#hollywood vs reality

[searchingwardrobes]

One of the biggest lies Hollywood has told us is that we can be sexy taking our hair out of a bun. I don't know about ya'll, but when I take my hair out of a bun, I look like Emma Watson in the first Harry Potter movie.

[cokedupblonde]

currently so obsessed with amy childs circa 2012

[pearlcaddy]

midgelenny + hollywood (jukebox the ghost)

[wwillywonka]

shoutout to only murders in the building for making struggling writers of colour trying to get their work seen into villains.

and not only that, rex/marshall was portrayed as the one in the wrong amongst a season of television that didn't do anything but suck its own dick for ten episodes. this entire season has been horrible, abandoning all hope of telling a good story in favour of celebrity cameos. look, it's eugene levy! look, it's ron howard! yeah, they don't have anything to do with the actual story but isn't it just so cool that they agreed to be here (because we offered to pay them enough)?! the bad guy is going to be a nobody btw because we have to protect our precious celebrity idols from ~the crazies~ i guess.

honestly, we should have seen this coming when they made the villain of season 2 a struggling young woman who came from rock bottom trying to make a life for herself in a major industry - oh wait, that's the exact same fucking thing they did here. fucking bullshit show.

"maybe to be writer, i had to become a killer." what the fuck are you talking about.

[jayjuno]

Hollywood lied. There are no happy endings.

[howifeltabouthim]

Although Judith lived physically in the present, she lived mentally in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels, in fairy tales, and in classic women's pictures. These artifacts from the past were more real to her than her own life, which had been nothing but an endless source of misery. The Judith who lived in material reality had been self-hating and unhappy, awkward and sad, unattractive and unloved; but the Judith who read books and watched movies could be anything she wanted to be.

Anna Biller, from Bluebeard's Castle

[amandaanddonnie]

Watch "50,000 SUBSCRIBERS !!!!" on YouTube

[superstarz9]

So y’all fw some MORE Mr. Puzzles headcanons?

Cause I got some :]

Even though he streams his content, Mr. Puzzles hates streaming over normal television and believes it ruins the momentum. The only thing he appreciates about streaming is the lack of ads. No matter how bad the ratings are, Puzzlevision is an ad-free service!

To add, product placement is a no-go. Any products he might advertise on a show are all Puzzlevision branded, not that he’d advertise much. He’s a smart business man, which I’ll go in-depth with another time.

He’s all about authenticity with his actors an really hates big-time celebrities. Celebrities are snobbish and aren’t easy for Puzzles to handle. He also doesn’t want people to engage with his shows solely because of famous names. The day he hires a celebrity is the day he becomes a sellout, and the idea of selling out terrifies him.

Mr. Puzzles does an extensive background check of every single cast member he recruits. Not just because he’s trying to find the perfect actors, but because he’s trying to find people that wont be missed if they mysteriously disappear for long periods of time. After a cast’s likability begin to dwindle, Puzzles brings them back as if nothing happened. Previous cast members won’t remember their time at Puzzlevision and have a hazy memory for a bit before they adjust to normal. If they watch a show that they’ve been in, they’re so disconnected from the show that they won’t recognize themselves. However, Puzzles is careful to avoid reruns after switching casts.

He absolutely hates reality tv for multiple reasons. It’s the farthest thing from reality, everything is so fake, and the writing is HORRIBLE! If the audience demands it, he’ll make a reality tv show, but it would be one of the few things he wouldn’t mind not hitting 5 stars. The less creative impact he has on the show, the less he cares for it.

He prefers live-action over animation, but highly respects animated shows.

He likes movies but heavily prefers tv since television has always been frowned upon within Hollywood and the entertainment industry (It’s actually interesting to know the beef between movie studios and tv, I recommend checking it out. To put in into perspective, picture the Disney theatre movies vs the straight to video movies: there’s a huge difference and it’s somewhat obvious of the cash-grab tv movies/shows are. The purpose of tv has always been a quick cash grab, actually. Kinda like the first content farm, to an extent). Puzzles wants to prove that television is a respectable media outlet and shouldn’t be frowned upon within the industry.

He is familiar with almost any televised language. The only major issue is that, yes, he needs subtitles to completely understand. However, he can hold a relatively decent conversation in most languages, he’d just need a few refreshers.

Already talked about it last post but he likes to cook and really enjoys cooking/baking shows. Y’know that thing where you’re good at one but not as good at the other cause they’re so different (you cook to your liking vs following a strict recipe for the best dessert outcome)? I feel like Puzzles would be perfect at baking alone but any baking show he does goes to absolute shit. However, he’s not as great at cooking alone (since he can’t taste) but it much better with a sous-chef guiding him.

This was someone else’s hc (I don’t remember who’s, I’m srry), but they brought up that the order of shows Mr. Puzzles makes with the SMG4 crew reflect the shows he watched growing up (the kids-y shows, family disney-type movies, teen stuff like Scooby-doo, and gameshows). I’d like to add that he enjoys making gameshows the most because he can be the main character in every episode, and everyone’s reactions are the most genuine. The only thing I can see Puzzles not liking is the lack of creativity (similar to reality tv). However, it would be pretty fitting for a production company called Puzzlevision to make game shows.

This one’s gonna be a little bit more depressing. No matter how hard he tries or how good he thinks his writing is, Mr. Puzzles cannot write anything original. It’s the curse of seeing every piece of televised media to ever be produced. He tries his best to be original but as the puzzlevision arc continues, he gradually stops trying to be original, which is what ultimately causes him to lose. While Puzzles keeps trying to copy other successful media and failing, it’s the originality the SMG4 crew produce that gets them to 5 stars (and extremely quickly, too). Puzzles fails to realize that the shows he loves and tries to replicate were original, too, and that’s what got them to succeed in the first place. I feel like this success from SMG4’s originality is what sparked Mr. Puzzles’ envy in the first place.

To add to this, Puzzles has been canonically spying and interfering with the SMG4 crew for a while (selling them the showgrounds, the cursed keyboard in the ITS GOTTA BE PERFECT arc, the Western Spaghetti arc), and is almost a direct parallel to SMG4. They both was to succeed and produce original content, striving for perfection. The only major difference is that Mr. Puzzles has been alone for the majority of his life whereas SMG4 has his crew. Despite this, however, SMG4 still snaps and isolates himself similarly to how Puzzles takes complete creative control.

Not having a proper friend/support group is also what causes Puzzles to fail, isolating himself from the rest of the world. Even though we don’t see much of the studio, it’s still pretty run down and barren, implying that Puzzles doesn’t spend much time there, if at all. Puzzles spends most of his time in the shows, directing/acting/ect, and avoiding the real world where he doesn’t have control. When he’s in the real world and bored, he dissociates a lot, planning out his next big projects.

To add, he’s not a big fan of modern technology as a whole, and sticks to older tech (like the older computer model in the teaser between the scooby episode and the gameshow episode and his head being an older computer). Same goes for the studio. I can totally see him walking into the decrepit building with the real estate agent being like “this building hasn’t seen the light of day since 200 b.c,” and Mr. Puzzles ecstatically goes “I’ll TAKE IT!” He’d also do his own renovations and film it for an abandoned house-flipping series, scrapping it later because he sucks at renovating.

He can’t take constructive criticism if his life depended on it. He tries, but all he thinks is “well these people just don’t understand TRUE art in this world!”

He can play shows/movies in the back of his mind whenever, and often does if he’s not on set. Y’know that reddit/tumblr post about the kid who memorized Shrek so much that he could just watch it from memory and his dad would catch him at the 37:14 mark and be like “stop watching shrek and go to bed,”? Yeah, Puzzles is like that. Only difference is that he can’t pause it, only tune it out.

He’ll watch them, but found-family sit-coms depress him. Shows like Friends, It’s Always Sunny in Philly, etc remind him of what his life could’ve been if he could’ve made friends properly.

To add to this, y’know how he projects himself in his shows? What if he did that with shows like Friends, where he’s a part of the cast and laughing along. He’d do it in his sleep and not even realize it’s a dream until the episode ends and he wakes up alone. :,]

On a lighter note, older tvs release a light frequency that gets louder the older it gets. Mr. Puzzles probably hums a frequency without realizing it that people can only hear if they’re close and he isn’t babbling away. Older tvs also kinds adjust(?) where they slightly creek a lil. Mr. Puzzles probably does, to, and it’s the equivalent of him cracking his neck.

He’s also more prone to shock people slightly, depending on how manic he is. If he rubs his gloves together he’s practically a battery.

He has a daily care routine that involves him carefully wiping his screen with windex.

These ones are more show/content based. If these continue to do well I’ll post some more general and maybe relationship hcs :]. If you guys have any suggestions/questions/critiques please let me know!

[lestcat-de-lioncourt]

People are saying it's like watching paint dry with Louis and the Brad Pitt vs. Jacob in Interview With The Vampire, yes, because they cast roles for appearance and not to harness their full specialist potential. That was often as happy second.

It wasn't a character he could clearly do, a genre. There's loads of other material he's much better at. This is where casting just a cis white straight guy for his "looks" can stunt a performance.

Now, wild, Hollywood branches out to us minorities, who have grovelled in the dirt to tone our talents, who really want this, and not a person who is beautiful, with a lacklustre for the topic, the genre, it's not their Thing, they are a PERSON with their own interests, wow beautiful, okay, actually, "I really love Aerodynamics and I'm gadd awful at acting" kinda person, in fact, but.. yeah...

Hollywood: "ur prety so u must."

And all that.

•

Can you see where I'm coming from?

The act of acting has been lost in portion, due to film, ONLY, because people can fall back on the outtakes, which, makes it so much more accessible and I love that too, but, drumming out an acted, ingrained performance, if you will, is something else.

It's safer this way, so we don't get too hung out by the character we play to the point it becomes reality, I know, but still. People love to say they pick actors PERFECT for the portrayal, but they just look like the character/same skin colour as the character/gender as the character.

•

If you cared that much, why not get a person that totally encapsulated the character, and make them look like you envisioned?

It's complex, for sure, but, please, why cut corners for just the standard beauty trope at the time, the biggest names, and so on. I know you gotta sell. But..

It's all a building process though.

•

I would've said, just to make sure queer fiction managed to get the limelight it mutually deserves, but, I can't even go with that because it paints Lestat as a nasty scary queer guy who's after all yo' partners in IWTV(1994), and at the time of when it came out, was quite a remarkable thing in many ways.

Troped up as "gays are monsters" and, so on, ignoring all the straight vampiric action, many wish to see, 24/7, is what it also developed a presentation of.

But now the being a "vampire" is normalised to the point where we can have "why are all these vampires gay in this series, ugh?" On YouTube coming up, even for me, we can accurately spread our wings, playing queer monsters, without, y'know, the witch hunt cult actually treating us like one just for being born.

[olderthannetfic]

I have a lot respect for you but it's frustrating to the discussion on fandom and racism boiled down to a few fic interpretation arguments and then thoroughly dismissed.

--

That's inevitable when the campaign gave off vibes that were so strongly at odds with its assertion that it wasn't about which fic is bad.

I think the other problem is that none of us have any actual answers other than better blocking features or more ways to customize search for a given user.

How do you solve racism?

I don't think callouts are that useful most of the time, though I will signal boost when fairly credible posts about situations like that TOG one come around. I think privately giving friends support is useful, but that's not something you do at scale or that you mandate for other people. I don't think that shadowbanning fic by removing it from basic AO3 searches is desirable. I don't think increasing one ship vs. another's content is meaningful. I do think posts about gross media tropes can be useful if they're well-researched.

I was watching a speech by Beverly Daniel Tatum the other day, and she was talking about strategies that work offline. A lot of it boiled down to raising kids in multicultural neighborhoods and sending them to diverse schools. She had some examples where it had worked, but getting people to stop being NIMBY assholes so that housing and schools can actually be fixed is extremely difficult.

I think a lot of problems in fandom are symptoms that show up far downstream of the actual causes, and it's not that easy to solve anything here. It's not that we shouldn't oppose racism, but most of the suggestions I've seen just don't address what's actually going on (like canon screwing over a character and making them less popular as a consequence). A lot of fandom activism strikes me as rats in a barrel. People cling to the illusion that they can fix things here because it's less daunting than the reality that they're going to have to fight Hollywood or that they're not going to see that much success in their lifetime even if they do their activism well.

A nonwhite friend said something to me the other day about just wanting to stop hearing about anti-racist activism in fandom, full stop. They don't come here for that, and they're tired. I think it's a common sentiment and is part of why more of the informed people don't weigh in.

I post the majority of asks I get. If people have stories about fandom racism, I'll post them. It's just that the ones I've gotten are all like "I was harassed for writing my own identity wrong" with a plea to chill the fuck out and stop assuming things.

If people have practical suggestions, I'll post those too. I just think few of us have any really useful ideas.

[funishment-time]

i think, getting down to the nitty-gritty of why i'm not liking this Finale so far, is that it was a bad vehicle for interesting worldbuilding. as i said, i want to know more about this Outside World where bloodsport is legal, where we can program people from scratch, and where Space COVID is in the hands of Hollywood execs (or their equivalents).

why CAN'T the v3s go back to being their old selves? what kind of contract is this? what are their Real Families like? this kind of Worldbuilding is not the type to drop at the end because it makes it feel like wasted time. regardless of the lies vs reality, truth vs fiction blah blah blah thing, we just played 40 hours of one game and now it's become another i assume we won't get much explanation about other than these final ~6 hours

but of course, i could eat my Words. still another bit of the trial left according to my walkthru. let's go

[tenebrius-excellium]

It leaves me very confused and a little sad that there isn’t a richer, larger, more united and more enthusiastic fanbase for the Avatar movies. I’ve been waiting for commentaries on the second movie, both indulging and critical, and there’s a mere trickle of content appearing in the tags. So far, they all fall in weirdly isolated columns of character x reader, Kiri stans, ‘I loved the movie!’ one liners, ‘boycott Avatar’, Na’vi learners and people being horny over clone!Quaritch on main. 

There isn’t much meta despite the universe being huge, fairly consistent, and ever-expanding. The like-to-reblog ratio on posts is catastrophic. There’s not much art. I miss people being excited. I miss discourse, headcanons and AUs! I miss people giving detailed reasons for the way they respond to the movie, no matter whether they liked it or not. Nothing seems to stick despite so many refined details, e.g. the Metkayina using sign language underwater and having inner eyelids like amphibians! Or the fact that the explanations for the use of English, Kiri’s and Spider’s existence etc. were quite thought-out and satisfying. 

Sure, there’s the epic Pandoran world on one hand, and then there’s of course the “Cameronism”: The two-pronged personal fantasy of the director who is playfully exploring colonialism as negative while reaffirming it in the same breath, combined with a bland, overly conservative story. If the plot really reflects Cameron’s thinking, it is dangerously outdated by 15-20 years and cannot stay relevant. But the point to me is: It was to be expected. 

Avatar and Avatar The Way Of Water are US-American Hollywood stories based on military culture. Once you know that, it is my firm belief that it’s possible to detach yourself from that lense. But perhaps I really am arguing from a merely European perspective that is so used to mediocre language dubs, the strange obsession with heroism, patriotism, weapons and violence, and other US-specific phenomenons that just feel generally outlandish to non-US viewers. We don’t have the same problems, so being constantly faced with yours through entertainment media causes us to... kinda tune those out and enjoy what’s left, tbh. Because some of them are really painfully cringe up to completely unthinkable to the rest of the world. Even the first Avatar was never intended as a global story; - although the RDA is supposedly composed of international players, the representation on Pandora is purely US-American, even more, it’s not even covering all of your own ethnic variety. So if we can’t even expect European, Asian, African and South-American scientists in the space mission, what are we supposed to expect about indigenous voices of smaller civilizations? 

What I’m trying to say is, US media currently have a certain range of messages they convey even here in Europe, because, well, you still have the monopoly on filmmaking and we watch all of your stuff. However, we are very aware that your POV is narrow and limited since it rarely actually applies to us. And sooo, what do we do with the reality of our own exclusion that we are inevitably constantly reflecting? We ignore it, we roll our eyes and don’t think too deeply on it, we leave you guys to solve your own problems and enjoy what’s given. Perhaps we are able to separate a fantastic narrative from the cultural/ political clashes that come with it a little better, because most of the time, we don’t identify with the latter. I’m not saying the differences are in any way good or that they should stay that way. I’m saying that from where I’m at, Batman, Spiderman and Avatar don’t look too different to me when it comes to elaborate escapist fantasies about good vs. evil, and media might not quite be as relevant to conflicts as they seem in the US. Education is much more important, and to act in real life rather than in fiction. As for me, I’ll appreciate Avatar like any other fandom space, because the concept is extraordinary, its future potential still enormous, and I would love for more positive interaction. I harbor the sliiiight hope that Cameron might grow out of his current spree and redeem himself in one of the later sequels. Since there are going to be 3 more of them, you know. There you go :)

[nerdzzone]

Worlds Apart

Chapter Six

Summary: Single mom, Bridget Clark, thought that she was fine by herself. Moving her son to a new town and out of the hustle and bustle of Boston, she thought that life would be quieter and simpler, but a chance encounter with a certain Hollywood actor only a week after their big move had her questioning everything. Bridget was faced with the ultimate decision of head vs heart, but would letting her guard down prove to be worth the risk?

Series Masterlist

-----

Bridget was notably less nervous as she drove towards Chris’ house for their second date than she had been for their first.

There was still a flicker of anxiety in her stomach as being face to face was slightly more intimidating than texting or their occasional phone conversations, but she was more confident in Chris’ interest in her after their months of talking and was hopeful that the level of comfort they’d reached would help counteract any potential awkwardness. They’d never had to force conversation while he’d been away and things always felt very natural between them, but she was aware that the strain of the long interlude between the two dates might seem more obvious in person.

She tried not to let herself get too in her own head about the situation as she knew from past experience that worrying about potential trouble before it arose tended to cause more problems than it solved, but she didn’t want to be caught off guard by anything that might help her anxiety get the best of her. She’d settled for simply assuming things would be just as easy when they were together as they were when they were apart while also bracing herself for the potential of a slightly awkward settling in period as she hoped that their evening would go as well as she was expecting.

However, as she drove up his long driveway until his large house came into view, she was once again reminded of how different their lives were. She stared in awe at the incredibly nice house until she was parked in front of it and drowning in a feeling of inferiority. It made her house look like a tiny, old shack and she was embarrassed by what he must have thought when he saw it. It was enough space for her and Landon and she took pride in taking care of it and making it a nice home - hence the quick and thorough interior design shift - but compared to the standard that Chris was clearly used to, her house was practically a shed.

She was surprised though when movement by the front door caught her attention and snapped her back to reality as the sight of Chris leaning against the doorframe had all of her worries slipping from her mind. They were replaced with the giddiness that always seemed to hit her whenever his name had popped up on her phone, but now he was there - just a few feet away - and she hurried to grab the things she’d brought with her from the passenger seat before climbing out of the car.

“Your house is amazing,” she gushed as she walked up the stairs of his porch.

“Thanks,” he smirked. “Just wait until you see the bright pink accent wall in the living room.”

His teasing earned a bark of laughter as Bridget rolled her eyes.

“Very funny, but I’m sure you have better taste than the possibly colorblind previous owners of my home.”

“I do, I definitely do,” he chuckled at his own joke, but as he peeked through the plastic wrap that covered the top of the mixing bowl she’d been holding, his eyes widened. “Did you actually make the pizza dough?”

After Chris had spent so much time on the road and away from home, they’d decided that their second date would just be a nice quiet evening at his house. He’d offered to order in some food, but Bridget had suggested making homemade pizza instead. She thought it would be a fun little activity for them to do together and had offered to bring the dough if Chris got the toppings so she was slightly confused by his question.

“Yes?” She answered, the word sounding far more like a question of her own than a statement. “I thought that was the plan?”

“Yeah, it was,” Chris assured her as he led her into the house. Despite his teasing, it was just as nice inside as it was on the outside. The decoration was quite minimalist and the level of tidiness and organization had her feeling another twinge of embarrassment about the well lived-in state of her own home, but Chris pulled her attention away from the décor as he continued. “I just didn’t expect you to make it, I guess. I thought you’d just buy it.”

“No way, homemade is way better,” she insisted, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the thought of bringing anything else. “It didn’t take me long, it’s Landon’s favourite so I’ve kinda mastered the process.”

“Oh, so you’re a pro?” Chris flashed her a smirk as he put all the stuff on the table. “I guess I’m in for a treat then.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Bridget protested. “I haven’t necessarily mastered the recipe, but I’ve mastered the preparation process so it doesn’t take long and I had to work late last night so I took the afternoon off and had plenty of time to make it.”

“Well, I appreciate your dedication,” Chris smiled. “The toppings are in the bag on the counter.”

Intrigued to see what he’d chosen, Bridget rolled up her sleeves as she moved towards the bag he’d pointed to, but she was surprised when she passed by him and his hand shot out to gently grab hers. She froze, wondering if she’d done something wrong, but the look on his face and the way his other hand slid around her waist to steer her body in towards his had her relaxing slightly despite the way her heart was suddenly pounding in her chest. 

The anticipation had the air around them suddenly feeling thick and heavy, but the way Chris had paused once he’d pulled her into his arms had her feeling a little confused and after a moment of waiting for some kind of explanation, she asked, “Is everything okay?”

Her voice was low and soft, but it seemed to echo in the silence of the room and pried Chris out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, never better,” he smiled. “It’s just that I was gonna use some line about hoping we could say hello properly, but it seems a little cheesy.”

Bridget matched his smile as she moved her hand that wasn’t being held by his up to rest on his chest and raised an eyebrow.

“What does that even mean?”

“Who knows,” Chris shrugged. “But I’ve been thinking about kissing you pretty much from the moment our last kiss ended so I’d really like to do it again if you don’t mind.”

It seemed cliche, but Bridget swore her heart literally skipped a beat at his confession. However, despite her sudden heart palpitations and the fact that how he was holding her had her almost forgetting how to breathe, she bit back the smirk that was threatening to sneak onto her face.

“That was pretty cheesy too,” she teased him. “But I’ve also been thinking about that a lot so I’d very much like it if you did.”

Her confirmation was all it took for Chris to move his hand up to cup her cheek before leaning forward to press his lips against hers. It was soft and sweet - tender, if Bridget had to sum it up in one word - as the emotions and feelings they’d developed over the last few months of conversations clearly heightened their connection. She leaned into his embrace and revelled in the feeling of his lips that she’d spent so many hours daydreaming about until he reluctantly pulled away.

“That was even better than I remember,” Chris murmured, a soft and satisfied smile on his face that had a giggle slipping from Bridget’s lips. “Definitely worth waiting for.”

“I agree,” Bridget nodded. “But I hope you won’t leave me waiting so long for the next one.”

Chris opened his mouth to reply - with Bridget hoping that he’d simply offer to kiss her again immediately with no waiting necessary - but the sounds of scratching and a loud, indignant bark distracted them.

“That’s Dodger,” Chris explained as Bridget moved out of his grasp. “I put him in the backyard. I don’t think he’s very happy about it, but I wasn’t sure how you felt about dogs.”

“I love dogs,” she rushed to assure him, horrified that there was any doubt. “I just don’t have time to train one while I’m taking care of Landon, but we had a great time when we borrowed him from Carly while you were away.”

“Okay, great,” Chris smiled, appearing visibly relieved by that information. “So is it cool if I let him back in?”

Bridget nodded enthusiastically and Chris briefly disappeared from the room until the sound of claws pattering on the floor echoed down the hall and Dodger barreled into the kitchen with Chris right behind him. As soon as Dodger saw Bridget, his tail began to wag frantically as he bolted towards her and jumped up to lick at her face in greeting. She could hear Chris chuckle as he told Dodger to behave and leave her alone, but she simply laughed as she rubbed at the dog’s fur.

“Hi, buddy,” she greeted him. “How are you? Do you remember me from that big walk we went on?”

“I think he does,” Chris observed. “He seems to like you.”

“I get the impression that he likes most people.”

“That’s true, but he is a good judge of character,” Chris insisted before whistling to get Dodger’s attention. “That’s enough, bubba, leave her alone.”

Reluctantly, Dodger listened to his owner and sauntered back over towards Chris as Bridget made her way over to the bag on the counter that she’d intended to investigate before Chris had interrupted. What she found seemed to be almost enough supplies to make pizza for half the town and she told him as much as she started unpacking the bag, placing the wide array of toppings on the counter as Chris chuckled at her teasing.

“I wasn’t sure what you’d want,” he explained. “Your answer of ‘whatever’ wasn’t super informative.”

“No, but I meant it,” Bridget shrugged. “I’m used to settling for whatever Landon prefers, it’s made me adaptable.”

“Well, I don’t want you to have to settle tonight,” Chris insisted. “I want you to have whatever you really want.”

The sincerity in his voice had Bridget filled with an appreciation for his thoughtfulness and she flashed him a grateful smile as he leaned back on the counter beside her and asked, “So, it’s been a while since I made pizza at home, what do we do first?”

Happy to explain, Bridget launched into a brief rundown of what they would have to do before pushing her sleeves back up her arms, asking where the flour was and liberally sprinkling it on the counter. She unwrapped the bowl with the dough, gave them each a decent portion and they set to work, molding and shaping their pizzas before adding all the many toppings that Chris had chosen for them. With Chris’ kiss breaking the tension, Bridget was pleasantly surprised by how casual the physical contact was between them as they worked. His hand on her waist to let her know he was there as he moved behind her, a bump of his hip following a teasing comment, tucking her hair behind her ear when her hands were too floury to do it herself. He hadn’t been lying when he shared that he was physical with his affection and Bridget was soaking up every minute of it.  

Any worries she’d had that it might be awkward or that the conversations they’d had over the phone might almost seem like they were with a different man than the one who’d taken her on a date all those months ago were clearly unnecessary. Her lack of recent practice in the dating scene left her far from an expert, but from her previous experience she was pretty certain that it was rare to connect with someone as quickly as she had with Chris. As early as it was, she had a very good feeling about their relationship and was hopeful that Chris felt the same way.

Time flew by as they cooked, ate and got lost in conversation, and they stayed sitting at the table long after the meal was finished as they were too engrossed in each other to even realize they could move to somewhere more comfortable. They covered a wide range of topics from typical everyday things to more personal revelations, but Bridget found herself letting her guard down so easily around Chris and noticed that he seemed to do the same. Considering his career and level of fame, she wouldn’t have held it against him if he held his cards a little closer to his chest, but he opened up just as much as she did and the trust that she knew he was putting in her every time he spoke about his family or his hopes and dreams only solidified her belief that he shared her hope for their relationship.

And that belief only got stronger when she glanced at the clock later that night and announced that she should head home and he immediately blurted out the question: “When can I see you again?”

“Well, next week is my week with Landon,” she explained before sharing the suggestion she’d thought of to avoid going an entire week without seeing him. “But I don’t work on Tuesday and Thursday when he’s with me and he did really enjoy spending time with Dodger so I was thinking maybe we could all go for a hike?”

“Yeah? You’re okay with me spending time with him?”

“Yeah,” Bridget shrugged. “He knows that we’re friends.”

“Friends…” Chris repeated, shooting her a sly smile. “And is that all that we are?”

The question had Bridget’s cheeks growing hot as she knew the answer that she wanted to give - and that she was fairly certain he wanted to hear - but the potential rejection that came with being the first to admit it had her feeling rather vulnerable.

“Well,” she started, forcing a smirk to hide her nervousness. “I don’t let any of my friends kiss me the way you did when I got here, but explaining the concept of dating to a four year old might be kinda tricky.”

“That’s fair,” Chris chuckled. “As long as we’re on the same page.”

“I think we are,” Bridget nodded, unable to control the grin that he always seemed to put so easily on her face. “But I also understand if you don’t want Landon to be around. Obviously, eventually that would be important to me, but if you’d rather keep things just us for now then I totally get that.”

She was being honest with her reassurance, but the surprise on his face and the quick shake of his head definitely put her at ease. Landon was the most important thing to her and if whatever they were starting was going to go anywhere then it would only work if Chris was as happy to include him in their plans as she was.

“I don’t mind at all!” Chris insisted. “He seems like a really great kid.”

“He is,” Bridget smiled proudly. “And if you bring Dodger then that will keep him entertained all afternoon.”

“Well, Dodger would be pissed if I went for a hike and left him at home so he will definitely be there,” Chris chuckled. “I do have an appointment on Tuesday though. It might not be long, but it’s right in the middle of the afternoon so maybe Thursday would be better?”

“Thursday sounds great.”

Bridget rose from the table as she confirmed their plans, but as she grabbed the plates and turned towards the sink, Chris stood as well and voiced his protests.

“Don’t worry about the dishes, I have a dishwasher.”

“I figured, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you clean up a little.”

“Yeah, but you don’t need to,” he insisted. “I thought you had to get home.”

His reminder earned a snort of laughter from Bridget as she put the plates in the sink and turned back to him with a smirk and an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

“Are you trying to get rid of me now?”

Chris took advantage of the way she’d moved away from the counter to face him and slid his arm around her waist to tug her body towards his as he’d done earlier in the evening.

“Definitely not,” he assured her, a cheeky grin on his face. “But if you’re gonna stick around then I can think of a few things we could do that are more fun than washing dishes.”

As Chris let his hands settle on her waist, Bridget let hers drape over his shoulders as his words had her swallowing hard.

“Oh yeah?” She questioned, her voice softer than it had been moments before. “Like what?”

“Like this…”

As he dipped his chin down, the brief moment of anticipation had Bridget’s heart fluttering in her chest before he finally captured her lips with his once again. His grip tightened on her waist, pulling her even closer to his chest, but Bridget needed no encouragement to lean into his embrace. She found herself noting how easy it would be to get lost in his touch, his warm and comforting scent and the way he nipped at her bottom lip, but after letting herself indulge for a few moments, she slowly dragged her lips away and let out a happy sigh as she peered up at him.

“That is a very tempting offer,” she informed him. “But I really should get going, I have to work in the morning.”

“On a Saturday?”

The surprise in his voice was clear and Bridget begrudgingly nodded her head.

“We’re doing a storytime picnic thing on the first Saturday of every month for the summer,” she explained. “And tomorrow is the first Saturday in June. It sounded like a good idea back in February, but now I’m regretting it a little bit.”

“I know that feeling,” Chris chuckled. “But maybe it’ll be fun?”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be,” Bridget smiled as she pulled herself out of his arms as much as it pained her to do so. “The morning might be a little hectic, but once things get underway it should be a good time.”

She picked up her mixing bowl from where she’d left it on the counter, but Chris quickly took it from her hands.

“Leave that here,” he insisted. “I’ll wash it and give it back to you on Thursday.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Unless you need it before then?” Chris waited for her to shake her head before placing it back on the counter. “Then leave it. I don’t want you taking home dirty dishes to clean at home, that would make me a pretty bad host.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Bridget shrugged with a smile as they headed towards the door. “But thank you, I appreciate your chivalry.”

Her word choice earned a raise of Chris’ eyebrow as he questioned her.

“Is that really chivalrous?” He asked. “You must have a pretty low bar.”

“Trust me,” Bridget scoffed. “My bar is pretty much on the ground, so you’re absolutely exceeding expectations.”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment,” Chris mused, his eyes narrowing into a suspicious glare as he opened the front door. “You might just need to raise your standards.”

“I don’t think so,” Bridget admitted. “I think you’d be a catch regardless of how high my standards are.”

In a move that surprised them both, she stretched up to emphasize her words by stealing another quick kiss before slipping out the door and heading back to her car as she waved over her shoulder.

-

Bridget thought that it would be almost impossible for anyone to be more excited about seeing Chris on Thursday than she was.

However, when she mentioned their plan to spend the afternoon hiking to Landon, she had to admit that his enthusiasm definitely rivalled her own and even though she was pretty sure that it had more to do with Dodger than it did with Chris, she was happy that he found the prospect of hanging out with their new friends to be as exciting as she did. He spent the entire morning asking when they were leaving and as much as the perpetual ‘how much longer?’ usually got on her nerves, Bridget could hardly complain as she found herself checking the time just as frequently.

By the time they were pulling into the small parking lot by the trail that Chris had sent her directions to, their anticipation had them both practically leaping out of the car as soon as it was parked. Landon waited to walk beside Bridget - knowing better than to dart off in the middle of a parking lot - but as soon as they reached the trail and could see Chris and Dodger waiting for them by a tree, his restraint slipped and he bolted towards them, calling out for his new favourite dog. When Bridget caught up, Chris was laughing and warning Dodger to be gentle as he practically wrestled with Landon on the ground and she smiled as she rolled her eyes.

“Landon, did you even say hi to Chris?” She asked. “Or did you just go straight for Dodger?”

“He went straight for Dodge,” Chris admitted. “But I’m used to him stealing the show whenever he’s around.”

“I’m not surprised,” she smiled, but when Chris whistled for Dodger to pull his attention away from his new friend and Landon stood up, Bridget reminded him of his manners again. “Are you gonna say hi to Chris too?”

“Hi, Chris,” he grinned, waiting for Chris to greet him before he added, “I really like your dog.”

“He really likes you too,” Chris chuckled. “He was very excited to go on a hike with you today.”

“Me too!”

Landon’s enthusiasm spoke for itself, but Bridget chuckled as she nodded in agreement.

“He was,” she confirmed. “He’s been counting down the minutes all morning.”

“So was I.” Chris flashed her a smirk that had her smile widening even more as his words hung in the air between them for a moment before he changed the subject. “Are we ready to head out? The trail isn’t too long or challenging, but it’s pretty scenic so it’s one of my favourites.”

“Everywhere is scenic around here compared to living in the city,” she pointed out as they headed down the path. “I feel like an idiot for not exploring more around here, it’s not like Boston is a million miles away.”

It was something that Bridget had been reflecting on as they explored their new town and she realized how little she’d ventured out of the city. She’d been to a few places for weekend getaways, but it was surprising - and embarrassing - how little she’d really seen of her home state and she was determined to embrace any opportunity to experience the beauty that it had to offer. However, before she could elaborate on her statement and share that with Chris, Landon interrupted. 

“You’re not supposed to say that,” he informed her. “My teachers say idiot isn’t a nice word.”

Chris chuckled at his scolding as Bridget cringed, knowing he was right. The daycare he attended had mentioned in their weekly update email that words like that were a problem they were currently working on with all the children and had gently reminded parents to be cautious how they talk at home as the kids were always listening. While Bridget was fairly certain that Landon knew better than to use words like that when talking to or about his friends, clearly she needed the reminder to watch what she said.

“You’re right, buddy, I shouldn't have said that,” she admitted. “Thanks for reminding me.”

“You’re welcome,” Landon shrugged before turning his attention to Chris. “Are you an astronaut?”

“Me?” Chris asked, his shock at the question written all over his face as Landon nodded. “I wish! That would be so cool, but unfortunately not. What made you think that?”

“Mommy said that you know lots about space,” Landon informed him, his voice laced with disappointment. “I wanted to go with you.”

“I know a little bit about space,” Chris corrected. “But I do like learning about it and I would love to go too.”

“I wanna go to Jupiter! It’s the biggest planet!”

“It is,” Chris nodded in agreement. “I bet it’s pretty cool, but the pictures I’ve seen from Mars are pretty amazing too.”

“There’s pictures from Mars?” Landon asked, his eyes wide with excitement. “I haven’t seen that!”

Chris gasped and shot Bridget an accusatory look as he pulled out his phone, but she simply shrugged.

“I told you, I don’t know much about it,” she defended herself. “That didn’t come up when I was Googling stuff.”

“You must not have been looking very hard,” he teased, but after a moment of typing on his phone, he slipped it back into his pocket with a sigh. “I don’t have a great service out here so I can’t find the pictures, but maybe it’ll work when we get back to the car. Can you remind me then?”

“Uh huh, I’ll remember!” Landon promised and Bridget had no doubt in her mind that he would as he asked Chris another question. “Can I hold Dodger’s leash?”

“Of course!”

Chris happily handed it over to Landon and they watched as he darted off down the path with Dodger galloping along happily beside him. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Chris slipped his hand into Bridget’s and pulled her close enough against his side for him to lean down and steal a kiss before letting her slip away as if nothing had happened. She appreciated his discretion around Landon, but the fleeting warmth of his hand around hers was almost enough for her to throw caution to the wind and she was relieved when his voice distracted her from the temptation.

“I think I’ve said this before, but he’s a good kid,” Chris observed, nodding his head towards Landon as if she might not know who he was referring to. “I see what you mean about his energy though.”

“Oh yeah, energy and enthusiasm are two things that he is definitely not lacking,” Bridget smiled. “I used to be kinda worried about how he’ll do in school, but he really loves to learn so I think that’ll motivate him to focus some of his energy.”

“Does he like to learn about everything? Or just things that interest him?”

“Right now, he’s into pretty much everything. I’m sure when he gets older he’ll have more specific things he likes and things that he’ll find painfully boring, but he finds everything fascinating at the moment,” Bridget explained. “He loves numbers, letters, and trying to read. He’s obsessed with how things work and why things happen. He just wants to know everything about everything.”

“It’s hard to imagine how big the world must look to kids his age,” Chris mused. “I know there was a time when we were all just baffled little four year olds, but there’s so much knowledge we have as adults that we take for granted.”

“I know what you mean,” Bridget agreed. “But his curiosity is definitely making me smarter. There’s a lot of questions he asks where the first answer that comes to mind is ‘just because’, but that’s never satisfactory for him so it forces me to really think about real explanations for why or how things happen.”

“I’ve run into that with my niece and nephews a few times,” Chris sympathized. “But then it can be hard to explain some of the big concepts that they want to know in a way they can understand.”

“Exactly,” Bridget smiled. “I’m always like ‘chill, kid, let’s focus on learning the alphabet before we start tackling all the mysteries of the universe’.”

Her words pulled a bark of laughter from Chris that had her biting back a smirk at the pride she felt at being responsible for the sound until they settled into a comfortable silence. The only sound around them was the crunch of the trail under their feet and Landon’s giggles as he paused to play tug-of-war over a stick with Dodger and the moment filled Bridget with a contentment that she hadn’t realized she’d been missing from her life. However, the next question out of Chris’ mouth put her a little on edge.

“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Of course,” she assured him. “You can ask me anything.”

“Have you told your ex about me?” He asked before clarifying, “Landon’s dad, I mean.”

Relieved that despite his suddenly serious tone that was all he wanted to know, Bridget nodded her head.

“I told him I was seeing someone when he dropped Landon off on Sunday,” she informed him. “I was vague - I didn’t tell him who you are or anything - but I told him that we’d gone on a couple dates and that I hope we’ll be going on a lot more.”

Bridget couldn’t help but notice the smile that her admission put on Chris’ face and it had her hope shifting into optimism even when he glossed over it as he continued his questioning.

“Does he know that I’m hanging out with you when Landon’s around?” He asked. “Is he okay with that?”

“I told him about our plans for today and he was fine with it. I think he trusts me to handle it in a way that won’t lead to Landon getting hurt.”

“That’s good,” Chris nodded. “I know it can be kinda complicated and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.”

“You’re definitely not,” she assured him. “And as much as I will always try to be respectful of Marcus, he doesn’t really have the right to comment too much on any relationships that I have given the way that his relationship started.”

“Do you mind if I ask about that?” Chris questioned. “About how it all went down?”

“I’m a pretty open book, you can ask me anything,” Bridget repeated with a smile. “But there’s not that much to tell. He got a little distant almost as soon as I told him that I was pregnant, but I thought that I was just hormonal and paranoid. It got worse around the five month mark so I confronted him and he completely fell apart and told me everything - how he’d been struggling with his sexuality, but he was gay and he couldn’t hide it anymore. Then he told me about David and how they’d been seeing each other for months, pretty much since the day I told him I was pregnant.”

Chris shook his head, the furrow of his brow showing he was clearly unimpressed by what she’d shared as he asked, “And you were able to get over that?”

“It definitely took some time,” Bridget admitted. “I was devastated at first. I went from thinking we were starting a family to realizing I was going to be a single mom and it felt even worse knowing that Marcus was still starting a family, but with our child and someone else. I was terrified that they were going to cut me out and that I wouldn’t be able to give Landon everything that they could. All while I was trying to deal with just how horrible it felt to be cheated on.”

“So how did you get through it?”

“Because I had to,” she shrugged. “I knew I had to think about Landon so I gave myself a week to be sad and mope around and then I made myself regroup. The best thing for him is to have two parents who love him and can work as a team so that’s what I focused on and Marcus was always very clear that he did love me, he just wasn’t in love with me for reasons he can’t control so after some time passed and all the dust settled, we were able to keep the strong friendship that we’d built while we were together.”

There was a moment of silence as Chris took in her words before he processed it enough to comment.

“You’re a very strong person,” he commended her, the sincerity shining through in his voice. “I’m not sure I’d be able to forgive something like that so easily.”

“If it wasn’t for Landon then I’m not sure that I would have either. Marcus is a good friend though so I am happy that I did,” Bridget admitted. “But that’s kinda why he can’t say much about my dating life now. I never argued about David’s involvement in Landon’s life so as long as he’s safe and happy then it’s none of Marcus’ business who I let into his life and I think he knows that.”

“Well, I’m glad that he’s not giving you a hard time. I wouldn’t wanna get in the way.”

Bridget appreciated his concern, but his worry had a scoff falling from her lips.

“If he had an issue with it then it would be him getting in the way,” she insisted. “As long as Landon is safe then his opinion is not important.”

The confidence with which she spoke seemed to remove any lingering doubt that he had as a chuckle fell from his lips and he threw his arm around her shoulder to pull her close enough to press a kiss into her hair.

They followed Landon and Dodger down the path, happy to let them lead the way as they enjoyed the time it gave them to talk as Landon enjoyed hanging out with his new furry friend. He did a great job of running free without going too far ahead or veering off the trail and it wasn’t until they were halfway back to their cars that they had to call for him to stop when Bridget needed to re-tie her shoe. Chris took the opportunity to call Dodger over for a drink of water, but Bridget didn’t even notice that Landon hadn’t followed until a question from Chris pulled her eyes up from her shoelaces.

“Uh, how do we feel about climbing trees?”

Bridget followed Chris’ gaze to see Landon - unsurprisingly - beginning to scale one of the large trees on the side of the trail and a sigh fell from her lips.

“It depends which one of us you ask,” she explained as she quickly finished tying her shoe and rose back up from her squat. “Landon loves it and thinks it should be his new favourite hobby, but I find it very stressful and have visions of him falling and being impaled on a branch so we came up with a compromise.”

“Oh, yeah?”

A soft smirk was on Chris’ face as he questioned her, apparently amused by the situation as Bridget nodded and turned to Landon to remind him of their deal.

“Landon!” She called, catching his attention. “Remember not to go any higher than my head!”

Even with the distance between them, his disappointment was clear as he let out a whine of frustration.

“But you’re not big!” They heard him call back before proposing a counter offer. “Can I go as high as Chris? He can help if I get stuck!”

It was less about him getting stuck and more about him falling to his death that had Bridget worried, but she also knew that taking risks and pushing boundaries was how kids learned and improved their skills and there was an argument to be made for how climbing trees could help his confidence and coordination. She could feel Chris watching her, waiting for her approval before he offered Landon his support so after wrestling with her concern for a moment longer, she let out another sigh and nodded her head.

“If Chris doesn’t mind then I guess that would be okay.” The words were barely out of Bridget’s mouth before Landon let out a cheer of excitement and continued his scramble up the branches, earning an eye roll from his mother as her and Chris sauntered over to him. “I can tell him to stop if you’re not comfortable helping since he clearly isn’t going to wait for you to agree.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Chris chuckled. “I used to love climbing trees when I was a kid so I don’t mind helping out if he needs it.”

As promised, Landon stopped when he got about six feet in the air, but after he took a moment to observe - and express his jealousy that Chris got to see from so high up all the time - he realized that he wasn’t entirely sure how to get down. Bridget could see the panic growing on his face, but before she could offer him any reassurance or advice, Chris beat her to it. With admirable patience, he gently and calmly guided Landon down through the branches in a way that allowed him to get himself out of the sticky situation that he’d created without Chris physically needing to help him. It was a display of Chris’ natural comfort and skill with kids and by the time Landon had both feet safely on the ground - proudly celebrating that he’d done it by himself - Bridget’s heart was feeling very warm and full. Unable to resist, she slipped her hand into his and pulled him close to her side as she murmured her thanks while Landon dragged Dodger off ahead of them once again.

By the time they made it back to the start of the trail, it was safe to say that Landon was exhausted. He tried to deny it even as he dragged his feet and rubbed his sleepy eyes, but he found one last burst of energy as Bridget helped him get strapped into his booster seat.

“Chris! You didn’t show me Mars!”

Bridget laughed at his reminder as she heard Chris chuckling behind her and as she backed out of the car he quickly asked her for her phone. She unlocked it and handed it over, watching curiously as he searched until he found a video and hit play before handing the phone to Landon.

“There you go, buddy,” he smiled. “Watch that for a minute, okay?”

Landon absentmindedly agreed as he was already distracted by the video from the robot on Mars and Chris carefully closed the car door. Satisfied that Landon was sufficiently distracted, he pulled Bridget into his arms and wasted no time before he pressed his lips against hers. The speed of his movements had her letting out a gasp, but it didn’t take long for her to smile against his mouth and lean into his body. She’d been surprised by how much of a struggle it had been to keep things strictly ‘just friends’ between them all afternoon and she embraced the opportunity to indulge in his touch. When he pulled away a moment later, she was desperate to chase his lips for more, but she forced herself to remember the little eyes that could be watching and let him step out of her grasp.

“I had fun today,” he smiled. “We should do something like this again soon.”

“We should,” Bridget agreed, trying to shake the daze she always felt after he kissed her. “I’ll text you later?”

“Sounds good,” Chris nodded as she opened her car door. “Get home safe.”

“You too.”

Bridget flashed him a smile as she climbed into her car, reflecting on how it seemed to get harder and harder to say goodbye every time they parted ways, but as she drove away and waved to him in the rearview mirror she was feeling incredibly grateful for the afternoon they’d spent together and how easy and natural it felt to include Chris into the life that she was used to sharing solely with Landon.

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Synopsis

"Grrrrr."

The greatest book ever written.

Professor Reginald Tyler's The True History of Planets was a twentieth-century classic; an epic of dwarves and swords and wizardry. And definitely no poodles. Or at least there weren't when the Doctor read it.

Now it tells the true tale of how the Queen of the poodles was overthrown; it's been made into a hit movie, and it's going to cause a bloodbath on the dogworld — unless the Doctor, Fitz and Anji (and assorted friends) can sort it all out.

The Doctor infiltrates the Smudgelings, Tyler's elite Cambridge writing set of the early twentieth century; Fitz falls for flamboyant torch singer Brenda Soobie in sixties Las Vegas, and Anji experiences some very special effects in seventies Hollywood. Their intention is to prevent the movie from ever being made. But there is a shadowy figure present in all three time zones who is just as determined to see it completed... so the poodle revolution can begin.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Crooked World

Synopsis

The people of the Crooked World lead an idyllic existence.

Take Streaky Bacon, for example. This jovial farmer wants nothing more from life than a huge blunderbuss, with which he can blast away at his crop-stealing nemesis. And then there's Angel Falls, a racing driver with a string of victories to her name. Sure, her trusted guardian might occasionally put on a mask and menace her for her prize money, but that's just life, right? And for Jasper the cat, nothing could be more pleasant than a nice, long nap in his kitchen — so long as that darn mouse doesn't jam his tail into the plug socket again.

But somebody is about to shatter all those lives. Somebody is about to change everything — and it's possible that no one on the Crooked World will ever be happy again.

The Doctor's TARDIS is about to arrive. And when it does... That's all folks!

Propaganda

I think that the best thing about EU stories is that, by the nature of their medium, they can tell stories that couldn't be shown on the TV due to constraints ranging from TV sensors to budget limitations to the fundamental laws of reality. This is maybe the best example of how the novels can transcend all of that. The action takes place in a world of cartoons, where goofy characters chase each other around and do comedy bits. Sometimes they blow each other up, but they're always fine by the next scene, so it's okay! Enter the TARDIS. The Doctor gets shot in the chest within literal moments of leaving the ship, and his apparent inability to heal sends shockwaves through the denizens of the Crooked World. The travelers' attempts to repair the damage only result in worsening it, as for the first time, the cartoons learn about violence, death, sex, and the fundamental inequalities of their society, culminating in riots in the streets, murder, and the attempted destruction of the world. (Spoilers: the Scooby Gang discovers the corpse of God!) It's fascinating, the vast tonal shifts throughout are masterfully handled, it traumatizes and re-traumatizes you every chapter, and for my money, it's one of the best portrayals of the 'Dr. Nyarlathotep' concept in the EU (though that probably wasn't intentional) (6&7)

[marley-manson]

What did you think of perfect blue 👀

I had mixed feelings on it. Under a spoiler cut because it's a pointedly twisty movie and I'm gonna talk about the ending.

Though if you want the unspoilery verdict, I enjoyed watching it a lot but I thought the ending was a disappointment.

I enjoyed the vibes a lot, I thought the descent into confusing dreamlike surreality was effective, and I liked the animation style. It also gets a lot of kudos for being, as far as I've read, the first of its kind in Japanese media in terms of psychological surreal horror and inspiring a lot of iconic Hollywood movies as well. I was very engaged, especially when the surreal stuff started ramping up.

That said, the ending sucked lol. Instead of remaining ambiguous we get a concrete villain who, tbh, I should've predicted because the movie had a very ugly=evil thing going on and she was the only "good" character who also had wide-set eyes and wasn't good looking lol. It felt very misogynist too, unfortunately. The rest of the movie had the 'edgy somewhat exploitative commentary on misogyny' vibe but with the villain being a washed up former idol driven crazy by jealousy, with a lot of visual focus on her overweight body when she goes full villain, it felt more nastily sexist to me, and was uncomfortable to watch.

Also despite pinning everything on a tangible villain, the plot doesn't actually make sense. Like eg there's no reason for the protag's confusion about dream vs reality, and she emerges seemingly perfectly sane at the end. This wouldn't be an issue if the movie stayed ambiguous imo, the surreality would work on a metaphorical level. But by having a real villain who orchestrated everything, I don't feel that metaphorical understanding is maintained, so it ends up feeling like plotholes for the sake of vibe.

That's just how I felt lol, it's still a very beloved and influential movie so maybe the tone of the ending works better for others. But yeah, basically I enjoyed it until the last 15 minutes or so.

[thealogie]

To your other anon I get you! RPF conspiracies tickle the same part of my brain that likes shows about cults. If netflix put out a four part documentary on the history of RPF conspiracies starting with the golden age of Hollywood/the kpop equivalent I would be glued to my screen. I would also watch a deep dive into the history of the love contract vs. celebrity dating as entertainment.

It’s exactly like shows about cults. I too would be absolutely SEATED for a documentary on this or even a long book. I just don’t want to read it directly from the people who are being obsessively mean and out of touch with reality.