#but like no one in this house can conceptualize ‘family’ media. like if there’s no curse words or sex it’s just For Kids

[livvyofthelake]

that was a lie my parents won’t ruin THIS episode by coming home. unfortunately i will probably watch a third episode

[justrustandstardust]

in honour of geto's birthday, i want to talk about the fandom discourse that paints him as a mother. he definitely has a degree in motherology (with a minor in babygirlism), but i also think it’s possible that gege is genuinely using his character to say something interesting about motherhood and maternity.

this post is inspired largely in part by @virgobingo's thoughtful meta on geto and monstrous femininity, which you can find here. i want to extrapolate from the trope of monstrous femininity and extend it to monstrous motherhood. (which @virgobingo also touches on; you should really check out their meta— it's awesome!)

geto's character is immediately established in a protector capacity, which is intensely reminiscent of the tropes that mothers embody in media. his whole thing is that the strong must protect the weak; it's his core belief. his character is premised around this belief, much like the way mothers' constitutions in media are premised on the principle that they'll go to any length for their children.

we're repeatedly shown his caring side during hidden inventory— he cares for riko, he expresses concern for gojo, he even asks about kuroi after he finds out toji supposedly murdered his best friend. it's made very clear that he's an outwardly caring person with a strong sense of duty. in this way, he parallels the textual role of mothers, whose function is to care and provide above all else. the repeated emphasis on his caring nature is what directly likens him to maternity, whose characteristic trait is tender love and care.

he also houses curses in his body. he unleashes them from inside of him, almost like children leaving the womb. these curses obey him and operate according to his will in a very parent/child dynamic. they are powerful, but they can only do what he tells them to do. he uses them to fulfil his duty according to his core belief: to protect the weak.

when he defects, his ideology fundamentally does not change— it just inverts. instead of the strong protecting the weak (the weak necessitating their strength because they can't protect themselves), now the strong must be protected from the weak (because the weak leech the strength from the strong, therefore rendering them weak).

nothing really changes; he still cares —fiercely— it's just in the opposite direction. he takes the tropes associated with motherhood and inverts them— he'll do anything to protect those under his care, including killing, because he wholeheartedly believes in fulfilling his duty as a protector (like a mother). his unwavering conviction and willingness to die for his beliefs (which are directly about those he's protecting) is the most flagrantly maternal thing about him.

toji's worm calls him "mommy" and it's not wrong. he takes in daughters and becomes the central figure of his "family"; his emphasis on family throughout the story (even as a youth) also speaks to his maternity, as mothers are often written as the binding emotional centres of familial structures.

after he dies, his body is taken over by someone who is Iiterally a mother. he embodies monstrous motherhood during life and after death, leading us to the question of what gege is trying to say about all of this. is caring too much a bad thing? does caring in one way open the door to caring in another? what happens when a mother's love, supposedly strong enough to lift fallen trees off their children, goes in the “wrong” direction?

there's also the fact that geto is male. i think gege is also asking us to reckon with how the tropes of maternity have been confined to women, showing us that these intense convictions and the depth of care attributed to mothers can apply to anyone, even (especially) if they are distinctly masculine. in doing this, he's also expanding the conceptual definition of motherhood, suggesting that mothers can exist beyond their provident care and one-dimensional duty to their beloveds.

geto's monstrous motherhood is an explosive reclamation of agency in a trope where women have been historically limited by the categorical imposition of maternity. it seeks to disrupt not only who we consider to be mothers but also what we consider a mother to be. perhaps the monster is not the maternal figure whose love turns vicious or violent, but us, who monstrously imprisoned them in the fixed role of "mother".

[heliza24]

Wilhelm closing the curtains

I know people have varying opinions on the moment when Wilhelm closes the curtains in 2.5, but to me it’s always felt really special, in a way that goes beyond a reaction to past trauma. There is something about that action that feels really sacred to me, but I was struggling to articulate what until I started talking with @bluedalahorse about it. She said something so great that it sparked a bunch of ideas in my head: what if we thought about Hillerska, not just as a school deeply entrenched in the class system, but as a panopticon?

A panopticon is “a disciplinary concept brought to life in the form of a central observation tower placed within a circle of prison cells. From the tower, a guard can see every cell and inmate but the inmates can't see into the tower. Prisoners will never know whether or not they are being watched.” Basically, it’s a conceptual prison where because  you could be observed at any moment, you behave as if you are always being observed.

Now obviously Hillerska isn’t a literal prison; this is a metaphor more than anything. But I think it’s a useful way of examining the dynamics in the school.  Because the adults at Hillerska aren’t the only ones enforcing upper class values and hierarchy. The students are also policing each other  as well. That means that any student could be observed “breaking the rules” established for upper class kids at any time. An important part of the unspoken rules you agree to at Hillerska are to follow the traditions set out for you, and to keep the authentic, vulnerable version of yourself hidden. It’s very important that you only show vulnerability in sanctioned ways, and to the correct people.

There are a lot of tangible ways this system of self-policing manifests. There’s the “get on the table” tradition, which allows the Forest Ridge boys to monitor each other’s hookups to make sure that everyone is picking appropriate partners. There’s the pledge that August makes Wilhelm take after his initiation, to “never betray the proud traditions of Forest Ridge House”. And there’s the system of prefects, where one student is elected to explicitly control and discipline the other students. 

I would say that the royal family and the court operate in much the same way. The members of the royal family are always policing each other for good behavior, and the apparatus of the court and the royal staff works to cover up any deviant acts and reinforce the status quo. The royal family is always being observed by the public and the media, so they are always careful to act with propriety. So between the palace and Hillerska, Wilhelm has lived his whole life being observed. He’s never been free of the panopticon. 

Thinking about Hillerska in this way can really help us understand August’s actions in season 1. When August records and posts the video, he’s acting in the way that he’s been trained to do. Wilhelm has broken the rules in a few ways: by having sex with another boy, by falling in love outside of his class, and maybe most importantly, by being intimate with someone who lives largely outside of the panopticon and can therefore not be controlled by it. As Nils tells us in season 2, the rules about who you can be intimate with are very image-dependent. You can have gay sex as long as the person you’re sleeping with will be discreet. But Simon is an outsider. His ties to his family and Marieberg mean that he’s immune to the Hillerska panopticon in a lot of ways. So it makes total sense that August would act almost without thinking (he’s intoxicated when he records the video) to reinforce the rules and punish Wilhelm for stepping out of line like this. 

To return to the royal family for a minute, I am continuously fascinated by the way that Kristina reacts to Wilhelm threatening to post on social media that he is stepping down as Crown Prince. The most powerful threat that Wilhelm can make is to remove the power of his immediate observers (the royal family and of the court) by exposing his true self to the general public. The panopticon relies on your close circle observing and controlling you, but as soon as you reveal your authentic self publicly, the power of that circle disappears. When Kristina tells Wilhelm “you have to realize that there will be reactions when you threaten us” in 2.2, she basically draws a line between Wilhelm the Person and Wilhelm the Prince. Wilhelm the Person was threatening Wilhelm the Prince, and by extension the whole royal family and circle of observation. 

Because of that I think it’s important to remember that Kristina leverages therapy not as a genuine solution for Wilhelm’s mental health struggles, but as a tool of the panopticon. Therapy is supposed to teach Wilhelm how to better control and suppress his emotions, so that he can act more controlled while he is being observed. I know some people like to speculate that Erik was also struggling under the weight of the crown before his death, and that may be true. But I also think it’s important to recognize that Erik was using coping skills that were explicitly approved by the panopticon system. Wilhelm never knew he went to therapy, which meant he was likely using it as Kristina intended, as a way to help him maintain a perfect princely image. He was having hookups with sex workers, who could certainly be controlled and paid off enough to ensure that they never threatened his image. And he was (at least) casually drinking, a form of self medicating that might be seen as more acceptable by his family and the court than relying on actual pharmaceuticals. (There’s certainly a longer tradition of princes and kings drinking than taking antidepressants). I think that if Erik had lived, he would be sympathetic to Wilhelm’s plight. But I also think that he would have encouraged Wilhelm to deal with his problems through officially sanctioned methods, which ultimately wouldn’t have been enough to help Wilhelm.

So now let’s finally return to the window and the curtain. The idea of a window through which the prisoner is observed is crucial to the concept of the panopticon, and I think it’s really interesting to contrast the way that August and Wilhelm react to it. August takes the call from the palace, where Jan-Olaf maps out his future to him, standing naked in front of the window. August is comfortable with this system of observation and control; he’s consenting to Jan-Olaf’s demands without argument and is unafraid to be seen while doing so. He’s a part of and protected by the system, so it doesn’t matter if anyone sees him.

When Wilhelm closes the curtain for him and Simon though, he’s effectively taking himself out of the panopticon. He’s taking away the pressures that come with being observed and freeing them both to behave genuinely. I think that’s a really big deal for Wilhelm, who was raised in the royal system of control and is now living in the social hierarchy of Hillerska. As much as closing the curtains is a reaction to what August did, it’s also a revolutionary act. Claiming privacy in that way is a really big step in Wilhelm’s journey, and I think it’s something he had to do first before he was ready to publicly claim his queerness and relationship with Simon at the end of Season 2. 

[whatavery]

In the Spirit of Defiance

Ah, welcome, welcome. What’s this, you might wonder. Avery, don’t you just post almost decent fanfiction about Lackadaisy? And the answer is yes, that’s usually what I do. However, for my latest story, I settled upon writing a compendium to go with the story. What initially started as a bit of ramblings about the Funeral Home itself, I instead decided to turn into a more detailed piece on my creative process, my ideas, head-canons and the like.

Now, perhaps you’re wondering why someone – anyone at all – would care about the Arbogast Funeral Home this much. Well, allow me to formally introduce myself, in case you don’t know me. My name’s Avery, I’m an avid(-ish) Lackadaisy fan-fiction writer and I've been working on a major story that predominantly features the Arbogast Funeral Home and its residents.

So what is this story I’m speaking of?

Ordained Defiance is a story following Abelard Arbogast and my OC Cainan Wirth. This compendium will also go into detail about him, his creation and the motifs I chose to play with. With no future spoilers, of course. This will be a breakdown of the first story arc, which consists of chapters one through five, which I titled In the Beginning…

In the name of defiance, while writing and conceptualizing the story, I actually went out of my way to go against a lot of conventions when it comes to OC and canon ships.

For one, if you’ve read the story, you will have noticed that the story is primarily from Abelard's perspective – it’s his story first and foremost and Cainan is just another player within his world.

A lot of ship media tends to put all the focus into the OC to the point where they get all the development and care, often to the point where the canon character they’re shipped with gets reduced to being little more than a mannequin for them to hug and kiss when needed. One of the easy trappings is to not allow the canon character to retain their sense of autonomy and agency.

It’s not always the case, of course, but it’s an easy trap to fall into. As of writing this little think piece, I’ve written nine chapters of which only a single one is entirely focused on Cainan.

It’s so easy to give in to the temptation of making one’s shiny, new OC the star of the show, the proverbial sun with all the canon characters orbiting them. But I think it’s especially important to retain focus on the canon character when it comes to a ship. And doubly so when it’s someone with less screen-time in the main medium of the series.

Abelard is only featured on a small handful of pages and one of my other goals with this story was to expand on him as a character, primarily utilizing head canon and ideas of my own. It’s one of the fun aspects of writing characters you like, when they’re not the head-lining acts; you can add your own ideas and project them onto the character.

I likewise didn't give Cainan an overly detailed backstory that would require a timeline or compendium of its own. I purposefully left in blanks and some things will remain unspoken. After all, isn't that what's so enticing about many of the main characters in Lackadaisy? We know Rocky went on the road for years, but we don't know everything he did or experienced; we know Zib and the band met in New Orleans, but we don't know what their time on the road entailed either. I could go on... filling in the blanks and guessing is half the fun; it's why people are so eager to ask Tracy lore questions on streams - it's fun!

-----

Next, let us talk about the primary settings within the story, namely the Arbogast Funeral Home. My inspection of this house took me to some weird, weird places and nearly broke my brain. However! The good news is that it was all worth it. Note that there shall be a few instances of guesswork and head-canon in this.

The Arbogast Funeral Home was confirmed by Tracy to be the childhood home of Abelard and Elsa, hence the place being named for their family. This was confirmed on a Patreon stream that took place on February 29th 2024. The Funeral Home is located in Defiance, Missouri, a small unincorporated community that was settled by German immigrants. The name Arbogast itself is derived from old germanic and contains ‘Gast’ which in modern German means ‘guest’. Arbogast itself carries a similar meaning, according to several etymology websites; ‘inheritance’ and ‘guest’ are the key interpreted meanings behind the name. In case it wasn't already obvious enough, Abelard and Elsa's heritage/ancestry was indeed confirmed in the February 29th stream.

So now that we have that out of the way, first things first: how did this start?

Quite simply, I started with the embalming room where a certain fender bender got his head fixed up by Elsa. As you can see in the picture above, my overthinking actually works out quite nicely.

Elsa can be seen entering from a wooden door with a large frosted window, which is connected to a separator wall with similar wooden construction and frosted windows. The door can be seen being open at the bottom of the frame in Lackadaisy Medicament and it’s even more visible in Mortuary where the other panels aren’t blocking the view. However, in Morphia we get the clearest view of this side of the room.

Similarly, my overthinking has further been proven to be a valid method for figuring out this house by the fact that you can see two windows near the ceiling in the embalming room. When looking at the outside of the Arbogast Funeral Home as seen above, you can see the windows near the ground clearly line up with the ones in the basement.

Now, let us delve into the tale of the impossible window.

This is the part of the funeral home that nearly broke my brain. In Lackadaisy Scrutiny when Elsa sees Wes and Fish walking up to the door to the side of the funeral home, she’s glancing out a window. First to establish how and why I know this is that door, the main thing is that the front doors to the funeral home’s parlor (as mentioned by Bobby to exist in Lackadaisy Undertaker) is a large double door with windows, as can clearly be seen in establishing shots of the place. Meanwhile, Elsa stands by a single, fully wooden door, which has porch lights on either side of it. This is also the door where there’s a swing seat as can be seen in Lackadaisy Bygones.

So how come I refer to a supposed impossible window? Well, I’ll tell you. If we look at the type of window and match it to the ones on the front of the house, none of them fit. The main issue is there’s no stretch of uninterrupted wall where the window could possibly be, based on the first shot we see of it. Furthermore… no wind chimes to be seen. We can see the chimney in the establishing shot of Lackadaisy Sendoff.

If we look at Wes and Fish leaving, we can see they walk along a path leading away from what is clearly the left side of the house (when looking at the two establishing shots we see), but they’re walking to the right (our POV). How do we know it’s supposed to be the left side of the house? Namely the absence of a chimney, which we see in establishing shots as part of the wall on the right side of the house.

Am I nitpicking over details no one else would see? Yes.

Am I trying to justify how long I spent trying to make sense of this house? Also yes.

To briefly go into the established layout; front door leads into the parlor, which connects to the turret in front; to the right of the parlor is a foyer, beside it a living room with a fireplace. Above is where bedrooms would be, which is an assumption. To the left is a garage or a shed, which I have assumed to be where bodies are brought down into the embalming room via the other door leading there as can be seen in the scenes taking place there.

And that is all I have so far on the layout.

-----

The first thing a lot of people ask me when they learn that I’m one of the very few, very vocal Abelard enjoyers in the Lackadaisy fandom is simply: why? Why Abelard? And to an extent, I get the confusion. Abelard isn’t a main character, he’s not someone you immediately think of when you think of the series; he doesn’t appear much in the comic, but he made an impression on me when I decided to reread the comic following the release of the pilot.

Say what you will about the man, but you can’t deny that he’s one of the most expressive characters and that his dialogue is amazing, honestly. Hamfisted, dramatic, over the top in the most perfect way. So that was of course something to take into account while writing Abelard, though for the first mini arc of the story, there hasn't yet been much reason for him to really get vocal just yet, but odds are it will happen in future chapters.

The prime examples of Abelard's defining dialogue – or rather his monologues – can be found in his confrontation with Ivy as well as his card game with her in Lackadaisy Sendoff.

Actually writing for Abelard seemed very intimidating at first, though I’ve been doing my best to keep up with his colorful language and his very wide vocabulary. Granted, I’m not entirely convinced I’ve got it right quite yet, it’s likely my personal biggest weakness, but I like to think I at least have his characterization down, even if it’s written and conveyed in a less smooth way than the comic.

So… Cainan Wirth, eh?

Yeah, Cainan Wirth indeed. Former resident of Defiance, who left home in his early teens to attempt to carve out a life on his own, perhaps making friends with some not-so-nice people. Yes, indeed, I’m pairing him with Abelard, thank you for asking. Why? Because I love Abelard, duh.

When I set out to create Cainan, I decided to make someone who would very violently contrast with Abelard; a white-furred, young, snarky and remarkably lazy atheist paired with a golden-brown, older, serious, no-nonsense reverend. What could possibly go wrong? I did go out of my way to try and distinguish Cainan, taking visual inspiration from Wick and Ben. I took the healthy, slightly more healthy body type from Wick seeing as many other male OCs are built like twigs. Like, let’s be real here. I also wanted to make sure his eyes weren't blue, as blue seems to be a common eye-color for white cat OCs. And I also gave him some good, old forehead fluff to give him a more youthful appearance, much like Calvin, Mordecai and Joey, for example. And of course, can’t forget those lynx-like ear tufts.

But I know what you were already thinking of, before I even started talking about his design; Cainan and Abelard? Not very subtle.

And you’re right. Though it took me a while to settle on a name after I started creating him, this was entirely intentional,. Not just because I thought it was a cute name pairing, but also because I wanted to further contrast the two; Abelard as a religious man to whom religion is important; the biblical Abel was favored by God; Cainan as an agnostic (at best) man to whom religion is a sore subject; the biblical Cain lost God’s favor and was cursed as a punishment.

Furthermore, Cain’s punishment in the bible was to be cursed to become a wanderer, not unlike Cainan who spent his youth and part of his young-adult life as a drifter. Oh, and I also decided to give Cainan a moon motif, which leads us into…

Moon Spirit might seem like a very strange ship name at a glance… and it is. Its origin is really clunky, but I think it works… and I’m not changing it now. Portmanteau ship names really don’t work; Cabelard just looks like Abelard with a C in front; for a while I went for Cainard, like ‘canard’, but I wasn’t really happy with it.

The origin of Moon Spirit as a strange one, but in hindsight it works. The ‘moon’ part I took from the term ‘moonshine’, for obvious reason, and an old myth states that Cain was sent to live on the moon after killing Abel in the bible. This was a coincidence, however; I’d decided on giving Cainan the moon motif before I even learned that this was a thing.

The ‘spirit’ part is twofold; it references the Holy Spirit, referencing Abelard's unwavering faith, and also just… spirits, as in alcohol. So you see, both words reference an aspect of each of them, and also reference booze.

Cainan's moon motif also ties into one of Abelard's most iconic lines, speaking of the “Wicked, troubled sea in every soul” (Lackadaisy Brimstone). As I assume most people know, the moon’s magnetic pull affects the sea and the tide.

Returning to the world of etymology, I also chose the name Wirth for the sake of being the opposite of Abelard. Whereas the name Arbogast, according to several etymology websites, stems from the old germanic words for ‘heritage’ and ‘guest’, ‘Wirth’ is an old germanic form of ‘Wirt’, which means host or innkeeper.

So, what else is there to know about these two? That’ll be in the story as future chapters come out. For spoiler reasons, I won’t disclose more beyond what can be learned in the first part of the story.

And now I will briefly mention a couple of minor characters, starting with Cainan's parents, Harold and Gabriela Wirth. I chose their names for a very specific reason. Being devoutly christian, I chose Harold after Harold Bluetooth, the king of Denmark who made Christianity the predominant religion of the country in place of the old Norse religion.

I decided to name the store owner of Defiance General Mr. Weaver as a tribute to John Weaver who ran a store near a different Defiance in Missouri, one that used to be located in Worth county. Not implying that they’re one and the same, but I figured it to be a fun little reference to that.

---

And so this brings us to the very end of the first story arc of my story. Was all this insanity worth it?

Absolutely not, but hey, what are you gonna do?

[mdhwrites]

Do you think toh needs a reboot? There's lots of things that I don't like how were handled in the show but it's also painful to give up on them when you think of the better ways they could've worked out, characters, backstory, plot, everything in general.

I wouldn't mind a reboot tbh, but then again you mentioned that the show isn't quite concious of it's own identity. So I guess unless they work with better writers, it won't make a big difference even with the time needed.

The short version of this is that TOH's inherent flaws mean that… No. A reboot won't help it, it'd be a nightmare to try and adapt or reboot in general and it's never going to see one in animation that could improve much on the version we got except for cleaning up mistakes made because the writers weren't thinking about the consequences of their character's actions.

And this mostly has to do with its crises of identity being a very core part of its image at this point. If you try to refine it into an adventure series, into a school drama, into a more traditional fantasy story or one of the half dozen identities you could place on TOH, it becomes effectively a different show. It's going to feel different, it's going to be different, etc. like that.

So the first problem with even conceptualizing a reboot is you have all these disparate, clashing elements that barely interact and never were enabled to properly interact in the show so… What do you emphasize, what do you de-emphasize? Because no matter what, you're pissing SOMEONE off. If you lean into the childish nature of S1 then you annoy people who prefer the darker, more serious tone to S2. If you lean into the school stuff, Eda's plotline with her sister becomes more neglected and S1 doesn't feel as coherent while Belos feels like even less of a figure than he already does. If you lean more into the Owl Family, you lose as much time with Amity so her character arc is going to suffer, Lumity takes longer to happen naturally and you probably get called racist because people already call the show racist for how little it cares about Gus and Willow.

Quick note for another blog: I don't think race had literally anything to do with Gus and Willow's treatment. They simply stop having a place in the narrative post S1, even arguably after Luz becomes friends with Amity. They look the way they do for design variance and demographic numbers and that's probably it.

Anyways: No matter what, you cannot fix the conceptual problem of TOH being everything that Dana wanted to say and do alongside throwing in the kitchen sink. The only way to smooth out The Owl House is to literally smooth it out. Just flatten it into five or more seasons so it has the time to breathe and actually explore EVERY concept and even then… Yeah, that definitely gets into needing better writers than TOH has who can follow through on the ideas they have. After all, just because they would have more time doesn't mean they have the skill.

And you would need that promise from go so the writers could plan that out properly and… That's never going to happen. Especially not for serialized content like The Owl House, not in the current media landscape that we have. This isn't even because the show is bad. Quality has VERY little to do with whether something gets renewed nowadays. And if you want to get renewed consistently beyond three seasons (and iffy on even that) you need to hit one of two different options.

The first is for broadcast television where ease of programming, cheapness, and advertising is king. This is where you get why Teen Titans Go has two movies and a billions episodes. That show is entirely episodic and thus very easy to break up, throw into a hole in your broadcast schedule, easy to make marathons because you can just slap a bunch together without care, etc. like that. The animation is also incredibly simply and the show in general is probably very cheap to produce. Its writing style of literally anything goes adds to this fact. Cartoon Network can probably make five episodes of Teen Titans Go with the budget Disney gives for ONE Owl House episode and it works better for the company's goals monetarily.

And yes, Teen Titans Go is bad. It's WAY worse than The Owl House. But quality doesn't matter here. What matters is that it's easy, it's cheap, it has brand identity and is easy to merchandise. It is profitable, safe and people see it as easy to sit their child in front of for when they need the television to babysit.

The other option is streaming services and you're not going to get a 100 episode contract for a streaming service. Yes, they want cliffhangers and serialization to make sure you binge and continue subscribing even between seasons but that's also why streaming services are all or nothing. You either are so big that you will continue to pull people for months after your release or they don't care about your small squad of dedicated fans.

And TOH… Didn't become a cultural phenomenon. It was genuinely nothing special to most people, if they'd even heard of it, until Grom. Outside of that, it was just known that it had above average animation when it launched and… That's literally all I ever heard about TOH until I joined the fandom inbetween S1 and 2. And by then Netflix would have cancelled the show most likely.

Because TOH didn't break any records. It didn't light the world on fire. It didn't even cause some giant discourse that rattled through the internet on all fronts. And that means streaming services would probably rather invest in another attempt at a new Walking Dead or Game of Throne rather than continue the show. It's those record breaking numbers that got Velma and Wednesday renewed after all, not their quality or anything like that. (This isn't me condoning these practices btw. I think it's a real problem like everyone else and that it has to do with a lot of focus on short term gain rather than long term retention but I'm rambling enough as is)

And The Owl House never had that clout. Ever. I mean, how many people always had to add caveats to what made The Owl House special like "On Disney" or "in a prime time kid's show" rather than the show actually being special on its own merits? Especially now? There is one last option and that's of course a reboot that doesn't happen in the next five years but instead is closer to 20 when enough time has passed that radical changes might be allowed. That's the Voltron and She-Ra method effectively. Except... That's where we get the fact that Voltron and She-Ra were big properties at their time, never truly forgotten and have strong nostalgia attached to them. They pushed toys, they pushed consumers and those IPs had a real value to them, even to the current day but to revive them took a delicate touch because cartoons are different now. And TOH just doesn't have that power. That impact and care. And there is a LOT to be said about how it's much harder for shows to have that sort of impact nowadays but that's beyond the scope of this blog. The main point is that in 20 years, why would a studio choose to give TOH that much love and attention versus any of the other cancelled animation projects around this time? Especially something that did get to do its full run like Amphibia?

So… Is there a way The Owl House could get the time it needs to explore its whole identity and possibly become better? Yes? In a webcomic, manga or book. Animation is simply too expensive a medium and not regarded well enough that it's going to get the time but things like webcomics, manga and books are known for being more drawn out, able to do more with that space and more independent because the overheads are a LOT less than other mediums. After all, you only have to pay one writer and maybe a couple editors for a book.

But… I don't think Dana has the skill or attention span for any of those mediums. Not if she's working solo. If you look at her solo episodes in TOH, they have some really powerful moments and statements in them… And also some of the most meh B plots, some of the larger narrative cheats, show blatant disregard for her own world building and even at times had to have major plot points in them retconned by future writers because Dana wrote the show into a corner while trying to be clever. It shows someone who would be much better on an anthology series or an episodic series than ANYTHING serialized.

Remember, Dana wrote Reaching Out, where everyone just forgets that being a Wild Witch is met with the death penalty and is not just equivalent to college, which is how Amity and Alador treat it, let alone the twins celebrating becoming outlaws like they just joined a special club.

So in general, I don't think The Owl House is going to see a revival or the like. I think the best thing that could happen to The Owl House's legacy is that people figure out which parts they like the best and go on to make media inspired by those parts of TOH. Because I feel bad for anyone who tries to adopt TOH as a whole.

Because I just don't think it's possible to capture TOH's essence without also bringing along its crises of identity. The two are too intertwined and that was always going to hold the show back.

[fox-buried-in-maple-leaves]

the adventure ones for emil?

True Name. What is their name's meaning, origin, etc?

He is my self insert and my middle name is Emiliene. So Emil. It means 'Rival' though which is fun. Baudelaire however means 'short sword' and is a direct reference to the fact they're a family of royal guards.

Portal. What is a crossover you've done/thought about for this character?

Flamechasers au,,,, Emil takes the place of Griseo(albeit he's still an adult), as "Preserver". The AU is obviously very sad.

Softly. Describe one of their dreams, good or bad (with proper warnings).

Emil has mostly nightmares. His most common one is being in a replica of his family home, but its pitch black and he's stumbling through the dark hearing his sisters' screams but no matter how hard he tries to find them, he can't.

Metamorphosis. Has this character evolved/changed since you first conceptualized them?

Well he started solely as a self insert and now he has his own traits and personality outside of me! So there's that :D

Treasure. What is something they like/love?

Alcohol.. Writing... Poppies.

Home. Describe their relationship with someone in their family, friend group, with a QPP, a romantic interest, etc.

His relationship with Laure is so wholesome. His lesbian best friend who went "hmm i don't think you're straight or cis" only for him to go "whaaaat? fake..." before taking an arrow for her lmao. Absolute best friends!

Role Model. Did you take inspiration from another character when creating them?

yeah bitch ME

Laughter. What is their sense of humor, or lack thereof? (Bonus: What does their laugh sound like?)

Gallows humour fr.. His jokes can be a bit dark cause he pulls from his trauma or life.. His giggle is very cute, breathy.

Flashback. Describe one of their memories, good or bad (with proper warnings).

Laying in the poppy field near his house, Mitch braiding poppies into his hair while Alexis runs around the field collecting the "best" flowers for them.

Core. How is their true nature different from (or similar to) how they are portrayed to others?

Emil often loses track of himself. He's not sure who he is at times. It makes a "true nature" and a "portrayed nature" very difficult to distinguish. He's different with every person he talks to, sometimes.

Origin Story. Are they a completely original character, a fan character, or something else?

I mean he's a genshin oc but he's fully his own dude in some medias so..

Plot. How do/would they fit into the overall plot of their source?

He's honestly more of a side character for the Fontaine storyline.. His family would be somewhat important/mentioned in the storyline and you'd meet Emil elsewhere and connect him and his story to the side quest in Fontaine.

Quest. What is a personal goal, duty, etc of theirs?

His duty is to protect the people of Teyvat. Whether that be against themselves or against Gods. He's a defender.

Wanderer. Describe an aspect of their world/setting they interact with.

Some treasure hoarders in Liyue will mention a "dark haired stern faced man" in a certain side quest ^^

[thesylphroad]

Inner Monologue Shitpost Breakdown A.K.A. Review of Chapter 4 of "A Court of Thorns and Roses"

Commence chapter four.

“I didn’t know how the wooden hilt of my hunting knife had gotten into my hand” well if you don’t know I don’t know, either.

There is a golden-haired beast in the house. Feyre takes a second to be relieved it’s not a martax, which honestly seems like it wouldn’t be one of the more pressing thoughts a person would have in the heat of this moment, but if it’s one thing Feyre has besides BPD it’s ADD, so I digress.

“The beast had to be as large as a horse,” Taking a second to once again broach the topic of horses and whether the author has ever actually seen one. Narrator and her family are plunged into a life or death suspense scene but good news is we get some straight-to-Wattpad descriptive imagery, such as: “while his body was somewhat feline, his head was distinctly wolfish. I didn’t know what to make of the curled, elk-like horns that protruded from his head. But lion or hound or elk, there was no doubting the damage his black, daggerlike claws and yellow fangs could inflict.”

Feyre tells us that, HAD she met him alone in the woods, she would probably be scared; but since she didn’t, I’m not sure why that detail matters or why it needed to be included. “But I didn’t have room for terror, wouldn’t give it an inch of space” this is likely to the fact that we are extremely hyper-aware of how this two-room hovel has already been wizard magic Knight Bus-finagled to accommodate three adults and a cat-dog-horse beast. There is nowhere to fit conceptual human emotions such as FEAR, which is possibly why this would-be charged and high-stakes danger scene feels so calm and collected.

“Somehow, I wound up in front of my sisters” protagonist once again cedes autonomy to the forgotten gods. Beastie wants to know who the murderer is. All signs point to Feyre, as the other members of this household are pretty sedentary. “Those ridiculous wards on our threshold were as good as cobwebs against him” author does not trust readers to have media literacy here, and negates the entire purpose for introducing us to these wards a couple of chapters back by TELLING us in exact words what her foreshadowing was meant to convey. Feyre starts thinking she should have asked the mercenary how she killed that faerie. It would have been a good idea in the moment, but since it’s too late to worry about that, we probably shouldn’t.

Feyre wants to get to her bow and arrow, which is a pretty good idea except she can’t—also it took her like three hours to finally hit the completely oblivious target in the bushes in chapter 1, and since we know it took 2 of her 3 arrows to kill a pony-wolf, one can only imagine how many it will take to bring down a horse-beast. She briefly considers throwing her sister’s iron bracelet at him and then goes so far as to wonder whether an iron nail would do the trick (how she intends to make this work in the age before nail guns, I cannot imagine). Luckily she realizes these ideas are both terribly dumb and 100% guaranteed not to work, so instead she disarms herself completely by hurling a knife javelin-style across the room. Beastie, not unpredictably, uses ability “fae speed” to dodge Feyre’s bad idea. Sensing all hope is lost, the No Use Sisters start praying to the forgotten gods in the background. Long may they be…remembered?

Beastie is rattling dishes with his bellows and demanding to know who killed the wolf, and everyone plays extremely dumb, but none so much as Elain, who’s like “A wolf?” and I am genuinely convinced this response is due to the fact she has entirely forgotten the wolf that was part of the plot for the past four chapters.

Feyre cops an attitude with Beastie because she’s wearing plot armor, and even though she’s standing in front of her cowering family, her father takes this moment to speak up and check her for her sass. Men truly have the audacity. Beastie has a hard time believing this skinny legend killed his wolf friend, which…kinda valid, but he probably doesn’t know about her 3 arrows. Feyre is like “I sold your pal’s skin at the market but if I’d known he was a faerie I wouldn’t have done that.”

“You knew. You would have been more tempted to slaughter it had you known it was one of my kind.” - Beastie calls bullshit and for some reason Feyre is just like “Actually you’re right” and then reminds him how faeries are all kind of evil bloodthirsty monsters to her people. He’s like “Well you fucked up girlboss, you broke the TREATY” which we’re just now learning about.

Apparently the faeries and the mortals have some kind of treaty, and even though Feyre is like “I totally didn’t know not killing faeries without repercussions was a part of the Treaty,” she reminds us that faeries can’t lie, so he must be telling the truth, which is actually the FIRST we’re hearing of this. Writing that down for future reference.

Beastie is like “Well newsflash SWEATY it’s a life for a life” and since this was before the invention of public defendants, Feyre knows she won’t be getting a fair trial. She’s like “Ok but as a last request can you maybe kill me outside and not on the clean floor I just swept” and Beastie is like “only a lunatic would feel entitled to make requests in this situation and I kinda respect that, so how bout I DON’T kill you and just kidnap you instead?”

Apparently as long as Prythian claims her life in some kind of way it still counts, and at this point Dad speaks up and is like “What if I whittle you a new wolf friend instead?” Beastie is like no thanks and also tells him he shouldn’t be monetizing his daughter, because, like, feminist icon…uwu. Feyre realizes it’s over and she has to start giving her family instructions on how to survive without her, as they are all hugely incompetent as we will recall. She also tells sister Nesta not to marry her sweetheart because his dad is an abuser and his sons are all okay with that.

“Don’t ever come back,” my father said, releasing my hands to shake me by the shoulders. “Feyre.” He stumbled over my name, his throat bobbing. “You go somewhere new—and you make a name for yourself.” - So Dad comes out of left field here and tells Feyre not to come back, and he kind of makes it sound like she’s moving to the west coast to pursue her dream of being an actress, instead of being forcibly kidnapped by some big faerie monster beast. Beastie is like “This chapter has gone on for a bit it’s time to leave.” And now our protagonist is makin’ her way downtown, walkin’ fast—I digress.

I did not think there was going to be a rival for chapter one but this chapter…this chapter was a mess. Like, whereas the first chapter was way too much of nothing happening, this chapter has a LOT of things happening, but is structurally unsound and…full of weak imagery that should probably have gone back to the drawing board. At least my interest remains piqued.

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

are chimps as unpredictable and dangerous as people say? I remember there being a famous mauling story from a woman who had one as a pet, but he was drugged with xanax or something similar and was having withdrawals, something like that. Definitely not a normal set of chimp circumstances, so I was wondering if they are usually randomly violent and difficult for humans to predicts

Lets talk about Travis, the tragic chimp that famously mauled Charla Nash.

(source)

Travis was a chimpanzee that was raised in a human household and acted in several commercials in his youth. He was taken from his mother and sold to his owners at 3 days old and lived with them until his death at 13 years of age. What makes us think of Travis as dangerous and unpredictable is that when he was young he was known for being docile, intelligent, obedient, and kind to the humans around him. He even play wrestled with people and was known to stop if his wrestling buddy became overwhelmed or he was told to stop. Travis did not lead a normal or natural life for a chimpanzee by any means; not only was he socialized as human and was raised to do chores and take part in human enrichment (he even knew how to drive a car, which is absolutely not good), but as you can see he was very overweight as a result of eating ice cream, tea, and other human foods instead of the balanced and diverse diets chimpanzees need.

Circumstances escalated with Travis when one of his owners and their only son died, and his remaining owner Sandra Herold became increasingly attached to Travis. The two would sleep in the same bed and bathe together. This was all at a time when Travis was entering adolescence and the divergence between his chimpanzee instincts and human socialization was widening. While human teenagers are able to journal, have conversations, and express themselves in order to process the challenges of puberty, Travis had no outlets for the natural frustration, aggression, and challenges he was facing. This led to the 2003 incident where Travis was on the loose for several hours after a pedestrian threw an empty soda bottle at the car that he was in, which went through a partially open window and struck him while stopped at a traffic light. Travis unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and chased his assailant. He also escaped from a police car when apprehended and chased the police officers around the car. Basically, there were warning signs that Travis was becoming too much to handle 6 years before the incident where he mauled, but because he had been a member of the family and community for so long he was allowed to continue to live with Sandra Herold.

The main thing I take away from Travis’ story here, even before the mauling incident, is that Travis’ behavior makes perfect sense for a chimpanzee. Because he was anthropomorphized to the point where his owner essentially thought of him as her son, the media sensationalized the story as a beloved animal “turning” on his loved ones. The thing is though, he didn’t really act unpredictably at all, the signs were there from the beginning and his behavior escalated gradually before it came to a head in 2009, the people around him just ignored the warnings. Even taking xanax out of the question which can have some pretty adverse effects on humans let alone chimps, the 2009 incident began with Travis leaving the house with his owners car keys (his property, as far as he is concerned), and his owners friend Charla Nash trying to lure him back to the house with his favourite toy. Essentially, Travis was leaving his territory when he saw someone who he may not have recognized as a member of his troupe in his territory, with his treasured item. When he tried to defend his territory by attacking her, Herold began to attack him which escalated the conflict. Additionally, chimpanzees are 5-6 times stronger than humans and as he grew up play fighting with humans he was not really capable of conceptualizing how disproportionate his strength was.

Now, lets turn to talk about another chimp. Meet September: 

(source)

Like Travis, September started her life as a pet. She was raised as a human child would be, and when she reached adolescence her owners recognized that she was too large and strong to safely keep in the house, and began keeping her in a cage in their backyard. Luckily, her owners recognized that this was no life for a chimp and surrendered her and two other chimpanzees to Save the Chimps, a sanctuary in Florida in 2002 when September was 23. She is now 42 years old, and despite having tragically similar circumstances to Travis, is thriving. Due to her history as a pet, September found it very difficult to become accustomed to living with other chimps, even the two other chimpanzees that lived with her when she was a pet, but has become a member of a troupe and spends her days painting, braiding strips of fabric, and exploring her island home.

Basically, there are no bad chimps, only tragic circumstances. Even when chimps in the wild are violent there are rational explanations for their behavior such as territorial disputes and interpersonal conflicts. They are only difficult to predict if you expect them to act like humans, and not chimpanzees.

[unrestedjade]

More baseless Ferengi headcanons no one asked for: LATINUM EDITION~~~

- Almost every home is a rental, as almost all usable land is corporate-owned. Might as well daydream about owning a moon, it's no less realistic than owning the house you grew up in. (No I'm not frustrated with my $1500 rent at all, no I'm not miserable watching 40-year-old trailer homes selling for $250k to a property management firm that's going to rent it out. Surely a place like Ferenginar wouldn't be equally ridiculous, hahahahahahahahHAHAHAHA. Ahem.) - Latinum as religious fetish. We see Quark offering slips of latinum while he prays to the Blessed Exchequer before bed. He even has a little shrine. What's unclear is whether you're meant to reuse the same slips each day or if you have to actually "give up" the latinum over the longer term for the offering to count. You can break a piggy bank, but it's probably bad to break an image of the Exchequer, unless he's very chillaxed compared to the majority of gods. - Assuming really giving up the latinum is better, is destroying it extra good? Or are you sinning by removing it from the Continuum? Are there Ferengi extremist sects that sink latinum into bogs or launch it into a star?

- What do they think and feel about latinum with regards to the Exchequer? What does a god need with it? Is it meant to be his lifeblood, figuratively? Or literally, via transubstantiation? (Catholic Ferengi. Cathipitolists.)

- How was latinum treated in the days before they knew to process it with gold so it could be handled safely? It's very pretty and ethereal-looking in its raw form, and also very, very toxic. Depending on the symptoms of latinum poisoning, I wonder if it had anything to do with it gaining religious significance? Ancient Ferengi priests seeing visions and going a little funny in the head from handling raw latinum for years and years?

- The way Quark and Brunt talk about taxes in S7 suggests there's not a lot of taxation in Ferengi society (officially, anyway. idk what else you'd call their ubiquitous bribes/tips than unofficial taxation). In any case, since one of the major purposes of taxation in modern economies is to control inflation by removing money (governments create/destroy money; they don't really keep a little checkbook register of surplus/deficit the way a household does) offering latinum to the Exchequer as an act of worship could be a good way to take money out of circulation for a while. - Latinum vs fiat money? Latinum is canonically used as coinage by multiple species. (It would seem like Ferengi are putting themselves at a bit of a disadvantage by also attaching a spiritual importance to it, but who knows, and this is a tangent on a tangent.) Is all their money backed by latinum? It can't be, right? Just conceptually, their stock markets and banks can't possibly be tying every value in every account to a real, physical measure of latinum, that's horribly inefficient. Can "latinum" also mean any legitimate liquid asset? Or does the Exchequer insist on the real thing? Much to ponder. - Brunt implies in Family Business that Ferenginar has houseless people and beggars. There's no point in begging if no one ever gives you anything, so some people must give charity to beggars. What's that look like, is it something kind-hearted Ferengi do in spite of the RoA explicitly stating that charity is only acceptable when you come out richer than you started? What's their rationalization in that case? Are they left feeling shameful about it? (Obviously the people stuck begging feel shitty, by design. Ironically, they might feel less shitty than we would, since the Exchequer doesn't appear to care how you get money, only that you get it.) - If you're moved to give money/material aid to a needy person, you'd probably do it quietly. Here in the good ol' US of A a common view is that "hand-outs" hurt the needy person in the long run because you're removing their impetus to stop being lazy sponges. And that's from people who follow a religion that commands them to care for the needy! So it's gotta be even harsher under a religion that's completely mask-off in its worship of individual prosperity. - (You just know Keldar was one of those people tossing a few slips of latinum for someone sleeping under a shop awning each morning. His business sense sucked but Ishka made him sound like a warm person. Folks gotta eat.) - Reincarnation... Alright, so if you were a dude and you die broke it's implied you can't reincarnate/are damned to the Vault of Eternal Destitution. Cool and fair, nothing to unpack there. What about women? They're half the population but seem to have been overlooked on this point in this here 10k-year-old religion. Which is telling in itself, of course, but you'd think someone would have addressed this? Who reincarnates female? Is the accepted understanding that females reincarnate female and are totally removed from the requirement to bid on their life? But that still doesn't solve the problem, because even if reincarnation were assigned-sex-segregated (god what a shitty idea, compels me tho) you're still losing X number of men to the Vault each generation. - I want to see what Ferengi religious debates look like. Pel is shown to be a serious scholar of the RoA as they've dug into not only the text itself but all the commentaries and refutations and deep-dives others have published about it. That's gotta fuel some spicy convo around the tongo table once everyone's a few drinks in. - Are there multiple sects? People arguing whether this or that rule is meant to be taken literally vs as metaphor? Everyone can't be in lockstep on this stuff. Quark seems to have been raised within the currently-hegemonic sect, but surely there's others.

- There don't appear to be any clergy or equivalent persons, so I wonder if there's different sects how they organize themselves? Do they host different subs on Ferengi Reddit? (Ferengi Reddit...shudder) - Ferengi atheists slacking at work or living as drifters because there's no point saving money for a next life that's not real. Life must drive them to drink. That's when you go out into space to live with the sane people and never call home.

- Is the rest of the population chill with atheists, or is that a no-go? I guess it would depend on how loud the person is and whether they follow the Rules or not.

- You know who they're definitely not chill with: socialists. Do they have Satanic Panics about this or that media turning the youth into commies? If you're an outspoken socialist, are you looking at exile? Arrest? An unexpected date with an Eliminator? - Conspicuous consumption seems to be a thing, and it's interesting in light of the whole "needing a good high score for a good reincarnation" idea. It still boils down to showing off how much you can afford to waste, but the stakes are undoubtedly higher for the faithful. - If something happens and you're at risk if losing everything, is it safer to just off yourself while you still have money? What if you're going to lose more than you'd ever be able to make back? (In economics this is called a perverse incentive lulz)

- The Great Monetary Collapse must have suuuuucked. It's the Great Depression x100, and also your god is mad at you, maybe??? And your next life is totally screwed now, too. Fuckin' dire, man. When Quark mentioned it in the show, it was with this flippant air like he was waiting to see how Miles and Julian reacted. He might have elaborated more if they hadn't reacted...the way he probably assumed they would. (Partially a self-fulfilling prophecy given the way he primed them to treat it as a joke, but I digress.) - Suicide rates are measurably higher in societies that elevate achievement and work ethic (see the Protestant vs Catholic divide on this, it's interesting and very depressing as a lapsed protestant in a protestant-dominated country). Just saying. - On this same bummer track: hedonic depression could be very commonplace among Ferengi. Every minute not spent working is spent on distraction because life is just such an exhausting grind, and a lot of factors determining whether you're a good/successful person are out of your control. Booze, porn, and gambling are all very distracting, and thus very popular. If a lot of this just sounds like regular degular capitalism: yes. It's actually proving difficult to push the fictional society further out because we're already living beyond satire. Maybe that's why I like these awful little guys so much. (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

[flickeringart]

The Megxit Drama

A peek at Meghan Markle’s chart

The British Royal Family has certainly been the subject of dramatic events recently – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle doing an interview with Oprah in order to explain their break with “family”, royal duties and royal life – revealing quite unsavory things sufficient to depict the firm, staff and members of the family in a bad light. Essentially, Meghan was retelling her traumatic experiences of being treated unfairly, feeling trapped, being subjected to racism, getting no help in times of emotional crisis and robbed of freedom, while her husband Harry passively went along confirming all of it. Whatever the truth is, they certainly painted themselves as victims – compassionate and good-natured. They attempted to remain respectful to the people involved in the story, yet if actions speak louder than words, they certainly weren’t particularly “respectful” by throwing the Royal Family under the bus with this interview. The couple has gotten a lot of backlash as people are disinclined to buy their narrative, partly because both seem to be quite self-serving under the guise of selflessness. Meghan made it clear during the interview that she didn’t know much about life as royalty and went into it all surprisingly clueless, almost setting herself up for disappointment. One could assume that by committing to such a structured existence as becoming a royal, that one would do the homework and at the very least expect to give up the privilege of being “an ordinary person” in favor of being of service. The British Monarchy obviously has symbolic value more than anything else, which is not to say that it’s unimportant or trivial. Symbols carry meaning and the Royal Family upholds that meaning through attempting to embody it physically. The members are not supposed to be inflated and begin to believe that they in and of themselves are princes and princesses or whatever titles they are given. They are supposed to serve the titles rather than the titles serving them.  In becoming a part of this symbol of divine reign, one merges with something far greater than the limited self. One serves to uphold an image that is immortal, ancient and has a function in the psyche of the British people. I dare assume that Meghan didn’t fully grasp this concept and went into it all with far more attitude than people would like – perhaps understandably so considering her lack of experience of monarchy. Prince Harry seemingly got pulled along with it all, presumably wanting to rescue his wife from that which killed his mother while piggybacking on the momentum of the situation and metaphorically breaking free from the “limiting container” of the institution. Harry said in the interview that he felt sorry for his father and his brother being trapped by their roles, which seems like a desperate attempt to try to gain some significance, to end up in the role of the hero and avoid living in the “shadow” of more prominent members of the family. People generally seek significance in some way and will come up with the most creative attempts to cast themselves in the role of superiority, whether it’s through victimhood, humility, bravery, sacrifice or anything else that elevates the self in some way. Whether someone’s behavior stems from an attempt to make up for the lack within or not can be hard to spot, but considering the skepticism the interview has been met with – and the scrutiny (and ridicule) that it has been exposed to – it is safe to say that people’s gut feeling tells them that something is not quite right.

(The chart of Meghan Markle on astrotheme.com)

Meghan Markle has been accused of a lot of things, of twisting the truth, of exaggerating in order to further her own agenda, of being self-serving and manipulative. Some call her “narcissistic” – which is the “usual” label thrown at anyone who lacks genuine care for others, stirs up drama and drags other people through the mud in order to benefit themselves. However, her behavior might not be intentional, but compulsive. After all, no one is 100% sure of why they’re the way they are, whether it’s deemed good or bad by society at large. Where the line is drawn between intentional and unintentional is unclear, yet the odors of shady business and dishonorable motives can be sensed – and people don’t usually like being “sold” something that isn’t what it seems. Generally people don’t appreciate being deceived, which is obviously why the backlash has been so extreme.

She has quite a charming and radiating outer appearance, which is typical of someone with their Sun in the 1st, and in its domicile at that. She also has the sweet and innocent “puppy eyed” look of a Cancer Rising, which displays emotion and vulnerability. It’s not surprising that she pursued an acting career before meeting Harry. The spotlight-seeking Leo Sun in the 1st house of self, the Moon-Saturn-Jupiter stellium in the artistic sign of Libra in the 3rd house of communication and (inter)action, as well as the boundless imaginative Neptune in the 5th house of creativity all contribute to the personality of the actress. Considering that she has an emphasis on Leo and Libra, it’s safe to say that she was in it for the refinement, admiration and class that being an actress could provide. She thrives on positive attention, and is undoubtedly sensitive to discord. With a Cancer Rising and a Libra Moon, she craves gentility and fairness, for everything to be “ok” socially. Cancer is a cardinal sign, and although it’s quite emotional, it’s also very active and motivated to create safety for the self. It does this by avoiding direct confrontation, of appealing to people’s caring side. There’s nothing wrong with this, but people might feel as if the Cancer Rising person’s innocence is “put on”. In the interview, Meghan had no problem displaying her own weakness and emphasizing her own vulnerability. She used these attributes to gain esteem, whereas another person of a different nature, with different archetypes protruding, would’ve felt humiliated leading life with that energy. Her Moon is her chart ruler, which makes her emotions the primary focus – in other words her subjective experiences, mutual care, needs and requirements is particularly emphasized in her life. The Moon is in Libra, the cardinal air sign that strives for balance and justice and awareness - especially as it relates to interpersonal relationships. Libra is famous for wanting to keep everything “civilized” and “respectful”. The tight Moon-Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in this sign points to emotional exaggeration (Jupiter) and restriction (Saturn). By entering into a relationship/business deal (Libra) she experienced harshness around her emotions (Moon-Saturn) on a grand scale (Jupiter). On a side note, Capricorn rules the 7th house, indicating that she encounters discipline and structure through partnership. The institution and structure (Saturn) that she entered into through her marriage with Harry (Capricorn in the 7th) would challenge her emotions (Moon) and it put limits on her freedom (Jupiter-Saturn) and affected her overall health (Sagittarius in the 6th).

Meghan has an Aries Midheaven, indicating that her career involves breaking new territory, doing her own thing, leading her own way. This usually doesn’t go over very well when attempting to work for authority. The person usually becomes frustrated and eager to venture out on his or her own. This is exactly what has happened. Her Moon-Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Libra opposes her MC in Aries, which perfectly points to her attempts to keep things civil and non-aggressive (Libra), while coming off as selfish and individualistic to the public (Aries). Aries as a sign is famous for not listening to anyone and moving into unpaved territory, which she certainly has accomplished. The public now sees her as someone who goes her own way – doing her own thing and standing up for herself, for better or for worse. Her Mars is in Cancer, which is why her aggression isn’t direct and rather passively expressed. She has the stereotypical female aggressiveness that implies playing on one’s weakness and hurt in order to wear down the target. It’s also in the 12th house, which hints to it being disowned by the conscious personality. Meghan might have a hard time conceptualizing of herself as a force of impact and might not see how her pent up frustration might become an enemy to herself. She has complained about feeling attacked by the media and this is classic of a 12th house Mars attributing aggressiveness to anything but the self. Attack and unpleasantness seem to flood the person from the unspecified sources, and it can arguable be a horrific experience. In the interview she mentioned feeling suicidal at one point and desperate to not be alone with the threat coming from the outside, her own mind, or both. It’s difficult to attribute the cause to any single factor with planets in the 12th. Mars squares her MC and her Moon-Saturn-Jupiter conjunction which indicates struggle in the psyche concerning her emotional involvement with structure and beliefs, vs. her public image vs. her own fighting spirit. She certainly has confronted and challenged established structure (Mars square Saturn), albeit with an attempt to be “respectful” resulting in a passive-aggressive understanding of everyone’s difficulties and struggles.

The thing that drew her to The Royal Family in the first place must’ve been her Libran urge for class, style, aestheticism and beauty. She undoubtedly found it glamorous and exciting to get to be in the spotlight, to be respected as part of something elevated and glamorous in nature. She probably has a need for spiritual meaning, indicated by her Moon-Jupiter contact – and to have her daily work based on sharing “truth” and “generous” disposal of knowledge gained through experience (Sagittarius in the 6th). She also craves structure and order indicated by her Moon-Saturn contact, which she pursued through partnership (Capricorn in the 7th) with a member of a family with unparalleled saturnian streaks of tradition, custom and regulations. To establish herself within the family would not have been such a terrible idea for her because it could’ve met all of her needs for purpose and order. However, her Mars in the 12th house didn’t allow for this plan to work. One could say that her own self-serving function rebelled after having yielded to outside influences for too long. Planets in the 12th house are usually “given up” to whatever circumstance one is in – which often results in the person acting through being “overcome” by something - pushed into a position of having to act. Meghan declared feeling imposed on by the outside, emotionally unsafe and unwell. The 12th house is the house of self-undoing after all, and her actions might’ve proven to be quite detrimental - perhaps continuing to be. Square aspects, as that between her Mars and Moon-Saturn-Jupiter conjunction stimulates action because it’s indicative of friction. She had to fight (Mars) for her needs (Moon), control and integrity (Saturn) and for her beliefs (Jupiter).

[fandom-pardes]

Christian normativity and Lovecraft Country

Reposted from my personal blog.

Here’s something you need to wrap your head around. If you were brought up in an environment dominated by Christian culture, Christian norms have shaped the way you conceptualize how the world works, human nature, ethics, religion (even the term religion is Christian-normative), and so on.

It doesn’t matter if you actively practice or believe. IMO, unless you deliberately and consistently expose yourself to different frameworks, you are generally operating from a Christian lens. That’s just how socialization works.

In the case of media and media criticism, the Christian framework shows up in a deeply puritanical streak where good and evil are not actions and choices, but states of being. When a character does something beneficial, it’s because they are good. If they do something harmful, it’s because they are bad.

It also shows up in the ways that fandom discourse seems preoccupied with whether a character’s thoughts, feelings, or actions are morally justified or not, as opposed to understanding where those thoughts, feelings, and actions come from.

Consider Montrose. He does some horrible stuff in this show, and many viewers were upset by the way the narrative went out of its way to explore where those horrific actions come from rather than condemn him for them. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking, “Of course he does that, considering what his experiences have taught him.” But at the time the show was airing, if I’d expressed that openly, I’d have gotten a lot of, “Why are you trying to justify all the bad things Montrose has done?”

*smh*

In Lovecraft Country, the Christian normativity also shows up in the way it tries to shoehorn the plot (especially the finale) into a typical Good vs. Evil (or God vs. Satan—more on this in a bit) narrative even though the characters themselves are too complex for that. Then the show Goes There with the hamfisted way it links Tic with Jesus, all the way down to his martyred blood being the source of salvation, and Christina with Satan or the Antichrist, a morally corrupt enemy of goodness/God who tempts humans to embrace forbidden knowledge (magic) and forbidden pleasures (non-cishet sex).

(IMO, the show did Christina a disservice by making her the ultimate villain because she’s a lot more fun as a wild card. Also, her character is more akin to the tricksters of myth and folklore than the villains of contemporary media. /tangent)

Then there’s the way that, in the US, the legacy of slavery, and later Jim Crow, is seen as a kind of Original Sin, which the show reinforces rather than challenges. In very simplistic terms, Original Sin means that you are automatically morally corrupt from birth, and nothing you do can undo that except faith in Jesus. In other words, you are born bad and condemned to damnation unless you think, feel, and believe the right thing.

This insinuation of Original Sin is most pronounced with how the narrative frames Christina and how viewers respond to her. I’ve seen a lot of people judge her for having the “wrong” thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes, using that as an argument against her capacity to change and grow. Even the ways she helps and empowers others become automatically suspect because of this “taint.”

*siiiiigh*

Y’all, you have to understand how weird this looks to my Jewish self.

Imagine this rich heiress who kills a bunch of Nazis. She does it for her own reasons that aren’t the least bit altruistic. That’s still fewer Nazis for me to worry about. We can argue about her motives when there are no more Nazis. But for now: Thanks, lady!

But the way some viewers would have it, I’m supposed to be like…

Me: “I know you killed all these Nazis, but do you really care about my people?”

Her: “No.”

Me: “You horrible person! If you don’t care, don’t bother killing any Nazis at all!”

Haha. OK. Sure, Jan.

I’m not gonna go down the rabbit hole of Jewish ethics and moral development, but to summarize Jewish ethics while standing on one foot, the important thing is the Do The Thing. Even though it’s ideal to Do The Thing for the right reasons, whatever it takes to get you to Do The Thing is valid (some conditions about Doing The Other Things apply). Good intentions don’t absolve people of wrongdoing, nor do ulterior motives erase the good that people do.

Furthermore, sin is not a state of being in Jewish tradition. It’s an action or behavior akin to an arrow missing its target. Our job is to fix what we can and try again, failing better until we hit our target.

So Christina crashing her car into truckload of racists matters. Giving Leti enough money to pay for a house matters. Sharing magical secrets with Tic and Ruby matters. Keeping her promise not to harm Leti matters.

Now, if I really wanna get Jewish about this, I’d argue that Christina’s deep yearning for human connection, for family and for love, is what can give her the drive to learn better* and do better. This may strike some with deeply ingrained Christian norms as selfish, or at the very least, self-interested. However, Jewish tradition encourages us to perform mitzvot and other good deeds using both our yetzer hatov (our “good” impulse—think the Freudian** superego) and our yetzer hara (our “evil” impulse—think the Freudian id). Our job is not to suppress or deny the part that wants things for ourselves, but to refine it and channel it toward constructive purposes.

I think that’s about it.

Happy Hanukkah!

*Moral development through learning and study is a hallmark of Jewish ethics. No one is born knowing right from wrong. It has to be taught and cultivated.

**Freud was Jewish, BTW.

[mallowstep]

Could you tell us more about Tigerstar's cult in the human au? Do they live on a compound with Tiger keeping Misty and Feather in the main house with him? Does Tawny run away from her moms house to join his cult? Who else lives at the cult and/or believe what Tiger is selling? Are the triplets born while the cult is still a thing? Anything else you want to share?

there's not Much to say in that "it came up to explain why things happen but there's few details" that said answering questions is how i figure things out.

i don't know much about their beliefs other than they have them. i might figure it out as i go.

yeah, they do. the main house is pretty big, but it has at least tigerstar, mistyfoot, featherpaw, tawnypaw, blackclaw, blackfoot, darkstripe, and jaggedtooth.

the cult has been forming slowly since...crookedstar died. which is probably when feather and storm were around 3-5. greystripe was kicked out then, but he didn't realize how cult-ish things were going to get. leopardstar was supposed to be tigerstar's equal but. she wasn't. got kicked out of the main house.

deputies don't Exist conceptually here, but she's been friends with stonefur since high school.

tawnypaw and bramblepaw are split in custody. goldenflower is moving to firestar's Area to get away from tigerstar, and bramblepaw goes with her. tawnypaw stays with tigerstar. it's a breach of the custody agreement but goldenflower is scared of what will happen if she tries to bring this up.

rivercland and shadowclan make up the cult. how many of them believe it, i'm not sure. main house (minus featherpaw, tawnypaw, and mistyfoot) are probably core believers. (altho tbh both featherpaw and tawnypaw are pretty weird on where they fall given that they were Raised in this Shit.) other cats are on the periphery. tigerstar breaks up families. no one is really sure where anyone stands.

well, yes and no. the triplets are born after mistyfoot and featherpaw are out, but before tigerstar is captured. featherpaw and mistyfoot stay really, really quiet to avoid anyone finding them on social media or something, which is why stonefur and stormpaw have to do a bunch of work to verify "no, we're really their brothers"

tigerstar gets captured when the triplets are a month or two old, and his trial starts when they're about a year old.

and let's see...there's a fair amount of misogyny going on. i'm not sure How Much but both mistyfoot and tawnypaw are forced into wearing dresses. (still figuring out some stuff re. featherpaw's wardrobe before i put it into words.)

featherpaw passes out at dinner one night? i mean she's not eating she's standing in a corner but she passes out. she's behind mistyfoot so mistyfoot can't Watch her but mistyfoot is uh. very pissed. as she should be. featherpaw later gets in trouble for passing out during dinner. sigh. sorry babe.

tawnypelt takes up archery afterwards. she wants to know how to use a weapon. tigerstar was not supportive of that.

featherpaw doesn't help cook (she's a little young for a while, and then cemented into her role), but she does help serve food, which is why she panics when she drops a glass and it breaks.

tigerstar used to burn whatever featherpaw and stormpaw brought back from school.

she got "Homeschooled" and it was a very traumatic time. tawnypaw also got "Homeschooled" and while it was Less traumatic, it was still bad, and she still had to catch up on a lot to do well in high school. she did have a kick ass college essay tho.

feathertail grows her hair as long as she can after. mistyfoot usually braids it.

mistyfoot has to testify in front of tigerstar and it's really hard. stonefur and stormpaw have to sit there and be Good Respectful Court Room Guests as mistyfoot covers everything that happened. i haven't decided if they let featherpaw testify with like. a closed circuit tv or not. but probably not.

that's also really hard to watch -- they're both really hard to watch.

featherpaw didn't have any shoes from 9 to 15.

mistyfoot still calls her minnow.

[harringtonsbae]

Hi!!! Can I have a male matchup for Harry Potter in the Golden Trio Era?

19, Southeast Asian with Spanish descent, Libra, Bi Pan and Genderfluid, ENFJ-A/ENFJ-T, and a proud muggleborn Ravenclaw. Short (5'1"), chubby with kinda cherubic-like face, chic messy/wavy brunette hair, chocolate brown eyes, oriental skin, and boyish-emo sense of fashion with korean makeup look.

Really quiet, soft spoken, distant, and timid around random people (to the point they think I'm modest, demure, immaculate, and educated) but once I finally open up it's totally opposite---super talkative, rowdy-mouthed, laughing loudly on a daily basis, creative, talented, expressive, swears like a sailor, very clumsy, witty, passionate, religious, very supportive, unfortunate, super childish, determined, thriving, speaks with sarcasms, has a lamest sense of humour, gets excited so easily, skittish, forgetful, and unashamed to be myself but can be awkward around the strangers. Nice and kind to good people, but an opposite who isn't

Opinionated and EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE, in terms of academics and extra curricular activities (even I'm a procrastinator---I still ace them like what kind of sorcery I did?) that's why I got frustrated and dissappointed quickly if I failed, because I thought people I know is pressuring me, but I tried to keep moving forward once I already cheered up.

I may come off as stubborn, feisty, tough, demanding, and harsh if I get really angry also demanding and intimidating if things aren't all right, but my deeper self is sensitive, insecure of my physical appearance (some people around me makes fun of it and it's rude), and fragile who cries easily also has strong beliefs and reasoning, like fighting for my dreams to the point it'll become a debate because of my brashness. But I'm also willing to help or give up something as long I can, they think I'm selfish, but not really---I do have biased sentimental value and I have a different way how do I care---by being supportive and giving gifts also teaching them, in addition I have an emotional overwhelm, I get flustered too quickly, blush on compliment, and melt over wholesomeness.

My interests are arts, choir, night sky, makeup, fun/deep/dumb conversations, Christianity, documentaries (about saints, real crime stories, and inspirational people), reading interesting stuffs, talking about social issues, and creative writings.

My hobbies are are singing, drawing, roleplaying, listening to music, chatting/browsing on social media, conceptualizing, writing, and reading some stuffs. I'll include making corniest jokes/puns, sleeping, and dancing when nobody's around or walking like a model if I feel so bold (even I'm terrible at both xD). I also used to learn Italian language a bit.

Oof- I love you! Ron Weasley! Yes another Weasley!

•Ron loves you, no questions asked

•He has a VERY soft spot for people who are shy when they meet new people, but are really open when they are themselves

•It’s a reward for him when he gets to see your true self.

•You may not see eye-to-eye at times but it normally ends in really good makeup sex sweet cuddles on the the couch or in bed.

•Listen, this man would follow you anywhere anytime

•Would try his ‘lame’ nose jokes on you (I don’t know if you’ve read cursed child or not)

•He loves to join you in funny dance parties/runway shows that only you two get to do probably ends in sex

•He would definitely think roleplay was just for sex until he met you:

“What do you mean ‘Do you want to roleplay?’ Isn’t that for sex?”

•Ends up loving it, but he would never admit it

•He has the Weasley family sex drive for sure, so don’t even underestimate him

•When he first started dating you he would try to be romantic by going to your house and throwing rocks at your window until you either open it or look at him through it. There’s definitely a speaker playing some cheesy song in the background

•Later he takes you to go sit somewhere in a field and watch the stars while talking about anything

•Okay, so you guys are a literal power couple, no one ever plays games with you two because you guys always win

•He is smitten with you no doubt

•He probably gets jealous of Percy when he starts trying to talk to you about documentaries, social issues in the wizarding world, and would probably try to start debates with you. Your Ron’s world, one that he wouldn’t share ever, period

•Ugh you guys are a power couple and I can not stress it enough

I hope this is good! I’m still new to shipping people lol

Lots of love, babes<3

[huge-enthusiast]

💢 and 💓?

aplecherry i love you i can always count for you when doing this stupid games

also this is so much longer that i had planned so,,, take a seat

Ship that is most misunderstood

this is stupidly controversial but like,,, caleo

so like, i get if you don't like the mischaracterization of calypso in hoo, she is, indeed, really different from the calypso we see in botl. also, i haven't read toa, but i've seen that rr made them fight a lot and are just straight up a toxic couple. i won't blame you if you don't like them. i honestly have the most love/hate relationship with riordan's books than any media i have ever consumed. i get it.

but like,,, the three chapters of leo in ogigya took my breath away. all of house of hades, honestly, took my breath away. if you're going to read the riordanverse, do it for that book and the last olympian. i was unable to stop reading, they're incredible.

leo's story is a really tragic for me, wich is ironic, since he is a character we often asossiate with his sense of humor. his first years of life are probably the only happy ones he got to live, together with his mother, talking morse code and making inventions, till Hera appeared in his life as a baby sitter, and started to "train" him to archieve his best potential. she literally put him in a chimeny, on fire, it wasn't going to hurt him, but he was a child, he didn't know about his fire powers. i can't even begin to imagine what type of mark that type of experience must have left.

then? you know what happens? his mothers dies in a fire, and his entire family refuses to take care of him because "he's a devil". he thinks, as a child, that his fire powers killed his mother. that HE killed his mother. he's sent to different orphanages but always runs away at month 4 or 5. in the last hero he says that he lived in sewers for MONTHS. he doesn't let himself have a family. he stops using his powers. god forvids they get too close and sets themselfs on fire.

as for calypso, she is the daughter of a titan, and is hunted for a mistake she did what it feels like years ago, but it's probably centuries. time is difficult to understand when you're in ogigya, her home and prision. the gods have cursed her for helping her father in the first titans war, and is fated to fall in love with the heroes who are shipwrecked on her island. she cleans them, she takes care of them, she loves them, and they always, always leave the island for someone else, leaving her behind with nothing but resentment.

so, you have two people, who have spent their whole lives being abandoned, filled with guilt and resentment, thiking that all their relationships will end in agony...

and there was only one island.

they both see the worst in the other at first, so it feels even more satisfying when they fall in love. i love that is so simple at first, she sents him food, he fixes her fountain. but they don't care about each other. calypso is done with the gods sending her boys, and this one seems like a joke. and leo actually has a prophecy in the run so he can't stand with this type of bullshit.

but then, they do care, and it's so sweet, because they finally feel seen. calypso doesn't think he's stupid. he's cool. she likes when he teaches her about machines. and leo does have a place to get back to, but the boys that came to ogigya had never paid as much attention to her as leo does. calypso cares. leo cares. they both care.

and when he's about to go back he cannot take all of this months out of his mind. and then she kisses him and pushes him to the boat, so he's definitly not going to forget her now. and that scene? with him promising to himself that he's going to find her again? because he finally found a place he wants to go back to???? I'M IN TEARS

this is so messy but, caleo is good, fuck you.

Ship that you didn’t expect to ship but now do

Honestly??? adrigami. i think this would also count as the misunderstood one, bc people kinda hate in this ship for no reason (SPECIALLY on tiktok, and not just adrigami, but the whole of kagami's character is often given a lot of shit).

when we first got the side love interests, i honestly didn't get much their place in the story and felt more like an excuse to cause love drama™ that in that moment i wasn't really interested on. but after rewatching season 2 and 3, my feelings towards them changed a lot.

for me, kagami and adrien are really similar, they both share the same type of family situation and can both relate as what it comes to living in high expectations and not being really good in social situations. i think that's really cute! they both support and validate each others in their struggles bc they both understand what is it like.

also i think its really well conceptualized. kagami comes into adrien's life just at the same time ladybug rejects him. she's also the opposite of marinette when it comes to achieving a goal. marinette tends to overthink the situation and procrastinates over it, while kagami it's really straight foward. "hey, i like you, i think you're spending too much time in a girl and you're not gettin anything in return, maybe you should change targets, let's date", and if you put in the ecuation how discouraged adrien feels... yeah, why not? (i would also talk for hours in adrien/luka parallels but that's a whole other story)

one of my favorite moments are in glaciator, where adrien is really nervous about the whole date, and they have this interchange:

adrien: *stands in front of her, trying to imitate luka about asking kagami to skate*

kagami: it's okay, i'm not going to tell anyone

adrien: what?

kagami: i'm not going to tell anyone that you don't know how to tie your shoes

adrien: *looks at his untied skates*

adrien: *blushes* ..,o-oh,,

i just love the confident!kagami and flustered!adrien, ok? the boy isn't used to that type of stuff

so yeah, i think they're a great ship, from the rocky and messy relationship in cannon to their potential in fannon, and i was an idiot for thinkin it was not

[sarahkhoojijean]

Blogpost 9: A disconnected, unrequited (cosmopolitan) intimacy between YouTubers and their audience. (Sarah Khoo)

In this week's reading, Lambert (2019) conceptualizes intimacy to be a "thing" that can be shaped and transformed, along with the time and its contextual developments. Intimacy is shaped by the ideologies that the individuals hold on to, and is often dictated by those in positions of power. Lambert argues that intimacy is not restricted to a physical presence or closeness, but rather a sharing of space, where "space" transcends into virtual, augmented, locative and even mental. The psychological conception of "being with" another individual also stimulates the intimacy in an interpersonal relationship. (During the lecture, Lambert had also conceptualized intimacy as a "being in" — being in a relationship, a family, sharing a certain boundary that allows for those within that boundary/"sphere" to be freely vulnerable. Again, this concept deals with the idea of space, while further suggesting that the Other is very clearly outside and cut off from those within the boundary.)

Through the term "cosmopolitan intimacy" Lambert suggests that the concept of intimacy is very much connected to the social, cultural, political and material elements. Intimacy encompasses all, and does not discriminate between differences. Aside from the three key enablers established (firstly, that for intimacy to be established, there has to be an uncomfortable beginning. The second enabler is the repeated, intentional interaction. Finally, cosmopolitan consciousness is required to compel such an activity.), Lambert expresses that the digital platform has greatly afforded individuals a multitude of abilities for relationships to foster, untethered by the barriers of differences. The online platforms foster a relatively safe space as the interactions that are facilitated on those platforms are sufficiently protected. (Users are well able to turn away from the interaction when the intensity of the intimacy gets overwhelming, and there are no dire threats or consequences — the online space puts a great distance between the two parties while still being able to foster a strong perceived intimacy.) Lambert further examines the cosmopolitan intimacy while regarding the media infrastructures, self-tracking community, and other aspects. However, I am interested to consider how the digital space has managed to bridge the wide, unseen gap between users and allow for such a tangible, lasting intimacy to be forged. To probe further, I wonder how this intimacy has been modified, shaped to become a product to be sold to those who desire that intimacy but cannot find it anywhere else, and address how this intimacy is often a disconnected, unrequited one, leading to a problematic relationship being formed.

In this blogpost, I look to the online media platform that is YouTube, and the phenomenon that is YouTubers. I would describe a "YouTuber" to be a social influencer who creates content in the form of videos for their audience. These videos mostly comprise of vlogs (video blogs) that showcase their daily lives, and video entries of errant thoughts that these individuals want to share with the public. I believe that for YouTubers, success is reaching that target number of subscribers, gaining traction in terms of views, watch time et cetera. Thus, they are highly motivated to keep an attentive fan base, and their viewers would only choose to stay if they are invested in the content, or care for these YouTubers. As a result, YouTubers foster an illusion of intimacy with their viewers, to create an agency for viewers to keep coming back to catch up with their favourite YouTubers. They speak into the camera, looking directly at their audience and addresses them as "you". They welcome viewers into their personal space, whether is it their own home, or around their school/workplace, bringing their fans along with them for quick grocery trips. Fan interactions are also usually encouraged ("Comment down below your favourite __ and I will try my best to reply you!") YouTubers often show their vulnerable sides, sharing with their viewers when they go through personal, painful experiences. They build strong "relationships" with their audience, in hopes of creating a fanbase that will faithfully stay to watch and support their content. This intimacy proves to be cosmopolitan as well, as it crosses over the differences between them — the YouTubers address all their fans the same way despite any differences in cultures, beliefs or differences of any kind.

And it works. This strategy has proven itself for years, since the early 2010s during the era of Zoella, PewDiePie and Lilly Singh, to present day with even greater variety of content (family vloggers, streamers, podcasters etc.). The "realness" that these YouTubers emulate facilitates a strong, "genuine" connection between Them and their audience, such that their audience would feel like they can empathise and connect with their idols in such a strong, intimate way. The sense of intimacy and interpersonal connection is very much real, as the viewers perceive it to be. In this phenomenon that is being a YouTuber, the manifestation and dynamic of intimacy has yet shifted again. It introduces a disconnected sense of intimacy. A commodified intimacy. A profitable intimacy. Selling one's attention in a packaged, 10 minute video for viewers to enjoy, collecting their attention and reaping the benefits from it.

As these feelings of intimacy escalate, it has frequently led to some fans overstepping their boundaries. Some fans have even extreme measures, going directly to the YouTuber's home to get a chance to meet their idol. It is evidently a great invasion of privacy, especially when the fans are strangers to these YouTubers. The disconnected relationship between YouTubers and their fans are made clear through these situations. Intimacy has translated itself so clearly and strongly from the YouTubers to their fans, while the YouTubers themselves feel little attachment to them. Thus, the medium that is YouTube evidently allows for such intimacy to be transmitted, overcoming the need for physical closeness or even any acknowledgement of one's existence, for one to still perceive themselves to have an intimate relationship with another. Therefore, I find that Lambert's analysis of the intimacy cosmopolitanism to be very much evident, and even problematic in this context.

Here are some examples of YouTubers addressing the issue of having fans show up at their house, and warning other fans not to do so.

Jenna Marbles: don't come to our house https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HcoFZv6_AE

PewDiePie: Don't come to my house.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-i1P6pxxk

James Charles: JAMES CHARLES FANS ARE SHOWING UP AT HIS HOUSE!! (This is not ok!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WewtXrX3xCE

This is another video I was particularly inspired from while writing this blogpost up. It features Toast, a gaming streamer who made it clear to his fans that he is "not your friend", directly telling his audience not to idolise the people they watch and to just enjoy the content as casual viewers.

Disguised Toast: Toast is not your friend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4yxglfssQk

Lambert, A. (2019). Intimacy, cosmopolitanism, and digital media: A research manifesto. Qualitative Inquiry, 25(3), 300-311. doi:10.1177/1077800418806600

[snakedevour]

what are some things you don't like about yumeko or kkg as a whole?

i don’t think there are any outstanding issues that i have with yumeko as a character so much as issues i take with the weird fanservice-y stuff that she gets hit with -- honestly my greatest frustration with yumeko is how little we know about her. it kinda makes me fear for my portrayal if smth canon drops and ends up making aspects of my take on her unfurl. that said i think i’ve got a decent amount media literacy on me so i’m cautiously optimistic my read on yumeko is more or less accurate.

beef i have with kkg......besides the fanservice stuff i do think its storytelling can use a little bit of work. the audience is conceptually aware of an overarching narrative but i’d say the last two times we’ve seen anything significant of it were when the other members of the hundred devouring families were introduced/yumeko being one of them and the revelation that house jabami is in a “killed” state ( and we don’t know what this even means!! ) and that kirari facilitated it.

point A and point B are 45 chapters apart. kkg updates once a month. that’s nearly 4 years. everything on the in-between has been kind of introducing us to the dynamics of the different branches which, don’t get me wrong, definitely has its place -- i��m just saying kkg doesn’t get to the thick of things very quickly and it can make the overarching plot get lost in this “game of the day”-esque format.

i don’t think it’s necessarily blatantly bad writing but maybe more a pacing issue that just has to do with how much information we’re given per monthly release? so mayhaps this would be easily remedied if gangan joker updated more frequently but i really like the quality we get in exchange for the wait so ( i make weighing gestures w my hands )

something a little less?? pragmatic ig i could complain about is its use of wlw-esque content as fanserviced promotional material but then they’ve yet to make most of the relationships portrayed in that material canon? the thing with complaining about this though is i can’t really in good faith say that kkg queerbaits because kirisaya is canon 

so basically i just sit and believe in yumary supremacy and hope it manifests 😔