#doomed by the narrative smh

[druidshollow]

phrases

[significant-narratives]

quinn robbed of an A btw

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

literally a week ago i was like "oh no i think my obsession over goro is growing stale do i not care about him anymore???" and now i'm going fully fucking insane over him so yeah no i think we're doing fine over here girls

[unmotivatedartistry]

I just realised you have that I called you Ghost in your bio adsfjkj Simon "Ghost" Unmotivated Artistry you were named after many a Doomed By The Narrative men

YEAH I remember that. Refuse to remove it from my bio because it's funny as shit

Too many Doomed By The Narrative men are named Simon man smh does that mean I will be doomed by a narrative?!?!?!? Probably

[nickeldean]

uh. ambrosius was beat up on the ground ballister had a blade above him stabbed it down next to ambrosius’ head. hmmm. wonder what other media did that

supern-*GUNSHOTS*

[gothbot-online]

XIII. DEATH

give up what you love before it does you in

[redratdragon]

Time Loop Angst Polycule. I can't wait

The first three words you see will manifest in 2025.

[kxllerblond]

♥ GIMME ur mwaH MwaH nOOOWWWW

ship meme. / accepting

♥ for a romantic relationship. 

This is just that one Shameless gif set where they're in the bath and one is like "this is gay" and the other one is like "we're literally married."

Anyway love Clark for getting romantically involved with a man he knows is going to die. it's not like that's like his only big relationship trigger nowadays or anything outside of getting mcfuckin' sold out by them. 😜✌️

[vyinter]

just found out they KILLED shin jaeha off in ccir 😐 as someone who stopped watching the show after they started to makd him evil lemme just say he did nothing wrong

[i-give-u--art]

GARFARATRARTARTARARAT

BIFF MENTIONED BIFF MENTIONED

WOOP WOOP

I LOVE THIS EDIT SM!!

(also the doomed yaoi)

(womp womp)

I'm once again feeling so ill about Mark Temple

[kylorenclub]

Doomed by the narrative once again smh

[astral-herald]

arcane's depiction vs. endorsement and why it flopped

~ i think i'm finally ready to complain ~

My general opinion of season 2 is potential squandered. My recent post about Viktor's storyline as an intentional tragedy lets ya'll know that I did, for the most part, enjoy his arc (hot take, I know, and I know lots of people disagree with me, and I fully understand). If he'd gotten the screen time necessary to pull it off, it would have been legendary in my book. But the lack of screen time, even in the case of the season's eventual BBEG, speaks to my greatest issue with Arcane: no commitment.

(Critical) Discussion of Jinx, Ekko, Sevika, Vi, and Viktor below!

Arcane, as a tragedy (I've said this word too many times to count smh), asks the plot, "what is the worst thing that could possibly happen to this character?" and answers in kind. This is why we get Viktor's lost agency until the very end (and like I've said in the past, I completely understand and hold space for those who dislike this route).

If we ask this same question of the following characters, the scope of loss and despair innate to Arcane's final narrative is made very clear:

Sevika: a revolutionary forever devoted to the cause, not the individual, is nominated as an individual to represent the masses in a governmental body that has no interest in her class-conscious ideal.

Ekko: the people's hero in every sense of the word who never sees the fruits of his labor/sacrifice and who goes without the acknowledgement he deserves (more than any other Arcane character).

Vi: the ultimate victim of Piltover police brutality coerced, through grief, trauma, and loss, into working for the system that oppressed her. Even Caitlyn, for all her good intentions, seems incapable of ever understanding this.

Viktor: a genius hellbent on ending the same suffering he endured at the hands of Piltover's oppression has his agency revoked, driving him to inflict the same choicelessness he endured on Zaunite innocents.

On paper, these arcs are devastatingly sensical. And we don't always need happy endings in our stories (I'd sure like them, more often than not, of course). We can and should witness the harsh realities of class oppression if we don't experience them ourselves. The writing team painstakingly crafted and foreshadowed these worst-case scenarios throughout season 1. For example, in 1x07, Ekko being immediately shot at by Marcus at the bridge confirms our suspicions that Piltover Enforcers are a lost cause, not just full of bad apples but internally broken beyond repair. It felt that, despite all the hope, this struggle was doomed, and we were careening toward something dark - "In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good."

Had these arcs been successful, audiences would be confronted with the systemic issues we see today that implicate the physical and mental health of downtrodden individuals on account of lazy, prejudiced leadership. This actively happens. It is actively happening, sans the fantasy of it all. This is where Arcane should have shined: they depict the tragedy of these characters, but DO NOT endorse it.

But Arcane chickens out and the entire thing fails. Here are the Flop Era Spark Notes:

Maddie is the egregious bad apple stereotype that absolves all other agents of the regime. She clearly is not a stand-in for Enforcers at large because, all of a sudden, they're capable of coordinated artillery strikes that are necessary to the defense of Piltover, which the viewer must suddenly and abundantly care about. So glad she died. Also, Arcane, you cannot introduce abject warfare in the last 30 minutes of your show successfully.

Jinx's "revolutionary" plot was a red herring, and Sevika humbly vying for the spot was never delivered upon. They pay lip service to the Undercity organizing, but the scene is interrupted for larger (messier) plot concerns almost immediately. No commitment. No depiction to even refrain from endorsing.

Ekko and the Firelight Tree. Clearly this was set up as a means of showing how Piltover's mistakes were physically seeping into the only sanctuary left in Zaun. Yet this is just...never resolved? If someone has some insights into this, please let me know. No depiction. No discussion about endorsement.

What could Vi specifically gain by aligning with the Enforcers/Piltover? Human connection with Cait, sure, but why return to them in 2x06? Vi's character begged all season for development, but she kept returning to her nonsensical error of her ways (looking backwards) until the very end, and this is basically what "kills" Jinx. This is a nod to her lonesomeness post 1x03, sure, but to what end? Again, why the Enforcers?!? Oh, because now that Cait has been redeemed and Sevika is in Piltover to save the day, there are no systemic issues left to fix? Sure, Riot.

WHY DEVELOP VIKTOR'S ENTIRE HEXCORE ARC OFF SCREEN?I'M ADMITTEDLY BIASED ABOUT THIS, BUT THE AMOUNT OF DISCUSSIONS I'VE HAD WITH VIKTOR NATION ABOUT THE DEGREE TO WHICH HE WAS INFLUENCED/MANIPULATED BY THE HEXCORE (now that we know Sky was a manifestation of his humanity, not her Actual Self) IS DESPICABLE. HIS COMPROMISED AGENCY NEEDS TO BE FRONT AND CENTER AND OBVIOUS, OR ELSE IT SURE SEEMS LIKE RIOT IS ENDORSING THE LACK OF AGENCY IN VIKTOR'S STORY. I shouldn't have to make 1k word posts to explain this. I'll do it because I love him with my whole heart, but still.

I begged and pleaded for months for BBEG Viktor (I'm really proud of my predictions from October), but by introducing a villain/conflict beyond the Piltover/Zaun dichotomy, Riot severed all threads of class conflict that were so rife and exciting in season 1. The proletariat and the bourgeoise will never coalesce like they did by the end of 2x09 without systemic revolution. Sevika is just one individual. Ekko's people need him. Jinx and Viktor are gone. Vi is downtrodden, and we have SO LITTLE to show for it.

In summary, we just didn't get enough explicit explanation of any character development to make Arcane-As-Tragedy successful. They did not stick the landing. The finale leaves us all with various bad tastes in our mouth. Instead of lamenting the harsh reality of oppression, I'm confused about what Riot prioritizes and agrees with, what they aim to criticize, and what they condemn.

I'll die on the hill that revoking Viktor's agency has the potential to be one of the greatest tragic hero storylines I've ever seen, but it's a lonely hill because I'm fighting against the writing team's consistent flops. At least Balayage Viktor was so gorgeous.

shameless self plug for my earlier discussion about the innate political clashes in season 1 that were abandoned for flashy fantasy fights in season 2:

[agathokakolog1cal]

Cargo has to be one of the best zombie movies (I know it’s not technically a zombie movie, but it also is definitely a zombie movie) I’ve ever watched. I actually couldn’t believe it’s classed as a short film, maybe it’s because it’s so emotionally destroying that you lose the concept of time but idk.

It will tear out your heart and rip it into little pieces but it’s worth it, I swear. You will watch it destroy you with tears in your eyes and not one mutter of protest. (Well, not entirely true, I spent a lot of the film screaming "this is all your FAULT" to my sister (who made me watch it), as I struggled to keep my emotions intact)

Not only is the acting superb (Martin “I can do it with a look” Freeman smh (though he shouldn't get alll the credit, every actor is so fucken good)), but it’s one of those post apocalypse dystopias that really really gets down the dystopia feeling. The way the atmosphere feels so cloyingly close and taunt the whole way through and then the end is like a painful exhale. Revitalising, and yet so so hurty. I’d say claustrophobic, but it’s also really really not? Majority of the movie takes place outdoors, so it’s a confusing feel of that closeness with the sky above you.

The only way I could describe how it makes me feel is that feeling when you’ve skinned your knees, and there’s dust and blood sticking together and you can’t tell the two apart. Or maybe the lowest sound a guitar can make, a steel string reverberating until it feels like the sound has slipped under your tongue and you can taste it.

Maybe the way the dialogue is written has something to do with it? Like, it really feels like accurate to what people would say irl, and then combined with the soundtrack being kinda minimalist which normally I’m not such a fan of that, but really works with the vibe. It makes each sentence into something important, if you know what I mean.

The vibe from the offset is unsettling and ominous, both because of the starting soundtrack and the well, obviously ominous visuals. If you're looking for "doomed by the narrative" well. Look no further.

As for the cinematography, well. It’s beautiful. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for good cinematography and this really ticked all the boxes for me. The camera angles during indoor scenes make me want to bite something. I love. I LOVE.

THE RELATIONSHIPS. URGH. It’s just too bloody human to manage. It’s pain and hope and hopelessness blending so seamlessly I would stop breathing just to properly observe each scene. There is not a single interaction in the entire film that doesn’t make me want to gut a cushion. Not going to go into detail on specific scenes because I don’t want to spoil (and I could never do it justice *demented ramblings*).

But like. There are some interactions, particularly with Thoomi, that carry this sort of honesty that can make you pause and stare at the wall for a long time.

I enjoy apocalypse a lot as a genre (even tho I don't really enjoy horror or gore, so it'd odd for me lol), and I always gravitate toward zombie movies because A) the reason for the apocalypse is fairly easily explained, B) quality is usually rather standard in Mostly Shit but enjoyable all the same, C) violence keeps me awake and D) when you find a good one, ooooh boy, it’s a good one.

Now a lot of zombie movies focus so clearly on the During part, but I find post-apocalypse so much more interesting and fun to play with. So much angst, so much story building that is character driven and not world building driven.

Which, in my opinion, is great from a writing POV because it means that you can have characters with apocalypse focused arcs and traumas to deal with in the post-apocalypse dystopia. FUN, right? :D I may be a little crazy okay, I just enjoy writing the angst and reading the angst I think it's very asdfghjk for showing how characters think and react and how can you really who who you've written if you don't know the colour of their bones, right? So you have to- I’m getting carried away. So, Cargo is firmly post apocalypse and I love that, so once again, ticking all those boxes!

The end scene. Iris. Iris. *incoherent noises of grief* 

Anywayyyy, I'll stop rambling now. Lol.

youve convinced me im gonna watch it later

[cemeterygirlie]

top 10 reasons me and @mareggie are the mary anta + reginald tetra ever!!!!????!! (this post is for fun btw you don’t have to see us as this!!!)

a lot of this is me rambling about our relationship too bc it’s related to the post but yk

1 - our dynamic!!!!!!!! i’m very kind yet sort of introverted and anxious at times:P i love spooky and cute stuff as well!!! halloween is the best holiday I WILL STAND BY THAT FOREVER!!! him on the other hand, he’s not rude per se, he’s uhhh… honest? he can be rude DEFINITELY and he gets really heated when it comes to me specifically. but he is polite and gentlemanly! he showed up to a casual date in a tuxedo before..!!! i felt so underdressed..:,)) especially since that was the one date of ours i didn’t wear a dress to!!! he would do anything for me as well… and i would do a lot for him!!! we love eachother very much, no matter what life throws at us!!! no matter how much we’re separated, he always manages to come right back to me. i don’t know how! i never asked him to do this, he just kinda does that..!! :,)) (i love him for it though..)

2 - i have short hair and he has long hair!!!!! and we both have very nice thick hair. he loves to play with my hair a lot!!!:))

3 - people often are sick of how lovey dovey we are… i don’t understand it at all:((

4 - we are very much doomed by the narrative. mostly him most of the time. he never catches a break, my poor guy:(( i will not elaborate on much of this for personal reasons and for his comfort, but things have happened that really messed him up and he had to claw his way out of it. he’s still going, and i sooo admire him for that!!!:D

5 - we are both ASEXUAL!!!!!!!

6 - he is taller than me :,))

7 - im a little devil and he’s my angel:D

8 - we are both FISH!!!!

9 - we love eachother so muuchhhhh mwah mwah IT IS SICKENING!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!! I LOVE HIM RAHHGGGGGHHH😢😢😢💗💗💗💗

10 - he somehow always knows where i am smh. this guy brought me boba tea at work once i didn’t even tell him i was there. WHAT!!!

[marikoshinobu]

does nobody love haunted ethereal doomed by the narrative bitches anymore smh…. i need to do an official gilbert essay eventually

[joelletwo]

'takasugi was doomed from the gntm narrative bc hes incompatible w the loadbearing goofs' no takasugis doomed by the gntm narrative bc he despite the meta positioning with women, story-level he is never cast as one. smh. guys too trans masc to be a woman sometimes he had to die theres no future in him