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onebadwinter · 3 years

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The Joker Tropes Part 2

Taken From Here and here

Nether Realm Studios especially seems to love making Joker out to be evil incarnate. In Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel, he loses all his cred (and life) once he nukes Metropolis; Harley ditches him entirely, Batman just completely gives up on indulging him any more, even Guest Fighters like Hellboy consider him worthless, and non-Batvillains such as Grodd and Brainiac and even Darkseid loathe him for either Metropolis, or just in general principle. Mortal Kombat 11 shows that even the MK cast see him as a scourge upon the realms, and also express distaste toward him for either his nuking, a previous outing, or because he's seen as a buffoon who cannot be taken seriously (this is usually the case for other villain characters).

About the only person who can tolerate him for long is Lex Luthor, only because they both have the same level of hatred for their respective enemies. Even then, Luthor prefers to keep his distance from the Joker, if only because a bored Joker screws with everything For the Evulz.

In the animated series, he claims to have been beaten as a child when interviewed by Harley Quinn. It is unknown if this is true. According to Batman, he's simply making it up.

In one issue of New 52, he claims to have been driven insane by an abusive grandmother, who also bleached his skin to its present pallor.

In the same continuity, he is one to a baby gorilla he adopts, trains up as a gun-wielding henchman, and ultimately gets killed off for laughs.

In the comic book adaptation of Injustice, it's implied Harley fears Joker would be one, and gives their daughter to her sister, lest he kill the child. It's left ambiguous whether the Joker's even aware of the ruse.

Averted in one story, wherein one of Arkham's doctors realizes Joker's faking insanity just to piss off Batman as revenge for his disfigurement. Another doctor finds the report and excitedly reveals it to the current head doctor, only to learn that the Joker left it for everyone to read, since the paper's written by Harley Quinn, and therefore worthless as evidence.

In Batman: The Man Who Laughs, it's established that the name "The Joker" was given to him by the media, and he liked it so much that he decided to call himself that.

The same happens in Joker (2019), where Murray tells the audience to "look at this joker" when talking about Arthur. Arthur took it to heart.

Batman: Arkham Knight takes this even further by revealing that being forgotten is the only thing the Joker truly fears.

Just to demonstrate how much disregard he has for his henchmen, a reoccurring motivation for offing his own lackeys is failing to laugh at one of his jokes. Or laughing too late. Or laughing for too long. Or laughing at the wrong joke. He's... unpredictable.

The Joker loves it when people laugh with him, whether genuine or not, but if someone laughs at him, they're most likely already dead.

Joker loves attention and being above the normals, so never imply that he's not interesting or unique. Terry exploits this flaw in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker just to drive him to a Villainous Breakdown.

The Batman Who Laughs. Since the character's first appearance in Dark Nights: Metal, the mere mention of him is enough to put The Joker in an uncharacteristically un-jolly mood and is a good way to get on his bad side. In fact, the dislike of this twisted version of his archnemesis is so great, that when Lex Luthor and The Legion of Doom started cooperating with him against Joker's protests, he quit the legion (after non-lethally jokerizing every other member of it) in disgust.

If you're going to hurt Batman, do it right. One of the supplementary stories for Joker War had him beyond furious with Bane - to the point of promising him he'd kill him in a way he would never see coming - for showing so little imagination in killing Alfred in City of Bane without even letting Batman listen to it to torture him. By his reckoning, if you have a great gag to break the Bat, use it to break the Bat - don't blow it by having Robin be the only one to witness it.

Originally Conrad Veidt from The Man Who Laughs.

Later portrayals base themselves on his actors, with Cesar Romero a popular candidate, and after Jack Nicholson came in, artists such as Alex Ross base him on him, such as the actor's distinct widow's peak and slicked back hair.

During Knightfall he and Scarecrow killed several members of a SWAT team, and one of his last actions in Batman: No Man's Land was to kill Commissioner Gordon's second wife, Lt. Sarah Essen.

One of the alternate realities seen in Zero Hour! was one where he killed Commissioner Gordon instead of crippling Barbara.

Part of the reason Gordon takes over the post of Commissioner in both The Dark Knight Trilogy and Batman: Arkham Series is due to the Joker killing Gillian Loeb. Additionally, the first game in the latter series, Asylum, he sees several of Arkham's guards killed by him and his men.

He's holding a dead cop's corpse in his intro in Injustice: Gods Among Us and using it as a puppet. He also talks to the body of one of the Regime enforcers who captured him once he breaks out and heads to Gotham.

Whether he was driven insane or was already insane and became completely bonkers.

Where he is on the spectrum between "wacky prankster" and "utterly depraved and sadistic sociopath and murderer".

Whether he is a senseless, performative terrorist wreaking havoc for kicks or a deceptively cunning and competent criminal mastermind. Or both. Usually both.

He's no Batman, but sometimes he is a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, Knife Nut or marksman, and other times a flimsy wimp who goes down in one punch. In some of the grittier settings, his raw strength, numbness to pain and viciousness are enough to level the playing field with Batman.

Whether he actually loves Harley Quinn varies. In the animated series, (where Harley first appeared) the writers haveoutright said he's a sociopath incapable of loving anyone, and just sees her as a useful mook. Some other works imply he really does love her on some level (although he's usually still an abusive asshole.)

He can either be Faux Affably Evil, Laughably Evil, just a Monster Clown, or some combination of the three.

At least one such incident implied he would be interested in Batman... but only after he was dead. Again this may only have been a tactic to get under Batman's skin or truthful admission. The readers will never know for certain.

His plot in The Killing Joke is to put Jim Gordon through the wringer hard in the hopes of driving him mad. He'll also try to drive Batman over the edge (particularly, drive him to break his "no killing" rule), sometimes by cutting off all of Batsy's human connections.

The Dark Knight reworks it into Driving Gotham To Senseless Violence with wanton acts of destruction or terrorism, just to prove everyone's as bad as him deep down.

Ironically, a 1952 story has the Joker get himself falsely committed to an insane asylum, to question a patient who knew the location of a cache of money. The end of the story has him Laughing Mad due to a prank Batman used to disguise his identity.

He didn't have his signature laugh. This seems to have been a way to "goofy up" the character to make him less terrifying in the days of the Comics Code Authority. Later on, he'd learn to giggle while remaining terrifying.

He actually committed crimes for moneynote , and wasn't really interested in causing chaos or terror for a joke's sake.

Building off of that, his plans weren't really "insane" until the Silver Age (at which point it's not even fair to say this was exclusive to him), nor was there any question of the character's mental stability.

His obsession with Batman wasn't there, much less the idea that he would pass up chances to kill the Bat or learn his identity. This aspect was probably introduced to explain the Bond Villain Stupidity he (and every Batman villain) had become infamous for in the Silver Age.

His clown-like complexion was actually makeup in his early appearances. He even removed his makeup to disguise himself as a cop, which was referenced in The Dark Knight. It's later revealed that the look is permanent after falling in a vat of chemicals.

The Brave and the Bold #111 and #191 have him team up with Batman to clear his name after being framed for several murders. The first instance turned out to simply be a framing the guilty part occasion but the second instance was actually genuine on Joker's part (except the person Joker seemingly murdered turned out to be faking their death).

He also does this with Batman whenever The Batman Who Laughs is involved (specifically in the Dark Knights: Metal series).

He abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when his Nazi affiliation comes out. Red Skull simply wonders why he is so surprised when he thinks that the Joker would make a great Nazi. The Joker is NOT happy about this, proclaiming "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!" It even provides the trope's image. And yes, folks, even an equal-opportunity murderer like the Joker despises the Nazis!note

The exception is mentioned again in the Last Laugh arc where the Joker immediately refused to join the American Neo-Nazi Aryan Alliance group in the Slab after he was offered membership. Joker: I'm evil and all that, but you guys are just plain mean.

Will not harm dumb animals and doesn't condone it. There's no humor to be had in that. Higher primates apparently do not qualify but a lot more effort went into that one.

While in Arkham with villain Warren White, AKA the Great White Shark, Joker calls him the worst person he ever met. He states that while he may kill people, even he doesn't steal their kids' college funds.

Sees nothing funny about someone parking in a handicap spot when they're not handicapped. However, he does think it's hilarious to hurt them in ways that will make certain they'll always be able to park there.

A girl named Janey Bennett, whose class was studying criminal behavior, became pen pals with the Joker while he was in Arkham. When Janey revealed that her father, the mayor of Motor City, was abusing her (exactly how isn't specified, though it was implied to have been really bad) the Joker broke out and, convinced that the authorities would be of no help, tried to force the mayor into admitting to his crimes and giving him Janey (so that he could find a better home for her) by threatening to contaminate the city's blood supply, going through with it (because the ends justify the means) when the mayor refused to give in to his demands. He originally intended to give her to Batman as well so he could protect her but at the end decided to give her to her mom. Joker: I mean, stealing a city blind is something I can admire... but being mean to one's own daughter... that just makes my blood boil.

For a rather literal form of "standard", the Joker's team-up with Carnage in Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds fell apart in part because the Joker, known for his love of theatrics, found Kasady's desire to get straight to killing boring. Conversely, Kasady didn't like the Joker's flair for theatrics.

The Joker absolutely loathes The Batman Who Laughs, to the point where he drops his usual joking demeanor and is deathly serious whenever directly referring to him, even willing to work together with Batman to face him when it comes down to it. When Lex Luthor goes behind his back to make a deal with The Batman Who Laughs (going against the only condition Joker has for joining his plan), Joker responds by Joker-gassing the Legion of Doom, putting Lex into a series of deathtraps, trashing Lex's Power Armor, and quitting the Legion. In the process, he tells Luthor how he had planned on ruining the Legion utterly on the verge of victory, and as nightmarish as his plan sounded, he claims it is nothing compared to what the Batman Who Laughs is going to do.

While he still gloated about it and found Commissioner Gordon kneecapping him funny after remember that he'd crippled Barbara, the actual act of killing Sarah Essen in the penultimate issue of Batman: No Man's Land is one of the few times the Joker wasn't happy with something he himself did, considering he's seen walking away while scowling afterward, leaves the babies he originally planned to murder unharmed and immediately turns himself in to the police.

Emperor Joker sees the Joker disgusted with a corrupted Jimmy O Lsen tormenting the Superfamily and Batman when they're turned int animals.

Later one he is disgusted when his minions vandalize the Moai on Eastern Island.

Again, when he rescues Lex from The Batman Who Laugh's infected minions in Hell Arisen, the mere mention of his alternate universe rival prompts him to have a very uncharacteristic Freak Out. The Joker: I told you. I told you not to deal with him. You should have shot that thing in the head the second you had it in a cage! It is wrong. It is a wrong thing.

Played more straight in his relationship with Punchline. Only time will tell if it lasts.

There’s also a comic storyline when Hush informed that a dirty cop Office Halmet killed his wife Jeannie. The Joker wanted nothing more than to kill said cop in revenge. Then there’s Batman: Three Jokers where, despite it being being heavily implied he was abusive, the “Comedian” Joker is seen setting up fake tea parties with dolls, clearly trying to substitute them for his wife and child showing that he does miss them and desire to be a family with them.

While The Dark Knight is one of the few times the Joker's clown-like appearance is the result of make-up, he does sport a Glasgow Grin.

While Joker still has the permanent clown look, it's combined with the Glasgow Grin.

While Batman: Endgame would see the skin of his face restored with a chemical called Dionesiumnote , at the start of The New 52, the Joker had the Dollmaker skin his face and then, after he recovered it, spent Death of the Family wearing it like a Leatherface-esque mask. And even in Endgame, his restored face ends up badly burned as the result of the finale battle between him and Batman, though it still ends up restored again.

Gotham sees neither Valeska escape this. After his death in season 2, Jerome (the proto-Joker) ends up resurrected in season 3, but because Dwight thinks his attempt to revive him failed, Dwight ends up cutting off Jerome's face ala Death of the Family and Jerome ends up stapling it on when he catches up with Dwight and while he later has it properly reattached, there's still scars from what happened. Jeremiah, Jerome's twin and the show's true Joker, ends up with the "perma-clown" appearance due to Jerome having the Scarecrow brew something up to spray in Jeremiah's face, but season 5 sees his fateful fall at Ace Chemicals badly scar his face and sear off most of his hair with only stringy patches left.

Averted entirely in Joker (2019), where his clown appearance is entirely makeup, and the worst it gets is painting his iconic smile on his face with his own blood from a car crash. Not even a Glasgow Grin or anything, the blood is from his hand and his face only has a few normal cuts on it.

While Batman is a rather serious character who refuses to kill anyone, The Joker is a rather comical character who revels in death.

Joker's gadgets tend to be rather goofier but much more lethal, such as the Joker Venom that he often uses to kill his victims.

While Batman gets along well with his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl, Joker frequently abuses his sidekick Harley Quinn and has tried to kill her before, not to mention all the times he has been a Bad Boss by killing his henchmen for any reason you can think of, sometimes for no reason at all.

While Batman's backstory is well known, even by the citizens of Gotham who know of the tragedy of the rich Waynes' in Crime Alley, no one knows anything about the Joker's backstory, but most versions he tells are consistent in two things: he was a nobody, and possibly someone poor.

In most adaptations, his voice is high-pitched in contrast to Batman's Badass Baritone.

Why he went by the name the Red Hood has changed over the years: The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement from jumping in the acid and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him insane. However, even this backstory is questionable, as the Joker himself calls it "multiple choice".

In Injustice 2, an intro with Atrocitus has the Red Lantern wondering what drove the Joker to nihilism.

In the animated series, he claims to have been abused as a child when interviewed by Harley, but according to Batman, it's just another ruse to escape Arkham.

The purple suit and matching pants with either an orange and/or green shirt with a bowtie or tie, remains the definitive Joker look one that many artists and costume designers have given spin on. He is sometimes known for wearing a cool hat but other times goes hatless. Heath Ledger's custom-designed purple long-coat, trousers, blue shirt and green Waistcoat of Style with a tie has likewise become iconic and famous for its contemporary and downright stylish update on the classic look.

The original Red Hood outfit which is a black suit, white shirt, bowtie with an opera cap and a bizarre red dome is also quite famous.

The Hawaiian tourist outfit he wore in the notorious scene in The Killing Joke.

The white suit he wears in Miller's The Dark Knight Returns as well as the white nurse maid outfit with red wig in The Dark Knight is also quite notable.

The Future Joker look from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker which went with a mime look (black body suit, slicked-back hair) is also quite distinct and unique.

The first issue of Batman with Joker's debut has him described as having "burning, hate-filled eyes" and the moniker, "the harliquin of hate".

The Man Who Laughs had Bruce dosed with a light version of the Joker Venom and he felt his perspective shift into a paranoid vengeance were he felt everyone deserved to be punished for his parent's death just for existing.

Death of the Family had Batman describe how Joker's irises are always narrow when looking at anyone but Batman and that it is usually an indication of negative feelings toward something with Bruce mentioning that his eye are the eyes of someone who hates everything he sees.

In the Justice League storyline "Rock of Ages", Martian Manhunter has to put in incredible effort to reorganize Joker's mind long enough for him to give up the cataclysmic Philosopher's Stone. The briefly sane Joker immediately says My God, What Have I Done? verbatim as he hands it back, before quickly losing his mind and going back to the laughing madman.

The famous example from the end of The Killing Joke, where Batman tries to convince him to allow Batman to rehabilitate him before their vendetta kills them. Joker considers it for a long, somber moment before quietly reflecting that they're both too far gone.

Batman: Cacophony ends with Joker being pumped full of an inhuman amount of antipsychotic drugs to keep him under control while in recovery from a near-fatal stabbing. Batman takes the opportunity to have a relatively-sane conversation with him, though it's somewhat subverted by Joker still being a homicidal sociopath even while heavily sedated.

He even gives multiple reasons on how he came Back from the Dead in Injustice 2 and will go along with whatever his opponent thinks is true, despite being Dead All Along in story mode and only appearing as a hallucination to his ex-moll.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sees him kill David Endochrine and Ruth Weisenheimer, who were clearly based on David Letterman and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

During Knightfall, once he realizes that Azrael isn't Batman, his plan's gone to hell, and one too many criticisms from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert stand-ins, he kills the stand-ins.

In one of the issues for the The Batman tie-in comic, The Batman Strikes, he terrorizes a stand-in for Conan O'Brien. This becomes darkly Hilarious in Hindsight as the real O'Brien voiced Endochrine in the animated version of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In the series proper, Harley's debut had the two of them terrorize a stand-in for Dr. Phil for the climax.

If you want to know how truly terrifying The Batman Who Laughs is, look no further than the way Joker acts whenever discussing him. He doesn't laugh, he doesn't smile. He becomes calm and serious and simply tells whomever he's talking to that the TBWL is "a wrong thing that shouldn't exist". Someone HAS to be scary if the very thought of him makes Joker act like a calm rational sane person.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the clown has a massive Villainous Breakdown when Terry mocks him for his failed attempts to break Batman.

On the rare occasion Joker gets bored and leaves Gotham, expect everyone to think of him as just a silly clown, until the bodies start piling up.

One issue of the Robin Series had him talking about having Abusive Parents, only for a psychiatrist to tell him it's the seventh story he's told now.

Batman lampshades on this to Harley in the animated series, thinking it's another lie to gain sympathy.

The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him mad. However, even this could be a lie, as he himself calls it "multiple choice".

It's even discussed in Injustice 2, as Atrocitus wonders what drove the Joker to nihilism. Despite only appearing as a hallucination to Harley in story mode, he spews out multiple theories for his Unexplained Recovery and will say Sure, Let's Go with That in non-canon fights. Was he resurrected by someone, or is he from another universe? Did he escape from either the Source Wall or the Phantom Zone, or is he just an apparition?

Shadow of the Bat #38, Tears of a Clown: He celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive Stand-Up Comedy club for an unfunny act the patrons mercilessly heckled. It was the last straw as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. So he kidnaps all the patrons and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. Oddly enough, the patrons are hardcore Stand-Up Comedy fans, so they can't remember the number of times they've booed someone. However, even this origin story could be a lie.

It's come to be his primary disfigurement over the original skin bleaching.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Terry McGinnis exploits this by delivering an epic Boring Insult so the clown will have a Villainous Breakdown.

King Barlowe proved to be a big one in his Thanatos Gambit in the episode "Joker's Millions" of The New Batman Adventures. In a spiteful Video Will, he gives the clown his millions, revealing in his tape that most of it was fake. Expecting the clown to splurge on it, he won't have enough to pay off the IRS, allowing Barlowe to get the "last laugh" after his death, without the Joker coming after him.

Alan Moore's "I go Loony" from The Killing Joke, an in-panel song-and-dance tune that was eventually made into an actual song belted out in Batman: The Killing Joke.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold has "Where's the Fun in That?" from the episode "Emperor Joker".

Batman: Arkham City ended with him covering The Platters' "Only You (and You Alone)", Batman: Arkham Origins had him cover Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold, Heart" and Batman: Arkham Knight had him provide an original composition, "Can't Stop Laughing".

Action Fashionista: This incarnation of the Joker has a wide variety of garish outfits for every occassion — most of them straight from the comics.

Adaptational Attractiveness: Metal teeth, lack of eyebrows, and tattoos aside, he's still being played by the youthful-looking real life Pretty Boy Jared Leto; especially since the last two cinematic Jokers were a creepy middle-aged gangster with a botched face-lift and a filthy, scarred vagrant (even the mentally unwell clown-for-hire doesn't scream Mr. Fanservice one bit). This version looks more like Marilyn Manson.

Adaptational Nice Guy: A very downplayed example. While he's otherwise the same Clown Prince of Crime we all know and love to hate, he appears to genuinely care for Harley, and even throws her out of a falling helicopter to save her life. Almost any other iteration of the Joker would do that to save his own skin or rid himself of her.

Adaptational Skimpiness: This version of the Joker tends to be shirtless a lot more than he has in any other medium. It mostly seems like an opportunity to show off his tattoos.

Adaptation Distillation: Leto's Joker seems to be less of the "evil philosopher" that Heath Ledger portrayed him as in The Dark Knight, and instead seems to be a cross between the garish, larger-than-life Mark Hamill version from the animated series and the Arkham games, and the creepy, deeply twisted Brian Azzarello version. David Ayer had also stated that he looked specifically to the Golden Age Joker for reference, providing reason for many to believe that Leto's Joker is a modern re-imagining of that incarnation.

Advertised Extra: Heavily featured in Suicide Squad promotional materials, barely appears in the film for more than seven minutes. According to Jared Leto, several of the scenes he shot were not included in the theatrical cut.

Ambiguous Disorder: In Suicide Squad, most of the time the Joker seems... not all there compared to Harley. In addition of psychopathic tendencies, the Joker has random bouts of maniacal laughter, confusion, and slurred speech-like patterns. All attributes that stem from punch-drunk syndrome. Considering he has faced Batman one too many times, it makes sense that the Joker's mental stability is finally catching up to him.

However, come Birds of Prey, they broke up, mirroring the comics where they do have an Relationship Revolving Door. It appears to stick, as Harley publicly calls it quits between the two of them.

His tattoos are very reminiscent of the Joker in All Star Batman and Robin.

Ax-Crazy: Like all the incarnations before him, calling him a violent psychopath is one of the biggest understatements you can make.

Bedlam House: Spent some time at Arkham Asylum, where he met Harley. Then he broke free from it with the help of both Harley and his gang.

Chewing the Scenery: An important part of the character is his theatricality.

Cool Car: A bright purple sports car with underglow lights and a "HAHAHA" license plate.

Dented Iron: It's subtle, but the numerous scars on his body and metal replacement teeth in his mouth are clear signs that his frequent run-ins with Batman are taking their toll.

Disney Death: He seemingly dies in the crash of his helicopter... only to come back to free Harley from her high security prison at the end of Suicide Squad.

The Dreaded: In true Joker fashion, everyone is terrified of him.

Establishing Character Moment: One that takes place before he even makes his official debut in the setting - he killed Robin (a minor) and vandalized his outfit to mock Batman over his inability to save him.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Insofar as much as the Joker can love anyone, anyway, but he does seem to genuinely care about Harley. Eventually, subverted.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He considers the brutal murder of a minor as a joke he played on Batman. When he's torturing Harleen Quinzel, he promises not to shatter her well-kept teeth while flashing his own hideous metal dentures. When Harleen later has him at gunpoint, Joker just says "please don't kill me, I'll be ya friend" in a snarky tone.

Evil Is Hammy: It's not The Joker if he's not Chewing the Scenery. And, sure enough, he does.

Evil Is Petty: The graffiti on Robin's costume seems to imply that Joker murdered him just to prod at Batman. It is confirmed in Suicide Squad that Joker and Harley killed him.

Evil Laugh: It's kind of his thing. One notable example is when he chuckles while surrounded by an arsenal of weapons.

Fake Shemp: Indie rocker Johnny Goth stood in for Jared Leto in Birds of Prey, in the flashback where he and Harley torture and tattoo the big mafia thug Harley later bumps back into.

Foil: To Batman as usual, but with some new additions. After 20 years, Batman became more jaded and cruel, while the Joker somewhat mellowed out and his criminal activity became more professional. Batman didn't settle down until the death of Superman while the Joker grew attached to Harley Quinn.

In Suicide Squad Griggs' smug indifference about his gambling debt immediately becomes pure terror when he realizes the Joker has gotten involved.

He is so feared that even the likes of Black Mask would rather steer clear of him. Harley's enemies only start gunning for her in Birds of Prey when it's become clear that she's no longer with him.

G-Y

The Ghost:

There is an allusion to him in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ("HA HA HA Joke's On You, Batman" painted across the chest of the dead Robin's empty suit in the Batcave), but he doesn't actually appear.

He gets mentioned a lot in Birds of Prey, but he's only seen very briefly in some flashbacks, always from the back (including footage from Suicide Squad). There is a whole Deleted Scene where he and Harley have a domestic dispute. Harley leaves the house through the window and the Joker throws her stuffed beaver out through the window. In the film proper, she's just kicked out of the house, with no shot of Mr. J.

Greater-Scope Villain: His role in Batman v Superman. Despite not actually appearing his murder of Robin by this point has driven Batman down a darker, more vengeful path that goes against Batman's traditional moral code; the one that the Joker is always trying to prove is wrong. Batman's rage towards Superman blinds him to the possibility of Lex Luthor being the real threat long enough for Superman to die fighting Doomsday. In a way the Joker's actions contributed to Batman's failure.

Guttural Growler: This Joker is noticeably more snarly than previous incarnations.

Handshake Refusal: He doesn't like to shake hands, as Monster T finds out.

Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a purple crocodile skin duster at some point in the film.

Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Despite being a homicidal sociopath, he seems to truly love his girlfriend Harley Quinn. Then in Birds Of Prey, he coldly and violently breaks up with her.

Joker Immunity: He appears to die when his helicopter is shot down about halfway through Suicide Squad. To absolutely no one's surprise, he shows up alive and well in the final scene. It helps that he's the Trope Namer.

Knife Nut: And by God, does he have enough blades.◊

Lean and Mean: This Joker, while muscular, is quite lean, especially compared to the heavily muscled Batman.

Love Epiphany: Well, "love" is pushing it, but Joker realizes his affections for Harley when she dives in the chemical bath that ultimately turned Joker into what he is. Symbolic in the sense she was agreeing to join him in madness. Further adding to the complexity of the scene; Joker was tying up a loose end, having used Harley to escape from Arkham. He lead her to her demise and intended to leave her for death but at the same moment realized she had entered his world and his madness. Joker never anticipated the amount of utter devotion Harley would have for him, something inside him just couldn't walk away from her, so he jumped in to save her.

Manipulative Bastard: He manipulated Harley into helping him escape Arkham because she fell in love with him. When she served her purpose, he would have had her kill herself jumping into a bath of chemicals to prove her feelings. He instead saves her from this demise because he has a Love Epiphany in the moment.

Monster Clown: Like the previous film versions, Joker is an Ax-Crazy criminal with clownish makeup. Green hair notwithsanding, his white makeup, red lipstick and absence of facial scars make him look closer to a mime than his predecessors.

Noble Demon: In Suicide Squad, his whole motivation is to rescue Harley Quinn. His commitment is so strong he doesn't even waste time with pranks or petty acts of cruelty. Everything he does is for someone else.

Only Known By His Nickname: He's only known as The Joker, or "J" / "Mr. J".

Outlaw Couple: He and Harley Quinn are lovers and partners in crime.

Sadist: Even though there was only a few select scenes of him, one of them is him torturing Harley. It's disturbingly obvious that he is positively gleeful over it. And he doesn't seem to have lost any sleep over murdering Robin, either.

Pet the Dog: David Ayer confirms that while he did push Harley out of the falling helicopter, his intent was in fact to save her life.

Satellite Love Interest: To Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. His characterization revolves entirely around Harley, not even getting involved with the main plot.

Scary Teeth: Several of his teeth are made of metal. According to David Ayer, Batman punched his teeth out after he killed Robin, leading him to replace them with metal teeth.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Although he has a presence at the start of the film, The Joker appears to have left Gotham City to be controlled by Black Mask in Birds of Prey, with Roman saying that Joker has already skipped town.

The Sociopath: He's chaotic and remorseless, much like his previous versions. Special mention goes to his murder of Robin, which he topped off by spray-painting a cruel taunt for Batman onto the boy's costume.

Tattooed Crook: His torso is covered in jester-themed tattoos. He also has a few on his arms and face.

Villain of Another Story: He mainly appeared in Suicide Squad, but his biggest act of villainy to date — killing Robin — happened some years before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which he doesn't appear. The spray-painted message on Robin's empty suit ("Ah ah ah joke's on you Batman!") in the latter film can't be anything else than his doing.

Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Is seen with a rather impressive arsenal of guns and knives. And even says to warden Griggs, at some point, "I can't wait to show you my toys." note Notably, he manages to hijack the gunship which was sent to extract Waller and the squad so he can rescue Harley.

Would Hit a Girl: In the past, the Joker electroshocks and manipulates Dr. Harleen Quinzel into allowing her to fall into a vat of chemicals, in order to become Harley Quinn.

Would Hurt a Child: He killed Batman's sidekick, Robin, while the boy was an underage minor.

You Gotta Have Blue Hair: His hair is bright green.

"Knightmare" Joker

"You won't kill me. I'm your best friend..." Appearances:

Zack Snyder's Justice League

"You need me. You... need me... to help you undo this world you created, by letting her die."

The Joker meets up once more with Batman in the nightmarish alternate future where Darkseid has conquered the Earth and Superman turned evil. But things aren't the same anymore between the two legendary foes.

See also the Knightmare page for more on that setting's characters.

Break Them by Talking: He deliberately tries to agitate Batman by reminding him of how many people have died on his watch.

Cop Killer: He wears a bulletproof vest with at least two dozens police badges on it. Whether these were good cops killed prior to the apocalypse or servants of the oppressive regime of Superman after the apocalypse is not detailed.

Costume Evolution: He has ditched his garish gangster suits for what looks like either a medical gown or a butcher gown, complete with orange gloves and a bulletproof vest with a dozen police badges pinned on it. He got rid of his "Damaged" forehead tattoo, let his hair grow and put red makeup around his mouth, looking closer to more common depictions of the character.

Enemy Mine: He and Batman had the worst kind of enmity imaginable, but the Earth being conquered by Darkseid is enough of a Conflict Killer for them to call a truce and work together to try undoing this mess.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He utters the line "We live in a society" while gazing upon the devastated landscape in the trailer. This is clearly a Meme Acknowledgement, and it's quite awkwardly used given the context (is there really any society left in this post-apocalyptic world?). It doesn't appear in the actual film, however. The line was improvised by Leto.

Evil Laugh: Even with the world being in such a sorry state and him still being sane enough to acknowledge how bad the situation is, he'll still let some laughs out, even though they sound more subdued than ever.

Evil Versus Oblivion: Even he sees the necessity of teaming up with Batman to try undoing what Darkseid did to Earth.

Future Badass: He survived the apocalypse brought upon Earth by Darkseid and looks like he's geared for guerilla actions.

My Card: He gives a Joker card to Batman as a symbol of their truce. Shall the Dark Knight want to break that truce, he'd just have to tear that card up. The card could be seen strapped on Batman's assault rifle in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Joker gets a high reminding Batman how costly his mistakes in the past have been.

The Nicknamer: He nicknames Mera "my little fish stick" and Robin "Boy Wonder".

Progressively Prettier: Despite being worse for wear, this Joker is arguably even better looking than his previous appearance, with his over-the-top tattooed gangster image toned down and his androgyny played up. Ironically, this version also more closely resembles the Heath Ledger incarnation.

Thousand-Yard Stare: He has such a stare when looking at the devastated horizon as he starts talking to Batman.

Villain Has a Point: While he’s the one who killed Robin, he gives Batman a minor What the Hell, Hero? for sending “a Boy Wonder to do a man’s job.”

Vocal Evolution: His voice is much softer and higher pitched than it was in Suicide Squad.

#TheJokerInformation

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voidblogg · 4 years

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Dispatchers from Elsewhere-Opinion

The Jejune Institute was an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that was played in the San Francisco area that started in 2008 and lasted until around 2011. It was the first of it’s kind, starting with flyers advertising fantastical things like human force fields and a dream projector. Players would call the number on the flyers and then given a location they needed to go to. From there, the game would send them on clues and missions all over the bay area, turning their city into an adult playground.

In 2013, the documentary “The Institute” came out detailing the events of the game, interviewing players and even interviewing the creator and creative team responsible for the game.

This year, 2020, then came the limited series “Dispatchers from Elsewhere” by AMC (and viewable on Amazon Prime, or other places if you’re brave enough), staring and created by Jason Segel (yes, that Jason Segel, the Muppet one and the How I Met your Mother one). Dispatchers from Elsewhere details the experience of four players of the Jejune game, Peter, Simone, Fredwynn and Janice.

And now, my thoughts on this limited series. Beware of spoilers below.

The series is 10 episodes long, and while some aspects of the show are pretty accurate to the actual events of the Jejune game, there are some notable differences. For starters, this one doesn’t take place in San Francisco, but rather in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of other notable differences, but they aren’t super relevant and don’t take away from the story told. The real story (aside for the obvious ARG that the characters are playing) are in the characters.

Peter (played by Jason Segel, which will become important later) is a boring man, does the same thing every day. Goes to work, comes home, goes to work. That’s it. There’s this incredible scene in the first episode where he is getting inducted into the game, where he starts crying as the supposed founder of the Jejune institute, Octavio Coleman, proclaims Peter to be special. This hits really hard. I think it’s human nature to want to be special, and with how boring Peter is (and how boring we often feel out lives are). I know I instantly related to Peter. I think my life is boring sometimes. I want to be special.

Next is Simone. She’s a transwoman, afraid of intimacy, terrified that no one will accept her, and has a hard time believing people care about her. Much like Peter’s scene, there is an equally powerful one where Simone is walking home from the dinner, and almost gets attacked by some guys. There is also a very sweet romance between Peter and Simone that I really enjoyed. And there's even a part in one of the later episodes where Simone proclaims Peter to be too innocent and explains that he needs to understand how her being a transwoman is going to make their lives and relationship hard. I’m not a trans feminine person, I’m a trans masculine one. But the anxieties about being accepted is something I relate to a lot. The reality of what my romantic relationships are going to look like where very beautifully displayed in this show.

Fredwynn has and incredible mind, he’s a genius of sorts. He’s obsessed about his health, his mental prowess. He spends the entire time taking the game very seriously. He’s always worried about missing something, and above all just wants the truth about what’s going on. He’s relatable, in the sense that I also don’t like to be wrong. I like to feel like I’m smart, superior. Like I’ve solved something difficult, or seen something no one else has. granted, Fredwynn is an exaggerated version of that, but he’s relatable nonetheless.

Janice lives with her husband, who had a stroke and is in a vegetative state. For me, an 18 year old child, she was less relatable. Throughout playing the Jejune game, she learns to take back her sense of self after her husband’s stroke. She learns to no longer define herself as “wife” and goes back to defining herself as simply “Janice”. To me, she was less relatable, but to others I’m sure her story resonated.

The thing with “Dispatchers for Elsewhere” is that it’s about the ARG, but it’s not. It’s about human connection, about people. About learning to forgive, to love, to live. The ARG is simply the medium chosen to tell this story.

Now...that being said...this show is incredible...up until the last episode. Through the entire show, we see this boy hidden in frames. This little boy, this child, with clown makeup in the background. I was originally excited, the entire time the show plays with it’s audience, is the Jejune game real or not? And I thought that this was going to be another aspect of that. It wasn’t.

“Dispatchers form Elsewhere” is meta in the sense that all good media is now. It talks to the audience, calls them out. Proclaims each character to be the audience’s surrogate upfront. But the last episode is meta in the bad way. We’re suddenly confronted with Jason Segel, the actor, and his personal struggle with alcoholism and lack of creativity. And it turn out, the child in clown makeup is supposed to be a visual representation of Segel’s inner child. Gone are Peter and Simone and Fredwynn and Janice. Gone is the story of strangers turned friends. All at once, what made “Dispatchers from Elsewhere” incredible is gone. And I understand that Segel is technically the creator of this show, and he can do with it what he wants. But I didn’t spend over 6 hrs sympathizing about these characters and caring about this story just to be slapped in the face with a creative breakdown. I wanted to know how their story ended. And I didn’t get that.

Overall, “Dispatchers from Elsewhere” is an incredible story about love, loss, friendship, and growth. I would just skip the last episode if I were you.

#germ txt #germ opinion #show review #jejune institute #dispatchers from elsewhere #jason segel

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freewalkerstudio · 4 years

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I find the intersections of cultures interesting, specifically the intersections of cultures we are born into and the cultures in which we choose to participate. These chosen cultures may speak to us on many levels, be they emotional, intellectual or even subconscious. We may not know why we are drawn to something but we feel an innate pull to be involved. The free will of humans leads to the most interesting combinations of birth and chosen cultures, which furthers the breadth of manifested identities in the world. Because of my own life experience, I decided to investigate other people of color who choose to be artists and identify as alternative, goth or punk.

During this project I had the privilege to meet, photograph and interview some stellar human beings. People who are unafraid and unapologetic about their artistic choices in this world. I am so inspired by each and every one of you. Thank you for being you and giving me a glimpse into your world.

Ashley - “I just do what I think is fun!”

I met Ashley Norman at school, I remember the day well. She had on a really bright outfit and her makeup was weird and fun. She had drawn wispy lines around her eyes in white eyeliner, like an abstract Picasso portrait – each eye different than the other. I thought it was so unique and I was impressed by her call to push her style in a different direction than her peers. When I met back up with Ashley recently, I asked her, what was her inspiration and the pull to identify as an alternative artist? She said only this: “I just do what I think is fun!” Ashley said she is also inspired by her diverse background. For her, being Black, Korean and Dominican gives her much to pull from historically and artistically.

Selena - “I think the hardest part was me finding my tribe, my kindred spirits. You can’t always spot someone who is alternative all the time, just by looking at them. Sometimes it’s highly internalized and you would never know.”

Selena is an illustrator, whose artwork is centered around themes of alchemy and the occult. She expressed that her drawings of demon girls with detached limbs, reflected her inner feelings of being disconnected from her identity sometimes. I asked her when she started to identify as alternative and for her it was in middle school when she realized that music was so important to her but that she felt little connection to Rap and Hip Hop. “It’s kinda like, when you’re Black, you kinda assume that you’re supposed to like these things, and you kinda do, but…it doesn’t feel like it clicks. Whereas for me rock and alternative music clicked for me, I was more able to relate to the subjects in the songs. I was 14, rap music was not helping me cope with what I’m going through. With Rock, we are talking about anger, feelings, things I could better connect with. From there on out I wore all black and listened to My Chemical Romance.”

Roxas - “It’s totally 100% possible to thrive and be yourself.”

Roxas Timmons was my classmate at LaGuardia in the photo program. I remember the first day I saw them and thinking how committed they were to their style. As I got to know Roxas over the past two years, I have learned of their interesting origin story growing up in the conservative Midwest. Roxas likes to be fluid in their identity and although they mostly identify as goth, they also enjoy dressing as a clown, a ghost, punk, alternative and anything in between. They talked a lot about how music and fashion influences their photography, which is primarily driven by self-portraits. They recounted how they started dressing alternative little by little in high school and after graduating, fully went for it. “I meet a lot of people who always say to me ‘I wish I could dress like that’. I want people to know that they can. They can have a successful career and make their way in the world dressing like this.”

Jacqs - “The art that I give to the world is my self expression. Serving looks.“

Much like many of the people I interviewed for this project, Jacqueline Chavois is a total stranger to me. Stumbling across her Instagram account, I was immediately struck by her incredible style and the collections in her house, where she regularly photographs herself. I asked her about her split tongue and why she would choose to make such a drastic choice of body modification. “I feel like it connects me to my African ancestry because the body modifications – these painful rites of passage, I feel that my African ancestors were doing that. It annoys me when it’s seen as only a White thing. Definitely has indigenous, African, tribal roots.”

Shola - “The aesthetic I want to give off is to live that best version of myself and let it be reflected in the work that I do.”

Shola Aurora is a first generation Nigerian singer-songwriter, born and raised in New York City. He performs an hybrid of rock, metal, and industrial goth music. He is heavily influenced by Japanese culture, having traveled to Japan several times. Anime, video games and Japanese fashion are all major inspirations and play out in his artistic choices. I interviewed him in Saint Marks Place, an area where he was able to truly express himself as a young man growing into his identity. Shola talked about how he came to his own style by being exposed to Visual K, a Japanese branch of glam metal. “Visual K showed me that performing is more than just getting up there and singing a song, you can create a world or an experience. It inspired me to live the best version of myself that I could. It left my mind open in terms of what I was interested in doing. As someone who grew up in Brooklyn in the hood, as a black male, the idea of doing feminine things or wearing makeup is unheard of. It took a lot of personal growth for me to break through to that side of myself.”

Xero - “Everyone needs a little bit of fantasy.”

Xero Gravity is a 24 year old biracial Black/Jewish cosplayer and digital content creator who centers herself around diversity and inclusion in the horror and sci-fi realms. I asked her to speak about why these genres are so important to her. “I feel horror is the best lens through which to look at society’s fears as a whole. What people are scared of at a certain time says a lot about what people are going through. When you look at the history of horror, it doesn’t really look good for Black and Brown people like us. We have a very complicated history with the horror genre. I always bring the discussion of horror and Blackness back to Birth of a Nation, the first feature film. It features a white woman in ‘peril’ being hunted by a white man in blackface. Woodrow Wilson screened this in the White House and endorsed it as factually correct. At the end the ‘black man” is hunted down and killed by the KKK, putting the KKK in a favorable light. No one talks about how this is the scariest film ever if you’re a Black person.”

Uny - “My art is fashion. My art is clothes, my art is expression. The way I dress is a total expression of the way I view my world through my lens.”

Unyquee Loretta Ortiz is a seamstress and cosplayer who identifies as Black and Latinx. Born and raised in the Bronx, she spoke about how her heritage plays into her stylistic choices. “I often wear a lot of African prints because I want to be connected to Africa in the best way that I can do it. I was raised around my Latinx culture so I go out of my way to make my Black heritage more visual. A lot of people don’t look at me and see Latinx because my skin isn’t as fair or olive, but I feel very connected to that side of myself because I grew up around it. Sometimes I think people tend to push that aside and want it to not be there because of how I look.”

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mittensmorgul · 5 years

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7.14, Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie.

Or that happy little isle of sparkles in a sea of black goo.

If taken at gunpoint (or pinned to a fence by an angry unicorn) and told I would have to watch a single episode of Supernatural on a loop for the rest of the week, I would pick this one.

Thanks, Dabb!

From the dual chronology of the storytelling, alternating between flashbacks to the past and Now, Right Now, and RIGHT FRIGGIN' NOW, while also touching on Sam and Dean's very different childhood experiences through their dual roles in this episode, it's both a more lightheartedly metaphorical exploration of Sam and Dean's psychological makeup than 7.13, while still effectively conveying the same conclusions.

Since I spent all day (or at least the last 8 hours or so) working on the 7.13 post, I'm gonna keep this one relatively brief.

Hopefully.

This episode focuses more on Dean's pov, from the baseline assumption that Sam's pov is inherently compromised (which 7.13 went to great pains to remind us). Clowns, and Sam's lifelong fear of them, becomes the focus of his outward projection in this episode, taking the place of his Hallucifering and framing his issues more... kindly... than 7.13 did. Because Clowns are typically Lucifer stand-ins in Supernatural.

(aside from back in 2.02, when they were a stand-in for evil things in general, which at the time meant the YED, who was, yes, an agent of Lucifer so...)

Sam’s mantra of “if it bleeds, you can kill it” even stands in for his Hallucifer Hand Scar Button in this episode. And that’s another of Dabb’s pet themes: taking a real-life horror and framing it in cartoon logic. This is how Sam’s episode-long clown fight stands in for his Hallucifering. The fear is equally real, but clowns who bleed glitter and shoot seltzer from a flower on their lapel are basically the cartoon version of what his Hallucifering is doing to him... And the clowns very much could’ve killed him just as quickly, if Dean hadn’t uncovered the root of the issue, the source of the manipulation.

When Dean discovered who was using the spell to bring these fears to life to kill people, he could’ve just shot the dude... but instead he had to improvise, forcing the guy to face his own lifelong trauma and guilt over the drowning death of his brother when he was a child (and which he felt was a failing of his parents as much as himself).

Metaphor, much?

But this also incorporates a twist on Dabb's previous theme of "beliefs can become reality" that he used in 5.06 with Jesse the Antichrist. The show overall has long asked us to consider that sort of question, going right back to 1.17 and the original Tulpa. 7.14 takes that one step further, with a villain deliberately "stealing" the fears and beliefs of children to magically make them reality (and worse: to literally weaponize those fears to be deployed against targets of his own choosing).

The power of belief, corrupted and manipulated for a misguided personal vendetta. Inflicting his will as if he knew best what these children need in their lives.

(plus some of the most emotionally cathartic nonsense in all of s7, which was deeply, deeply needed right about this point... Dean got his rainbow slinky, too...)

#spn 7.14 #s14 hellatus rewatch #lies and damn lies #spiders georg of the tnt loop

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theorynexus · 5 years

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Pseudo-Liveblogging: 2B

Your attempt to name John Egbert “Zoosmell Pooplord” has failed. It was an interesting attempt, considering “Zoosmell” at least relates to the “Biologist” part of his present “ectoBiologist” chumhandle, but Pooplord doesn’t really work all that well with it. On the other hand, at least you seem to have presciently related the joke name to his command to defecate upon his desk, and the name quite obviously relates well to that of Farmstink Buttlass, who is his (ecto-)biological sister. On that note, I am sure you are quite aware that Dave Strider and his (ecto-)biological sister, Rose Lalonde, will both also receive failed naming attempts. These shall be much less silly and much more insulting names, Iin2ufferable Priick and Flighty Broad respectively, shall be offered to them by the trolls Sollux Captor (who I have admittedly been spoiled into knowing is actually named Solluxander [which fits quite well with his theme, due to the fact that it is not only bending the rules {DOOM}, but also an example of an integrated “11″ {beenary code/dualism}], though I still have no idea what Pesterquest [I think that’s what it’s called] even IS, and am vague and uncertain as to what the implications for this are, other than it maybe having something to do with gender identity and Shrek) and Kanaya Maryam (respectively). The names are both rejected in spite of the fact that Rose Lalonde calls Dave an insufferable prick before Dave is given his name, and the additional fact that Dave calls Rose a flighty broad before her name is known. This was obviously played off as a laughable result of the MSPA Reader trying to “remember” these characters names, when the opportunity to name them first comes up. That this gag is brought up again in Hivebent very briefly (in such a way as to create symbolic connections between Karkat and Dave), and that it is connected to the Honorary Placronym concept the Alpha Kids’ side of the scratch both barely need or deserve mentioning. Neither does the fact that the naming jokes/ectobiology tie-ins continue in later examples.

Your true identity is the Ghosty Trickster. You earn that identity later in life not only via your mastery of the Breeze, which allows you to potentially dissolve into pure spirit/wind and thereby avoid damage; you also earn this title by ushering in the concept of Trickster Mode into the comic, and more importantly evoking the power of the Ultimate Juju (which contains a version of yourself and each of your friends at the time, and is ambiguously related to the Trickster Sucker/Lollipop[s] [which will likely be explained/elaborated upon via the Candy epilogue]), allowing you to play cosmic pranks such as causing your arm to appear across numerous points in various timelines and continuities, as well as allowing a more adept user to teleport themself and their friends fully to any point in space/time (perhaps in any reality), and thereby to further play tricks such as antagonizing the young Caliborn such that you and said friends become trapped in said juju (powering it until it is used as a weapon against him). ([{Caliborn DOES call him that, by the way, if anyone is forgetting--- or at least refers to his powers as “TRICKSY GHOST POWERS,” or something of the sort.}]) You are also the Heir of Breath, which is a mythological role which quite suits you, on account of the aforementioned identity. Breath is associated with the spiritual, by the way, which is likely your reason for the affinity for the paranormal. At the same time, however, it constantly feels like you are trapped-- stuck, if you will, in a manner which borders on the titular --not just in your home, and certainly not just in your room (which affords a nice view of the Breath Blue sky by means of its soon to be no-longer-confining window), but in a restrictive sort of life, filled with drudgery and inconvenient (yet friendly, in a coddling sort of way) ties with family, which contributes to the general feeling that you are bound to the earth, despite a destiny that clearly lies beyond it. Soon, that will change: you will become the first of your friend group to enter the Medium, though you will have paradoxically proven to have been there all along. You see, you have a Dream Self, which has been living on the moon of Prospit ever since you were born. In fact, paradoxically quite well before it, as well. This self is periodically exposed to the effects of the Eclipse, which allows you to dimly view visions of the future in Skaia’s clouds. Since you are not awake, there is no chance that you could remember anything consciously, but your subconscious mind has been influenced by these cloud visions for years. As such, your interests have been somewhat tailored to your future, and foreshadow things: particularly, the movies you are a fan of will both directly effect and reflect the events of your session in a foreshadowing and paradoxically interactive manner. Obviously, Con Air will directly lead into your skits wherein you hand a dirtied bunny to various children and pretend to unite with your beloved wife and daughter (yay, Candy timeline reflecting this with Roxy and Rose just a little bit, even if the relationship between John and Roxy supposedly doesn’t work out?). However, others are more subtle: Armageddon foreshadows the Reckoning, and its Deep Impact upon the Earth; Mac and Me and Little Monsters both suggest blossoming relationships (friendship or otherwise) between humans and monsters that look like Howie Mandel in weird monster makeup [with Karkat’s small horns possibly being a reference to the alien in Mac and Me, but I’m not sure]; Ghost Dad relates to Nannasprite, Ectobiological “fatherhood” over all of the Kids on John’s part, and of course Dad’s death (and post-death “haunting,” once John sees Jane’s father in the Alpha Kids’ session and/or before that, when the version that sacrificed himself for Davesprite’s sake met Vriska and then briefly saw a “Ghost Dad” in a Dream Bubble); Ghostbusters is just silly, though I guess it could maybe be a long-term reference to the eventual double deaths that start going around; otherwise, it is probably related to Slimer seeming like the ghost on John’s shirt, or just general paranormal silliness ([obviously, unleashing an evil god through a portal connecting two worlds has nothing to do with it]); aaaannnd... I can’t remember any of the other posters for now, and won’t be skipping ahead to see them, yet, considering I am doing this in a linear and sane manner. For years and years, you have been demented by the horrific image of a Clown Missing an Arm and an Eye, an insidious result of Gamzee Makara’s manifestation of his dark ancestral chucklevoodoos, which directly contributed to the destined destruction of your universe by means of Jack Noir (Blackjack, Ace of Spades, the Joker gone wild), whose black affections were made to boil and Rage by his Bardic inspiration-- so exceeding his natural affinity for the Black Queen that he would usurp her and become the Sovereign Slayer. By means of his Rage-inducing chucklevoodoos, you became mentally unstable, and would come to scrawl colorful images of harlequins upon your walls and posters in periodic fugues, much to your own later disappointment and shock. This would cause your Dad to embrace a hobby of collecting and gifting harlequins to his dear, sweet, adopted John in order to try to show he appreciated his twisted child and was attempting to relate to him. Throughout your childhood, you and your friends would attract the attention and ire of various other trolls, leading you to have a negative disposition toward the creators of your universe and to ironically lose much of your precious time early in the game disbelieving them or otherwise being unable to cooperate alongside the alien player group; whereas there would have been a good possibility that if they had contacted you after you had entered the game and declared they were another group of players, it would have been much more likely that you would have believed them. That might have smoothed things out significantly. Oh well. Them’s the 8r8ks. Speaking of, you would be patronized by a spider-themed troll who was particularly excited to insert herself into your personal progression and rise to godhood. That trolls name will remain a Sekret, at least for now. She is a very divisive and inter8sting character. While all of these aforementioned facts have a very important influence on your life and the progression of your story, the fact that you are descendant (by way of adoption) from Colonel Sassacre and Betty Crocker will also greatly shape the environment you grow up in. As will your interest in Harry Anderson and his biography. The latter person is not very much elaborated upon in the story, though his hole punching tricks are used to inspire advances in punch card-based alchemy. The former two, I shall address more when I reach pages relating more to them. In the meantime, I am thinking I might accelerate my schedule on reading the Candy epilogue. As I was attempting to look up the Wise Guy book so I could double check that Harry Anderson doesn’t come up as being, say, secretly the guy who, I may have slightly spoiled myself on it by seeing that there is a character named Harry Anderson Egbert, apparently, and I don’t want to expose myself to too much more potential spoiling. There are too many questions that fact generates by itself. (My guess would have to be that, if Terezi was correct about John and Roxy not working out, either the kid is born before they break up and therefore one of them takes up the traditional Homestuck role of being single parent to the child, or alternatively, John ends up adopting them as an apparently unnamed baby, continuing the tradition of a guardian discovering a mysterious seemingly abandoned child, possibly in debris of some sort. The former seems more likely, given the bitter taste that’s supposed to settle in after the sweet of the candy wears off.) Soooo... Yeah, I think I might do one more of these posts and then start up the other epilogue’s read. Or just start after this. I don’t know.

#Homestuck Spoilers #Homestuck Analysis #Homestuck Reread #John Egbert

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danysuperf1y · 6 years

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Main Module: Final designs

For our module we had the brief to create anything about a worldwide issue that we would like to bring awareness of. We could create it how we wish whether it be handmade, digital or photography.

I had chosen to look at many topics. I had chosen to focus on a worldwide issue which was mental health. Mental health is something that many people haven’t come to terms with or just don’t accept it in today’s society which is why I wanted to bring awareness to it. I had looked at the topic of mental health but the topic itself has many sub topics and different areas to which would give you the chance to talk about. First I was looking at mental health in behaviour and how people act and behave in a certain way, I couldn’t gather as much information so I didn’t decide to take that route. I then looked harder into the topic and chose something that I could relate with.

I had chosen emotion, but not just emotion in general, I had chosen the topic of “hidden emotion” where people would generally hide what they feel on the inside by covering it up with a fake emotion on the outside like a “mask”.

Once knowing what I wanted to do I was trying to think of ways to create designs. I had done sketches of things related to masks with the mask being the fake emotion and the person behind the mask feeling another emotion (generally a negative emotion like sadness). I had then decided to look more broader into the term mask and realised that it’s just a “metaphor” so I didn’t really have to insert a mask into my final piece I could create something that could link back to a mask as a metaphor.

I was struggling with what techniques I should use to create my final piece. I really wanted to do handmade but was not at all confident in myself as I said before “once you make a decision when doing handmade you can’t undo it” so that made me nervous. I then thought about doing something with photography and digital media mixed but I was running out of time since I was thinking about it too much.

I had then settled with just doing digital media as I have a lot of experience in it and I feel super comfortable in doing it so I had used Adobe Illustrator to plan out my final design. I had outlined the sketch of my model and had then started adding in the details from the facial features to the clothing. Once I was happy with my outline I had gone in with different colours like skin tone, hair colour and clothing colour and had then coloured in the outline of my design. Once I had completed the base colours I went in with a much more darker colour than the original skin tone colour and shaped out the shadows in the skin and clothing and then coloured it in, I feel like shadows would made the design look less simple and more realistic.

Once I had completed the shadows and colour I had then gone in with a second colour that was darker than the shadow colour and had gone over the shadows again creating a three coloured layer effect. The reason for this is because when you look at the design it makes it look more realistic and three dimentonal and gives the design some depth. The last thing I had done was add highlight to the face and streaks to the hair to make it looks super realistic and vibrant, I had used a gradient brush for the streaks so that it would transition from brown to blonde then to brown again without making it look obvious.

Going back to trying to add a “mask” to the design without physically drawing a mask I instantly thought of makeup. A lot of people refer to women when they wear makeup on their face is that it’s like a mask where you’re hiding ur natural beauty. It seemed like a good idea but I was not going to do makeup as I thought it would be offensive to the females of my target audience. I then looked deeper into makeup and pulled up “clown makeup” I had instantly decided that, that would be a better alternative instead of real makeup. I had then started drawing a smiling clowns mouth on my designs lips making sure the opacity was low as I didn’t want to ruin the whole design or make the clown makeup over rule the rest of the makeup. I had then covered the eyes with purple doing exactly what I did with the mouth.

The clown makeup is meant to look imperfect because it’s supposed to look forced as if the person is forcing to smile but really they are crying on the inside. It’s also meant to represent that society forces you to paint an emotion that would look normal to the rest of the world whereas your inner emotion is different and weird in the eyes of others, which is not the case. After I had finished with the main design I had moved on to see what I could do with the extra space around my design.

With the extra space around the design I had decided to use the ink brush tool to draw out words that were negative emotions of what the person in my design must be feeling behind the clown mask that has been painted. I thought of words that also my target audience may be feeling who are young adults and students that are in an educational environment feel all types of ways and not really expressing them.

The whole reason I had created this design is because I could relate to the cause and I can also relate to my target audience as I am a young adult in an educational environment that is going through the same things. Also as I am new in the environment just like other students and making friends isn’t easy it shows that you wouldn’t have many people to express your emotions to so you’d have no choice but to bottle them up.

The campaign I had chosen to go with my design was ‘YoungMinds’ an organisation that helps young adults through the difficult stages of their life doesn’t matter where you come from or what it is you’re suffering from they are there to help. They have been around for 25 years which is why I had also chosen them as it shows that they have changed so many peoples lives over that period of time as well as sharing the same target audience.

Overall I really enjoyed this brief and really like my final designs for this task. The one thing I would’ve changed is to actually step out of my comfort zone and try new techniques that I haven’t tried before as well as looking at other ways I can come up with more ideas.

I had created 2 versions of my final design as I really liked both versions of the design without the clown makeup and with the clown makeup. I had realised that the one without clown makeup could be a person whose finally ready and has the confidence to express their true emotion where as the person with the clown mask isn’t fully there yet.

0 notes

thesinglesjukebox · 5 years

Video

youtube

TAYLOR SWIFT - BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS

[3.50]

Taylor takes a chonce...

Thomas Inskeep: Where we learn that Swift has ambitions of writing relentlessly overblown, ridiculously florid Broadway songs just like her co-writer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. And god, her keening vocal on this makes me want to punch someone. [0]

Alfred Soto: Her voice is not her strongest element, a fact this farrago overlooks. By comparison her accent on "London Boys" is a Meryl Streep Oscar stroke. [2]

Katherine St Asaph: I don't mind Taylor Swift being on this, in theory (in voice is a somewhat different proposition); Sarah Brightman was a dancer in Hot Gossip. Nor do I want to reassign this piece to Andrew Lloyd Webber's cat. I could even, begrudgingly, stop minding that Nile Rodgers worked on this, or that there's a gratuitous Phantom reference, or that the whole thing is a worse version of Jekyll and Hyde's "A New Life," when Cats already had the blueprint for "A New Life." But I do mind there being no structure, melodic, emotional, or otherwise. [3]

Katie Gill: The idea of adding in a song to CATS kind of misunderstands the structure of the musical. You see, CATS already has a big awards bait song, "Memory," which is musically is integrated into the show via a prelude at the end of act 1, other cats singing the tune at various point, and the prelude ending with a leitmotif often heard throughout the show. HOWEVER, now "Beautiful Ghosts" exists. It's positioned as a direct response to "Memory" and ALW loves his goddamn leitmotifs so logically it should sound like a response to "Memory", but it doesn't! It just sounds like a Taylor Swift song! Likewise, if this song is a direct response to "Memory" then one would think it would come AFTER "Memory" or the "Memory" prelude. However, "Memory" is the emotional climax of the show and the prelude is the Act 1 finisher, neither of which are a good time to add in a pop song to kill the plot. "Beautiful Ghosts" should really be positioned as a response to "Grizabella the Glamour Cat" because the transition between that song and the next one is an awkward spot in the musical that the pop song + a bit of dialogue could help smooth over. HOWEVER, if you position "Ghosts" as a response to "Grizabella" then it'll occur way too early in the film and also rob "Memory" of its lyrical impact. Part of the big impact of "Memory" is that you've had two goddamn hours of fiddle-dee-dee Jennyanydots whimsical nonsense and then WHAM, we go right into "touch me / it's so easy to leave me" which gives us the big, giant, emotional impact that "Memory" deserves and dammit, I don't have anywhere else to write about how this addition means that ALW fundamentally misunderstands his own musical so y'all are going to have to put up with me here. [4]

Jackie Powell: What makes this recording so charming is how practically imperfect it is. And I mean that as a compliment. The attempt at a British accent aside, Taylor Swift did her homework. And I'm not talking about T.S. Elliot, which I'll return to. This performance reminded me of Roland Barthes' "The Grain of the Voice," an essay that discusses how perfect vocals aren't what always sell a performance. The French philosopher and critic pontificates that a singer who is compelling has what he refers to as a "grain" or the "body in the voice." In other words, when Swift embraces her weaker while spectral head voice on the verses, cracks on the last line of the bridge and forces her belt on the last note of the entire song, she embraces Barthes' "Grain of the Voice" almost to a tee. Her belting is far from bodacious and like Jackson McHenry of Vulture, I question if this Andrew Lloyd Webber penned melody was really meant for Swift. But ALW did, in fact, need her. "If you can't get T.S. Eliot, get TS," she said while in the studio with Webber. "I'm here for you." And TS does study up on T.S. In "Beautiful Ghosts," Swift penned a lot of gerunds and descriptive nouns that have shapeshifted into gerunds. Or sometimes she just uses the suffix -ing more than twice the amount that Elliot employed it in his 1915 poem "Hysteria." In between all the "Chonces" being "Bawn into Noothing" and being "let intou," it's endearing to get a sense of Swift's acting chops via listening to her inflection, diction and even her ability to weld some dynamics that we don't often hear in her own catalog. But Swift was in between too many decisions. Was this supposed to be a pop version of a Broadway-style song? Was this supposed to be akin to Demi Lovato on "Let It Go?" (Maybe not, as we all know which version of the song is sung at karaoke.) But with all else being equal, Swift shalt have made a commitment to one of these two worlds: she's now clinging to pop but Broadway is now calling? She's straddling between these two islands and it doesn't work as well as she might have "waaanteed." [7]

Isabel Cole: Is it weird that I think I would like this better if it were more awful? Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber are not similar artists, but they are two people who have between them made [checks spreadsheet] a million bajillion dollars by being wildly extra and unafraid of leaning the fuck in. Many of my favorite Taylorisms are fun because of their hyper-earnest theater kid melodrama (just think of the tremor with which she sings another girl in "Style"); many of my childhood memories involve belting "Memory" in my bedroom. But this is just so... dull. TS + ALW 4 CATS sounds like a nightmare of unhinged excess, but this could be any generic Best Song Oscar also-ran; the most interesting part is that she reuses the best line from "Fifteen." Worse, these artists who can write a hook that will be stuck in your head until the end of time somehow came together to write a melody so sprawlingly uninspiring I cannot hum it after several listens. There's nothing here even to make fun of beyond (objectively funny) Taylor's sporadic British affectations. Like, come on, guys: I'm not sure you can do better than this, but I know you have it in you to do worse. [2]

Alex Clifton: Cats didn't really need a new song (nor, frankly, did we need the new nightmare adaptation) and I'm mixed on Andrew Lloyd Webber at best, but this still hits my heart somewhere, especially with Swift's breathy delivery for the first half of the track. I am both surprised and annoyed to relate to a song sung by a cat. Points deducted for chooooooooooonces. [6]

Natasha Genet Avery: Let's dispense with the obvious: 1. That newfangled British accent is...something. 2. Playing into her favorite victimhood narrative, Swift's contribution to Cats *had* to one-up Grizabella ("At least you have something!". 3. This is blatant Oscar bait. Now onto the meat: Cats is a corny and embarrassing head-scratcher. Cats is why people don't trust musicals. I love Cats. To me, to anyone who has been in a musical, musicals are about unreasonable, outsized commitment--you peel off your self-protective shield of irony and spend dozens, if not hundreds of hours donning clown-school makeup and spandex, somersaulting across the stage and belting the praises of storybook animals. If you're entrusted with a big number, you practice and practice until your delivery is technically masterful, if not heavy-handed. Beat me to death with that vibrato. Fuck me up with those dynamics. Leave it allll on the stage. And so, when Taylor set out to out-emote "Memory", she agreed to take on 30 years of mockery, three key changes, Elaine Paige, 600+ professionally recorded covers, and countless school productions and karaoke renditions. A lot of people fault Taylor for being a try-hard (I've always found it sort of endearing), but here, she simply didn't try hard enough. Swift admitted that she wrote most of "Beautiful Ghosts" "immediately after hearing the song for the first time." Without T.S. Eliot's hand, Beautiful Ghosts" is empty, untouched by whimsy. Oh, and the singing: Swift is sorely out of her depth, and mostly opts for limp falsetto, culminating in a strained, awkward belt. We'll see what Francesca Hayward does with it, but for now "Beautiful Ghosts" should get booted from the clowder. [3]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I consume music of all genres voraciously -- with the exception of musical soundtracks. This is for a number of reasons: 1) I haven't seen a lot of musicals, 2) for the ones I have seen, I tend to find the music and lyricism overwrought and boring, and 3) I would prefer to just listen to artists' original music outside the parameters set by some make believe world. I was worried that I would have a tough time trying to check my own bias in reviewing this song, but am now relieved and confident in asserting that "Beautiful Ghosts" is objectively bad. In an alternate reality, this could be a compelling country-lite track on Fearless or Red, or even a synth heavy ballad on 1989, but here, Taylor just sounds drowsy with a weird British accent, selling a metaphor that makes about as much sense as the utterly bizarre Cats movie trailer. [3]

Andy Hutchins: One tweet that has stuck with me is the one that correctly called Reputation — before its release, even! — the final boss of 2017. I think Cats might play a similar role for the final days of 2019 and the first month or so of 2020, even if its pitch is obviously to a smaller segment of the population than pre-Crisis Taylor reached. So how convenient it is that we have Taylor here, indulging her theater kid impulses with none other than Andrew fucking Lloyd fucking Webber co-writing, singing her heart out in the ingenue role she's clung to throughout her 20s for better and worse (which is, hilariously, not her role in the film itself!), pining for something wild for what feels like the 20th time. "Beautiful Ghosts" is as subtle as a hurricane, and churns powerfully, and Taylor almost hits that note at the end — the strings wouldn't swell if she'd hit it perfect, of course. It's good. Fine. Whatever. This sort of hopeful schmaltz is so safe, though, that it mostly makes me wish that Taylor were still willing to take excursions from beaten paths: That way lies "Style," even if you might have to double back from the doorsteps of "Look What You Made Me Do" or "End Game" on occasion. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Taylor Swift #Cats #pop #music #music review #writing #musical

0 notes

unicorn-poop · 5 years

Text

(Alt!)Rose Lalonde dream

[Nepeta and Kanaya are having a tea party outside a huge mansion. Rose and Dave are looking into the refrigerator for some delicious food].

ROSE: I am so hungry Dave. There is nothing here to eat!

DAVE: That is what happens when you live in a mansion with 12 other assholes.

[Rose finds some pie]

ROSE: Um, did someone make key lime pie

DAVE: Gam’s soper slime shit

DAVE: You don’t want to eat it!

[Gamzee appears]

GAMZEE: GIMME MY MOTHA FUCKIN PIE BITCH!

[Gamzee snatches the pie from Rose]

DAVE: Fucking clowns man....

ROSE: Out of all of the Trolls...I hate purple bloods

DAVE: You’re purple

ROSE: Oh shut it! If I were a Troll I’d be a Fuchsia Blood

DAVE: Why? Because of your girlfriend?

ROSE: FEFERI IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!

DAVE: Yes she is :)

[Kanaya walks in]

KANAYA: Please refrain From Yelling Ms. Lalonde. Nepeta, Can You Believe It? Humans Are Loud

NEPETA: :33 yes they are.

ROSE: I wish I could live in another reality brother. Anywhere but here

ARADIA: i wish too so i can rip vriskas arm off :)

[Rose and Dave leave very creeped out]

ARADIA: your wish shall be granted tonight rose :3

[Rose is in her room sleeping when she wakes up to see Aradia in bed next to her]

ROSE: uh, Aradia

ARADIA: so rose i got a great timeline for you to live in. you have 72 hours live in this timeline :)

ROSE: Oh why thank you Aradia...now please get out of my bed...you are ruining the sheets

[Aradia gets out Eridans wand and zaps Rose to another dimension].

ARADIA: man i love how she smells like lavender

[Rose appears in the alternate relaity. Everything just looks the same. Until Rose walks past a mirror. She was a Purple Blooded Troll. She had no clown makeup though.]

ROSE: Oh my. It appears that I am a Troll in this AU

[Suddenly a male Aradia appears]

ARADIA: oh boy! this is going to be fun! what a time to be alive! come on feferi! we don’t want to be late!

[A very cute Male Fef appears. He’s shirt less mind you exposing that nice body of his.]

FEFERI: GLUB GLUB! I’M SO --EXCIT--ED!

[A female Gamzee appears with a female version of Lil Cal]

GAMZEE: cOmE oN sIs. lEtS mOtHeR fUcKiNg RoLe.

[A female Sollux appears]

SOLLUX: jesus ii have a fuckiing headache

[A male nepeta appears]

NEPETA: :33 *the wild hunter decideds to attack his pray*

[Nepeta jumps as a male Kanaya appears. Damn is he cute].

KANAYA: Nepeta Please

[A fem Equius and Tavros appear]

EQUIUS: D--> i hope we’re going to the diary carnival because this STRONG bl00gal right here can use some delicious milk

TAVROS: uHH EQUIUS, I DON’T THINK WE’RE GOING THERE,

[Male vriska enters and damn is he hot.]

VRISKA: Terezi will you shut up! If you keep 8eing annoying I will destroy your scale m8′s.

[ENTER MALE TEREZI]

TEREZI: 4ND 1F YOU DO TH4T 1 W1LL R1P YOUR 4RM OFF!

[Both Vriska and terezi get into a fight. Fem karkat enters]

KARKAT: WILL YOU TWO ASSHOLES JUST FUCKING STOP! ERIDAN IS TRYING TO GET HER BEAUTY SLEEP!

TEREZl.....

[ENTER FEMALE ERIDAN]

ERIDAN: to late! fucking landwwelling assholes! this is wwhy i hate men.....except for feferi.

ROSE: Wow.....they’re all the same but are genderswapped....interesting. Gamzee is making me-

KARKAT: HEY ROSE WILL YOU BE JOINING US TODAY?

ROSE: where are we going? The amusement park?

KANAYA: Uh, No

KARKAT: OH YOU’RE SO FUNNY! NO WE ARE ALL GOING TO THE MALL BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MUCH SHIT FOR ALL OF US TO ENJOY AT THE MALL!

ROSE: Nice I could use some new clothing...

FEFERI: Yea)( you could use some new pretty clothing! You sea-

[Rose just stares at a shirtless Feferi]

FEFERI: WAT--ER YOU STARRING AT?

ROSE: Oh nothing sea dweller lets go

[Feferi shrugs and closes the door on his way out]

[After the mall]

KARKAT: HOLY SHIT ROSE THAT WAS FUCKING GREAT! I FINALLY GOT A NEW DRESS!

KANAYA: Yes Rose This was A Nice Idea. I Now Have A Shirt To Go Good With My Pants.

TAVROS: yOU RULE ROSE!

GAMZEE: yOu ArE tHe BeSt SiS

SOLLUX: ii am 2till a better 2narker than you

ROSE: Yeah- (Burps) Excuse me

KARKAT: WHAT ARE YOU EXCUSING YOURSELF FOR? COME ON (Burps Loudly)

ARADIA: ha! that ain’t shit! (burps even louder)

SOLLUX: guy2 2top plea2e

TEREZI: YOU GUYS SUCK! (Burps so loudly).

VRISKA: Nothing beats the real thing though (Farts loudy)

KANAYA: Vriska Please.

EQUIUS: D--> That was weak. I’ll show you

TAVROS: eQUIUS NO!

Too late. They were at their next destination anyways. Equius rips a STRONG ONE. Everyone piled out of the car coughing. All Equius could do is smirk.

EQUIUS: D—> Wimps

KANAYA: That Was Just Disgusting

ROSE: Come on now to Grimdark Restaurant to get their black berry pie.

(To be Continued)

0 notes

ouraidengray4 · 8 years

Text

How Burlesque Taught Me to Love My Body (After Ballet Made Me Hate It)

At 23, my life was going about as well as any recent college grad could hope for: full-time job, no debt, new dog, new boyfriend.

Naturally, I decided to start stripping.

My parents put me in ballet class at age 4, and it stuck. I was transfixed by the grace of my teachers, with the long lines of their arms and the elegance of their movements. I watched myself in the mirror, mimicking. All I wanted in life was to be as pretty as they were.

Every June, the other girls in my classes complained about the recital. Too many sunny afternoons spent in the auditorium of the local high school, waiting for our turn during dress rehearsal. Garish spandex costumes with sequined trim that cut into our armpits. I probably complained too, but mostly I loved it. My classmates would fumble their steps onstage, sweating under the stage lights. I reveled in it.

At 17, I was as good at ballet as I was ever going to be, and I stopped telling myself and anyone who would listen that I was going to be a professional dancer. Instead, I set my sights on the only other thing I felt I’d always been good at and joined the school newspaper. The fantasies of tutus started to fade, but the eating disorders lingered.

Starting at 14, I had counted every calorie I could and stuck my fingers down my throat to bring up the ones I couldn’t. 'Petite' isn't small enough for most ballet dancers; one must be waifish. I mostly quit making myself throw up when I got to college—the communal bathrooms made me too nervous—so I alternated periods of eating midnight pizza and Krispy Kreme doughnuts with my roommates and doing "cleanses" with raw vegetables and diuretics. I used diet pills and teas from the Asian market that made my stomach cramp too badly to want to eat. Seven years of refusing to let my body function normally left me with a heart murmur and fillings in my back molars. My hair may never recover.

I never heard anyone say anything negative about another person’s body. I rarely heard people disparage their own bodies. Those who did were rebutted with a chorus of love and approval.

When I’d been out of college for six months and still living in Gainesville, Florida, a friend told me an acquaintance of his was starting a vaudeville troupe and looking for performers. Salivating at the thought of being back in the world of live performance, I sent an email and was told the slate for the first show was full, but I could stage-manage the inaugural show at a local hippie bar. From the restroom door at the side of the stage about a month later, I watched the troupe leader’s second-ever burlesque performance: A nervous, lanky woman with breasts as small as mine (!) speed-stripped out of a corset and an 80s-era black velvet prom dress to the song "Tijuana Taxi." It was the first live burlesque act I'd ever seen, and it was terrible. I was transfixed.