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handlewithkara · 3 years ago

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@supercorpizgaybaiting heavily, but also not exclusively. It's not like Karadox or Karamel fans aren't also more or less secretly hoping that things could stil go their way or even Superdey fans were hopeful at some pepole. People are going to disagree what counts as subtext.

In the end, if writers put subtext there intentionally (and I know of at least one instance of a writer saying no in twitter to a claim about one of his episodes) then you don’t have to fight for your couple, the writers intend to do them as a couple anyway. However if the writers don’t want to do your couple because they are not feeling them, then they are not going to do them. And trying to force them is not going to lead to good results.

Take let’s say Mon-El being given Kara’s necklace or Mon-El giving Kara his Legion ring. Would you deny that those are traditional romantic signifiers, the kind of thing that would make a fan expect that those signifiers will come back in a way? Same with the long look and little quirky smile Kara gave Mon-El in episode 100. And yet at the same time there is a chance that they won’t be in a romantic context.

Same for let’s say Karadox fan who for example saw something special in the recent Kara and Brainy balcony scene.

Or who can point to a writer actually confirming that he wrote a Brainy scene back in season 3 as a potential tease of Karadox (the scene where Mon-El leaves the scene and Brainy walks in instead). Does that mean that Kara and Brainy have to end up as a couple? Because there is a good chance they won’t.

Because writers change, storylines change. There is no proof that something somebody wrote in season 3 was ever a promise that it would be back and even if it was meant as a promise it’s no proof that the completely different writers team feels any obligation to cash in the promise a writer who isn’t even with the show anymore made in season 3.

To me “baiting” is not a replacement for an actual storyline. If writers want to do a story, they will write that story. Point blank.

The complaint here has always been that about the supposed claims of baiting has been that they have never been exclusive. Ie, some scenes have paralleled Lois and Clark scenes from other media but:

1.) The show literally starts out with the show co-opting and reinterpreting and reinacting traditional Superman, including Superman and Lois scenes redoing them with Kara and Alex. And yet you don’t see as many people insisting the show HAS to do romantic Kara and Alex even though the show literally starts out with them reinacting and reinterpreting two iconic Superman and Lois scenes (Kara saving Alex on the plane, kid Kara taking Alex flying).

2.) A lot of supposed parallel scenes are really generic scenes that exist either for other characters on Supergirl as well (ie Kara saving somebody in a helicopter, Kara carrying somebody bridal style) or they also exist for Superman and non romantic characters.

Again, baiting or supposed baiting is not a replacement for an actual storyline. Watch Xena and Gabrielle. Xena and Gabrielle weren’t baiting, it was writers writing a full fledged story that they cared deeply about.

This is what writers do when they really want to do a couple but are denied by a network to make it explicit. They write stuff about a kiss that is necessary to the plot somehow. Twice! They write crazy scenarios where Xena and Gabrielle are turned into vampires and bite each other. They write crazy scenarios where the plot forces them to dance sexily with each other. They find ways. (and yes even they even though they agreed with the shippers about the importance of Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship, still disagreed with the fans when it came to weighing the importance of that story against the importance of Xena’s redemption journey)

I never bought the claim that the same constraints that existed during Xena and Gabrielle still hold true today or that they hold true on this particular show (does lgbt stories for other characters) or network (has tons of lgbt shows including multiple shows with lgbt leads). And with Xena and Gabrielle you can see what writers do exactly when they are under constraints. It was deep, heartfelt storylines with lots of screentime not arguments about what color socks the characters are wearing.

Kara recently had a line within the show “Who cares about the ratings?” and I’m pretty sure that this is actually reflective of how the writers of the show feel right now. They know that doing social awareness stories about a black lesbian or a trans superhero maybe are not going to get them the gangbuster ratings, but they are going to do it anyway because at this point they don’t care about the ratings and it is something they firmly believe is the right thing to do. It is something they are passionate about.

If they are not writing couple X, then so me that per se implies they are not passionate enough about them. And you can’t force love. You can’t force them to be passionate about it. Either they are feeling or they don’t.

There are a lot of instances where people read things into a situation and they shouldn't have.

See the only thing I disagree with here is whether the onus on that is on the audience or on the writers. Especially when I would argue there are tons of cases where fans clearly ignore “anti-bait” moments. ie the show returns and Lena is busy with Lex while Alex is the one obssessed with bringing back Kara. Everybody has a nightmare and Lena’s has nothing to do with Kara. Kara and Lena’s reuinion is not a topic at all where Kara first reconnects with the group. . Lena has her soulful conversations with Nia, not Kara. The writers actually can have gone to considerable lenghts to give them the barest minimum to still consititute a storyline that is part of the show and yet people still insist that a moment was baiting. Completely ignoring the context. Let’s hypothetically imagine a world where the writers genuinely don’t want to write them as a romance, but still genuinely want to write them as a meaningful friendship? Where they appreciate Lena as part of the show, they just don’t appreciate her in the future love interest way. Where they still want to write scenes about Lena doing cool and badass scenes, they are just not interested in writing them as a romance.

It just doesn’t strike me as fair that fans should essentially force tie their hands that they aren’t allowed to write any scenes, because no matter what scene they write, fans will insist that it is baiting, even if the scene actually doesn’t stick out compared to all the other scenes they write in a non romantic context for let’s say Kara/Alex, Kara/Brainy or Kara/Nia.

Like let’s say a Karadox fan feeling the balcony scene between Kara and Brainy feeling unfairly like a romantic scene (comnig basically back to back with Kelly and Alex, a romantic couple sharing a balcony scene) completely ignoring the context that people having deep talks on balconies is kind of a staple on Supergirl and Kara has done then with a long list of other characters both characters she was canonically romantically linked with and characters she was never romantically linked with. It’s definitely really nice that Brainy is in the rank of people Kara has great balcony scenes with but that is hardly proof that it has to be read as romantic when Kara has had those type of scenes with J’onn as well.

IMO the fight of the Lenashippers to me has always made more sense to me as “we are a big and loud fanbase, so you have to listen to us” rather than any claims of “we exclusively get scenes that are promises”. Again, if you were exclusively getting promises for your relationship, then you wouldn’t have to fight for it. It would just be the writers foreshadowing a storyline they are intending to do anyway.

In the end, if the writers don’t want to do your story, they are not going to do it. If they are not feeling it, if they don’t see the characters, the potential in the same way, you can’t force them. If “I think we should do a bigass storyline about Nia reconnecting with her mom” is something they feel more passionate about than they feel about developing whatever other relationship, then they don’t feel that passionate about that other relationship, at least not more than they feel about “we should tell cool stories about Nia’s dream powers”.

Because in the end, different people have different preferences and different likes. And you can’t force them to feel the same way you do about characters. There is roughly a million things I wish the show would cover in storylines and that will never happen. Like I think it’s pretty unlikely that the show will do a deep lengthy story on how Alex uses alcolhol in the few episodes we have left, or that they will do a deep dive storyline on Alex’s time before she joined the DEO. Because in the end, I have to accept that the writers just don’t see this topic the same way, just aren’t as interested in it as I am. They likely have a list of things they still want to tackle before the show ends and apparently those things I like or care about are not on that list at all or at least not high enough.

You can’t force people to have exactly the same interests as you.

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des-shinta · 4 years ago

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From what I've read about the latest Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger special, it's supposedly another one of Shinichiro Shirakura's meta-narratives, assuming he's involved with it as he's the producer of Zenkaiger. Do you have any idea why Shirakira loves doing stuff like this, like with the Taisen movies and Amazons?

From just my long observations on the matter and all of his presented conduct... I believe it to be an “I know what’s best, better than anyone else” attitude that leads him to attacking fans and what people Like INSIDE the stories of the content he produces; generally because what he is behind doing ends up so widely (or in retrospect) Loathed by both his target audience and the various peripheral demographics of these series...not helped by him insisting on doing minor variations on the same damn thing over and over again because Shirakura believes that fans have the memories of Goldfish due to him buying into the “TV shows only have a lifespan of around 150 episodes” Myth. I.E. the 3-conseuctive-years-or-7-western-seasons-year Rule that has long been disproven. No joke on that, he’s cited it on numerous occasions. Even those who claim to like them generally do for either the wrong reasons, in ignorance of what the content was contextually doing, or in hope that the repeat will be better...when it usually ends up worse. Which all is consistent with why the man became a producer in the first place by his own words; he hated what he himself was seeing being made that actually WAS Seeing success, and believed he could do it better. He has not, to the point that literally anyone else using media he’s responsible for has done better with it. Case in point there, how I pointed out how MMPR season 1 lost or ironed out a grand majority of the failings of Zyuranger, (even though by PR standards MMPR season 1 is only not a bad season Solely because no-one state-side had done a show like it before, and every season that aped it in the Samurai-onwards period has done WORSE than it, thus all the legit bad slots have been taken up). It breeds a sense of “he hates what other people liked, so will ruin it to force people to see it like HE DOES”, without any self-awareness that assassinating the characters of others for the glorification of his own characters as we have seen time and again from him...leads people to not turn against the people and stories we liked...but on him and his characters that caused this assassination instead. To use an American media analogy, one of the best Short-term comics storylines was a weekly DC comic book called “52″ (If you’ve watched Linkara’s “Atop the fourth wall” series, you may know where I’m going with this.) the comic line was a spinoff from the event “Infinite Crisis”, filling in a series of events that occurred during a DC-universe-wide Timeskip, that was told from the points of view of minor characters living with the fallout of the IC event. DC Editor-in-chief Dan Didio purportedly hated 52, and in a leadup to DC’s next major event “Final Crisis” commissioned the Event Miniseries “countdown to Final Crisis”, mandated it’s story direction with no understanding of the event it lead into with no collaboration with Final Crisis’ writer (meaning all of its events end up being 100% noncanon to EVERYTHING)...and put a bunch of people who had no reason to be part of writing such an event or utilizing the characters they were TOLD to use even if they were in no way familiar with how they SHOULD act. “Countdown” is what Dan Didio considers to be “52 Done Right”...and it is also widely known as one of the worst Comics series Ever made. Didio never really got over that, thus leading to, when DC Rebooted its canon in the early 2010′s, to use the branding “The NEW 52″, resulting in the moniker being forever tarnished as TN52 stuff is, once more, widely regarded as Garbage. Once more, see your preferred comics youtuber for a larger biopsy on that mess, most of my western comics knowledge has largely come from information Osmosis from Comics youtubers like Linkara and Brian “last angry Geek” Heinz (met both in person several times, they’re very nice), or from my Roommate John who’s a huge comics fan that has recently burned bridges with DC over stuff like “Heroes in Crisis”. But back on point, a lot of this also used in many ways to destroy the old with it’s return/update in favor of The New. You know that Last Jedi “Let the past die, Kill if if you have to” Line that became the byline for the Star Wars Sequels? That seems to be what he does *with Sincerity*, claiming with words to respect the past, but *in his presented actions* not caring how it’s depicted at all because he seems to have no respect for other’s past work (even seemingly ones that would seem like his own in some cases) if it’s for the purpose of glorifying what He himself is responsible for. Case’s in point in that being how Tsukasa was recently Murdered in the rider time specials by being curbstomped by an Ohma Zi-O that by his mere presence Tsukasa should have been Depowering as Tsukasa has the ability to disable ridewatch-derived powers due to his Rider cards, how Zi-O’s head writer flat-out admitted that on Shirakura’s suggestion he only watched the Rider’s film entries to have any knowledge of the franchise depsite continuity in many of them being AU, inconsistent, or not dealing at all with the larger more-focused thrusts of the story that made depiction of most of them wrong and then played writing the rest of...everything by ear and no internal consistency... and going back to the Taisen films...how the awful depiction of the Showa riders actually destroyed their marketability entirely. And I’m not kidding on that, while Showa Rider legend merch wasn’t a great seller, we have hard numbers evidence reported by the Tokusatsu Network that After Kamen Rider Taisen turned them into Villains in it’s story...the entire market for Showa Rider merch Died. It’s why you don’t see any past the Drive Signal bikes, no-one wanted them anymore, Bandai couldn’t get them or most of the Showa Rider lockseeds to sell; there was that steep a dropoff in interest. It’s not helped by who he picks out to do these are generally writers that are not very good on their own or are pliable to the desires of the producer they’re working with. And in Zenkaiger’s case...well, Junko Komura as a head writer has come to have a trackrecord of screwing over characters people otherwise like in favor of those people don’t, which puts her right in his wheelhouse. So yeah, TLDR? HE does it because he thinks his stuff is better, and anyone that disagrees is an enemy of and IN the content he makes.

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nerdylittleshit · 5 years ago

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Thoughts about Spn 15x05

BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!

What an episode. This truly will be the most meta-season ever, that really made me wonder how casual viewers might experience these episodes. There might be small references, like the fake ID’s they use who we last saw in 1x02, that don’t matter for the plot, and are Easter Eggs for the fans. But take a character like Lilith: though she has been mentioned here and then over the years (last in 15x03) the last time we saw her was in season 4, which is over 11 years ago. People who never rewatched the show and analysed it to death might simply have forgot about her (and the same goes to Becky). At this point we are so far down the rabbit hole you are lost if you haven’t paid attention. Personally I like how self-referential the season is, but I’m curious to know how the general audience receives it.

Just like last week we have a commentary on the episode itself within the episode, with the only difference that by now Sam and Dean are part of the conversation and are now aware that Chuck still writes about them. Like Becky before we have now Lilith who talks about the episode in pretty much the same way the fans do: she analyses the story, draws parallels, talks about “foreshadowing” etc. But while Becky was/is a fan and has seen ‘Supernatural’ always mostly as a story (she realized she loves Sam as a character, not as an actual person etc), Lilith on the other hand has been a character in said story, though she had always been aware that she had a role to play within a story. And in fact Sam and Dean not playing along and expressing free will ruined that story from her perspective. So in a way it makes sense that Chuck would resurrect Lilith, because unlike Sam and Dean she is used to play her part in any given story.

This new reveal will make things very interesting for the next episodes, because once again Sam and Dean have to start questioning everything happening to them and if their choices are really their own. But before we go there, let’s have a closer look at this week’s episode.

“Easy’s good. I like easy.”

Let’s start with Cas, or rather Cas’s absence, because it kinda frames the episodes. After the cold open we see Sam texting Cas, and from his messages it seems like Dean hadn’t told him the exact reason why Cas left (“Didn't realize you were taking off”). So their break up (because that is what the narrative made it look like) is something Dean didn’t feel comfortable enough to share with Sam, indicating that perhaps he does feel guilty about the harsh words he had used and the way he had treated Cas ever since Mary’s death. Still, there is no sign that Dean himself has communicated in any way with Cas. We end the episode with Sam calling Cas, leaving him a message on his mailbox. Not one, but two times the show reminded us that Cas is not around, that something is clearly missing and their little family is not complete.

The case of the week, as Sam at some point realizes, is a bit too easy. There is an eye-witness, who can also name the man who attacked her. It is uber-obvious that werewolves are responsible for the attacks and they are easy to find. In the end the Winchesters didn’t even had to kill them, they did it themselves. Just as easy as the actual case is the meta layer. The werewolves are two brothers, one of them the good son, trying to follow the rules of their late father, not wanting to hurt or kill anyone, the other one a monster, incapable of change. One kills the other, before killing himself. The parallels to Sam and Dean are obvious, as is the foreshadowing. It’s not clever or deep or multi-layered and well… it’s not supposed to. It’s bad on purpose, wanting us to question what is going, with Sam even pointing out that something feels weird. The big reveal – that Chuck is still writing their story – comes shortly after, giving the audience a manual as how we have to perceive the next episodes: with precaution, always aware that what we see is Chuck’s writing.

“He is not exactly Shakespeare”

The thing about Chuck’s writing is that there are some obvious mistakes in it. How is it possible that God had the power to resurrect Lilith from the Empty, when the Empty itself once told us that God has no power over there? Who is lying here and why? Why bringing back Lilith of all people (or rather demons) in the first place? Does Chuck need her for one of his endings? Clearly she has her own agenda and does not like to follow Chuck’s script, just as Sam and Dean.

And again it is obvious that Chuck doesn’t know his own characters. He gave Lilith the order to seduce Dean (why?), oblivious to the fact that that wouldn’t happen for several reasons. Then of course we have Ashley/Lilith telling Dean how great it would be if everything was planned for you, everything in your life already decided. Free will and found family are the two main themes of the series and Chuck ignores both, with dismissing/ignoring Cas and actually thinking he could force Sam and Dean into accepting the roles he had written for them.

We learn what Chuck’s preferred ending for the series is: one brother has to kill the other, after he turned dark side. It is clear by now that what Sam sees in his dreams are not visions of the future but instead visions of Chuck’s possible endings (as many had suspected). We have now seen three visions: in one Sam had been drinking demon blood again and killed Dean (in which Benny was present); in another Sam had become Lucifer’s vessel, with Dean trying to kill him, resulting in Dean’s death; and in the last one we saw Dean once again with the Mark of Cain, killing Sam. We know that Chuck had stopped writing after season 5, so the Mark of Cain storyline isn’t official canon of the books, as far as we know (and neither is Benny). Chuck would know about it, but his readers would not. And it is not just that a character like Benny isn’t official book canon, he is also pretty much dead. Just as Lucifer, which would make it impossible for Sam to become his vessel again (also we only saw Lucifer!Sam wearing a white suit once, which was in the endverse, something Dean had witnessed but not Sam). Then again with the reappearance of Lilith it is possible Chuck might bring back every character from the dead, simply because he wants to. It is obvious that Chuck plays with his greatest hits, but none of the visions Sam has seen so far seems realistic/like something that might actually happen. Then again we shouldn’t trust Chuck as a writer.

Lastly something Lilith told the brothers was quite interesting: that she had only died because she had let herself killed; it was part of her story. Sam and Dean weren’t cleverer than her, she died because she needed to in order for her plan to work. And according to the writers this is something we will see in the next episodes: that so far Sam and Dean had been the heroes because Chuck wrote them that way, but now that will be over. Which will be such an interesting concept. Because over the last years we were so sure that Sam and Dean would always win, always come back from the dead etc, because that is what the story demanded, right? This is what we expect as an audience, so I’m curious to see those character interact without this confidence.

Until then <3

#supernatural #spn 15x05 #proverbs 17:3 #spn meta #my meta #sorry if this doesn't make sense I was very tired while writing it

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dumdeeedum · 6 years ago

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Some Queliot Queries & Exploration, hah! Shaddap.

So I really want to dive into some shit with this fandom because I really don’t understand, I really and truly don’t. And bear with me because this is going to get long but ideally it would open up a discussion and the dialogue can be a learning opportunity for me if someone comes correct or for others if someone takes something away from all of this: Why shouldn’t the writers have to deal with the fact that season 4′s decision to allude to Eliot and Quentin as a couple is a ret-con? Why shouldn’t they have to deal with the fact that for all intents and purposes Quentin’s bisexuality and Eliot and Quentin’s relationship has never been explicit (there’s allusions to it in season 1- maybe, season 3- barely, and now season 4)? Why shouldn’t they have to deal with the fact that the audience was never told that Eliot and Quentin were explicitly a couple in Fillory until season 4 and even then they can’t erase the fact that Quentin married a woman after having something with Eliot and that they then chose to ignore the entire episode until halfway into season 4? Why shouldn’t the writers have to deal with their poor decisions and poor writing in a meaningful way? Why is fandom trying to erase these things? I’m not being facetious or an asshole here, I’m truly curious.

And I really want to preface all of this with a critique of something I’ve been seeing a lot on here and that’s that fandom and Eliot are somehow erasing Quenin’s bisexuality. They’re not, the writers are.

The thing is, television is a mostly visual medium, you have freedoms that come with that but also limitations. There’s the freedom to show and not have to tell so as to not have to go into long descriptions and “show don’t tell” has really become a fundamental rule in visual media because it’s really hard to pull off the kind of exposition literary media can get away with in visual media. This has been true since visual media was limited to the stage and has only become more true as technology has caught up with the more fantastical things creators want show now. So it becomes imperative, given this show don’t tell rule, to find another way to express certain things you’d simply be able to cover in a book by describing somebody’s thought process or having a character narrate their story.

You can have a narrator in visual media but you really have to be careful with how much you use them and for what otherwise you’ve made bad visual media, especially when you’ve already set things up another way. Case in point, the show Veronica Mars started the show with Veronica narrating and normalized it so that it was never grating, never too much, and was generally never used when it was better to show instead of tell.The Magicians, on the other hand, has used narration very sparingly and it’s never become an aspect of the show that gives us those same glimpses into Quentin’s mind, especially since he no longer seems to be the sole focal point of the show.

So when it comes to representation on visual media it simply isn’t enough to imply or allude and then never bring it up again. Or, in our case, to overtly display certain aspect of someone’s sexuality while explicitly ignoring the other aspects with the expectation that the audience go with it when the creators call the character “bisexual.” This is especially true on a week-to-week television show where not everyone’s been watching from the beginning or has that long a memory that they can remember every aspect of what came before, or hasn’t or can’t rewatch the series several times on Netflix or some other streaming service to refresh. It just doesn’t work that way on television, that’s not how you do visual media representation.

And when we have so little visibility for certain groups and when part of representation means normalizing those groups in the mainstream so that in the future their presence or their expressions of sexuality aren’t taboo, you have to do that by showing those people and by showing those expressions of their sexuality, and not just the “palatable” ones or in a “palatable” way where you can just say it and not offend anyone by showing it. And usually it’s best to show them in a good light so as to off-set the amount of bad that’s out there that was outside of their control because of systemic oppression. It’s best to have a good balance of good and bad from the very beginning and that’s something that White, het-cis people have been able to enjoy for much of the time visual media has been around. We can argue about representations of women in media, especially White cis-het women, but that’s another topic for another day and they’ve still enjoyed more of a balance than anyone else besides White, cis-het men. It’s the same reason why we can’t simply have “queer-coded” villains or the “kill your gays” tropes be so rampant, it isn’t offsetting the tons of negative that already exists for the lgbtqa community in media.

That being said:

Narratively speaking, when Eliot rejected Quentin I strongly believe that at least in this the writers were doing right by them given the ret-con and I’d like to see it explored more. Season 4 episode 5 was a good start but only a start. Now do I think that Eliot should have implied that he wouldn’t choose Quentin? Fuck no, he absolutely should apologize for that and explain where that came from because it’s clearly the result of a defense mechanism, but that’s really it. I still think the decision for Eliot to reject Quentin was the right one if only to give Quentin the chance to think about what he wants within the confines of this shitshow of a “love” story they tried to ret-con and then staple and glue together as though we’d forget everything that ever happened before season 4 episode 5 and rewrite season 3 episode 5 in our heads. If you’re saying it’s OK to erase all of that for the sake of your ship you’re asking for a bad story, which kind of sucks and I kind of feel you, but it kind of sucks. I mean, their straight relationships haven’t been the most amazingly written either but they actually happened in a meaningfully explicit way. We were given a narrative where even after Quentin kisses Eliot for the first time in Fillory (a year after they got there) and presumably has a relationship with him in Fillory after that, which, really, we didn’t know for sure because they’ve never said it, it could just have been a drunken fuck for them up until that point, Quentin marries and goes on to have a life with a woman until she dies or leaves (I was never clear on which it was). The relationship with Eliot after that is only alluded to in season 4 and still hasn’t been explicitly shown, no kisses, nothing, not outside of Eliot’s mind. And for some people that may be enough to call Quentin canonically bisexual and to call Eliot and Quentin a canonical couple that will be together in the future and while I agree he probably is and that they might, I don’t think it’s a good example of queer representation in visual media, especially when season 3′s episode was never meant to be taken that way.

Now we can always assume that it was a consensually poly-amorous relationship between Eliot and Quentin when Arielle came along but then why was Quentin the only one who had someone? Is the assumption here also that Eliot is OK being a sister wife or some shit? Why didn’t Eliot have another boyfriend to split his time with since Quentin had a wife that needed attention? They’ve established that homosexuality isn’t bad in Fillory so why not give him someone if the poly thing was what was meant to be inferred here? I’m not saying it definitively can’t be the case but I’m working with what we have and raising questions because we’ve been given very little information otherwise and I’m not sure I buy that Eliot would be OK with sharing Quentin because up until now (outside of his marriage with Fen) Eliot has not been shown to be poly-amorous and has even shown that he gets jealous if his significant other looks at someone else. And I know that when it’s discussed in a relationship it’s different and jealousy isn’t an issue but we don’t have any information on the subject as it pertains to them. Earlier in the series Eliot said that being with women is not his preference, so no, Eliot is not bisexual even if he’s had to fuck Fen; he fucked Fen because he had to and it’s a problematic as fuck storyline that effectively worked to pad anything Eliot might have had with a man with a woman. So I’m also not sure it’s too realistic an idea to have him in bed fucking Arielle with Quentin if he’s in a consensually poly-amorous relationship with them. Maybe once in a while like, as he said, one would have Thai food, but if anything we’ll give him a 1 or 2 on the Kinsey scale? (for lack of a better way to put it) So why not given him someone for him while Quentin has someone for Quentin? At the very least we’d get a non-toxic homosexual relationship for Eliot too, right?

And no, I don’t consider anything to do with the season 1′s threesome to be rooted in anything but what we’ve been told over and over that it was: the result of a lot of alcohol and emotion magic. Otherwise you have something else to deal with and that’s that Quentin is a fucking untrustworthy asshole for cheating on Alice whom he claims to have loved and that Margo and Eliot are shit friends for going with it. It could be the case but they’ve made it a point to tell us it was a result of all 3 of them being compromised and even Margo refuses to allow people to blame her for it because of that compromise.

That being said, I can understand why a gay man like Eliot would be hesitant at the idea of jumping into a monogamous relationship with a man like Quentin without giving Quentin pause to really think about it. Remember, Quentin wanting to be with Eliot happened right after he got his memories of Fillory back so it was a pretty rash, emotionally-charged decision on his part. And we already know Quentin gravitates toward escapism because of his psychological issues. Why would Eliot jump into a relationship with a man whom, from Eliot’s perspective and, more importantly, from the viewer’s perspective, has been chasing a woman since season 1 and even in Fillory decided to marry a woman when Eliot was explicitly shown to be an option? And literally the first woman he met there. Outside of Eliot, Quentin has sought out and has had relationships with exclusively female partners except for season 1 and except for Fillory which was another time and place and which was never explicitly shown to us and is only alluded to in season 4, that’s bad representation and something that requires further examination within the story!

From Eliot’s perspective it absolutely makes sense that he’d wonder if Quentin would truly be happy with him given other options, especially given the enduring presence of a woman Quentin has been chasing since season 1. We don’t know if Alice would be OK with sharing Quentin either, it’s never been explored because most of anything to do with Eliot and Quentin as a romantic couple has simply been ignored! The writers were the ones who shit the bed by giving Quentin exclusively female partners (even in Fillory) that would make Eliot wonder if he and his penis were enough. If we had some more clear and explicit depictions of Quentin’s bisexuality, especially in Fillory, Eliot wouldn’t have to worry about this shit as much. But even in Fillory Quentin chose Arielle until she was no longer an option and the writers chose to do that, the writers decided to show us one kiss between Eliot and Quentin before giving Quentin a rando wife, making her fuck off to who knows where but subsequently never showing Eliot and Quentin in a romantically intimate setting again. Some bisexual representation!

Eliot and Quentin as a pairing only comes back up literally a season later, 13 episodes later! Something has to be done about this ret-con and pretending it wasn’t a ret-con is never good writing, not the way they’re doing it! Because even after Quentin confesses his feelings during season 3x5, which we only actually find out he did in 4x5, it’s never brought up again even by depression Quentin the very episode after 3x5! The whole situation was ret-conned for season 4!

Moving forward either there has to be some mutually agreed upon, explicitly stated, explicitly shown, poly-amorous relationship set-up where they could both be fulfilled by both having someone else if they so choose to or Eliot has to have Quentin’s assurance that Quentin sees him and that he is now Quentin’s first and only choice. And both of these options have to be a show don’t tell situation! It’s actually what I hope happens in episode 12, especially since they’re once again making Quentin and Alice kiss each other and showing us yet another expression of heterosexual love while stringing us along with the idea of a homosexual one that really hasn’t happened yet.

And perhaps some people might find that to be feeding into stereotypes about bisexual people that leave a bad taste but realistically speaking exclusivity is a conversation every romantic relationship has to have and mistrust will occur if the person you’re with has only had partners of the opposite sex, has only expressed interest in people of the opposite sex, and is still hung up on someone of the opposite sex they used to date and whom is still a romantic possibility for them. That’s just how it is unless you’re one of those miraculous people who don’t experience jealousy or insecurity or have had those conversations with your partner. In this scenario it wouldn’t be that Eliot doesn’t trust bisexual people, it’d be that Eliot doesn’t know who Quentin really wants and he doesn’t think Quentin truly, deep down, would want him if he took the time to think about it. That’s fair given the givens!

And the poly thing is certainly an option but feels like a more radical move, given what we know of these characters, than having Eliot and Quentin in a monogamous relationship and given how little they’ve given us of that prospect I’m not even sure what they’ll decide to do moving forward. Maybe they’ll decide it’s more palatable to include a woman in any capacity seeing as media is still really about padding anything to do with homosexual male love scenes with heterosexual love scenes or naked women, that could also be the case and then we’d have to decide how we feel about that. We know they did that with Fillory because Arielle was pulled out of someone’s ass because it could just have been Eliot with Quentin but it wasn’t. But as of now we don’t even know if the poly thing was ever really a thing with them to begin with, we just don’t, it’s just conjecture and I’m just exploring of the possibility, they could have gotten together after Arielle dipped. I’m not saying any of this to shit on the Eliot and Quentin pairing at all, or to shit on Quentin’s bisexuality, per say, I like the idea of them and I think it should happen and I like the idea of a bisexual Quentin. But I do think these are the consequences of the way the writers have chosen to navigate these things and now they have to deal with those consequences because otherwise this pairing is silly and unrealistic moving forward outside of Fillory, and if they don’t want to pursue it then that could explain why. So why haven’t they been dealing with this by showing us a more explicitly bisexual Quentin or at the very least a more explicitly interested in Eliot Quentin outside of his confession to Eliot in 4x5? And I’m not saying he has to jump on the first dick he sees but even having a conversation with his best childhood friend about his feelings, regardless of what he thinks Eliot’s are, would be a really great jumping off point to show us that Quentin’s feelings for Eliot are trustworthy and real and not just alluded to or the result of an emotional compromise. At this point people are expecting this confession and really want it to happen for a reason.

I’d just really like to see the writers make a decision about this and stick with it because this specific type of will they, won’t they shit is why they can’t be trusted and why it’s so easy to wonder whether they’re queerbaiting. If they can explore Julia and Penny23, Kady and Penny, Margo and Josh, and even Alice and Quentin’s relationships during this monster arc without it taking away from the life or death severity of the situations they’re in then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be exploring Quentin and Eliot’s even if it’s just Quentin being introspective but showing us that introspection in some way. We’ve gotten Eliot’s but we really haven’t gotten Quentin’s and I think that’s what we’re all waiting for or should be waiting for and it’s imperative that it happens to build the trust in the writers the viewers need to become emotionally attached to the idea that a pairing will actually happen on screen and that the viewers aren’t just being fucked with for views. It isn’t fair to expect the blind faith from viewers towards the writers and show-runners that too many people in this fandom are demanding!

We shouldn’t have to go on a fucking deep-dive, clue-finding mission to break down every single fucking interaction to look for a relationship the writers are supposedly explicitly trying to build because that’s not how they’ve built any other relationship. They’ve jumped right into every straight pairing but somehow this one is the one they have to draw out to an almost unrealistic degree and add 50,000 layers of nuance to? The one with the most history and proof that it worked based on what the writers themselves have told us? Alice and Quentin were fucking within a season, Kady and Penny within a season, Margo and Josh within a season for some godforsaken reason, Julia and Penny23 are macking and seeing each other naked within a season but we can’t even get Quentin to be introspective about being in love with Eliot for one episode? We have to settle for allusions to their pairing and a couple of blink and you miss them kisses, one of which wasn’t even between the two men themselves? I’m not saying that the Eliot and Quentin pairing won’t happen but it absolutely hasn’t yet and I’m not here to pretend it has. Alice and Quentin were “in love” within a season, why can’t we explore Eliot and Quentin’s love in a meaningful way after a canonical 50+ years? Why has it been OK so far that the writers aren’t exploring Quentin’s part of this relationship at all if it’s their intention to pursue it? And why should we trust them and take it as faith that this pairing isn’t something they thought of doing but have long since thrown out?

Is it bad writing? Is it not gonna happen? What is it because I’m confused as fuck and nothing that’s been happening recently has helped because the writers have opted to waste a shitload of time in a 13 episode season rather than explore what they ought to be exploring in that limited amount of time.

I say all that to ask this: Can we just hold the writers and show-runners accountable to their shitty decisions already? That’s really what I want because I don’t think underrepresented communities should have to settle or take the scraps thrown at them in 2019 and that feels like what a lot of people are saying ought to be done. No, they absolutely should not be happy with the bullshit they’ve been given. The community didn’t come together with pitchforks and torches to storm their writer’s room and demand Eliot and Quentin be a couple, the writers and show-runners decided to move in that direction.

If people shipped them then there’s already parts of the fandom for that and people would have made due with fic as they always have done. So why the fuck is jerking the community around like this acceptable?

I sincerely hope that there are consequences from the community if the writers and show-runners go back on this, I really do, because it was the writers’ and show-runners’ fuckup and they don’t deserve to be rewarded for bad behavior. Make them work for the good graces of the communities they’re courting and stop allowing them to do this to these already marginalized communities!

It’s well past time that they show us Quentin’s bisexuality and feelings for Eliot in a meaningful way or drop it altogether and never pick it up again and accept that they’re pieces of shit for doing this and should be cancelled, although as far as I’m concerned the damage has already done and there’s no going back without them admitting they’re garbage.

#the magicians #queliot #eliot waugh #quentin coldwater #otp #queerbaiting #lgbtqa #representation #representation matters #social #media #tl;dr #television

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margridarnauds · 5 years ago

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Yearly AO3 Meme

I saw @fallenidol-453 doing this, so I decided to jump in on the fun.

Rules: Go to your works page, expand all the filters, and answer the following questions! how fun!

1. What’s your first and second most common work ratings?

Teen And Up Audiences (17)

General Audiences (12)

2. What’s your most common archive warning? Least common? Do you consider yourself an adventurous writer?

Most common: No Archive Warnings Apply (26)

Least common: Graphic Depictions of Violence (1)

The thing is...I think that people tend to think that I’m actually much more adventurous than I am. Because I have a variety of ships that are enemy to lover and because I am very outspoken about my firm belief that people should write whatever they want, provided it’s tagged properly, I think people think that means that *I* want to write it. Or that the way I want to write it is inherently in a way that merits an archive warning, as opposed to working canon how I want. I don’t particularly like Major Character Death, though I will use it if necessary, I don’t particularly like non-con (outside of, like, consensual non-consent as a kink, which inherently ISN’T this), and most of the time, when I’ve been tempted to work with something that would qualify as “underaged,” it’s simply because of the time that the literature/media I tend to work with is set in, in the sense that, say, a 16 or 17 year old, at the time of the French Revolution, had different societal expectations than a modern 16 or 17 year old. (Nor were they necessarily ADULTS either; it’s complicated.)

In general, I don’t particularly like dealing with heavy subjects, though. I don’t really trust myself with them, and I don’t like working with them. That’s actually the primary reason why the Áife/Emer one-shot has never been published, because of the inherent heaviness of Áife’s storyline. I don’t really...think it’s something I could treat flippantly. But I also think that I’m not sure I trust myself with treating it at all.

3. How many fics have you written in each relationship category? Is this more accidental, or do you have preferences?

M/M (15)

Gen (6)

F/F (6) (+1)

F/M (5)

Multi (2)

It’s more or less accidental, though I do try to do more F/F stuff because of the scarcity of femslash in fandom. I don’t want the boys to get ALL the fun here. In general, though, I think that male characters, in most media, get the most attention, they get the most characterization, and there are more of them in general, which makes them easier to ship. Female characters....don’t, and even when you do get them, you have to find two with chemistry. It does make things very hard, in the long run and I do think that....as a WLW who writes fic, it can be very easy to fall into the “SOFT ! PURE !” trap, where you kind of condition yourself into thinking that’s the only brand for female characters in a relationship with one another to go down, ignoring that they can have the same type of complex dynamics as male characters. (That, and when it comes to F/F ships....I find that it can be TOO personal, in a sense? It’s much harder for me to remove myself, and I know that, even when I do, people are going to think that it IS a reflection one way or another. I have more in common with, say, Solène, as a character, or Margrid, but it’s much, much easier for me to slip into Lazare’s mind and stay there for a few hours. It’s a nice, cool, dark place.)

4. What are your top 4 fandoms by numbers? Are you still active in any of them, and do you tend to migrate a lot?

1789: Les Amants de la Bastille - Various Composers/Attia & Chouquet (12)

Terra Nova (TV) (5)

Irish Mythology (4)

1776 (1972) (3)

Active in 1789, TN, and Irish Mythology. I don’t really CONSIDER myself to be someone who writes for a lot of fandoms, mainly because my writing process is very intensive; it’s something I have to PUSH at to work with new fandoms.

5. What are your top 4 character tags? Does this match how you feel about the characters, or are you puzzled?

Lazare de Peyrol (11)

Ronan Mazurier (8)

Solène Mazurier (7)

Olympe du Puget (4)

I’m actually disappointed by how relatively little Olympe appears, since I feel like, of all of them, she’s my favorite as far as her CANON characterization, and my first fic was centered around her. Hopefully she’ll get some more attention this next year.

6: What are your top 4 relationship tags? Any surprises?

Ronan Mazurier/Lazare de Peyrol (8)

Abigail Adams/John Adams (3)

Solène Mazurier/Olympe du Puget (3)

Mira/Alicia Washington (2)

The ONLY surprise here is Abigail Adams/John Adams, because I don’t really consider myself IN the 1776 fandom proper. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it isn’t a PRIMARY fandom, and its prominence here is because of the drabble exchange I participated in.

7. What are your top 2 most used additional tags, and your bottom 2? What would happen if you combined all 4 of these into a fic?

Top Two:

Established Relationship (6)

Angst (5)

~These are a few of my favorite things~

Bottom Two:

Pining (3)

French Revolution (3)

Tbh? I’m surprised that there isn’t more pining and French Revolution, but.

Combining all four in a fic? I call that a regular Friday night when I’m tossing ideas at the wall. I feel like this is half my Peyronan one-shots as it is (Especially Ah, Ça Ira, AKA The Real Love Triangle of 1789 Being Between Ronan, Lazare, and Lazare’s Job).

8. How many WIPs do you have currently running on AO3? Any you don’t plan on finishing?

4, which is genuinely surprising to me because I FEEL in my soul that there are more. I haven’t given up on any of them. I know that it can FEEL like it because of the way that my updates come, especially since I began my program, but I’m COMMITTED. I was given relatively limited suitcase space when I was moving and there were three books, more than any other non-Celtic Studies books, that I wanted in. One was a book on the army during the French Revolution, one was a book on childhood from the Ancien Régime to the 20th century (which is my main secondary source used in Le Cri), and my book on the opera balls, which is obviously my major secondary source used for Curl of Lip. Pour la Peine will probably take another 3 or 4 chapters to get resolved, maybe 5, but it will be. The ending’s been written out since I began it, it’s just a matter of connecting the plot points from here on out. (The Thing that happened in the last chapter was really the last thing we needed before we slid right into the final act, which is good, because it’s where I’ve wanted to be, but it also means that now my responsibility is to bring it all home. Which certain filmmakers could take to heart. And...there’s at least one more reveal to pull off.) And the last is Brace of Snakes which...I have Plans for. The only thing is just to make sure that everything develops organically. It’s the inherent problem with working with relationship development, really, especially in something like MA that condenses SO MUCH into the span of nine years, so a lot of it is really left up to the imagination.

9. Total stories and wordcount hosted on AO3?

Stories: 33 (Officially, I have one more child to acknowledge later) Wordcount: 102,925

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bellamygateoldblog · 6 years ago

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Blog Summary Tag Game

Find your fandom kru and help them find you. Answer the following and include the tag #the100blog in your answer, then tag some of the blogs you follow.

created by @johnmurphysreddit tagged by @blodreina-noumou !

1. What are your primary topics?

My blog is pretty much divided 70/30 between t100 & skam italia (i do tend to follow more t100 blogs!) Sometimes there’s the odd post of other shows I watch/have watched.

Most of my posts are spacekru, but i reblog lots of pretty gifs/edits of anything from the show because they are beautiful and creators put lots of work into them! I’ll probably also be posting about Octavia, too, throughout s6 because i’m particularly interested in her arc.

I’m not the most eloquent writer, but i do write & reblog a fair amount of meta, some of which are very lengthy, and i understand it could be frustrating if this doesn’t interest you, so I always try to tag them as “#meta<3″ so you can filter them if you wish. (note: my blog is disorganised atm, i’m still pretty new & only just getting the hang of it lol but my newer posts are tagged properly).

2. What tags should a visitor check?

#meta<3 is where i store meta about the show, it isn’t necessarily all my own, but i do comment on quite a bit!

#anti clarke griffin is where all of my Clarke posts go, even ones that I don’t necessarily class as negative, because i think my general feelings about her character give off a negative impression regardless.

I tag with full names (e.g, #bellamy blake) and i do this with any other show besides t100 that i spontaneously reblog, too (such as #deadly class).

3. What do you love about The 100?

I love the dynamics between a lot of the characters, and i tend to focus on them a lot! There are plenty of instances where there are personality clashes, and where they’re forced to challenge one another. The dynamics also give pretty good indications of who are best suited as units or teams, and who can be percieved as being outliers to the rest.

I like that pretty much every character is presented as grey, it makes it more enjoyable to analyse them, their motivations, and their strengths and weaknesses. It’s possible to view a scene from multiple different perspectives and understand where each of the characters stand during that point in time, even when we don’t necessarily agree with them. I love the redemption arcs of both Bellamy and Murphy, I was always taken with their journey’s of seeking atonement, reflecting on their morals and place in the world, and growing as people as a direct result of their actions and the consiquences of them.

I like to be surprised; I can be a fan of major character death if it’s executed properly (no pun intended), and if this end point is consistent with the rest of their arc. I like when the trajectory of a character’s story changes suddenly, such as when Murphy went along with Jaha to the city of light, and then later regrouped with the rest of the mains, but as a member, rather than an outsider. Another example of this, just to be clearer, was Luna’s refusal to take the flame despite all the suspence and mystery surrounding her character, and i like that they didn’t result to compromising who she was in order to drive the plot!

I’m drawn to post-apocalypse/dystopian future style shows and movies for the new and exciting challenges they pose compared to the here-and-now. These types of shows are a great way of exploring ideas that wouldn’t otherwise be appropriate, such as corrupted morals, the difficulty of survival, and taking extreme measures in the face of danger. LOVE fight scenes, especially involving combat weapons, and the thrill the comes with them; they’re much more entertaining than guns.

I love some superficial drama in the midst of all the chaos, usually relationship and friendship conflicts. I feel it just brings so many more layers to the narrative, and makes the world it exists in seem bigger and deeper, while also serving to make the show more engaging by giving us something we can relate to better, no matter how silly it seems within the context of the show. This way, it doesn’t feel too plot-orientated and gives the viewer a breather from the darker aspects of the show. I think t100 did this better in the earlier seasons, especially with Octavia and Bellamy, as the dynamic conflicts that came later on all seem to be plot-related in one way or another.

I love the whole idea of finding your place in a world that works hard to suppress you.

My favourite characters are spacekru + Octavia & Diyoza (both bad bitches which i truely cannot resist). Deceased favourites: Luna, Jasper + Finn (I like the peaceful damaged ones okay)

I don’t focus too much on ships, but i have a strong preference for Becho!

4. What do you hate/what frustrates you about The 100?

Hypocrisy and double standards that exist within the narrative, and especially within the fandom. A lot of the time this is concerning Clarke.

The fandom climate in general! explicit and implicit hostility directed towards people who disagree with popular opinion, people unable to distinguish between actor and character, people opting to attack rather than discuss, people viewing the entire show through ‘shipper goggles’ and ignoring key elements of the narrative in favour of creating their own canon (people who ignore and twist past the point of it just being individual interpretation).

The wasted potential of Jasper & Finn as insights into the harmful affects and futility of war, and the puncture it makes on a person’s psyche. As much as these deaths had me shaken to my core, I could never quite get past the blatant killing-off of two of the more explictly mentally ill characters. Rather than a recovery storyline, the only solution to their struggles was death, and i’ve always felt like the writers had so much potential to address PTSD and depression more directly, through them. I think it could’ve made for an interesting storyline, and it would’ve given the writers more personalities, dynamics, and challenges to play with.

The belittlement/mocking of peaceful characters, which in a way expressed that hating violence and war made you weak and not to be taken seriously (Lincoln & Luna specifically, but also s5 Monty and s1 Finn).

Additionally, the lack of world-building. We were only given minor glimpses into the past of some characters, we didn’t get to see details on how the ark evolved, or how the present culture was formed from it’s history. We see the same approach with the grounders; we learn that every clan is different, but then we barely see how they are different. The small appearance of mutated animals and then no future mentions is another confusing point. I know most of this is simply due to time restraints, but there came a point where we didn’t learn any more than was necessary to advance the plot, and it just made the world and conflicts in it seem smaller.

Characters I dislike include Clarke, Kane & Abby (both equally as frustrating and eye-roll inducing).

5. Is this exclusively a The 100 blog?

No, but i usually only use one other main tag (skam italia) which can be filtered!

6. What else should people know?

I love engagement with my posts! You don’t need to be reluctant to add your own thoughts. Conversation is welcome as long as it is kind and respectful!

I usually don’t speak too openly about this, but I have depression, which means I sometimes go M.I.A and sometimes i’m here most of my time to keep myself busy. It varies! so if I fail to reply to anything, it may be because i don’t have the energy to just yet, but it isn’t personal!

I talk a lot in my tags, sometimes commenting on the post when i’m trying to avoid hijacking, and sometimes talking bs and tagging Bellamy “big sexy”

I have a lot of unpopular opinions in this fandom, i’m well aware of it lol but i don’t appreciate hateful anons (which i have had in the past, and they aren’t pleasant!) I prefer to keep anon turned on because some people are just more comfortable interacting that way, and that’s fine! but don’t take it being turned on as an invitation to attack me.

I don’t follow many people, but here are some people who’s blogs I love, who i tag to do this if they want to (though i know this kind of thing isn’t for everyone!)

@bound-by-stardust @fleimkepakosskairipa @awkwardnarwhall93 @fleimkepajohnmurphy @ringabellamy @spacekru-defense @skaiengineers @alrightsnaps @bunker-boyfriends

Sorry if you were already tagged!!

#the100blog #thank you for tagging me!!#finally found time to write this #and it was fun

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hackedmotionsensors · 6 years ago

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Im not updated enough w the ships but did stony get wincested? I mean like. In the SPN fandom the biggest ship if not only at first was wincest, and then a new ship appeared called destiel and totally overpowered it? Thered be the common drama of ship wars but i wanted to know if thats what happened?

lol I guess!?!?! Kind of. I don’t think it was so much of an overpowering as it was a massive butting of heads. SteveTony is still a very big ship but Stucky is also a very popular ship though fairly new since most of it stems only from MCU. Kind of different than a ship encompassing only a TV show.

So here’s what happened. The full damned story. Probably fft. its gonna be a long one folks so strap in. This isn’t really a call out but if you were curious as to why there’s so much damned fighting in the marvel fandom over really dumb shit this is an unbiased as possible explanation. Beware. I think the whole thing is dumb but I got some extra time right now.

Back in 2006 and 2007 Marvel Comics decided to have an event. You probably heard about it and they made a big movie about it. Civil War. Civil War was promoted as being a huge rift that cut down through the lines of the Marvel 616 Universe. Do you register and be accounted for your actions as a super human, or do you protect the privacy of yourself and your loved ones in an effort to fight without the limitations of government and the fear you might be policed and punished just for having powers AND put your family at risk of Supervillains (many who are tech geniuses) accessing your information and attacking your loved ones.

That was the premise. What it ended up being was a huge divorce between Steve and Tony. Like LEGIT it read as this HUGE divorce. They’ve fought many times before but they always sort of end up back together as buds. Now as fandom we took that full stop as they are clearly in love. They are divorced.

And now Steve is dead. LETS FIX IT. So since 2006-2007 a huge wave of new fans started writing fanfic. Started doing fanart. We got horny Commander Rogers when Steve eventually came back. Tony wiped his brain and we got fics from that. Steve creates his own team and refuses to give Thor and Tony to Luke to use as Avengers.

Then in 2008 Iron Man 1 is released. A bit later Captain America is released. Having known about the comics before and the rift between the two this is where yours truly gets involved. *Smash bros voice LYDIA HAS ENTERED THE HORNY GAME*

Captain America being released is also I believe the start of Steve/Bucky. Because in this universe Bucky isn’t a small child/teenager (A Robin to Cap’s Batman) so its less gross. (All things being honest I definitely drew bottom steve with young Bucky hohoho ho)

So then in 2012 Avenger 1 is released. And there’s a fresh wave of MCU fans. A lot came over from being 616/Ultimates fans but a lot were brand spanking new fans.

And then Winter Soldier was released. And it was a big gay romance between Cap and Bucky and the power of LOOVE!!!! AND FRIENDSHIPP!!!!!! Like in the WInter Soldier comics Steve has to use a cosmic cube to free Bucky’s mind and in the movie all it took was Steve Can-do attitude and his pure kokoro. Its great.

However. This is when TENSIONS RISE. Stucky being a relatively new ship and SteveTony being a fairly old ship have one common denominator and that’s Steve. And its the typical well this ship is better than that ship. This ship is older than that ship. This ship has more MEANING than that ship. This ship is PROBLEMATIC. And its been going on to this day. It escalated again when Civil War came out. Becaus Civil War is supposed to be a Steve movie but reads as an Avengers movie. But the big point of the movie is like in the comics the splitting of Steve and Tony. A big damned divorce. Now is that divorce a divorce because they can’t find a common ground, or is it that Steve’s love for Bucky over-rides his rational thought and makes him fairly hypocritical because well shit he just loves Bucky so much. He says it to Wanda “Rumlow said Bucky and I...”

It was a movie just asking for shipping wars to happen.

So that’s WHERE this stems from. But here’s the issue. I have no doubt there are plenty of SteveTony fans causing just as much shit as anyone else. But at least from my experience, the Stucky fans have been far and wide more aggressive in harassing artists, even artists who don’t speak English as a first language, harassing the actors, harassing the comic book writers and artists who don’t have anything to do with movies, claiming that they’re homophobic for wanting to have a story with Bucky (who is still in love with Natasha [and that’s a whole other ship war there]) team up with Hawkeye (who is also still mostly in love with Natasha) to hunt down Natasha. When the author said “Hey this story doesn’t have gay people in it unfortunately but here are a list of comics that have gay characters in it” they ignored them and continued saying they were being transphobic. Because the person happened to be a trans man and disagreeing with them was transphobia. Which had nothing to do with what had happened at all. They’re the same fans that in person and over radio harass Sebastian Stan so much that he has to hide who he’s dating.

They’re the same types of fans who call me a hateful cunt (which..probably true lbr) but I haven’t done anything recently. They’re the types of fans who come up to me at a con and whisper “Are you a stucky or a stony fan” And I (Because I was raised right) tell them “Oh I like both but I have a preference for Stony”. And then the person walks away. I’ve had friends tell me of their own horror stories at artist alleys where Stucky fans will open a book (clearly labeled as stevetony) go “UGH GROSS” and then put it down.

They’re the types of fans who refuse to watch an Iron Man movie but will say things like “I wish Tony would get captured and tortured by Hydra so he would know what Bucky felt like” (Which...omg that’s literally the first 20 minutes of the first iron man and the start of the MCU my dude)

They’ve attacked Thorki (and other ships and don’t get me wrong I get why people would complain about Thorki. Thorki;s generally know and don’t care about those complaints)

They’ve made entire articles on CBR, on Polygon on other internet news pages, as editors they’ve had some feisty tweets that causes some fans to worry that storylines they were enjoying (ex: Bucky/Natasha’s relationship) will get lost and destroyed in favor of a ship.

Now generally. This isn’t anything unusual. These fans exist in every fandom. And I have Stucky friends, (My BFF, one of my coworkers) and we get along just fine. Because we’re old ass ladies who realize that a ship doesn’t define our life. I think Stucky has some of the most jaw droppingly beautiful artwork this fandom has produced.

They just unfortunately have a lot of bad apples that seem to have only time to hassle other people and try to tear down other fans and have the loudest voices.

Also I’m 1000000% not saying that SteveTony fans probably don’t start as much shit as the rest but from my experience and from what I’ve seen SteveTony fans only ever bitch about Stuckys after the fact. After they’ve been hassled or saw something that was really rude or very non-canon complaints (if that last bit makes sense)

Oddly enough it kind of died down a little with the MCU killing half of the cast including Bucky (he’ll be fine I’m sure). But occassionally someone gets a lot of built up energy and wants to come into my ask box and tell me that I’m an elitist shipper.

PERSONALLY. I like to think of SteveTony and Stucky as Coke and Pepsi. You’re going to have a preference for one or the other. And you’re either gonna tell the waiter “I’d rather have a water” instead of the opposite one that you like, just agree and order what they have bc honestly who cares its basically the same or you’re going to be rude to the waiter, complain the entire time, leave a bad review on yelp and not tip him.

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rosebloodcat · 7 years ago

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Hey Everybody, Rosebloodcat here with a Rant

This isn't my usual post today, because I need to rant about some stuff that I find rather... Personal? Irritating? As both a writer, someone raised around writers and editors, and as an individual.

Anyways, the subject for today is;

WRITING PROMPTS

Yes, I'm gonna be ranting about writing prompts.

As some of you may know, I run an Ask Blog for a BatIM AU I created around the release of chapter Three called the “Vampire Henry AU”. I do a lot of writing in addition to my art, so I've been taking prompts there and have had some... Very irritating ones sent to me and some other blog owners that I'm friends with that I really feel need to be addressed.

I will not name anyone ins specific for these issues, but I ask that everyone take more time to think about the writing suggestions you send to blog owners that aren't from prompt lists they have posted.

There are 3 main prompt-giver types that I've seen so far; 1) The ones that only give prompts when a list or request has been posted by the blog owner 2) The ones that give a prompt asking about the AU's world and how it is different from canon. And lastly, 3) the ones that give you prompts where you have to shoehorn your AU into.

Those last prompts... Are not AU friendly, at all, even if the person sending them claims otherwise.

These “prompts” are usually scene that look as though they're part of a much larger piece, and generally have no relation whatsoever to the AU that they've been submitted to. To the point where it feels like the AU is just a side-note.

Let's use my Vampire Henry AU as an example;

In the Main AU, Henry (the player character, whose surname is Evans in my AU) is a Vampire (obviously) that has been invited back to the old Cartooning studio he worked at 30 years prior by his old friend/boss, Joey Drew. This is the key point of the AU (and the game tbh), but that's not the only thing that makes up the AU.

The next point is that Henry was drafted as a Military Doctor in the Second World War. He is both a Doctor and a Soldier. He also became a Vampire while fighting overseas, and has mostly come to terms with his PTSD for all of that. He is a soldier, and he can and will take down people who are a threat to him or people important to him.

Joey, the antagonist (as far as any of us can tell from Canon), has been inviting old co-workers back to the studio and has been killing them and turning them into either monsters or Toons. All the people named thus far on the list. Most of their fates are ambiguous, meaning I haven't outright decided what's happened to them unless it's been confirmed in the game (by either word or game file).

For example, The Prophet is obviously Sammy Lawrence, the former Music Director (just about everyone agrees on that); Norman Polk is the monstrous Projectionist, And Susie Campbell is the corrupted 'Alice Angel'. Not everyone likes this since it goes against the headcanons they've created, but I've been trying to keep as close to the game's story as possible. If some of the humans in the game are going to be villains, then that's what they'll be in the AU.

There are living toons in this AU, but they are not all in one group and are actively trying to stop everything happening in the studio. They are Henry's helpers who just want to leave the Studio and for all this grief and bloodshed to stop.

Those prompts I mentioned? Ignore the storyline/key points of my AU.

People will send me prompts of scenes where the studio is full of clones of the Toons, and that the Villains we've all met are actually the Toons that are trying to kill you or regain their former glory and they're actually responsible for all the horrible things going on in the studio, but they can be saved and everything will be hunky-dory at the end.

And all the named human characters MUST be alright, and living on the outside, and not even aware of what's happening in the studio, they must all be safe and happy like in the prompter's headcanons and not mine.

And then telling the writer (aka ME) that they will be in a heap of trouble if they don't write the prompt in that specific way, even if it doesn't match their AU.

That's not a submission for something to happen or could happen in someone else's AU, that is you asking/telling them to write your AU for you, with theirs tacked on as a side note. Which, by the way, is pretty rude since you're basically dismissing the creator's AU and trying to force them to work with yours.

Submitting prompts to an AU is meant to ask more about the AU, or to give ideas for incidents that could happen in that AU. You shouldn't be restricting the writer by telling them to do things that aren't part of their AU or go against things they're already established for it.

I'm sorry if anyone feels called out by this, but I'm just really tired of seeing my friends, and even myself, being pressured to conforming to someone else's views and preferences for something we put a lot of effort into making.

#rosie's rants #writing prompts #this really bugs me #okay?

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creideamhgradochas · 6 years ago

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Thanks to the lovely @writingruna for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Lizzie, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

I was nineteen when I first started writing fanfiction, but I’ve been writing my whole life. My parents have stories I ordered them to write down from when I was two or three.

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

In fanfiction, I like writing reader insert more than OC’s. I started writing fanfiction – and have continued – to practice writing without having to world-build. It gives me an opportunity to grow as a writer without worrying about accidental plot holes, which I have written plenty of.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

When writing fanfiction, I like to toe the line between canon and AU. I always try to keep my characters in character, but I don’t mind putting them in situations that don’t exist canonically or ignoring deaths that occurred canonically. Actually, I pretty actively ignore canon deaths.

Working on original works, my favorite genre is young adult fiction with a focus in mystery and spy craft. I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes as a child.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

I actually started as a Supernatural writer, and I have deleted a few of those stories and will never speak of them again – specifically a horribly written story centered on the game 2048 that a friend asked me to write.

5) When is your preferred time to write?

Unfortunately, in the middle of the night. It is horrible for my real life, but it’s quiet and peaceful and I find it easiest to focus.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Underneath the bitter cynicism of being a college aged millennial in a dreary economy, I am very much a Romantic Era writer. I am all about finding beauty where there really isn’t any and emphasizing. I find most of my inspiration in dark moments that can bring good. I am well aware the world isn’t always beautiful, but I like to choose to see the beauty wherever I can.

7) In your Where Do the Flowers Go Series, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

My favorite scene in Where Do the Flowers Go actually hasn’t been posted yet. There are ten more chapters in the series, and there is a scene between Bucky and the reader that I not only loved writing, but that I love in terms of character growth. It’s a turning point in the series, and a turning point in who the reader is viewed to be.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

I haven’t, but I think I should have. Although it’s not something I talk about openly on Tumblr – mostly because I’m not asked – I have a pretty severe anxiety disorder and some brain damage from a concussion in high school and I stutter when I get anxious. It’s something I didn’t realize wasn’t “typical”. In my story Babadook, the reader stutters when she gets scared. Now that I know it isn’t the way everyone reacts, I worry I might have offended some.

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

Wanda. I absolutely adore writing characters who speak English as a second language because their dialogue is challenging. Also, I have a huge crush on Elizabeth Olsen and my little bi heart needs me female x female loving in the fanfiction world. I enjoy writing Illya from Man from U.N.C.L.E. for mostly the same reasons.

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

Probably Frank Castle? I was asked to write a few Frank drabble during one of those three-day writing games I run when I get stuck and I have actually never seen Daredevil or The Punisher or any of it. Thanks to an amazing friend, I managed to pull it off, but I felt sort of guilty for accidentally writing a character I didn’t know well.

11) How did you come up with the title for the Where Do the Flowers Go Series?

Where Do the Flowers Go is based on an original story I wrote which is loosely based on the myth of Hades and Persephone. The idea is meant to reference the loss of flowers when Persephone descends into the underworld and references a specific chapter in the series itself, although it has not yet been posted. I would love to answer this question in more detail once I have posted the remainder of the story.

12) How did you come up with the idea for the Where Do the Flowers Go Series?

Where Do the Flowers Go is actually based on an original story I wrote which is itself based on the myth of Hades and Persephone. Since I haven’t posted the final ten chapters, I don’t want to give away too much, but there is a specific aspect of the myth that always fascinated me which I incorporated it into an original work about the KGB and a Chicago socialite. I would love to answer this question in more detail once I have posted the remainder of the story.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

I have a few much older stories that I started when I was fifteen and sixteen that I have since decided not to write. In most cases, it’s because I had a good idea for a short story and tried to stretch it novel length and it just got really bad really fast, but in a few cases I just no longer felt invested in the story I had started.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

Definitely! I would love to turn Fell for You into a mini-series. I originally wrote it because I had fallen down the stairs at work and really bruised myself up. I am clumsy to the point that it’s not a “quirk”, it’s something people worry about. It could be fun to recount a few more of my more disastrous moments.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Yes and no. I don’t regret any of my endings, but I think the ending of Change of Plans was a little unrealistic. I created a plot hole and actively didn’t fill it because I liked the ending anyway.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

This question is the hardest to answer because there are so many and I am so aware that I am going to forget some and end up feeling guilty. However, the three I am closest to both on and off tumblr are @buckyywiththegoodhair, @captainpunk, and @bucky-plums-barnes. These three women will listen to me rant for hours about fanfictions and original works, they’ve always been willing to read anything and everything I write, and they are constant cheerleaders both in writing and in life. I would not be where I am and trying to finish my novel without these women. On top of it, all three are amazing writers. Nicky creates such stunning imagery that her stories just swallow you whole. Talya has heart wrenching emotion in her stories that is so hard to capture. Genny has this ability to interact with everyone in every story she writes and make it feel completely personalized.

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Just Say It. I had a story in my head that I wanted to tell and I – inexplicably – tied to Not Really Anyway and it just couldn’t measure up. Not Really Anyway is a fic I am amazingly proud of and should have stood alone.

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Neither, actually. I usually have Netflix on. I’ll play a show that I have seen before and don’t need to pay attention to, but that can provide background noise. I get unease in complete silence and I also don’t want my other people to overhear me talking to myself when I try and work through dialogue.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Stole the Show. I still cry when I read it. I don’t write angst very often, but it’s not because I am not good at it.

20) Which part of your Where Do the Flowers Go Series was the hardest to write?

I removed the part of the series that was hardest for me to write. At the end of the undercover operation, I originally wrote an arrest scene and then I couldn’t post it. Although I knew Zadie was doing terrible things, she was doing it because she truly thought it was right and, deep down, she was a good person. I cared about her as much as the reader did and I couldn’t bear to put anyone through watching her arrested.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

Both. Depending on the complexity of the storyline, and the inspiration. Since my concussion, I have begun to lean more heavily on general outlines, but I do not always use them.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?

That I would find such a community of friends and other writers – and that other people would enjoy my writing. I never imagined I would make such close friends and find so many people who admired what I did.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

Stole the Show. It is the only angst story I have ever published and it was painful to write, but I have never been more proud of a story that I was of Stole the Show. I know that female x female fics have a smaller audience and so I didn’t expect it to get a lot of attention, but I experimented with the style and wish it had more of a chance.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Naked Confessions! It was the second Pietro story I wrote and it was one of those stories that you write in two hours in the middle of the day because the idea just hits. I did a single edit and posted it thinking it might get a few notes and it is by far my most popular story.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Yes, although actively and with permission. The readers in Clair de Lune and My Queen were both actively written to resemble the friends I wrote them for. Additionally, a lot of background characters in stories are modeled after other writers on tumblr. I would ask favorite colors or middle names and incorporated details into the stories as “shout outs”.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

I have a had a few followers create fan art of Where Do the Flowers Go and I straight up cried when I saw it. As a writer, all you want to do is touch your readers and make them feel something and it was such an honor and inspiration to have this actual proof that I had done so.

In that same strain, it’s always a compliment when other writers come to me for advice or want me to beta for them. I’ve been writing for more than twenty years and I am proud of what I can do, but it’s such an honor when someone else wants me to teach them what I’ve learned.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I’ve actually been really lucky on tumblr so far, and I have yet to get anon hate. I think I once had a follower ask me why I was taking so long to post, but it was more from a place of concern that something was wrong in my life than anything else.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

There a few close friends that I share most of my ideas with. Specifically, @captainpunk puts up with so much more than anyone else from me when it comes to ideas. I have texted her at two in the morning with random thoughts and she always betas everything I write. She’s even been there to help me plan a lot of my original works as well. She has been my biggest supporter and my biggest cheerleader from the first day we met.

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

A few close friends, and of course the friends I’ve met on tumblr. Strangely enough, my parents know, although I have actively never let them read any of it.

30) What’s your favorite minor character you’ve written?

Zadie from Where Do the Flowers Go. She’s the minor character I spent the most time with and I ended up just absolutely loving her – despite what she does. In creating her, I realized she would only do what she had done if she truly thought it was the best thing to do and she just became this very genuine, very loving character that I hadn’t expected her to be.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Again, it’s @captainpunk most of the time. I go time blind when I write and when everything falls into place, I can write for seven or eight hours without stopping, but most of the time I struggled to get through more than two or three paragraphs at a time and Talya on the sidelines sometimes cheering and sometimes yelling can always get me to focus.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

Relationships – whether romantic or platonic – between very hard and very soft characters with bonus points if the only reason the soft character is soft is because the hard character is hard and when the hard character disappears the soft character turns out to harder than the hard character. I really hope that makes sense.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

I don’t remember what it was called, but it was about Dean Winchester and @tralfamadoreian5 made me read it.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Fluff. Life is hard and unfair and scary enough without stories about life is hard and unfair and scary. The world needs more happy endings.

#milestone celebration #ask the author #writingruna

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fauzhee10069 · 4 years ago

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Kill Bill, should I watch it?

Recently, I’m into action movies and their beautiful choreography. I’ve learned from some of the movie analysis from youtube regarding the choreography, camera and editing techniques. One of the movie I watched was Kill Bill (not the full movies but several clips), thing that got me to this movie actually was “Gogo Yubari”… yeah, I watched the clip for her actually. I am also interested in a character named O-Ren Ishii (played by Lucy Liu), she was really deadly and elegant.

I got little spoilers from youtube comments: so apparently this story is about the circle of revenge, a woman is taking revenge because her wedding got crashed… not an ordinary crash though, it was massacre. What is the full story?

Most audiences prefer not to get spoilers at all, because with spoilers, they can't fully enjoy a work. Maybe you don't agree with me, but I'm actually the type who likes spoilers before enjoying that work. Why do I become such an audience? Maybe because of my bad experience who had seen a work with a disappointing storyline, either because it was bad written or simply because it’s not my cup of tea.

Since then I prefer to be spoiled before I start watching it… I don’t want to waste my time with a story that will only leave a bad taste to me. Fanfic writers generally use their creative ideas to write and fix things that are disappointing in an original (canon) story… sadly I’m not that creative and very good at writing stories.

Enough about me, let’s see how the story goes…

<warning!!! This will sound more like rants, if you are a fan of “Kill Bill”, you may end up not liking it!>

Taken from the wikipedia page:

Kill Bill: Volume 1

A woman in a wedding dress, the Bride, lies wounded in a chapel in El Paso, Texas, having been attacked by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. She tells their leader, Bill, that she is pregnant with his baby just before he shoots her in the head.

So, this is what actually happened in the wedding massacre. The Bride had a wedding but got attacked by her former squad. She told Bill, their leader that she is pregnant with his baby just before he shot her in the head. The Bride was Bill’s lover then (her own leader before she defected. So, she was about to marry someone who was not the father of her baby? Poor that groom, he either died or married for nothing. Was the beginning of this story about “jealousy”?

Four years later, having survived the attack, the Bride goes to the home of Vernita Green, planning to kill her. Both women were members of the assassination squad, which has since disbanded; Vernita now leads a normal suburban family life.

Flash forward to four years later. The bitch who was also the member of ‘Deadly Viper Assassination Squad’ finally got her dream domestic life, she was also involved in the wedding massacre. Poor The Bride, maybe this wasn't just revenge, a feeling of envy could just arise in her heart seeing Vernita is living right now.

They engage in a knife fight, but are interrupted by the arrival of Vernita's young daughter, Nikki. The Bride agrees to meet Vernita at night to settle the matter, ...

Good, it is wise to not to involve a kid in this.

... but when Vernita tries to surprise the Bride with a pistol hidden in a box of cereal, the Bride throws a knife into Vernita's chest, killing her. Nikki witnesses the killing, and the Bride acknowledges that Nikki may one day seek her own vengeance for her mother's death.

Ah shit, The Bride ended up killing Vernita in front of her daughter. Now she will be haunted by Nikki's anger that will turn to take revenge on her (instead of panicking, she looked cool though). This is what I said about ‘the circle of revenge’, it will never end. To be fair, The Bride did not intend to kill Vernita in front of Nikki.

Vernita was guiltier than The Bride because she immediately attacks her when her daughter was there. To be fair though, Vernita on 1-vs-1 with "the deadliest woman in the world" The Bride won't have a chance to win.

The Bride acted in a self-defense but being a former assassin she was and coupled with the anger of a burning grudge, she cold-bloodly killed her.

Four years earlier, police investigate the massacre at the wedding chapel. The sheriff discovers that the Bride is alive but comatose. In the hospital, Deadly Viper Elle Driver prepares to assassinate the Bride via lethal injection, but Bill aborts the mission at the last moment, considering it dishonorable to kill the Bride when she cannot defend herself.

Back to the flashback, apparently, Bill still loves The Bride. If I am Elle Driver, perhaps I start to question Bill's leadership. He had caused the massacre due to his personal issue. After he could have killed The Bride with his shot at that time, now he was even giving her a chance to live (and get revenge on him). Dishonorable? The mission you gave to Deadly Vipers (out of jealously) has absolutely no honor in it!

The Bride awakens from her four-year coma and is horrified to find that she is no longer pregnant. She kills a man who tries to rape her and a hospital worker who has been selling her body while she was comatose. She takes the hospital worker's truck and teaches herself to walk again.

She was raped when she was in a coma and a hospital worker had been selling her body all this time? Why does this sound ridiculous? This sub-plot is also completely insignificant to her journey of revenge. To be honest, does this scene ask me to sympathize with The Bride as a rape victim or to see her as a badass woman capable of killing right after she woke up from her coma? Yay, strong victim! You raped the wrong woman, FOOL! Don’t mess with her!

Plus, how can a hospital worker have been selling The Bride’s comatozed body? Is there zero supervision at the hospital? How can he get away for four years?

It would be better if The Bride just simply woke up from her coma, then recalled her traumatic wedding and then simply ran away from the hospital to take revenge. Perhaps, have another Deadly Viper who ignored Bill's order and tried to kill The Bride the moment The Bride suddenly awoke. No raping shit.

She barely could walk but she was able to kill a man… was muscle atrophy being picky to The Bride’s body parts?

Resolving to kill Bill and all four members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, the Bride picks her first target: O-Ren Ishii, now the leader of the Tokyo Yakuza. O-Ren's parents were murdered by the Yakuza when she was a child; she took vengeance on the Yakuza boss and replaced him after training as an elite assassin.

I have read a youtube comment (too bad I forgot to take a screenshot), s/he said, “unlike The Bride who took revenge on her own choice, as she married and left Bill and Deadly Vipers of her own choice. O-Ren had no choice in her past, she was just a helpless child who witnessed the murder of her parents.” Although taking revenge was her choice too, O-Ren’s situation was more similar to Nikki.

The Bride travels to Okinawa, Japan, to obtain a sword from legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzō, who has sworn never to forge a sword again. After learning that her target is Bill, his former student, he relents and crafts his finest sword for her.

At this point, I feel that The Bride is indeed a very special person (hence her status as main protagonist LOL). Is it a coincidence that Hanzō Hattori doesn't like Bill and inwardly wants to get rid of him too? This sounds like he used The Bride that happened to target Bill to get rid of his former student.

Luckily for The Bride, it seemed like her revenge was running smooth, Bill let her live and now she got the finest sword from her former lover’s former master.

At a Tokyo restaurant, the House of Blue Leaves, the Bride defeats O-Ren's elite squad of fighters, the Crazy 88, and her bodyguard, schoolgirl Gogo Yubari.

Gogo TwT

She and O-Ren duel in the restaurant's Japanese garden; the Bride gains the upper hand and slices the top of her head off with a sword stroke.

That's the best way to make sure your opponent really dies, behead her! Luckily for The Bride, Bill and his Deadly Vipers squad would never do that to her.

She tortures Sofie Fatale, O-Ren's assistant, for information about Bill, and leaves her alive as a threat. Bill asks Sofie if the Bride knows that her daughter is alive.

I'm actually starting to question whether Bill, Deadly Vipers (and The Bride) are truly assassins, maybe I mean they are assassins that sometimes have a standard. Of course they can't work effectively because since the beginning, the background of this story is just a personal issue between Bill and The Bride, Deadly Vipers with their killing ability is just an accessory.

In short, The Bride opens the way for Sofie to get revenge on her… and the daughter is alive.

Kill Bill: Volume 2

Four years before the events of Kill Bill: Volume 1, the pregnant Bride and her groom rehearse their wedding. Bill, the Bride's former lover, the father of her child, and the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, arrives unexpectedly and orders the Deadly Vipers to kill everyone at the wedding. Bill shoots the Bride in the head, but she survives and swears revenge.

Back to the initial backstory and poor the ‘nameless’ groom.

In the present, the Bride has already assassinated Deadly Vipers O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green. She goes to the trailer of Bill's brother and Deadly Viper Budd, planning to ambush him. Budd has been warned by Bill of her approach; he incapacitates her with a non-lethal shotgun blast of rock salt and sedates her. He calls Elle Driver, another former Deadly Viper, and arranges to sell the Bride's unique sword for $1 million. He seals the Bride inside a coffin and buries her alive.

Buried her alive?? The more I see this, the more I get convinced that they are not really assassins, let alone professionals. Selling The Bride’s sword was a brilliant idea though.

Depending on the depth, The Bride may not survive. But considering that this is a fictional story with various flashy assassins who are borderline superhumans (especially The Bride), burying her alive would only give her a chance of survival.

Plus, it’s funny that only Bill's brother Budd managed to subdue "the deadliest woman in the world" and yet he got the same character induced stupidity like his brother Bill for not immediately kill The Bride on the spot.

Years earlier, Bill tells the young Bride of the legendary martial arts master Pai Mei and his Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, a death blow that Mei refuses to teach his students; the technique that supposedly kills any opponent after they have taken five steps. Bill takes the Bride to Mei's temple for training. Mei ridicules her and makes her training a torment, but she gains his respect.

A flashback of how The Bride would survive with her asspull (and it also indirectly involved Bill the lover).

I don’t need to know that Mei had ridiculed her and made her training a torment, it's clear that the awesome The Bride will make it through it all. She is like the best Deadly Viper (and a f*ck buddy) Bill ever got.

In the present, the Bride uses Mei's one-inch punch technique to break out of the coffin and claw her way to the surface.

BINGO!

Elle arrives at Budd's trailer and kills him with a black mamba hidden with the money for the sword.

That backstab is hurt… and the only Deadly Viper (and the guy) who survived from The Bride died by his greed <cough>black mamba<cough>.

She calls Bill and tells him that the Bride has killed Budd and that she has killed the Bride, using the Bride's real name: Beatrix Kiddo.

This bitch is sly.

As Elle exits the trailer, Beatrix ambushes her and they fight. Elle, who was also taught by Mei, taunts Beatrix by revealing that she killed Mei by poisoning him in retribution for him plucking out her eye.

Because you are not special Elle, unlike The Bride- Beatrix whom was easier to taught. Still, Elle has her own right to take revenge for him plucking out her eye.

An enraged Beatrix plucks out Elle's remaining eye and leaves her screaming in the trailer with the black mamba.

That's sadistic!

Will Elle have Beatrix’s bullshit for surviving, just like when Beatrix was buried alive, Elle's fate was also ambiguous. Even though she was blind, there is a chance that Elle managed to get out of the trailer before being bitten by the black mamba. Even if she got bitten, she was the one who prepared that black mamba, as the the professional assassin, she should have prepared the antivenom… only if she had a status as protagonist though.

So other people can't have a revenge besides you, Beatrix? Or because Pai Mei is your favorite master who has praised you so you hate Elle who had killed him for retribution? Yeah, this story is about you.

In Acuña, Mexico, Beatrix meets a retired pimp, Esteban Vihaio, who helps her find Bill. She tracks him to a hotel, and discovers that their daughter B.B. is still alive, now four years old, spending the evening with them. After she puts B.B. to bed, …

Good that she knew that her daughter is alive and finally met her. They have been estranged for four years but of course it was very easy to immediately act as a mother and put her to sleep. No awkward feeling, although of course little kid is easier to approach (than a teenager).

... Bill shoots Beatrix with a dart containing truth serum and interrogates her.

Yeah, you don’t really want to kill her, Bill... because you still love her.

She recounts a mission in which she discovered she was pregnant and explains that she left the Deadly Vipers to give B.B. a better life. Bill explains that he assumed she had died and mourned her for three months; he ordered her assassination when he discovered she was alive and engaged to a "jerk" that he assumed was the father of her child.

If only you two can communicate better, Bill doesn't need to make Beatrix take revenge and he wouldn't lose so many of his precious Deadly Vipers squad members.

This personal issue that started all of this sounds ridiculous, but whose fault is it? Bill who was childish and jealous, without cross-checking immediately carried out the wedding massacre? Or Beatrix who decided to disappear in order for B.B to live a normal life without communicating with her lover Bill? She even took advantage of the poor guy who became her groom and died in vain.

Beatrix disables Bill and strikes with Mei's Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, which she had kept secret. Bill makes his peace with her, takes five steps and dies. Beatrix leaves with her daughter.

Of course her revenge still had to be resolved, but in the end, Bill himself is the one who decided to die.

The next morning Beatrix is shown crying as she still loved Bill, but at the same time she laughs uncontrollably; a collateral effect of the truth serum, Bill's last gift for Beatrix, so B.B. couldn't see her in tears. Understanding his gesture, Beatrix whispers "thank you" to the late Bill and starts a new life with her child.

Congratulation, this tragic assassin couple had caused the death of many former Deadly Viper members and a daughter (Nikki) who lost her mother (Vernita).

Now, it’s time for Beatrix to live Vernita’s life with her daughter B.B. as a single mother.

The Circle of Revenge

Though Beatrix is the main character, the main theme, the circle of revenge started way back when O-ren was a child,witnessing the murder of her parents by the Yakuza, she took vengeance on the Yakuza boss and successfully seized his position after training as an elite assassin.

Far a few years later, it was Beatrix's turn to take revenge for having her wedding brutally crashed. On her way to get revenge, Beatrix killed Vernita in front of her daughter Nikki, her action has the potential to continue 'the circle of revenge' if Nikki intends to take revenge on her in the future. She also let Sofie Fatale alive (after cutting off her hand of course), another one who potentially will take revenge on her.

In addition, there was also Elle who once took revenge on his master Pai Mei for him plucking out her eye (he was such sadistic master). Beatrix indirectly served as the circle of revenge for Elle, apart from taking revenge for her ‘wedding massacre’, she also took revenge for the death of her beloved master.

My thought

Maybe you can guess it from the way I comment. Yeah, Kill Bill’s storyline is not my cup of tea. My issues are:

The flashy and unrealistic portrayal of assassins

The Deadly Vipers weren't like assassins, but more like fighters with murderous intent. They use acrobatic movements and cool ninja techniques to finish off their opponents. Real assassins don't use a lot of acrobatic moves and techniques to kill their opponents. They do it discreetly and inconspicuously, then in one motion when the target is off guard, they immediately executed the target. Besides, they don't have to be a superhuman.

To be fair, we don't see ordinary people as targets in Kill Bill, Beatrix was targeting her fellow assassins (which their capability is quite difficult for her). Of course, Beatrix (who was taking revenge) still didn't do the real assassin code: blending. She wore a very striking yellow jump suit, looking like a woman who was fully prepared to fight (I know that it was Bruce Lee’s reference but still...).

Knowing Tarantino, aesthetics and symbolization are his stronger points than realism. It was possible that Beatrix had this appearance as a symbol that she had indeed left the path of life as an assassin, hence she ignores 'assimilation/blending'. In addition, as the main protagonist, she will symbolically attract attention with her striking appearance in front of the audiences, whereas the people inside the movie just suspended their disbelief and didn’t give a single glance at her.

Unfortunately, Kill Bill which is filled with highly capable people (borderline superhuman) gives ordinary people almost zero chance of being able to deal with them. This is a film about numerous deadly fighters disguised with the word of ‘assassin’.

Over-centralized protagonist

Beatrix is a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who is described as "the deadliest woman in the world", yeah… her character establishment has placed her as ‘the special’. Of course this is not a problem when played correctly or subvertly <cough>Saitama<cough>.

But Beatrix is not just that a deadly former assassin, she is also Bill's ex-lover (so of course, she had received more special treatment from Bill than the other members). Besides that the main plot of these films is about personal matters between Bill and Beatrix. What's annoying is that their problem has involved many other members and their lives.

I have my own life too is probably what the other (non-main) characters have been shouting about.

Even more annoying, Beatrix and Bill's personal lover issue have ruined the lives of others (Nikki).

The rape of the comatozed Beatrix? What for? To pity her (as the rape victim) or to admire her (as the badass who killed her rapist)?

Outside of Beatrix's talent, I feel like the plot hands her everything on a silver platter. First, she avoided the death from silly reason (not the shot during her wedding), when Bill stopped Elle to kill her via lethal injection… Beatrix survived death because of her former lover’s sentimental feeling (aka the plot).

Second, she managed to get the finest sword from her lover (Bill)’s former teacher, Hanzō Hattori because muh revenge.

Third, she avoided death once again because another character induced stupidity, Budd had sealed Beatrix inside a coffin and buries her alive… only to show how awesome Beatrix mastering the so-called difficult technique from Pai Mei.

Only Beatrix did the killing right when she beheaded O-Ren (though not so in Elle’s case).

I would not say that Beatrix is Mary Sue, but she is kinda Sue-ish to me. Her status as both "the deadliest woman in the world" and her (former) boss's lover (Bill) made it so. I think that Beatrix could be a better (and interesting) character if she ditched one of those aspects.

Let's see if Beatrix is just the former lover of her former boss Bill, but with average abilities of Deadly Vipers (perhaps at the level of Vernita or Elle, or even below them). We can see that she will need more struggle on her journey to revenge. She also (should) not get an easy pass like getting a Hanzō Hattori’s sword because of 'muh revenge' and became the favorite student of Pai Mei (and learn the deadliest moves from him) because she's a genius and talented.

Instead of seeing Beatrix as superhuman, we may see her as a cunning woman who may employ cunning tactics to get rid of her opponents. With this we can also see how the assassin portrayed here comes closer to reality. It would be like how JJBA gave Lucy Steel a chance to kill deadly Stand users. Hence, in the true world of assassination, Beatrix doesn't need the finest sword to murder someone.

Now, let's see if Beatrix is just "the deadliest woman in the world" without the convenient privilege from her (then) lover who was also her (former) boss. With her talent, perhaps Beatrix will still be Pai Mei's favorite student, but she will not know about Pai Mei through Bill. Then, on her journey to get revenge, she won't get ridiculous asspull from Bill's sentimental feelings.

I'm also sure that Beatrix knew Hattori Hanzō from Bill as well.

If only Bill was simply her former boss without any love, Beatrix's journey of revenge will be more like O-ren’s.

Beatrix as the top-tier assassin and Bill’s love interest made her got everything on a silver platter as the main protagonist.

Ishii O-Ren could be a better main villain than Bill, she is also more interesting character than Beatrix

Ishii O-Ren was the main villain in volume 1, though I would rather say it as the 'final boss'. Unlike Bill and his sentimental feelings for his former lover, O-ren as a villain has no reason to make it easy for Beatrix.

Bill led the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, which has already been disbanded for around four years. O-ren became the leader of the Tokyo Yakuza, she also had the Crazy 88 as her elite squad of fighters, schoolgirl Gogo Yubari as her bodyguard and Sofie Fatale as her assistant.

Too bad, besides Gogo with her potential, none of them were no match for Beatrix.

O-ren’s backstory (in my opinion) is much more interesting than Beatrix's journey of revenge in two-volume. Her childhood tragic past for witnessing the murder of her parents by the Yakuza should be more traumatic than Beatrix's wedding massacre. I don't mean to invalidate the tragedy of Beatrix's wedding, but O-ren’s past as the motivation for revenge is still objectively more tragic than Beatrix's because:

“Unlike Beatrix who married and left Bill and Deadly Vipers of her own choice. O-Ren had no choice in her past, she was just a helpless child who witnessed the murder of her parents.”

”Unlike O-ren, the wedding massacre which became Beatrix's motive for taking revenge was caused by her own choice of leaving Bill secretly and marrying someone else.”

O-ren also successfully took vengeance on the Yakuza boss who murdered her parents and even replaced him as the leader of the Tokyo Yakuza. She had succeeded without the aid of someone having sentimental feelings to her. I wish there will be a separated prequel of Kill Bill about the journey of O-ren’s vengeance.

Kill Bill: Volume 3

From Kill Bill: Volume 2’s wikipedia:

In April 2004, Tarantino told Entertainment Weekly that he was planning a sequel:

Oh yeah, initially I was thinking this would be my "Dollars Trilogy". I was going to do a new one every ten years. But I need at least fifteen years before I do this again. I've already got the whole mythology: Sofie Fatale will get all of Bill's money. She'll raise Nikki, who'll take on The Bride. Nikki deserves her revenge every bit as much as The Bride deserved hers. I might even shoot a couple of scenes for it now so I can get the actresses while they're this age.

Nikki is just like O-ren, the death of her mother (who was murdered) was not the result of her own action. Of course it will be interesting to watch the continuation of this ‘circle of revenge', I felt that Nikki would probably be a more deserving protagonist than Beatrix. Beatrix is more like a selfish protagonist, not intentionally but through the plot that made it so. This was about the lover quarrel between "the deadliest female assassin in the world" and “the leader of the assassin squad” which caused various casualties.

The concept of Nikki’s journey of revenge also sounds promising by involving Sofie Fatale as Nikki's mentor. Of course Sofie also has strong motives considering Beatrix had amputated her hand and tortured her, she had also killed her superior O-ren. If Elle is magically survived (with similar asspulls like Beatrix got in her story), she might join Nikki and Sofie as well.

I'm a little curious though, why does Sofie get all of Bill's money? Didn't Bill love Beatrix so much, why doesn't he leave his money to Beatrix (and their daughter B.B.)?

I'm a little worried about Tarantino needing to wait at least 15 years for this sequel, I hope he (and the core actors/actresses) lives long enough to make Kill Bill volume 3 with Nikki as the main protagonist and Beatrix as the villain.

In December 2012, Tarantino said there would "probably not" be a third film"

It will be a shame if Nikki’s story will be canceled.

However, in July 2019, Tarantino said that he and Thurman had talked again about a possible sequel, and added: If any of my movies were going to spring from my other movies, it would be a third Kill Bill" In December, Tarantino said he had spoken to Thurman about an "interesting" idea for a new film: "It would be at least three years from now. It is definitely in the cards".

Hopefully, we can immediately witness Nikki's revenge in action!

How to end ‘the circle of revenge’

As Tarantino wanted to plan, Nikki will be raised by Sofie Fatale who got all of Bill’s money. I wonder, whether Beatrix will be the leader of another deadly squad which will serve as the sub-bosses for Nikki or will Beatrix live a quiet life with B.B. but hard to catch by Nikki?

Whatever it is, though Beatrix already passed her prime, Nikki still has to deal with the woman who was once known as "the deadliest woman in the world".

In my opinion, Beatrix as "the deadliest woman in the world" might works better as the big villain than the main protagonist, therefore we can see how Nikki will be struggle against her.

I guess that Sofie as Nikki's mentor will die in the middle of the storyline, she was not that tough in the previous story.

The thing that should be noted is that Beatrix still has her daughter B.B. Killing Beatrix while by leaving B.B. as a survivor will only likely continue 'the endless circle of revenge'. Of course within ± 15 years, B.B. has also become a grown-up.

Then considering that B.B. is the daughter of "the deadliest woman in the world", it is highly likely that Beatrix taught her some martial arts and assassination techniques. Although it is also possible that she did not teach her because she wanted to give her daughter a 'normal life'.

But the assumption that B.B. have been taught the art of killing by her mother, what should Nikki do to end this 'circle of revenge'?

By killing B.B. first before Beatrix, leaving Beatrix as the last target.

But what about Beatrix who wants to take revenge for her daughter's death? Of course this will still be different from Nikki’s revenge, because her daughter's death is also the result of her past actions.

Unlike B.B. if she takes revenge for her mother's death, then her revenge will be exactly the same with Nikki's revenge and situation.

The audience will feel the difference regarding Beatrix's revenge for her daughter or B.B.’s revenge for her mother.

There are still ways to play it differently though, let's say that Beatrix dies before B.B. and B.B. intending to take revenge for her mother’s death, the only way to fairly end 'the circle of revenge' is by having both Nikki and B.B.kill each other and die at the end of the story. One could be by instant lethal attack while the other could be by poison that works for a certain time.

Or maybe one of them committed suicide but to be honest I don't like the concept of this one. I feel cheated because suicide is a reflection of the selfishness and arrogance of a character. She died by her own choice, even though it might end 'the circle of revenge', but still… her death will be a 'choice' rather than a 'consequence'.

While Kill Bill: Volume 3 aka Nikki's journey of revenge is only a dream right now, there is this brilliant fanfic that portrays the feelings and grudges of adult Nikki very well:

Did I Make You Proud, Mother? by EpicKiya722

Conclusion/TL;DR

I don't think I will watch Kill Bill until the next sequel exists and tells about Nikki and her journey to get revenge. All of these circles of revenge need to end soon and Beatrix also deserves the consequences for her revenge.

Until Kill Bill volume 3 starring Nikki Green getting released, I would rather watch Stephanie Patrick, Eric Draven or even Yuki (aka The OG Beatrix-Oren’s fusion) over Beatrix Kiddo for another vengeful assassin.

P.S: actually, reading at the ending story of Kill Bill volume 2, I think that I have actually seen this movie. The movie was quite entertaining even though I did not really know the full context. Now that I've read the full spoilers I don't think this story is my cup of tea in any way.

#kill bill #beatrix kiddo #o-ren ishii #nikki belle #sofie fatale #elle driver #vernita green #my thoughts #lucy steel #my personal opinion #my rants

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jacnaylor · 8 years ago

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Holby city and casualty & biphobia

Holby city and casualty have recently been trying to step up when it comes to diversity, especially when it comes to sexuality, and in most cases this has been done well. The Dom and Isaac storyline in particular was written well. They have a history of trying to tackle sensitive topics with a lot of grace, and are well above average on the diversity scale compared to similar shows.

But, there is a clear pattern of biphobia across both sister shows that I want to draw attention to. Not because I don’t appreciate the efforts from the shows, but because I have a feeling the writers and some audience members might not even understand how harmful some of the biphobia on the show could be. So this is just to show you where some areas can be improved.

Let’s start with casualty, as there’s less to talk about in that show compared to holby city.

1. Jez

I really like Jez as a character, but right from the get go he has been the stereotypical oversexualized bisexual. Yes, people can enjoy having a lot of sex, but when it’s done in reference to a bisexual character it just seems iffy to me. It’s like he’s having more sex because he’s with both men and women on different days of the week. Then, when we finally see him starting a relationship with Louise (we’ll get to her in a minute, wow) he breaks it off - for reasons other than his sexuality, admittedly - and is very soon in a relationship with his current boyfriend. To me this seems like he’s being pushed around partners quicker than any other character because there’s “more choice”. You don’t really see this with anyone else. Casualty love pairing people up but they usually drag out one couple and one love interest for months, but bisexual characters move from partner to partner. Sidenote: as a bisexual person, the more choice thing is a myth. You might be in a club with 200 people and not fancy any of them, no matter their gender.

And, of course he’s attracted to multiple genders and can end up with anyone. But the fact they pair him with men more frequently seems slightly dismissive to me. The writers have not stated a preference, and there may well be a preference, but they are not using the opportunity to address biphobia toward bisexual people who end up with someone of another gender to their own. Obviously let’s add yes give me all those same sex couples, i love it, but they aren’t exploring this enough at all. I want more same sex couples on mainstream tv but I just wish they would take the chance to explore different aspects of the bisexual dating experience.

I’ve been thinking about this post for months and before that they had never referenced Jez as bi. Now in the last week they have, and that’s amazing and I’m really happy about it. But it took the writers A YEAR. I KNOW THIS, BECAUSE I WAS WAITING. When Jez first talked about his sexuality it was ‘fluid’ or ‘unlabeled’ or some other such nonsense that basically meant they didn’t have to say the b word. They have since rectified this as stated, but when even contemplating writing a bi character, do some fucking research beforehand guys, it isn’t hard. And yes I know some people don’t like labels, but when it’s done in tv it seems like a lazy excuse and we all know it.

2. Louise

When Louise started her brief romance with Jez she was hesitant because of his sexuality. Jez said that it's ok and that it doesn’t affect their relationship, but no one really said that her opinion was uninformed, let alone wrong. It was basically something she wasn’t comfortable with and no one called her out on it and it’s never been mentioned again.

This scene was sort of infamous for me because this is the scene where Louise said “It’s your choice.”

Choice? Choice? C H O I C E???/

And the worst thing is Jez didn’t even call her out on it. He just let her call his sexuality a life choice and then got into a relationship with this woman who didn’t respect this part of him. Are you kidding me? I might be forgiving of ignorance when we learn from it, but mate. No way would this happen. And, not to mention that Louise is a trained health professional and should know about different sexualities by now.

3. Toby

For those who are slightly newer to casualty, Toby was a very sweet natured f1 a couple of years ago. Very timid for a long time.

So, after a traumatic experience, he had an ill advised relationship with the pregnant daughter of a senior staff member (all above board, it just probably wasn’t the best idea given their issues at the time). After some mistakes, he sought out the help of a counsellor, Ben, who he ended up dating. So, we have a canon bisexual character.

Then, when the affair was exposed - It shouldn’t have been happening anyway because I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t date your therapist, so that seems predatory in itself - Toby was ashamed of his sexuality and accused Ben of taking advantage of him. Ok, so they end up together when Toby decided to leave the hospital but….man.

The whole ‘ashamed of his sexuality, accuses colleague of taking advantage’ was something the show did again with gay character Seb in recent months. This isn’t solely biphobia in that sense, but general shitty writing for lgbtq characters. It’s a storyline that paints them as malicious, ashamed, sneaky. This happened in Holby with Dom and Malik as well, and it’s just a horrible storyline that seems to only happen with lgbtq characters and I do not know why at all.

4. Alicia

In recent times Alicia found out her father was cheating on her mother with another man. She had a massive problem with this, mostly because of the cheating, but she couldn’t seem to accept her dad’s sexuality. Yes, cheating is always wrong. I can’t remember exactly how her father identifies but if he is bisexual then....well, he didn’t just marry her mum out of convinience, he loved her. And he could have cheated on her with anyone. And to me it seemed Alicia was more angry that it was a man than anything else (please correct me if her father does identify as gay, though the point still stands about Alicia’s reluctance)

It just seemed like it was thrown in there to make it “worse” or something and Alicia was sort of awful about it all really and used it as an excuse to ruin her own life (though my issues with that character are for another time)

So now, the holby city section

1. Serena (/Bernie)

Ok, so. Before the avid fanbase for this ship, like, comes at me, let me just disclaim: yes, anyone can identify however they want! But! When it speaks to a pattern of biphobia! I have an issue with it!

So, we had the really wonderfully acted love story between two older women on Holby, Bernie and Serena. Bernie has had a relationship with a woman after the breakdown of her marriage but Serena never has. They had a really lovely story that I enjoyed.

But the word bisexual was rarely, if ever, used. When Serena was first coming to terms with her kiss with Bernie, she tried out calling herself a lesbian. Even though she had many relationships with men and one even after she first kissed Bernie. So, because she did have a romantic connection with Robbie after Bernie, I think it’s pretty clear she’s bisexual, and this would have been a lovely discussion if they didn’t just start calling her a lesbian straight away (same with Bernie, even though she was also married to a man. I’m more familiar with Serena’s story so it might well be that Bernie was always a lesbian but I’m pretty sure she reads as bi too but maybe that’s my opinion.)

There’s also that fucking awful scene in which her and Raf test out whether they want to kiss each other. She does not want to kiss Raf, and so they declare she must be a lesbian.

WHAT?

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize not wanting to kiss your mate, a skinny scottish man who cries too much, was how we measure our sexualties now. Just because I don’t want to kiss every man I know doesn’t make me a lesbian. You can be a bisexual woman and not want to kiss some guy you know at work, guys. In case you didn’t know.

I’m just like...just say bisexual. It isn’t hard.

2. Lee

Ok, so, Dom, whom I love dearly, started a relationship with a man named Lee. Lee stole all of his stuff. Lee was not a nice man. Lee also had a pregnant girlfriend. Lee is bisexual.

Lee comes back after having been in prison and proceeds to physically attack people on the ward.

It’s like they equated the lies and the cheating with his sexuality. Instead of showing us a positive relationship between a gay person and a bisexual person (which is another issue within the community itself that they could have done something positive with but nope) they showed us a gay man being lied to, cheated on and attacked by a bisexual man who seemed to have mental health issues. Also his sexuality seemed to be directly related to his mental health issues, like he was being self destructive and cheating because of his repressed sexuality. Then he attacks Dom’s new partner and says Dom still loves him and all of that, so his mental health is always tied up with his feelings for Dom which I don’t this is helpful in anyway.

Like, do I even need to explain how harmful that is? I don’t think so.

3. Fleur Fanshawe

Biphobia from gay characters on holby is not something new. Instead of being progressive in their writing, the holby writers just choose to give into stereotypes again and again. Fleur Fanshawe was an older gay woman = great. What wasn’t great was how she treated her ex girlfriend, Sophia.

So my memory isn’t a plus because I hated the storyline but what I remember is that, after they broke up, Sophia went back to her boyfriend. Fleur was very angry about this, about her “going back to men”. It was all just written very weirdly and just wasn’t good representation for bi/gay relationships. The behaviour, again, was never called out, and because their exit dates are the same I assume they got together again, even though Fleur always seemed to look down on Sophia’s bisexuality.

This is just another example of bisexual characters experiencing shame reinforced by their partners and others around them. It’s just tiring to me. It’s exhausting that the bi characters are always having to explain themselves or feel guilty.

4. Try be bi

That’s what I’m calling this section. This is the section where we talk about the odd, random, bisexual kisses that don’t seem to have a bearing on the plot.

Zosia, who is bipolar, is usually a character written very sensitively. She kissed Sophia whilst experiencing a bad mental health episode. I cannot speak to whether this behaviour is accurate and I won’t pretend to be an expert on bipolar disorder. However I think this kiss was thrown in there just to be shocking and to be a symptom of mental illness. Zosia is never confirmed bisexual and has never done anything like that afterwards, so I think it was a cheap shock ploy and it did a disservice not just to bisexuality but to mental illness as well. This was represented as a symptom of her mania but I think there were probably better ways of doing that.

Then quite a few years ago we have Donna, a nurse, having a one night stand with lesbian friend Micki. She was drunk at the time I think, and she never had any other relationships with women. Again, cheap shocks. Bisexuality is not something you just try out for the night. This is like those girls who kiss each other at parties without understanding that it’s for someone else's benefit and that they, as heterosexuals, are privileged above lgbtq people doing the same thing. Just a weird, unnecessary interlude in general.

5. Lofty

Now last night nurse Lofty was confirmed as having feelings for a man and a woman. He said “He loved them both.” Not in a poly way, since he left the woman because of his feelings for her brother. Now I along with many others welcomed this development! I want more lgbtq rep!

What I didn’t like is everyone suddenly calling him gay because he kissed a man, when he literally said in the same episode that he did love the woman he was with at the time. The media was also to blame since they basically described it as a gay bombshell. It was, in my opinion, a bisexual bombshell.

And, ok again this is my view this isn’t fact or how you have to see it, but for me this came out of nowhere, since his sexuality wasn’t ever brought up before. It almost seems as if, possibly, they are introducing it as a way to let Dom be with someone? And ok this is not confirmed but the two lgbtq characters on the same ward usually get together.

Look I like Lofty and this could be great. However, it might have been nice to introduce a new bisexual character without shoving it onto a preexisting character for the sake of convenience.

6. Jas and Morven

Now, given what I just said about Lofty and the writers randomly pushing bisexuality onto existing characters just because, you might think - Hold on a sec...but hear me out.

I love these two, my beautiful daughters. I adore them and their friendship.

But the friendship took a turn when, after weeks of Morven connecting online with a man called Nathan, she found out Nathan was actually her best friend Jasmine, cat fishing her because of her own loneliness.

Before this, Morven had said she’d really connected to “Nathan” and that she had very strong romantic feelings for him.

But they disappear as soon as she finds out it was Jasmine. It’s like, the words, the talking, the feelings were all genuine. And yes, Nathan was a fiction, but I think they could have Roxanne’d this and had her realise her feelings for this person were real, and that in actual fact that person was Jasmine. But no. They just had them fall out instead of falling in love. No bisexual roommates for me.

Oh and whilst we’re here, let’s talk about how apparently you can only have one lgbtq couple a ward (Berena as opposed to both Berena and Jasmine/Morven) Raf and Fletch, also best friends who lived together and helped raise Fletch’s children together. Jokingly described their relationship as a ‘sexless platonic marriage’. Couldn’t make it a relationship? For whatever reason. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the writers consistently deny friends to lovers relationships that have basis and positivity in favour of dramatic coming out stories, shock kisses and various other biphobic shitty things.

7. Dan Hamilton

In the words of my good friend, this was a real shit show.

Briefly romantically involved with the likes of Chrissie, Dan was originally portrayed back in 2011 as a ladies man. He shared a kiss with canon gay character Malik. This attracted criticism because apparently this was a ‘repetition of gay storylines seen on other dramas’. And ok this was a few years ago but...really

The storyline starts with him having tension with Malik - especially after he finds out Malik is gay. When Malik threatens to report Dan for something he did on the ward, they fight and then share a kiss. After this Dan rushes to his then girlfriend Chrissie and confesses his love for her. He proceeds to just try and avoid Malik and forget about the kiss. This is what they said about the storyline at the time (they being producers)

"It really isn't a 'coming out' storyline. The focus really is on Dan's character. Dan is Mr Conventional – he wants Chrissie, he wants the wife, the house, the career and 2.4 children. It won't be about him coming out and coming to terms with his sexuality. If anything, the kiss with Malick has made him even more determined to try to have a conventional life – because that's what he wants the most."

I mean, yes I like the fact not every story is a coming out story but...it seems weird for them to put it that way, especially since it was a coming out storyline if we’re being honest. Because they never discuss the bisexuality in the same way they discuss being gay on the show. Seems suspicious that they try not to delve into bisexuality. Instead of really showing how he felt for Chrissie and Malik the story was more about him being ashamed. Because that’s all the writers seem to know how to write. And I understand that it’s important to show these kind of struggles but...we never see Dom or Fleur or Malik being ‘ashamed’, only ever the men and women discovering their bisexuality. Malik tries to blackmail Dan, saying he would reveal their kiss to Chrissie. It’s almost implied - intentionally or not - that the sexuality is the issue above the cheating.

Astill also said he hoped Dan would “transform into a bisexual predator - no man or woman is safe from him.” I think the actor means he wanted Dan to be openly bisexual and as we know he’s a player, that that would still remain a part of his character. But the phrase bisexual predator is just fucking awful and harmful. When he left the show he did praise the fact Dan was the happiest we’d seen him after coming to terms with his sexuality (and I think leaving with another man?) and like, yes that’s good, but it was such an overdone story and it had its flaws for definite, not the least of which was once again painting bisexuals as confused, repressed or sexual predators or cheaters. And it seems again, a cliche, to make one of the most sexual characters bisexual, because it seems to go hand in hand on this show.

Very quick end point to explain something I said earlier: I want more same sex couples on my screen, but by showing a bisexual person in a relationship with someone of the same gender you could: explain some of the problems within the community as regards to biphobia - but that isn’t happening. By showing a bisexual person with someone of another gender you could delve into the myth of bisexual privelage - but that isn’t happening either. Instead what we have is bisexual characters very often only dating the opposite gender after their bisexuality is revealed. We see this with Dan, with Jez to an extent (he seems to have more positive relationships with men) Toby and most likely with Lofty. Again, not saying this is wrong or that these characters can’t have a preference. But the preference is never stated, it’s just implied. What this suggests to me is that the writers are having these characters ‘choose’. Which is another myth that needs to be dismantled. Bisexual people do not stop being bisexual because they are with someone of a certain gender, but for the purposes of writing these shows that’s what it feels like. Bisexuality is revealed as a shock, through a bombshell featuring a same sex relationship, and then forgotten. It feels as if these writers are using bisexuality as a stepping stone for the characters actually being gay. Now people might not agree with this and everyone’s experiences are different, but to me as a bisexual viewer that is how it feels.

I guess what I’m saying is they’ve had enough bisexual characters by now that they should be writing them as well as they do other lgbtq characters. For shows that usually handle things very well and sensitively they are still failing in this department. I love these shows but it’s 2017 guys it isn’t hard to talk to bisexual people, or you're bisexual viewers, fix your mistakes, talk to your target audience and the audience you’re trying to represent and see where you can do better. Why the fuck are we still having this conversation.

#holby city #casualty #casualty bbc #jez andrews #biphobia #mine

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bionic-bat-archive · 8 years ago

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☯ 4th Prince Wang So (King Gwangjong) ☯

“Shining King...”

光宗

“Cruel Tyrant...”

Wang So is the 4th Prince (and later monarch) of Goryeo. At a young age, King Taejo sent him to Khitan to be adopted in order to appease the family. However, So became their royal hostage.

He was brutally trained in the ways of warfare earning him the reputation of a “bloodthirsty Prince”. Some believe that he made pacts with evil spirits in exchange for power on the battlefield.

Upon returning to Songak, he eventually took the throne and was remembered throughout history as a controversial figure.

Contact, Single-Verse/Ship, Canon/AU/OC-Friendly, Multi-Para Lit.

(feel free to like this if interested and I'll come to you!)

RULES AND OTHER INFO (PLEASE READ):

Character Info:

FC: Lee Jun Ki

S/O: Straight

R/S: Ask me!

This version of Wang So is an OC/Historical figure loosely inspired by the Kdrama Scarlet Heart: Ryeo.

While his FC, personality and minor aspects of his history resemble the Kdrama counterpart, he is 100% my own.

(AU-Kdrama version will only be portrayed upon request)

All interactions with him or any of my muses may contain triggering or other content not suitable for younger people. Please see my rules below.

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Morgan, 25, she/her, has 10+ years writing experience. Loves to chat, write and RP. Mega geeky and very friendly!

Reblogs are appreciated

ps: if you want to RP but don’t know how to feel free to message me and I can teach you! it’s easy!

RULES:

MUN AND MUSES ARE ALL 21+. DUE TO MATURE SUBJECT MATTER, I WILL ONLY INTERACT WITH MUNS/MUSES THAT ARE 21+ (18+ U.S.) unless underage muses have been pre-plotted.

Please read my Muse section before interacting.

ALL IC ASKS MUST STATE WHO THE ASK IS ADDRESSED TO. If you have no preference then put in “*”.

IF THE ASK IS ADDRESSED TO ME (THE WRITER) PUT “TO MUN” IN THE ASK.

This is both an IC and OOC blog (because I don’t give enough fucks to make a blog for personal shit.)

I am HIGHLY selective with threads, but, this shouldn’t discourage you from reaching out.

I AM ALWAYS OPEN TO IC/OOC ASKS. (seriously, chat with me I love to talk. 🌸 ),

I love getting memes, RP asks, and general OOC chatting. However, threads are a little tricky for me to maintain due to lack of plots, schedule, or because my muses are asshats.

I am open to all sorts of plots except for the following:

No slice of life

No high school/college AUs.

No domestic-base AUs.

My brain can’t handle mundane non-fantasy scenarios.

Better yet, let’s just say I do not do AU’s at all without HEAVY plotting.

All my characters are interconnected and have a pre-established storyline. I seldom stray away from that.

I am willing to plot something if I feel our characters can connect.

GENRES I WRITE: THRILLER/CRIME, FANTASY, SCI-FI. ALL MY CHARACTERS ARE BASED ON THESE GENRES.

Relationships/Smut: No preestablished Ships/Pairings without heavy plotting.

I ONLY SHIP BASED ON CHEMISTRY.

I AM SINGLE SHIP/VERSE WITH RARE EXCEPTIONS.

Triggers: I write a variety of things, I DO NOT TAG. However, I will not RP graphic torture (implied and some graphic things are OK) or anything involving characters under 21, and will NEVER RP anything involving animal cruelty/abuse.

I am mostly para/novel type of a writer. I don’t really do one liners with some exceptions. I prefer writers that are good with grammar and punctuation (I’m not perfect at this, but, I try ^_^). If English is not your first language, I can make an exception, just please put in the effort.

No Mary/Gary Sues/self-inserts. Please just don’t.

I prefer interacting with the muns OOC and building a solid means of communication. That being said, I also have anxiety and don’t do well with reclusive/sporadically active muns.

If I’m interested in a plot and our muses click I can become a bit attached with the writer especially if we hit it off well, and like a lot of activity and chatting.

That’s not to say I’m pushy/annoying about it (I know we all have lives) just PLEASE give me an idea of your activity before hand. My anxiety disorder and I will thank you.

That being said, if you prefer to keep some distance, that’s fine, but please have the courtesy to let me know about your boundaries. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.

Last thing, no ooc drama, don’t waste my time. If you send hate I’ll either reply IC or just ignore it all together. So do yourself a favor and unfollow me if you have an issue with my blog. If you read to the end, please send a 🌸 (Sakura if mobile) as soon as either I or you approach for RPs. This will tell me if you read the rules or not.

TL;DR: I’M MOSTLY OPEN TO ANYTHING. I AM SELECTIVE WITH THREADS, BUT LOVE TO CHAT IC AND OOC WITH PEOPLE. PLEASE PLOT WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO DO ANYTHING MORE THAN JUST FUN LITTLE THINGS.

#wang so #scarlet heart #scarlet heart ryeo #moon lovers scarlet heart ryeo #shr #rp promo #ooc

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oh-mother-of-darkness · 8 years ago

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asks (9)

Anonymous said: if you have the time, could we maybe please have your absolute /worst/ headcanons about Dick mourning Damian? before/during Spyral? btw u are an absolute gift :*

Shoot I meant to put this one into the fic today too. Oh well. Damian and Dick angst is here

Anonymous said: everytime I see something about damian it reminds me of you

The highest praise I’ve ever received :’)

Anonymous said: do you know of other batblogs that don't do ships?

Uhhhhhh I don’t think so? I can’t think of anyone else that’s entirely ship-free, but frankly I don’t follow very many people. How bout this? If any of y'all ARE ship-free, reply in the notes. That way we’ll know :)

Anonymous said: Song recs: "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy (Justice League), "Remember The Name" by Fort Minor ft. Styles of Beyond (this is THE Batfam song!), "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic (Dick), "All The Right Moves" by OneRepublic (Batkids), "Tiptoe" by Imagine Dragons (Batkids), "Warrior" by Beth Crowley (Batgirls), "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling ft. Lzzy Hale (Babs), "Disarm" by The Civil Wars (Jason), "Demons" by Imagine Dragons (Jason), "Afterlife" by Ingrid Michaelson (Batkids).

Oooooooh thank you these are very nice! I hadn’t heard most of them

Anonymous said: Batfam/kids song recs! "Renegades" by X-Ambassadors, "When The Darkness Comes" by Colbie Caillat, "Royals" and "Rule the World" by Lorde, "Midnight" and "Fix You" by Coldplay and "Bad Blood" by Bastille. Also for Dick: "Pompeii" by Bastille and "Hopeless Wanderer" by Mumford & Sons.

Thanks! Idk if this was one person or two, but please continue to send me music, y'all, I like it

Anonymous said: no need to be batfamily centric, what comics would you recommend for someone getting into comics now?

Red Robin (2009)

Batgirl (2009)

Batman and Robin (2009)

Batman and Robin (2011)

Robin: Son of Batman (2015)

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: The Black Mirror

Batman: The Court of Owls

Batman: Death of the Family

Good enough for a start? I don’t read a lot outside the batfamily titles, I’m afraid

Anonymous said: Omg I love your writing. Can I request Damian and Jason fighting about Damian and Jon's missions?

Hm I’m a lil backlogged just now, but I think there’s a pretty good chance that Jon will show up eventually. Just probably not real soon :/

Anonymous said: I'm new to the DC comic world, but I'm a bit curious as to how fans feel/reacted about one thing: Talia drugging and taking advantage of Bruce? Do fans feel the same about that as they would if that had happened to a female character? Was it a big deal? I was shocked to find out it had happened, and want to know how other fans feel. Did the writers ever later address it?

Oh boy

In my experience there are two schools of thought:

1) People that like Talia and choose to use the older version of canon, where Bruce and Talia were in love and the rape never happened

2) People that hate Talia

As always, I’d prefer not to say which side I come down on, and I won’t answer any personal questions related to Talia. It’s a bit of a hot button topic, and I prefer to avoid conflict. Thank you. Let’s continue.

Here’s the thing, anon-- Damian was created by a writer named Grant Morrison in 2006. Before that, there was a storyline where Bruce and Talia had a baby, and she gave him up for adoption without telling him. Historically, Bruce and Talia’s relationship has been pretty straightforward: they liked each other, and any romantic interactions were consensual.

Morrison changed that. I can’t say for certain why, but you can read a bit more about my opinion of him over here. In Morrison’s version, Damian was conceived by rape, for eugenic purposes; they were trying to create the ideal heir from al Ghul and Wayne DNA.

Talia drugged Bruce’s drink, and yes, that is absolutely rape. No doubt about it. Rape. It’s disgusting and unnecessary, and it doesn’t really make sense, considering the thirty-five years of material that came before Morrison’s Talia.

Because of that, it’s a divisive topic. There are a lot of people who argue that since Talia’s actions were out of character for her (and since Morrison went on to make her do other out of character things, like murdering her own son) the rape should be removed from canon. Those folks generally substitute the older storyline where Bruce and Talia were in love.

That kind of thinking really isn't that uncommon for comic fans because the way comic canon is constructed-- multiple writers with varying skill levels who frequently produce overlapping or contradictory accounts of the same events-- presents us with multiple versions to choose from. A small and unrelated example: in his original version, Tim Drake dropped out of high school before graduation. In the n52, he graduated early. I prefer the older version, so even when I read the n52, I think of Tim as a high school drop out.

There are also canon story lines that I just don’t acknowledge, Battle for the Cowl being the easiest example. I know that the characterization is awful, so I pretend it never happened.

Morrison dramatically changed who Talia is as a character, not just at that specific point, but continually from 2006 to 2013. Since he retired, Talia has been shifting back to her older incarnation (again, see the link from above). You’re going to find a lot of folks who are happy with that, and those are likely to be the same people that edit the rape out of Talia’s history.

You’re also going to find folks on the other side of the issue-- people that acknowledge the rape and believe that it would be wrong to edit it out of history. Morrison’s Talia, while mischaracterized, has been around for a long time with some very dramatic effects. Damian’s redemption storyline, death, resurrection, and general personality all depend on Talia’s action while Morrison was writing her-- if you choose to ignore all of that, Damian as we know him can’t exist, and he’s been a giant part of the general bat canon for the last eleven years.

Beyond that, rape and filicide are awful, horrifying crimes, and they both happened within Talia’s canon. They’re the current version. They haven’t been retconned. As a matter of fact, Morrison isn’t the only one circulating that version-- the recent animated movies about Damian explicitly include the rape, and those began in 2014.

You also made an excellent point when you asked about gender-- male rape victims are treated incredibly poorly in fiction and life, and I think it’s fair to argue that ignoring Bruce’s canonical rape contributes to that. Bruce isn’t the only member of the batfamily with this issue either. Dick was raped by Tarantula in 2002 (he asked her not to touch him, he was in shock and immobile, and she had sex with him anyway), and that writer (Devon Grayson) didn’t even call it rape. Would the rape of either of those men be treated differently if they were women? I don’t know. I can’t really answer a hypothetical. But it’s worth thinking about.

When it comes to Talia, I’d say my experience with general opinion has been about a 50/50 split? That being said, I am very young, and I’ve only been in this game for five years. I can’t tell you how any of this went over in 2006 because I was a ten year old at the time, and I don’t think I know anyone older who could tell me.

As far as writers go... I don’t recall Bruce’s emotional state being addressed in any way. Most of the time, writers don’t directly talk about it. Some of them seem to lean towards the earlier version by framing Bruce and Talia as a love story; however, that doesn’t mean that by omitting the rape, they retcon it. People are raped by their partners or spouses all the time. Saying that Bruce loved Talia doesn’t automatically erase the rape. Implying that Bruce and Talia had consensual sex before or after Damian’s conception doesn’t automatically erase the rape. Frankly it would be very hard to retcon, since there would have to be some kind of statement within the dialogue denying any kind of drugging.

I don’t know if any of this will ever be addressed, but I’ve written a lot more than I meant to now, so I’m going to stop. I hope I answered all your questions. If I didn’t, you could try sending me a message instead of an ask, and we can talk more about it in private

@another-nameless-person said: The CTC story reminds me so much of my own family omg. I am so happy I'm not the only one with a big family who does this too. I'm so happy I've since moved out of my moms and can stash my own junk food at home lol

Right? I’m only just now kicking the habit of hiding my food. I also recently realized that I’m allowed to drink directly from the bottles now, which is fun

@coredesignixandnekonee said: Do you think, in a world where Nightwing knows Starfire, Oracle, Miss Martian, Red Arrow/Arsenal, and Kid Flash (Wally West1) that there's a "red headed friends of Robin/Nightwing" club where they hang out and complain about him with tea and cookies?

Wally, dipping Oreos in his milk: listen guys I know for a fact he isn’t sleeping and I think we’re gonna have to make him. Whose turn is it

#yes i like music send me music #please #i particularly liked afterlife #asks #whooo boy I'm gonna have to tag this one i think #rape #rape cw #tw: rape #death #please remember that i don't want to take sides and i don't want to talk about it #bout have a panic attack every time she comes up tbh

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ethelindawrites · 8 years ago

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TV Review: BBC Sherlock, Season 4

Heads up, this one is long and chock full of spoilers below the cut. TL;DR – As a long-time BBC Sherlock fan, I am disappointed with Season 4.

I will say upfront that I was able to largely enjoy each episode of Season 4 as I was watching it. The acting was still excellent, and there were certainly scenes and parts of episodes that were fantastic. But once I had seen them all and had a chance to step back and look at the season as a whole, I had more and more problems with it. Ultimately, I am disappointed in the writers for not really living up to their own standards, which they set quite high during the first three seasons.

To be honest, I was worried about this season from the moment that Moffat and Gatiss started making public comments that season 4 was going to be especially “dark.” My worries were not unfounded. Let me see if I can articulate what I mean.

Some stories (whether books, movies, or TV shows) are dark stories. By this, I would generally mean a story where the plot or overall context of the world the story is set in necessitate that bad things are going to happen to many of the characters: some of them may die or be killed; many will suffer violence, possibly very brutal violence, either physical or mental; they may have to make choices or do things that go against their beliefs; a happy ending is not guaranteed.

Season 4 of Sherlock certainly fits this definition. The problem is that, at least for me, the previous three seasons do not set this up. There is nothing in the first nine episodes of the series which necessitates the events of the last three, which is very problematic for the story as a whole.

I would contrast this with a story that is and is meant to be a dark story. I may not have a lot of really good examples here, since I do not myself prefer dark stories and don’t tend to watch/read many of them. From what I know of it, Game of Thrones probably falls into this category. I would categorize much of Anne Bishop’s writing (the Black Jewels series, the Ephemera trilogy) as darker stories, albeit set up so that any happy endings which do occur are earned and make sense in the context of the story. For both of those series, the characters are fighting civilization- or world-destroying levels of evil, and so the fact that a great deal of suffering occurs is expected and makes sense in the context of the story. In the realm of movies, V for Vendetta comes to mind. The characters are fighting a brutal dictatorship, and must become brutal themselves in many ways, in order to survive and accomplish their goals. Here again, the darkness of the story is expected, and fitting.

The Sherlock Holmes stories do not fall into this category.

There are dark moments, and dark things that sometimes happen, in any incarnation of the Sherlock Holmes stories – obviously, since they are detective stories often centered around trying to solve murders. But as a whole, the Sherlock Holmes universe is not a brutally dark universe, and that is not the tone that the stories take.

BBC Sherlock has been, from the beginning, probably a bit darker take on the series than the original stories were (although not by much, from my memory of reading them some years back). It is more realistic, in a way, being set in modern times, and there were certainly dark parts in the first three seasons (again, murders, plus a crazy criminal mastermind). None of that was a problem, because they still felt like Sherlock Holmes stories.

For whatever reason, Moffat and Gatiss decided that that was no longer good enough, and that season 4 needed to be “darker.” I strongly believe that this was a mistake, and indeed will always be a mistake for any story that is not already set up in a darker world or universe.

In order to achieve their goal of “darker,” the writers seem to have decided that the plot of season 4 should be “make John and Sherlock suffer as much as possible, in every way, conceivable or not.” This goal then trumped all other considerations, including (in my opinion): plot, characterization in general, meaningful character interaction in many cases, and proper closure of various storylines. (Here come the spoilers.)

As best I can tell, Mary Watson is killed (in this manner and at this point in the story) for the sole purpose of making John suffer, so that Sherlock has to suffer in order to get John back. John is (in a manner that struck me as extremely out of character) “unfaithful” to Mary by text-flirting with a random lady on the bus (which turns out to be a setup, of course, but that doesn’t change John’s choices). This out-of-character-ness seems to have been done mainly so that John can feel guiltier when Mary dies so that he can be angrier at Sherlock. John has to be angry at Sherlock so that Sherlock is forced to “go to hell” in order to convince John that he needs John’s help and John should come back to save him.

The character of Eurus, similarly, is introduced solely for the purpose of putting Sherlock, John, and Mycroft through hell in the last episode. She has no other presence in the story prior to this season (that I can recall, someone feel free to correct me if I missed something in the earlier seasons, which is possible), and no other purpose in the story at all.

(I should say that I don’t fundamentally have a problem with the introduction of a third Holmes sibling; the original stories do include a brief mention of a third brother, Sherrinford. Since we don’t actually know anything about Sherrinford, obviously the writers have some leeway in making up this third sibling character, and the gender-switch doesn’t particularly matter. ETA: Apparently, I am incorrect about Sherrinford being canon! My mistake. I'm now trying to remember why I did think it was canon.)

But to make her be a complete psychopath that Sherlock has utterly forgotten about? Whom Mycroft is idiotic enough to keep alive for years after it becomes clear that she is a danger to everyone around her? Who was somehow able to set up this twisted game for them to play, resulting in the deaths of yet more people, which Sherlock and Mycroft between them are not smart enough to get out of?

I’m sorry, but my suspension of disbelief only goes so high.

The first two episodes mostly make sense, inasmuch as they are predicated on what I consider to be the unnecessary event of Mary’s death. There are some continuity issues, specifically from the end of the first episode: Molly gives Sherlock a letter that John wrote him, and Sherlock goes to see John’s old therapist. Presumably these events have some kind of importance, but they are never mentioned again, and do not appear to have impacted the story at all. What was the point of those scenes? Still, the immediate plots of each episode can be followed, and the main mysteries are explained.

For me, at least (and I know I am not alone in this), the last episode does not make any sense.

The whole point of the Sherlock Holmes stories is that we are meant to get an explanation at the end; the mystery is meant to be solved. The Final Problem does none of that. How has Sherlock recovered from his addiction so quickly? How do he and Mycroft and John get out of the explosion at Baker Street without any serious injuries? Why does Sherlock (also rather out of character, in my opinion) ignore John’s “Vatican Cameos” warning? If the airplane is a metaphor/fantasy in Eurus’ head, then who is the little girl that Sherlock is actually talking to throughout her “game”? (Obviously there could be an explanation for this, but that explanation is not given to us, the viewers.) When Victor Trevor went missing, why on earth was a proper search not conducted for him, and why did no adult think to check the well? (Sherlock obviously knows where the well is when he goes to rescue John, so it doesn’t seem to have been a secret.) Why the hell is Eurus still being kept alive after all of this?

None of these things are explained, and we are simply meant to accept at the end that Sherlock starts spending time with his sister in spite of all the evil things she has done, and that everything between Sherlock and John is back to business as usual, with no discussion of what has happened between them, or apologies, or anything. We can, perhaps, assume that they had those conversations, but we are not shown them.

Personally, I liked that Sherlock was more emotional during this season (and to a certain extent in season 3). He is older, wiser, and more understanding that emotion is not the handicap that he once believed it was. Since I’m a firm believer that the rationality-emotion dichotomy is a false one, it was gratifying to see a character learn and grow and move away from that. But given that growth in Sherlock’s character, and after everything they have been through both separately and together, I believe we deserved to see an honest conversation between John and Sherlock about how much they care about each other, and what they wanted from life together going forward. We did not get that conversation, and that is deeply disappointing to me.

Overall, I think it is always a mistake to try and make a story “dark” just for the sake of making it dark. When you do that with a story that doesn’t need it, then you are likely to fall back on making your characters suffer just for the hell of it, and in order to make that happen, the rest of your story will necessarily suffer too. Unfortunately, Season 4 of Sherlock turned out to be a clear example of this.

Okay, I will stop there. I’ve been obsessing about this in my head for several weeks now, so I thought it was probably better to get it written down. Some will undoubtedly disagree with me about much of this, and that’s fine, but I needed to get my own thoughts out. I am still a fan of the series, and would certainly recommend the first three seasons and the Christmas special. I will probably watch season 4 again, just to make sure that I wasn’t missing things that would help to explain some of these issues, but after that, I don’t know how much I will be rewatching season 4.

~Ethelinda

#sherlock #bbc sherlock #sherlock s4 #sherlock spoilers #review #tv review

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