#different interpretations are fine the problem really is going against canonically established facts

[dayurno]

while this is not necessarily an entirely bad take (and no offense to you op!), i do think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding going on regarding kevin’s intentions here

1. kevin using french in front of riko was explicitly described as a panicked impulse. it wasn’t premeditated or a conscious effort to fuck jean over; even because jean himself says “Kevin had damned them both.” why would kevin have done this on purpose, with a clear mind, if he was also going against riko’s rules? you can say it was because jean’s punishment would be more severe than his, but that implies a level of callousness towards jean from kevin’s part that doesn’t exist, and furthermore he knew riko would punish him too. the french was at both their expenses. it’s one thing to interpret kevin as selfish, but at least believe that he’s not dumb enough to implicate himself

2. kevin very famously tells neil to run! he says it in-text! he tells neil to leave because “at least you’d have a chance”! saying he let neil stay because he wanted to win is a blatant misunderstanding of that scene, because the reason kevin “lets” neil stay is because neil wanted to, and kevin had no way to stop him. the only way kevin could have forced neil to run would have been to share neil’s secrets with the foxes, which would have been unforgivable to neil. kevin wanted neil to live more than he wanted to win. blaming him for neil’s choices makes no sense

3. kevin never had to tell wymack a single thing, but he did it (and announced the very complicated and painful matter to the public) because it would help stir attention away from neil. this is by far the most uncharitable interpretation of the situation i’ve seen: kevin, who depended on coach wymack’s goodwill to not be tossed back to the ravens, obviously did not want to share something that could have made coach wymack kick him out. you and i know wymack wouldn’t have done it, but kevin had no evidence it wouldn’t happen. i don’t know about you, but i find that the grown man who lived a fairly comfortable life up until this point shouldn’t have his feelings worried about more than the child who grew up captive in a cult without any family at all. coach wymack can deal with his guilt and his betrayal towards kayleigh later; kevin lived his entire life in that place! it is not the child’s responsibility to fix the relationship with the parent!!!!

the only thing that holds water is that kevin left jean in the nest, which kevin acknowledges on his first appearance in tsc and apologizes for. it was selfish and it was horrible but it was his only option, and he spends the rest of the book trying to help accommodate jean into a better life. kevin has many flaws; he’s volatile and headstrong and narcissistic and insensitive and yes, selfish at times, but he’s not a master manipulator. he’s a traumatized and abused child just like jean is

Kevin and Jean’s love for each other is just SO. Kevin’s postcards and magnets to Jean; his learning French for him; the promise he made Jean make to him; his sending him to his favorite team, the team he knew was the kindest.

His inability to express it is also so heartbreaking to me. Like Jean said himself that they just couldn’t talk but he also said that “the best Kevin could manage was bottomless guilt.” And Jean saying that he once would’ve done anything for Kevin and, even worse, that Kevin knew just that and that’s how he managed to escape Evermore.

Kevin at his core is a selfish person. He used French at Jean’s expense to try and get Riko to stop hitting him, he left Evermore without Jean, he let Neil keep playing for the Foxes despite knowing that it could cost him his life because he wanted to win, he didn’t tell Wymack he was his father until he absolutely had to.

Jean at his core is a giving person, conditioned to not know when to stop. He takes whatever happens to him and is convinced he deserves it, no matter what. He does what people tell him to do. He protects Riko even when he’s dead. He still loves the Ravens. He saved Zane’s life, Zane who betrayed him so thoroughly and deeply, without a moment��s hesitation or even thought. At age 14 and probably for years before, he protected and parented Elodie. He would do anything for Neil. He would STILL do anything for Kevin.

[rantrambles]

Ever get so upset you make a Tumblr account to vent?

I haven’t even listened to The Penumbra Podcast yet but it’s on my list because it’s insanely popular and the cosplays I’ve seen are hot as hell (A+ to all the cosplayers I’ve seen you’ve done great work). Now, with the recent news surrounding the podcast, I’ll wait till it’s done if I ever do get into it. I’m Asian and part of the LGBT community but I’m not nonbinary so I can’t say much about the trans represention in the art but I wanted to add my two cents on the matter as a person of color and someone examining the situation from the outside. Also, before I get deeply into it, I’m not the only person of color with opinions on this matter so if people have their own frustrations and criticism with the racism in The Penumbra Podcast and/or the new artist they hired, definitely listen to them too. These are my own personal opinions, and I’m sure other people will disagree and that’s fine. We’re all going to have different views on this so bear that in mind. Also, feel free to correct me or add anything if I’ve missed some information. Here’s a great breakdown of the whole situation for those that don’t know what happened. Finally, I was very hesitant to post this, but I felt it was important because I make a statement at the end on how race should be presented in a podcast format so if you are interested in making a podcast and want to have a diverse range of characters, please skip to the end to read those thoughts.

I’ll start off by saying, I’m not even that upset with the new artist that The Penumbra Podcast hired. I know that statement alone is controversial but I don't personally know them, and I’m not going to judge who they are as a person by a few pieces of art they’ve made. They are the least of the problems that I have here. Since the announcement and the backlash, I’ve been scrolling through the artist’s Instagram account and I can tell why people find the designs offensive, but I’m also comparing the designs to the artist’s other work, and I honestly believe that’s just their style. They’ve exaggerated the features of just about every character they’ve made, regardless of race or gender. From what I’ve seen the sharp angles and overly round curves in the anatomy that make some of the character’s features more jarring are how they prefer to draw. I’m sure they’re capable of drawing more realistic proportions but for the most part they’re art aims to call attention, be bold, and create distinguished features. Not inherently a bad thing on its own.

And yeah I’d understand the issue if this were a scenario where the artist heard how these characters acted in the podcast and thought “hey, obviously this character is a black woman because they are super strong and therefore must have big muscles, no other woman could look like that” or “hey, this character has to be Asian because they act super seductive sometimes better draw them as such.” But from my understanding the race was already decided by previous official artists and a general description of the characters were already generated by the audience, similar to how The Magnus Archives leaned towards drawing scrawny Jon with black, greying hair and dark skin. The new artists couldn’t really change those features even if those features aren’t described in canon because a depiction that strayed too far from popular fandom interpretation would make the character’s unrecognizable to the fanbase. 

I think the reason this became such a big issue for most people is because the new Penumbra artist used their exaggerated art style when making these characters and people of color and nonbinary folks already see themselves drawn as these exaggerated caricatures all the time (with those images being used to further discriminate against them). I’m sure the artist didn’t mean for their art to be offensive, but that of course doesn’t change how it was received. 

According to some, the poses and expressions the artists chose did not fully represent the characters entirely and only served to further perpetuate harmful stereotypes, and I’ll have to take their word for it because I still haven’t listened to the podcast so I have no idea how the characters act. But again much of the criticism is based on the one line-up and doing a deeper dive into the artist’s work I managed to find artwork that was much less offensive. Here some art where Vespa is depicted in a non-violent pose and one where Vespa is in a threatening pose but not an overly violent one. Here is Peter drawn in a non-seductive pose. Hopefully, the artist truly does keep the criticisms in mind as they work on the new official art. I’m just not the type of person that wants to get the pitchforks out and cause this particular person to lose a job they seemed really excited about over their old character line-up, especially when that person is also part of a marginalized group.

Again, that’s just my opinion on that particular artist. Those who are offended by their art are still valid in how they feel, and the artist should absolutely take their criticism to heart to better how they represent the characters.

What I’m more upset about is that I think The Penumbra Podcast should never have released official art for their characters in the first place and that’s their mistake that they refuse to own up about. They have made it clear that the story was never meant to portray characters of colors, a fact emphasized by the fact they hired mostly white actors from the start. They only started releasing art of the characters to get a profit. And the thing is they know what they did was wrong. All I had to do was search Penumbra Podcast racism and there is a note on their website saying that they archived some old official art.

“We have discontinued all Penumbra merchandise that uses the original character designs, and in the meantime, any profits on the sales of that merchandise will go to the For The Gworls project. We also realize that the depiction of these characters as POC, while not appropriate for us to use in our marketing and merchandise, has nonetheless become personally meaningful to many POC listeners. For that reason, and because we do not wish to distance ourselves from our mistake, we are keeping these images on our website for archival purposes. Though we do want to make it clear that many of the main/featured voice actors are white and that we did not write the characters to represent any specific POC experience, you are, as always, free to imagine these characters in any way that you like.”

I went to their shop and they still sell posters and pins with the character’s faces on them, but they are donating it to a good cause so hopefully that stays the same. However, I still find it a little uncomfortable that they are still selling character merch and have plans to continue selling character merch. They have no right to dissuade the fans that already found representation in the characters, but they also have no right to profit off the representation that was built, regardless if they made the story. 

Let’s compare this to another piece of popular media. I love Avatar the Last Airbender and, I liked the ATLA voice actors just fine but there should have been more people of color doing voice acting behind the screen too. The voice actors for that show were mainly white too, however, the creators knew that they would be making poc characters. That’s what makes the difference. Did they still choose to go with mostly white voice actors? Yes. Could they have done better and pay more people of color? Also yes. But I’m not as furious at them because they did their research on the cultures they were basing the ATLA world off of and intentionally gave us a show where Asians could see characters that looked like them represented on the screen. The Penumbra Podcast did not do any of that. Again, they openly admitted that it was never their intention to make the character’s people of color when they made the podcast so that goes to show no research was made to properly represent specific cultures. The color of the character’s skin in their official designs therefore became more of aesthetic choice rather than representation, and it wasn’t even their aesthetic choice to begin with!

Race isn’t a color you can just throw onto the character because you feel like it. So I want this to be a lesson to anyone that wants to make a podcast: if you want to include poc characters please do some research into the cultures you plan to represent the way you would with any other form of media. Just because the audience can’t see the characters and just because it’s harder to smoothly introduce the character’s appearance doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be lazy on how you present the characters. Do research before you start writing the first episode and take the time to hire poc actors. Hiring poc actors is actually the least that can be done to show representation. Also, since the audience cannot visually see the race of the characters on a podcast and it can’t typically be described the way you would in a book, you’ll have to be creative. It’s not my job to say how, but my suggestions would be, before the fans come up with their own image of the character, you need to establish race in the first few episodes or release character profiles on a website so that the fans know you canonically intended the characters to be of a certain race even if you aren’t able to mention it in the actual podcast. If you are unwilling to do any of these then the best route is to avoid stating race at all and allow the audience to build their own representation into your form of media. However, once this happens, you are not allowed to profit off popular fan interpretations. You lose all rights to create official art or images of the characters. You cannot use “we have a diverse cast of characters” when you market your story. It doesn’t matter whether you created the content or not, you did not create the representation for those minority groups.

It’s one thing for fans to build their own inclusivity into a form of art like a podcast, but it’s another thing for the creators who never worked to make the representation happen to take advantage of the representation that the listeners built for themselves. Thank you for attending my TedTalk.

[makeste]

how do you feel about people saying that bakudeku have a sibling-coded relationship?

before I start, I just want to quickly state that although I’ve heard this take before, it’s always been from people boggling at it and/or rebutting it third-hand. I’ve never actually found a post or tweet where someone was actually trying to argue this. but idk maybe I’m just bad at searching, or maybe the original source post(s) were deleted or whatever.

that said! assuming that this legendary take does in fact exist, I will state my opinion very bluntly: this argument is 100% bullshit.

let me explain. first off, just to clarify, I absolutely do agree that Bakugou and Deku give off major sibling energy. they’ve known each other since they were little; they know all the ins and outs about each other’s little idiosyncrasies and habits (“Kacchan always leads with a right hook”; “will you quit it with the damn muttering already”); they refer to each other exclusively by childhood nicknames; they reveal their deepest, darkest secrets to each other and only each other (“I got my quirk from someone else”; “why was I the one who ended All Might?”); and this is their idea of getting along:

there is absolutely a sibling dynamic there. now, full disclosure: being aro, for me there really isn’t a difference between romantic and non-romantic ships. I’ve mentioned this in a couple other metas, but basically I’m mainly invested in the emotional closeness and mutual trust and caring about one another. and so as long as that’s there, I’ll be equally satisfied whether the relationship ends up being friendship-love, or romantic-love. and so for me, there’s no particular burning need to see a favorite ship actually become canon, because I’ll be just as happy with a platonic ending to be totally honest. it just doesn’t make a difference at all, because the things I like about the relationship are still part of the equation either way, you know? and so for instance, in the case of this particular relationship, I’m already satisfied with the level of canon that they’re at, because that emotional closeness is already canon no matter what. any way you choose to interpret it, the things that I love about their relationship are already established (moreso than ever, now!), and so I’m happy either way.

so if I’m personally content to ship Bakugou and Deku in a platonic way, and don’t have a vested interest in proving or defending a potential romantic relationship between them, why then would I take any issue with the “sibling-coded” argument? and the reason is simple: because as far as I have seen, referring to a character or ship as “[something]-coded” is done EXCLUSIVELY to discredit and invalidate other people’s interpretation of the character and/or ship. it’s done for the sole purpose of being able to make arguments like “if you ship this you’re shipping incest” or “if you ship this other pairing, you’re homophobic.” it’s an argument put forth entirely in bad faith. keep in mind, there’s a huge difference between saying “I think they have a sibling relationship” and saying “they are sibling-coded.” the former is just a statement about how you interpret the relationship. but with the latter, you’re saying that this is the author’s intent, and that anyone who disagrees is either in denial or else just isn’t as good at cracking the hidden character code as you are. furthermore, it also implies that anyone who doesn’t agree is disrespecting the author by shipping the characters in any way that goes against the “-coded” interpretation. “it’s not ME you’re disagreeing with; it’s the author.” you’re basically taking it upon yourself to unilaterally decide the author’s intent.

it’s an argument used to arbitrarily declare that your interpretation is the only valid and correct one. and in this particular instance, the argument can then be taken to further ridiculous levels by accusing other shippers of being incestuous. putting aside that these are fictional characters, who don’t actually exist and thusly don’t give two fucks who you ship them with... they’re not actually related in any way. none of the actual arguments against incest apply in any way whatsoever. because they’re not actually siblings. there’s no power imbalance; there’s no chance of genetic abnormalities even if they, two fictional people, decide to get it on in someone’s A/B/O fic or something and make some fictional babies. incest doesn’t actually apply here any way you want to shake it lol.

but of course you already knew that! everyone already knows that. there is no way that anyone could possibly make this argument and even for a second believe that it was actually true. which is why it’s a bad faith argument. someone who makes this claim is not doing so because they genuinely believe it; they’re doing it because they want to put down another ship. it’s an argument that exists for the sole purpose of attacking other people in the fandom -- people who, unlike the fictional characters being debated, are real, actual living people. meaning that anyone who argues this has decided to prioritize a fictional story above actual human beings. and that’s why, although I normally try not to be this blunt, in this case I have no problem saying that this is complete and utter bullshit. there’s no analysis going on here, it’s just harassment of other people. at best, it’s trolling; at worst, it’s... man, I don’t even know lol.

anyway. but again I will say that even after doing an explicit google search for it, I haven’t been able to find any instances of people actually arguing this; only a lot of other posts rebutting it. that doesn’t mean the people arguing it don’t actually exist (idk maybe they’re on discord or something), but the reason I bring it up is because if this is indeed a Thing that people in fandom are doing, it’s only the tiniest, fractioniest fraction of the fandom at most. so just putting that out there! it would be another case of a few spicy take chefs making everyone else look bad, when the truth is that the vast majority of people are not like this in the slightest and don’t deserve to be lumped all together. and lastly, if anyone does happen to be using “sibling-coded” in a way that just refers to them having a sibling relationship, please ignore EVERYTHING I JUST SAID ABOVE, because obviously this does not apply to you lol. I still don’t like “-coded” as a term in general because of the way it assumes authorial intent, but as long as you’re not using it as a term to attack people who ship something else, THAT IS FINE. literally as long as you’re just doing your thing and aren’t going around bothering anyone who’s made it clear that they do not want to be bothered, I don’t care who you ship or how you ship it. it’s all cool and good.

[galacticnova3]

sorry but what do you mean by good faith headcanoning? /gen (i agree w/ you and you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, i’m just curious)

Oh I’m fine answering stuff like this! Helps me get my points across easier if people actually know what I’m talking about after all. Apologies in advance this got very long because I’m tired and can’t write short explanations when tired.

In a nutshell, it means not making some incredibly complicated headcanon that “explains” how x thing that clearly applies doesn’t actually apply. I just call it good faith headcanoning because it’s headcanon that doesn’t stem from much, if any canon basis, but that also isn’t used to excuse or push harmful or super unrealistic interpretations. An example of a good faith headcanon would be that Meta Knight is blind and his mask is what lets him see. There’s nothing that suggests or supports this in canon, and considering he still flies off even without his mask, it can be assumed it’s not actually required for vision. But saying that you headcanon he’s blind ultimately doesn’t do any harm, and just as importantly, doesn’t deny important established information.

As an example of a bad faith headcanon… Ok, this is gonna be silly, but I’m kinda brain’t right now. Say someone decided they don’t like the fact that Kirby loves strawberry shortcake for whatever reason, and said that they headcanon that Kirby LOATHES strawberry shortcake. In response to people pointing out that Kirby’s love of strawberry shortcake played a major roll in Squeak Squad, and has been depicted in other situations as well, they decide to say they headcanon that Kirby actually DOESN’T like it, but had to eat it for a challenge. Or they headcanon he was being “influenced” by something to make him want to eat the shortcake, as well as in every other instances of it being eaten.

The problem is that while this sort of thing technically DOES work as an explanation, it’s not a “fair” or reasonable one. No matter how much people point out that it contradicts something that’s been established, the person can always just point to their complicated workaround and say that “you can’t police my headcanons that’s mean!” In essence it’s basically the same issue teachers/professors have with you doing an opinion or argument-centric paper on something that can’t be disagreed with or argued against; at that point you’re not addressing the information, you’re just dodging the issue.

Yes, it’s true that people are allowed to headcanon what they want and that policing it(when it isn’t harmful/disgusting) is a shitty thing to do. I agree with that entirely. I’m also not against a bit of tip-toeing around in the vague parts of canon, and in fact that’s probably how the majority of my headcanons came about. However, in my opinion, there’s a point where it becomes a bit too much, where it’s really clear it’s all just an excuse to ignore important and well-established information about a character. Ignoring canon is fine until ignoring it fundamentally changes aspects of everything connected to it, in a way that no longer resembles the actual media.

The simple solution is to just call it an AU and then go from there, instead of making excuses for why X is like Z, when in the series X is shown to be like Y. In that case, so long as the impacts of changing that aspect are shown, and again, it’s not just an excuse to make abhorrent content, there’s no problem.

In reference to how this came about, the “bad faith” headcanons I was talking about would be the ones that basically say “Marx wasn’t actually a bad guy”, “Marx wasn’t being selfish”, “What Marx did wasn’t manipulative”, etc. as a means to justify Marx not experiencing consequences. Doing that essentially removes the basic core aspects of Marx’s character. Milky Way Wishes’ entire plot revolves around the simple fact that Marx is manipulative and a liar. He basically admits it himself when he says he got the sun and the moon to fight, got Kirby to summon Nova, and then brags about that whole thing going according to plan.

While it’s not out of the question to give him a motivation besides wanting to rule, like I did with Magolor in my headcanon, that motivation shouldn’t/can’t be used to undermine or otherwise excuse his actions. It doesn’t matter if he wanted to take over in order to improve Popstar or whatever(which he didn’t, because he gets excited about being able to cause all the mischief he wants, by the way). At the end of the day, he still probably caused major problems when the sun and moon started fighting, lied to and later attempted to kill Kirby(indirectly through exposure, then directly by fighting him), and ultimately got Nova destroyed. If the headcanon solely exists to say “but it’s ok and doesn’t matter anymore”, whether to woobify him into just a naughty widdle clown boy or (eugh) ship him with Someone, I can’t see a plausible way that it is in good faith and not just a tailored excuse to deny his wrongdoings in canon.

Now, this might seem like there’s an unfair line, because obviously not every unrealistic headcanon is in bad faith, but imo it can be figured out pretty simply. Generally, it can safely be assumed to be bad faith if multiple of the following things apply, within reason:

-It’s ignoring core information that, when changed, changes something completely in ways beyond just what’s being changed (ex. If you say Marx was actually possessed and that’s why he did MWW rather than being power hungry, there’s going to be more affected than just everyone going “oh it’s not his fault, ok” and then doing nothing)

-It’s changing so much information to make sense that, in justifying the one headcanon, many other things no longer line up or make sense, but go unaddressed (ex. Saying Meta Knight wasn’t bad in Revenge of Meta Knight because he wanted to take over Dreamland because there was actually some kind of great evil that he needed control to destroy, and that saying it’s because he wanted to end the lazy lifestyle was just a coverup to not cause mass panic)

-The headcanon attempts to justify an act that can’t be honestly justified or made ok in the canon circumstances (ex. Saying Sectonia actually wanted to rule Floralia and take over Popstar for good reasons that Kirby couldn’t see, like trying to unite them into a safer whole, or trying to justify Hyness’ mistreatment of Zan Partizanne by saying she’s actually the bad one)

-It is used in a manner that basically attempts to “victimize” the creator or “villainize” people who disagree if discrepancies in their headcanon are pointed out (ex. The creator “headcanons” Dedede is actually totally evil in order to write characters hating him, and acts like they’re being bullied when people correctly point out the positive relationships Dedede has with the main cast, as well as his role in aiding the side of good in games like Return to Dreamland, Triple Deluxe, and Star Allies.

-It is otherwise an unsupported, implausible headcanon being used to excuse gross and/or malicious content (ex. Headcanon excuses for shipping gross pairings, like MetaSusie or p*do/*nc*st ships)

While these criteria technically mean my shortcake example doesn’t count, I think there’s also always going to be a bit of case by case judgement with this sort of thing. Another important note, a bad faith headcanon isn’t necessarily bad conceptually; in most cases the issues can be solved by just making it an au with the appropriate changes, as that removes the issue of “how much canon can a headcanon ignore before it’s basically just an au?” As an example, “Au where Marx wasn’t a bad guy” is very different from “Marx wasn’t a bad guy”, while still allowing the same concept to be explored.

[abujenna]

where do churches come from?

A schism, most simply, is a division. In church parlance, it refers to one group separating from another. Considered theologically, it is often framed in such a way that there is One Church, and a schism always entails some group separating itself from that Church. A schism can be driven by heresy--a difference of conviction--but it is always political.

When we talk about church history, certain schisms tend to stand out. In the fifth century, there were schisms that separated the Church of the East and the various non-Chalcedonian communions (Coptic, Armenian, etc.) from what we might loosely call the Catholic Church, or the Church of the Roman Empire. In the 11th century, there was the famous schism between what became known as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. And in the 16th century, there was the Protestant Reformation, which expressed itself in a series of schisms from the Catholic Church. Schism is often how separate "churches" form (I've already written about our problematic way of talking about such things), but it doesn't always go that far. A schism is a bit like an Ecumenical Council, in the sense that you don't necessarily know what kind you're dealing with until well after the fact. In this regard, it might help to consider two notable schisms currently ongoing within the Eastern Orthodox Church--one that probably won't amount to much, and one that could.

The first schism is between the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem. For several years now, they've been in a jurisdictional dispute about who has canonical authority over the Persian Gulf region. It involves a rather small number of faithful in a territory that has not had much Orthodox presence for many centuries. The Patriarchs don't commemorate each other and don't celebrate communion together, but that's about as far as it goes. It's meant as an expression that something is not right between them, and rather than brush their problems under the rug and act like everything's fine, they'll refrain from these symbols of unity until their issues can be resolved. But a layperson of the Antiochian jurisdiction can receive communion in Jerusalem, and even a priest or deacon can serve in the altar. I would guess that most of the faithful don't even know the schism exists. And this is probably typical of most schisms in their beginnings.

The second schism is between the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Moscow. It expresses a division that has been growing over decades, but it didn't formally start until 2018. Both claimed jurisdiction over the Orthodox Church in Ukraine but took different approaches to resolving its internal problems. The result was an establishment of parallel churches--one autonomous under Moscow, the other autocephalous (fully independent). Moscow views Ukraine as integral to the historic identity of the Russian Church, and its response was to withdraw from communion with Constantinople and pretty much anyone else who supported the autocephalous church structure it set up in Ukraine. And that goes all the way down to banning its priests, deacons, and laypeople from intercommunion, which is decidedly atypical. While there is no real issue of heresy per se, there are some pretty serious differences, and both sides seem quite entrenched. Given the organizational weakness of the Orthodox Church, I think it could evolve into a more permanent schism if left to run its course.

Now, what these two schisms have in common (at least for now) is that they are decidedly treated as schisms within the Orthodox Church. Even given the severity of the schism over Ukraine, no one else is participating. As far as I know, no other local Orthodox Church has broken communion with either side, and even Constantinople, for its part, has not broken communion with Moscow. So an Orthodox layperson under the Antiochian jurisdiction, for instance, can still receive communion in any other Orthodox church. Their clergy can concelebrate with Russian or Greek--just not both at the same time. So we would say definitively that the schism makes no theological difference--neither Constantinople nor Moscow has somehow left the One Church by virtue of being out of communion with the other.

Now, how does this relate to past schisms? What happened in 1054 was specifically a mutual excommunication of persons. Rome excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople, who in turn excommunicated the papal legates--significant actions to be sure, but probably not readily obvious as the start of some permanent reconfiguration. It was likely another 150 years before the laity were specifically forbidden from receiving communion across the aisle, so to speak, and that only in the wake of the Fourth Crusade, when the Latins seized Constantinople itself and set up their own churches in parallel with those of the East. Whatever differences of faith and practice may have existed before and after 1054, it was fundamentally the political climate that determined where one could receive the grace of the Church, not any clear spiritual boundary line.

We can talk in various ways about someone as being either Catholic or Orthodox, so long as we recognize what we're really saying. If the Orthodox Church is understood historically as the church of the Byzantine Empire, then a person born, raised, and living in Constantinople in the 12th century was probably Orthodox. But what if he moved to Rome? Would that suddenly make him Catholic? What would have to happen to change his identity? And is this just a historical question? Would our Byzantine abroad even have thought about it as a spiritual distinction?

Or what about a Latin soldier who came east with the Fourth Crusade, took part in the attack on Constantinople when he thought it was just to restore the rightful heir to the throne, but later sympathized with the Byzantines and chose to attend one of their churches? Was there a process for him to "convert"? Would such a thing even have occurred to anyone? Would it have been possible at that point in history?

Or what about today? If I was born and raised Protestant but "converted" as an adult to the Orthodox Church, what is my relationship to Rome? Am I supposed to have been Catholic all along? Am I somehow Western by birth but Eastern by choice? If I chose to become Catholic, I would be accepted by a simple profession of faith because I'm Orthodox. Would I then be Melkite Catholic so as to preserve my Eastern heritage? I'm an American convert from an American convert parish--what is the real significance of my Arab patrimony?

And speaking of which, what about the 18th century schism among the Arab Melkite Christians? Those who accepted Western support against Ottoman oppression became Catholic, while those who aligned with the Greek establishment in Constantinople were called Orthodox. Three centuries later, where is the substantive difference in their faith or practice? That one is theoretically in communion with all other Catholics and the other with all other Orthodox? That family allegiance marks them as one or the other? Where does this distinction put them with regard to the One Church?

So if we come at the question historically, I think it becomes difficult to rigidly identify the One (Holy, Catholic, Apostolic) Church with a specific institution. Divisions arise for many different reasons, and their interpretation depends on many different factors. Yes, everyone generally agrees right now to talk about Russian, Greek, Romanian, and Serbian Orthodox as all part of one Eastern Orthodox Church, and Roman, Ukrainian, and Melkite Catholic as all part of one Catholic Church. But the alignments and disputes over the centuries that have contributed to this picture seem to require only small nudges one way or another to have produced different results. Assigning theological weight to such historical details seems contrived.

And what makes matters worse is the force of inertia that seems to resist most efforts at reconciliation. After 15 centuries of separation, quite a few theologians have concluded that the doctrinal bases for schism between Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox were minimal or non-existent. Political motivations have shifted to the point that it's probably in their interest to restore communion, but that's a lot of historical identity to overcome. On the other end of things, the two sides in the comparatively recent Melkite schism have almost everything in common and seem quite open to some sort of restoration; but relations with the broader Catholic and Orthodox Churches make it difficult to progress on the local level. And however promising overtures toward Catholic and Orthodox reconciliation might seem, it's difficult to envision a scenario that wouldn't split each Orthodox church down the middle and just exacerbate the divisions. Such reticence is understandable, I suppose, and only human--but as a basis for theological claims about where the One Church might reside, it seems pretty flimsy.

So all of this has me taking my identity as Eastern Orthodox much less seriously than I used to. Not that I feel inclined to give it up--I just don't know where the boundaries are, or even if I care. I've always known that these terms we use--One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, even Orthodox--are generically applicable to the claims of other apostolic churches (Catholic, Coptic, Armenian, etc.); but the reality seems similarly messy. We can't reduce it to One Church, excluding all else, or to various churches as branches of a whole. For me, it helps to think in terms of schisms, as they evolve through different historical moments and perceptions and prejudices and identities. If these divisions depended on human choices and actions in their formation, who's to say we couldn't end them just by changing our minds?

[centrally-unplanned]

The Phantom of the Opera Movie: How (not) to Adapt Your Fanfic to Stage & Screen

I recently watched the infamously-maligned trainwreck that is the 2004 Phantom of the Opera film adaptation of the stage musical, which lived up to its reputation! Rehashing the atrocious casting of literally-sang-for-the-first-time-two-weeks-before-filming-Music-of-the-Night Gerard Butler as the Phantom is well-trod territory, but I don't think that is the real crux of the film's failings. Instead, I think it serves as a quintessential example of the failure to transition from stage to screen - and how lucky the stage adaptation was.

For the "PotO" uninitiated, despite the endless shipping the titular Phantom and the female deuteragonist Christine do not have a romantic relationship. Oh the Phantom is trying to get down with that, for sure, but she sees him as either a ghost, an angel, or a terrorist at various points, never a credible love interest. In the original novel this is extremely explicit, and it is actually preserved in the stage adaptation - though as you realize with this film not intentionally.

In a stage musical, audiences don't really "suspend disbelief" the way they do for something like movies. There is one or more human beings, right in front of them, being real people in a wooden box with minimalist decour - the artifice is inescapable. Which is fine, actually! Instead of being immersed in the worldbuilding the audience can appreciate the craft of it all, the acting chops of the leads and the high notes they hit and the cool set designs around them. As such strong plots for musicals aren't really required; details are skipped over in exchange for focusing on other aesthetic elements. More importantly for our purposes, in a musical like Phantom of the Opera the audience isn't set up to expect a tight directorial vision, with instead the characters being the a product of the choices of the actors themselves - people even look out for the different interpretations different leads will bring to the same script. Each performance is itself an adaptation.

This lack of verisimilitude does wonders for the musical version of Phantom of the Opera. Honestly, plot-wise and arc-wise? Phantom of the Opera isn’t that great. Christine, one of the supposed leads, has no motivation for like 90% of run-time, instead being buffeted about by the whims of other, more powerful characters (just like early 20th century France ooooh, eat it Leroux), and Raoul, her earnest, wealthy suitor-cum-fiance, is the dried cement of love interests with no arc to speak of. Lots of plot elements are covered quickly and left vague as to their meaning. But really, who cares? You get to watch a tortured, corrupted genius offer a panoply of shadowed delights to a beautiful ingenue in a rock-opera baritone, and Rage Against The System so hard when spurned they drop a God-damn chandelier on the stage - that’s really all you need!

In the stage musical there is often - lets be honest very often - sexual subtext between the Phantom and Christine. But that is the choice of the actors, it's not in the script, it stays subtext. You are there to watch those actors put their spin on it and take it to the limit - let them have fun with the material! On stage it serves a great metaphorical function; to be tempted by music, by the mystery of darkness, has been metaphorical sex for so long it needs no more explication. 

Now, however, we loop back to the movie adaption, with two key points to establish. First, movies do not work like musicals. There is no live person in front of you, every shot is the product of a dozen takes and as many hours of editing choices, and as a viewer you are dragged along lockstep seeing the results of these choices. All of this is in the service of building a cohesive vision that allows the audience to fully suspend disbelief. The price for this immersion is that now every moment of the film is imbued with intent. Everything has to be there for a reason, the way things in reality are - or more accurately the way we want reality to be. To quote Best Girl Mizusaki:

(Just when you thought I was going to write a media essay without being a huge weeb for once, huh?)

What's true for animation is almost as true for film, all of which means that how characters act is no longer an actor on stage doing their spin but the cohesive narrative of a story.

Second, the movie takes all of that fanshipping sexual subtext and cranks it all the way up the nosebleed seats, while changing none of the relevant plot points. In fact, it adds plot details to strip away the musical’s ambiguity! One of Christine's opening scenes, only briefly touched on in the stage musical, explains cleanly that she considers the Phantom the angel of her dead father come down to protect and guide her. Later in the show, as the Phantom's villainy becomes more apparent, when propositioned by Raoul her only objection is to how the Phantom might hurt her if he found out. Well after all of his temptations, rage, and villainy, near the climax of the film, she still sings in a graveyard about her uncertainty over whether or not he is a literal ghost or spirit of her father. So the plot structure is preserved and explicit - Christine is drawn to him due to his musical talent and offerings of instruction, is unsure if he is even human, but realizes his corporeality, villainy, and fundamental pitiable humanity at the end. Raoul throughout is her explicit, engaged-to-be-married romantic partner.

So then why are her and the Phantom fucking??

Seriously, I cannot undersell how sexual their scenes are.They are all over each other, fingers gliding over skin, and the next scene after this one is her in his bed with sex-hair all over the place! This subtext is continued in every scene they have together, long after he has been revealed as a murderer. At one point he confronts her in public, with her fiance watching, and it's still played like he is the Tuxedo Mask to her Sailor Moon. Even the scene where she takes off his mask is shot like it was foreplay-gone-wrong, and the Phantom just forgets to say his safeword in time (This is why you pre-negotiate about your kinks, all!).

Any movie-goer understands what the intent of scenes like these are, why a director would choose these actions & shots; they want us to know that they are getting busy off camera, even if only by implication. We know they don't actually do that because there is a book to refer back to but damn does this movie want us to forget that...in these scenes. Which is the problem, of course - the rest of the movie operates as normal! In the above scene Christine thinks the Phantom is, again I must emphasize this, the ghost of her father; apparently she is going for the reverse-Oedipus achievement but no one told the rest of the script. Is she lying to Raoul about her love and her reasons? Is she actually tempted? Stop telling me you are unlovable via haunted monologues Gerard Butler, you look like testosterone on a stick and y'all boned literally five minutes ago, I am not buying it!

The subtext and the text are at war with each other - and given that, as we established, the dynamic between the Phantom & Christine is really the only interesting part about this story, strip that down to a muddled mess and you really have nothing left. And in a movie, subtext like this is just another form of text - the director chose these shots, it's intended. Beyond the terrible vocal performances and sometimes baffling shot direction, the movie's biggest failing is this schizophrenic mismatch between the script and the actions on screen which is a problem the stage musical honestly didn't have to worry about. These scenes are not set up like this, and the ability to add subtext by the actors is just fundamentally limited by the medium; it cannot touch the story itself, which isn't even the focus of the audiences. Even if these contradictions did exist more in the stage musical, they wouldn't doom it due to the nature of said medium.

Which is very, very fortunate, because there is one final point to make - Andrew Lloyd Weber, the creator of the stage musical, wholeheartedly approved of this direction for the movie. He produced the film, wrote the screenplay, chose the director, the works - this is his film. And, as is apparently from interviews and a...not fondly remembered stage sequel to the musical that he wrote, he ships the Phantom and Christine hard. Not in the "oh I love their dynamic on screen way", but in the Ao3 sort-by-fetish-tags "they are my Trash'' way. And I would never begrudge a man his ships, but apparently he was not content to keep it away from the canon. He absolutely reads the stage musical this way as well!  It's just one of those interesting ironies of life - one of the most successful adaptations of a book to a stage musical was made by someone who, in my opinion, did not grasp the fundamentals of the story he was adapting. We just didn't notice because the medium didn't care, and also damn can he write a score that slaps.

I would not be the first person to say that this movie for Andrew Lloyd Weber is something of a George Lucas moment for him, a creator completely missing the appeal of his own work; but after seeing it the comparison rang deeply true. The Phantom of the Opera movie is truly the Phantom Menace of musicals.

No, I don't feel bad for that last line, why do you ask?

[nolifepoints]

“May all your marshmallows burn.” You choose the ship!

I know this has been in my ask box since December. Sorry for the wait! I got… a little carried away. I sort of wanted to contribute to Pridecember even though I’d never written pride before, but I also wanted to add another ship Cupcake likes, and… my brain chose puff.  Which I’d also never written before. Lol.

So, please, enjoy this silly fic about Jounouchi inviting everyone to a campout after Atem returns in a secret bid to get to know him better and promptly getting mad that Atem and Kaiba are “ignoring” him. :v

Post-canon, returned Atem AU, established pride, unestablished puff, 1.8k words.

Excerpt:

“Thought you hated‘em,” said Jounouchi, leering at him.

Kaiba shrugged. “No,I just don’t find them very exciting.” Nonetheless, he extendedhis stick and allowed the marshmallow to ignite. Atem did the same,taking the opportunity to brush shoulders with Kaiba.

“That’s it?Just… ‘not very exciting’?” Jounouchi squinted at Kaiba. “Youfeeling okay?”

Another shrug. Thelittle glance at Atem told Jounouchi everything he needed to know,and the encouraging smile Atem returned? Damning.

Atem crouched by thebonfire. As it flickered, the firelight drew out the shifting,alchemical hue of his eyes, a color Jounouchi had never been able toput a name to. So like Yuugi’s. But the face was different now –familiar, in the abstract, a song he could recall only in fragments.As Jounouchi watched, Atem inched closer to the fire.

“Just, uh… becareful,” said Jounouchi, wringing his hands. He knew,realistically, that Atem understood the boundaries of his physicalform – even before he remembered himself, he’d piloted Yuugi’sbody, after all. But part of him still worried, especially now thatAtem was mortal again – as far as any of them could tell. Jounouchiwasn’t eager to test it.

“It’s alright,Jounouchi. I can handle myself around fire.” A smile played onAtem’s lips.

“Right.”Jounouchi flushed. Atem had probably been around a lot more firesthan Jounouchi ever had, now that he could remember them. “So, youwant to-” He paused as Atem moved back and settled beside Kaiba.Several quilts were spread around the makeshift campsite (which wasreally just a secluded corner of the Kaiba estate), but of courseKaiba had taken up residence on the one furthest from Jounouchi. Ofcourse Atem had to join him.

“To what?” Atemblinked up at him, still smiling. At least he looked eager enough.

“Maybe… roastsome marshmallows?” Jounouchi indicated the bag at his feet,alongside several clean sticks he had gathered earlier in the day.

Atem rubbed hishands together. “Sure! That’s definitely something I’ve neverdone before. I’ve never had a marshmallow at all.”

“They’re hardlyremarkable.” Kaiba scooted a little closer to Atem. “Just sugar.”

“You’re hardlyremarkable!” snapped Jounouchi, waving a stick in Kaiba’sdirection. “Don’t listen to him. Marshmallows are great,especially over a fire.”

“Can’t wait,”Atem said, letting his leg touch Kaiba’s. Kaiba said nothing at all– only glanced at Atem, who met his gaze and smiled. This touch wasnot accidental.

Jounouchi sighed andbegan spearing the fluffy confections. Even if he had invitedeveryone, in his heart, he had done this for Atem. He didn’t needto know him to love him. He already did, just as much as he lovedYuugi. Yet, their entire relationship passed in the shadow of oneworld-rending crisis after another. They would always have DuelMonsters, but what else was there? When had there been time foranything else?

It was just… beingalone with him was a little intimidating. What if they reallydidn’t have anything to talk about but Duel Monsters? What if…

He just had to workaround it, that was all. Ease in. Get everyone together. Theimportant thing was that Atem was here again. If it lasted forever –great. But they didn’t know that, and Jounouchi wasn’t going totake any chances this time around. The problem was Kaiba.

(Wasn’t italways?)

He didn’t protestKaiba’s presence here, in theory. Aside from the fact that he letthem use his yard for their faux camping trip, Kaiba could use anyreprieve you lured him into. Jounouchi suspected that, if not forAtem, he wouldn’t be caught dead here.

It wasn’t likeJounouchi begrudged them their happiness, either. Atem was happy– Jounouchi couldn’t deny it. It was even kind of nice to seeKaiba smiling to himself when he thought you weren’t looking. Hecould pretend he didn’t have feelings all he liked, but it wasobvious to anyone who spent five minutes with him that he was one ofthe most emotional people on the planet. They just weren’t usuallypleasant emotions. It was a change of pace, anyway.

But did they have toalways do this? Right in front of him? Leaving him completely out ofthe loop? To make matters worse, it would be a while before anyoneelse arrived. He was the one who organized this, so he came early.Kaiba lived here. And Atem… probably had been here already.

When he handed themtheir sticks, something else troubled him: Kaiba didn’t complain.He didn’t snipe. He just… accepted his.

“Thought you hated‘em,” said Jounouchi, leering at him.

Kaiba shrugged. “No,I just don’t find them very exciting.” Nonetheless, he extendedhis stick and allowed the marshmallow to ignite. Atem did the same,taking the opportunity to brush shoulders with Kaiba.

“That’s it?Just… ‘not very exciting’?” Jounouchi squinted at Kaiba. “Youfeeling okay?”

Another shrug. Thelittle glance at Atem told Jounouchi everything he needed to know,and the encouraging smile Atem returned? Damning.

“Well,” saidJounouchi, “how nice to see the great Kaiba lowering his standardsenough to eat marshmallows with a peasant like me.”

“It’s… not sobad.”

Jounouchi paled. Notonly was Atem flaking out on him, now Kaiba was, too. Not thatJounouchi really wanted to get into it with Kaiba tonight, but theyhad – a certain relationship. It was just how they were. Somethinghe could depend on.

Apparently, though,Kaiba had more important things to concentrate on right now. Likesneaking his gloved hand over Atem’s beneath their coat sleeves. Ifthey thought they were being subtle, Jounouchi would hate to seeobvious. “May all your marshmallows burn,” he whispered.

“What?” askedAtem, head swiveling in Jounouchi’s direction.

“Oh, nothing…nothing at all.” He tried to grin, though it was more of a grimace.There was nothing like witnessing a flirt fest to remind you that youdidn’t have a date for Christmas Eve. Or Valentine’s Day. Or theforeseeable future. Not a single romantic prospect to speak of.

Well. Maybe one. Butthat was – no. Just a little gaming here and there, and even thathad probably only happened because Shizuka had to drop out of thecampaign for a while. If he’d made a habit of staying aftereveryone else left, laughing into the night, enjoying the company ofthe dungeon master… that wasn’t so abnormal, was it?

A rustle drewJounouchi’s attention. Atem sat up now, drawing his hand away fromKaiba, and started forward. “Oh!” With satisfaction, Jounouchinoted that both of their marshmallows had burned… as had hisown.

“Oh, come on…”Jounouchi yanked it out of the fire and blew furiously, feelinganother pang of satisfaction as Atem observed him and did the same,and his heart softened as Atem stared at his charred marshmallow witha furrowed brow. “Aww, don’t worry about it,” he said. “Somepeople even like ‘em burnt. You have to try it at least once,right?”

That did the trick.Atem brightened, and, before Jounouchi could stop him, popped theentire marshmallow into his mouth. His eyes widened, and his handsshot up, hovering in front of his face. “Hot-!”

“You gotta let itcool more than that!” He started to say something else, but Kaibaclutched Atem’s arm in concern, and nobody was looking at Jounouchianymore. Again.

“I’m fine,”said Atem, murmuring thickly around molten sweetness, though therewere tears in his eyes. He swallowed hard and stuck out his tongue,sighing as the cool air washed over it.

“Do you needanything?” asked Kaiba, grabbing Atem’s hand. “A drink?”

If Jounouchi had towatch another minuteof this…

“Hello, everyone!”

There he was. Anangel, here to rescue Jounouchi from this unfolding disaster – tosave him from his loneliness. And also from himself.

“I’m not late,am I?” asked Bakura. His eyes swept over the deserted campsite, andthen – over Atem and Kaiba, hands still entwined. “Ah.” Heflopped down directly beside Jounouchi, who could almost cry. Atleast someone was nice enough to sit with him. Very close, infact. As close as Atem was to Kaiba.

“Not at all,”said Jounouchi, peering down at him. It wasn’t the first time he’ddone this, of late – sitting a little closer to Jounouchi thancircumstance strictly necessitated. Until now, Jounouchi had chosento interpret this innocently: Bakura simply failed to register hisintrusion on Jounouchi’s personal bubble. He was, after all, soeasily distracted. Now, though… with their shoulders nearlytouching… Jounouchi swallowed. “You cold?”

But that wasn’treally the question Jounouchi was asking. Of course he was cold. Itwas cold. He wondered if someone as… self-absorbed as Bakurawould even pick up on it, but the look in his eyes when he noddedbanished all doubts. Steeling himself, Jounouchi draped an arm overBakura’s shoulder, and when Bakura relaxed against him, he relaxed,too. “No one’s really here,” he continued Casting a sharpglance at the others, he added, “We’re hardly even talking.”

“Sorry, I- got alittle distracted,” said Atem, scooching away from Kaiba. “Let’s-”

“No, no, don’ttrouble yourself about me now,” said Jounouchi, frowning.

Atem and Kaibastared at each other, blinking. “Are you… not having a good time,Jounouchi?” Atem asked, genuinely confused. “I just thought-since you and Kaiba don’t get along so well, we were trying to-”

How could Atem be sodense? Jounouchi’s free hand balled into a fist. “Me and Kaibaget along just fine when he’s not ignoring me!”

“Ignoring you?”Kaiba was just as bewildered now. “I thought I was…” Hewrinkled his nose. “’Behaving myself.’” Obviously not hisphrasing. Jounouchi had one guess for whose it was.

“It doesn’treally matter now. You can keep ignoring me. Whatever.” He squeezedBakura’s shoulder. “I have Bakura now.”

Bakura laughed andgave Jounouchi’s arm a mock slap. “Be nice. They’re justenjoying each other’s company.” Atem couldn’t help but smile.Kaiba set his jaw, but he didn’t deny it.

“I guess,”Jounouchi said, narrowing his eyes at them. He couldn’t keep thesulk out of his voice. “It’s just-”

“Shh.” Bakurasnagged a marshmallow out of the bag and shoved it into Jounouchi’smouth.

“Mmph!” Herelaxed and swallowed the marshmallow, flushing deeper as Bakura’sfingers brushed his lips on their way back to the bag. Satisfied,Bakura offered him another, gentler this time. He took it, wide-eyed.

“There,” saidBakura. “That’s better.” Leaning close, he whispered, “Thisweek was awful, and I didn’t sleep at all last night. If you wantto show them up, take advantage of my temporary lack of shame anddesire for companionship.”

“Um,” saidJounouchi, swallowing his marshmallow.

“Even if it’sjust to spite them, you know, I really don’t-”

“No!” saidJounouchi, managing to startle all three of the others, tearingKaiba and Atem from their own whispered conversation. Now thateveryone was looking at him, Jounouchi wasn’t so sure hewanted it anymore. “What’re you waiting for?” he said, wavingdismissively at Atem and Kaiba. “He’s right. Enjoy each other.”

They gave up andscooched back together. Atem’s hand found its way to Kaiba’s– perhaps emboldened by the current state of Jounouchi and Bakura. It wasn’t the end of the world. Jounouchi would have other chances

Bakura, on the otherhand, peered at Jounouchi, head tilted. “No?”

Jounouchi sighed,whispering back. “I mean, it’s not- it’s more than-” Heexhaled, gratefully accepting the marshmallow Bakura extended, givinghim a moment to think. “Are… you doing anything on Christmas?”

[warlordgab]

Analysis: Constructing a Potent Relationship

It’s not hard to notice One Piece success as a manga, especially if you live in Japan. This success can be attributed to several factors. One of them being the massive and highly creative world-building One Piece had, and how such a vast world is fit for near endless possibilities for fantastic adventures.

We could also mention how over-the-top the action/adventure can get. And how the story gradually escalates, greatly exceeding many readers/watchers expectations. Or the the obvious focus given to “Romance”

Confused? Don’t be. The series itself works with a less known concept of “Romance” related to dreams and adventure. Or to put it in other terms: the emotional appeal of adventure, idealism, heroism, and virtue. In fact, an insightful reader once perceived that One Piece works as an “adventure novel”, taking some of the best elements they have to offer. And Oda himself once stated he wanted his readers/watchers to get excitement from his work, something he pulls off by means of the crazy yet highly creative situations that arise throughout the story, along with the fun and/or drama they bring to the plot.

So naturally One Piece encompasses a wide variety of themes and subjects: comedy, tragedy, companionship, and even love in several of its forms. All of this strengthens the story and draws the attention and interest of readers/watchers.

Yet, another factor makes this manga so popular:

The Characters

Despite the fact One Piece is a plot-driven story, Oda had made a great effort to establish his characters with very solid backgrounds, motivations, and personalities. The sense of depth he adds to his character turns them into one of the elements that breathes life into the story.

Not everyone is capable of appreciating this since some people focus too much on how crazy and amazing the plot gets; along with the carefully put and well done action scenes (the manga often does this great; the anime has varying degrees of success in their attemps to capture what Oda conveys).

Nonetheless, the characters are one of the factors many readers/watchers greatly enjoy. And one thing that adds depth and substance to a character is how and why they form bonds with others, as well as the emotional narrative behind their actions. This makes them more relatable and helps readers/watchers to be more invested in their struggles.

In this regard, all the SHs share strong bonds. But we’re going to highlight one in particular, because of how much build-up and emotional development it got throughout the series, as well as the deep roots of this connection: Luffy/Nami.

Before elaborating on their bond, I must address one “obstacle” that prevent people from fully appreciating the amazing job Oda had done in this regard. This “obstacle” not only clouds the view on One Piece emotional development; at times it even encourages some people to seek and even expect a twisted version of what the story can actually offer, while making more reasonable fans and critics dread how this trend could negatively impact the story: “The General Shipping Mindset”.

This isn’t the first time such issue had been addressed. As it had been explained before, “shipping” proves to be poisonous to the way relationships and emotional bonding are to be written. But why does this happen?

While there are a few shippers who find enjoyment in the direction the story goes, many others promote ideas and delusions that could potentially ruin or at the very least damage its integrity and consistency.

This is something some people already heard or noticed. While there’s nothing wrong with fantasizing about something you like, It can still be seen how shipping motivates many fans to push their corny/clichéd fantasies into the story in spite of them being incompatible with the author’s works.

They rely on poor “logic” contrary to what natural development as well as emotional chemistry really are, by blowing out of proportion insignificant showings or even gags that neither the series nor the author take seriously. Sometimes they overhype what they perceive as "sexual tension", in spite of the story never elaborating on such exaggerated ideas. They even promote premises that depend on the characters going full OOC

A fine example of unrealistic shipping expectations

There are shippers who while being fully aware of this, still promote their delusions over anything that the manga has to offer, just because they’re aesthetically pleasing. Other shippers use the characters as self-inserts for their fantasies, some even go as far as selling the image of one or more characters whoring themselves to the highest possible number of “partners”. And there are those who only focus on characters’ personalities, while ignoring who they share with most meaningful moments and greater stress in their relationship.

Needless to say, there are many reasons why “shipping” is considered “toxic” by many non-shippers and regular fans

So, when we take the “general shipping mindset” away, when we discard what strays away from One Piece, we get to see a well-written and solid relationship. But just so people may clearly understand how this emotional connection had been developed and still holds the potential to grow stronger, we need to use something I posted before: The "Tiering System" for pairings:

When an author seeks to build a compelling well-written relationship he stablishes a "foundation" and later keeps building upon this very same "foundation" by means of meaningful moments, emotional build-up and development. Such premises must blend in both the story and the characters. By taking into consideration these factors we have...

* Crack impossible: Pairings that contradict other pairings with well-established canon material, and has zero context that can be most logically interpreted as romantic. And zero development and/or stress in their relationship * Crack Possible: Pairings that do not contradict well-established canon material, but have none-the-less zero context between the characters that can be most accurately be defined as romantic and no meaningful moments * Impotent Pairings: Pairings that do not have a high chance of developing into cannon, but nevertheless had some type of stress on their relationship at some point of the series. Romantic attraction can be a joke or comedic element of plot. This kind of pairings had become stagnant as the story (and possibly the author as well) doesn't bother to develop them any futher. This kind of pairing is constantly overshadowed by the next category * Potent Pairings: Pairings with a high chance of developing into canon, supported by multiple logical arguments, high degree of intimacy between characters, and significant/meaningful moments. This kind of pairing has constant development and stress on their relationship * Canon Pairings: Exactly what says on the tin. While the pairing does not have to be dating, or married, or whatever, the existence of romantic love must be there.

For a Potent Pairing I'd like to add that a natural growth must be there. It's a gradual yet consistent development. And as I tried to convey before, a likeable chemistry that must be based on a series of impactful moments

Some people might argue against this by claiming traditional "Romance" isn't conveyed in One Piece. Well, to get that out of the way I'll clarify a couple of points:

1) One Piece already conveyed traditional "Romance" without using clichés or corny stuff

2) The principles of this system can be applied to deep companionships; bonds potent enough to keep evolving within consistent writing

3) The person who created this system did it while having a male-oriented story in mind

Now onto the subject: there are several key lines I highlighted there to show how relationships based on gags or comic relief become less potent. That's something that makes sense given that chemistry is built through significant moments and details along with constant development, not through mere jokes and gags. The next line I highlighted is the "stress in the relationship". Even impotent pairings (and some cracks) had some sort of "stress" or "moments" at some point of the story. Their problem is: neither the story or the author keep building up said relationship. They remain "stagnant" in that regard

But this is where a potent pairing becomes different. Because it has constant stress and/or development in their relationship, by means of moments both large and impactful or small yet meaningful. This is something worth noting: both impotent pairing and potent pairings have moments. The difference would be the sheer amount of moments, the "stress on their relationship", what does the story builds upon such major interactions, and how the following moments continue what prior showings started complementing them likes pieces of a puzzle

To illustrate this, we could use the metaphor of a building process

An architect could intent to build either a house or skyscraper, depending on his vision, resources, or many other factors

Before he starts building the structure, he must lay the foundation. He can lay shallow foundations for small projects or deep foundations for more complex projects

In this case the foundation would be the impactful moments that solidify the chemistry of the relationship and serves as a base for futher development

Laying the foundation isn't just tracing a few lines in the soil; it actually means working the ground! So in a similar way, an author who's writing a relationship starts this building process by setting bases for emotional chemistry

How do we do this? The fastest way is through "conflict". Through opposite beliefs, opposite interests, and sometimes clashing personalities, we get the perfect scenario to build a likeable chemistry. Nami's character had a very clear distate for pirates and didn't trust people so much. Her viewpoint on life conflicted with Luffy's idealism when it came to dreams, adventure, companionship and the meaning of being a pirate. Yet, Luffy actively sought to overcome all of this and reach out to her; by means of his actions and his convictions, Luffy managed to gradually kickstar a change on Nami...

Despite getting many reasons not to trust her, Luffy put a blind faith on her. He didn't doubt her not even once (while he doubted Zoro during Whiskey Peaks and doubted Robin during W7). Here we have a progression that slowly lead us to a moment that catalyzes their developement. And this is where another aspect of "chemistry" comes into play: "emotional support". When a character helps their partner to regulate their emotions; when the distressed partner is willing to open up and express their anxiety and/or helplessness while their partner provides with strength, hope, and/or comfort. It was something strong, personal and touching. The resolution of this "conflict" and/or "challenge" turned Luffy into Nami's "emotional anchor".

Notice this is far more powerful and meaningful that giving roses to a woman or praising her beauty, like many clichéd corny stories; instead we get Nami's first major development as character: she realized she needed to rely on someone else; and once she hitted her lowest point, when she finally lost all hope, she relied emotionally on Luffy. After all his struggle, he finally earned Nami's faith/trust in one of the most memorable and impactful moments of the series But this is merely the "foundation" of the structure. And a potent bond doesn't rely only on a foundation. A constant stress on that relationship is needed to deem it as a potent bond. What would the architech do?

Keep building his project upon these showings. This can be acomplished by continuing the same themes highlighted for their bonding through meaningful details...

I know this is the movie version but the scene played out just like it appears in the manga

...and more impactful moments

In this sense, following scenes, interactions and moments, are born from those prior showings, adding up to the base already set by that very first catalyst from AP. They become the materials used to construct the "building". And the more material is provided and processed, the taller and stronger the structure gets. In such regard, this bond becomes a combination of several elements as well as meaningful details

How much material we got? Orange Town arc, Kuro Arc, AP, Drum Island, Skypiea, Water 7; where we got to see several nice details and a moment when Nami, while displaying her determination to save Robin, still pours her heart to Luffy to express her anguish and her distress and she tells him the truth behind Robin's actions. A subtle display of the emotional chemistry between them

We also got that jewel known as Strong World (written by Oda himself)...

...where we got to see more of the same "conflict" that catalyzed their emotional bonding, as we see how strongly Luffy feels about Nami sees him, and how much he values her trust/faith. As well as several other showings scattered all over the following arcs, adding up to the construction:

What most of those moments and details (that followed major showings) have in common is that they were built up from the structure that was constructed upon the foundation laid at AP. This is what means "stress on a relationship". When an author decides not just to establish a strong bond but he chooses to keep stressing that emotional connection throughout the story. And this is what impotent bonds as well as cracks lack; a long chain of meaningful moments (as well as nice details) building up to something greater:

A metaphorical skyscraper

This is what makes the Luffy/Nami relationship a beautiful skycraper. While most impotent bonds and cracks barely have some pieces of wood lying around an unworked ground; there's not a solid well-developed structure there. Some having a shallow foundation but no structure built upon it. And there are even some ships that are merely blank territories while shippers could say to each other: "Couldn't you imagine having a nice house here?"

However, none of the moments I highlighted or explained are anything explicitly "romantic" in the traditional sense of the word. But "romantic love" and a "deep companiship" share a base on the same principles of affection, mutual faith/trust, support, and so on. It's not like we're saying LuNa will be canon, but it's the pairing with the highest chances to become endgame as it blends perfectly in the story without altering the characters and possesses an unmatched amount of stress on their emotional bonding

Does it make sense for Luffy and Nami to be so close to one another?

Given what Oda originally planned for Romance Dawn, indeed it does. I briefly mentioned this in other analysis but there's a constant for Luffy's story in all versions of the Romance Dawn:

A Nami-like Character

And as we already know thanks to some interviews and suplementary information, Nami was supposed to be the first one to join Luffy in the final version of "Romance Dawn". Making her the person who would've bonded the most with Luffy. But her debut was postponed by Oda’s editor at that time; and yet the Luffy/Nami relationship gets the larger development and the greatest amount of significant moments

What makes this different from what other shippers promote?

Well, many shippers insist on this line of logic: "If the guy saves the girl, the girl should totally fall for him". But that's not how chemistry between characters works. For a likeable chemistry it should never be shown or implied that a character owes the other a relationship because of favors done. So merely saving someone is not enough to build a potent bond

Some even say that bickering is a sign of "sexual tension" and if there's not enough bickering, there's no potent relationship there. But mere bickering is not the kind of "conflict" that helps to build a good chemistry. Although Luffy and Nami do bicker several times:

Real chemistry between characters happens when they affect each other in big ways. Luffy being Nami's "emotional anchor", and how much he values Nami's trust/faith as well as her perception of his strength and capabilities, are factors far more powerful than just bickering quite often

So after considering all of this, what should we expect? Will the architech finish the structure he's been working on? Will he keep delivering great moments to nourish this relationship? Will he keep providing with meaningful details like the one from GOLD?

(Parallel between Tesoro & Stella [Lovers] and Luffy & Nami situation at the climax; this little bit was confirmed to be Oda's idea) Will we have what an insightful reader described as a "final decisive interaction"? Only time will tell. For now, I'll just end this with a simple conclusion: LuNa is that potent bond that's nourished by the biggest amount of significant moments and meaningful details, while having room for further growth... and I wholeheartedly support it

[frozenartscapes]

Do you think Elsa should be gay? Yes or no

Followed up by: (Same person as before) GIVE ME ONE LEGENDARY FOR OR AGAINST ANALYZATION OF WHY ELSA SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT BE GAY

Personally? I don’t really want to see her with anyone, regardless of gender or orientation.

Elsa is a very unique character in that she is much more relatable than most of the other Disney princesses. That’s not to say they can’t be relatable, but Elsa’s personality, paired with the story of what actually happens to her, makes her someone a lot of different people can see themselves in. The writers were pretty clever in making her powers a metaphor rather than simply being an ability she possesses. While the main read of her powers is meant to represent mental illness (namely anxiety), I know other people can see her struggle to accept this key aspect of herself and trying to keep it hidden from others as a message about other things like sexual orientation. In that sense, it’s this ability to be able to use her as a representation of multiple different things that have allowed a lot of fans to see themselves in her character, and in doing so find comfort in knowing that if she got her happy ending so maybe they might too.

Elsa being any kind of orientation would skew that slightly. While it might not seem like an issue for some, others might have a harder time relating to her if she ends up as gay or straight. Keeping it ambiguous removes this problem. While fandom tends to not have any issue in switching orientations around to fit the stories they want to create, keeping things in the canon universe open to interpretation allows more creativity within the fandom (on and offline), as it isn’t stating outright that she is into guys or girls.

There is also the issue regarding how the general population would feel about it. While that really shouldn’t be the main reason for doing anything, Disney is a large corporation that has to justify anything they do based on the potential reception it might have. Elsa being the character they make to be their first openly gay princess might have...mixed results. Ignoring for the moment the fact that a lot of international countries still have issues regarding even showing movies and tv shows with homosexual characters, the amount of backlash that would occur in the USA alone would be enough to make them question that decision. Frozen is Disney’s largest cash cow at the moment, and I’m not too sure they’d be willing to risk that. Also given how they haven’t had the greatest track record when they do try to pull the “this character is a canon gay character” move (either it being handled really badly or is so ambiguous in the actual movie that it all just seems like a really big stretch) I’m not too sure if Elsa is the character they should be using to break that mold. While Elsa might seem like a good choice given how popular she is, she already is a pretty established character, and the addition of her being gay might be seen more as pandering if it isn’t handled properly. And while I’m not saying I don’t trust the writers to be able to write something like that properly, I will say I don’t trust the producers as much, as they will likely go the route of shoehorning that concept in while trying to make it look inconspicuous enough to be able to show the movie around the globe, if they allow it at all.

Honestly, I really want to see a gay Disney lead character. And I do believe we will see it in our lifetime. But I would much rather see a character who has that in their background from their very introduction rather than seeing it come in as an “oh yeah, she also likes girls” kind of thing. That’s not to say this new character needs to be a total stereotype, but it can’t just be tacked on like some kind of bonus. If a Disney character is going to be gay, that can’t just be something they add on in the sequel. Show me a character that happens to be gay, and is introduced as such, because something like that shows that there was thought put into the character.

And for me on a personal note: I’m ace. I’d love to see them simply not address the issue at all, and to not even call attention to the fact that Elsa doesn’t have a romantic interest. I’m all for seeing her devoting all the love she has to her kingdom and sister, focusing on becoming the best queen she can be rather than getting swept up in some kind of love story. If they were to make her gay, then I’d have no issue with it. It just wouldn’t be my first choice for her story. I certainly would prefer that over giving her a guy, since we already have way too many of those (I also am pretty severely hooked on Tadelsa, so anyone else they might give her in the guy department just wouldn’t compare).

This might not be the most popular opinion, and a sincerely hope I didn’t offend anyone, but this is what I think. I’m entirely open to whatever they do decide to do with her character, but I won’t lie when I say that I would prefer some options over others. At the end of the day, what matters most to me is if Elsa ends up a happy character, and that her happy ending is a believable one. If Disney does decide to take that chance and give her a girlfriend, then the same rules apply as if they give her a boyfriend: as long as it seems like a good and healthy relationship, then it’s fine by me. But I’d be totally cool if they just don’t touch the issue at all and maybe focus on a story that doesn’t revolve around finding love.

[seyaryminamoto]

You ship zutara? :)

Um, nope, but I also don’t have any problem with the ship. I’m basically neutral to it, and I’m absolutely neutral to the Zutara vs. Kataang ship wars too. I see issues and virtues to both ships, though I tend to use Kataang in my stories because it’s very much easier to establish, Zutara takes more time and needs more attention, heh… (plus it does feel kinda weird to have Sokka and Azula and then Zuko and Katara too in the same story, I know some people do it but it’s still kinda odd to me).

Anyways, if you want a full breakdown of what I think of Zutara:

The pros: a lot of what I say to the favor of my beloved OTP can be said for Zutara too. Water and fire, lots in common but still some differences between them where they can influence each other (namely, Katara’s morality may not be perfect but it’s definitely better than Zuko’s, so he can learn a bit from her), they have enough interactions and their friendship develops relatively nicely through the show despite Katara’s grudge on him was pretty strong. I do agree on the notion that the ideas of balance are more clear in Zutara than in Kataang, since we’re talking about directly opposite elements.

The show also emphasized they were a good team, such as in that battle against Melon Lord, making them fight back to back. It was cool for them to do that. They could learn a lot of things from each other, whether as friends or as lovers. 

The cons: THEY TEAMED UP TO TAKE DOWN MY GIRL!!! U-Uh, okay, seriously now…

Katara has a very big problem when it comes to Zuko making mistakes. Realistically speaking, this guy literally tries to help her commit murder to earn her forgiveness… and that’s not exactly pretty. I know there’s a lot of interpretations from Zutara shippers for this situation, most of them say that Zuko allows Katara to make her own decisions and won’t impose his ideas on her… but he was a-okay with the idea of her killing someone if it meant she’d like him a little better. And that’s not very nice (yes, Yon Rha was human garbage but that’s not the point: point is redeemed Zuko shouldn’t be so comfortable with the idea of murder, should he?). 

Basically, for Zutara to work well and not be messy, Zuko’s moral compass needs a major upgrade and he needs to… not let her walk over him. And Katara would need to not latch onto every mistake Zuko makes because if she does this, oh boy, they’re just going to argue for hours on end…

Namely, I think the main problem I see is that they’re both so very emotionally oriented people that they’re likely to make mistakes and get a little too caught up with their feelings. Unless they get a lot more grounded in their older years, the emotional problems they have won’t help their relationship much and might hinder it instead.

My opinion regarding controversial Zutara matters: I don’t see how Bumi II could ever be a Zutara baby and tbh I don’t think wanting your ship to be canon should be that important, but that may just be me. Back when I first got here, nobody ever even suggested this theory. Zutara fans were much like myself, making their own stuff and fawning over their ship without bothering over what was canon anymore. Frankly, why would they need canon so much when their ship is literally the most popular one in the fandom? If I don’t need it and 85% of the fandom doesn’t even know my ship exists, why would they? They’re solid enough outside of canon. They should just write their fics and make their own Zutara babies. It’d be better than to turn a goofball like Bumi, who’s not a lot like either Zuko or Katara, into a Zutara baby. Right?

About the Zutara vs. Kataang controversy, as I said, I’m neutral to it. That being said, claiming Zutara was going to be canon all along and that Kataang was forced, damn near shoehorned… okay, I can see the argument for how they forced Kataang in how Aang’s crush is constantly established and reminded to the audience while Katara’s feelings for Aang aren’t revealed as blatantly, but precisely because you can see Aang has feelings for Katara, you KNOW, since day 1, that Kataang is a possibility too. Fact of the matter is, I think Bryke set up the show so that they could go in either direction, Zutara or Kataang, depending on what struck their fancy. I don’t think one was favored over the other at the early stages, especially not when Kataang are shown hugging frequently, or kissing, through the whole show. Zutara get less physical moments, they are very impactful of course, but it’s still less of them (no Katara kissing his cheek out of gratefulness, for instance). Weighing all the evidence, I come to the conclusion that they could indeed have taken the Zutara route if a few things were different, but I don’t think Zutara was the only way to go, and that they went Kataang as a last minute decision after suddenly scrapping an idea for ATLA book 4.

I also think Zuko and Katara’s friendship deserves more credit. Especially in the comics, where they seldom even speak to each other? I mean, ffs, why? Do Bryke and Yang think that if they were to exchange more than 2 dialogues their fans would claim they’re canon? Uh, just, no. Part of what sucks about Katara in the comics is that she’s left with nearly no important relationships other than with Aang and Sokka. She barely interacts with Zuko, doesn’t get a lot of time with Toph either, she’s usually just all over Aang or bickering with Sokka. Why? Why so afraid of writing Zuko and Katara as friends? Fact is, they were fine as friends in Book 3′s last leg. Katara’s goddamn sass came back briefly just because of him, after having gone missing somewhere back in Book 2. Why not make the most of it? Oh, well, I know why. We’re talking about Yang, after all.

Anyways… I think that sums it up? Also, I have no personal issues with anyone who ships Zutara, not on the basis of them shipping Zutara or anything else. I personally am no fan of either Zuko or Katara (which is probably why I am totally neutral to the ship), but I won’t condemn anyone who likes Zutara… my only problems are with them trying to claim Bumi as theirs when it’s so counterproductive to do so, and how aggressive they can get about how they should have been canon. There’s a huge armada of non-canon ships and I personally am a happy crew-member of one crack ship with very little odds for canon, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Shipping should be about loving dynamics and basking in the way two characters play off each other, not in who got to canon island (especially when, uh, all of Avatar’s canon ships have a fuckton of writing problems, like, sometimes I thank the universe for Sokkla being non-canon because I just know they wouldn’t have written them properly…?). So I say ignore anyone who tries to bash your ship for being non-canon, because really, people who think you should only ship canon need to start exercising their imagination a bit more.