#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)

[belladonna-undead]

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

what’s everyone’s favorite fruit?? 🌝

[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.

[gaykarstaagforever]

British sitcom: 15 episodes, filmed in the street outside a BBC office, based entirely around dry wit and English pop culture references no one got a year after the show aired

American version: 22 seasons, by the end every actor is making $1 million per episode, yelling and fat people falling down

[verdantwyrm]

Anya, The Virgin Mary or the Vengeful Bitch

Or, shorthandedly, the Anyalysis.

I'm going to be occasionally stealing some points from my Curly thread over here, which you should absolutely also read. And also some segments from here, my small analysis of Jimmy and him being a monster vs choosing to be.

This analysis will be going over partially some of how she's treated in-game, but also how she's treated outside of the game as a representation of sexual assault and abuse victims, which is to either make her a mournful, bleeding heart virgin Mary, or a vengeful, final girl that's a violent, hysterical she-bitch. Which she is neither.

I think it's perfectly fine to orchestrate fictional characters killing their abusers, there's nothing inherently wrong with just that, it's more how people actually write it.

Just like any other trope, there are ways to go about it that are extremely harmful and ways that are generally inoffensive. As a victim myself, I personally see so many issues in wishing harm against your abuser, and there is nothing wrong with acting that out in characters you feel comfortable and relatable towards, but there are ways to do this that don't end up doing more harm than good— which is where most people fail. It's an objectively hard topic to address, because it requires nuance and understanding, possibly even lived experience to truly understand why someone would want this. Grieving, the absence that comes with being a victim, is not straightforward or black and white, it's an uncomfortable topic thats often on a spectrum of anger, grief or sadness that most people do not want to engage with because they have a very nearsighted opinion on how a victim should react– the perfect victim.

No one actually likes her as a character, they only like her for what she represents.

The Sexism of the Final Girl

I am sick and tired of people making up the realities in their heads where Anya overcomes Jimmy and kills him,

The trope of a "Final Girl" is not the feminist girl boss you want it to be and is incredibly misogynistic. The definition, as told by Wikipedia

"the final girl in many movies shares common characteristics: she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, and avoids the vices of the victims like illegal drug use. She sometimes has a unisex name such as Avery, Chris, or Sidney."

There are feminist ideals and intentions behind it, but it is not inherently feminist as a concept and is often very misogynistic despite its intentions to display the woman of the group to be strong, better or uphold moral superiority for declining sex, drugs or any of the vices mentioned forehand. It is a sexist trope, and all it does is ridicule women for "falling" for said vices as if that inherently makes them inferior or deserving of murder or assault.

On the surface, the use of the final girl trope may seem like a progressive portrayal of feminist strength and ideology. It can be satisfying to see a strong, independent "girl boss" overcome an otherworldly predator or rapist. However, upon further examination, it is clear that this trope perpetuates prejudice and reinforces societal expectations for women. The final girl is typically portrayed as a straight, white, morally superior woman who abstains from "immoral" activities like drinking, drug usage and sex. She serves as a voice of reason and represents the ideal woman in our society.

Most importantly, she survives while those who deviate from societal norms face violent deaths. This trope is a subtle commentary on the expectations placed on women in our society - good girls will prevail while those who do not conform will suffer a violent and brutal death, usually at the hands of a man. Ultimately, it seeks to shame women for behaving in ways that are not considered "ladylike."

The film industry as a whole has a history of using females as vessels for pain and suffering. Hollywood loves to profit off of female suffering. These male directors may believe they are earning brownie points with audiences by having female survivors in their films, but in reality, they are simply using feminism as a disguise while indulging in the fetishization of female pain.

It is rather exhausting seeing who we are being reduced to one note Virgin Marys with bleeding hearts, scorned mothers or wounded victims of assault who will never recover, never love or never will have sex again. I do think Mouthwashing does an excellent job of telling the story of a rape victim, but how other people treat her beyond that, it's almost impossible to even have a character like Anya or even Angela from Silent Hill 2 without people stripping them and violating what their character is and instead of focusing on what they represent, a victim.

But back to Anya specifically, she does not even exert any interest, desire or want to murder or harm another person. People dehumanise her the same way Jimmy dehumanises her. They strip her of everything she could be, everything she wanted to be and make her out to be a perfect victim, a bleeding heart, a weak and pathetic woman.

How about Anya has a nice day, how about Anya smiles, and she's happy and safe. What about that? Huh? Or do you only like her when she's a victim. People care more about Anya being a victim they can save, a victim they can nurture and heal and rescue than anything else. They care more about her being weak, sad, frail and miserable. Always the mother, always the victim, always the virgin Mary and a sacrifice but never ever a woman and most definitely never a person.

It's even worse when I see people continuously writing and "re-imagining" Anya being Raped just so Curly, Daisuke, Swansea or even a self-insert reader situation to save her. I totally get that you want her to be happy, and to be rescued and for that to never happen but you severely miss the point of the story that there was no one there to save her. And constantly rewriting it to put a man in the favour of the situation comes off as very shallow and misogynistic the way you're all so ready to have someone rescue her like she's some distressed maiden in need of a big strong man, it also takes the point away from her entirely.

The horse that bites

Jimmy's constant dehumanisation of Anya affects how other people perceive her character as well, that she's weak, small or a crybaby in some sense because of how she responds to situations - emotionally, which is then amplified by Jimmy's pre-existing hatred and lack of respect for her.

Jimmy tears her down every chance he gets, makes her feel little and even compares her to Polle in his hallucinations. And Anya knows that he and Curly have a very lengthy history, so her caution and anxiety about even mentioning the incident, let alone saying the word “rape” is borderline impossible for her. It’s a manifestation, it’s a verbal acceptance and confession that it’s even happened. Something she has been trying to avoid coming to terms with.

And when she does eventually tell Swansea what happened, as much as you want to think she told him- she most likely told him to not do anything, to try and keep the peace for as long as possible.

Again, her vagueness is not her fault, nor is it her responsibility. It was Jimmy’s responsibility to not abuse and rape her.

It’s also very present that Jimmy is verbally abusive to her, putting her down at every opportunity by ignoring her very talented medical skills by saying Pony Express only hired her to cut corners in an attempt to reduce costs because she failed Medical School and that she’s not a “real nurse” because of that, and how he constantly questions her skills despite keeping Curly alive for such a long time in such a state.

After being insulted by him multiple times, she fawns to get him to actually do something beneficial because she knows he responds well to praise, and he complies, all while still insulting and belittling her for being "weak" and "sentimental"

Anya shows a clear fear of Jimmy and has consistent fawn responses around Jimmy. She is extremely careful not to make him upset and praises him to keep him amused and compliant to a degree.

Just like Anya says, our worst moments don't make us monsters. It's one thing to fuck up, and immediately suffer the consequences and acknowledge your mistakes— But it's another thing entirely to purposefully make it so you never have to deal with the repercussions and then make yourself out to be the victim. Jimmy takes every opportunity to blame everyone around him. All the time and Anya is no stranger to this.

Curly genuinely saw the good in Jimmy, in the same way, Anya sees the good in others and possibly even tried to see the good in Jimmy despite the pain as one of the key important things about how everything went about is that Anya never directly refers to her rapist as Jimmy, nor does she ever actually insult or talk badly about him, she only expresses her disinterest in talking to him because of his reluctance to cooperate with her. They both believe that our worst moments don't define us, and Curly had his own interpretation all of how we're defined by our past, but not slaves to it.

She is scared, she is terrified at this point and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that nor should we rush to change that. Her being scared is realistic, she is a scared lady in a very scary situation with an even scarier man who constantly switches between dissociation and lashing out depending on what's going on around him. And she is not that person to fight back, to be violent or to hurt him and that is perfectly fine. She doesn't need to be a girl boss feminist and fight back, she can just be a scared and quiet woman stuck in her own terror, and trying to infer that one Is the "better" option downplays victims who freeze in their own terror and makes them out to be weak or a hapless damsel because they're incapable of "standing up for themselves"

She has every single right to be absolutely terrified and that is in no way a bad thing. I actually really, really dislike the interpretation that Anya is angry, resentful or has any revenge towards Curly, or that she has to be this, hysterical mad woman sent out to kill or hurt Jimmy. I don't believe she's either of this. Anya deserves peace, and I think it's extremely important to understand just how similar she is to Curly. And I'm full of the belief that if Anya had actually done something to Jimmy (hurt him, kill him, whatever) she would be demonized and the misogyny she already faces in the fandom would be worse tenfold. Do not lie to yourself.

Not to even mention one of the many, many reasons as to why Anya OD'd in a room with a lock in the first place. It was to make sure Jimmy could never touch her again? Or do something awful to her body, even when it was lifeless and cold? It was to keep the gun safe, to protect Curly, to protect herself, to take control of the situation, to finally not have to worry about him ever touching her again. And Jimmy still violates it, even after she's dead.

He touches her, drags her body, and props her up in that chair. Even after death, she is never free from him. She thought she was going to finally be free of him, his rage, his desires, his touch, and she died thinking this, that he would never ever be touched or hurt by him ever again. She died thinking all was well, that it would all work out in the end, it had to. She died thinking Daisuke and Swansea would somehow make it out of there, tell her story, and make Jimmy face the consequences of his actions, it was the ultimate sacrifice, it was the greatest thing she could ever do.

Jimmy ruined her life, and he ruined her death, her sacrifice. To keep herself safe, to keep Curly safe, to keep the gun away from him, it all meant nothing.

Thinking outside the Ship

Anya is fun, she is enthusiastic, loves to make jokes, draw, play board games with Daisuke, read, and teases Swansea about his love for sweets which he doesn't even bother to object to and Swansea hands her a note so that she could give it to Curly during his psychological evaluation,, implying that they're casual enough for an exchange like that to occur, and even has what seems to be a budding relationship with Curly himself, taking to his comment about being fit to fly in her eyes like it's a common exchange of flirting between the both of them and she even teases him at the birthday party to "hop to it" in terms of the cake. She is at ease around him, her walls have dropped, and she feels safe to talk to him, and even attempts to try and get him to open up more to her.

She reads psychology books, she is extremely determined having applied to Medical school on total of eight different times and obviously has the skills and interest to keep doing it despite failing and only joined Pony Express so she could make money and keep trying to get into medical school.. She also has good taste in music, one that Swansea and Curly enjoy very much. She also seems to get along well with Daisuke and even allows her emotions to show with anger when they play games they seem to have much of the same sense of humour, judging by how Daisuke is genuinely worried about her when she locks herself in the Medical, they seem to have a positive relationship. We don't know much about her relationships with the others beyond what the wiki can provide.

She seems to have the best relationship with Curly, although. And after the crash, she can't bear to give Curly his pills due to him being in visible agony and her own trauma of forcing him to do something he very obviously doesn't want to endure, likely due to memories of her assault being triggered by both the act of forced insertion and the sounds produced by Curly during it.

Anya also spends most of her free time studying. She runs to clear her head. And when she really needs to destress, she binges on the worst reality television and fast food. She is a very free-spirited woman who is eternally doomed to be reduced to nothing but a hapless, miserable victim.

Final Comments and Thoughts

I don't have much to say here unlike my last analysis, but the situation on the Tulpar is not as straightforward as people would like, I understand it's extremely cathartic to think of a situation where Jimmy gets what he deserves but it isn't realistic, and thats what this game is trying to say. Abusive corporations, exhausting capitalism, this environment breeds Abusers like Jimmy and victims like Anya and Curly. There was nothing that could be done. Pony Express is what doomed them all, they're the catalyst.

Anya deserves to be written and viewed as more than just a representation, a victim or a vengeful hysterical bitch. She deserves to be happy!

Thank you for reaching the end of the thread, please don't be scared to share your thoughts in the tags or in my inbox, I'd love to hear them! good job! (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡

[jadeshifting]

— WHY DO WE USE FACE CLAIMS ? ( on self expression vs. self acceptance )

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there’s no right way or wrong way to reality shift !! it’s your desired reality, i was just thinking a lot about this and wanted to explore it :^) you’re a hottie no matter what

let’s get real for a sec—for a lot of people, reality shifting is a big box to unpack. you’re diving headfirst into worlds you’ve daydreamed of, stepping into lives that feel almost too good to be true. and for many shifters, deciding how you’re going to look in that world is a massive part of the process. are you going in with your current face, turning up the dial on your best features, or picking a whole new look entirely? let’s unpack why people use face claims and how it connects to self-expression and self-acceptance without pinning down a “right” or “wrong” way to do it—because there is none

I’LL GLOW IF I WANT TO

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when you’re scripting your desired reality, the sky’s the limit. wanna rock Cleopatra-level cheekbones or walk around looking like a Hollywood heartthrob? go for it. face claims can basically be considered the ultimate form of creative self-expression. shifting gives people a chance to experiment with how they present themselves—trying on different faces the way you’d try on a new style. it’s not about hating your current appearance; it’s about exploring what it would be like to see yourself in a completely different light

think about it like this: when you pick an outfit, you’re not rejecting your body; you’re accentuating it. choosing a face claim is the same vibe. sometimes, shifters just want to see themselves with glowing emerald eyes, elfin features, or hair that looks like it was spun from gold. it’s an art project with you as the canvas

I’M THE STANDARD IN THIS REALITY

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for those of us who stick with our current face but tweak it to perfection (a nose here, a sharper jawline there—speaking from experience), it’s about self-acceptance with a little razzle-dazzle. you’re not flipping the script entirely; you’re just adding a few edits, or maybe just editing how people view it. a lot of shifters script that everyone in their DR thinks they’re the most beautiful person in the world—understandable, who wouldn’t want the reactions of the world around you to reflect a truth you already know? (read: you’re the baddest)

this approach is less about changing who you are and more about experiencing a version of yourself where insecurities don’t exist. it’s a way of rewriting how others perceive you, which can feel insanely validating. shifting to a world where people light up just by looking at you? that’s not shallow—it’s empowering, and it’s what you deserve

FACE CLAIMS AS FANTASY FULFILLMENT

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okay, let’s talk pure fantasy. sometimes using a face claim has zero to do with insecurity or self-critique—it’s about stepping into a role you feel your DR self is playing. if you’re shifting to Hogwarts, maybe you want to look like a mysterious, windswept witch straight out of a gothic novel. if you’re heading into a fame DR, maybe you want a face that screams “paparazzi magnet”

face claims let you embody a version of yourself that you feel is so totally different from your CR identity that they can’t even look the same. for some people. it’s about blending into the world you’re shifting to and adding an extra layer of immersion

THE “WHAT IF” FACTOR

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there’s also this delicious curiosity about what it would feel like to be someone new. not just becoming aware of a different reality, but of a whole new body. it’s not always about beauty; sometimes, it’s about seeing how the world reacts to you differently. does having piercing blue eyes change the way people treat you? does a sharp jawline give you a more commanding presence? face claims let you experiment with identity in ways that aren’t always possible in your CR

this curiosity doesn’t have to mean dissatisfaction with yourself. it’s more like flipping through the “what if” scenarios in your brain—testing out new lenses to see the world, and yourself, through

SELF-ACCEPTANCE IS STILL THE GOAL

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here’s the thing: reality shifting isn’t an escape from yourself—it’s a chance to celebrate yourself. whether you’re sticking with your current face, making a few edits, or picking an entirely different look, it all comes down to what feels right for you

the process of scripting can even boost self-acceptance in your CR. you might script yourself as flawless in your DR, but the more you embrace that idealized version of yourself, the more you start seeing those qualities in your current self, too. you spend endless amounts of time siiiiigh-ing over all the amazing things your DR self is going to experience, but when you realize they’re always you at the end of the day, that confidence spills into every version of yourself you become aware of, including in your CR

THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

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at the end of the day, the beauty of reality shifting is that there are no rules. your DR is your playground, and you get to decide how you show up. whether you’re rocking your current face, tweaking a few features, or going full-on face claim mode, it’s all valid. self-expression and self-acceptance aren’t opposites—they’re two sides of the same coin.

so, the next time someone gives you side-eye for using a face claim, just remember: you’re traveling the multiverse. you’re not bound by CR norms, insecurities, or expectations. you’re becoming aware of your most preferred self, and that’s a privilege most people can’t even fathom.

regardless of whether you’re rocking your current look or testing out a whole new vibe, the goal is to feel good about you. so, don’t overthink it. face claims, tweaks, or au naturel—it’s all about feeling like the star of your own universe. and honestly? you already are

happy shifting !! xx :^)

[superstarzzzzz]

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.

[that-one-kiddo-in-the-back]

Lily is so exhausting I don’t think the name schizophrenia is why people consider it a scary disorder does the word dyslexia scare people? It scares people because hallucinations and being disconnected from reality have always scared the shit out of people and the media has been unfair to mental illness. Is bipolar a scary word? Is psychopath a scary word? No people put their impressions onto the words based on stereotypes. WHICH IS STILL BAD but just changing the name to something not scary wouldn’t help because being “crazy” is something that has scared people for all of time.

I can tell ya right now. My family member has bipolar and you know what the scariest thing they've done? Gone on a three minute long rant about Rome, Pizza, the stars, star vs. the forces of evil, then shipping. In that order.

Most mental illnesses already have different names for them bipolar is manic depression, psychopath is Antisocial personality disorder.

It's like you said changing the name won't do shit. You'd have to change all of Hollywood and the stigmatism of mental disorders.

What pisses me off is that the whole post is just a big "Oh whoa is me. My stalkers are calling me a narcissist"

[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.

[01-05-2001]

hey i remember you posting about catcher in the rye and i was just wondering what you think holden’s “bullet” wounds represent (this is totally not for a school assignment 😭)

this is really killing me im glad that someone doing their assignment thought of me as a verifiable source on holden caulfield lore

haven’t read it in a few months but IMO any sort of fantasised injury lends itself to like. a physical manifestation of internal pain ?

escaping reality by leaning into a fantasy, using hollywood tropes that boost a sense of grandiose (vs. his low self esteem in reality)

struggling to process his deep internal conflicts (grief, implied SA), picturing it as a physical wound might be the only way to contextualise his pain? think of a bullet wound: brutal, often deadly. but also incredibly invasive, penetrative.

anyway do your homework

[bwv572]

People on the Elon website are arguing about the Odyssey and in particular Emily Wilson's bad translation of it, and somewhere along the way this opened up the discussion to an aesthetic debate about the older "flowery" translations vs the modern day "everyday speech" translations.

This is right up my alley as I was thinking about this earlier this year as I was compiling John Dryden plays in my own personal edition, and in particular after reading John Dryden's essays where he defended his high and lofty verse in the face of critics who derided it as "unnatural". And I began to think about the impossibility of a dryden style translation or even an original work in that style being published today. In the tastes of modern classicists, Alexander Pope's translation of the Iliad, or John Dryden's translation of Aeneid, are both considered pretentious, old fashioned, inaccurate (I disagree, I've read both texts side by side betore), and depending on how far left the academic is, classist.

I have been wanting to write an essay for a while now, "In Defense of Artifice", where I earnestly defend the use of artifice in poetry and drama, the flowery language, the "unnatural" meter and rhymes, as a sort of sacred elevation in art form from the lowly, profane, "realistic", "everyday" quality of modern sensibilities. I haven't really gotten a single night with more than four hours of sleep in over two months though so I haven't done it.

But while thinking about this essay, there was a paradox that came to mind that I haven't really resolved: the more grounded in reality a culture seems to be, the more artificial its artistic sensibilities are; while the more fake and gay a culture seems to be, the more "realistic" its artistic sensibilities become.

Take movies: actors today now do everything they can to "act normal". The actor of today does not use exaggerated diction, dramatic elocution, mimed poses, and so forth, like an actor would for Shakespeare; the actor instead looks like a normal dude from the street (albeit hotter, usually), mumbles on camera, says 'umm', 'ahh', etc. The actor's task is to not sound like an actor. In today's sensibilities, "classic acting" is reserved primarily for comedic roles (because comedy still requires exaggeration). Think of a movie like Hail Caesar, which is a love letter to old Hollywood, and all of the acting is exaggerated and higher than life, but it's all comedic. Part of the joke is that it's funny people used to act like that, even though the movie leaves you kind of wishing that actors still would act like this.

Quentin Tarantino sort of hit the sweet spot where his actors were "classic actors", but his dialogue was "natural" (although it becomes more outdated every year as people become more antisocial and no longer talk that way, revealing the actual artifice more and more, and younger idiot critics pick up on that). Think of the tipping scene in Reservoir Dogs or the random chit chat throughout Pulp Fiction.

But you also see the same impulse in the demand for representation. The suspension of disbelief was higher in older art: men and boys played women, a moor character may have been a white in blackface (or maybe even no attempt at changing his skin color at all). The characters themselves were obvious stock characters, the plot was cliche, the romance was unrealistic, the violence and murder was left to your imagination, the speech was higher than life: meter, rhyming couplets, Latin and Greek derived words flying like bullets. It was understood that the character on stage is not a "real character", that people do not "really talk like this", that romance doesn't really "work like that", that murder is probably a lot harder and more gruesome than watching somebody fall down on the stage, and so on.

In essence, it was understood that the stage and the page are artificial, not real, and that artifice was integral to a good piece of art.

But people today require that characters on the screen DO act and talk and look like people in real life, that actors be diverse in sex and ethnicity as in the broader population, that romance and sex and drug and violence scenes be "realistic", and so on.

The paradox is that the people today are so fake and gay that they can't even handle fake being fake: they have to make fake media even faker by being more realistic. Take a second to ponder that. In essence, they affirm the artificial but they shun the artifice. In day to day life, they deny reality, and live in fantasy. They believe that men can become women, but not on the screen.

They even hyperreality'd drag queens into existence! Drag queens are actually an interesting example because they were originally a highly artificial "classic acting" overexaggeration of female characters in the artifice of the stage. It was literally just blackface but with womanface. But now, in modern day circles, people look at old drag queens and discuss them with the modern language of the transgender community. They are no longer ordinary people who play around with artifice and step into a character, but are actually "really like that". Take Lou Reed's boyfriend, I don't remember his name, but you can't even find old articles about him with his original name and pronouns anymore, because people retroactively speak about him as if he was a trans woman, when he was a gay man whose hobby was performing in drag shows, when Lou Reed's band mates called him a he and referred to him as Lou's boyfriend. And then there's the stonewall myth where people pretend that trans women "threw the first brick" when the trans women in question were gay men that occasionally did drag for fun.

And so on and so forth and etc, mostly etc.

I can't really make sense of this paradox, I haven't solved it yet, I'm just thinking here. Of course it's not just artistic sensibility in a vacuum, and it's not all politics either. The rise of more "realistic" technology (cameras which show every single wrinkle and pore on the skin, microphones which allow actors to mumble and whisper instead of shouting and yelling all the time) is involved. I even think the loss of ceremonials in every day life as people become less religious and people participate in civil rituals less and less (I saw the other day a post mocking an older man for actually following the ritual to the book of burying a flag) has a role in this.

This all goes back to the magic circle in the end of the day, that is, a hallowed out area separate from ordinary life where different rules pertain - rules of ritual, ceremonialism, games, art, law, etc. There's another paradox here, where the magic circle is seemingly stronger than ever, even though the magic circle is now less delineated than ever with the advent of the internet allowing us to be "online" 24/7 even when we're not looking at a screen. All of this interacts, but I'm trying to resolve too many interrelated paradoxes at once and I can't do it right now. Eventually it will make a good essay that nobody will read.

[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

[daisys-reality]

ANSWERED ASKS & OTHER POSTS MADE BY DAISYS-REALITY ♡๑

In this section you can find some ask/questions I received here as well as some of my original posts... I guess. This is pretty random, I mainly chose those that could be interesting for you guys ! For tarot readings please check my tarot masterpost.

☆ waking up with memories in your dr

☆ requesting pick a card reading topics

☆ manga moodboard, fantasy world moodboard, fashion moodboard, gregory peck moodboard (old hollywood crush), mermaid dr moodboards: ver. 1, ver. 2, ver. 3, ver. 4, ver. 5,

☆ law of assumption memes, law of assumption memes, reality shifting memes

☆ law of assumption vs. tarot/astrology spirituality

☆ mini shifting imagine (CR lover), mini shifting imagine (animal crossing DR), mini shifting imagine (prison life), mini shifting imagine (anime x astrology),

☆ me doing dumb but fun quizzes lol: xxx (deity), xxx (mystery novel), xxx (greek god lover), xxx (kpop type), xxx (underutilized spn angel), xxx (y/n stereotype), xxx (not your love language), xxx (colors), xxx (naruto villain), xxx (villainous woman from greek mythology)

☆ is time real or just an illusion?

☆ even gods should respect you

☆ shifting to a better cr is not a sin

☆ aging yourself up or down in your dr

☆ dr ask about mermaid anatomy and reproduction/diet + further mermaid dr asks one and two

☆ does your mind(set) need to be positive to manifest?

☆ do you think I'll make it?....

☆ getting more in touch with your intuition

☆ dealing with blockages while manifesting

☆ the term "reality shifting" in my pick a card readings

☆ making a state feel natural & dealing with intrusive thoughts

☆ do i do exchange readings? + shoutout to another reader

☆ how i do my tarot readings

☆ listening to subliminals is not a sin

☆ how to listen to subliminals

☆ getting complete manifestation and not gradual progress

☆ do your DR readings also apply to the future, for those of us who don't have intentions on shifting/don't shift?

☆ how to request a tarot reading

☆ do you still take tarot reading requests?

☆ a guide to scripting (reality shifting)

☆ what happens to someone's family when they shift?

☆ after two years I still don't understand what shifting is or what it requires...

☆ as someone who practices divination techniques, how do you see the law of assumption and reality shifting? || + part two

☆ can shifting be used on one own reality?

☆ advice for shifters that feel uncomfortable with astral projecting, lucid dreams, or void state

☆ dealing with jealousy (law of assumption)

☆ supernatural powers vs. shifting and manifesting

☆ manifesting time travel

☆ dreams and signs related to the 3rd eye chakra (reality shifting)

☆ waiting for desires is not living in the end?

☆ living in the end and waking up with all desires

☆ how to embody the state of consciousness as someone who already has their desires

☆ cycles of doubts and overthinking

☆ inducing a specific brainwave to manifest faster

☆ struggles with negative thoughts and visualization

☆ struggles with feeling trapped and hopeless

☆ what advice to figure out what you want? (manifesting)

☆ transgender/lgbtq+ vs. religious beliefs/spirituality/law of assumption

☆ reality shifting is not the same as lucid dreaming

☆ talking to your higher self in the void state

☆ the void state is not supposed to be uncomfortable

☆ advice on figuring out what you want? (manifesting)

☆ can you let me know if the next time I shift will be a success?