined, docile."

By contrast, George Eliot made a deliberate choice to pair Dorothea with a man who is not ashamed to be influenced by her, and indeed looks up to her as his moral superior. Through Dorothea's influence, Will discovers his life's work. In turn, by marrying Will, Dorothea is able to pursue her true passion. As a result of their influence on each other, these come to mean the same thing—reform. Thus, George Eliot grants Dorothea Brooke a subversively feminist, politically progressive, and profoundly cathartic ending: a life of companionate marriage, sensual pleasure, and meaningful work, in which Dorothea can devote herself (within the limited means available to her as a woman in the 19th century) to the achievement of just and compassionate reforms that "make life beautiful" for everybody—herself included.

[eggcats]

Something I find funny is that the reason I now have a preference for how my name is pronounced is because in my autistic desire to fit in and not cause trouble I was forced to choose.

Like, yes. Now I prefer the one I chose. But I can't be certain if I'd have chosen it, or at all, as I got older because I literally. Made a conscious choice when I was in like, second grade.

Like. My name is Anne (pronounced Ann) but whenever people would ask how I wanted it pronounced I USED to go "oh, whichever" because I didn't care! BUT MY TEACHERS AND EVERYONE WOULD MAKE A HUGE DEAL OUT OF IT WHENEVER I GAVE THAT ANSWER???

I'd either have the annoying "funny" teachers go, "Okay, Whichever, haha!" and make fun of me (not ideal) or they'd be so concerned/upset when I told them I'd be fine with whatever they chose (less ideal) because, apparently, it being MY name meant I had to have a preference? Despite the fact that I legitimately did not at that point.

So I quite literally went home one day and sat down and thought about it and choose what I go by, and tbh a good portion of it was because there WAS a girl named "Annie" in my class so I chose the other one to avoid confusion.

Like, yeah, I now go by the version not pronouncing the "e," but if you do, it doesn't bother me. I have relatives who still call me "Ann(i)e" and I don't care. If you ASK, I'll tell you it's Ann(e), but otherwise? I don't care. I have people write Ann as my name BECAUSE of how I pronounce it, and it doesn't bother me. It's my name, but it's not like I'm super attached to it? Not like I want a new one, but more like how I see my gender, it's like sure whatever.

(The only time I was bothered was once when I was like 17 a guy I cashiered ARGUED about how to pronounce my name because I didn't pronounce the "e"???? And then my correcting him and not letting him run roughshod over me meant every fucking time he came in he'd pout and tell me I was mean to him. This was a grown ass man, and also I'm practically faceblind. I only recognized him because he'd do the same song and dance and I'm like sir, get the fuck out of my gas station. That just flabbergasted me I'm like, I have the whitest girl name, and I'm STILL getting people having issues with it??? Hellooo????)

Anyway that should have been everyone's first clue because I literally chose a preference to mask better, lmao.

[sieglinde-freud]

just started laughing really hard

[i-wanna-show-you-off]

hey guys grins

text in the second one says “somebody here clearly has body image issues, and you already know it ain’t me.” text in the fourth one are the lyrics to say it ain’t so by Weezer (specifically the bridge)

[mulderscully]

🕯️ princess diaries 3 mia thermopolis curly hair 🕯️

[mayadoesfandomstuff]

Thing that I feel like I need to bring up here about Persona 5: most of the girls are competent cooks.

This isn't headcanon, this is fully canon. They cook together pretty often during Strikers and have pretty good results.

This isn't just because they're being helped by the protagonist either by the way, Ann, Haru, and Makoto cook with Yusuke some pretty good curry of their own that Joker only helps with at the last minute, and Haru teaches Zenkichi how to cook to make better meals for his daughter since he's not a good one like at all.

The only one we don't see cooking among the thieves during the game is literally Futaba who is considered their resident taste tester. Futaba, however, is seen baking in the actual P5/R if you romance her, so she probably knows how to follow a recipe well.

I just need more people to know this because I know there's a side of the fandom that keeps making the girls (specifically Futaba, Ann, and even Haru sometimes) as horrible cooks coming from jokes from previous Persona games. I know it's a funny haha joke but it's a little iffy to try to push this idea about the girls just because of previous installments.

[marshmurmurs]

skipping a few steps of explanation but ng+ au gone wrong (the lads roleswap) and this somehow works out in akira getting a magical girl outfit

[mokacheer]

[boobchuy]

something I've found a bit funny if u compare the kids designs in toh, gf and A are how dip and mabe, being 12, are so tiny compared to how lanky toh and A kids are even w them only being a few years older. toh's designs is a bit less jarring 2 me since it's more realistic, but if u put the mystery twins beside calamity trio it's silly how the latter look so l o n g in comparison