#flawed human being

[vertigoartgore]

Mad Men's Don Draper painting/portrait by Bill Sienkiewicz (2023). Done for his friend Jon Hamm (who has a small role in FX's Legion, starring David Haller, co-created by Bill Sienkiewicz in the 1980s).

Bill Sienkiewicz: "A recently completed portrait of and for a gifted (and very patient) friend, a Mr 'Donald Draper' (aka the Awesome, lovely and talented Jon Hamm) 

I elected to do the portrait of his on-screen character as kind of a boardroom portrait. And to be honest, I fought with this piece incessantly trying to find the right blend of "reverent/straight-laced /executive/academic portrait" and my own inclination and pull to do a more more painterly /illustrative take, with some subtext and rougher layerings of mediums and ambiguity.  I'm too close to it to tell.

Jon is very happy with it, bless him.  But I can't guarantee I'm not going to go back into and fight with it some more before we do the official hand off of the original - (which is 38"X 38" mixed media. acrylic, gold leaf, spray paint)

Someone needs to stop by with a hammer and stand behind me. I'm sure I won't have ANY takers for that."

[it-meant-nothing]

Michael Fassbender being proud of his son in the 3 movies his son was in 🥹

[gcballet]

Doctor Who as tweets/textposts pt.6

<- | DW | ->

[tubbytarchia]

Hey guys I think The Last Unicorn is such a Scott book

[dameronalone]

thinking about how percy jackson is seen as intimidating because of his godly powers from his father but the thing that makes him the most dangerous is his humanity from his mother

[littlefankingdom]

Me: I need to stop making a post anytime I see something I disagree with. It's not helping me, it's annoying, I need to let it go... Post on my dash: Actually, Dick is morally grey. Me: ... Dick Grayson? Dick "the heart of the family" Grayson? Dick "the light to Batman's darkness" Grayson? Dick "a better man than Bruce will ever be" Grayson? Dick "I killed the Joker and immediately hated myself for it" Grayson? Okay, that's quite the wrong opinion.

[oddberryshortcake]

Something that I find really interesting narratively about chapter 7 is that Malleus and Silver are foils to their parents.

Meleanor hated humans from the bottom of her heart. In part 5, she punished Silver, Sebek and MC for just looking at her by forcing them to kneel to the point they couldn’t breathe, she wishes for Malleus to be feared by all humans- not loved by all, loved by only fae and feared by only humans.

She never listened to anybody, not even Lilia who did everything he could to save and protect her.

Malleus now has formed a friendship with MC all on his own, he cared for Silver since he was a baby. He listens to Lilia’s advice and cares about what he thinks, and is always trying to connect with people better

The Knight of Dawn knew what he was doing to Meleanor and Briar Valley was wrong, he had enough sense to warn Lilia about what the Silver Owls were planning to do with the egg and give him room to escape, but he did not stand up for what was right.

The Knight couldn’t bear to go against the family that took him in, so he committed something awful simply because he was told to.

Silver, despite his fierce loyalty to Lilia and Malleus, stands up for what he knows is right even if it means going against their wishes.

Silver would never harm Malleus ever and actively works towards unity between fae and humans.

Their parents were enemies, but their sons are brothers. I love that.

[the-chosen-half-of-one]

Is it really your favourite show if you’re not constantly warning your friends every second episode, “Okay, now this one’s kinda bad but—”

[liquidstar]

Arc 3 Subaru was incredibly shitty for a lot of reasons and the story knows this. The story does not want you to agree with his behavior and is outright calling it selfish and entitled. It provides reasons for his behavior, including his trauma and the more literal curse on him, but it doesn't use them as excuses. By the end of it all he's still the one who has to apologize, that was his whole arc until that point. This behavior is bad and shitty and the story wants you to realize that (and maybe learn a lesson alongside him)

THAT BEING SAID a lot of people will treat his behavior as "irredeemable" which is kind of insane to me. Yeah he was being a bratty, entitled, selfish little shit, basically throwing a tantrum. But... Like. He is 17. If getting into a fight with your friend at 17 and saying hurtful things bc of your own lack of perspective makes you an evil monster we're all fucking doomed. Unlike a lot of people, he actually grew up and really apologized though. That was the pointtt. The story is largely targeting people that may have tendencies like this, showing them how it hurts people, and how to work through it.

I don't think saying "Actually, if you've ever once acted selfish (especially during a bad mental health spiral) you've crossed the line into being completely unforgivable as a human being" is productive. I think it's far less helpful than what the story is actually doing. I think it fosters way less room for growth and change in people. Subaru isn't a monster he's just a human being, and a teenager, who sometimes acts shitty because everyone does at some point. I'm sure even the most virtuous person in the world had a bad spat with a friend at one point, where they were in the wrong.

[biggesthomuradefender]

i hope that it’s clear that when i say homura “didn’t do anything wrong”, i mean it as more of an inside joke, as it’s also a common and popular fandom joke to say “*insert character* didn’t do anything wrong”.

if i were being honest/serious, it would be much more accurate for me to say that homura did the absolute best she could w what she knew how and what she thought to do, just like all of the other girls. and just like all of the other girls, homura has made mistakes, have done bad things, have had bad thoughts, have been selfish in some ways, etc.

and i honestly don’t even fault them for it, at least not harshly. they are just 14-15 yr old girls, children going thru puberty (a very emotional time) while being put and forced into impossible, traumatizing situations, after all.

and in that sense specifically, i say homura didn’t do anything “wrong”. :)

[jaijeijayjei]

“Was a badge worth it Vi”

I believe this line is a callback to S2 E1 - the moment Mel sees Vi put on the badge.

We see Mel is distraught at this turn of events.

Of course she is- she spent this entire episode trying to advocate AGAINST an invasion and AGAINST creating Hextech weapons.

Mel is also the “Soul’s Reflection” - she’s likely voicing Vi’s own inner turmoil. Her tone is more sympathetic than reproachful.

I see many have turned this line into “Mel is a hypocrite for calling out Vi,” but IMO Mel is expressing her disappointment that Vi chose a violent solution to her problems (invasion). And she was right- storming the undercity with gas and Hextech weapons was a bad idea.

Mel is a deeply flawed character but she gets judged so harshly compared to characters like Silco or Ambessa. And, I don’t think Mel’s pragmatic pacifism (seeing violence as an absolute last resort) gets enough credit.

[recent-rose]

intrigued by the idea that jayce dooms viktor to become the herald because he loves viktor too much to let him die. but mage!viktor could also choose not to save jayce from the storm in order to save himself from that fate, and yet he too loves too much to let go of jayce. endless cycle only broken by their choice to go together.

[the-crooked-library]

I noticed something near the end of Dracula when Jonathan and Mina separate for a final time (so she can go to Dracula's castle), that a difference between Harker and Hutter is also near the end.

For context, several chapters earlier Jonathan gets two weapons “put these flowers round your neck”—here he handed to me a wreath of withered garlic blossoms—“for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this knife;.

Then when Mina and Van Helsing are about to depart for their ride to the castle, Jonathan keeps the knife and gives the revolver to Mina. Even for me a large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like the rest.

I know the phallic analysis of the weapons in the book are overstated in scholarship but I think it's telling that Jonathan insists Mina to be armed with a big gun while he lets her go do what she wants without him. Thomas didn't arm her and likely wouldn't even it were suggested imo.

omg yes! That is definitely another detail that really stood out to me during my watch, and yet another reason I genuinely start getting annoyed whenever people conflate Thomas with Jonathan - because frankly, that is allowing Thomas to reap what Jonathan sowed, so to speak. I've seen a lot of people absolutely in love with him, and yet the traits they list as the reasons are none that he possesses; in fact, the great majority of them are in exact opposition to his canon personality, and this is one of them.

Don't get me wrong, I love Thomas as a character. I think he is quite sympathetic - and, on the Watsonian level, really trying his best; but at the same time, I think it is essential to acknowledge that he is deeply flawed, if only because on the Doylist level, these flaws are fundamental to his arc in the story. It is purely a question of structure and function; because, at the end of the day, he is a fictional character, and thus, a narrative component, rather than a person.

In this case, his choices prior to the vampire hunt provide the viewer with further evidence -> of an aspect of his characterization -> that acts as one of the driving forces behind the plot of Nosferatu. Specifically, he does not notice that Ellen is lying to him; he leaves her at home as he goes off to "fight"; he doesn't even consider arming her; and he does all these things because, even though he does care for Ellen, he never really thinks of her as a person.

Thomas doesn't notice that Ellen is lying, even though she is clearly nervous when she does it, because he doesn't know what she looks like when she's hiding something (I personally think it is because she masks around him, at least to some degree - throughout the film, he is uncomfortable every time she's honest). He doesn't bring her to the hunt because it doesn't occur to him that she could help with tracking down Orlok - despite him being aware now of her immense psychic abilities, despite Von Franz describing her as a native in a world he is only visiting. And, exactly as you said, he doesn't even think to leave her a weapon; because, even as he sets out on his "quest," even after she's told him of Orlok's obsession, even though the point of the hunt is apparently to "save" her, he doesn't consider the possibility of Orlok going after her.

Contrast that with Jonathan - who knows Mina so well that they can get concerned over three lines of writing, who works with Mina's brief psychic connection to Dracula in order to track him, and who arms Mina before the final fight, because he is not satisfied unless he can do everything in his power to ensure her safety. When it comes to their relationship, Mina's revolver, while not exactly phallic (seriously, why is that topic so overwrought?..), becomes a narrative symbol of his thoughtfulness.

The difference here is that, while Ellen is important to Thomas, this importance only extends insofar as she is his wife. He sees her as a responsibility, but never as herself; and, ultimately, he never actually considers her a factor that could conceivably affect his - or anyone's - decision-making. He plans their life without even asking what she wants from it, he neglects her emotional needs, and he leaves her like a sitting duck during the hunt, without a weapon or anyone to guard her. She continuously slips his mind, utterly inconsequential beyond whatever their surrounding society defines as her role and value; and Thomas, tragically, is unable to overcome this ingrained, rigid set of rules.

This is an essential aspect of his character - because, as stated previously, the plot wouldn't happen without it. If Thomas took Ellen's wants into consideration, he wouldn't have been so hell-bent on chasing a promotion, and he wouldn't have left her right after their honeymoon to go to another country, especially if she begged him to stay. If he knew her better, he would've picked up on the plan she made with Von Franz - or she would've told him!.. Most certainly, if he saw any real personhood in her, he wouldn't have dreamed of leaving her unarmed and undefended.

Nosferatu is about Ellen's continued systemic dehumanization. The point of the story is that every single human character contributes to it on some level, despite whatever love and best intentions they might have for her. It's about the inherent monstrousness of being othered by humanity, and Thomas is - inherently, narratively, crucially - human.

[buckley-diaztruther]

AND ACTUALLY ANOTJER THING ABOUT JOSHS SPEECH THAT HAS ME UPSET

he talks about pre and post glee as if buck wasn't around in the pre glee era. like buck was there, would have been in high school when it started so like. he very much existed in pre-glee culture even if he wasn't aware of his sexuality yet. he was still a bisexual kid growing up in a society that didn't tolerate that shit and he repressed it so hard that he hid it from himself. probably also did a lot of stupid things as a young adult to make up for it too, even if he didn't fully understand why.

buck literally acted like a dog marking his territory all over the firehouse because he was so attracted to eddie that he thought it was anger and jealousy.

buck was a bisexual at 15 and 26 and 33 and Josh was right to say that people did and do a lot of things to protect themselves in the closet that in retrospect kinda suck. such as forcing yourself to maintain a long term romantic relationship with a woman that you aren't actually in love with because it's what you think you're supposed to do.

but he acted like buck was a literal infant (baby gay jokes are fun until they cross the line into condescending which is josh and Tommy's entire MO w buck ig). is it bc tommy is twice bucks age??? bc that's a whole other can of worms.

buck was more than valid for worrying about the implications of tommy being someone that broke Abbys heart, even if he did need to understand the nuance it doesn't change the fact that knowing you dated the same woman is kind of a mind fuck and enough to ruin a relationship with as poor of a foundation as they had.

[curapicas]

It's not lost on me that Syldor thinks Vex is coming to be praised for what he thinks is her highest accomplishment (acquiring Fenthras), meanwhile her speech is a clear indicator of her mental state since it's a direct callback to THIS

makes me insane that she walked into that conversation feeling rock bottom. Makes me twice as insane that when she felt like that was when she really related to her asshole dad's feelings. The layers on this implication, god

It's in the way Vex's first instinct when crushed by grief was to run away and be on her own. It's in the way Syldor didn't let anything stop him from metaphorically doing the same

[vaguely-concerned]

rook x lucanis: romance with a commentary track! solas and spite contribute with their thoughts and opinions along the way whether anyone wants them to or not. it's like a MST3K episode up in here as you try to get hot and heavy. in. in the pantry. love among the radishes at the end of the world (rifftrax version)