#cringe culture and/or hating people who like something 'problematic' like a game or character is out fellas

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

why do u think people r so ashamed of loving danron??

I mean, honestly, there's a lot of reasons, which makes it kind of complicated to tackle. I can list out a few from the top of my head, based on personal experience Feeling the shame and observation of other fans

•The problematic content in the games themselves. People feel embarrassed to like the other parts of the game because of the amount of bigoted moments (and sometimes whole characters) within these games. They don't want people to think they like those parts too, so they couch their appreciation in embarrassment.

•The reputation of the fanbase. On tumblr at least, things have normalized significantly and I find this fandom a very chill place to be. But the danganronpa fandom at its peak (2012-2016ish) was RABID. Like any major tumblr fandom, there was tons of drama, discourse, and toxic fan behaviour, but DR was genuinely on another level. This is especially true because of the young average age of members of the fandom at the time. Even though thats not generally true anymore on tumblr, this fandom still has that reputation to non-fans, and so people don't want to be associated with it.

•Cringe culture. At its peak, the DR fandom on tumblr was made mostly of teens, especially younger teens. I think the earnest way young teens participate in fandom led to it being seen as cringe, just like many other fandoms. Also, even outside of its problematic content, DR's plot can be weird and, frankly, even completely ridiculous. Similar to hom/estuck, I think this esotericness adds to people's kneejerk reaction to it when hearing about it second hand.

•The tendency of tumblr to turn on popular media when the magic is gone. This is something I've noticed with a lot of tumblr's number 1 big fandoms. Once a lot of people's interest in it starts wearing off, for some reason people will pivot to hating it. It happened with T/MA a little, it happened with Und/ertale, it happened with S/U, and so many other fandoms that tumblr went crazy over initially. Maybe its because these fandoms became so vocal they started to annoy those not participating, so they started to meme and make fun of it and its fans. Then, when people start to leave as their interests change, they join in on the teasing to displace the shame they might've felt from being teased. Eventually, people usually turn around and come to appreciate the piece of media casually again. That didn't really happen with DR... probably because of the other three reasons.

DR gained this reputation of being "irredeemable, problematic, cringe media" with a toxic fanbase and never shook it off. Before I played DR, I knew nothing about it except that tumblr hated it, for some reason. I had learned literally nothing else through fandom osmosis! And I think that general feeling, that Good People who like Unproblematic Things* (*requirement of being a good person) would never touch DR with a 10 foot pole outside of to make fun of it, sticks with people.

So when people finally check it out, usually through irony-poisoned letsplays of it, and end up actually liking it, they don't know what to do with themselves. How do you balance genuinely liking this piece of media with the site-wide perception youve grown so used to? With the idea that everyone will hate you if they know you like it, that you are a bad person for even posting about it? And thats how you get everyone's first DR post having a caption essentially communicating "im so sorry for posting about dr- I know its terrible and associating myself with this game makes me look disgusting- people who've followed me up until now, please dont hate me!"

[starrysnowdrop]

Were there any barriers to you establishing your OCs relationship? Perhaps social or cultural stigma? Or a concern that "ships" with that character were already overdone? Or simply a fear of being seen as "cringe"? If so then how did you overcome this?

Ohhh now this is a good one, as this is something that I’ve been told, that I have inspired others to “overcome their fears” of shipping based on certain stigmas in the FFXIV fandom, so let’s get into it shall we? Oh and I will apologize in advance, as this WILL get long.

The Stigmas

Hali x Aymeric

So for Hali x Aymeric, the obvious stigma is that Hali is a lalafell, and Aymeric is not. Though I’ve seen lately that this stigma has waned a bit, especially here on Tumblr where people who infantilize lalas don’t seem to last long, but keep in mind that there is still plenty of lala infantilism on the bird app and other places like Reddit and in game.

For my main ship, that is really the only thing that I see that makes the ship “problematic” to some in the fandom; some people still see lalafells as “child-coded”, despite lalafells being a fantasy race of little people, no different to gnomes, hobbits, dwarves, etc. in other fantasy media, and despite the in game world treating lalafellin adults the same as any other race.

Yume x Zenos

(Yume’s blog: @firelightmuse)

So for Yume x Zenos, but also to a lesser extent Urania (Hali’s Azem) x Hermes, and my other secret ship that I haven’t revealed yet because it’s still in development, these ships fall into the category of being “problematic” because they are Hero x Villain ships at their core, and because Zenos, Hermes, and the secret ship partner are all major antagonists in the story, they have many haters.

Now there isn’t anything wrong with not liking certain characters, as I truly think we all have certain characters that we just don’t vibe with for one reason or another. But there is a problem, however, when people go after villain shippers just because they happen to not like those characters.

Just like with the Lala infantilism problem, villain ships get a lot of hate in the fandom, but for different reasons. I would guess that the main reason is the haters assume that villain shippers either don’t see that the villains have done bad things and/or try to minimize or excuse the villains’ bad behavior. Now I won’t say that there aren’t a few people out there who will truly excuse a villain’s bad behavior and try to make them out to not be as bad of a person as they are written in canon. But I really do think that there’s not as many of them as the haters are likely to believe.

Remember: just because someone is a fan of a villain doesn’t mean they agree with their actions, and a writer is NOT the same as their character. For example, Yume may minimize and/or downright ignore all of the pain and suffering Zenos has inflicted upon not only her, but innumerable others, doesn’t mean that I as Yume’s writer share the same views. I actually consider Yume to ride the thin line between anti-hero and villain herself, just so y’all know.

How to Overcome the Stigmas

So now that the individual stigmas of each of my ships have been outlined, how did I overcome the stigmas? And how difficult was it for me to do?

Well, if you’ve followed me for several years already, you might’ve seen that Hali, my lala WoL, is not the first WoL I have written. That honor goes to Yume, who is a Raen Au Ra and she doesn’t come with the same stigma that Hali does as a lalafell. So I had the privilege for several years of being able to write Yume without the infantilism that Hali would have to fight against in the fandom. But those years gave me enough courage in my own writing to create Hali and to fend off the stigma of lala x non-lala shipping and my own insecurities surrounding it.

Though it was difficult, and it took me a long time to do so, I eventually realized that I was happier and way more fulfilled when I wrote what I wanted to and not what I thought my followers or my friends or anyone else wanted. Trust me, I tried more “popular” and less “problematic” ships before, and even though they were nice at the time, I ultimately dropped them because I realized that I didn’t feel fulfilled, and that I was scared to write for more “problematic” ships because I feared the backlash.

One HUGE thing that I highly recommend is to find yourself a good support system to surround yourself with. Whether that be reaching out to your mutuals here on Tumblr or joining discord servers with like minded individuals, having people there who can help you through your journey in shipping will help greatly! Trust me, I wouldn’t be where I am today without my support system to be there for me when I’m having a bout of anxiety and/or insecurity with my writing.

Another thing that I highly recommend you do is to Unfollow, Hide, and/or Block haters liberally!! Please, it’s for your own mental health and wellbeing to do so! If you’re wanting to ship your lala oc for example, never hesitate to block the lala haters out there! No good will come from seeing the hate all over your feed, because it will just bring you down.

That’s about all I have for now. If you have any other questions on this subject, please do not hesitate to send me a message, DM, or ask!! I am always happy to help with any questions or advice when it comes to shipping! Thank you so much @mimble-sparklepudding for the ask, and thank you all for reading this very long winded answer!! 💖

[mopeing]

It really frustrates me when I go into threads about JK Rowling, because there are plenty of legitimate reasons to hate her, but most of the comments are completely made up reasons? Please don't lie and spread misinformation even about people you dislike, because it'll make your own position look weaker under scrutiny.

If you need to lie to make a point, people will think it's because you don't have one. So don't lie in the first place.

Not reasons to hate JKR:

- there is a star of David on the floor of Gringotts bank. This was in the movies, it was not described in the books. Unless evidence comes out that she asked Chris Columbus or whoever for that detail to be included, it is not evidence of antisemitism (that is not to say that the goblins in general aren't problematic though)

- she didn't say Hermione was black all along, she said casting a black actress as Hermione doesn't contradict her description (although it does)

- all the retconning and "oh actually X character was Y all along" after the series has ended. This isn't "problematic", it's just cringe. Nothing to get mad about

- she did not retcon Dumbledore as being gay after the series ended. I distinctly remember this being a topic of discussion while the 6th book was coming out. She didn't include it explicitly in the books, but it wasn't an after-the-fact change (Although it is a valid criticism that not including it explicitly in the books means it isn't representation)

- Seamus Finnegan being a clumsy Irishman who makes things explode. This was in the movies, not the books. In the books it was often Neville who was used for this comic relief

- she's a bad writer. I'm not saying this is incorrect, just that it's not a reason to hate her. People don't deserve hate for being bad at something, she deserves hate because she is a bad person. Please do not conflate these two; it is possible for bad people to make good art and it's possible for good people to make poor art. A lot of this insistence comes from people who used to be big fans of Harry Potter who now that they don't like her any more are now saying "well the books were shit all along anyway..." It just seems performative tbh.

- a trans character in Hogwarts Legacy being named "Sirona Ryan". Honestly this is the biggest stretch I've ever seen. Look - there's plenty of things to criticise about this game. The fact that one of the early writers was apparently a bit fashy and is responsible for the leaning even further into the goblin antisemitism for example. But this one character? I highly doubt JKR even had to approve of details that small, let alone the fact that the name likely isn't problematic at all. If you're reading this and, like me, you have no clue whatsoever what is apparently wrong with the name - it begins with "Sir" - implying that trans women are actually men, and ends with "Aryan" - implying that trans people are nazis. At this point, people are actively looking for things to get mad about even when they're not there. I'm not even sure the "sir" in "Sirona" is even supposed to be pronounced like the English word. How about getting mad about the actual obvious actually harmful things she does instead???

Actual reasons to hate her:

- her transphobic tweets

- the fatphobia in the books

- her transphobic articles

- the whole "Hermione is dumb for being anti-slavery" subplot

- her transphobic actions

- lack of regard for other cultures, whether it's the naming of foreign characters and places, or the fact that the wizarding Irish government apparently still isn't independent of the UK's

- her defending and associating with people more mask-off transphobic than she is

- she is a billionaire, and there are no good billionaires

Inb4 "how dare you defend this bad person" - correcting misinformation about a bad person is not defending them. Good people should also care about intellectual honesty. It isn't good to lie about someone just because the person you're lying about is bad.

[thestalwartheart]

Hellooo I thought I might bang out some incoherent thoughts following your post about the influx of Blanc fans who hate Bond (or think they do because they've never actually bothered to watch any of the films) since I can't sleep :). I mentioned in my reply to your post earlier that a lot of people can't handle the idea of being emotionally invested a piece of media where the main character is morally ambiguous which genuinely annoys/terrifies me. It would be interesting to get a sense of how you/others actually became Bond fans in the first place and some of the reactions you get from people if you tell them. I get that part of the appeal for Benoit is that he's a bit of a blank slate. You can really project whatever you want onto him because he intentionally doesn't have many defining characteristics, other than the fact that he's queer and has a killer wardrobe. He's always in control of every situation he's in as well as his emotions and understandably, he makes you as a viewer feel safe. Like I get that and I love him dearly but he's also ripe for a certain kind of fan to be really really annoying. I also remember during the glass onion press tour when Edward Norton would always say in interviews that he thought Daniel was more Blanc than Bond in real life and when someone told Daniel about that he was basically like "what the fuck is Ed on about??" which I thought was hilarious. Not to read too deeply into it but I genuinely feel like so much of what he brought to Bond comes from his soul and I always got the sense that his Bond films are deeply personal, which is why they have us out here crying and throwing up. Anyway, thank you for all you have given to the Bond/00Q/Daniel Craig enjoyer community, you are truly a gem <3

I became a Bond fan when I was about twelve and my mother decided moderating film content for a girl about to enter high school was a useless endeavour. Pierce Brosnan was my first Bond. It was the gadgets that hooked me in, mostly, but I grew up after that point watching the films and loving them. Casino Royale was the first one I ever saw in cinema and I'll never forget the tension during that poker game with Le Chiffre. You could really hear the audience's teeth grinding with the stress lol.

I've never really heard any adverse reactions from people when I tell I'm a fan of Bond, but that might be because Daniel Craig's interpretation of the character seems to have lent the films a certain credibility that people aren't as willing to extend to the previous films. At worst, people think it's a bit naff that I like them, which...yeah sure. It probably is! But cringe culture is dead and I am enough of a critical thinker to enjoy problematic or morally ambiguous content without believing any of it should happen in real life. For instance, I think had there been a real public inquiry into intelligence services like M faced in Skyfall, I would probably take the side of the opposition. But it's Bond, so I was cheering M on while she quoted Tennyson.

The best way I can sum my thoughts on Daniel Craig and Bond is to refer to the lovely Ben Whishaw, who said in this interview that Daniel was remarkably clever in the ways he managed to bring the franchise into the twenty-first century, while still being aware of the history of it.

Interestingly, he also said there actually is a lot of Daniel in Bond's character, which is something I was delighted to hear him point out. I mean, Daniel Craig will be the first to admit that he doesn't want to be anything like Bond (see this post for an example and a laugh). Yet, he manages to capture the really vulnerable core of Bond under all that masculine posturing. In the end, Bond has accepted that life isn't all about duty to your country. Love, friendship and family are the things that make you feel steady even when you feel like you're about to tear yourself apart. I can't imagine any previous iteration of Bond managing to carry off that message in a believable way. And I think it happened because Daniel Craig had an incredible, unprecedented amount of creative control over the character.

I'm sure the Knives Out films gave Daniel a wonderful reprieve from having to carry all that literary and film history, but he's so proud of those Bond films, and has said so over and over, even when he's been frustrated with the toll on his body and his personal life. They're great films, and, oddly enough, I think people are only realising it now that his era is over. I hope more people dive into them and see the passion he had for that role, even with all of its ups and downs.

The last thing I'll say is that some fans have a tendency to project their own joys, frustrations and preferences onto actors, assuming that they are, in some way, facsimiles of the characters they play. At the end of the day, Daniel Craig simply doing his job. The characters are brilliant because he is brilliant. It's not real life.

Anyway, I'll continue stanning both Bond and Blanc! Thanks for the ask, friend!

[section-69]

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on 8 and 13 for the choose violence ask game

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

First one coming to mind is the idea that any problems with our shows can and should be blamed on a single producer. Don't get me wrong, I hate Mr Berman with the best of them, we Know he fucked up a whole lot of it. But TV is fundamentally a collaborative effort, and we just can't keep blaming every problematic happening on a guy who notoriously never came to set. There were other writers and other producers and other directors who made bad choices, and I think that ignoring it pushes forward this narrative that sexist/racist/homophobic/etc. plot points or characters are caused by one bad apple rather than a more systemic problem.

13. worst blorboficiation

Actually I strongly dislike the term blorbofication. There's this weird return of cringe culture here recently, where people are mocked for... having a favourite character? And posting about their favourite character? On the posting about your favourite character website? I don't get it.

That said, there's a few examples of characters in the shows being under developed because they're a writers favourite, I think that's what the question is getting at (like something adjacent to defanging your faves?). I'd point to Mirror Georgiou in Discovery as an example. Really irritated me how the narrative treated her as an oh funny slapstick violence person we let join us as a mascot, we can rely on her prime version's character relationships to carry her through! Just ignore that she was the leader of a fascist empire. She's redeemed because the main characters like her (do Not ask why).

Plus Picard's Jack Crusher. At least he's not textually a fascist, but he Is textually a nepotism baby, which we're supposed to laugh at and think wow, isn't it good that Starfleet has no institutional corruption 🥰 every issue got removed with the goo people 🥰 he can sit in the captain's chair because he's everyone's special boy 🥰

[the-lark-ascending69]

I think it depends on the reason why it was cancelled. I've seen people harrassing Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss fans because they think the shows are "problematic" for reasons beyond my comprehension. I remember watching Hazbin Hotel and thinking... this is the shit all these chronically online babies are crying about? 😭😭 a perfectly normal show whose only crime was being edgy. I can't stand that shit, it's just so cringe to get your paties in a twist over "irredeemable media" or whatever the fuck they call it.

If we move onto more obvious examples... Harry Potter has been in people's hearts for decades, and J.K Rowling IS a talented writer. Dismissing the entire series as bad writing is way too simplistic because it does have an interesting story that most readers would enjoy. You can aknowledge that while also aknowledging and calling out the pervailing right-wing undertones of the books, that were there long before Rowling turned out to be a horrible person. Sometimes, it's genuinely good to engage with the viewpoint of people you fundamentally disagree with in every level. That's why I sometimes read the local far-right newspaper, and why it's good to read the most racist anthropological texts from the 19th century - you need to have a good understanding of the ideas you oppose. You can't just oppose them blindly and mindlessly. And I don't mean the only way to engage with Harry Potter is to hate-read it - you can read books you already own or go to the local library, pirate them, borrow them from a friend etc and see for yourself what the whole discourse is about. And if you go in with an open, critical mind, you will probably find something to enjoy, be it the aesthetic, the characters, the story or whatever, as well as noticing all the problems within the text. Cancelling anyone who has some level of appreciation for the books means to see people in black and white metrics - you can't just mindlessly consume them as if Rowling had no connection to them, but you can't expect everyone to throw them in the trash like they're only ever deserving of hate. I personally think the best way to engage with them is to read them without giving Rowling any money, and seriously and genuinely take your time to be critical of them without hate-reading. Don't go in looking for things to hate because you will inevitably miss the point and make senseless, baseless arguments. The problems will present to you on their own if you're well-educated and know how to identify them. If you find yourself enjoying parts of it, you're not a criminal for doing so. It's a normal result of engaging critically with a text.

There IS a difference between that, though, and being a genuine potterhead in the year of our Lord 2024. Harry Potter games, merch, fandoms, movies etc are all products that further legitimize the series as a normal book series that you can read with the same level of trust with which you'd read Percy Jackson, when in reality, they're closer to Lovecraft's works. There are things to enjoy about Lovecraft's books. Lovecraft was also deeply racist and his books reflect that. You need to know that before you read them and engage with them being particularly critical. If you participate in the legitimation of Harry Potter as a normal element in pop culture, you fail to establish it as a deeply problematic series that needs certain care going into it. It can't be just another normal book anymore, and you can't just give all your money to someone like Rowling. I don't think anyone who does that is a bad and hateful person. I think most people fail to see the severity of their actions, and that marks them as irresponsible, if anything. Something I do not respect.

Now, about Stranger Things... the biggest problem I'm aware of is Noah Schapp's genocide apologia. Tbh I hate that little shit, I hope he never gets another role after this. You can talk about the problem that causes in production - he plays a main character so you can't kick him out or kill his character off-screen, so the other option would be cancelling the whole show, which is not happening. Only happy ending is the Noah Schnapp Redemption Arc that no one is waiting for (also not happening). And look, Stranger Things is one of the biggest shows of the decade. It's not going anywhere. Everyone is going to watch it. If you don't want to watch it in support of Palestine, that's valid, but the truth is that it's not going to change anything. The idea that you can do activism by simply watching or not watching a show is ridiculous and juvenile. You can watch and enjoy Stranger Things while talking about its many problems: Its poor treatment of non-white characters. American capitalist propaganda. To a lesser lebel, its misogyny and homophobia. Writing problems (the least of our concerns, but not an invalid complaint). The fact they completely ghosted Argyle's actor (???). Thankfully, human beings are capable of complex thought and we can engage critically with media we like. I don't think Stranger Things and its fandom should be cancelled on social media - you can't do that with such a huge fanbase. I think Noah Schnapp definitely should. I won't stop watching a show just because he's in it, but I certainly won't go out looking for his shows and movies because of some kind if love for the actor. I have no love or respect for this person. I also understand there are more effective ways of standing for Palestine. Study Palestinian history, talk about it whenever possible, understand zionism as best as you can, donate if possible. Fight against zionist ideology in your culture with well-founded arguments. Whether or not you watch Stranger Things will change nothing. There's no need to feel guilty when literally everyone else will be watching it, too. Don't waste your time feeling bad over a show, invest that energy into studying instead.

Idk what other actor drama is going on at the ST set but I honestly feel like whatever it is, it's not worse than what's going on in my country so I just feel... tired, indifferent and less motivated to get into discourse online and more worried about all public universities being on the brink of closing down due to lack of funds. That shit really puts things into perspective for you. Suddenly your silly little comfort ships become your Comfort Space and you don't feel the need to justify them to anyone.

Do you judge people if they like something that has been "cancelled"? (Like if a specific actor or actors have said or done something controversial or that you don't exactly agree with do you assume they are now a bad person?)

[pannacottawarrior]

y'all literally out here on my dash hating shit and putting up anti posts when you could literally take a deep breath; question whether you wanna waste your time complaining and hating a ship, character, show, game, person, literally people with XXXX sexuality/orientation/gender or etc and actually enjoy the things you do love instead of being an asshole XDDD

like

do y'all have a life or what

[creativewhizkid]

𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

hello, you can call me twistysoup or just twisty! i am a multifandom digital/tradtional artist who will be using this blog for (inconsistently uploaded) art and rambles. please read the rest of my pinned before you interact !

𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 / 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠:

• I am a minor.

• please be atleast 14 years old before you decide to follow me

• please use tone indicators around me, i have a hard time understanding context/tone through a screen

• please do not follow me if you talk about negativity of my comfort characters and or kins, it's genuinely hard for me to see/read. try tagging it, please.

• do not bring any sort of hate onto this blog. i just wanna have a silly and fun time here

• please tell me if i am following a problematic individual, and i will unfollow said individual. i would never purposefully follow someone who has done something bad, i may just be unaware of said hypothetical bad actions

• please do not have tumblrs default pfp/banner, i will assume you are a bot and block you

• i highly ask to not drag me into any hypothetical drama, or talk about it around me, just don't involve me in it. it stresses me out.

• if you don't like me or somethings that i do, don't rant and insult me about it in anon, just leave me alone.

• self-shipping and or SFW age regression blogs are welcome here

i cannot stress this enough: i do not give anyone permission to repost, trace or steal my art onto any platforms for any reason, even if credit is given. there are NO exceptions to this.

things about me:

• twisty

• minor

• aroace quoiromantic

• they/them pronouns, she/her is for irl mootz only.

• i ramble about my hyperfixations a lot

𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚜:

• don't hug me i'm scared

• my little pony: friendship is magic

• undertale + au's

• five night's at freddy's

• murder drones

• how to train your dragon

• helluva boss / hazbin hotel

• the amazing digital circus

• heathers: the musical

• the hunger games (books & films)

• puppets

• kidcore / dreamcore / weirdcore

• animation

• kung fu panda

• the osc (object show community)

• my oc's

• my great appreciation for soundtracks

• the elder scrolls (mainly TES V: Skyrim)

• radiohead

• Alex G

• countryballs/polandball

• anything space related

𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚜:

• art tag: twisty draws

• ramble/me just talking about things tag: twisty rambles

• vent tag (if i ever use it): twisty vents

• me asking questions tags: twistys questions

• rant tag: twisty rants

• headcanon tag: twisty's headcanons

• me answering stuff tag: twisty answers

• my ocs tag: twisty’s ocs

(IMPORTANT) 𝙳𝙽𝙸:

if you are any of these you are not welcome here.

• basic dni criteria ( racist, sexist, homo/lgbtphobic, transphobic, ableists, terfs/swerfs, pedophiles/"maps", zoophiles )

• nsfw/fetish blogs

• hate blogs

• if you romanticize/idealize problematic individuals

• proship/anti antis/profics and or whatever else they go by

• nft or anything affiliated with it supporter

• "cringe" culture supporter

• fujoshis

• ai """""""artists""""""" (or supporter of such)

• aromantic and or asexual exclusionists

• non-binary exclusionists

• pansexual exclusionists

• exclusionists in general

• anti-palestine/pro-israel

• ship real people

• prolifers

• anti self-diagnosis

• nsfw/weird dsmp fans

• NSFW age regression blogs ( sfw age-regression blogs are perfectly ok :^) )

• anything that associates with yandere content, it makes me highly uncomfortable.

• anti neopronouns / xenogenders

• shota/lolicons

• transmeds / truscums

𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚜:

• sketchbook (dhmis)

• applejack (my little pony: friendship is magic)

• peridot (steven universe)

• uzi doorman (murder drones)

• kate the chaser (slender: the arrival)

• charlotte emily (fnaf game and novels)

• the puppet (fnaf 2)

• L.E.F.T.E / lefty (fnaf:ps)

• ghost-spider/spider-gwen (marvel comics/spider-verse films)

• katniss everdeen (the hunger games)

• heather mcnamara (heathers: the musical)

• kalahari (my skyrim oc)

• taco (bfb)

• coffee and frappé (my animatronic ocs)

• lightbulb (ii)

• octavia goetia (helluva boss)

• lute (hazbin hotel)

• gangle (the amazing digital circus)

• cinderpelt (warrior cats)

• sans (UNDERSWAP)

• the riverperson (UNDERTALE)

that's it :]

[recurring-polynya]

I have to say I knew that at one point renji, ikkaku, yumichika and iba were in the same squad with kenpachi but good god you managed to paint a beautiful picture for me. I simply assumed that for them it was simply party time all the time along with a few bald jokes but this is much better. Emotionally healthy squad 11 which still love fighting more than anything. I always cringed when someone would just describe them as hooligans that do nothing but fighting. I mean they do that too but I love the idea that they are all emotionally healthy and mature, a loving and supportive family to their own - in their own wakka doodoo kind of way thats endearing - and of course they are in my opinion they single capable force against sexisim. Because they don't care about anything else - gendere, sexuality, gender performances, race, mentality or anything - other than if you fight good you respectable and if you fight good in squad 11 you family. ( like when kenpachi just became captain he made yachiru his lieutenant and no one was against it no one thought it was beneath them, sure thru nag at her sometimes but that's mostly in a banter like way because she call them stupid nicknames but no one hates her for being unrightfully their superior. One day they got a new captain and a new lieutenant that's a child and they just went with it.) I admit their disdain and disrespect to squad 4 is still frowned upon but I do believe some squad 4s can handle their own, it's just that we saw the really peaceful ones. Anyways sorry for ranting. Just wanted to say that yeah, I really like how the past squad 11 with iba and renji in it was a great place in general. I think if they found out some one was being sexist - for whatever reason - they would be there right next to nanao - or iba's mom protesting. Kenpachi and yachiru as well. And that makes me want to be squad 11 ,despite not being much for fighting, so bad.

So, for starters, thanks! I try to have fun whenever I write Squad 11, and I’m glad you enjoy my take on them.

My Squad 11 is just... really not very canon, though. Canon Squad 11 is actually pretty gross and sexist. Yumichika is transphobic, Kenpachi makes homophobic remarks about Yumichika, they bully Squad 4, there’s a filler episode devoted to a guy that Ikkaku bullied for, like 100 years because the guy lost his reiatsu saving Ikkaku’s dumb ass.

When you write fanfic, you occasionally run into these more problematic aspects of the source media, and you can choose to dig in and analyze them, or just... remake them in your own way. Take for example, Gin. If you read fanfic about Gin, there are some people who will peel away the layers of him and his fears and insecurities and still make him be a horrible gremlin, and it’s really stellar writing. Other people prefer to write him in an AU where maybe less bad stuff happened to him, and he’s more mischievous than sociopathic, and this is a less meaty interpretation, but it’s also more fun. Sometimes fanfic is a meal and sometimes it’s candy. It fulfills different needs and different fantasies and all of it is welcome.

Yumichika, who for me is the fulcrum of Squad 11, presents this problem. I really don’t like the way his “appreciation for beauty” plays out in canon. He doesn’t actually appreciate beauty, he just likes telling other people they’re ugly. I don’t think he’s ever pointed out beauty in anyone else aside from himself or his zanpakutou. I remember the first time I watched his fight with Charlotte and it struck me as so off -- why wouldn’t he find her beautiful? I mean, I know it’s a transmysogynistic joke, that’s why, men dressed as women is funny, hurr hurr, but Yumichika is gender nonconforming himself. This was an opportunity to make a cool character point, and Kubo took the cheap laughs road instead. Going back to what I said last paragraph, a skilled writer could, in theory, write about his insecurities and his brittleness and meanness and write a pretty compelling story, but a) Kubo certainly doesn’t, and I have never actually found a Yumichika-centric fanfic of this nature, and b) this doesn’t fit the role I need him to play in my stories. I am rarely really interested in writing about Squad 11 for its own sake. I like to write them as a backdrop for the period of Renji’s afterlife where he hit absolute rock bottom and bounced back up again. We already know the role Ikkaku played in this, except that Ikkaku is a complete moron in terms of mental health, and I really, really felt like this is where Yumichika needed to come in.

I like to massage Yumichika’s character a bit, but I do want to keep the flavor of some of his character flaws-- he’s still shallow and mean and judgy, and I love that for him, but I like to add in a positive side to his appreciation for beauty. Having Yumichika make fun of Izuru’s pores is funny but it’s even funnier if he’s just given Renji a compliment on his hair first. The idea that a Yumichika compliment is attainable makes all his drags the more vicious. Yumichika also judged people by their beauty instead of their moral character, which is humorous to me. He dislikes Byakuya as a person, but is obsessed with his haircare regime. I like to have him treat Rangiku as an equal, beauty-wise, and a person whose opinion he respects based on her aesthetic. Rangiku is actually a pretty savvy and very emotionally intelligent person whom many people write off because she likes to present herself as a lazy airhead, so in an extremely convoluted way, this all works out. I like to think that Yumichika’s ideas of beauty are also caught up in boldness and risk-taking and having one’s outward presentation ring true to their inner self. To me, this is the core of why he loves Ikkaku. To him, Ikkaku’s devotion to doing the most Ikkaku thing at all times, no matter how stupid, is irresistibly sexy. 

Aside: At some point, I decided that the fact that a lot of people in Bleach have colorful marks on their faces and elaborate hairstyle and accessory games implied that make-up in Soul Society is gender neutral. I like to think there is actually more of a divide between the nobility, who like their make-up to follow rules and be classy, and, well, Squad 11, who like to get make-up ideas from Jem and the Holograms. I don’t even wear makeup (I don’t know how and it’s expensive and I am ashamed of myself, we can talk about my own gender presentation later) but I like to write about both my male and female characters wearing make-up. I don’t actually know how my readers feel about it, but it just falls under the “Is that what people want?”/“It’s what we do” philosophy of all my writing.

I think one of the theses of my writing is that middle management is more important to the character of a squad than the person at the top. Captains sort of act as ideals to strive for, but they are generally unapproachable for one reason or another. Yachiru is more like her captain in this respect (which makes sense, since she is, in fact part of her captain). Ikkaku and Yumichika present this dual idea that 1) strength is awesome, fighting and being the best is awesome, and 2) part of strength is presenting yourself to the world in a bold and confrontational way. (The fact that both of them are hiding huge parts of themselves is laughably ironic). Kenpachi and Yachiru are shining examples of Do Whatever You Want and Be So Strong That No One Can Stop You. 

What really makes this work is that you need someone one layer down-- does anyone actually subscribe to this nonsense, and that’s why Iba - Abarai Squad 11 is Best Squad 11. I really, really enjoy the genre of Reddit posts where a total bro will find out that his girlfriend is trans and react by becoming a vehement advocate for trans rights. I love the bodybuilders typing encouragement to each other meme. Our world is flooded with disingenuous messages from concern trolls trying to tell us why being kind and inclusive to one another is bad or that you should reject help because struggle makes you stronger and the idea of a Himbo looking at something like that and saying “that seems dumb" is delightful to me.

I actually feel like there are a lot of awful people with bad ideas in Squad 11, it’s just that Renji and Iba don’t put up with their shit, and over time, that becomes the culture of Squad 11. I think that Squad 11 has incredibly turnover, but the ones who stay are the ones who subscribe to the ideas you mentioned-- fighting is what matters, if you wanna go argue about shit, go join Squad 5. In the IkkaYumi story I wrote, which happens shortly after Zaraki takes over, a ton of people leave. The Bount Arc (which I know a lot of people skipped) features a dude who was extremely pissed off because he had liked the old Kenpachi and thought Zaraki sucked and was so mad about it that he betrayed Soul Society. You might think that this arc would feature Zaraki caring about this in some way shape or form, but he really didn’t. So, I think there are a lot of Soul Reapers that took issue with serving under a little girl as a vice captain, they just aren’t in Squad 11 anymore.

Oh, one last note on Iba’s mom. I am of an age where a number of my friends have mothers who were Second Wave Feminists. The moms in question are a real mixed bag, because they Came From a Different Time, and on one hand, you have to respect what they went through, and on the other hand, they are very difficult to get along with. I liked the idea that Iba has always chafed against his mom and her big personality, and then Renji comes in, and is like, “hey, your mom is strong as hell and she has a lot of ideas that I never thought of but they make sense” and Iba realizes that, even though she’s still a huge pain in his ass, his mom is the person who made him who he is. Moms are complex.

Uhhhh, I have definitely lost the thread of wherever I was going with this post. Thank you for enjoying my Squad 11, which is nothing like canon Squad 11. Hopefully maybe this year, I will actually finish my Squad 11 Self Care story, where Renji stops being a drunk disaster person after Yumichika teaches him how to fill his brows; I got stuck on a part where Rangiku gives Renji a talk on ethical sluttery.

[yue-muffin]

@mejomonster I’m sorry I wrote an ESSAY AHH. The thought of squishing it in the messages was horrifying haha.

Ok ok. First, I genuinely LOVE open discussion about translating. :3 If it was a more stable career, I would have gladly thrown myself at it in a heartbeat. You bring up some excellent points that I’ve lovingly stewed over with no one to talk to about for years haha.

In my early translation days I also preferred more direct translations even if they ended up stilted, but nowadays I prefer looser translations that prioritize the original intent over the original wording. Part of it is, that direct translations help you learn more. If every translation omits the original chengyu for an English equivalent, you’ll never end up learning that chengyu and its cultural context. So I get where you’re coming from! It took me a long time to get over that stage myself...

Ok, now my Translator Brain will step up lol.

Backing up a bit, the first step, assuming no language limitations, translation is…you’re basically the god of your own little world, haha. Before you translate a single word, you have to decide your intended audience. This is also where you decide whether you’re making a translation or a localization. People get all up in arms about localizations, and I have strong (negative) feelings towards some. But localizations have their place, they get new fans into a work, bc they’re geared perfectly for the average, casual player/reader/watcher. Pokemon (the game) is actually a really good example of this. The names of the Pokemon are brilliantly clever in each respective language bc they went for localization instead of literal translations. 

Early translations of the Tale of Genji, while…problematic and heavy on the orientalism, had their place at the time bc it made people interested in the work and Japanese culture, whereas they wouldn’t have cared nearly as much probably if the translation was not approachable. Nowadays, we have much more accurate translations of Genji :) with delicious footnotes :). This is why I don’t understand why people get SO up in arms about translation poaching. Imagine if there was only (1) one version of Genji?? Or any other classical work?? If someone wants to use their valuable time to make a translation on something that already has one, that’s entirely their perogative.

When not going for a hard localization, the choice then falls on: what do I translate more literally, what do I NEED to convert to fully “English” wording to make sense.

Oooh yeah, and stilted characters/narratives! That’s a great point. You also have to recognize when some characters or situations just…do sound stiff in the original, and you should keep that stiffness in English. I think this is a skill that comes with fluency with the language (ex: Lan Wangji from MDZS, I THINK he’s supposed to just be succinct and reticent, but depending on how you translate him, he seems rude or bad with words. Unfortunately, English is a language that does NOT deal in word economy, so you pretty much have to make him say a lot in English or else people will get the wrong idea…like I did.)

In the novel I translate, one character is this exact scenario and idk know how to word him in English sometimes. He speaks informally (inappropriately so sometimes), but it’s a little stilted bc he’s not had much exposure to the outside world, and speaks like he’s regurgitating what he’s been taught by his parental figure. It’s really difficult to get that across in English without making him sound too much one way or the other lol.

I could talk for DAYS about good and bad Japanese localizations/translations. :D I have never played Kingdom Hearts but totally understand- there are SO many games/movies where I was sad at the stuff lost in translation, but some of them are so good at maintaining the overall context and feel, and that’s just a trade-off that has to be made. I do get sad when a localization isn’t as good, or outright changes a character’s story arc tho. >:|

It’s also definitely a choice whether to keep much of the original terms (Shimei/shidi etc). I tend to prefer them to stay in too, but minimally if that makes sense? Sometimes I see translations where they keep a lot of them in, which is great for me but my inner translator cringes at how hard it would be to keep up for someone who doesn’t know the language.

(Asura to Vanquishers is 100% unacceptable I Do Not Care About Excuses lol. Also, yao/yaoguai, and yokai I feel are ones that should stay untranslated 100% of the time. You run into so many grey areas and issues if you try to translate these terms into English bc there’s simply no equivalent (or...you will translate 1 thing as “spirit” and later encounter a totally separate word that can also be translated as “spirit” and be left unable to explain the difference without a footnote) and the English terms are too loaded with their own cultural context…

Ooh yeah I…”love” those phrases that NEED to be worded differently in English. Some are easy, some are ??? HOW do I- and GAH I hate filler words lol. You really need to learn when they’re used by exposure lol bc all explanations/definitions I’ve found do not really explain when to use things like 就 lol yeah, emphasis but how do I convert to english?? Japanese has a lot of little particles like that (not as many as Chinese tho) and occasionally I’m all ?? OK, so DID this change the meaning of the sentence or nah…Part of dealing with those, to me, is learning to tell when you can just drop them like a hot potato and convey the feeling in the overall sentence instead haha.

AHH Sha Po Lang…that translation sounds like it speaks to my heart and also very difficult to craft. The Most Difficult VN I Have Seen, Ever is one where the original writing is so…good but also ridiculous? Like, the reason this VN is so annoying to translate and read (native speakers had to get the dictionary out lol), is bc it uses many obscure terms, its word economy is off the charts. But the narrative isn’t that dense just for the lolz. It’s bc the MC is a scholar? Or, like, a well educated and thoughtful student who feels very deeply about the world and things happening, so he just…waxes poetic. GAH when the narrative Fits the characters and their world so well, my heart just gets happy.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

ok i know you said that reblog didn’t just refer to Rakepick (i’m assuming that’s who you meant by “her” but correct me if not) but i don’t really see how it could refer to her character in the first place?? if you could elaborate that’d be great cos i feel like it’s flying right over my head lmao

Happy to! As I might have predicted, I did get several messages about the post I reblogged so now I’ll try to clarify my feelings on this, as I know it’s been a touchy subject in the past. (This ended up being quite long, so...) @dat-silvers-girl and @heleneplays I thought you might find this interesting.

The original post was talking about shipping and the difference between enjoying character dynamics and actually projecting onto characters to see the relationship style you would want in your own life. I feel like both of these things can happen and that’s okay, but the point was that shipping two characters doesn’t mean you condone any implications that such a relationship would have in real life. Enemies to Lovers is a great example. 

In regards to fiction, I took that mindset a step further and talked about characters in general, notably villains. The same way we shouldn’t assume that people like a certain ship because they want a relationship like that in their own life, I don’t think it says anything about a person if a villain is their favorite character. Very often, villains are the most interesting or fleshed out. They have a unique relationship with the story itself as they are often the driving force or representative of its message. You could say that Harry Potter is a story about love and family...and Voldemort exists as someone who cannot comprehend either, to demonstrate their importance. Anyway, the point is that there’s nothing wrong with liking a villainous character. 

When I was growing up, it didn’t seem like this was a contested idea. It was actually common, particularly for villains who were seen as “cool” and many of them were. You’ll find few people who don’t agree that Darth Vader or Darth Maul look cool. However, in recent years, I’ve noticed that purity culture has spread to the point where liking a villain is considered questionable. It no longer seems to be enough, necessarily, that one is merely enjoying the villain as a character. Just like the idea of shipping two characters now means one must condone that kind of relationship in real life, sometimes it seems as though liking a villain is now tantamount to condoning their actions. 

Then again, there are people who feel sympathy for villains and attempt to justify their actions. Sometimes it’s due to a personal attraction. It’s a meme that people get horny for villains, and there’s probably some overlap there with folks who lean toward the “projection” style of shipping I talked about earlier, but never mind that. Other times, this sympathy can overlap with seeing potential in the character. There is a fine line, of course, between rooting for a redemption for the villain and arguing that they did nothing wrong in the first place, but these days it seems as though rooting for a redemption for the “wrong” kind of villain is something people take as an insult. (Severus Snape comes to mind.) Alternatively, people also seem to take it as an insult if you don’t believe the “right” kind of character deserves redemption. (This happens a lot with Princess Azula.)

Now all that being said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with hating a villain and just wanting them to go to hell and die. Like, that makes perfect sense. There are villains out there that we love to hate, characters who are so despicable that most people would agree they deserve a slow and painful death. Joffrey Baratheon is a great example. (Actually, a lot of Game of Thrones characters would apply here...) If a villain inspires true loathing from you, then paradoxically that also means they’re great, because they’ve been written in such a way that you as an audience can feel the evil. But this can become complicated if they overlap such despicable villains with the ones who have potential to be more interesting. It becomes complicated because of the aforementioned binary that now seems to be prevalent. The idea that everything one likes in fiction reflects what they believe should go on in real life.

Which brings us to Rakepick. 

Wow, we finally got here. I appreciate your patience. Rakepick is that character who has overlap. Whether we like it or not, she was presented as an ally for two years of the game’s story, before her betrayal. She spent a lot of quality time with MC and the other apprentices. We got to know her. It is not at all surprising, I don’t believe, that some of us see that “potential” to be more in Patricia Rakepick. But on the other hand, she sure has gone above and beyond in the effort to be one of those villains you just hate, given what she’s done. Having been part of this discourse, I think what’s going on is that the players who still feel a connection to Rakepick feel attacked by the players who ruthlessly condemn her. The players who condemn her feel insulted by the idea that players still like her after the terrible crimes she’s committed, after what she did to Rowan. No one is wrong here. Rakepick is a fascinating character who’s done unspeakable things. We do not need to fight about her. 

Everyone has different opinions about characters for different reasons. I have villains that I simply love because I see something more in them, or because I just think they’re cool. I also have villains for whom I feel the same contempt people have for Rakepick. Villains who I cannot stand and it makes me cringe to see their actions justified or considered - Cersei Lannister comes to mind. Likewise, there are just as many heroic characters that I love and adore, and some others that I find problematic. Others still that I flat out despise because of what they’ve done, villain or no villain, like Nozomi from SMT. Albus Dumbledore is probably the character I hate the most in fiction, even though he’s one of the good guys. I’m “Anti-Dumbledore” but when it comes to Rakepick, I don’t even like to use the term “Antis” because when a character is unquestionably a villain...isn’t it the default setting to hate them and root against them? 

Here’s the main thing. They’re fictional characters, first and foremost. They aren’t real, so it’s not like they know if we’re defending or condemning them. All of us are part of fandom to enjoy their story and share our enjoyment with each other. I feel like that should come before anything else. No matter if Rakepick is one of those villains you find “cool,” no matter if you love to hate her with how evil she is, no matter if you see more to her and wish she wasn’t considered a villain...or even if, like most of the HPHM fandom, you simply can’t stand her and root for a shallow grave...all of us have these opinions because we like HPHM. That matters more than our specific opinions about characters. Even villains. Even ones who have crossed as many lines as Rakepick.

[silverinia]

I came for Baranski, I stayed for Baranski - a quick Christmas On The Square review someone* actually asked for

(* thank you, anon)

Disclaimer: I am in no way a professional of any sorts when it comes to film and I'm not a journalist either. The last movie review I've written was probably for a school assignment in eighth grade. I didn't do research for this and I've watched the movie exactly one time, so this is just for fun.

It was a Sunday, Sunday the 22nd of November, nearing the end of the train wreck of a year that is 2020. I woke up on an air mattress around seven am, my head aching, my throat itching with pyrosis and light nausea, it was still dark outside behind the closed blinds in front of the windows, when I slowly realised where I was, one of my best girlfriends sleeping next to me in her bed. I had crashed at her place after a warm, fuzzy evening of mulled wine, tacky Christmas movies I would never watch alone (Christmas Chronicles and Holiday Calendar, which I quite honestly didn't enjoy at all, but the company made it fun anyway), doing our nails, wearing the fun kind of face masks for a change and smoking too many cigarettes, as the soft pain in my head informed me right now. She woke up an hour later and the morning went by with coffee and reheated pizza for breakfast, when we decided to watch another movie and I realised that it was THE Sunday I'd been waiting for through Zoom interviews and Dolly Parton twitter memes and the infamous wig gate that will be briefly discussed in the following, and so we clicked on the small icon in the Netflix menu that said "Christmas On The Square".

And oh boy, was it a ride.

To start off, I should mention that I have a hard time watching most modern day American Christmas movies, as I noticed quite vividly again when I watched the two aforementioned Netflix productions last night. The character development is always foreseeable to say the least, the plot lines are plain clichés hunting each other like they're the kids in The Hunger Games, and the writing is generally so bad that you can join the actors in reciting the entire scripts on your first watch. I watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas once a year while I'm gift wrapping and pause every fifteen minutes to shamelessly stare at forties Christine Baranski (I think we should all turn away from the birth of Jesus and instead count our years based on Christine Baranski's date of birth) in flamboyant nightgowns and short Christmas themed dresses, looking so fabulous that every interpreter of Santa Baby ever could only dream of it, I watch Love Actually at least five times a year to lust over Hugh Grant, cry with Emma Thompson and miss Alan Rickman, I enjoy Bridget Jones, which I would definitely consider a Christmas movie, and that's it. That's my yearly Christmas time entertainment routine and I can barely tolerate anything beyond, because I'm still traumatised from the time when I was around five years old and on a holiday family visit where had to sit through National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the dumbest movie I have ever seen (my apologies if you like it but also, who hurt you?), with my cousins. I hated it. I hated every minute of it. And it scarred me for life.

But this was a Christine Baranski movie, I knew she was going to play the lead and so I was pretty much as excited about this as I could. And the fact that Dolly Parton wrote the whole thing didn't hurt either. As I said earlier to my friend I was watching it with, I have the pop cultural taste of a fifty year old gay man, a quality I am most proud of, and this simply ticked off all my boxes.

I expected something similar to a Mamma Mia experience that wouldn't cause me to crave packing my bags, give Covid the finger and run off to Greece. Light-hearted entertainment, easy to stomach, uplifting music and so little plot that the simplicity feels like a creative choice. That's what my pained, hungover brain knew it could cope with and that's not what I got.

The movie started and I was immediately in the zone. I saw Christine Baranski's name in the front credits (an experience that never fails to make me scream "Yass Queen" at the screen, regardless of where I am and who I'm with, as if I'm the sobering result that pops out of the package when you order Jonathan Van Ness on Wish), the setting was wonderfully corny (I grew up watching Gilmore Girls once a week, so give me warm fairy lights and a gazebo and I'm perfectly happy) and as my friend wondered whether Dolly Parton, in her exaggerated homeless attire that didn't make her look shabby at all, was green-screened into the setting because she stood out so much (which she was because the background dancers were dancing in slow motion, but to be fair, we were probably still a little too drunk to notice that from the start) and I told her I thought that it was just the natural glow someone who's Dolly Parton simply carries with them everywhere they go, I was happy. This was the movie I was prepared for. A movie in which the most problematic thing would be stereotypical characters and the wig they hid Christine's real, flawlessly handmade by God herself hair under.

And then, around five minutes in, Christine Baranski's childhood love interest was revealed as she pressed her perfect pointy nose against the window of his shop and sang about her unrequited love.

And suddenly, things started taking turns at a pace I was still way too sleep-deprived for.

Suddenly, in the middle of my general amazement at seeing Christine Baranski do literally anything and laughing loud at her impeccable comedic delivery, there were unresolved daddy issues, hanging prominently at the wall in her marvellously designed house (she literally says "Daddy" at one point and I couldn't help but think that only someone with her vocal skills could keep from making it sound cringe-worthily kinky). One moment, I was clutching my chest above my heart while she was bonding with little bartender Violet and munching on pretzels while downing some whiskey in that elegant way only Christine Baranski can bond with ten year olds who had it rough, eat pretzels and down whiskey, and the next she felt responsible for said girl's mother's death (which she kinda was too, but I'm not the boss of her). I was still busy making fun of how the very annoyingly, but when you're snacking on pizza with extra cheese at nine in the morning also highly funny, slow talking pastor's name was Christian, and suddenly there was a cancer scare.

It was a lot, a hasty sprint from major issue to major issue with a hint of comedic relief every now and then, and it didn't get any less until the very, rather poorly resolved, end.

The entire, constant up and down was followed by the movie's peak of suspense, the near death of precious Violet, something I couldn't even get too invested in because I was still so busy worrying about Christine's MRT results (I was truly fucking worried), not to mention that I hadn't even started to really process the sudden revelation of the love child and how it had affected her character's actions until this point. Was her constant tendency of pushing people away, as we've seen most clearly with her angel in training assistant who's name I cannot recall right now, the result of her broken trust in her father who practically ripped her son away from her after she had just given birth to him? Was it a result of her never getting the closure she needed with plaid flannel wearing Carl she was clearly still in love with? Maybe both? And what of the many issues was it that made her so incredibly shaken up when Violet blamed herself for her mother's death? Was it 'just' due to the fact that the closed pharmacy was on her, or was there more to it? Was it because she had grown up without a mother herself? Or did I miss a major piece of information because I was momentarily distracted, dumbfoundedly staring at Christine's very blue eyes? No time to ponder on that, little Silverinia, because here comes unconscious Violet in an ambulance, WEE WOO WEE WOO WEE WOO!

I'm not going to go in depth about what plot lines I thought were especially carelessly handled and why, real standouts were the sudden forgiveness towards her father who had still acted like a shitty asshole even though he might have had his reasons, because giving the baby up for adoption just wasn't his choice to make, and the fact that I kind of didn't buy how quickly Regina managed to forgive herself, especially for Violet's mother's passing, considering how deeply her tall, slim, dare I say angelic and entrancing figure was buried beneath the weight of all her issues. It felt rushed and incomplete, but that's as detailed as it gets because my major point is something else.

I think this movie made the great mistake of trying to be more than your average, flat, happy ending Christmas movie. I think no one involved thought it was possible to make it a big hit if the only real plot would've been great Dolly Parton music, fun ensemble dance choreographies, Christine Baranski's outstanding acting skills, fun settings and costumes and a redemption arch with as little plot as it could possibly take to make Christine likable to those who aren't already lost forever in the rabbit hole of being obsessed with her (poor fuckers, can't relate). They didn't notice that with the legends that were involved, they could've easily gone the Mamma Mia way. And I think that's why they tried to include heavier plot lines than most creators would've chosen, experiencing loss at an early age, struggling to find closure, dealing with sickness, teenage pregnancy, parents forcing their choices on their children when they affect their childrens' lives first, adoption, and the fear of losing your kid.

It was a lot and I don't want to say that it didn't work because my friend was crying, like, pretty hard and I questioned my entire existence all through the movie in not the worst way, and I did enjoy it a lot while watching. The "grief is love with nowhere to go" line was a real standout, for example, where the attempt of complexity DID work. It positively gave me fleabag season two, "I don't know what to do with it now, with all the love I have for her." - "I'll take it. It sounds lovely. You have to give it to me." feels, and that's about the biggest praise I can come up with. BUT (and this is written in capital letters because it's the big but) I'm also totally convinced that I wouldn't have enjoyed it if they hadn't cast Christine Baranski for the lead role. In my humble opinion, the hasty, not really at all resolved plot of this movie only worked because Christine Baranski is just a fantastic actress. She quirks a mocking eyebrow and you laugh. She parts her perfectly painted red lips and you immediately hang on them because you don't want to miss a single breath she, a literal goddess, graces us mere peasants of people with. She smiles and you're happy. She laughs and even while she's still laughing, you can't wait to hear her do it again. Her eyes fill with tears and you feel goosebumps on your arms, her voice slightly trembles, a breath hitches in her throat and you feel your heart shattering to pieces. As Chuck Lorre once said, this woman could read you the phone book and you would end up laughing tears because she just gets the job done. She knows what she's doing, she's an absolute pro in her game, and it doesn't matter, not even a little bit, what she's working with, because the work she eventually delivers with it is always at a minimum of 200%. I forced my friend to watch this movie with me because I adore this woman, and I felt for this movie because I felt for her. It wasn't the plot that sadly brutally overestimated itself, it wasn't the songs that I obviously enjoyed, nor the comedic elements that truly made me laugh a lot, it was all her. I came for Baranski, and I stayed for Baranski. This woman can do anything. She can even look graceful in a terrible wig job.

(side note / unpopular opinion: I actually didn't think the wig was all too bad. It wasn't good, actually far from good, but for me, nothing can match the awful wig game of Mamma Mia 2. I loathed that wig, I absolutely cannot stand it. So this didn't feel all that terrible. It definitely wasn't the most problematic part about the movie.)

I enjoyed watching this. It was a nice distraction from all the bullshit in the world. Watching it today was the first thing this year that actually brought me something close to excitement about the holiday season, even though everything will be very different and probably not quite as jolly this year. But it just gave me good vibes and as someone who did not watch this as a film reviewer, that's the biggest part of what leads me to enjoy a movie.

Will I watch this again? For sure. Will I enjoy it when I'm not hungover, having freshly done nails and munching delicious pizza for breakfast? Probably not as much, but it'll still have Christine Baranski in it. Would I recommend watching this? If you share my obsession with Queen B, one hundo. If you don't, probably not.

[who-gives-a-ship]

Let People Make Bad Art

When I say bad, I don’t mean something that is intentionally wrong on a moral level. I’m not talking about people who draw POC as racist caricatures or use art to spend messages of hate. I mean just plain poorly executed, amateurish, mediocre, bad art. It’s important that bad art exists. And callout culture is so toxic to just regular, run of the mill bad art that it honestly makes me worried about young artists who are growing up in this environment.

There’s all kinds of bad art, but perhaps the most embarrassing kind is something TV Tropes calls unfortunate implications. This is when you accidentally make something offensive. When you’re a young artist (or just starting out in art, but more commonly when you’re young) sometimes you don’t think things through all the way. Maybe you use a word you didn’t realize is a slur or you draw a character like a stereotype that you just plain haven’t heard of before. Maybe you haven’t learned to think critically about your own work well enough to recognize a resemblance to something unfortunate. Maybe you’re out of your depth on an issue and don’t realize you need to do more research. Whatever the situation, unfortunate implications can creep up on anyone. It’s just a part of learning how to make art. But in the current climate, it can also ruin your life if you get especially unlucky.

Callout culture works on a one-strike policy. Once someone is problematic, they are problematic forever. And that can ruin a young artist. Being labelled cringe-worthy or just plain shitty is bad enough, but being labelled racist or homophobic for an honest mistake is a whole different level. Those terms imply intent that doesn’t exist in this case, and it can make you fair game for all kinds of harassment. There has to be room for mistakes, room that callout culture doesn’t allow. The results can be awful. Young artists can be bullied out of creating content before they even get a chance to find their voice.

So I’m not saying give hate speech a free pass, I’m saying that mistakes happen and should be treated like mistakes, not like genuine shittiness. Accept apologies and understand that not everyone has your level of experience. Before you call something intentionally bigoted, ask if it’s an honest mistake. A lot of young artists just don’t realize they’ve done something wrong and screaming at them to quit making art isn’t going to help them learn. It’s just going to decrease the overall quantity of art in the world and make someone feel like they should never be creative again.

Don’t assume something is maliciously offensive until you’ve ruled out the possibility of a mistake.

[bird-wells214]

it's so frustrating when some sort of controversy or something happens and the stans are like "i hate when people generalize the mcyt community we're not all problematic ueueueue" that's not the focus of the issue + that might be true but it's the vocal majority and that's what matters

and then people get to excuse themselves from criticizing their meow meow by saying that it's a "hyperfixation" honey no. hyperfixations aren't uncontrollable. our hyperfixations are not lights and we are not moths. we love infantilizing entire disorders in order to excuse your or your fav celebrity's actions because you as a person have developed a parasocial relationship so deep with a person you don't know that anything negative aimed at them is taken entirely personally even tho you have no involvement whatsoever /s

and then the people who have no care for these people or the stans and are just here for block game have to deal with being bullied because of the reputation these weirdos have garnered. neurodivergent people like myself are gonna have to deal with a resurgence in "cringe culture" because a bunch of tiktok users have decided it's appropriate to harass and dox people and create headcanons out of real people because they want to feel as if they Know these people, they want to feel like they can read them like fictional characters and they want to feel as if they're being represented and they DESPERATELY need the fandom culture of 2010 cartoon communities so badly that they're willing to humiliate these ccs with smut and fanfictions and headcanons out of real ass people that dream won't denounce because if he says anything negative about this unhealthily obsessed section of his community he'll loose half of his support, and the rest of us, whether you're a direct fan or someone who stumbled across a section of this community on accident, have to deal with the consequences of his actions.

and if i didn't have to see it every day it wouldn't bother me but it's EVERYWHERE. EVEN IF I MUTE IT. and we're the collateral damage coming from an online community that Just Won't Learn.

i'm just. so tired

not to be an asshole but current mcyt really shoved the 2015 and onward "cringe culture" reputation back onto modern mine/craft huh

neither dream nor pewdiepie brought mine/craft back into the spotlight,,, sure they "started" or "helped" but there's a massive neurodivergent culture around mine/craft just as there used to be that put a massive push into mine/craft's resurgence and now we're gonna be called cringe again because of,,,,, u know who