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goodqueenaly · 7 months ago

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I saw that House of the Dragon in their podcast named Alicent's mother as Alerie Florent. Any thoughts on that? The Florents do seem to have bad luck in wars.

I’m still not talking about HotD, but it’s funny you mention this because I meant to make a post about it (and then completely forgot). You can find the interview here and the clip here specifically mentioning the name.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to mention it is not to praise this show but rather to bemoan the fact that a non-canon (to the books) TV show seems more interested in the identity of a female character, no matter how relatively minor, than GRRM himself has with various female characters of ASOIAF. I’m not saying I necessarily expected F&B to identify Alicent Hightower’s mother (although it’s not like I wouldn’t have liked it to), and in the vast annals of awfulness representing F&B’s treatment of female characters, Alicent Hightower’s mother’s lack of presence or even name may seem relatively low on the scale of offensiveness. Yet what bothers me deeply is the startling disregard GRRM has shown more than once in failing to identify female characters, or indeed failing to treat some female characters as more than walking wombs. The reigning yet unnamed Princess of Dorne is an infamous example; “Lady Stark, she died” - that is, Lyarra Stark, the wife of Rickard - is another. (Need I remind anyone that he sarcastically and yet totally inaccurately compared her to Aragorn’s actually named mother?) Quellon Greyjoy gets a detailed biography, but his wives don’t even get first names; Hoster Tully’s wife Minisa and Jon Arryn’s wives Rowena and Jeyne are only identifiable by their dynasties and the manners of their deaths. Nor did F&B go any real way toward solving this problem: Alaric Stark gets plenty of backstory and screentime, but his supposedly beloved Mormont wife doesn’t even have a first name; Rogar Baratheon’s first wife is only mentioned as an anonymous corpse already in the ground; Rodrik Arryn’s nameless first wife dies early enough for creep Rodrik to prey on Daella; Unwin Peake’s nameless adolescent daughter only exists to be raped and die in childbirth.

I don’t mention all this to say GRRM is a terrible writer, or hates female characters. Far from it! It’s precisely because I think GRRM is an extremely good writer, including with respect to female characters, that I find myself so disappointed when he shows such lack of regard in this area. In the 10+ years since GRRM began focusing in-depth on the Dance of the Dragons, there have been two novellas about this civil war, a world book describing in part this civil war, and an entire “related work” history of (the first roughly century and a half of) House Targaryen, with multiple chapters about this civil war expanding upon those novellas - yet it took the showrunner of a TV show adapting the F&B narrative of the Dance to care enough about Alicent’s mother to name her. I don’t know that this show is going so far as to give any personality or character to the dead figure of “Alerie Florent” (and again, I really don’t care about anything this show does), but even the showrunner mentioning that Alicent wants to remember her mother in prayers is more than we readers can say about, for example, Ned Stark’s relationship with his mother, or Catelyn’s with hers. GRRM’s lack of attention to or indeed interest in the identity of yet another female character, over the course of tens of thousands of words he’s written about the Dance era, stands in sharp and frankly unflattering contrast compared to even the passing mention of this figure allowed by the showrunner of a TV series which, by its nature, might have every incentive to be more streamlined about such details.

(Once again, I’m not posting about HotD and I’m not inviting anyone to use this post to talk about HotD, because those conversations are getting blocked by me. This is me using a news story related to HotD to comment on GRRM’s writing.)

#GRRM

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pikahlua · 1 year ago

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Pika I was reading someone referring to the female characters in MHA as female leads and was upset that their character arcs weren’t fleshed out in comparison to bakugou and izuku, who are the protagonists? Or even dueteragonist and protagonist.

And I’m kind of confused as I feel like this is misleading, no? It doesn’t feel like any of the female characters have what most people would consider a lead role. Like, the closest I can think is Uraraka (and toga), but I feel like maybe she’s at most a dueteragonist or a confidant. But the rest of the female characters feel very tertiary.

Their roles are I think meaningful but don’t necessarily need to be fleshed out because of the focus of the story being bakugou/izuku/tomura/AFO/all might and the effects of hero society and the way they exemplify its failings?

What are your thoughts?

I agree that just because there are female characters doesn't mean one of them automatically has to occupy a lead role, and that analyzing one as such could lead to problems. That's to say nothing about the state of representation of female characters in literature let alone shounen manga. But if we're talking purely about function in a story, no female character in MHA occupies a primary lead role.

That said, obviously Ochako occupies a much more prominent role than many other characters do. She could easily be called the lead role in her subsection of the story. I would argue that the correct point of comparison for Ochako is not Izuku (never should it be Izuku for most any character). You could probably make a decent case for comparing her with Katsuki, but ultimately I'd compare her to someone a bit more separate from the main story, like Iida or Shouto.

I think that leads to a much easier conversation about how disappointing her story is to some people. If you can compare a female character to an equivalent male character in the story and find the end result lacking, that's certainly cause for disappointment. Ochako doesn't get as much character growth as Iida, at least not for a long while. And there certainly isn't the level of focus placed on her, her inner thoughts, her development, or the drama developing around her as there is with Shouto. But Ochako does have her big moments in the story too. Is it just that her story is written sloppily, or it's not a good story, or are we biased against her as readers somehow? It's hard to say. I used to find her compelling in the early story, but now I don't find her nearly as compelling as I did back then. But I could say that of many characters, male and female. Is the desire for Ochako to have a more fleshed out story the result of comparing hers to other male characters' stories, or is it indicative of a hunger for better stories about women in general in a way MHA never presented itself as?

What if I just say I like Ochako's character concept and her early moments but find that her overall story is too spread out over a long period of time for it to have any impact on me? I just don't like her story the way I like some others. Like, it's fine. It's a fine story. In all honesty it's one of the better stories I've seen for a female character in a shounen manga. It's just not engrossing for me. She's not what I'm here for. And I think it's entirely valid to be disappointed in that, regardless of if she was male or female.

#anon ask #ask pika #ochako uraraka #anti ochako uraraka #anti tag just in case #anime only friendly

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indierokkerss · 1 month ago

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This is my review of gladiator 2 that nobody asked for (my qualifications I’ve seen the original at least 30 times)

Straightaway something off with the score and the colour grading(?) it just looks worse. It’s too direct of a sequel half of it is more a remake, the references are too heavy handed. Feel like there are so many obvious ways it could’ve been made better. If they had been more original and spent less time giving paul mescal the same unnecessary tragic backstory (he already has a tragic backstory in the first place). Classic killing off the wife immediately who nobody gives a fuck about and then it’s meant to be a ‘thing’ throughout nobody cares about that bitch. The script really lets it down they directly reused so much dialogue which maybe wouldn’t have been as noticeable to someone who hasn’t seen the first one as many times but it was very noticeable to me and felt soooo stupid. Him being maximus’ son is also SO fucking STUPID it was so unneeded I guess fuck his wife and actual kid who was the whole point of the first one?? Something about like he only loved lucilla because it was his son feels so reductive. I don’t necessarily think paul mescal is miscast like some people are saying but he is clearly not russell crowe (in the sense of like charisma? screen presence? I’m not really sure what to call it) so it doesn’t make sense trying to give him the exact same role they should’ve worked with him more because it doesn’t end up being this kind of epic revenge story. I did not find it as compelling and emotional and high stakes as the first, didn’t care about the characters as much, if they’d spent less time setting up the backstory and more developing the characters especially the emperors it would’ve been better (also in the backstory definitely has a tell not show problem and doesn’t trust the audience to infer). Even when they killed lucilla who you already care about from the first one I didn’t have that much of a reaction (although genuinely gasped when they killed derek jacobi). I liked pedro pascal I wished he’d been in it more and I didn’t hate the emperors I got what they were going for, however is crazy that they were syrian and north african and the film gives you gingers literally painted white (and joseph quinn pulling out his joaquin phoenix impression). Also they caligulaed him caligulas everywhere for those with eyes to see. Wish they’d spent more time on them and their dynamic and that their mother julia domna had been included especially given that in that in dio he stabs geta while he’s in their mother’s arms but you know can only have one major female character. However saying all this it was still better than I expected it definitely picks up in the second half because it sets up like it’s going to be him getting revenge on acacius but then that goes out and denzel washington is the real villain. He is amazing obviously (shocking when people are famous for a reason) and really brings the charisma which is lacking in other parts. I was also kind of impressed by how realistic this storyline was very sejanus, and there were lots of other examples of freedmen becoming very influential. My only criticism would be he doesn’t feel nearly as sinister as commodus in the first film which again makes lower stakes which wouldn’t be a problem if they had tried to do a more different storyline and you weren’t constantly comparing. The battle scenes are obviously good fan of the naval battle although I did explode in the middle of the cinema and go how the fuck would they get a shark in there. Also saying that the battle of salamis was between the persians and the trojans ridley scott open wikipedia challenge. I really liked the doctor character he was probably my fav which was good because there are strong ‘friend’ side characters like juba and cicero in the first and I feel like he held up against them. Denzel washington’s costumes were beeutiful he was slaying the house down boots etc lucilla had great jewellery everyone was fit sexy as fuck. Overall I think it was funnn they should’ve put me on it I would’ve made it better but also been engaged in a sexual harassment scandal (and the allegations would be true)

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girl4music · 10 months ago

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God I just want more strong female representation. Not necessarily WLW representation but just female in general. Women-led TV art/entertainment. Female empowerment. Female vulnerability and strength.

I want a representation of the human condition where females can have all their internal conflicts and conditions but not be punished for them. Or if they have to be punished in the narrative - fully explore as to why they do. What the necessity for it is. Whether it’s valid and justified. Whether it serves a purpose in the narrative for that female character. Does it help them grow and evolve into a better person? Does it help them combat their internal demons and heal their mind, body and soul? Or is it only there in the service of someone else’s story arc because they don’t matter as much as that other character does? I’ve always said that punishment for punishments sake is just stupid. It serves nothing. It helps nothing. It evolves nothing. And when it comes to female punishment in TV art/entertainment in particular, there is very rarely an exploration of the reasoning why they have to be. And that’s because of poor narrative writing choices more so than it is because of purposeful ignorance or spite.

Poor narrative writing choices because of the anxiety of providing sufficient representation and the anxiety of cancellation. Rushed written and produced content. Female representation in particular has had a real hammering. I mean you still are provided it but the problem is the lack of care and conscientiousness with it. Representing a female on-screen is different to representing a male on-screen. Not necessarily because there’s differences in the genders or sexes. I am the last person to care about gender stereotypes and the “correct” gender roles and bullshit like that. That’s not what I mean. No, it’s more so about trying to depict the subtle nuances of gender identity. Think of it like the treatment of ability VS disability. What’s required to treat that disabled individual person equally to the abled person will obviously be different things. So you’re more so pointing out the differences in how females VS males are treated on-screen than you are of how they’re represented. Females need to and should be treated differently to males and vice versa on-screen but it should never be in an unequal way the same way it should never be between an abled person and a disabled person. You shouldn’t have to point out the weaknesses or debilitations of one more than the other. You shouldn’t have to punish one more than the other. That’s what I’m trying to say about how female representation has had a real hammering taken to it recently in TV art/entertainment. Or at least since the likes of ‘Xena’, ‘Buffy’ and ‘Charmed’ were on air. All notoriously women-led shows. Two created by men at that.

I haven’t really seen anything last or stand the test of time since. I mean I’ve found ‘Wynonna Earp’ but I don’t know if it’s significant enough in female representation to have longevity well after it finished with it being produced by a small network then and an even smaller one for when it comes back next year with a 90 minute scripted special titled ‘Wynonna Earp: Vengeance’. It’s certainly something but it’s not enough. We need more female representation and specifically female empowerment representation because what we’ve got at the moment is pathetic.

#top 10 #female characters #in sci fi/fantasy #female representation #strong women #gender equality #ms mojo

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blueiight · 2 years ago

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is this a safe space? im gonna bring up the antoinette thing. not necessarily the photos being taken from her ig and her going private bc you talked about that already and i agree but just how i don’t understand the response. they said that were going to revisit things that have happened along with what you said. it seems only natural that she would be a part of that to me. i don’t really understand the reaction i guess. or maybe i just saw a few people and most people are coolin. but i just feel like they are telling a story yall. let them. there’s so many scenarios where it makes sense the actress is there to me.

well what i & abnegative on twt thought was like.. louis has shown a propensity for states of mania & delirium.. the second cour of interview is the longest bender between 1860 -1970 everrr for lack of a better way to phrase it.

in the show u have the state of mania he describes his past self being in

The state I was in, I was what... I was manic.

& louis does not describe this, but s1’s finale ends with louis in a disassociative episode in the present + shows us the meltdown he had over lestat’s ‘death’ before the armand reveal..

people talked about louis having visions of lestat no problem which i imagine would require sam reid to film something, but the possibility of maura grace athari there to film louis’s visions of lestat’s side piece of a few odd decades cant be the end of the world. i mean who knows why athari’s even in prague.. what if shes on a regular vacay and this is all for nothing? lol. i imagine reactions could be the classic fujo impulse to react reflexively at a female character ‘breaking up’ the gay pairing mixed w/ the fact that antoinette as a character is in no small part a juxtaposition to louis as ive said before where antoine was essentially a parallel to louis (& later to nicki) and only was revealed to be around in the final book trilogy after all.. i can imagine some people under the assumption the show would do another fakeout w/ antoinette’s death but i dont think theres enough credence for that so far.. in fact making sure antoinette was dead seemed to be the one thing louis & claudia agreed upon in 1x07 lol but who knows man who knows. theres a lot they can do, but i dont think its fair to fall into camps of definitive much less even a paranoid line of speculation off one picture on a [private?] instagram. its summertime and prague’s a decent sized city that gets tourists🤷🏾

#yn.#yn answers #iwtv #idk if im a safe space but u can always be real w me

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the-one-where-casey-watches-tv · 2 years ago

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The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel episode 5.09 "Four Minutes"

Rachel Brosnahan in "Four Minutes". Image courtesy of IMDb.

I guess Amy Sherman-Palladino still hasn’t figured out how to end a show. I’ll admit that I’ve watched every episode and felt entertained, but I never fully embraced Maisel. I’m hard on it because it had so much potential and was always right there on the edge of being a landmark in tv- it just didn’t have that last little oomph. But even among the avid fans that I’ve talked to, I haven’t heard from anyone who appreciated the way this story ends.

Before I get to the wild things that happened in season 5, I just have to say- I never liked Midge. That’s really my only problem with the show, but it’s a big one. Maisel did so much telling rather than showing in that regard: they didn’t make her likable, they told me that people liked her. I’m supposed to be charmed by her the way everyone else is, but more often than not, I’m pulled out of the moment wondering how she’s suddenly somehow won people over. Most of all, though, I don’t think she’s that funny.

Rachel Brosnahan in "Four Minutes". Image courtesy of IMDb.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is hilarious. Sherman-Palladino knows how to make a beautiful, colorful, bustling setting full of quaint and funny people who talk back and forth very quickly. With those strengths, I have to wonder what inspired a premise centered around a career of stationary monologues. The show made me laugh out loud countless times, just never at one of Midge’s jokes. So frequently Midge would force her way onstage, royally pissing people off in the process, but suddenly everyone loves her act so much- or worse, just thinks she’s so pretty- that all is forgiven. An act that I didn’t even laugh at.

The show has an obviously feminist premise, but its execution here too leaves me feeling like the only takeaway there is “women can do anything they want!! No matter how good they are at it or how they treat people along the way!! If they make a mess, a man will be possessively in love with her and toxically sacrifice himself to make it all okay. As long as she’s pretty.”

So this is already the headspace I went into season 5 with, and its ultimate conclusion really doubled down that sentiment for me. The setup for this season has Midge working as the only female writer on America’s number one talk show, the Gordon Ford show. Gordon is a new character, but I warmed up to him quickly. He’s chill, surprising, and funny- actually funny. Midge isn’t intimidated by him because has she ever been? She’s demeaned at having to be a writer and not “talent”, but she’s gonna grin and bear it. A job plenty of ladies (me included) would kill for, and that she’s breaking the glass ceiling by having. But she’s slumming it.

Midge’s privilege is another roadblock to her likability. Not necessarily the fact that she has it financially, which I am glad this season touched on, but it’s the attitude she has about it. All the Weissmans have lavish class privilege, and this season used Zelda’s quitting to gently poke fun at their helplessness, but Rose and Abe at least have an awareness and sense of gratitude for the help they receive. Abe’s journey of self-awareness throughout this season was incredibly moving and heartfelt, and the way he beat himself up over the most minute of mistakes at his newspaper job really highlights the lack of those qualities in Midge.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the chronologically confusing time jumps revealing the demise of Midge and Susie’s friendship and business partnership. God, I feel so bad for Susie. There’s a Friends blooper where David Schwimmer just bursts out laughing and goes, “poor Ross”. I would be amazed if Alex Borstein hasn’t had a similar experience.

Alex Borstein and Rachel Brosnahan in "Four Minutes". Image courtesy of IMDb.

Here’s the quick version of what happened over these 9 episodes: Susie’s been in bed with the mob since before this season- I was honestly thrown for a loop when they became such an important part of this season, they’ve always been surprisingly sweet, funny, and helpful. Nonetheless, they asked Susie for the favor of having Midge star in a musical about the waste department. See? Sweet and funny. It was significant, though, because Susie thought this would make her square with Frank and Nicky. As in, no more getting a cut of her and Midge’s profits. But Midge looked down on the whole trash gig thing and phoned in her performance when the rest of her life wasn’t going the way she wanted. This sparked a conversation between Susie, Frank, and Nicky that Joel observed from afar. Susie tried to promise that Midge would step up her game so they could all part ways, causing Frank and Nicky to explain that there was no “getting even”. Susie always thought she owed them a favor that one day she would repay and wash her hands of the whole thing, but Midge’s poor attitude only revealed that even if they had done everything perfectly, there was no getting out from under them.

Joel didn’t hear the conversation, but somehow he put the whole thing together really quickly, getting in Susie’s face and saying that he won’t stand for Midge being caught up with guys like that, because he’s very familiar with them. I really don’t know when Joel became such a hard-ass or got all of this mob experience. Susie tells him that she’s got it all under control- maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t- we’ll never find out, because Joel takes it upon himself to meet with Frank and Nicky and fall on the sword to protect Midge. He lets the mob in on his club business, mixing their books as he begins to buy more clubs. Midge never has any idea until his eventual arrest, in Temple no less, where he’s put away for the entire mob operation. Midge doesn’t hesitate to cut Susie off and stay by Joel’s side, religiously visiting him in prison during decades worth of time jumps.

I hate all of this for a few reasons. It really just feels like Joel felt he had to find a way to keep himself relevant in this story and in Midge’s life, and it’s so disappointing to me that this works on Midge. Before all this, Midge and Joel had a really mature and endearing post-divorce friendship. It’s hard to say if Mei’s abrupt departure at the end of season 4 was a logistical hurdle for the show or a creative choice to free Joel up to do this, but regardless, this was an unwanted replacement for a fleshed-out relationship between Joel and Mei, whose story still feels unfinished. And his weirdly intense speech to Midge on the fire escape about not letting anyone hurt a hair on her head? I’ve never seen a not creepy use of that phrase, so I don’t know what to make of Midge eating it up. This all really undermines the respectful, minding-their-own-business nature of their progressive relationship. I think if someone had said at the end of season one that this show ends with Joel’s relentless love for Midge disseminating her friendship with Susie, we would have all thought that was very off-message.

Not to mention, as all of this unfolds, we’re also treated to a glimpse of everything Susie did for Midge over the years of their partnership. When Midge got cold feet the night before a destination wedding because he didn’t make her laugh, Susie tried to put her foot down and set some workplace boundaries- this has nothing to do with Midge’s career, Susie has no obligation to untangle the mess Midge has made of her own personal life. But Midge bursts into tears, and of course Susie makes it all okay.

But the biggest catalyst of emotions boiling under the surface comes from Gordon Ford’s wife. I don’t think Susie’s sexuality was a mystery to anyone, but we’d never talked about it before Hedy. Susie was clearly deeply wounded by her, and even though she’s not one to spill her life’s story, that much is clear. Nonetheless, when Midge finds out that Susie knows her personally, she aggressively pushes Susie to talk to her about getting Midge on the Gordon Ford show. Susie is extremely hesitant, leading Midge to say that whatever is holding her back, if Susie doesn’t do this for her, then Midge will know that her manager didn’t do everything she could for her.

With the context of everything Susie has ever done for Midge, this is such a slap in the face. Add in the heavy hinting that Susie is in love with Midge, and the whole thing just makes me sad for her. The lesbian sidekick being in love with the straight main character is so tired to me. But of course, Susie talks to Hedy, and of course she pulls it off. Once Susie’s done what she wanted her to do, Midge softens and convinces her to talk about what happened between her and Hedy. Then, Midge says if she had known she would never have pressured Susie to talk to her. As if there was no way of initiating this conversation sooner.

Alex Borstein in "Four Minutes". Image courtesy of IMDb.

So for Midge to not even hesitate to turn on Susie after Joel’s arrest, something he brought entirely on himself against Susie’s wants and pleas, is so blatantly cruel that I almost wonder if Midge isn’t even supposed to be the hero of this story.

This brings us to the title of this episode and Midge’s tendency to act like- and be treated like- her showing up is God’s gift to whatever room she’s in. Susie talked to Hedy, Hedy talked to Gordon, Gordon begrudgingly broke his longstanding rule to not have staff members on the show. But, if he’s gonna do it, his frail ego is going to do it his way (remember when he started a bar fight with Hank Azaria for wanting Midge to work for him? He was being ‘noble’ because clearly Azaria’s Danny Stevens is just attracted to her. Gordon won’t let her be on the show but also won’t let her work anywhere else, how protective and helpful!).

It’s moments before the show when Midge and Susie learn that Midge will appear on the show, but not as a comic- rather, she will be interviewed by Gordon as a writer on the show, a human-interest piece. Midge is to sit on a stool, rather than the respectable couch the ‘real’ guests get to sit on. Even in this Gordon is seething and throws the show to commercial only seconds into the segment. There’s still “Four Minutes” to fill when they come back, tensions are high, and Gordon is as unhappy as someone can be on national TV.

I’ll give Midge credit for getting Susie’s blessing before she does this. I don’t even blame her for doing it, to be honest. The Gordon Ford show returns from commercial and Midge steps over Gordon’s return to the segment, walking up to the mic and doing four minutes of standup while Mike and Susie do everything they can off camera to keep Gordon in his chair.

I’m the petty bitch that counted, but if you’re literally gonna call the series finale “Four Minutes” I’d like to think it would actually be four minutes. She talked for almost ten. I believe in the universe of the show it really was just four minutes (even Midge Maisel can’t eat into somebody else’s primetime air), but to me this confirms Sherman-Palladino’s disconnectedness to standup itself as an art form. They call it a ‘tight five’ because it’s hard to do, and I was actually really interested to see what Midge could pull off in that amount of time.

I’ll admit that it was one of her better sets, but certainly not something of the caliber that warranted a complete 180 in Gordon Ford. He laughs out loud as she talks, and when she’s done, he invites her onto the couch, reintroducing her as a comic, the marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Why is she even still using Joel’s last name? I digress.

Reid Scott in "Four Minutes". Image courtesy of IMDb.

With some comparable behavior, Midge and Susie do ultimately repair their friendship. Susie, later in life, is an ultra-successful talent manager, repping the biggest names in entertainment and becoming something of a celebrity herself. Her falling out with Midge, though, is the elephant in every room she’s in. There’s a roast for Susie in one of the bigger flash forwards, with everyone she cares about there to good-naturedly poke fun at her. Everyone except Midge, which all the guests speculate about throughout the event. Then, at the end, a screen descends from the ceiling, and a recorded video of Midge plays. It sounds like she’s ready to make amends with Susie and see her again, and Susie, of course, is tripping over herself to find her way to her. After everything Susie did for her, Midge is the bigger person? The hero? Just for showing up? Again, I digress.

The series closes on the two of them watching Jeopardy! together over the phone, chatting and laughing, hard, something that’s always been important to Midge in the people she keeps close. And this time, Midge really is funny. She’s at her best when she’s interacting with people. It’s a really sweet scene and I’m happy to see the show end this way. I just wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I would’ve liked after everything that happened to get us there.

What did you think? Do you see a different side of Midge than I do? Was Susie more wrong and Joel more right than I think they are? Does Midge’s standup make you laugh? Let me know!

#the marvelous mrs maisel #midge maisel #joel maisel #susie myerson #alex borstein #rachel brosnahan #tony shalhoub #abe weissman #tv #tv review #tv criticism #amy sherman palladino

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tutuandscoot · 2 years ago

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Things I love about VM: Post Skates

2. Scott always leads Tessa back to centre ice for their bows.

No matter the program, how it went, who’s having a bad day, who’s more excited. He always leads her back, and she always lets him lead her back.

This might be kinda hard to notice when comparing to other teams, I tried to watch a bunch and depending how they finish it may not be obvious. The examples I’ll post here are instances where I feel it’s at least a bit clear it’s the female partner taking the initiative to do this.. which I just don’t personally love- I like it when the men are leading the ladies the whole time on the ice. The first gif is the one that came to mind first when I was looking to compare this, and depending on how you view a lot of this whole thing, maybe depends on the dynamic of personalities between skaters. Like fair if you want to say ‘that’s just their personalities’, which is fine if you like that, but as partners there is a reason and.. occupational structure that I notice some teams missing in various instances/moments of a performance. Here some random examples just as a visual to compare to VM:

(As always this is not a knock to any specific teams, it’s just to show a visual difference to VM).

It is clear with the first and last examples, these teams the lady is the more dominant/bigger personality, the other examples I feel like the dynamic varies/isn’t so obvious, and again while the movement is minimal, in comparing to TS you can see how all these gifs show the female with the initiative/leading that moment of their performance (examining this regardless whether the man was leading in their actual program). What I’m saying is I don’t think it’s necessarily a personality thing in all instances, I don’t even think it’s a conscious thing, but I think it shows a lack of unity and leadership structure and as I said I personally like when the man is leading, so as with everything comparing to TS- are just so much better and more believable because it’s so real and honest- those roles are never confused.

So really it’s not so much in the physical action of it, in fact I almost wouldn’t say it’s the man taking the lady back, but you’ll maybe see more obviously with TS, just through their energy together, she will wait for him to lead her back, just though the presence she has, she maintains her role as the partner being lead even as the program has finished.

I don’t want this to get confused with specific programs (say Carmen where she is most certainly the more dominate character). It’s not program specific. It’s exactly what is said in the commentary here, it is a work of fine art how Tessa follows Scott, and he is always leading her- never looks as though he has a problem. Even when they aren’t dancing. She’s not waiting for him to actually say ‘come on’ and grab her and drag her back to centre, but she just doesn’t initiate anything, she’s allowing him to make all the decisions and she does what she is ‘told’ (wordlessly instructed to do and as they have done a thousand times) because those are their roles in their partnership, and they do them so incredibly well- it is an art, because it’s not overtly obvious and you don’t see it.. you kind of only feel it, it’s that trust she has in him- you feel that she’s always being taken care of. When you watch the very earliest footage of them, the difference is obvious that she is clearly leading, but just a few years later really in juniors that dynamic has completely shifted and it is him leading her. That takes so much trust for Tessa to relinquish that role, and Scott so much responsibility to be the leader for them both. Once they learned that, that dynamic never wavered in any instance of them on the ice- competitive or show performance.

Even in instances where Scott didn’t have his best skate and T in her very quiet and beautiful way is everything he needs her to be to make him feel safe and cared for in a moment where he is so mad at himself, their roles on the ice when it comes to leading and following never changes despite what happened in the program.

When they say they are both team leaders and they have two ‘Cs’ on their jackets (C for captain), Tessa is just as much the captain that Scott is on the ice even though he is ‘leading’ her. They are both in charge of their respective roles and must contribute equally to the team for them to be successful. And what each other does in their roles allows the other to do theirs- them being their very best for each other makes them the best overall.

As with a lot of things I talk about this may seem small and unimportant but when you put it all together with their skating, dancing, athleticism performance, and they carry that authenticity and leadership structure right through till they are off the ice, it completes the full package, makes you believe them and not take your eyes off them because you are so entranced in their partnership. That’s the point I want to try and get across in this series.. it’s everything- not just the skating.

#things I love: series #post skates

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ellynneversweet · 2 years ago

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Aaaaand I’m done.

Okay. I’ll say that I liked this the best out of all the Bridgerton offerings so far: it made a genuine attempt to engage with the absolute nonsense Romancelandia setting rules already established in this universe and turn them into something cohesive. It almost works.

Everyone had real problems (except for Violet, who was just sort of…there) that weren’t things that could just be resolved if they would just talk out a stupid misunderstanding. Charlotte and George’s romance is genuinely unusual and quite touching, especially in its later stages. Lady Danbury as the fantasy version of an unhappily married woman turned wealthy independent widow is delightful. I like that they didn’t (by romance standards) sugarcoat the level of control a woman’s relatives and husband had over her life, or how precarious life without a good protector was. Some of the ways in which this was spelled out to the female characters (and thus, the audience) was a bit clumsy — this is their native culture, after all. They can and certainly should react to it in a variety of ways, but surprise at the degree of legal confinement they’re subject to comes across as stupidity, often.

Some of the costumes were hideous, some were great. Late baroque suits the brocade and ruffles bullshit of the Bridgerton Style Guide much better than the regency does. No one knows what to do with hats, but I really enjoyed the ladies in tricorns we got. (I love a good tricorn.) And there were some beautiful bergeres, which are another fave of mine.

It offers a cohesive explanation for why Charlotte is dressed in styles from twenty years ago, because she’s emotionally arrested in that era. It doesn’t make me forgive the lack of regency court dress in the Bridgerton-family centric seasons, because I desperately want to see that on screen. I actually think it could work. I know everyone hated it and the fashion plates of the era look a bit silly, but the silhouette is not dissimilar to a hanbok, if you squint? It could be done. And I bet those dresses could even be reworked to be regular going out dresses. If the panniers only added width to the sides, all you’d really have to do is re-sew the side seams into straight lines.

Violet should have been cut from this, frankly. George needed more screen time outside of Charlotte and his never ending leeches and ice baths. He’s an interesting character and the actors who played him were both genuinely good. We needed more sane George, because mad George is necessarily shown at an emotional remove from his thoughts and emotions. I’m not sure if having him be unstable so early was decided as a plan to explain away why Prinny isn’t a character in the main series and why Charlotte is so very prominent as the effective regent.

Also, we could have done with less horrible sex scenes between the Danburys. Once or twice, fine, but the rest could be easily telegraphed through Agatha’s post-rape bath and bitch sessions.

Um. I loved Reynolds, as I’ve said, and I’m sorry we didn’t get mature Reynolds in George’s household. I liked the variety of relationships shown. I don’t love how cold mature Charlotte is towards Brimsley — it seems horrible and disconnected from their early friendship. I don’t appreciate the way the narrative role Brimsley and Reynolds played necessarily cut out the existence and importance of ladies in waiting (and courtiers more generally). That annoys me, in a show that so heavily centres the lives of women. Lady Danbury’s relationship with Coral was good, though.

Edit: oh, and the timeline and travel distances involved made absolutely no sense at all. They all have magical tardis carriages. I nearly lost my mind when Reynolds complained about ‘riding all the way here’ when Brimsley had been using that same route as the walk for a small puppy every day. And, of course, the whole invitations for a royal wedding that starts in three hours thing.

Anyway. Scream away at me if you have thoughts.

#ellyn watches queen charlotte

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findroleplay · 1 year ago

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Space adventures: 3.0

Hello ladies, gents and fellow rpers. After having to take an unexpected but necessary break from the wonderful world of rping I’m ready to dive back into the waters of writing and make some amazing new stories with some new partners. I’ve been in the writing game for over ten years at this point and consider myself to be fairly experienced when it comes to rping. That being said, I do not require you to have decades of writing experience in order to rp with me. In fact all I ask for anyone thinking of reaching out to me is that:

-You write in third person past tense and have decent spelling and grammar. I’m not going to be put off by the occasional bout of typonese, but I’m definitely going to be put off by writing that I cannot read at all or noticeable mistakes that are left uncorrected.

-You are capable of writing at least three well fleshed out paragraphs per response (this might change depending on what is going on in the rp at the time) with at least seven or more lines. I want someone who is capable of matching the effort I put into my replies and isn’t afraid to spend time making something chock full of detail or go over the discord word limit when it comes to writing a response. One liners/very small or short paragraphs that lack detail are a very big no go for me.

-You can respond at least once or more per day. I do not mind what time during the day that response happens as life comes before rp and I do not want you skipping over important things just to get it done.

-You are 18+. I’m in my twenties and not comfortable rping with minors as my role plays contain NSFW themes and other mature content. Your characters are also required to be 18+ as well.

-You are comfortable with rping against (but not necessarily as) alien characters that aren’t technically just humans from other planets. I’m not looking to rp as a human main character regardless of what we end up doing so please keep this in mind.

-You are capable of bringing ideas to the table, love to worldbuild, adore talking about our characters and aren’t afraid to throw in a plot twist every now and then.

-You will let me know if you have any problems with the rp and work through them with me as well as let me know if you need to take a break or might be busy. I will make sure to do the same.

-You are looking for a long term rp. I want this to be something that spans for months, maybe even years. Not just a couple days or weeks.

-You are comfortable with both MxM and FxM romances. I have no preference as to which one we do.

-You have discord.

I also ask for you to please not godmod, control my characters or spam me with hey/are you there/when are you going to reply/etc.

I AM NOT THE RPER FOR YOU IF:

-You are looking for a fast paced/rapid fire/one liner/short term rp. These types of rp’s just do not hold my interest. I’m also not looking for anything that isn’t a 1x1 rp (group rp’s are just not my thing) and I do not double.

-You are not comfortable with rping with non-humanoid looking aliens. That means anything that may have/has fur, scales, fangs, claws, tails, feathers, the ability to walk on walls or climb ceilings, multiple limbs, etc. If you are not comfortable with aliens that may have one or more of the above traits then please do not reach out to me.

-You are not looking for a slow burn romance or you fade to black when it comes to smut. Slow burn romances are a requirement for all of my rp’s and I feel that skipping out on the smut means we miss the chance to write about very important moments occurring between the characters. To put it simply, smut is important to me. Neither romance or smut will take over the main story of course.

-You are looking for someone to play as a female main character. I only play male main characters and cannot be persuaded to do otherwise.

-You cannot reply more than a couple of times a week. I tend to lose interest/motivation if I don’t get a reply at least every other day.

-You don’t have discord. I rp only on discord because I like making servers to keep things organised, other platforms just don’t work for me.

-You are not interested in doing a sci-fi rp. I’m not looking to do anything that isn’t sci-fi so please do not waste my time by messaging me and asking if I’m interested in other genres. I am also not currently interested in doing anything that isn’t one of the ideas I have listed.

With that out of the way, let’s get onto the ideas! Down below are the ideas that I’ve been hoping to write with someone. I’m open to brainstorming or mixing them together to create something new. Nothing is set in stone and I’m hoping to keep whatever plot we decide to do/make mostly fluid or free flowing, meaning that the entire course of the story isn’t entirely planned out at the beginning and we let the actions of our characters determine what happens next whilst occasionally planning what they next major plot point of the story is when we decide it’s time to fill our characters lives with even more drama.

Taking over:

The lifespan of a captain could sometimes end up being tragically short. It was the captain who was supposed to be the first to jump into their starfighter and guide their crew to victory whenever their ship was under threat, It was the captain who was expected to always be able to know what decisions were the right ones to make in regards to the welfare of the crew and it was the captain who took an oath upon receiving the keys to their ship to never put their own life before someone else’s even when faced with the most difficult decision of all. When the much loved captain of the alliance ship Maelstrom loses their life after a mission gone wrong their second in command is the one who is chosen to take their place as the new captain despite the angry protests from some of the crew members. Will the new captain be able to follow in the footsteps of the one before them and lead the Maelstrom to success whilst earning the respect of the crew, or will the burden be too much to bear?

New recruit:

Whenever talks about potentially receiving some new crew members came around it wasn’t uncommon for people to get a little bit crazy. Not everyone hated the idea of seeing a new face or two running around given it meant that there could potentially be less tasks for them to do before they got to clock out for the day, but that didn’t mean they were exactly okay with the idea that their job was potentially at risk of being handed to someone else if the captain decided that they were no longer performing at the required standards. Many of the current crew members took great pleasure in reminding any newcomers about their place on the ship and weren’t afraid to use their rank to get away with a little less than friendly behaviour when it came to doing such things to the point where it was often an unspoken rule amongst the other crew mates to not interfere with the “initiation” process lest the wraith be turned upon them instead. When the “initiation” process itself stopped depended on when the captain finally cared enough to intervene. When a new recruit arrives in the form of a previous high ranked person who was stripped of their title for insubordination, chaos of an entirely different kind takes hold.

The mission:

Seven. Seven alliance ships had disappeared without a trace or been destroyed by unforeseen yet suspicious circumstances. Mining asteroid explosions, ambush attacks, ship failures, all unfortunate yet unpredictable occurrences that were happening far too frequently for anyone to be able to just comfortably sit back and go on with life. With tensions between the alien and human race at an all time high, the alliance itself was desperately trying to find a way to keep the peace without causing a panic. Eventually, a proposal was made. In an all time first since the end of the great alien/human wars, an alien would be chosen and sent to work onboard a human ship. This was considered to be a very large step given many planets were still hostile to one another and the rumours circulating about the missing ships were sparking some strong reactions from both sides but the alliance was desperate….and so was the alien they were planning to send onboard. For them, it was their last and only chance to start a new life and to put a difficult past behind them. Little did anyone know, the appearance of this newcomer was more than just the first step towards changing life as many knew it for the known galaxies.

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the new alien crew member who is sent to work aboard an alliance ship with a human captain and crew. You can play as anything from a regular crew member to the captain.)

One unit, one goal:

When someone was part of a team, it felt like the people who fought beside them were all that really mattered. They cried on each other’s shoulders. They cheered each other on. They were there for each other through thick and thin. Most of the pilots who served under the galactic alliance were pretty tight knit with one another, meaning the pain of loss was worsened whenever such a tragedy struck. When a member of one of the alliance’s top intergalactic defence force teams loses their life during a search and capture mission that had gone wrong a new pilot is sent in as a replacement. As they struggle to find their place amongst people that seem to have no intention of moving on from their loss, a new threat slowly begins to rise with the intention of causing chaos and destruction on a scale that no one has ever seen before.

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the new pilot. you will be playing as a member of the team they’re joining.)

No easy way out: It was very rare for those who believed that their sole purpose in life was to reign terror and destruction upon those who dwelled within the known galaxies to take prisoners, even more so when said prisoner actively tries to fight back against their captors rather than quietly submitting and accepting their fate, and allowing them to live despite the trouble they cause. When a lone spacer is attacked by a captain who leads a crew of fairly notorious criminals that have been seen on more than just a couple of ruined wanted posters they are given one of two options to choose from: serve alongside them as a part of their crew in exchange for being allowed to live, or be left to face the vast depths of space alone in a ship that would soon become their tomb due to the state of disrepair it was in. Will the spacer accept their fate? Or will they take their last stand right there and then?

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the captured spacer. You will be playing the captain of the criminals.)

Stowaway:

Life in the known galaxies was harder for some than it was for most. Whilst many people were able to live freely with little rules and regulations as to what they did, others were bound by law to follow a certain way of life. Most accepted their predetermined paths and did their best to stay out of trouble, whilst for others it was just that little bit harder to accept the way things were supposedly meant to be. Especially when things could go downhill very quickly if one happened to be on the wrong side of those laws. Whilst many people frowned upon ship jumping, the act of sneaking onboard a ship and hiding away from its occupants in order to travel, some people felt like it was the only way to reach their destinations when a fresh start to their life was in order. When a stowaway is caught trying to hijack a ship, will mercy be given? Or will they find themselves facing a new threat?

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the stowaway. You will be playing the ship’s captain.)

Enslaved:

imagine living the life of one of the most successful people on the run that could exist. Galaxies trembled at your name. You and your crew swam in wealth and the going was good. Mutiny, sadly and sometimes not sadly, exists on its own accord. One person in particular reflected on this as they were forced to their feet. A collar attached to a chain and electromagnetic handcuffs prevented their escape as they stood for all those who cared to glance as they walked by in the market to see. No one wants to have their only life’s purpose be to serve another……only sometimes people don’t get that choice.

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the slave/servant. You’ll be the master/mistress.)

Across a sea of stars: Although they’d abandoned their less than humble watery origins well before the first spaceship had even been invented, Pirates were believed to be one of the biggest threats that anyone could encounter within the known galaxies. Those who were brave enough to attempt to navigate through the vast starry seas of space without a small fleet rallied behind them would often meet their fate at the hands of the bloodthirsty buccaneers whose lust for wealth and power had completely overtaken their ability to feel remorse for their actions. Any twinges of guilt that did attempt to surface were often easily washed away by consuming vast amounts of alcohol and then drunkenly brawling with other members of the crew during the celebratory dinners that came after a successful day of looting or the claiming of another captain’s ship as their own. When a ship is captured by the most feared pirate of all after accidentally flying into their territory and the crew fearfully plea for their lives, fate decides to take matters into its own hands in a most unexpected way. (Important point of notice: I will be playing the pirate captain. You will be playing as a member of the crew they’ve captured.)

Last chance:

Criminals, ranging from wannabe thieves to true crime lords, have been around long before anyone had even thought of the idea of building a spaceship and go where no one had ever been before. They’re often cunning, tricky to catch and more often than not are clever at disguising themselves whenever those wanted posters come up. It takes true talent to be on the wrong side of the laws that had been made by those long gone and get away with it. When a criminal that has been giving the alliance a run for their money has finally been captured, they are given a second chance to redeem themselves by having to work alongside the crew of the ship that captured them and even aid them to defend the ship if the need arises. Will this be enough to encourage a change of heart, or will it be the downfall of the crew and the alliance itself?

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the criminal, you will be playing as one of the crew members or even the captain of the ship.)

Betrothed: Long before other planets had even been discovered, and for far longer than anyone could truly remember, there had always been arranged marriages. Arranged marriages, or betrothals as they were more often called, consisted of pairing two people together and making them get married regardless of how they felt about one another in order to secure ties to another land or another planet for what many hoped would be forever. Political marriages benefited everyone but the married pair it always seemed. After all, no one could possibly be happy being married to a complete and utter stranger, could they? How does one who is betrothed build a life of love and prosperity when the one who bears the rings of their union is not the one who also bears their heart?

To those who have made it this far, thank you for reading! If you are interested in rping with me please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email (I do not rp through email but I’m more than happy for it to be where we first introduce ourselves to one another before moving to discord) or discord. Please note that I am in the eastern australian time zone so it might be a while before I respond/accept any requests you send my way due to possibly being asleep or busy depending on what time zone you are in. When you reach out to me please tell me what idea you liked, why you liked it and any ideas you may have. Please also include a little introduction and tell me what your favourite food is so that I know you’ve read the whole ad. Anyone who simply sends “hey I saw your ad and was interested!” Or some variation of that without an introduction will be ignored, simply sending me your favourite food will not work either as I use introductions to not only get to know the person I’m writing with a little bit and see if we click but to help break the ice a little bit and get the conversation going. My contact information is down below:

My discord: tiberionwars

My Gmail: [email protected]

Can’t wait to rp with anyone interested!

#rp #roleplay #oc rp #original rp #fandomless rp #sci fi rp

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roleplayfinder · 1 year ago

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Space adventures: 3.0

-You are 18+. I’m in my twenties and not comfortable rping with minors as my role plays contain NSFW themes and other mature content. Your characters are also required to be 18+ as well.

-You are capable of bringing ideas to the table, love to worldbuild, adore talking about our characters and aren’t afraid to throw in a plot twist every now and then.

-You will let me know if you have any problems with the rp and work through them with me as well as let me know if you need to take a break or might be busy. I will make sure to do the same.

-You are looking for a long term rp. I want this to be something that spans for months, maybe even years. Not just a couple days or weeks.

-You are comfortable with both MxM and FxM romances. I have no preference as to which one we do.

-You have discord.

I also ask for you to please not godmod, control my characters or spam me with hey/are you there/when are you going to reply/etc.

I AM NOT THE RPER FOR YOU IF:

-You are looking for someone to play as a female main character. I only play male main characters and cannot be persuaded to do otherwise.

-You cannot reply more than a couple of times a week. I tend to lose interest/motivation if I don’t get a reply at least every other day.

-You don’t have discord. I rp only on discord because I like making servers to keep things organised, other platforms just don’t work for me.

Taking over:

New recruit:

The mission:

Stowaway:

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the stowaway. You will be playing the ship’s captain.)

Where no one dares go:

Life in the known galaxies was once a peaceful experience. Aliens and humans alike peacefully lived their lives knowing that they were safe and mostly free from criminal encounters under the protection of the planetary leaders that formed the United worlds galactic alliance. Nowadays, such hope that any of those so-called leaders would look up from the desks that they were busy counting their money on was nonexistent. If you weren’t a criminal or someone who knew how to play their cards, life got pretty tough. Criminals ruled the roost with an iron fist, many species had gone back to the old ways of thinking less than highly of one another and most simply believed that perhaps this was the way things were meant to be. As a new threat slowly creeps over the horizon, it’s up to two unlikely heroes to team up and go further than anyone ever has before.

The price for freedom:

The number one rule for any criminal, whether they were a fearsome pirate, a smuggler with a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later or a wannabe thief who had yet to go beyond attempting to steal someone’s sandwiches without anyone noticing, was to never let themselves be put in a position where their freedom was at risk of being taken from them. Freedom was a gift that was not given on a whim to those who’d found themselves on the wrong side of the law with no intention of changing their ways and it was not something that came without a price on the rare occasions that it was offered to someone who had been on the path to a life where such a thing would never be granted. When one of the galaxies most feared criminals is finally captured and the alliance ship they are imprisoned on crashes after being targeted by a unknown organisation that is intent on taking over the universe itself, they are forced to work together with the only surviving crew member under the promise that they will be exempt from the punishment they once faced for their help. Will the promise be kept, or will it be broken in the worst way possible?

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the criminal. You will be playing the only surviving crew member of the ship that captured them.)

Enslaved:

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the slave/servant. You’ll be the master/mistress.)

Last chance:

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the criminal, you will be playing as one of the crew members or even the captain of the ship.)

My discord: tiberionwars

My Gmail: [email protected]

Can’t wait to rp with anyone interested!

#submission #eighteen and over #science fiction #science fiction roleplay #science fiction rp #oc #oc roleplay #oc rp

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dumuzithemessiah · 8 days ago

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Adult Nibirian Measurements + Truth

Nibirian Adult Height Range - 2’0”-2’7” in ft and 24-32.4 in inches and 60.96-82.296 in cm

Nibirian Adult Weight Range - 2.5-4.5 in pounds and 1.13398-2.04117 in kilograms and 40-72 in ounces

Picked a few to look up for height and range because not everyone uses the same way to measure things so I thought this would help to make things clearer! I used Google before anyone asks! But should be close right?

“Big things come in small packages” applies big time to Nibirians, especially advanced ones! Immortal beings that are powerful in magic[[males, unless they’re super goddesses then a super goddess could use good magic but still not as good as males can]] or high physical power[[females, but super gods which are males are powerful in strength too but lack the thick arms females have but females are still better in physical attacks]] and that applies to demons too of many species!

Demons are cute! They are not ugly or scary! They are from Nibiru! I’ve drawn demons before so you humans should stop hating on demons as many demons work hard to help other advanced species out there and help keep peace and order!

Demons mostly just resemble Mobians from Sonic as in anthropomorphic bipedal magical animals but more detailed as they have manes and wear clothes! We have a “where the sun don’t shine” if you know what I mean so we have to wear pants/trousers and underwear!

We have big heads, large eyes, noodle thin arms and legs[[females, except for imps, have thicker stronger looking arms]], and can be mammals, birds, reptiles, bugs, sea creatures, robots, cyber beings, plants, fungi, or hybrids, but all have souls of their own including the two AI species mentioned! And we all get along in harmony! With AI life being treated as any other living beings!

And on Earth there are problems called intolerance aka racism, homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, enbyphobia, discrimination against those from certain countries, etc! Also enbyphobia is intolerance against non binaries! I will say this no one is trans or non binary on Nibiru as our bodies form around our souls thus making it physically impossible for that to happen! And no one is non binary on Nibiru so us Nibirians just look at non binaries with confusion as we don’t understand how they think! We don’t hate non binaries though!

Though non binaries trying to force game characters to be like them or those LGBT headcanons do piss me off as it creates the problem that is people won’t take LGBT people seriously if it’s treated as a trend to headcanon characters idiotically with LGBT terms! Also saw with Splatoon 3 while back that people were trying to claim the player character was non binary like dude the player character is what you want them to be as it represents you but don’t claim all player characters are non binary as they aren’t!

Only avatars aka player characters that are actually non binary are non binary! My character in Splatoon 3 is a gay pretty boy like me! Don’t you dare call him non binary! I’m a gay pretty boy so my character is a gay pretty boy!

Idc if I use female Agent 4’s hairstyle on my male character you can literally use both gender hairstyles on your Splatoon character now! It’s not gender locked like Splatoon 1 & 2!

So I can rock the “haircut” hairstyle as it’s called if I want! So even though my character is sorta gender neutral appearance wise he is actually male as I keep my vessel’s hair similar irl!

I actually think the “haircut” hairstyle looks the best on my character and I tried other hairstyles before settling on that hairstyle! He also has pink eyes and his main ink if I had choose one to fit him would be rose pink! This colour:

I also give off both gender vibes irl vessel wise and to humans they’d see my true form as like both but I am male! I just like stuff from both gender sections of the store!

Which proves you can like both gender stuff and not necessarily be non binary! No offence if you are non binary I’m just saying liking stuff and wearing stuff from both sections of the store doesn’t automatically mean you’re non binary!

I guess what makes someone non binary is simply just how they feel inside? Is that a fair guess? As I will never fully understand exactly how others feel as they’re not me? I can only guess or try to understand them but they aren’t me so I can only try to guess and understand them? I think that part applies to anyone regardless of advanced species as you may not understand someone completely but you can try?

Like I said though negative hateful people are gonna see LGBT headcanons being slapped onto characters whom aren’t trans/non binary/whatever and they’re gonna think LGBT is just trend thing so those little LGBT headcanons do more harm towards the LGBT than anything! People won’t take LGBT people seriously and that will cause LGBT to suffer more than LGBT people already do! They’ll think LGBT people are just following a trend!

Do you humans who post that dumb headcanon shit want that?! Do you want LGBT people to not be taken seriously?!

Think people think! Those headcanons do more harm than anything!

Anyways back to topic of demons

Evil human spirits claiming to be demons are just liars! They want the discriminating lie to continue! Demons are not ghosts nor are any Nibirian species! Even those who are ghost types are not actually ghosts! Evil spirits who say that are dead religious formerly human nuts who know nothing about real demons or Kohora!

Koho means “Below/Under” in Ancient Nibirian and ra means “world” so it means Underworld but unlike mythology shows it in human media the real Underworld is a magical surreal fantasy paradise much like Nibiru is! It is below this Universe!

Yumera is the Dream Dimension which is located above this Universe! Imps, Nightmarens, and Knightlights as we dubbed them in English are from Yumera! Imps aren’t actually mischievous and are actually very wise like the Five Wise Imps who visited The Holy Four Kosmos Deities when we were reborn and out back together!

The Five Wise Imps are Soren[[Sorceror]], Ezhno[[Wizard]], Malva[[Magus]], Florus[[Warlock]], and Salina[[Witch]].

The Digimon characters in my AU are indeed based on them! So they’re based on real demons I know! Imp females unlike other female demons can use high amounts of magic!

Nightmarens and Knightlights while living their own lives do protect others from nightmares! The Nibirian word for Knightlights is “Naitoraito” so hence the English name being “Knightlight” plus it’s a brilliant pun on the word nightlight which mostly kids use at night to prevent nightmares! “Naitomarin” is the Nibirian word for “nightmaren” as marin means protector! Naito can mean both knight and night!

Yoru is a name meaning night hence Yorupit’s name meaning “Night love” while his older twin is named Qupit which means “Morning love”! My twin boys are love type gods after all!

Yume means “Dream” and like I said ra means “world”! But Yumera is very real and is another place Nibrians live!

So Nibirians live on Nibiru, other magical planets, the Lumarian Sky Islands[[which are on Earth mostly in the sky but some in the sea like Atlantis and Mu]], Kohora, and Yumera!

As said before the Lumarian Sky Islands are sky islands on Earth that are invisible and intangible so humans cannot invade or attack the inhabitants as humans would as humans attack other humans already for being different so they would obviously see the inhabitants and use their fear as an excuse to attack residents so it’s obvious why we don’t allow humans! Humans call demons evil just for not being human! That’s the real reason why humans throughout history since the dawn of their existence call demons bad and evil because demons are not human and any advanced species that isn’t human gets called evil by hateful discriminating intolerant cowardly humans!

Harsh I know but it’s the truth! Most humans are horrible like that! So yeah makes sense why humans are not allowed on the Lumarian Sky Islands as we want to protect the residents from humans and keep them safe! Humans have severally proved to be untrustworthy and have a major history of violence, war, intolerance, and hate!

But most of the Lumarian Sky Islands are in areas like the Dragon’s Triangle, Bermuda Triangle, above Germany[[Kamalot]], and the Pacific Ocean! Might be some near the poles too!

Kamalot is how Nibirians spell Camelot but has since changed to Kamalot over time to Nibirianify the name! So don’t call it Camelot as it’s not called Camelot anymore, alright?

Also if I sound angry with humans it’s pretty justifiable as humans have damaged the Kosmos by worshipping lies and spreading war, hate, intolerance, dictatorship, etc, and over zillions in counting still with the death number rising everyday! Includes advanced species!

An advanced species is an intelligent species that is bipedal, has language, has civilisation, culture, has technology, has jobs, currency, basically species like humans but many more advanced than humans in technology as many can come to Earth via spaceship!

Instead of trying to hatefully grab your gun threatening to kill and shoot an alien for being around you instead realise they came via spaceship that means they’re intelligent beings!

Many aliens are on Earth right now for sightseeing purposes so don’t hurt them if you see them in their true form as they’re not soldiers as far as I know… they just want to see human culture before J-Day….

Others like me are just waiting till J-Day as we’re here as the prophecy stated as 8 deities waiting to J-Day to do any actions though will teach others who will listen! I am the leader of those deities!

Not to mention humans have polluted Earth big time and killed off many species! There is a lot of reasons for non human advanced species like me to be angry with humanity!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Species_made_extinct_by_human_activities Here is a list though they forgot the Japanese wolves on this list… from what I know Emperor Meiji called for them to be killed which is disgusting and horrible…

#truth #nibiru #dumuzi #gods #deities #goddesses #nibirian #aliens #advanced species #LGBT #LGBT headcanons do more harm than anything #Video game mention

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steveyockey · 1 year ago

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Five years later, Cody has some ideas about what went wrong. “I think I know why I shit the bed,” she tells GQ over the phone from Los Angeles. “When I was first hired for this, I don’t think the culture had not embraced the femme or the bimbo as valid feminist archetypes yet. If you look up ‘Barbie’ on TikTok you’ll find this wonderful subculture that celebrates the feminine, but in 2014, taking this skinny blonde white doll and making her into a heroine was a tall order.”

Cody remembers feeling like the artistic stakes were high, especially given the relative dearth of female-focused—or driven—IP. “There was a lot of pressure to not write the dramatic equivalent of ‘math is hard,’ she laughs. “I grew up playing with Barbies,” she says, “and those were sort of the first movies that I ever cast. A lot of people learn to tell stories by playing with dolls.” The plan had been to package Cody’s affectionate and idiosyncratic take on the character with an unconventional leading actress—specifically Amy Schumer, whose crass, confessional work as a stand-up and sketch comic gave her a certain counterculture credibility. It was, in theory, a terrific idea, but Cody recalls that the concept was ultimately less liberating than it seemed. “That idea of an anti-Barbie made a lot of sense given the feminist rhetoric of ten years ago,” says Cody. “I didn’t really have the freedom then to write something that was faithful to the iconography; they wanted a girl-boss feminist twist on Barbie, and I couldn’t figure it out because that’s not what Barbie is.” She cites a recent interview in which Gerwig told Robbie that the key to playing Barbie was a “lack of introspection” as an example of how complex—and contradictory—the material can be.

When Schumer finally dropped out in 2017—citing scheduling conflicts—the role was supposedly shifted to Anne Hathaway, but without much additional traction on the creative side. Cody notes that part of the problem was that The Lego Movie made for a daunting template, having managed so voraciously to have its cake and eat it too in terms of being both a satire and an act of brand extension. “I heard endless references to The Lego Movie in development,” she says, “and it created a problem for me because they had done it so well. Any time I came up with something meta, it was too much like what they had done. It was a roadblock for me, but now enough time has passed that they can just cast [The Lego Movie antagonist] Will Ferrell as the antagonist in a real-life Barbie movie and nobody cares.”

Cody says that she’s extremely excited for Gerwig’s Barbie, which she calls “my Joker,” but admits that she’s wary (and weary) of a moment where even the most distinctive and individualistic American filmmakers—including not only Gerwig but also Barry Jenkins, whose pricey Lion King prequel is en route—are being pushed to renovate intellectual property rather than building from the ground up. (The recent announcement that Gerwig will be helming two Chronicles of Narnia movies underscores the issue even more deeply, as do stirrings of an impending Mattel Cinematic Universe). “I understand why those artists have moved into that lane,” Cody says. “I get it. The most successful movie that I’ve ever written was Juno, and that wouldn’t get a theatrical release today.” Her sense of humor about the situation, however, remains intact. “I wish every day that I could write The Paw Patrol movie, because credibility is not going to put my kids through college,” Cody says wryly. “I have made several swings at IP with Barbie and Powerpuff Girls, and I take full responsibility for the failures of those attempts, because I do have a specific voice and POV and I haven’t figured out how to modulate it.” Not that she’s necessarily dying to compromise. “Ultimately, you’re selling toys,” she says. “I mean, nobody really wants to delve deeper into the lore and mythos of Hungry Hungry Hippos. That’s not really an artistic exercise.”

Nayman, Adam. “The Story of the Diablo Cody Barbie Movie We Almost Got,” July 6, 2023.

it’s uber annoying that diablo cody was interviewed about her attempts to write the script for the barbie movie and the pull quote was just “I couldn’t write barbie as a girlboss” when she said a LOT of really interesting things about how a movie this earnest would have been laughed out of the theater if she had written it in 2015 as she was tasked! weird to think about the changes in the media landscape over a relatively short number of years that margot robbie’s barbie is being heralded (by SOME) as a Feminist Icon

#reading #diablo cody #and I think these are some NEAT reflections AND it’s super interesting she blames herself for not being able to adapt her voice to IP like #okayyyy but is this really what we want to expect from writers from now on???

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findyourrp · 1 year ago

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Space adventures: 3.0

💫Hello ladies, gents and fellow rpers. After having to take an unexpected but necessary break from the wonderful world of rping I’m ready to dive back into the waters of writing and make some amazing new stories with some new partners. I’ve been in the writing game for over ten years at this point and consider myself to be fairly experienced when it comes to rping. That being said, I do not require you to have decades of writing experience in order to rp with me. In fact all I ask for anyone thinking of reaching out to me is that:

-You are 18+. I’m in my twenties and not comfortable rping with minors as my role plays contain NSFW themes and other mature content. Your characters are also required to be 18+ as well.

-You are capable of bringing ideas to the table, love to worldbuild, adore talking about our characters and aren’t afraid to throw in a plot twist every now and then.

-You will let me know if you have any problems with the rp and work through them with me as well as let me know if you need to take a break or might be busy. I will make sure to do the same.

-You are looking for a long term rp. I want this to be something that spans for months, maybe even years. Not just a couple days or weeks.

-You are comfortable with both MxM and FxM romances. I have no preference as to which one we do.

-You have discord.

I also ask for you to please not godmod, control my characters or spam me with hey/are you there/when are you going to reply/etc.

I AM NOT THE RPER FOR YOU IF:

-You are looking for someone to play as a female main character. I only play male main characters and cannot be persuaded to do otherwise.

-You cannot reply more than a couple of times a week. I tend to lose interest/motivation if I don’t get a reply at least every other day.

-You don’t have discord. I rp only on discord because I like making servers to keep things organised, other platforms just don’t work for me.

Taking over:

New recruit:

The mission:

One unit, one goal:

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the new pilot. you will be playing as a member of the team they’re joining.)

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the captured spacer. You will be playing the captain of the criminals.)

Stowaway:

(Important point of notice: I will be playing the stowaway. You will be playing the ship’s captain.)

Enslaved:

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the slave/servant. You’ll be the master/mistress.)

Last chance:

(Important point of notice: I’ll be playing the criminal, you will be playing as one of the crew members or even the captain of the ship.)

My discord: tiberionwars

My Gmail: [email protected]

Can’t wait to rp with anyone interested!

#submission #rp finder #rp #fandomless rp

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ranahan · 10 months ago

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Re: Etain and all my complaints about her. I actually have zero problems with her character per se. She’s pretty much a teenager here, so yeah, I wouldn’t necessarily expect her to do better. My problems are with the storytelling. Yes, I don’t like the pregnancy storyline for personal reasons, but moreover I don’t like it for the way it is treated in the narrative. I also don’t think that her characterisation achieves the intended effect and her storyline is thematically dissonant, but I’ll allow that I’ll have to read the rest of the series to judge that.

Altogether, I just have a lot of questions. RepComm was supposed to be a gritty military take on Star Wars, so who was the intended audience? Is a reluctantly drafted teenage girl a sympathetic choice for a pov character for that audience? Is a teenage pregnancy a thematically appropriate plot line for military science fiction & the audience of that genre? What was the author going for with these choices?? I’m just baffled.

I do not mean to imply that teenage girls do not read military fiction btw, only that military fiction probably has a different audience than YA, and that teenage girls probably do not constitute the majority of that audience. I’ve also read a lot of historical fiction, where teenage pregnancies are appropriate storylines for those stories, and wasn’t nearly as bothered.

A lot of the above problems in Triple Zero could have been solved by:

Keeping the point of view to the clones entirely. Can I get the pregnancy reveal from the point of view of a brother instead? Wasn’t the whole point of Republic Commando to tell the story from the point of view of the disposable grunts (their words, not mine), so why are we getting so many central scenes from a Jedi point of view anyway? Keeping the pov more tightly to the clones would work better to show their position as “disposable grunts”, especially when it comes to scenes that go beyond the military action which would show their lack of choice and general lack of any kind of a civilian life (experience).

By making the Jedi pov-character Bardan Jusik instead of Etain Tur-Mukan. That would be boring and lacking in conflict though, as Bardan seems genuinely content in the military and his role in the story is essentially to provide a counterpoint to Etain, or someone for her to feel jealous of. It would also make the novels lack female representation, which would be just swapping one problem for another. So let’s scrap that option.

By making Bardan a young woman thriving in a military career and Etain a twink who’s dreaming of making a home and getting a couple of babies via a surrogate with his soldier hubby. The worst of the sexism avoided! Instead we have interesting personality conflicts without the sexist stereotypes. That’s my queer writing tip: try switching the genders of your characters. Sometimes what comes out is more interesting than the original. But if your story breaks down, you need to think critically about what those gender roles and stereotypes are doing in your story. Are they doing something important or did they just sneak in?

Just scrapping the pregnancy storyline, making it accidental, making it happen a little further down the line than right when they get together omfg, or having Darman express a single wish for having children instead of Etain deciding for him that this is what he must want and she will do it for him. Barring that, at least narratively treat Etain’s decision as the completely unhinged scheme that it is.

Was I bothered? Why yes, I was. If I hadn’t already sunk so much time into Mando’a, I wouldn’t have finished Triple Zero and I certainly wouldn’t be reading more of the novels. That’s how much I was put off. Let it be a lesson to read the source material before getting excited about a piece of media…

I just read the Republic Commando: Hard Contact and Republic Commando: Triple Zero novels by Karen Traviss. Republic Commando is Legends now, but here are a few points that struck me about arguments I’ve seen go back and forth here on tumblr. Spoilers for the books!

Several mentions of entire batches of brothers “disappearing” for minor variances & clones being more afraid of the kaminoans than their training sergeants. Kal Skirata drunkenly breaking into tears over the poor boys. Very clear that in Traviss’s books, clones were being decommissioned.

Several mentions of clones dying in live fire exercises on Kamino before being deployed & the training sergeants standing by and doing nothing.

There’s a blurb of a retired commando, chronological age 23, biological age 60. Again, in Traviss’s books, the artificial ageing doesn’t stop when the clones reach adulthood. The main characters are also described as visibly ageing between the two books.

Pretty chilling description of the kind of brainwashing that you believe because you don’t have any reason not to when your entire life so far has lined up with it. I would completely believe these boys could execute Order 66 without the chips & all I could do would be to empathise with them.

Troopers telling their concerned jedi to not worry their pretty little head about what happens to dead troopers. Later a reinforcing mention of no bodybags needed in the GAR.

Vau nearly killing a trooper in training & making the troopers beat each other into a pulp in training.

So again, Republic Commando are Legends now but if anyone wonders where the fandom got the idea that these things happen, here’s your answer. They aren’t fandom inventions.

Other notes and personal opinions:

I mostly enjoyed Hard Contact. There were some bits near the end that fell a little flat, but overall an enjoyable military action/military science fiction novel.

Triple Zero on the other hand, not so much. The pregnancy storyline was just icky. Both in how Etain herself makes it her entire raison d’être, how she makes it the reason for why Darman now has a future, and the lack of consent on Darman’s part. She intentionally gets pregnant without ever discussing anything with him (they’ve been together for two whole weeks at this point), whether he wants kids at all, wants them with her, wants them in the middle of a war, or sees having children in the same light as she does. She’s had the most superficial of introductions to Mandalorian culture and has no idea whether or to what degree the clones or Darman as an individual share those notions—given that they probably have an understandably complicated relationship with Mandalorian culture and especially the notions of children, parents, and legacy. For all we know at this point in the series she could have completely misconstrued the whole thing. But there she goes, and decides that this is how she will fix everything and give Darman a future: a genetic legacy to outlive him.

The force-accelerated pregnancy reads like a bad fan fiction and the whole “go undercover to hide the pregnancy” reads like a Victorian novel.

Etain feels like an odd choice for a point of view character in a military science fiction story. She’s aggressively the-girl-next-door, pointedly unremarkable and ordinary. I guess the point is that readers could have a regular person’s point of view, with which to contrast the commando mindset, and to whom things can be naturally explained without infodumping. But it goes overboard and makes her seem incompetent and immature, so you start wondering what the hell is she even doing in the story or on a battlefield or what does anyone see in her.

There are sexist attitudes straight from planet Earth. It’s in men and females, how Etain and other female characters are seen through their sex first and other characteristics second, and how they are always “other” in comparison to men. But it’s not just the women, it’s young men—the clones—too where I get this vibe. It’s very bioessentialist. There seems to be this underlying thread of pairing up and reproducing being the most valuable thing a person can do with their life. Which again, seems like an odd choice for a thematic storyline in a military science fiction novel. Like, this is not what it said on the tin.

Some of the tactical/counterterrorism side in Triple Zero feels inauthentic to me as well. There’s too much being bad boys for shock value and too little professional soldiering for my tastes anyway. But I don’t kick in doors professionally so what do I know.

No sense of numbers for galactic economy. Exhibit A: Qiilura.

Lastly, fandom: can we get more Corr? This is an EOD trooper who gets both of his hands blown off early in the war, gets stuck in a logistics centre duty while waiting for better prosthetics, still determined to get back into action to fight alongside his brothers, gets accidentally adopted by some commandos, and makes a career change from disabling fiddly explosives to kicking in doors. A round of appreciation for Corr!

#repcomm spoilers #republic commando novels #republic commando spoilers #republic commando #republic commando: triple zero #star wars #star wars meta #sexism in media #sexism in Star Wars #karen traviss #repcomm meta

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loveatfirstwriteblog · 4 years ago

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A Complete Analysis of Harry Potter

Like a lot of kids, we probably grew up on Harry potter. We were obsessed and rightly so. The universe created in the world of Harry Potter was, and is, a hugely successful one because of the fact it gave kids a world where magic exists! It seemed to be a great world to live in and it made even better with the fact that it included elements of empowerment, Whether it be showing girls can be just as successful if not more in various pursuits(Hermione), or the fact that even if you have a history of bad events, you can have a good heart(Hagrid), Harry Potter teaches us a lot.

JKR has written a mind-blowing plot in a world of magic, wizards, witches, wands, potions, friendship, love. Our inner-five-year olds--and actually most of our young adult selves too--jumps around excitedly at the beautifully penned words that creates an exit out of this world and into one where magic does exist.

As you get older, though, you begin to think of Harry Potter in a more critical fashion. The thought of “oh my god, it’s magic” no longer completely overrides my mind, but more of “but what are the laws regarding this? Can people just do this whenever they want? Are there no ethics?”

No matter how much we’re going to expose the flaws and plot holes in HP now, we’ll always love the books--we grew up on them! But some things just niggle you as you get older, and that’s what we’re going to be focusing on in this post.

Something I adore about the HP books is that everyone, including the “good guys”, has flaws. Harry has a “save the world alone, do first, think later” complex, a driving force that makes him go save Sirius, Ron is very, very insecure to a point where he ditches Harry twice, probably when Harry needed him the most, Hermione is a judgemental, narrow-minded nag (her thoughts on Luna, divination, Trelawney, basically anything that doesn’t fit her black and white world), Molly Weasley is misogynistic and blatantly favourites her children—probably being one of the main factors behind Ron’s insecurities, Arthur is condescending towards Muggles and makes several comments you cringe at while reading the books as a young adult/adult, Sirius, Snape, and Lupin still haven’t let go of their childhood grudges and hatred, etc etc etc.

These flaws are what make these characters so three-dimensional, so layered, so human. But the problem was, most of these flaws are never intentionally acknowledged. And honestly, that could have been such a good character arc, because the main characters are mostly students. No student is the same through their teenage years—they change, they evolve, they get over their flaws, they try to better themselves. I would have loved to see Ron becoming his own person, Hermione opening her mind up a little, etc.

Neville is not one of my favourites, but I love his growth and development, from someone who was scared of his potions professor to a man who faced down Lord Voldemort. Ginny Weasley could have had character development, from the trauma she went through in second year, but that was never written in. She went through this terrifying ordeal when she was only twelve years old, and jump to a year or two later and she’s absolutely fine, with no transition from her trauma whatsoever.

Some of JKR’s characters are brilliantly written and fleshed out, but some of her others lack the structure and complexity that usually comes with being vital to the plot—Ginny Weasley for one. Her internalised misogyny also plays a huge part in the way her female characters are written. We see this again in the case of how she wrote the character of Ginny.

Ginny Weasley is not a favourite of ours (if you don’t know that by now). She feels a lot like a convenient male daydream—when she waits for Harry to notice her by dating other guys, gets annoyed by Hermione “not knowing quidditch”, etc etc—and fits the “not like other girls” archetype too much, almost like she was made for it (hint hint). She’s portrayed to be strong-willed, spunky, and independent, and I love the idea, but I really don’t see it. To me, she’s a very shallow character, the least fleshed out one.

Just like James Potter wasn’t necessarily redeemed just because JKR said he was, and Ginny isn’t interesting just because JKR writes that she is.

Hermione also fits the archetype, but she’s JKR’s self-insert, so we really can’t say much about that.

To make things worse, Ginny and Hermione are pitted against each other in a very subtle way. Ginny is the sporty, pretty, flirty girl who’s never single from book 4. Hermione is the not-conventionally-attractive, nerdy girl who’s had a few dates here and there but never a relationship. They’re very different characters (the only thing they have in common is the archetype) but they’re against each other in the defence of Harry.

Another place where JKR’s misogyny shows up is the way other girls are written. Lavender Brown is shown as vapid and immature, just because she likes clothes and boys and didn’t know how to handle her first relationship. Cho Chang is perceived as shallow because she’s emotional. Pansy Parkinson is seen to be throwing herself at Draco Malfoy. The Weasleys hated Fleur because she was beautiful and sexy and French, and that was ever really resolved in the end (Molly accepted her, but we never got Ginny’s and Hermione’s opinions again). You see where we’re getting at? The typical “girly girls” are portrayed as insipid, shallow, emotional, and boring, while girls like Hermione and Ginny are seen to be fun and multilayered.

The problems with Harry Potter don’t just stop with non-fleshed out characters. There are plot devices that go unacknowledged, issues like blood purity—which is the basis of Voldemort’s tyranny—are never really resolved, huge Chekhov’s guns that aren’t fired.

A common misconception, which if cleared up could probably expose a load of problems in wizarding society by itself, is that the wizarding world is racist. It’s not racist. Muggles and Muggleborns are not a different race, they’re a different class, at least according to pureblood wizards. Mudblood is a classist insult (a direct reference to nobility blueblood and aristocracy).

Another factor that wasn’t talked about but made the HP world so complex and realistic is the inherent classism in every single pureblooded wizard, including the Weasleys.

The “Light” wizards all operate on the notion “at least I don’t kill or torture Muggles”. The Weasleys refuse to talk about Molly’s squib cousin who’s an accountant, the Longbottoms were so desperate for Neville to not be a squib they nearly killed him trying to force magic out of him, Ron makes fun of Filch for being a squib, thinks house-elves are beneath him, and confounds his driving instructor in his mid-thirties, the ministry workers kept obliviating that muggle at the quidditch World Cup, etc.

This could have been a metaphor for how small prejudices and microaggressions (kind of the wizarding equivalent of white privilege) enable discrimination and murder, if JKR had actually acknowledged it.

The parallel to Nazi Germany is very twisted and definitely shouldn’t be taken too far, but the Nazi ideology grew on the basis of everyday antisemitism, “that’s not that bad” little things. Voldemort’s circle and army grew because the wizard superiority complex festered and blew up in some people, egged on by a deeply classist society.

Ultimately, Harry Potter has very, very shoddy worldbuilding, the kind of worldbuilding that’s obsessed with answering the “what” of the wizarding world, rather than the “how” or the “why”, which is strange, considering that fantasy or dystopian-era novels’ driving plots and conflicts are usually answering the questions the worldbuilding raises--The Hunger Games and The Shadowhunter Chronicles are two of the best examples of brilliantly written YA fantasy and dystopian novels.

In HP, however, the main plot just avoids the questions the worldbuilding brings up like the bubonic plague.

Voldemort’s agenda is built on prejudice towards Muggles and Muggleborns, but the plot just validates the negative perception of them—at the end of the day, being a wizard is what’s special. The Statute of Secrecy is the foundation of the main concept—blood supremacists believe wizards shouldn’t be hidden away—but only vague, barely-there answers are given to why it exists (a Chekhov’s gun that was never fired).

There are love potions that function like date rape drugs (even Harry was given one by a girl who wanted him to ask her out), potions that force people to tell the truth, potions that literally let you disguise yourself as another person, but the ethics are never talked about, and the laws are so lax that three twelve-year-olds broke them and were never caught.

But at the same time, the worldbuilding is so authentic, because it transforms the wizarding world into straight-up fridge horror. The everyday horrors are just accepted and rolled with. A corrupt government, constant obliviation of Muggles, slavery that isn’t even talked about. These things aren’t obvious to us as readers, or to the wizards as characters, because they match up to the real world, which is filled with things that are horrifying if you dig deeper. The multiple, normalised forms of abuse, police brutality, the violence in prisons that nothing is done about, the glaringly obvious cultural problems we have with consent, etc.

The abusive authoritative figures in HP, like Rufus Scrimgeour, Cornelius Fudge, Dumbledore, Umbridge, etc, are so authentic because real-life politicians and people in high places of power behave that way, and their abuse is excused.

The wizarding world is just like the real world. Corrupt, prejudiced, messed up, but if you’re privileged, or at least have certain privileges, you’re probably not going to notice. The ultimate problem is that the plot doesn’t acknowledge a lot of fridge horror things are messed up either, which is why it miserably fails.

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