#i read it the same way i watch horror movies except these tend to get a better reaction out of me?

[groovy-rat-man]

IM NOT INTO A/B/O I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIVE READ AN A/B/O FIC I BARELY KNOW WHAT THAT EVEN ENTAILS OTHER THAN HEAT AND STUFF

y’all expose yourselves and take this fanfic test i was just forced to by an irl so now i’m making you too

[cellarspider]

12/30 Things come to a head

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⛬

We return to that shambling mass of a film, Prometheus.

Content warnings for body horror, contagion-y stuff, something that loosely be described as medical horror, It’s Been 0 Days Since Our Last Incident, and me, going on a ramble about movie gore to distract myself from The Madness.

There's a lady in this scene who's had a number of speaking lines so far–the maybe-chemist. She has a name, but it doesn’t matter.

But I'm going to call her Doctor Frankenstein.

They have just got the helmet off the head, revealing that it’s truly, unmistakably humanoid. They have noted that there are “new cells” on the head. In the business, we call that “decomposition”, but Doctor Frankenstein is not concerned with this. In fact, she immediately proposes a new plan.

Doctor Frankenstein has had the brilliant idea to plug a big cable into the head like it’s a guitar amp, and zap it with electricity to wake it up.

Yes. This is what the movie goes with.

You know, Alien included a similarly shambolic first examination of an alien subject, but it was performed because said alien was attached to a man’s face, and all they had to try and fix that was the contents of a cargo ship’s medbay, with the only qualified personnel being the corporate android who had been ordered to consider the crew expendable. The crew of the Prometheus has no such excuse.

Well, except for David, he has precisely the same excuse, but he’s not trying to poke wires in anybody’s ears.

Doctor Frankenstein calls for enough amperage to run three electric kettles (cite 3), then all the way up to two Titan RTX graphics cards before the head starts to get what appears to be a massive migraine. 

I know this expression well, migraines can feel very much like someone is subjecting me to unnatural horrors.

This is getting a little extreme, though. Yes, when the head starts pulsing, they realize they may have made a mistake. 

I’d say this was inexplicable behavior on their part, unbelievably hasty and foolish–and I will say it, actually, it deserves to be said. But in context, this is the team that did so little prep for entering the alien structure that they didn’t notice the giant fuckoff skull carved into the outside of it.

Knowing how much Shaw and Holloway read into the intentions of the Engineers from the depictions they found on Earth, they probably would’ve interpreted this as a good sign, somehow.

Anyway, they put a sneezeguard down over the head before it explodes.

Good job everyone. This is like what would’ve happened if Napoleon’s savants took one look at the Rosetta Stone and decided “maybe we should try hitting it with hammers. Surely that’ll make the knowledge fall out.”

From a horror perspective, this scene only works in two contexts: First, gross-out. Generally found in schlock, exploitation, and outsider art flicks, the tone of gross-out content can be highly variable, but there are two general trends I'd mention, which are of relevance to this movie.

First, gross-out tends to exist in that weird alternate space where lots of comedy movies do: characters will behave in unreasonable ways for no apparent reason. Within the film, this is treated as the universal norm, besides maybe a straight man character who highlights the absurdity. Gross-out is often like that, but pushes different boundaries of acceptable behavior than a traditional comedy.

This is, bafflingly, what Prometheus increasingly feels like. It feels like it's transitioning into gross-out schlock, and yet it never goes all the way.

Second: the audience for gross-out is largely self-selecting. If you're watching John Waters' Pink Flamingos, you expect things to get messy. You are looking forward to things getting messy. A head exploding is perfectly par for the course in gross-out horror. One might even be disappointed if there wasn't an exploding head.

But again, this movie was not marketed on gross-out. It was marketed as a tense, Alien-esque horror movie. If you followed that premise like I did, you're not in the theater to view a debauched spectacle, you're there for the movie to put a well-paced squeeze on the characters and your nerves, where half the horror comes from having the room to really think about how frightening the core concepts of the series are.

Does Alien involve some shocking gore? Sure does! But in Alien, Kane's fate is not there to make you laugh and exclaim "ewww!" at how far the film's gone, the film tries to make you very aware of how horrifying his demise is.

So, there's an alternate way this scene works, if you're coming in from that perspective. I don't think the movie intended this as much as the gross-out, but it's what I drew from it at the time: the scene works if you decide not to focus your sympathies on the human characters at all, or even David, and think about it from the perspective of the head. 

It’s patently impossible that what they did actually “woke up” the brain inside that skull. But if we sink to the movie’s level and entertain the idea for a moment, what in the hell have they just done to this Engineer? The last thing the head would’ve remembered was running, falling, decapitation, and then this. They just tortured this poor bastard for no adequately explained reason. There’s none! “I think we can trick the nervous system into thinking it's still alive” is the entirety of the explanation. It makes about as much sense and seems as thoughtlessly violent as anything in Mad God (2021, content warning for body horror). 

I already spent all my anger about desecrating bodies in the name of shambolic pseudoscience, I have no more rage to give for now. And similarly in the theater, I hit my limit. I’d already hit a different limit back when they landed the Prometheus on top of some archaeology, but now I’d fully given up on this movie being what I’d hoped it would be. 

The maddening thing that keeps me obsessed with it is that it keeps throwing random scraps of that hypothetical movie into the mix anyway, bouncing me like a yo-yo between scenes. 

But for right now, the yo-yo is still on the descent. Having exploded the first sample of alien biology ever touched by science, they apparently stuck some of it in a generic, science-y DNA machine. What does the DNA machine tell them? 

“DNA match”. 

The movie does not actually explain what this means. It thinks it does, but in a very vague and handwave-y way that ends up being even more hilarious than if they’d just been out-and-out wrong. Because this is what I do for a living, I want to science at this for a bit. 

But I’ve written enough about it for an entire post on its own, so that will wait until next time.

⛬ 

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬ 

Citations for alt-text rambles, as well as some text-text rambles:

1. https://www.behance.net/gallery/78297841/Semiotic-Standard (contains a high-quality download for the symbols, should ye wish them for yourselves)

2. https://www.sculpturedepot.net/clay-wax-tools/product.asp?Steel_Tools 

3. Doctor Frankenstein calls for 30 amps first, then 40, then 50 in the space of several seconds. According to wikipedia, an electric kettle is about 16.6A, and a 288W high-performance graphics card would require 24A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(current) That graphics card isn’t mentioned by name, but it matches up with the wattage reported by Tom’s Hardware for a Titan RTX (cite 4). Running with two of these things, you might be able to run 4k Ultra settings on some games without tanking your framerate. They could’ve been playing video games and seen way more exploding heads.

4. https://www.tomshardware.com/features/graphics-card-power-consumption-tested 

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)#Design

6. https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/f4rf63/for_the_chestburster_scene_in_alien_1979_the/

7. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8e/2f/9b/8e2f9b0716746aac7ce5b2f369bf4082--aliens--scene.jpg

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyotype#Human_karyogram 

9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centromere 

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centromere#Telocentric 

11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_banding 

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteinogenic_amino_acid 

13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hula_language

[brisquad-unit-4402]

when that wilson enemies to lovers fic is posted, TRUST that i’ll get out my snacks and drinks while lounging on the couch to read it like i’m watching a movie in theaters 🤞

omg hi celeste. here take this except (body horror + insect warning)

[Wilson] had met you by circumstance. High-value jobs tend to target the same people, since their influence was seconded only by their value. One moment he had busted through the vents only to find that his target already died, a space on their neck turning pale blue from a poison bite. Then the next he felt the wind get knocked out of him as he was slammed against a wall with his feet in the air. The person that pinned him had a cloth face mask on their chin, and above it, insectoid mandibles writhed at the jaw, frothing with the cause of his target's death.

Wilson screamed, of course. Who wouldn't? Especially when he realized that only one arm held him in place even though he was paralyzed. It wasn't even an arm; hundreds of segmented legs held him down as a gigantic centipede body took place of the limb.

"I was instructed to kill a politician, not a bodyguard." The clicking mandibles melted into flesh, but you raised your mask before he could make out any of your features. The only thing he could see was your hair and eyes, thankfully human, though they shone with facets of compound eyes and the iridescence of an insect magnified. "I must offer a discount to my client for not following their criteria, but selling your organs will make up for the loss."

"Nope!" Wilson blustered, suddenly feeling very protective over his liver. "I-I-I also was supposed to kill them, but lucky me, it's already been done! Guess I'll…" he trailed off as the centipede legs inched up his neck and onto his face.

"...I'll go home?" He pleaded. He blinked owlishly, mustering up the best puppy eyes he could, and silently thanked his lucky stars his goggles were on properly. If those legs got any closer to his eyes he'd really start freaking out. "Please?"

You stared back at him unamused. Not that he could tell, considering the mask obscuring your face. "You got a name? One or two kidneys?"

"Yu Q. Wilson! I'm a hitman, and I think my client wanted them gone because they're political rivals, and it's really rare to work in this industry without selling a kidney along the way so please don't take mine, I like having them both—uff!"

You flicked your centipede arm away. Wilson crumpled to the ground, having lost his breath a second time. He held a hand to his chest to still his beating heart, especially since he was only a few feet away from the politician and the poison dripping from their bite.

"Our employer is an idiot," you say curtly. "They pay two separate assassins an upfront fee, and one of them doesn't even value their privacy."

"Hey, I do too value their privacy."

"Then you made a mistake telling me a single detail about them. Get up."

Wilson remembered how to walk at your command. He stood up, resting a hand on the wall, still affected by the shock of a centipede-person nearly biting his head off. "Wait, none of the alarms have gone off. There's supposed to be security checking this area soon, especially since I screamed."

"Then leave."

He opened his mouth to respond but failed to speak as you fell straight backward. The hitman reached out to grab you, but you've disappeared right before his very eyes.

Wilson stood there, the room turning acrid with the dead body and its poison, and no trace of the insectoid assassin. On cue, he bristled. Footsteps approached the door.

He scrambled back up the vents, shutting the grate behind him with a slam, not even noticing the spider that perched on the sheath of his sword as he rose, waiting for its opportunity to breach the surface in the dead of night as a killer is wont to do…

[gwydionmisha]

In which I go on at length about problems with politics and representation in Disaster/Apocalypse/Epidemic type movies and a thing I noticed tonight about certain pre-disaster montages and what they say about the American Imagination

If you know me, you know I watch a lot of movie and TV with end of current civilization/end of the world/etc. type stuff in them. I also just generally watch a lot of epidemic/outbreak movies and documentaries. My dad and I loved watching science fiction/horror together. I grew up reading things like this, both fact and fiction. I was a plague watcher from before I heard of the disease that would eventually get called HIV. I was a 14th century specialist as an adult.

I don't much care for certain types of apocalypse/post-apocalypse/disaster stories. I have been avoiding nuclear ones since the '80's because of the way they got used in propaganda in the Reagan era, though I make exceptions for the right piece of media. also atomic horror genre things going all the way back to the '40's tend to be super ableist. Again, there are exceptions. I remember a book from my tweens where the main character had physical differences and was trying to survive an ableist genocide by the able bodied. No idea what the name was, but boy has it lived rent free in my head for 40 years, because this was so humanizing in a genre that actively dehumanizes anyone with a more diverse body. (A lot of this subgenre is thin able bodied white straight cis people doing terrible things while framed as the "good guys.")

I don't much care for most straight up disaster movies either. Again, there are exceptions. Most of them are the same handful of dull stock characters doing the same types of things over and over with the movie or show relying on the special effects to make up for the lack of interesting main characters or world building if there are aliens or the like, and often lots of right wing propaganda for everyone for themselves and only a certain type of man can save us.

There are really good alien invasion or horror/science fiction or straight up disaster stuff that IS good. Generally those are the ones with well written intersting characters, more diverse main cast, interesting world building, and/or sometimes with characters with disabilities or more unusual backgrounds.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of crap out there. You watch a lot of zombie media and you run across some stunningly overlty racist and misogynistic examples and a whole lot of erasure again of diverse bodies. On the other hand, there's good ones out there too. Romero centering black leads and talking about racism from the jump and all the other movies and shows made in a variety of countries and times that use the oppurtinity to talk about racism and/or misogyny and/or classism and/or domestic violence and/or fucked up things in their government or culture. It's still rare to see disabled characters having adventures, but boy do I love it when they do. Some of it is right wing propaganda, some of it is about mutual aid, some of it is how people can get away with criticising the government in a more authoritarian leaning country.

It's a mixed bag with more room for me in it, if that makes sense.

Plague stories are like that too.

I've watched so many documentaries on disease outbreaks and epidemics over the years, read books about real ones over the centuries. I really fucking care about public health infrastructure for a reason. Being from the eighties, I think a lot about how biases in those in power shape response to disease and public health funding and infrastructure. Whether it's classist or racist or queerphobic or ableist bias it kills. I was furious about hospitals turning sick people away or admitting them and not only failing to provide medical care but letting them die of thirst because they didn't "want to waste resources on people like that," but I wasn't even a little bit surprised.

There are quality based on a real series event ones from a bunch of countries that do a decent job on characterization, talking about what was good and bad about the public health response, and do a reasonable job of frepresenting both science and how people can respond in a bunch of ways in crises.

There are really good fictional ones I love and rewatch periodically because they are so compelling for one reason or another. The range of more or less likely varies wildly. So do the underlying politics. I loved the sean Bean Black Death from the second I set eyes on it. Same with Contagion which I saw in a theater when it was new. Also a Korean one made before COVID and also clearly based on current (correct as it turned out) thinking about how the next really bad one would happen. I winced when the guy put his mask back on dirty side in early on.

(There's one I watched as a kid a bunch of times, but forgot the name of that I search for forlornly every few years, because I'd love to see if it was as good as I remember. It's disease transmission sequence has been in my head since I first saw it: A kid in a (I think) snowy playground picks up a dead bird. Mom comes over, collects kid. Mom holding unwashed hand, buying something in a store with cash touched by unwashed hands, which the cashier handles, etc.. It was made likely in the early '80's, after Romero's Crazies and you could tell. I'm not sure if it was a remake or an inspired by looking for a more realistic feel. Anyway, wish i could rewatch it).

Reguardless of whatever crashed the old world, I am a sucker for the ultra rare soft apocolypse (where they spend most of whatever it is rebuilding, usually with a diverse group of people cooperating to make things better) or post-post-apocolyse (ex: Mira Grant's newsflesh), but I'm sucker for it whether it's zombies or a more realistic disease type. This types less likely to be ageist. More likely to have living people with disabilities. More likely to be anti-fascist and or anti-authoritarian. Again, more likely not to have one boring white man automatically in charge, more likely to be ensemble cast and diverse on a bunch of axises. There's lots of room for more of these stories. Just saying.

So I was a watching a plague show I hadn't seen and it had a tiny "before the end of life as we know it" montage that so many of these things have. Sometimes these montages are done well (Quiet Place: day One's opener with the facts about decible levels over the city is my new gold standard. For a lot of other things too, obviously. All three Quiet Place movies are on my favorite alien invasion short list). This was one of the lazier openers I've seen.

Look, I get why people doing the montages show a busy city at rush hour full of cars and a generic people walking on crowded city street shots. It short hands existing state of civilization. It gives contrast to when we are later following a survivor or small band of survivors around in a few minutes. It's a gtrope for a reason. You can do it well or you can do it lazy. You can throw in iconic landmarks from some cities around the world to make it clear it's a global disaster even if you are going to be only showing or referencing a limited area. You can just show a few shots of just one recognizable city were some or most of your action is taking place to orient your audience. you can use the things you include to make particular points (like the decibles in day one already mentioned). I'm not angry at the trope itself; I'm angry at the lazy.

This particular pre-apocolypse montage had one generic cars in city shot, generic people walking in a crowd shot, and one incredibly cliche New york stock exchange shot. I was literally wondering if this was all stock footage to save money. They then cut to the forest. This did not look like, say, upstate new york or Jersey Pine Barrens woods. This sure looked West Coast to me: The mix of tree species and rocky scrub, the rattle snake. You follow. There is a really long bridge I associate with the west coast in general and looked suspeciously like the one between san franscisco and Oakland, which I have been on. A little later things sure look like Nevada, but I've never been to Nevada, so I don't know whatthe non-los vegas towns look like exactly, but I assume that's where this was shot. (Note by later me: I went back and looked it up a few paragraphs after I wrote the above, and the bridge was indeed that bridge. The actual city was Vancouver B.C. and most of the other locations were B.C.. the bit that sure looked like Nevada was a town I'd never heard of in Nevada and environs. I was like, I supose they could be shooting on the west Coast for cheap, but maybe are pretending New York and New Jersey? It was haunting me, so I looked it up. Location matters for what I'm about to say).

I kept forgetting to watch the screen because I got hung up on the way so many of these things use a brief shot of the New York stock exchange to short hand civilization. Do they even think about the messaging there? They don't represent civilization with people packed into a theater (play or movie) or a stadium (music or sports), or a landmark (art and architecture and/or advanced engeneering) or a school (education) or a factory/restaurant/retail/other job (work) unless those things part of the apocolypse or where a character will be when the disaster hits. They represent it with capitalism and not just any capitalism. It's capitalism that represents inherited rather than earned wealth, that tends to benefit the already rich and screw over everyone else. It's not just capitalism, but specifically American Capitalism. Not even just New york Capitalism, but Manhattan Wall Street Capitalism. It's super specific. Apocolypse things from other countries will occationally use their country's stock exchange mixed in with a bunch of other stuff, but not that often. American ones toss it in casually all the time. Not always, but I'd bet a majority that do the montage instead of in media res openers.

It stuck out like a sore thumb here, because it was a three shot montage that cut directly to a west coast rural setting. I couldn't let go of it because every shot I saw until I came over here to write this was obviously and specifically shot on the other side of the country and I don't expect stock exchanges or high finance to come into it at any point. I haven't read the thing this was based on in decades, but from what I vaguely remember, I don't expect this to be commentary on the shittiness of the rich, like, say, Land of the Dead. (The title was vaguely familiar and the first half hour or so's plot range a bell, but I wasn't completely sure I'd read it until just now when I looked it up just now because the locations issue was still bugging me). The story it's based on was San Francisco area to start with so… yeah. They deliberately or lazily chose the New York stock exchange to shorthand civilization for a story starting in California and Nevada.

I feel like there's some kind of unintended indictment of the United States embedded in this incredibly lazy choice. One the people making this bit of media never thought about at all. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks there.

[polarisbibliotheque]

Tag people you'd like to get to know better!

Tagged by @furyeclipse (my dearest, thank you very much, you're a great being ^^)

Favorite Color: Blue. Seriously. Everything I own is blue, since I was a little kid. Everything my sister owns is pink, also since we were kids, and my mom always says we are that Renoir painting:

This one. The difference is that my sister is older, taller and brunette, while I'm smaller and blonde. In a way, we are like Dante and Vergil.

Recently we took a pic during the Guns n' Roses concert, and we're wearing the same coat - the difference? My sister's red, mine is dark teal :)

(also, she doesn't even enjoy videogames, she doesn't know anything about DMC, it's just a fine coincidence)

Favorite Flavor: Apple, peach and cinnamon. Not necessarily all together. My mom calls me the crazy cinnamon lady. Also, I'm forever in the search for the best apple pie in my city xD

Favorite Genres: Horror, thriller, sci-fi and fantasy, probably.

Favorite Music: I have NO idea. Mainly rock, I'd say, but I love everything, honestly. Except a very few genres (mostly from my country) that I really REALLY don't like.

Last Song: Zick Zack, by Rammstein

(I was showing my mom this video 'cause we were discussing plastic surgery and crazy people doing DIY fillers at home with no safety whatsoever and I said "hey, I got the perfect video that gets the overall idea of our conversation, hold on a minute")

ALSO it does get quite disturbing halfway through, so be warned ;)

Last WIP: The cyberpunk style book I'm writing, called Nyx Protocol. It's a provisory name, though T-T

Last Movie: Sound of Music. Yes, I know all the songs. Also, I used to dance with my sister alongside the movie when we were kids, she was Liesl and I was Rolffe. Thankfully, we never broke our furniture jumping around them :)

Currently Reading: Ramses, by Christian Jacq; Burnout Society, by Byung Chul-Han; and an old Astronomy book from the 70's I stole from my dad 'cause it's my new hobby \o/

Currently Watching: I don't watch many series 'cause I tend not to finish them. Last one I watched was The Sandman (mostly because I read the comics and didn't wanna miss it). I also tend to put on long youtube videos while I'm drawing to keep myself distracted - so disturbing things tier lists, horror tier lists... I've no idea why I do this to myself. When it becomes too much, I just watch beautiful stuff, like Sound of Music and such.

Working On: My book, Nyx Protocol, which I HOPE I'll finish by mid 2023; a Vergil x reader longfic called Nemesis; Shall Never Surrender requests; a mentoring art program my friend took me as her student for free so I can officially get into the industry; learning French and German on my own; finishing at least one of the many games I have in my list by mid 2023; trying not to burnout again because I tend to do a LOT of stuff at the same time to feel productive T-T

I tag: @princesssakurasylveon and anyone else who wants to be part of it!! I didn't tag more people 'cause I don't know if they'd feel annoyed by it, so... Yeah. Do feel tagged if you want to share a bit about yourself!! ^^

Also, my answers are a LOT longer than they should, I regret NOTHING

[obsoleteozymandias]

gay man lookin for a marvel matchup here!

20, he/they, kinda shaggy black hair, pasty lil white boy, brown eyes, 5'4, kind of a pathetic twink. i wear glasses. average outfit would be all black, sweater, skinny jeans, big stompy boots, and an assload of rings and necklaces- i guess one could describe it as like, the dress of a comfy elder emo. but i really want to incorporate dark academia into that mix. i'm a silver jewelery kind of guy, my fave color is black/blue/purple and my favorite crystal is iolite. i'm very picky about textiles and the feel of things.

my music taste is pretty much 80's-2010s rock, divorced dad rock, 2000's-2010's pop, and country, but i'm quite picky about country - i enjoy rascal flatts and carrie underwood, as well as musical theatre. my favorite musical is jekyll and hyde :)

i'm a huge nerd, especially when it comes to dnd, lord of the rings, horror, and various other types of media, and my favorite thing is getting people into them. if I've met someone who has never watched lotr, or perhaps never listened to black sabbath? brace yourself. i'm the type to infodump through a movie, and i enjoy others doing the same. tell me everything that goes on in your mind, you know? watch me hold it up to the light and be unfazed.

i also enjoy history and classic literature, and will infodump about queer undertones in it. all this to say, i'm just very passionate about things. especially space. i also collect! i collect many things - bottles, trinkets, jewelry, crystals, animal bones, things pertaining to my interests. my room reflects my mind- cohesive in its own way, but cluttered, spacey.

i'm creative, kind of a dreamer with their head in the clouds, my goals are in the stars but i have the know-how to make them happen. cap sun, aries moon, Leo rising, intp, generally quite shy until i get over the mortifying concept of being known, then i swing wildly between pure chaos and complete catatonic, like a pendulum. academically i work under unbridled spite and determination. when i ask what people like about me, they say i'm funny, inspiring, charming, and gifted in creativity. i'm an artist, a writer. they say that i'm good at reading and profiling people. i enjoy looking at people's natal charts not as a way of judgement, but as a way to look into them as a person.

that being said i try my best to make others happy, even if at the expense of myself. i tend to be neglectful of myself in that regard, both physically and mentally. i struggle from a lot of mental health issues that involve severe dissociation and memory loss, so luckily, i have some coping tools under my belt, but i'm unable to recall past events both short and long term, so i keep a list of the things i love about people so i never forget them- forgetting the people i love is a fear of mine, as well as heights, and the ocean, and large crowds. i also struggle with sleep issues, paranoia and anxiety. i try to handle these things on my own, lest i bother someone with them. it's difficult to both ask and receive help. through complicated reasons, i'm familiar with the concept of guilt and shame. i know more than most how it feels like necrosis rotting away at your insides, and i know that it one day will subside into a dull ache in the back of your head. i also suffer from chronic back pain and migraines. my main vice is anything that will fuzz my brain and help me escape for a little while. i'm working on that, working on staying grounded, but it's hard. if someone was capable of noticing and pulling me out, i'd be forever theirs. i'm also horrifically terrible at confrontation and shut down whenever it happens.

my taste in men kind of feeds into my martyr complex 😭 i'm the type to go "i can fix him." except i'd also love them regardless of the mental state and position they're in, because i myself would have wanted that as well. if i could love someone through it all and be a bit of relief, that's all i'd be satisfied with. i want the fire and passion, but i also want to be their peace. i connect to the broken minds because i know what that's like, in a sense. i think i just crave understanding, i want someone to know me, and WANT to know me in the way i go out of my way to understand others. i want to receive, not just give. i want reciprocation, i want, i yearn, i desire, all in my head. that being said romantically i tend to NOT gravitate towards golden retriever types- they're always my besties, though!

i hope this all makes sense. i tend to ramble on like a madman. good luck, and godspeed o7

This was like reading the odyssey my guy i had to stop and reread things multiple times (/pos)

== Marvel ==>

I match you up with…

Bruce Banner (This one was very mixed for me, so I did my best)

Yeah you can fix him (but you can also love him how he is). 

When you mention connecting best with broken minds, a lot of marvel men came to mind, but I think Bruce is a special sort. He’s someone who feels so strongly that he literally broke himself, and I think he’d need someone like you, and you him. 

I think you’d relax him with your music and sense of passion. He’d love listening to dad rock with you while you regale him with paragraphs upon paragraphs of your interests. 

The two of you definitely have LOTR movie marathons monthly, and you’ll both feel a calm that seems unreal.

Waking up afterwards with limbs twisted together and bathed in warmth, it’s such a nice change of pace from the turmoil. 

You easily become one of the people who calms him down when he’s enraged or hulked out. 

In turn, he’s the one who writes little reminders of dates and people for you, and always leaves a note telling you how much he loves you on the bedside drawer. 

He’ll also find comfort in your art, and you’ll find it plastered everywhere around you shared house. He sets anything you make as his phone background, and just looking at it fills him with love. 

[leewonkyeom]

Your bias line is so good and you're so real for being Seokmin biased dk biased creatures are my favourite 😍 my svt bias unit (there are so many i decided to make a whole unit) has Jeonghan, Scoups (remember the green room aggressive 'gwiyomi' video??? Yeah I fell in love with him after watching that) Hoshi and Vernon (he was actually my first bias in svt i religiously watched every YT vid they put out because of him, Jeonghan and Hoshi)

Your neo bias and bias wreckers line is so good too you have TASTE ma'am and we also have some common biases! In the neo bias unit there's Taeyong, Jaehyun, Yuta (127) Jeno and Jaemin (dream), Jisung (U), YangYang (WayV) but despite all these biases my fav member has to be Mork (I'm sorry to all my biases 😭)

From Riize i thought i would end up being Sungchan or Shotaro (still can't believe they aren't in NCT anymore...) biased but I ended up being Wonbin, Sohee and seunghan biased

Other than that it's Hyunjin (stray kids) Mingi (Ateez) i don't really have a bias in got7 they are kinda like big brothers?? But my fav is bambam! Hyungwon and Shownu (monsta x), we have the same bias in Shinee (Key and Jonghyun 😭) Minho is the bias wrecker, Sehun (Exo), Taehyung (BTS), Soobin (txt) Jake (enha), Jihyo (Twice), Seulgi (RV)

Dw I had fun reading through your bias list! I think I gave you an even longer one 😭

FR 7th sense is so perfect i would give up my kidney function privilege to see them perform this live <33

Oh Christopher Nolan! I love his Batman movies and i watched inception which was good too! Which movie of his is your favourite?

Ahh the 00s classics! I love all those movies you mentioned! I really love watching films and TV shows (smth me and Vernon have in common) and one thing that's important to me is the fashion I am a big fashion lunatic and looove to see a good outfit on screen with that being said some of my favourite 'comfort' films are Clueless (1995), Fight club, Adams family (both 91 film and 60s sitcom), funny face, breakfast at Tiffany's, Heathers, pretty woman, the devil wears the prada, mean girls, pulp fiction, fallen angels (1995) and more. My favourite directors are Wong kar wai, Quentin Tarantino, Satoshi Kon and Hayao Miyazaki (maybe Martin scoresse too)

"dk biased creatures"😭 (sums me up though). you're bias line is also so good though😭 but either way i support stanning everyone in svt so ig i would say that anyways🤧🤧 my first biases (as far as i can remember) were wonwoo and shua, and then dk just took over at some point😭

we have so many in common for nct lmao😭😭 i support that a 100% as well. you have taste fr

but omg i get what you're saying about riize. like i for sure believe at this point i'm shotaro biased, but i keep looking at wonbin more and more👀👀

i get what you're saying about got7 being big brothers, but i was also at my peak ahgase at like 15 so ofc i have a bias😭 and i considered writing hyungwon for my bias in monsta x😭😭😭 like i love him sm, but my og bias was jooheon... i'm so illoyal when it comes to them

Sehun was my first bias in exo omg😭😭 (and exo was the group that got me into kpop) and i think taehyung was my first in bts?? because of the war of hormone mv lmao. and omgggg jihyo in twice!!! same!!! i forgot to mention her. and seulgi omg😭😭 you also have taste!! loved reading your bias list as well♡♡♡

omg what wouldn't i do to see 7th sense live😭 it's not a want, it's a need !!

the batman movies are def my least favorites of his bc i just cannot get into action movies😭😭 (except spider-man which is 🔛🔝). but i think memento might be my fave from the ones i've watched

but yess😭😭 i just love those 00s teenage romcoms😭 they just give such good vibes. bridget jones is also an honorable mention. like other than that i like horror movies, esp. cult classics like scream and jennifer's body, but i don't tend to watch those on repeat😭

omggg i love a lot of the movies you mentioned !! we def have similar taste. i don't think i've watched anything by wong kar wai though, what's your favorite movie?? (i love those other directors you mentioned though !)

btw i looked at your profile, and just to make sure, do you go by jolene?♡♡

[survey--s]

619.

Did you get enough rest last night?  No, but that's my own fault because I knew I had to be up early and still decided to stay up on my phone until gone midnight lol.

What was the last thing that kept you awake?  The dog snoring.

If you have pets, do they sleep in your bedroom at night?  Archie does, but the cats stay downstairs at night otherwise they chase each other around like idiots over the bed at 3am.

Can you sleep with background noise or does it keep you up?  It depends - quiet talking is generally fine but I generally prefer silence or just the white noise of the fan.

Do you ever take naps? Do you take long naps or little power naps?  I only really take naps if I'm sick or have a really long day at work. They're normally less than an hour long.

What helps when you have trouble sleeping?  Watching random stuff online.

Who was the last person to cook you a meal? What did they make?  I honestly don't remember. Neither of us are really big cooks.

Who was the last person you cooked a meal for? What did you make?  Probably Mike when we had a roast dinner on Christmas Day lol.

Who is your female celeb crush? (If applicable)  I like Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried. Also Meryl Streep in a weird, non-sexual way lol.

Who is your male celeb crush? (If applicable)  Johnny Depp.

Tell me about an interesting article you’ve read recently.  It wasn't an article really, but a story about a YouTube family who have been arrested for child abuse and neglect. It turns out loads of people (other family and viewers) have been trying to alert the authorities for years but nothing happened.

Do you have a favorite Marvel character?  I have no interest in supheroes.

Favorite DC character?  ...

Do you read comic books?  Nope.

Has a horror film ever actually scared you? Which one(s)?  Yeah, The Others really creeped me out the first time I watched it, hahah. I was underage though and decided it would be a good idea to watch it alone in the dark LOL.

What was the last horror movie you saw? I have no idea, it's not really my favourite genre.

What was the first horror movie you remember seeing? What did you think of it?  I don't remember. The Ring, maybe? I can't remember what I thought of it, it was over two decades ago now.

Name a few historical figures you find interesting. Why?  Nah, I don't have the energy for that right now lol.

What is your favorite historical film and why?  I don't enjoy historical films.

Do you usually enjoy historical films?  No.

Name a sequel film (any franchise) you like better than the first film. Why is that?  The later Harry Potter movies are all better than the first ones - with the exception of Goblet of Fire which is just awful, lol.

Which do you find most interesting: Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology? Why?  None of them, to be honest.

Which tale from whichever mythology you listed above do you find most interesting?  ----

Do you collect anything? What was the last item you added to that collection?  Jumpers and wax melts. I got some more wax melts a couple of weeks ago but I don't tend to buy new jumpers until about October-time each year.

Do you have any houseplants?  No.

How do you like your tea?  Milk with two sugars.

Who is your favorite Muppet?  I find the muppets incredibly annoying.

What is your favorite type of bird?  Penguins. < Yes. <--- same! Plus owls.

Which streaming platform do you use the most, if any?  Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, Prime. I use them all equally.

What is a skill or useful piece of knowledge you wish you’d learned sooner?  How to de-escalate a panic attack.

What is your favorite vampire movie?  None of them, lol. They're not really my cup of tea. I did watch the first two Twilight films but let's be fair, they were awful.

Your favorite fictional couple?  Monica and Chandler from Friends.

Do you have a favorite historical couple?  No.

Have you received any good news recently?  I wouldn't say it was GOOD news, but Mike is off work on Monday which makes my first day back at work a lot easier than it would have been otherwise, haha.

Have you learned anything new recently?  Nah, nothing's coming to mind anyway.

[andromedastar]

Meet the...

｡˚┊͙،،20 reasons to

marry Satoru ¡!,, ❜︴

Gojo Satoru relationship headcanons

➥ ⍣Characters: Gojo Satoru × GN! Reader

➥ ⍣Gender: Fluff

➥ ⍣Tags/Caution: Gojo Satoru × GN! Reader, Fluff, established relationship, SFW, couple life

➥ ⍣Author’s Note: More Gojo Headcanons? Of course it is, lol. I'm just obsessed with it, plus this concept is a good way out while my bigger projects aren't ready.

I've tried to keep the reader's gender neutral as much as I can, but I'm not native and that's tricky. If you find any errors, please let me know and I will correct them immediately <3

The idea for the headcanons came from my good friend Sky. Thank you so much for this il mio prezioso tesoro!

⚘ Request are Open | Blog only for 18+

Weddings and Sweets after the cut

He often leaves love letters in random places in the house for you to read. Some make no sense and others are too scribbled for you to read, but just the fact that he went out of his way to show you his love makes your day better.

He sings in the shower, he sings a lot. If you share the same mania, it's normal for the two of you to duet around the house. Your neighbors keep complaining about it.

He's bought you a lot of teddy bears and will require everyone to be in your shared bed. There are so many that you tend to get lost in the middle of them, which results in several falls out of bed. Every now and then, you catch him hugging one of them while he sleeps, which makes you think bears weren't good for you.

You constantly wake up with Gojo on top of you, staring at you with those blue eyes and wide smile, completely silent. It's hard to say how long he was there and what drives him to do it, although it's a harmless act.

He's the kind of person who wakes up in an extremely good mood. It's normal to see him jumping for joy around the house at four o'clock in the morning while making breakfast. At first it was cute, but as you realized that it wasn't an exception but a personality trait, his patience started to wear out. How can anyone be so happy to wake up early?

He is extremely clingy. When you're working, reading, or just making dinner, he might sit next to you and flatter you with kisses and hugs until you give him the attention he wants. Phrases like "did you know that you are the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life?" are normal during these crises of need.

If you have a cat, Satoru will be extremely attached to the pet. You constantly see him sleeping on the floor with the pet between his arms or just petting him in an almost painful way. The kitten seems to like it, though.

He wakes you up in the middle of the night to take random walks, like going to the movies or breaking into an amusement park. He feels right to be disappointed if you deny it.

On movie nights, he usually makes you watch horror and thriller movies so you can hug him during the most tense scenes.

Extremely spacious. You can wake up with him on top of you, crushing you with all his weight. You can arrange it, however, and it will sleep peacefully on your chest all night.

He snores, snores a lot. Sometimes you wonder if he's really sleeping or just pretending to tease you.

Sometimes he likes to make you breakfast. It tastes good, but since he usually wakes up too early to cook, the food is already cold by the time you eat it.

You can't leave any kind of candy on the table and he'll devour it in seconds. You two have fights and fights over it, which ends up with you having to hide your candy somewhere in the house that he can't find.

He is extremely disorganized and it is impossible to do something without causing a big mess. You need to help him fix his trail whenever you can.

He hides his objects to blackmail you and get the things he wants. He usually asks for sweet things like kisses, hugs, and other types of displays of affection in exchange for what he's hidden, but he may ask for other, more embarrassing favors.

He mimics your mannerisms and phrases to tease you when he's bored. He used to say that teasing you had to be a legal sport.

Spends the whole day hugging you when you have time. Her cheeks are usually red from so many kisses he places on her face.

He steals your clothes and encourages you to do the same with him. He doesn't say it directly, but he loves to see you wearing his shirts.

He steals your perfumes to put on his pillow or a teddy bear when he needs to travel. Feeling your scent invade his nose makes he feel that you are not as far away as you seem.

It shows you off as the most beautiful trophy in the world. He often introduces you to friends as "the most amazing person they've ever met" and spends the day talking about you and your adventures with him.

[pinkiebieberpie]

julie's moodboards random prompt game

hi! i want to do something fun! so if you want to you can make a random prompt here then send it to me and i will make a moodboard out of if (2x3 pics) 🤗

just put there "y/n" and a character's name

(i make mostly bucky barnes moodboards but other characters are also welcomed!! 🌷🤍)

prompt example:

so i'm waiting for prompts ✨✨ love you all and sending you hugs and kisses xo

random prompt moodboards list:

bucky barnes:

y/n knitting something for bucky.

y/n and bucky watching a horror movie. y/n can't sleep that night and bucky comforts them in a cuddle.

y/n and bucky remembering their first kiss... and they have very different takes on it.

ceo!bucky and y/n trying to hide their relationship. however, it turns out everyone knows they're dating.

y/n and bucky dancing in the moonlight.

bucky hiding in a closet to jump out and surprise y/n, but y/n just keeps not going near the closet by chance.

y/n and bucky break up, but they have a pet and neither of them want to give it up. then they spend a few days each with the pet separately. but it kinda helps them get together again.

bucky burns their tongue on something hot, y/n kisses it better.

y/n and bucky living together for the first time.

y/n and bucky go to a fair/amusement park and y/n wants to go on the roller coaster and bucky agrees. later, bucky regrets their decision and ends up clinging onto y/n for dear life.

y/n and bucky's child coming to sleep with them after having a bad dream.

y/n and bucky reading mean tweets/comments about themselves and laughing it off.

bucky likes stealing y/n's phone to change y/n's phone wallpaper into something stupid (like unattractive pictures of y/n's face or doing something like picking their nose). bucky is doing another routine swipe of y/n's phone, but doesn't have the heart to change it because this time y/n's phone wallpaper is a cute picture of the two of them (like their first date together, or the only picture they have together).

bucky and you sharing a soft smile across a crowded room.

winter soldier:

werewolf bucky telling reader a story but reader isn't paying attention at all because they're too busy thinking about what a cutie warewolf bucky is.

bucky drags y/n into the freezing cold to make a snowman.

winter soldier has amnesia and y/n is taking care of them. y/n tries their best to help winter soldier remember them.

y/n having to help winter soldier undress after an injury.

steve rogers:

y/n and steve dancing in the moonlight.

y/n lightly kissing steve rogers on top of a freshly formed bruise.

steve rogers is a prince, falling for y/n, the castle gardener who tends to the foliage surrounding steve's balcony.

y/n goes over to steve's home after staying up all night. even though they do their best to stay awake, they end up falling asleep while cuddling steve. y/n is quite embarrassed (and half-asleep) when they wake up, but steve doesn't mind.

y/n and steve and their friends end up having to all sleep in the same room. nobody can get any sleep because steve is snoring incredibly loud... except for y/n, who's completely used to it.

nick fowler:

y/n reading in bed while nick fowler rests their head on y/n's shoulder, sleeping.

them getting a puppy/kitty, and arguing over names.

nick giving y/n a kiss before going to work and they are still in bed.

nick fowler and y/n as the main characters in the last show you watched (teen wolf)

nick and y/n finger painting with their kids.

steve kemp:

steve kemp and y/n sleeping together. steve kemp wakes up first and contemplates waking y/n with a kiss. steve kemp leans in only to hesitate centimeters away out of embarrassment. y/n opens their eyes and seys, "well if you won't do it, i will."

them exploring each others' bodies, but not in a sexual way. finding their different birthmarks, looking over each others' scars and sharing the stories behind them, running their hands over one another and just appreciating the feeling of the other person next to them.

forehead touching. forehead kisses.

sebastian stan:

sebastian captioning everything y/n does with 'that's hot/cute'.

them accidentally (or purposefully) dozing off in a hammock together as the sun sets and the air cools down.

sebastian stan and y/n break up, but they have a pet and neither of them want to give it up. then they spend a few days each with the pet separately. but it kinda helps them get together again.

chris evans:

y/n coming home from a cuddly date with chris and realizing that their shirt smells like chris. y/n pulls their shirt up to their face to smell it before it fades away.

my bucky barnes moodboards list

~ julie 🤍

[yulin-pop]

hello! I'm here for the matchup event and congratulations on 100+ followers!! 🎉❤️

personality: I'm a little awkward with people im not so close with but I'd try to make some sort of conversation unless it's a mutual/comfortable silence yk? im more outgoing around friends and can be clingy also lol, I'm more onto the physical touch side with people im closer with, it's not those super big affection gestures but subtle ones if that makes sense? like I'd hold onto their sleeves, being in contact with them in some ways even if it's just shoulder touch. I laugh and smile a lot, I'm not very mindful of my words also sometimes I just blurt out things. I can be dramatic and if it helps my friend once said I was like a clingy dog to my other friend 😭

• I'm easily unmotivated but gets interested in things easily also. I'm lazy and I tend to put the bare minimum onto school work and stuff with a few exceptions maybe. I'm not very emotional and it's a little hard for me to maintain relationships with people I don't see almost everyday at school lol unless we have mutual friends. I get scared easily by horror movies and jumpscares. I cry/tear up/get emotional a lot watching sad shows and reading sad stuff lol. I'm kinda bad at comforting people, my advices are normally just straightforward and like no sugar-coating and stuff. I'm a realist. I want to make more friends but scared to approach people first. I don't know how to react to insults I'd just say okay and go on or judge them for saying that. I say thanks or I know for compliments it just comes out of my mouth naturally 💀

• I'm not to say super confident but I'm comfortable with myself, if that makes sense. I know my own worth and have high standards lol not that I ever had a crush before, never liked anyone 😟 it takes time to for me to fully trust someone, I click well with some people who have the same interests as me because it's easier to find topic to talk about lol, it's the same with other people even if we don't have the same interest doe sometimes I use 'lol' a lot ahshb

physical appearance: black hair that's kinda frizzy just a little below my shoulders (I have thick hair), I don't have bangs, I have a lot of baby hair so I often wear this dark green headband to keep them away from my face lol. black eyes, 170 cm, skinny but underweight kind. I wear a lot of comfy clothes like just t-shirt and pants, whenever I go out I tie my hair like just a quick low ponytail for outside school and high ponytail for school.

interests: games, specifically otome games and visual novels, I like detective and rpg games also (ex. genshin, code realize, fire emblem: three houses, tsumugu logic). I like reading manga, manhwa, manhua (I read both modern and historical ones), I like romance genres, and fanfics snsnns

how you react to someone being romantically interested in you: first thought would be if they're joking or playing a prank on me, but if they're not I'd answer it seriously, also my reaction depends on how long I knew them or if I even know them. I'd be kinda flattered to know someone is romantically interested in me doe lol

thank you if you took up my matchup! again congrats on 100+ :))) was this enough details? hopefully I didn't miss anything 😰

↛ ❀ Match up; @junevnti

I match you with Deuce Spade

Deuce isn’t talkative really. But he would struck up a conversation. He immediately takes you as someone who’s on the calmer side of things and he somewhat likes you from the start. Once you two bond and get closer, Deuce will be around you half of the time. He really likes being around you because of your softer presence. You’re not an overwhelming person and he likes that.

He notices your small, yet affectionate gestures and his heart flutters everytime it happens. It startled him at first though. He really wants to make you smile and it’s rather easy when with you. You two have quick conversations in the hall and he walks off feeling in cloud nine.

He likes how you fix your hair. It’s simplistic but he still finds you absolutely stunning!

He wouldn’t be very obvious. But his actions when he likes you would be sort of weird. He stared a bit too much and he slapped himself when he realizes he’s being weird. He eventually gets found out by all of his friends and they encourage him to go for it. So he does and he’s a big mess. He made a script on what to say but he meets with you face to face and his mind goes completely blank. He manages to spit out his feelings towards you and his heart absolutely drops when you ask him if he’s joking. He shrinks away and seems really upset. You learn he’s completely genuine.

Deuce is really likes you for pretty much everything about you. There was something about you from the start.

[variousqueerthings]

Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part Two of Three

Part 1

Part 3

6. Sexual Awakenings part 1: Love, Obsession, & Size Differences

[Insert that post talking about the creators making sure that Daniel’s antagonists were much bigger than him so that the audience would sympathise, spawning 10000 size kink fics]

I’m sure this won’t awaken anything in Daniel

Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two pictures

The hallmark of feminine fairytales tends to be growing into womanhood, with all those symbolic sexual under/overtones, searching for a prince, encountering monsters (or evil stepmothers), on the surface tending to be quite passive/reactive, but actually being about young girls and women getting out of their environment and choosing to tussle with those deep, dark desires – monsters. They’ve got to function within the limitations of power that they have – escaping an abusive situation through marriage, chasing forbidden desires under the guise of duress, asking questions about sexuality through things like symbolic plucking (flowers) or consumption (fruit) or pricking (needles), etc.

Daniel isn’t striking out to find his fortune or win a girl or a kingdom Like A Man, he’s not a threat to Silver, who – like Jareth in Labyrinth – is in control for almost the whole of the narrative, he’s not actually able to do much more than react until he makes the decision to stop training, and even then he’s immediately ganged up on and assaulted, needing to be saved by Miyagi while he stands and watches, bloodied and bruised. 

Daniel’s journey in the third movie is to be forced into an impossible situation, seduced by Silver, and then prove that whatever violence Silver did to him isn’t enough to destroy him. It is incredibly similar to Sarah’s in Labyrinth, who by the end declares: “you have no power over me,” and that’s her winning moment. Not strength, not wits, not a direct fight, (although Daniel does fight Barnes and gets beat up again – only winning in in the end by taking him by surprise, unlike in TKK1 or TKK2 where you could argue that he proves himself to be a capable physical opponent to Johnny and Chozen), but by declaring that whatever power was held over her is now void.

Daniel’s narrative isn’t satisfying in the same way, because the dynamic of Silver and Daniel only accidentally emulates this - it’s not an intention on the side of the film-makers.

When Miyagi tells Daniel that he has strong roots, when he tells him not to lose to fear and Daniel wins over Barnes (in an almost fairytale-esque set of events), on paper he’s defeated whatever hold Terry Silver has over him. In the film itself though, Daniel never defeats Silver (which will likely be confirmed once he returns in Season Four). Daniel cannot simply say “you have no power over me,” and see Silver shattered into glass shards. 

The film is a contradiction: It wants to be a masculine sports film, but it exists in the same realm as Goblin Kings seducing young girls with the promise of: “Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave.” Unlike Sarah, Daniel doesn’t claim the power that’s been promised to him on his own terms. His subtextually sexual awakening is so corrupted that all he can do is pretend it never happened.

Still, Daniel proves in the film that his strength is not in his fists. It’s in his praying to the bonsai tree that’s healed despite a violent boy brutally tearing it in two.

These looks on Daniel and Silver though?

So why does Silver become obsessed with him? What’s up with all those red outfits (that he doesn’t wear in Cobra Kai)? What does the temptation reveal about Daniel? How does it recontextualise TKK1 and TKK2? Is Daniel bisexual? (yes).

Ah, beach-Daniel, in your red hoodie and your cut-off jorts. Iconic hot-girl summer vibes. 

If you didn’t want me over-analysing this, you shouldn’t have put him in so many red outfits and then have this man leering at him like he wants to eat him alive.

Surface-level it’s not hard to read into a Dude Story: Masculine power fantasies are about strength in a very direct way. Fighting, control, suaveness – and if you’re not the most traditionally masculine of guys, asserting dominance through being a good lover or intelligent or overcoming that unmanliness in some way through beating the bully or convincing the hot girl to go out with you, levelling up in coolness. Being A Man. It’s not too dissimilar from Daniel’s arc in the first movie, if you watch it without taking later events into account, although Daniel is never interested in proving himself as a man, and more in making Miyagi proud. Still, he does win and gain respect, and arguably “get the girl,” although Ali’s interest in him was never dependent on the fight.

7. Sexual Awakenings Part 2: Sexual Assault, Liberation, and Queerness

Feminine power fantasies are often about sex. Metaphorically. More accurately it’s “owning sexuality.” Even more accurately: “Freedom.” They also inhabit a fluid space in which empowerment through monstrous desires and non-consent can happen at the same time. And on top of that, many of these “fantasies” are actually being written by men, so whose fantasy is it really? A lot of them are based in oral traditions so presumably they were originally from the mouths of women, even if modern iterations (starting with Grimm’s collections) are filtered through cis men’s perspectives.

All of that being acknowledged: In Angela Carter’s “The Company Of Wolves,” Red Riding Hood unambiguously sleeps with the wolf. Belle discovers her freedom from expectations and unsuitable suitors (and in some versions, evil stepsisters) by falling in love with a Beast (the original novel was written by a woman, the 18th century Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve). Jareth informs Sarah of his obsessive devotion to her in Labyrinth. To lean into horror for a moment – Buffy is stalked and eventually has relationships with both Angel and Spike, Lucy in Coppola’s Dracula (which I have mixed feelings about) is raped by the werewolf and Mina is stalked by Dracula, The Creature Of The Black Lagoon kidnaps Kay (the lead’s girlfriend) – subverted in both The Shape Of Water in which Eliza forms a consensual relationship with the amphibious sea-god and in the short-lived horror series Swamp Thing, in which the connection is purposefully framed as seductive…

and in The Karate Kid Part Three Daniel LaRusso punches a board until his hands bleed because an attractive, older man tells him to and in this moment he gives in to what he (thinks he) wants.

Not all of those examples are equal. Some are consensual, some are hinted as abusive and/or stalkery, all of them have large age gaps, and a few are outright non-consensual.

But they’re all fantasies.

They’re all power-fantasies.

Except for Daniel, because he’s a man and the idea that being obsessed (lusted) over by an older man who keeps you in his thrall, specifically because you tickle his fancy for whatever reason, because you’re beautiful, breakable, different – could in any way be considered empowering is a difficult concept to wrap your head around. It doesn’t contain that “but I’m a good girl, I’d never go off the path and pluck flowers if a bad wolf told me to, honest,” societal context or the social context of rape culture. It’s closest comparison is closeted (perhaps even unknown until that point) queer identity.

There have recently been some comparisons of Daniel LaRusso to Bruce Bechdel in Funhome (and everyone who says that Ralph Macchio ought to play him in the upcoming movie: you’re right and I’m just not going to enjoy it as much without him). I’ve written a post about Sam being the heir to his legacy and trauma, specifically as a queercoded man. It’s not dissimilar to the plot of Funhome in a lot of ways.

The other interesting source that’s been going around in connection with Daniel is the essay “The Rape of James Bond,” which discusses the use of sexual assault as a plot device for women and not for men: “About one in every 33 men [in the US] is raped. … [your statistically average, real life man] … doesn’t have a horde of enemies explicitly dedicated to destroying him. He doesn’t routinely get abducted, and tied up. Facing a megalomaniac psychopath gloating over causing him pain […] is not the average man’s average day at the office.” That last bit is just a descriptor of Terry Silver, (although I take issue at the blasé use of psychopath).

The two part youtube essay  Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs posits that there is nothing more de-masculinising than the threat of sexual assault and therefore any narrative that features this “rightfully” must mock any man who has been a victim or who fears being a victim of sexual assault. It is feminising. There is nothing more humiliating – and therefore unheroic – than a man dealing with sexual assault.

So what do we feel when we see an attractive young man being put into a vulnerable position by an older man? A trope associated with female characters, a trope that is considered unpalatable for men (see reactions that happened when the hint of sexual assault was introduced in Skyfall).

Was it the fact that he was being threatened, or the fact that James’ next line is: “what makes you think this is my first time?”

Some thoughts added by @mimsyaf​ are around the idea of safety in how a lot of cis women might relate to this narrative through Daniel’s eyes. He’s not a woman, he has – societally – more power than a girl or woman would have, which makes this a different watch to, say, if Danielle were to go through the same narrative. Daniel doesn’t carry that baggage of rape culture, or of the male gaze that you might find in a similar scenario of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Christine in Phantom of the Opera (and once more the age differences between these characters and the men who love/lust over them are substantial), which makes the narrative “safer” to engage with.

I agree with that, although as a transmasc person I also come at it differently. I specifically like to headcanon Daniel as a trans guy and find his fraught interactions with masculinity through his own non-toxic lens relatable, as well as the way other boys and men react to it – also I think Terry Silver is hot. I know there are people who write Terry Silver with female OCs, which is also a form of empowerment.

On the flipside putting Daniel in this space runs a risk of fetishising him as a queer youth who is either Innocent and Pure, or a bisexual stereotype that deserves to be assaulted for not being a real man. After all, Real Straight Men don’t run the risk of sexual assault.

 Alas, the road to empowerment never did run smooth. 

The comparisons between the way Daniel is treated by the text and how female characters are often treated in texts are undoubtedly there. Through Ralph Macchio and TIG’s casting and the direction and acting, but also within the text itself. 

It might not be with the same purpose as Neo’s symbolically trans journey, but it puts the whole narrative that Daniel’s going through from TKK1 under a different light than if there had only been one movie that ended on a triumphant sports win and a girlfriend.

Johnny’s masculinity and the use of tears as liberation, now that’s a whole other analysis….

[choclatecoveredlove]

congrats on 200!! could i send in a matchup for twisted wonderland :)

my name is mari and my pronouns r she/they! the only characters I would not like to be matched with is ortho or sebek :)

I am a very introverted person in public. I really don't like drawing attention to myself or socializing. I tend to be shy and hang around behind someone,I just get too overwhelmed and nervous in crowded places. I have a hard time making friends, just because I feel like I could freak out, so you could also say I'm a loner. This also leads me to being jealous about others, seeing them live the teenage dream with there friends. buuut when you really get to know me I'm the loudest person ever! I'm clumsy, goofy and laugh- alot. I love joking around and keeping the mood good. I'm a very talkative person too, I could rant about anything for hours, but I get distracted and it ends up being rambling about nothing related to what i was saying. I can be childish too, I sometimes act like child pouting and stomping (it's all in jokes though). with my friends, I'm generally the same, abit of a pervert though- alittle too straightforward with it and make sexual jokes, but i know when and when not too do it. I'm a good listener and advice giver, i'm the therapist friend.my bad traits are that I am moody and blunt. I can get angry randomly for nothing or very sad and unmotivated. alittle bit of a control freak, I just need things to go my way sometimes. i can be a huuuge pessimist, about literally anything. I try to see the brightside, but the bad thoughts never cease to win.

I like anime/manga, true crime, thrifting, fashion and makeup, SOME horror movies, kpop, metal or alt/indie rock, video games, cozy warm things,sweet foods, alternative fashion (including romantic goth, trad goth or scene emo recently!) i dislike bugs, clowns,dolls,hot weather,bright colors, early mornings, salty foods,arguments, any movies that r space related, crowded places/unfamiliar places.

my hobbies include gaming, reading, watching anime/manga, photography (if i ever get my arse up), fashion, window shopping online and sleeping.

my ideal date is something like an amusement park or a picnic in a park. Something that's relaxing or that we can just be ourselves.

extra facts!

I tend to daydream alot. I think of scenarios of me being outgoing and able to make friends, and sometimes my personality can change on that. I get confused and insecure about it.

I'm one of those people who wear sweaters in the damn heat. Also though ironically I hate sweating, but I wear black 24/7 so i sweat like a waterfall.

OMG THE REAL MITSKI IN MY INBOX!!!!! Hehe anyway,,, dude I could neverrr wear sweaters in the heat- especially since I live in the south. Anyway enjoy your request!!

Your match is: Floyd!!

i was kinda torn between jade and floyd but i ended up going with floyd :)

floyd is straight up not shy, like at all and by no means introverted!! so this is kinda an opposites attract situation

floyd really likes your sense of humor, he too is very silly and goofy, you two could probably spend a couple hours just messing around

you 🤝 floyd : moody people solidarity. it’s always good having someone to relate too :)

floyd shares most of your hobbies, except photography but if you like it that much then he’ll start taking an interest in it

floyd’s ideal date changes hourly but he’s not really opposed to anything (except hiking) so he’d definitely do whatever you wanna do

also you are definitely getting your own sea themed nickname

“Neeee- I’m boreeeed. Let’s go do something, cmon!”

[runeterrankhaleesi]

May I have a LMMU for dead by daylight please? I'm a bi woman with medium length reddish brown hair and brownish grey eyes. I Tend to be on the quiet side at first glance. But once you get to know me and I warm up to you, I'm just a humorous sweetheart. I tend to look more on the alternative side (band and horror tee shirts and jeans/ leather pants) or 80s neon and denim. Some of my interests include horror movies, writing stories and poetry, hiking, traveling, and exploring. I'm more of a go with the flow type of person when it comes to dates. I don't mind staying at home and playing video games or watching movies as a date because for me, it's the fact that my s/o wants to spend time with me and vice versa, not what we do as the date. Thank you!🙂🙂💚💚

[A/N: Hello darling! This was co-written by one of my matchmaker helpers @dumbgaming as most of the headcanons were hers.]

I pair you with...

LEGION/JOEY!

Why? Because...

Joey's also a pretty quiet person, rarely talking to anyone unless he's with a person he really likes. He's talkative with you and only you, he'll go on rants if the topic is something he's really interested in and the same goes for the other way, if you ever rant about something, he'll listen intently and try to remember as much as he can. If the topic is not something he's heard of, he'll search it up and study it so that the next time you talk about it, he's ready to provide his own opinions to deepen the conversation.

He likes that you share the same interests as him. Watching bands together and collecting horror tees and leather jeans/pants would become a hobby. I mean, when you say you wanna hangout, he would drop everything in an instant to be with you. You say you wanna watch horror movies? He's down and he'll even bring the food! You wanna go hiking and travel? Sure, why not? He needs to improve his stamina anyway. Joey doesn't mind which place you wanna go to, he's just happy he gets to spend time with you, plus he loves your sense of humor, he absolutely laughs and cracks up at every joke you make. (And it's also a way to get away from Frank's bullshit.)

On the other hand, he's not that much into poetry or reading, books never really had an appeal to him, but he would make an exception for you and read all the stories and poems you write. He would compliment you at every turn. If you ever wrote him a poem, he'll blush and smile at first, just the thought of you writing for him/about him makes him feel special. He would read it out loud, then clutch his chest where his heart is and go "Oh my heart.".

And yes, dates would often be spent indoors by watching movies or playing games. The person who gets to choose what movie to watch alternates between the two of you, though Joey is considerate and picks one that he feels you will both like, mostly slasher films.

Good luck playing games with him though. Joey has a pretty competitive side, believe it or not, and he's one of those people who rubs their wins on other people's faces to both show off and annoy them. He can also be a sour loser, he'll cross his arms and pout and pretend to be mad, a quick kiss on the cheek would immediately fix him up.

💝~Happy Valentines Day!~💝

[You were matched together by @dumbgaming]

[postguiltypleasures]

Thoughts after finally watching Scream (2022)

Spoilers for Scream (2022)/Scream 5, as well as some other movies.

(I regret spoiling myself for some of the twists. But what is done is done.)

I was disappointed. I had watched the first four movies over the past six months, and it just made the ways that this was too reverent/not fresh. I kept finding myself comparing it to better movies. For example Scream 4 and The Matrix Resurrections each had a kind of ambivalence towards their prior films that made them prickly and interesting, if not always approachable. This is just too concerned about doing right by the franchise.

Also I really liked the directors’ previous film, Ready or Not, and I kind of a like that both films include scene with one of the male characters slightly separated from the main action “researching” by watching YouTube video. It was much more clever in Ready or Not, but I’m not complaining about it as a gag.

Despite this and a couple of set pieces the increasing role of technology in our lives since the start of the series feels strangely underplayed.

I knew I would end up thinking about Tragedy Girls while watching this Scream because of the Jack Quaid connection. Going in knowing he’d be playing one of the killers had me thinking that it would be kind of the inverse of the movie as he suffers a particularly grisly fate there. While Tragedy Girls was too mean and nihilistic for my taste, at least it hit most of its satiric targets.

Scream (2022) and Scream 4 had the same problem where the discussion of what it means to be continuing/relaunching the franchise and it comes at the expense of really getting to know the new teen group dynamic. Arguably this has been a problem with all the films except the first.

I hadn’t seen Kyle Gallner in anything in a while and I kind of wish I got to know what kind of character he plays now that he’s too old to play a teen. I was glad to hear Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’s “Red Right Hand” play on the soundtrack as it did in the first three films, but its use seemed to underscore that Gallner is significantly older than the parts of the cast he interacted with. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

The Billy Loomis visions didn’t work for me. The digital de-aging just looked weird, and it made it impossible not to think of how fresh things were in previous go rounds.

I had seen a lot of complaints about Melissa Barrera’s acting here. I get it. I liked her in In the Heights, and I haven’t seen Vida, but here she had some lines readings that just didn’t work. Part of me wants to blame the script. In comparison to the rest of the cast she tended to have the dialogue with the most melodramatic exposition. While checking out other coverage of the series and the history of the original I have thought that Neve Campbell’s history on Party of Five is undervalued by fans of her horror work, and maybe if Barrera had spent a couple of years on a network family drama she’d be better at handling that kind of dialogue. (I was a big Party of Five fan and was interested in the original because “Julia Salinger” was the star.)

I have liked Jenna Ortega in her roles on Jane the Virgin and You. I liked her here too.

Judy, Wes and Dewey’s murders were the most well done. They were also really sad. Cutting to a party in the aftermath of all that didn’t feel right. I know the party in Act 3 is a staple of the series, but how one gets there matters and this doesn’t work.

A big point of the movie was setting up Sam Carpenter to take over from Sidney Prescott as the series protagonist, but focusing on having a new Sidney, their undervaluing how necessary Gale Weathers is to the series, both as a character and as a lightning rod of anxiety about the role of mass media in covering crime. A new take on that is needed.

The reveal of killer’s motives being toxic fan culture things just felt like a shallow treatment. In Scream 4, Jill’s motive hits on how in American culture, bullies love to play victims and fame does a lot to flatten out in a way that has some disturbing resonance. If anything Scream’s desire to do right by the fans undermines the effect they could have.

Also, no time travel

[fraidy-farfelle]

This is my attempt at the Fluff ABCs for Frankie the Undead. Please be gentle with criticism because I cry easily. I’ve taken some ideas from @lovestruck-lasagna.

Taglist: @writingfromthetomb @beebubb

A = Admiration (what do they absolutely adore about you?)

Your dry sense of humor. It perfectly matches his insults and he doesn’t have to go out of his way to make you laugh. He just says what he’s thinking and you laugh and agree.

B = Body (what is their favorite part of your body?)

Frankie appreciates a good smile, and for many reasons. He learned to read smiles (fake vs real) early on and uses it to gauge people, so he pays particular attention by default. He’s a sucker for cute dimples, and loves the way your nose scrunches and your eyes close.

C = Cuddling (how do they like to cuddle?)

He loves late at night when you share the couch and he can read a good book, sip on some whiskey, or puff on a cigar. He really doesn’t care what you’re doing, he can tune out the TV or you prattling on about your day and make comments to show he’s listening. Put your feet in his lap, lay on top of him, make yourselves mummies in blankets, so long as he can reach his glass he doesn’t care. He just wants to be with you.

D = Dates (what does their ideal date with you look like?)

Stay in date nights are his favorite. He doesn’t really like to “share” your attention. He likes to either cook a meal together or order takeout and watch a movie. Particularly black and white gangster ones, or older horror films. Likes to tease you if you get scared and grab onto him. He’ll pat your head and say something like “oh there there, don’t be scared! I won’t let the big, bad monster getcha!” (Like your neighbor isn’t a 7 ft tall children murdering clown demon) If you go out, he prefers less crowded places outdoors.

E = Emotions (how do they express emotion around you?)

He’s a spitfire and he knows it. He tends to explode and then after a few minutes apologizes gruffly and explains himself. “WHY WERE YA OUT UNTIL MIDNIGHT, THATS SUCH A STUPID THING TO DO!” “Sorry, Frankie.” “…… ugh just, please get home earlier from now on. It’s dangerous and I worry about you.” Definitely doesn’t hug you close so you don’t see the relief and worry on his face. Nope!

F = Family (do they want one? If they do, when?)

He misses Amy desperately. He wants a little girl in his life again, although he’ll never ever admit it. He’s hesitant to make relationships because he doesn’t want to be hurt again. But, if you go out with him to the living world, you’ll catch him staring longingly at parents and daughters when he thinks you’re not looking. If you ask him what he’s looking at, he’ll shake his head and spit out a line about children being obnoxious but you can tell he’s blowing smoke.

G = Gifts (how do they feel about gift giving? What are their habits when it comes to this?)

If the underworld wasn’t so dangerous, he’d love to drape you in the finest silks with diamonds and rubies dripping off of you. However he doesn’t want you to draw any unnecessary attention to yourself. So, he settles for things you don’t really see in public. He also doesn’t like to be found out about it. Your gas tank is filled, the bill you were worried about has mysteriously been paid, your favorite ice cream is in your freezer when you know you ate the last of it yesterday, and hey, didn’t you spend this $20? Why is it in your wallet? If you ever bring it up he’ll just shrug and say “How strange!”

H = Holding Hands (when/how do they like to hold hands?)

He’s torn about PDA because he doesn’t want you to become a target because you’re associated with him, and people stare at him enough because of his appearance. But on the other hand, he wants to show the world that someone as worthless as him (don’t say that we love you Frankie) has such an amazing person that loves him. Will absolutely grab you and passionately make out with you with one hand on your ass and the other flipping the bird to the cheeky bastard that told the broad beside him to watch out for the zombie.

I = Injury (how would they act if you got hurt?)

Panic. Sheer panic. He’s so afraid to lose you, any injury is serious and cause for alarm.

Frankie:*bursting into a hospital lobby, screaming to be taken to f/n l/n immediately**running in the opposite direction the nurse pointed in panic**bursts into exam room 30 seconds later* “Y/N!!!!! I came as soon as I got the message, WHATS WRONG!!!”

You: *sitting on the table, reading phone* “Oh, I have a sprained ankle and they don’t want me to drive so can you give me a ride?”

Frankie:*slowly blinking* “Uh, yeah no problem…”

You: “lemme guess, you heard my name and hospital in the same sentence and ignored everything else.”

Frankie:*hanging his head* “go wait in the car, I’ll go apologize….”

J = Jokes (do they like to joke around with or prank you? how?)

Not actual jokes, but he loves to sit with you and insult people. He’s an incredibly sweet person to you, but no one else. (Except service people, like nurses and waitresses. Just the general public) he doesn’t think pranks are funny or practical, which is one of the many reasons he and LJ butt heads. If LJ or Will prank you or him, he’s raising hell.

K = Kisses (how do they like to kiss you?)

Love kissing your lips. He’s actually really self conscious about his mouth stitches and constantly frets they feel weird to you. Neck kisses are another favorite and are extremely private to him. He also likes to hold the back of your hand against his lips and tell you what he’s thinking, no matter how mundane. Kiss his stitches. Please. Just do it.

L = Love (how do they show you they love you?)

He has trouble saying it to your face. He’ll whisper it to you when he thinks you’re sleeping, and he’s been known to leave little notes around for you to find. He thinks protecting you is the best way to show he cares.

M = Memory (favorite memory together?)

The day you finally broke down and told him you loved him. He knew as soon as he looked into your eyes and saw your smile his goose was cooked. He was very abrasive and hoping against hope that you’d leave him be. He knew you deserved better. He was so afraid to build a relationship and love again, he wanted to distance himself and if he was an asshole to you, it would be justified and you’d do it on your own. What he didn’t expect is for you to be so kind to him. Upon your initial meeting, he had been a little harsh, but helped you (if there’s enough interest I’ll do a fic about it) and so when he subsequently was a jerk to you, you were curious and determined to find out what he was hiding. He finally had been mean enough to make you cry. He had never regretted something he did before. He immediately wanted to cradle you to him and beg your forgiveness. Normally when he insulted you, you’d have a snarky retort in reply. But not this time. You fell to your knees and clung to his legs and demanded to know why he treated you so poorly and proclaimed your love for him. It was probably by accident and you were so distraught you didn’t even know it flew from your mouth, but hearing it, he couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t care about the consequences, he just wanted you. Hearing that you loved someone like him made him so happy, he knew he’d treasure the memory forever

N = Nightmare (what is their worst fear?)

Losing you. Period.

O = Oddity (what is one quirk they have?)

What ISNT odd about this man?! A cute one is he always winks with his green eye.

P = Pet Names (what do they like to call you?)

I HC that he was born in the 30’s, so he calls you “doll” a lot but only in private. He uses your name otherwise so it’s not as obvious to people watching you’re together. He will absolutely refer to you as “the dame” to others. The equivalent of “the boss” or “old lady.” “William! The Dame is trying to take a nap, so shut up or I’ll shoot you!” You call him stitches to tease him in private and are the only person allowed to do so.

Q = Quality Time (how do they like to spend time with you?) Either taking naps or couch potato time. Also, low key likes to cook with you. He can’t cook for shit, but likes to “help” by handing you things or chopping things for you. Is a super good taste tester, self appointed.

R = Rhythm (what song reminds you of them?)

Stitches by Shawn Mendez (PLEASE DONT HURT ME!!)

We don’t have to Dance by Andy Black (referring to how he can’t really show you affection in public but he loves you)

S = Secrets (how open are they with you?)

He’s open about himself and what he’s thinking, and will always take what you say into consideration. He doesn’t like to keep things from you, but he does omit some detail about his jobs if you ask about them. He just feels like you don’t need to be stressed about it.

T = Time (how long did it take you to get together?)

LJ picked up on Frankie’s fondness of you almost instantly. He and Will decided to do what they could to get you together in the interest of making Frankie less of a grouch. If it hadn’t been for them insisting that he was good guy to you, you probably WOULD have let Frankie’s prickly nature drive you away. It took a year or so for you to break down.

U = Upset (how do they act when you’re upset?) A powder keg of insults, foul language, and bullets. Has actually never called you a name outright, and would absolutely never physically hurt you. When he was deliberately being rude to you, he’d insult your actions rather than you. “Stop acting like a dumb broad!” Vs calling you a bitch to your face. He usually calms down quickly, and is hardly ever angry at you, only when you put yourself in danger.

V = Vaunt (what are they proud of? Do they like to show you off?)

He likes that he’s scary and tough looking so that when you’re with him, other men scatter pretty fast. Has had many occasions where he stepped away and someone came to flirt with you and he came back and had the pleasure of scaring them.

W = Warrior (how do they feel about you fighting? Would they fight for you, beside you, etc?)

You are not allowed to do anything dangerous, ever! Will teach you how to use a gun and how to counter things like chokeholds, so you’re less vulnerable. Will absolutely lose his mind if he learns you’ve put yourself at risk. He will shoot someone so fast for you. Takes every person as a threat to you and will pick fights with somebody that accidentally bumped into you. Do NOT test this man.

X = X-Ray (how well are they able to read you?)

You are an open book to him. He’s learned to read people well, and he takes his time studying you. Can tell if you’re getting sick before you can. More than once he’s handed you a bottle of Tylenol, leaving you bewildered, and shrugged and said to take them because you’ll have a headache in a few minutes. He can pick up on your emotions easily and has learned what to do to handle them.

Y = Yes (how would they propose to you?)

Honestly, marriage isn’t that important to him. He’s not opposed to the idea at all, but like you’ve been together for this long, you love each other, is it really necessary? You’d have to tell him you want to be officially married. He’ll buy you a ring, to show that you’re taken, if nothing else, but he’ll wear his around his neck under his tie so it’s not obvious he’s attached to anyone to discourage his rivals using you to get to him.

Z = Zen (what makes them feel calm?)

The smell of your perfume. Holding you in his arms and taking deep breaths makes all of his troubles go away.