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twdmusicboxmystery · 4 years ago

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S6 Template for Where We Are Currently in the Show

Morning Everyone! So, after getting a particular Ask almost two weeks ago about shirt colors (black and white) in 6x08 and 6x09 pointing to future story arcs, I decided to re-watch the episodes and see what I came up with. This post is what came out of that. It’s a bit long, so get comfortable, but I had tons of fun rewatching these. I don’t get to do that much anymore these days.

So, I looked at Carol's white shirt in these episodes, but as I watched, I kept going back to an earlier time that we'd seen Carol wearing a white shirt.

Remember, this was the episode where she went out together acorns and had to kill that really Beth-ish walker and then come back and shower and change her clothes. It's also in this episode that she takes Tobin acorn cookies. And they’re pink. (Pink Theory)

So, the gist of what I'm going to say is that I think the entire season is a template for what's going happen moving forward. And honestly, we’ve seen this often enough that it's probably true of every season in some way or another. But will stick with S6 for now.

So, in thinking about Carol and Tobin 6x02, something occurred to me. I think Tobin is a prequel/foreshadow/forerunner of Ezekiel. It's actually a fairly common way to foreshadow something: have a smaller instance of it to foreshadow the bigger instance. I’ve said that with Glenn's death before. His death fakeout served many purposes, but in terms of his own arc, it was a foreshadow of his upcoming real death. In this case, they just put Carol in a short-term relationship in order to foreshadow her long-term relationship with Ezekiel.

And I bet if we studied Carzekiel as closely as we study Bethyl, we would come up with a lot of dialogue parallels and such. I don't have a whole lot of them, but I can think of one major event that was the same in both cases. ( I just had the thought that Carol showing up at Tobin's doorstep with cookies is a whole lot like Ezekiel showing up at her cabin with the pomegranate.)

So, in Carol and Tobin's arc together, remember that she takes off and leaves him at the end of S6. That's when Morgan goes after her and it leads to her finding Ezekiel in the Kingdom. (Not at all an accident that she leaves Tobin and immediately runs in to her soulmate.)

I'm equating that with her leaving Ezekiel after Henry died. And Henry is the other part of the parallel. Carol left Tobin because she was dealing with Sam's death. The death of a child that she felt guilty about. She left Ezekiel for the same reason, after Henry's death. So, you can see the parallels between the two arcs. And that shows that what happened in S6 can foreshadow what's happening currently in the show between her and Ezekiel.

I promise I'll stop talking about Carol and get to the more important stuff. But one more interesting thing that kinda made my jaw drop: After Creepy Wolf Dude took Denise and Morgan, Carol, Rosita, and Tara are on the brownstone together, Carol is looking out the window and Morgan walks up behind her.

He says, "you had a child? A husband?" And it's interesting because he doesn't say daughter, and Carol doesn't reference Sophia or Ed by name. And if you think about what's happened—Morgan was trying to keep her from killing Creepy Wolf Dude because "life is precious" and all that—there's really no reason for him to randomly ask about her past. But I think this shows that it's a foreshadow of what's to come. The next time around, they'll be talking about Ezekiel and Henry, rather than Ed and Sophia.

Okay, so all that was just to show that the entire season foreshadows what's to come. And when I watched 6x09, Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham on the road with the saviors, my just my mind just kept going back to the previous episode about them, which was 6x06.

And we all know how much Beth symbolism was in that.

We saw Daryl meeting Dwight in the woods in 6x06 and all of the symbolism there. We already know from plenty of analyzing that Sasha and Abraham represent Beth and Daryl. I also think, in some cases, the two of them together represent Beth. But if you look at Daryl's arc in a very broad way for 6x06, we have him getting separated from Sasha and Abe (Beth) and by the end of the episode, he finds them again.

So, in terms of S6 being a template, 6x06 represents Beth and Daryl's entire separation arc. It's on a very small scale, but it kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Why the place they stayed, and Daryl later found them again had a sunrise on it. Why Sasha wrote his name with the huge X in the center. It's to show that this is a type of Beth and Daryl’s separation arc and then their reunion.

Okay, so let's go back to what’s happening in S6. I'm not going to do this chronologically, but let's start with Daryl on the road meeting saviors. I want to point out one thing. The main leader of this group says something I've always zeroed in on but could never quite make fit.

At one point, he says, "ding dong, Hells bells." That's a reference to the Wizard of Oz. Because, "ding dong, the wicked witch is dead." I've always wanted to make that a Beth thing because the Wizard of Oz template was used for the Grady storyline. When I first heard it, back when this episode aired, I felt sure it was because she was with the Saviors and it was a hint toward that. Obviously not.

But now I'm seeing that this is a Beth template, and that's probably why they put this here. Also notice the Saviors here are wearing black. Which could mean that they foreshadow the CRM. So, the most obvious thing I'm seeing here is that per 6x06, Beth and Daryl reunite after being separated for a long time. Then, on the road back to Alexandria, they run into the CRM (people in black). Maybe Daryl blows up the CRM in some way or kills them. And that will bring TF into a war with the helicopter group, much like it did with the Saviors.

(@frangipanilove also pointed out that there’s an AC/DC song called Hells Bells. So there’s a musical reference thrown into the mix. Which is awesome! ;D)

Okay, the next thing Nonny said is that Glenn and Enid probably represent Beth. I think that's true, but I think she's represented in a lot of different ways in this sequence. Specifically, through Sasha/Abe, Glenn/Enid, and Denise.

I won't need to go into a lot of detail about Denise. I didn’t see a whole lot more here than I’ve said in the past. I still think her being taken captive by Creepy Wolf Dude is a foreshadow of a storyline for Beth. There were two lines of dialogue that jumped out and me. When she’s in the brownstone, alone, with Creepy Wolf Dude, she tells him to "show me the wound." That SUPER jumped out at me because in 9x05 when Rick left, we heard Beth’s voice say, “what’s your wound.” Very similar.

The other one was Creepy Wolf Dude explaining how he got his injury. It really wasn't a bite. He said he was breaking into a car and got cut on a rusty bumper. So, the car mention really jumped out at me. I feel like were going to see the fulfillment of this sequence with Creepy Wolf Dude and Denise for Beth sometime after she wakes up. Maybe whoever saved her after Coda gets hurt and she tends to them medically. He also talked about wanting to take over the wall with him to the outside and about how it wasn't as scary out there as she thinks it is. So yeah, it still screams Beth to me.

For Enid and Glenn, they return, and immediately run into Beth's (the blue, green, and yellow) church. And there, they find a gun. We have a combination of the weapon and the biblical symbols. Glenn even tells Enid to look inside the Bibles in case one of them is hollowed out.

But the biggest thing here is that Maggie was in trouble and they came back to save her. And they sort of did, but then Glenn got in trouble and Sashraham showed up to save the day. So, we have two separate instances (Glenn/Enid and Sasha/Abraham) of Beth or Bethyl showing up in the nick of time to save everybody. I think we can all get behind that.

Also, when Maggie gets up on the scaffold, we see the red and green together. Green cord, Maggie’s red shoelaces. We’ve always seen that as a resurrection symbol, and said it probably has to do with Glenn being alive. I still think that’s true, but taken a broader context, it could also be a foreshadow of Beth's return and that this is a template for it.

Okay, so let's look at this from a little bit broader view. We have five main groups that these two episodes focus on alternately. Maggie, Daryl/Sasha/Abraham, Tara/Rosita/Eugene, Carol/Morgan (by 6x09, the two of them merge with Eugene’s group) and then Rick and Michonne's group who are in Jesse's house.

(For the record, there are two other groups we see very briefly but they aren’t focused on in this episode. One is Olivia and Eric (Aaron's boyfriend) in the armory. We don't see what they're doing except that when the rest of the group runs out into the street to fight the walkers, they join in. And finally, the group that's in the infirmary before Denise gets there. This includes Aaron and Heath. Especially where Heath is concerned, I think that's super important. I’ll come back to it in a minute.)

I’ll start by talking about Morgan, Carol, Tara, Rosita, and Eugene. There’s definitely some interesting dialogue, especially from Eugene. I also think it's super important that they all seem to be wearing light-colored shirts, and that Eugene and Carol are in the same place.

Because where we are currently in the series is that Eugene and Ezekiel are the same place. Now, Ezekiel wasn’t in the show at this point, so it was impossible to have him here, but I'm wondering if at some point in the spinoff, Carol and Daryl will split up and go their separate ways and Carol will go to find Ezekiel.

(We already know there will be a falling out between Daryl and Carol in the upcoming bonus episodes and that they will go their separate ways for a time. Obviously they’ll come back together for the spinnof. But I think this separation foreshadows that in the spinoff, they’ll leave together, but at some point they’ll split up and go to separate places. We saw this with Huck and Felix in TWB, which is a template for the spinoff. And my theory is that Carol will go to find Ezekiel when that happens.)

That's really the biggest thing I think this points to. I also wonder how and if Morgan will be involved. Since he still alive, he could be. But he's also not on the show right now, so it's hard to tell. I suppose it just depends on where FTWD is at that point, and if they bring him back or cross him over into the spinoff. I think that's a real possibility.

I also want to point out the beginning of 6x08, right after the church falls, Carol trips and falls down. It turns out, she slipped on some bullets. Morgan helps her up and they run into the brownstone. It then goes on to say that she's hurt in the head and may even have a concussion.

Now, my first thought was that was super unrealistic, since all she did was trip and fall and we don’t even really see her hit her head. But she's also tricking Morgan and pretending to be more hurt than she actually is, so it may just be a ruse anyway.

But the point is, between the bullets, and the mention of concussion, that's a huge Beth parallel. So, not sure if this points to Carol being part of a death fakeout, or somehow it's pointing back to Beth. If anything, I think it might point toward the Carzekiel death fakeout because it's after this that Morgan mentions you had—past tense—a son and a husband. So, if I'm right about that, we have a representation of the fake out, and then eventually Carol goes to where Eugene is. See what I mean?

Oh, one more cool thing about Eugene’s group? Remember at first it was him and Tara and Rosita in the garage. Eugene had to pick the lock to get into the house. As soon as he does, they run into Denise and Creepy Wolf Dude kidnapping her. Um…Denise = Beth, so this may well be a representation of Eugene and his two friends (in S10 it’s Yumiko and Ezekiel) running into Beth. Also notice the lock/key reference that led to her. Just saying.

Okay, let's talk about Rick and Michonne’s group. In a lot of ways, this might be the biggest deal, but it's also the most fluid. I had a hard time seeing much of anything as a foreshadow from this group. At least, during the first part in Jesse's house. I mean, Rick is with Jesse, and there's drama between Ron and Carl. I've said before that a lot of their dialogue foreshadow Ron’s death for sure. But I just wasn't seeing anything very new. But I will say now that I think that this does foreshadow Carl's death as well. I get to that in a minute.

But I really started seeing some important stuff with Rick and Michonne’s group in 6x09 when they all moved out into the crowd of walkers covered in guts.

When they decide to go to the quarry instead of the armory (because they can’t get to the armory) Jesse says Judith won't make it. And Father Gabriel says he'll take Judith and protect her. I'm sure you can figure out why think that's important.

1) The Sirius character who represents Beth takes Judith with him to protect her.

2) We have a representation of Rick and Michonne and being separated from Judith. Even if FG just represents himself in this sequence, where we are in the series now, we have Judith and FG in the same place. So again, this feels like a representation of where we are now. Rick and Michonne have left Judith in, sort of, Gabriel’s care. (I know she’s really more in Daryl’s care, but Michonne did tell her to be good for Aunt Rosita, and if Daryl doesn’t leave with Carol to get Judith in the spin-off—if it’s about Rick instead or something—I’m assuming he’ll leave the kids with Maggie and Gabriel.)

Interestingly, Rick and Michonne are still together, which they aren’t where we are now in the series, but we don't know how long it's gonna take Michonne to find Rick. She might find him quickly and the two of them will be together for significant period of time together inside the CRM. The point is, they’re in a different place than Judith.

So, the group moves on, and of course both Sam and Jesse are killed. And when Ron tries to shoot Rick, Michonne kills him and Carl is shot.

This is the next significant piece. Of course we all know that Carl was shot in the eye in the comic books, so it’s something that they were always going to do in the show. But I really think this probably foreshadows Carl's death as well. Much like Glenn, his almost death here could be used as a foreshadowing for his real death down the line.

Of course, Rick picks him up and he and Michonne make their way to the infirmary. And here's what really jumped out at me about the infirmary: Heath is there.

Angela Kang has confirmed that Heath is inside the CRM. We know Rick is inside it somewhere, and that Michonne is heading to him. So, we have this interesting sequence where Michonne and Rick arrive in a new place and Heath is already there. See what I mean? So, I think we could possibly interpret this as Carl getting shot foreshadowing Carl's death, and then sometime after that, Rick and Michonne and end up at the CRM with Heath.

But I can even give you third possibility here. With Carl being hurt, Rick goes into one of his losing-it trances and leaves the infirmary with his ax to fight the walkers. We hear Michonne screaming after him to wait. She waits until Denise has a good handle on Carl's condition and then she hurries after Rick to fight the walkers. I always loved this scene.

This is the only real representation I saw of Rick and Michonne being separated for a short period of time. Because he heads out without her.

So, think of it this way. He heads out into a hoard of walkers alone. And she screaming his name. Sounds a lot like what happened when he disappeared in 9x05. Meanwhile, Michonne stays behind, taking care of Rick's kids. In this case, it's Carl, but in S9, it’s Judith and RJ. Then, when she sure Carl is safe, or as safe as she can make him, she kisses him goodbye and goes after Rick. So, kind of like she left Judith and RJ behind to go look for Rick. Interestingly, who did she leave Carl with in S6? Denise. Who is a proxy of Beth.

So, I get that all of these overlap and they're very nonlinear. But I’m sure you can see what I mean about why I think all of S6 is a foreshadow of what's to come. And where we are right now in the series is at the crossroads of a lot of these possible foreshadows. Especially of Eugene finding Denise/Beth.

And if we’re super literal with the interpretation, we might even say that Eugene finds Beth (Denise) in the Commonwealth, but then she leaves with someone else (whoever the equivalent of Creepy Wolf Dude will be for Beth) and then Denise goes to the infirmary, which is probably the CRM because Heath is there. And she's there when Rick and Michonne arrive.

I'm not at all set in stone about what I think will happen. I'm just saying its possibility. Beth, CRM, and Rick are things we’ve been looking at closely since Rick left in S9, so this is super-interesting.

Kind of a footnote, but when Denise is still with Creepy Wolf Dude, Carol shoots him. I'm not really sure how to interpret that. Maybe that was just for this episode and not part of the template. Because Carol was still with Eugene's group, but she went outside, saw Denise and Creepy Wolf Dude, and shot him so Denise could get away. So, no idea how to interpret that for future storyline, but it's kind of interesting. Carol being at all involved could possibly be traced back to the fact that she and Beth were at Grady together. Also makes me wonder if maybe at some point in TWB, Huck will shoot someone to save Will, Felix's boyfriend. Just because of the parallels.

And finally, I feel like Rick and Michonne going outside and leading the charge against all the walkers is something that has been foreshadowed many times. Remember that when I talked about 7x08, I said that Rick and Michonne coming to hilltop represented them returning after the CRM to Alexandria to lead the war? I saw this same thing foreshadowed in 8x09 when they return to Alexandria and find out Carl’s been bitten.

In this case, they fight walkers rather than people (the CRM) so I don't know if that translates to the same thing, but the two of them being out there make other people want to join the fight. People come out of their respective hiding places and all of them fight the walkers together. And obviously, in the war against the CRM, everyone's going to have to work together.

I even wondered if these different little groups could represent different factions (Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom, but also the people from Fear, the people from TWB, and anyone Beth might bring with her.) But I couldn't pin down who would be who. For example, if Carol, Eugene etc. represent the Commonwealth, that could be one group who comes out to help. Father Gabriel and the people who were in the church coming out to help could represent the people at Alexandria etc. You get the idea.

And of course while all this is going on, we had the super interesting symbolism of Daryl, driving the Paddy truck (Beth symbol), picking up several people which include Glenn, Enid, Sasha, Abraham (all Beth proxies) using gasoline (Beth symbol) and fire (Beth symbol) to set a body of water (Beth symbol) on fire (Bethyl symbol).

And it really goes along well with everything we've always said. I definitely think that the entire group is going to be fighting a big war and Beth isn’t by far going to be the only component. But something about her or maybe her and Daryl together come back with a key or a weapon that will help them win the war. If Daryl hadn't started that lake on fire, the walkers might have overwhelmed them all. It simply gave them the edge they needed to keep fighting and actually win.

And of course, in the sequence we see Daryl join the fight with two knives, including Beth's.

Okay, I'll stop there. Just a lot of food for thought, no?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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selfbane · 5 years ago

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roleplay cheat sheet.

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name:

oddity

OOC Contact:

tumblr ims! if we’re mutuals, i’ll happily exchange discords. honestly the best place to chat with me is discord, since i’m on there a lot, so ye... slide me that mf discord

WHO IS MY MUSE + MAIN STORYLINE(S):

ulatch is a relatively young dwemer woman - she’s breached her 100s and steadily encroaching upon her 200s. having been known as a “upcoming spinster” and a “party animal” during her youth, ulatch thrived as an outcast to dwemer society - much to the dismay of those surrounding her, as she showed particular ingenuity when it came to tinkering, reviving, and constructing automatons, yet refrained from indulging too much (at least, to those who would use it to fund their own malicious ends). she despised how some of her brethren saw other races to be naught but tools, with especial focus on the slavery of the snow elves. she was an active participant in the resistance movement known as the white sprockets during the war of the crag.

ulatch has three dominant storylines that’re able to be interacted with: her 2nd era self, her 3rd era self, and her 4th era self. each one is as valid and actual as the other, thanks to her utilisation of time travel - something which, as soon as she’s plopped into the 4th era, cannot reengage in due to the malfunction of the contraption she’d been using.

POINTS OF INTEREST: (What might other characters recognize about your character? Strange behavior, quirks, noticeable features?)

VOICE — she sports a unique accent thanks to her dwemer heritage and upbringing, something that can’t be found anywhere else. she’ll claim that she’s from a rural valenwood village, hence the idiosyncrasy, but should anyone be widely acquainted with the linguistic profiling of valenwood-born and raised bosmer, will know this to be false. HAIR — probably the most recognisable part of ulatch: her hair. not only is the hair on her hair big, thick, curly, and seemingly without rein (except when tinkering), but she also sports a long, thick beard that is braided and reaches approximately down to her belly-button. to add to this, she bears considerable body hair, evident on her chest, arms, core, back, buttocks, pubic region, thighs, and legs - basically everywhere, really. she’s quite proud of the abundancy and has no intent of ever shaving it off. ALCOHOL — for those who’ve seen her outside of her work, it wouldn’t be a wild guess to think that she might be at the local pub, drinking and eating quite heavily. she often isn’t that much of a morning person, due to drinking into the early hours of the morning. CALCELMO — for those who’re acquainted with the dwavern expert, calcelmo, he may part with a elongated statement surrounding his distaste of ulatch. he claims that she’s too young, too rash, and clearly doesn’t know what she’s talking about - especially when she contradicts his research with her own.

WHAT IS SHE DOING: (What plot lines or story arcs is your blog going through? What’s motivating your character right now?)

she’s either feigning research into the dwemer (and researching into the other contemporary races instead), tinkering or building automatons with whatever scraps she can find or purchase, or drinking herself blind. her motivation is a fickle thing at the moment, especially as she’s still struggling with the notion of being unable to go back in time to prevent the annihilation of her entire people.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND HER: (Which locations does your muse frequent?)

predominantly, in the 4th era, she can be found in or around markarth. however, she can also be found frequenting dwemer ruins.

CURRENT PLANS: (Do you have any upcoming arcs in the works? This can be as vague or specific as you feel like)

plot?

she’s too new for a plot, my dudes! i wanna see what happens and how she interacts with others first

DESIRED INTERACTIONS: (What kind of interactions would you like for your character? Do they need more friends? Enemies? Maybe a shoulder to cry on, or someone to teach them how to dance?)

honestly any interactions would be lovely right now! i’m still building her up; i have had her in my mind for a while, but i find that writing her and pitching her at other characters is the best way for me to further solidify her characterisation.

OFFERED INTERACTIONS: (Does your character make clothes? Fix things? Challenge passers-by to battle? Steal people’s lunch money? What scenarios can your character offer that other players might be interested in?)

parting of dwemer knowledge; navigating dwemer ruins + traps; the tinkering, revival, or otherwise construction of dwemer automatons...

CURRENT OPEN POST(S)

i haven’t posted any opens.........yet

ANYTHING ELSE?:

speedrun friendship: drink with her! she’s usually not the chattiest person about, but she becomes a bit more loose-lipped once she’s had a few drinks under her belt.

TAGGING: i stole it so you should too. peer pressure babey!

#ooc #meme #long post #if any of y'all are interested in rping with ulatch...... send me an im!!!

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trinuviel · 6 years ago

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Winterfell’s Daughter. On Sansa Stark (part 16)

I’ve previously written a series of essays that analyse Sansa Stark’s narrative arc in Game of Thrones - during season 1 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6) and during season 2 (Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10) and now during season 3 (Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15). This post is the 16th installment in this series.

The central aspect of Sansa Stark’s season 3 arc is her political importance as Robb Stark’s heir apparent. This makes her attractive and valuable to a number of different power players in King’s Landing where she’s held hostage at the royal court. After a lot of secret plotting by Petyr Baelish, Lord Varys, the Tyrells and Tywin Lannister, it is Lord Tywin who secures the Key to the North by wedding Sansa to his son Tyrion. In my previous post, I analyzed the wedding ceremony itself. However, a Westerosi wedding involves more than a ceremony in the sept - so in this post I’ll take a closer look at the wedding feast and the wedding night, both events that are awkward and unpleasant for Sansa.

THE WEDDING FEAST

The wedding feast at the Red Keep is a merry affair – for everyone but the bride and groom. Sansa appears numb and Tyrion proceeds to get thoroughly drunk.

After Tyrion displays an astonishing lack of table manners, Sansa leaves their table. When Joffrey notices this, he immediately leaves his chair and proceeds to corner Sansa and threaten her with rape.

Joffrey: Soon you’ll have a Lannister baby. (…) I suppose it doesn’t really matter which Lannister puts the baby into you. Maybe I’ll pay you a visit after my uncle passes out. How’d you like that?

Sansa doesn’t respond.

Joffrey: You wouldn’t? That’s all right. Ser Meryn and Ser Boros will hold you down.

This is yet another example of the numerous rape tropes that appear in Sansa’s narrative arc (x). This one is called Droit de Seigneur:

Droit du seigneur, literally "the lord's right", also known as ius primae noctis ("law of the first night") and other names, is an alleged legal right that the lord of medieval estates or fiefdoms has to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters (or at least gets first refusal). It is a popular trope in fantasy or medieval European settings, especially of the Crapsack Worldflavour. Usually invoked by the Feudal Overlord as one of his many Kick the Dog moments.

Subtrope of I Have You Now, My Pretty and a way to establish that Aristocrats Are Evil. If it's the Dung Ages, expect the lord to say "Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me." (TvTropes)

After issuing his threat Joffrey leaves Sansa and immediately calls for the traditional Bedding Ceremony where the bride and groom are stripped of their clothes by the guests and carried to the bridal chamber. Joffrey does this to humiliate Sansa, just like he threatened her with rape in order to scare her. Tyrion may tell Joffrey that Sansa is no longer his to torment but in reality his ability to protect Sansa against the King is rather limited.

Tyrion refuses the ceremony but Joffrey insists.

Joffrey: Get rid of her gown. She won’t be needing it any longer.

Now Sansa crosses her arms in a defensive gesture. Tyrion reiterates that there’ll be no bedding ceremony and when Joffrey once again presses the issue, Tyrion threatens to geld him. Total silence reigns until Tywin diffuses the situation. Tyrion then proceeds to make vulgar jokes about his upcoming wedding night while Sansa remains silent. He and Sansa leave while he continues to make a drunken spectacle of himself.

THE WEDDING NIGHT

After this rather embarrassing exit from the wedding feast, the camera cuts to the bridal chamber, which Sansa and Tyrion immediately enter. Sansa fidgets nervously whilst the visibly inebriated Tyrion makes straight for a flagon of wine. An awkward silence reigns until Tyrion begins to talk about Sansa’s astoundingly long neck. Then he asks how old she is, to which Sansa replies that she is 14 years old.

Let that sink in for a bit. She is only 14 years old and several characters have previously stated that she is a child! Yet Tywin has pressed it upon Tyrion that he needs to get this young teenage girl pregnant so that the Lannisters can claim Sansa’s home through a Lannister-Stark child. This displays Tywin’s ruthless nature as pregnancy is dangerous for both mother and child for girls that young. It is actually a poor investment to get a child bride pregnant as the risk is high that both mother and child may die – and that is poor use of a politically important heiress.

Tyrion: Well, talk won’t make you any older.

Sansa has been visibly nervous, even scared, ever since she entered the bridal chamber, which is primarily expressed in the way that Sophie Turner fidgets with her hands that she keeps firmly clasped in front of her chest.

I have a lot of issues with this entire scene but I mainly object to the way the show frames this scene is the fact that it is primarily centered on Tyrion, especially on his inner struggle with the attraction he has for Sansa. This is primarily conveyed through the camera work, which almost exclusively focuses on Tyrion’s gaze. The scene is very much about Tyrion looking at Sansa and desiring her - and thus Sansa’s experience of the wedding night is almost entirely suppressed though it is her that is the victim in this forced marriage and that a physical consummation would indeed be a case of marital rape since Sansa doesn’t want to have sex with Tyrion.

Since the camera work and the editing carry a LOT of meaning, it would be instructional to view a video of the scene before I begin to dissect it.

youtube

After Tyrion’s quip about “talking won’t make Sansa any older”, he states:

Tyrion: My lord father has commanded me to consummate this marriage.

This prompts Sansa to reach for the wine. Then she walks to the bed and start to undress. It is at this point that the camera work and the editing shifts the focus almost entirely onto Tyrion and his act of gazing at Sansa as the visual expression of the fact that he is indeed physically attracted to his child bride.

This particular sequence is completely devoid of dialogue and it starts with a shot of Sansa before the bed with her back towards the camera.

This is immediately followed by a reaction shot of Tyrion, looking on.

When it comes to cinema and television, the camera functions as the eye of the audience but reaction shots like this one serves to anchor the audience within the POV of Tyrion.

Then the camera slowly pans left, across Sansa’s body (in an extreme close-up) as Tyrion walks across the room, still not taking his eyes off her as she undresses. He moves to stand behind a perforated screen, still observing her.

Then we get a close-up of her back, partially seen through the screen that Tyrion stands behind, which once again serves to anchor the camera and the audience within Tyrion’s POV.

We are seeing what he’s seeing, hidden behind the screen, which put both him and the audience in a voyeuristic position. In fact, filming a character looking at someone/something through a perforated screen/or a transparent fabric is a common visual technique to lend a voyeuristic aspect to a scene - and the voyeurism is really marked here since Sansa is in the process of undressing.

Then the camera slowly pans up over Sansa’s body, followed by a close-up of Tyrion’s face.

Once again, this reaction shot grounds the eye of the camera in his gaze – and thus the audience is inhabiting his POV, making Sansa the object of the gaze of both Tyrion and the audience. This focus on Tyrion’s gaze effectively silences Sansa in her experience of the events of this scene. She isn’t presented to the audience as a subject of her own experience but solely as an object for Tyrion’s desiring gaze. This is something that I’ll return to later in this post.

The camera lingers on Tyrion’s face here until he begins to step back, then we get another close-up of Sansa’s upper body, still seen through the screen before the camera slowly pans right as Tyrion moves across the room again - still with his gaze firmly fixed on Sansa while she undresses.

The we get a medium shot of Sansa as she finally removes the wedding gown, leaving her standing in her white shift.

This shot is followed by yet another close-up of Tyrion’s face, capturing his reaction to the sight of the partially unclothed girl.

This shot is then followed by the a close-up of Sansa’s face.

The first close-up of her Sansa that isn’t anchored in Tyrion’s POV since she began undressing! This is the first opportunity the audience is given to empathize with her experience rather than Tyrions! The sequence that I’ve outlined above is 40 seconds long! That is a very long time in terms of cinema and during these 40 seconds Sansa has been positioned solely as the object of Tyrion’s (and the camera’s) gaze. Her individuality ignored in favour of her status as an alluring object for Tyrion’s desiring gaze. This close-up of her face is accompanied by an audible exhale on her part - and this is the first time that we get any kind of insight into her state of mind during after she started to undress!

This is a deeply uncomfortable, even frightening, experience for her - but the show pays more attention to Tyrion and his attraction to her than her state of mind!

On her exhale, she lifts her head and her eyes flutter a bit - and then she hesitatingly lifts her hand to draw down the shoulder strap of her shift. Sophie Turner makes the most of this incredibly brief moment to wordlessly express how utterly nerve-wraching this experience is for her.

Then the camera immediately put the focus back on Tyrion with a OTS (over the shoulder) shot that once again anchors the audience within Tyrion’s POV - as he tells her to stop undressing.

Tyrion: I can’t. I could, I won’t.

Sansa: But your father…

Tyrion: If my father wants someone to get fucked, I know where he can start. I won’t share your bed.

After this very clear rejection from Sansa, we get a close-up of Tyrion, looking slightly hurt. This is followed by an OTS shot of Sansa which includes the blurry outline of Tyrion’s and as he raises his goblet.

Once again, the audience is firmly anchored in Tyrion’s POV as he salutes Sansa with the words of the Night’s Watch who famously swear to remain celibate:

This is a marked change from the books where Tyrion responds to Sansa’s word by saying “that is why the gods made whores for imps like me” (ASoS, Sansa III). By changing this line, Tyrion is made to look nobler than he really is and the implied celibacy of the words is plainly ridiculous since Tyrion keeps Shae as his mistress.

After this line, Tyrion turns around and crashes drunkenly asleep on a chaise-long, leaving Sansa to her own devices.

A DISSERVICE TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL AND TO SANSA

In the books, Tyrion and Sansa’s wedding night is represented in a vastly different manner. Not only do both of them strip naked but Tyrion actually gropes Sansa’s naked breast as well as bluntly telling her that he desires her to which she responds with fear.

She climbed onto the featherbed, conscious of his stare. A scented beeswax candle burned on the bedside table and rose petals had been strewn between the sheets. She had started to pull up a blanket to cover herself when she heard him say, "No."

The cold made her shiver, but she obeyed. Her eyes closed, and she waited. After a moment she heard the sound of her husband pulling off his boots, and the rustle of clothing as he undressed himself. When he hopped up on the bed and put his hand on her breast, Sansa could not help but shudder. She lay with her eyes closed, every muscle tense, dreading what might come next. Would he touch her again? Kiss her? Should she open her legs for him now? She did not know what was expected of her. (ASoS, Sansa III)

Tyrion only makes his offer of staying out of their marriage bed because he cannot bring himself to rape a child when he is directly confronted with Sansa’s intense fear. However, for some reason the show decided to downplay just how terrified Sansa actually is during this scene in the book. While she IS visibly nervous, nothing in Sophie Turner’s acting choices don’t convey the sheer terror that Sansa experiences in the books. This serves to make Tyrion look especially noble when he eventually refuses to consummate the marriage.

One of the the main reasons why the show changed the wedding night scene is the fact that Sophie Turner was a minor at the time of shooting and any kind of nudity between the two actors/characters would have been illegal!

That, however, doesn’t explain all of the changes. The really insidious change is the fact that the show visually frames this entire scene from Tyrion’s POV. This means that the scene is primarily about him and not about the child hostage that has been forced into an unwanted marriage. This is especially galling since in the books, the wedding night is described SOLELY from Sansa’s POV.

When the visual language of show anchors the POV in Tyrion’s unspoken feelings, the show effectively suppresses Sansa’s experience because the audience isn’t really given an opportunity to assume her POV, to empathize with her feelings.

Sophie Turner makes the best of the extremely brief moments where she’s allowed gets to convey Sansa’s experience of that night - but these moments has a lesser narrative weight compared to the time and the visual focus the show gives to Tyrion’s experience. The show changes a scene that originally was about Sansa’s fear and helplessness - and rewrites it to primarily focus on Tyrion’s sexual attraction to his new child bride, feelings that he’s been trying to suppress and deny when other characters have accused him of being interested in Sansa. Shae is becomes incredibly angry when she thinks that Tyrion is sexually attracted to Sansa - both out of jealousy but also out of love for Sansa (x). In a later episode, Bronn crudely suggests the Tyrion does indeed want to fuck Sansa to which Tyrion responds thusly:

He’s essentially blaming other people for the fact that he is sexually attracted to her. It is other people who “put evil notions in his head”, not him being sexually attracted to a child. This is a marked change from the books where he very bluntly tells Sansa that he desires her:

She covered her breasts with her hands. "I've flowered." "A child," he repeated, "but I want you. Does that frighten you, Sansa?" "Yes." (ASoS, Sansa III)

Not only does the show suppress Sansa’s experience of the wedding night in direct contradiction of book canon where this whole ordeal is described SOLELY from her POV. It does so with the express purpose to portray Tyrion as being much more noble than he actually is in the source material - and that impacts Sansa’s story and character negatively because these changes prop up his character at the expense of hers.

I honestly hate the way this marriage is framed in the show because the changes that the showrunners have made to the source material only serves to prop up Tyrion’s character in order to make him more sympathetic than he is in the books where he IS seduced by the thought of being Lord of Winterfell, where he sexually desires a child (she is 12 in the books!) and where he never even bothers with telling Sansa of their upcoming marriage - and she has to find out when she’s in her wedding dress and on her way to the sept.

The entire way this marriage is framed in the show does Sansa’s character a great disservice! From the suppression of her POV during the distressing wedding night, to the way her distaste for the marriage and her groom is presented as shallow (x), to the the clumsy bonding scene in between Sansa and Tyrion in episode 10 – not only does all of this her character a great disservice, it is also designed to prop up Tyrion’s character, which I find absolutely INFURIATING!

It is incredibly gross to suppress her POV during a terrifying experience since she is a not only a child too young for marriage and sex but also a political hostage forced into a marriage that she never consented to. The fact that this marriage is not only designed to rob her of her home but is also predicated upon the violent extermination of her family makes the show’s framing of the marriage and Sansa’s reaction to it absolutely INFURIATING!

In short:

To be continued...

(GIFs not mine)

#game of thrones #sansa stark #winterfell's daughter #character analysis #tyrion lannister

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shadowsong26fic · 6 years ago

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Coming Attractions!

New month! I’m a couple days late but things have been Busy…

Usual updates behind the cut (along with a Prompt Call because why not!)

So, I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked over the past month--mostly because I really ended up in crunch time with my SWBB over the first week or so, and then needed a break, and then work got slammed. (Which I knew was coming, technically, I just didn’t know it was going to be this bad, since it wasn’t last year…)

Anyway. So I didn’t get any origfic done last month, like I hoped I would, or much of anything on Precipice. But I did finish my BB project! I’ll be editing it/etc. over the next few weeks and posting on May the Fourth. Should be fun! (It, uh, still needs a title, but I have like a month to come up with one, lol…)

Other things I hope to get out this month:

Next Precipice chapter at last--I do have it about half-written, I just need to sit down and finish it (and also probably map out a little better what some of the others are going to be up to for the first section of this arc).

(Hopefully two or three chapters over the course of the month, but at the very least this next one.)

(I have been doing some Plotting/planning/etc., but most of that has been related to some things that happen towards the end of this arc, or even later. Like, uh, arc nine or ten.)

(…yeah, uh, occasionally I talk about this fic as if I have Everything Planned Out and while it is true that I’ve done a lot more in the way of outlining/plotting than I usually do, there are still some pretty big gaps. There’s a couple arcs that are like “plot points A, B, C, and F happen here” but I’m less sure of what characters who are not directly involved in said plot points might or might not be up to…which is the situation with Arc Seven at the moment, lol.)

AU outline. Probably the next installment of Ventress, but maybe something New. Or Let’s Go Steal a Crossover.

Get some origfic writing done.

I’m also hoping to get out some other fanfic content of some kind, whether that’s as a bonus fic or additional content for one of my established AUs, as a new project (i.e., our faces like a mirror; which I’ve done teasers/draft bits before but not gotten to a Proper Postable State) or as a standalone piece of some kind, but we’ll see.

…on that note, impromptu/informal prompt call? Anything in particular you’d like to see me write? Request as many things as you want, for any fandom I’ve talked about on this blog or referenced in my index post. I will do my best to fill at least one prompt per person.

…and, since this is really short…here’s a couple teasers for upcoming content! As with all teasers, these are not in final form and are subject to change/editing before they get posted.

Precipice:

“We’re not going to liberate it. We’re going to keep our heads down as much as possible.”

“Right,” she said. “So, we’re Maia and Joren Retak again?”

“Nope,” he said. “Obi-Wan and I set up some new IDs, just for this trip. Ones that, if we get caught, can’t possibly trace back to your mom and Luke.”

Leia nodded. “So, are we meeting a contact there, or something?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “We’re going to land, make our way into the center of the city, and break into the Temple there.”

She blinked. “The Temple? …wait--”

“I have something for you,” he said, opening one of the false panels under his seat and pulling out a little box and passing it over to her.

She opened it, very carefully, clearly trying to demonstrate her self-control and patience even as she was all but vibrating with excitement.

Inside was some metal tubing, a power cell, assorted wires…everything she needed, except for the one key component that was hardest to source, for her to...

She looked up at him. “I’m going to build a lightsaber,” she said.

“Yes,” he said. “And for that, you need a crystal. So we’re going to Jedha.”

our faces like a mirror

“Take me with you?”

I wanted to. Stars above, I needed to. Korkie was my son, he had been from the moment he was born and my sister had placed him in my arms. There were times when he felt like the only good thing in my life, especially as things between Satine and I got more and more tense.

But I couldn’t.

Korkie was only eight, and while he might make a fine warrior someday…

I didn’t bring children to war. I wouldn’t. Not for such a selfish reason, at least.

I shook my head.

“Mom--”

“Where I’m going, ad’ika, is no place for children,” I said.

He was quiet for a moment, then asked, in a very small voice, “Will you be safe?”

“I…” Have I ever been?

But that was not something I could say to my eight-year-old child. He deserved some measure of innocence. I had always believed that.

“I will fight to make myself safe,” I said instead. “To make all of us safe.”

“Where will you go?” he asked. “I can find you, later, when I’m grown—”

I squeezed his hands. “Someday, maybe,” I said. “I don’t know exactly where I’ll be, but…if you think it’s right, you’ll find me.” If that’s what you think is right, let it be a test. If you want to walk my road, ad’ika, you’ll need to prove yourself.

And maybe he would for Satine’s, too. A different kind of fight, a different kind of test.

Jedi of Valdemar:

He turned to see a man leaning in the doorway, wearing worn and weathered Whites, watching him with a closed expression. The stranger was a few years older than Kallus himself, perhaps forty, clean-shaven, with light brown hair, almost blond, just long enough to tie back.

He was also missing his right arm, which had been amputated just above the elbow.

Kallus felt his spine stiffen almost on instinct. Despite Zeb’s assurances, he felt like he’d been caught out of bounds somehow. He steeled himself for trouble, preparing the best way to explain himself without getting his partner or anyone else in trouble, when--

“You know,” the stranger said, pushing himself away from the doorway and padding into the center of the room with easy grace. “In my experience, practice tends to go better if you have someone to bout with. I have some time, if you’re interested.”

He considered him for a moment, more concerned about why he was being extended this offer than anything else.

A lesser operative might have taken in this stranger, his age, his injury, and underestimated him. It was possible that he assumed Kallus would do the same, and planned to put him in his place accordingly.

But Kallus was very, very good at what he did. And he didn’t get the impression that that was the stranger’s goal. To test him, yes, absolutely, but...not for that.

And he did have a point, that Kallus could use someone new to bout with.

He inclined his head. “Sir,” he said--as good as his command of Valdemaran was, he preferred to speak as little as possible, mindful of the attention his accent and occasional pauses to search for the correct word or grammar drew.

The stranger grinned at him, then selected a hand-and-a-half longsword from the weapons rack, settling into a guard stance as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Then let’s have some fun.”

#shadowsong26fic #shadowsong writes star wars #shadowsong writes crossovers #shadowsong writes original fic #coming attractions #miscellania #feedback greatly appreciated #precipice #valdemar au #our faces like a mirror

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littlemisssquiggles · 7 years ago

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RWBY Musings #24: So since the team will be going to Atlas for the duration of V6, there has been talk about Ruby potentially meeting Whitley Schnee with the little snowflake gaining an ‘interest’ in our little rose.

To quote Ducky from the Land Before Time, oh no, no, no, no, NO!

There is only one young 14-year-old boy who I will accept romantically pursuing our Silver Eyed Warrior Rose and he is a precious as gold, gentle avocado cinnamon roll, thank you very much.

I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t quite so chill with this idea. I mean Whitley charismatically flirting with a romantically awkward Ruby, dropping lyrics smoother than syrup on shaved ice---the very thought of this, while amusing on the part of Ruby, gave me Goosebumps and not the good kind. But then I realized a particularly interesting comprise.

I’ll only accept this concept if it meant helping Oscar towards realizing his true feelings for Ruby and vice versa.

Dammit, now I want a Masquerade Ball or charity gala episode to be included in the Atlas Arc in RWBY V6.

Like picture this guys...

Imagine if...

Whitley invites Ruby as his date to an esteemed charity ball and our poor red-haired huntress begrudgingly accepts as a favour to Weiss. Like imagine if the gang need some super important info that only the Schnee Dust Company can provide. Since Weiss isn’t the heir anymore, she no longer can provide everyone with ties or access. But she does know someone who can.

Her brother.

So Weiss consults Whitley for a favour. An invitation to the upcoming annual charity gala being hosted by the Schnee Dust Company. At first, Whitley cheekily mocks his sister for crawling back to him for favours but then he makes an exception to the deal if Weiss gives him something in return. When Weiss questions what it is, Whitley says that he’ll only give Weiss an invite to the gala on the condition that her ‘lovely friend’, Ruby agrees to be his date to the charity event that just happens to be held at the main company headquarters.

Under duress, Weiss takes the deal and sadly, so does Ruby for the sake of their agenda, getting whatever from the Schnee Dust Company building.

Now Weiss has to bring a date too since it’s that kind of gala event so much to everyone’s surprise, Weiss brings Oscar to the gala as her date and partner on the secret Schnee Dust Company infiltration mission.

Let’s say for whatever reason as the company heir, Whitley was placed in charge of handling the guest list for the gala and unceremoniously forgot to provide General Ironwood with his invitation for the event (so no assistance from him).

Now before this, let’s say we get several indications that Whitley doesn’t particularly like Oscar very much.

Whether it’s the fact that he came from a much poorer background (having grown up on a farm on the outskirts of Mistral), Whitley’s general behaviour towards Oscar is pure disrespect and every time the two meet, he treats the boy as if he was someone beneath him despite them being the same age. Y’know that kind of schlick.

And Whitley acknowledging Oscar’s obvious interest in Ruby only deepens his disgust towards to the farm boy. In the short amount of encounters Oscar’s shared with Whitley, not only has he managed to make a mockery of him, his family name and his upbringing but he has also made several harsh remarks about Oscar being a suitor for Ruby; calling him unfit of a 'rare flower' such as her, addressing him as a 'peasant' as his crude nickname for Oscar.

So Oscar accompanies Weiss as her ‘date’ to the gala, looking all dashingly handsome in his tux that Weiss was kind enough to provide for him, like a young prince straight out of a fairy tale; much to the awe of Ruby and the chagrin of Whitely Schnee.

In Whitley’s eyes, Oscar may be a peasant but unfortunately for him, like Cinderella, the peasant cleans up impeccably well because underneath that farm-bred exterior is quite the boyish exquisiteness.

Just add some of that good ole Ice Queen spit-shine and the boy gleams like gold.

This of course ends up annoying the hell out of Whitley but for appearances’ sake, he hides his annoyance and distaste over not just his sister inviting the young farm boy unbeknownst to him but also noticing the evident infatuation Ruby has for Oscar.

This is a nice way to introduce a friendship between Oscar and Weiss giving her the little brother relationship she never got to have with Whitley.

Like what if...for at the gala, Whitley’s continuous badgering forces Oscar to storm off in shame.

And it is Weiss to sit him down and have a nice heart to heart talk with Oscar highlighting an important lesson that she learned for herself that your upbringing doesn’t define you as a person. You do. You can have all the riches in the world and still be the loneliest person of all, drawing reference from herself.

Weiss also brings up points like Ruby genuinely liking Oscar for who he is even if he’s a farm boy from Mistral and she too admits to being fond of Oscar as well. This is a good opportunity to build Weiss and Oscar’s comradery.

Weiss’s talk then gives Oscar the courage to finally stand up for himself when Whitley comes for round two of his pompous pestering.

To the surprise of Oscar and Whitley, Ruby also comes to the farm child’s defense and tries in a very Ruby-fashion to get Whitley to apologize for his impudence towards Oscar.

This however, only worsens the scenario, when an angered Whitley pulls a Jacques Schnee and makes the mistake of...[insert douche-y date act here like pouring punch over Ruby’s head, ruining her dress all because she didn’t take his side of the argument].

At first Oscar was only verbally defending himself against Whitley, but the minute he dared embarrass Ruby, that’s when the country boy decides to teach the Atlesian rich boy a good lesson in manners, Mistral style.

The next thing Whitley knew he was lying on the floor as Oscar socked him in the jaw so hard, not only did he tumble backwards straight into the punch bowl but also sent it and most of its continents sailing cartoonishly right onto the private table where Jacques was entertaining some elite higher ups; giving them all quite the splash.

To all the Whitley and Oscar fans in the audience reading this who want them to be best friends or lovers, I apologize if my post may upset you in any shape or form.

For me, I want these two boys to be enemies in the beginning and then possibly friends or more so acquaintances that mutually respect each other in the end, perhaps.

An episode subplot at a gala hosted by the Schnee Dust Company at the company grounds could also spell a nice reveal for the true nature of Whitley’s relationship with his father and the kind of pressures he currently faces as the new heir to the company.

What if...

Oscar discovers an upset Whitley lying in some lonely corridor, wincingly tending to a bruised cheek and bloodied nose. Not due to their earlier tussle but as a result of his punishment from Jacques for the level of humiliation his and Oscar’s little spat at the gala brought upon the Schnee Family. At first, Oscar tries to help Whitley out of sincere concern for his predicament. However even in his dishevelled state, Whitley still holds onto his pride and continues to be an indecent prick; showing the real side to his personality as he refuses Oscar’s help.

It is here when we can get a powerful speech from Oscar, that not only ties back to the talk he had with Weiss but additionally encompasses his feelings regarding all that has happened to him during the events of volumes 4 and 5 after meeting Ozpin. Oscar says this to Whitley:

‘...A wise girl once told me that your upbringing doesn’t define who you are. You’re right. Compared to you, I am a peasant. But I’m never alone. I’m blessed enough to have people in my life who care about me and look out for me, which is the least I can say for you. I may not have all the riches in the world but even if I did, it wouldn’t make me better than anyone. It wouldn’t define me or the choices I choose to make. I define me.

This is why I am here. Helping you. Even though I have every right to insult you, undermine you and make you feel every bit of anger and embarrassment you’ve made me feel since we’ve met... I’m not going to do that.

That would make me no different from you and that’s not who I am.

I’m better than that...’

It’d be so cool if we got an amazing character speech like that from Oscar at some point in V6, granted that the series does provide fans with a gala subplot such as the one I just described. I’m not writer for RWBY so it’d be interesting what is in store for us for V6 in the Atlas Arc.

The Abusive Parenting of Jacques Schnee

I know I initially started this post to be mainly about Whitley, Oscar and Ruby and shipping stuff, but I’d like to deviate from that now and share my thoughts and theories on this particular topic.

I’m not trying to say that Jacques Schnee as a character is a completely abusive parent; at least not too much in the physical sense.

However I wouldn’t deter from it either. If he was willing to slap Weiss, one of his girl children, then imagine what he’d do to his own son in order to pull him up and shape him into his perfectly complacent little heir.

I wouldn’t denounce the theory that Jacques would occasionally abuse Whitley if he wasn’t obedient. It wouldn’t surprise me if neither Winter nor Weiss knew about this.

In continuing with the subplot I was describing before, what if...Ruby and Weiss meet up with Oscar and upon finding him with Whitley, Weiss is torn to see her brother is such a messy state especially after discovering that their own father did that to her little brother.

I can imagine Weiss confronting Winter about knowing of Jacques’ abuse towards Whitley to which Winter would reply that, while she didn’t know this, she always suspected it.

If Whitely was being abused while Weiss was growing up, I’d suspect that it would be a situation where Winter, as the oldest sibling, acknowledged many signs of the abuse but could never actually prove it given the fact that one; Jacques was always very strategic with his levels of aggression and physical punishment and secondly, Whitley never admitted to anything himself no matter how many times Winter attempted to probe him on the matter but his behaviour and how withdrawn he was from his sisters was always a sure-fire red flag for Winter.

Weiss, of course, was oblivious to the whole thing and always brushed off Whitley’s closeness to their father as part of his spoiled grooming, not knowing the darker implications of it.

Winter couldn’t save Whitley from Jacques because from the moment he was born, Jacques had placed a tight hold over Whitely so instead Winter was forced to focus on Weiss; unfortunately leaving their little brother behind.

Whitley being the worst victim of Jacques’ strict parenting could partially explain his distance and dislike towards his older sisters cause maybe he secretly feels left behind, in a way or...perhaps that how Jacques made him feel.

It’d be interesting if Whitley thought his sisters knew of his abuse and just didn’t care about him. After all, in the entire Schnee household, who did Whitley have to look out for him beyond Jacques? His sisters never included him in their tight circle, all because of Jacques no doubt.

The mother is a lost cause (probably knew of the possible abuse too but just was too much of a depressed alcoholic to care. Perhaps she and Qrow can have a little chat together over some light drinks and he can be the one to finally talk some good sense into this MIA alcho-momma being a better parent and being there for her kids or at least the youngest one).

I’m not sure how close Whitley is to Klein but I’m sure Jacques’ stronghold on the poor young boy also hampers with the butler’s relationship with him as well.

But.....perhaps I’m just really over thinking too much here.

So, to conclude:

I’m hoping that our heroes’ stay in Atlas is stretched out for two seasons (V6 and even V7). There are so many different arcs and subplots that can be covered when the group arrives in Atlas that go beyond the stuff involving the Relic of Knowledge.

One of them is Weiss bringing some well needed closure to her family drama. With Whitely as the new heir to the Schnee Dust Company, that’s bound to be a main subplot for the Atlas arc.

So having Whitley, pulling a Jacques Schnee, and only taking a so-called interest in Ruby, considering her a rare flower that he plans to obtain, not only cause of the uniqueness of her silver eyes, but also a means of somewhat spiting Weiss by being distrustfully chummy with one of her closest friends. That definitely strikes me as something he would do.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still itching for...not necessarily a Whitley-redemption arc (though it would be nice if his whole ‘like my daddy’ act was all a facade to conceal a much more humane young soul) but at least a side of the story that lets us fans understand why Whitley is the way he is.

I may not like Whitley as a character so much however, if I had to classify him in terms of personality, I think he could either be a Peridot (from Steven Universe. A character whose antagonism and way of thinking was only as a result of their upbringing. But once this character meets someone who helps them see a new way of thinking, they end up changing for the better)

Or... an Azula (from Avatar the Last Airbender. A character that is antagonistic due to their upbringing but unlike the Peridot, this character isn’t quite open to change.

On the contrary, this character persona relishes in their hostile ways because it makes them feel powerful and power is all that matters to them above everything else.

But underneath this tough exterior is a far more broken individual who has spent their entire life trying to achieve one goal, willing to do anything and everything in their power, be it good or bad, to get what they want. Then once they get it, not only does it make them feel dissatisfied but also lonely. As a result of this, they wind up tormented shells of their own bitterness and guilt after staining their fingers from hungrily chasing their petty ambitions).

If having a romantic triangle between Whitley, Ruby and Oscar as a potential subplot for V6 leads to progress in understanding the kind of character Whitely is as well as him rekindling his relationship with his sisters, I’d be down for that.

Weiss and Winter probably never got the chance to properly bond with their little brother as Jacques probably held a much tighter hold over Whitley after he was born; according to ♦Eruption-Fang’s theory on that.

So it’d be bittersweet to see Weiss and even Winter extend a hand to their baby brother for them to all be a family again or at least stronger as a siblinghood and see whether or not he comes to accept it.

Whitley may be a portrayed as an obnoxious little turd as of V4---I expect nothing less from Jacques Schnee Jr. or Mini Jacques--- but...I think Whitley’s redeemable. If Jacques was a prick to his wife and his daughters, imagine what kind of physical and emotional abuse Whitley endured as his only son.

Or...for all we know Whitley could secretly be a sociopathic psychopath with plans to brutally kill off his father, General James Ironwood and the entire Atlas Council as well as anybody else who gets in the way of his pursuit of ultimate power and total sovereignty over Atlas.

Cause why stop at just being the Heir to the Schnee Dust Company? Why not just rule all of Atlas and eventually Remnant? As a matter of fact, why not just make Whitley join up with Salem while we’re at it too.

Okay. I know that last point is quite farfetched but it would be hilariously ironic if it became canon, am I right? Just to highlight the paradox that Jacques parenting methods practically turned his youngest spawn into an antisocialist monster. Y’know like the Mini Trump of the World of Remnant. How’s that for a twist?

But seriously, if we get all of that development I described above with Whitley while coupled together with making our two simple souls: Ruby Rose and Oscar Pine, realize their own deeper connection and feelings for each other as an added bonus and flavour to this delicious plot pot, then this squiggle meister is pretty game for indulging in all that goodness.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #whitley schnee #rwby rosegarden #ruby and oscar #whitley and ruby #oscar and whitley #oscar and weiss #weiss schnee #rwby volume 6 predictions #rwby musings

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spryfilm · 6 years ago

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“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” (2018)

Drama/Thriller

Running Time: 122 minutes

Written by: Taylor Sheridan

Directed by: Stefano Sollima

Featuring: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Isabela Moner, Catherine Keener, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Alejandro: [to Isabela] “You have no reason to trust me, but trusting me is how you’re going to survive.”

Critical Commentary:

There is no doubt in my mind that the release of “Sicario” (2015) three years ago not only announced a few new talents but also solidified quite a number more in front of, as well as behind the camera, it also was possibly the most underrated film of that year. It should have scored multiple Oscar nominations but for the most part flew under many peoples radar which is a crime. On the surface it was a film about drug cartels, revenge as well as the journey of a young idealistic DEA agent, of course it was much more than that as well as a precursor to the unruly politics that would follow just a year later. It also stated that the war on Mexico was just beginning, one that would not only rage at the border but on nightly television, ultimately right now in the White House itself. “Sicario” was that rare breed of film that had at its heart a female protagonist surrounded by men who were undermining her at almost every point, it had a well thought out plot as well as an almost Cinéma vérité narrative but with a look that was stunning in its widescreen lushness and not afraid to, at times pull back for the big picture eschewing star power and good looks for some kind of grittiness even though at times it was still a Hollywood film. The one aspect of the film that was overwhelming was that I know when I saw it I wanted more, now three years later the sequel has arrived, “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” (2018).

On the surface this sequel may seem like a real mixed bag, undoubtedly the star of the first film has returned in Taylor Sheridan the screenwriter, who has gone from strength to strength in his career having written the magnificent Oscar nominated “Hell or High Water” (2016), writing and directing his magnificent noirsh “Wind River” (2017) as well as the upcoming series “Yellowstone” (2018). Also returning are the definitely now great character actors, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Donovan in the same roles. Unfortunately there is a downside with the loss of Denis Villeneuve, Emily Blunt, Daniel Kaluuya, Roger Deakinsand Jóhann Jóhannssonare all not returning which does lessen the impact of the sequel but it is still a fascinating affair to be sure. What is great to see is that new fresh talent has replaced these non returnees to the betterment of the film overall.

“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” has been directed by Stefano Sollima an Italina filmmaker who is possibly best known for directing a large proportion of the series “Gomorrah” (2014 – ) based on the film of the same name, so the subject matter is not far removed from this new film. The great aspect of both films was to have foreign directors in charge as it always seems to be a benefit to politically charged movies, that to have someone removed from the situation in charge, opens up the narrative as well as the plot in ways someone who has a stake in the subject matter might do. This is accentuated by the look of the film, here Deakin’s has been replaced by Ridley Scott’s long-time cinematographer Dariusz Wolski who like his predesscor is an expert at creating both interior as well as exterior palate that are not only original but subject sensitive and eye catching.

The film is set fter discovering that Mexican drug cartels are smuggling terrorists across the United States border, the CIA sends Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and former undercover operative Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) to eliminate the problem. They kidnap Isabela Reyes (Isabela Moner), the daughter of a drug lord, in a false flag operation designed to incite war between rival cartels. The mission goes awry when it is discovered by the Mexican government, prompting Graver to order Reyes’ death; when Gillick refuses, he turns rogue to protect her as Graver assembles a new team to hunt them both.

The quality of the leads goes without saying in Oscar winner Benicio del Toro who has become one of the great character actors as well as someone who can play physically imposing men that with the subtly in his face can play deep emotion, while Josh Brolin has aged well into his middle age and someone who knows how to build a character from the ground up, one need only look at his increasingly complex roles over the past five years to see the evidence in that. While they are both playing the same characters from the first film, it is del Toro who is the one with real growth especially when thinking about his arc from “Sicario”. Added to the mix are Isabela Moner, Catherine Keener, Mathew Modine, Shea Whigam and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo who all play new characters designed to reinvigorate the film with the light shining directly on Moner as the maguffin of this new story. Moner has to show a range of very tough emotions as well as starting her character in one place of dominance but winding up with her persona changed in a very extreme way with layers peeled back for all to witness. The other relative newcomer is Manuel Garcia-Rulfo who like his co-star is a changed character from beginning to end, something that is a very rare to witness not just in film but also for minority characters that are normally marginalised or reduced to stereotypes. All of the actors do incredibly nuanced work with material that is not only complex but much of the narrative just have been found in the edit so to see performances as good these is rare indeed.

There is no doubt that this is a narratively as well as plot heavy film that rewards those that stick with the complex goings on within the story, following different characters at different times with varying objectives as well as never losing sight of the human drama at the core of this challenging piece of work. The ways in which the story begins to unfold on different fronts of the world may seem scattershot but they are executed in a way that the audience witness how in the dark, law enforcement can be losing sight of the people they are trying to protect so that lines are blurred between the good of the many against destroying the rights and loves of the few, especially when we are talking about cross border skirmishes. For me the key to the film is the returning character of Alejandro Gillick who as we know from the previous entry lost his family to the drug war in particular one cartel leader who is one the plot points of this film. In fact the key scene and one I imagine the writer loved creating involves sign language, a family in the middle of nowhere and a small explanation of his past which for me was one of the two best scenes of the movie. This is a film loaded with meaning as well as motivations of everyone involved, one scene sees Matt Graver going to meet the Secretary of Defence a comment is made about him being sunburnt as he is always in the field carrying out covert actions. The next scene we see a roomful of Generals and politicians, it is easy to see the pale faced men who make decisions sending the tanned men out into the danger to do the dirty work, something that should not be lost on viewers especially as we hear and see these politicians changing their minds on a whim without a thought of those doing the work in the field. It could also be seen as a comment on those holding high office especially the Presidency who have never served in their life.

As far as this years films go “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” is one of the best so far, it is a truly great sequel that stands on its own in every way. It transcends the first film in that it is about so many elements of not only human nature but incorporates social, political and personal issues that are as relevant today as they have ever been. We see the fingers of the White House through an unnamed President who fears impeachment over public support or anything else, sound familiar? Another important aspect of the film that cannot be underestimated is the mix of genre that takes place within its narrative, at points it is a road movie, a drama, a political movie, a thriller and at times even has some comedy, it melds all these genres into one coherent narrative that never lets up from its shock beginning to its almost ultimate conclusion that is at once revealing, shocking but expected.

This is a film that must be seem and seen on a big screen it takes risks with its plot and narrative which pay off for the audience it is almost all believable in its own way with nary a false move which is something to behold. Even though it is missing some key figures in front of as well as behind the camera, the screenwriter has wisely pivoted the plot to make it more of an original movie with familiar characters than attempting to make it a fully fledged sequel which seeing this movie now would have been a major error. I recommend this even for those that have not seen the first movie as it stands on its own in almost all ways which is not something that can be said of all movies even though that is how it should be, something that has been lost over the past few decades.

Technical Commentary:

Video:

“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” arrives onto 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with an upscaled 2.40:1 2160p transfer with HDR10 from a 2K digital intermediate. Dolby Vision is not an option on the disc. While upscaled, the image offers a notable uptick in detail clarity over the 1080p Blu-ray – in particular for close-ups and middle shots.

With HDR10, the image enjoys a kick in the primaries without overdoing things. Reds, blues, and the abundant yellows throughout all see some nice enhancements.

While that is a plus for Dolby Vision, a negative is in some of the night sequences things just look too dark. The brief scene where the Spec-Ops team halo jumps in the middle of the night to capture the smuggler Bashiir is an example. That scene in HDR10 is still dark, but light enough that you can actually make out some of the details of the soldiers as they fall. Dolby Vision goes dark almost to the point where they’re shadowy blobs falling from the sky. Regardless, this 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is a solid effort from Sony and provides a clean and clear improvement over the 1080p disc.

Audio:

On 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” is upgraded to a full object-based Dolby Atmos mix.

Dialogue is well balanced throughout and, like the DTS-MA 7.1 mix, Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score offers some great mood and atmosphere pumping up those low LFE tones giving that creepy dissonant vibes. Levels are spot on without any softness issues or need to raise the volume higher than you normally would.

Special Features:

From Film to Franchise: Continuing the Story (HD 8:06)

An Act of War: Making Sicario: Day of the Soldado (HD 15:34)

The Assassin and the Soldier: The Cast and Characters (HD 14:04)

Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin star in SICARIO 2: SOLDADO.

4K Blu-ray review: “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” (2018) "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" (2018) Drama/Thriller Running Time: 122 minutes Written by: Taylor Sheridan Directed by: Stefano Sollima…

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rejectedembers · 7 years ago

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Firebrant: Shades of Magic

So, here I go again, being a hypercritical bitch about a beloved book, or, rather, series. I want to make it clear right off the bat that I LOVE this series; I love the characters, I love the setting, I love the writing. I’d read this series again in a heartbeat, and no doubt eventually will. That doesn’t mean that I don’t see its flaws and weaknesses, or at least see what it could have been.

Spoilers inbound.

Without a doubt, this series’s biggest strength is its characters. I would even venture out in saying that Schwab doesn’t write characters, but rather people for how real they feel. A big part of this stems from her enchanting, but not overly flowery style of writing; descriptions never overstay their welcome. But these are all things you discover the more you read. The series’s major draw, however, is its setting, or at least that’s what the premise would have you believe.

The blurb on A Darker Shade of Magic immediately informs you of the parallel Londons (Red, Grey, White, and Black), and how only Antari can travel between the worlds. My assumption upon picking up this novel was that the inter-dimensional travel was going to play a significant part in the upcoming tale, and it does...for the first book. But once you get into book 2, characters seem to barely ever travel between the worlds.

This is especially noticeable in the third book where I don’t think they traveled outside of the Red world at all to resolve the main conflict within the plot. Traveling could have easily been facilitated without even changing much of the plot: the MacGuffin the protags are after could totally have wound up in one of the other worlds at some point in time (I’ll elaborate more on this later). It’s especially annoying since we get constant reminders via Ned’s chapters of how Osaron’s magic seems to be seeping into the other worlds. It’s like Schwab is dangling the possibility of going there in our faces only to never deliver on this promise.

Honestly, the big problem here is simply a lack of world-building. When Schwab does spend time describing even the small, insignificant parts of everyday life, the setting really comes to life. I had very little difficulty imagining all of the Londons despite the fact that I’ve never even been to a single London in my own reality. But after establishing these settings in the first book, Schwab rarely returns to world-building from the perspective of the past. Events and characters become very grounded in the present, and even in flashbacks the focus is generally on the characters and what they were experiencing internally. The Red, White, and even Black worlds start to feel like there just isn’t much history to them, when that can’t possibly be true. And while I agree that it would have been rather tedious to sit through pages and pages of a character expounding on the “grand history of Arnes” or something of the like, there is something in particular that irks me when it comes to the lack of history.

The Antari play such a large role in the series, and yet after everything is said and done, you don’t actually get to know all that much about them. You get to know tonnes about the Antari characters, but almost nothing of the Antari themselves, their culture, their historical roles. Granted, part of the appeal of the Antari is that even they can’t answer what they really are, where their powers came from, why they were chosen, but how Antari come to be and what they decide to do with themselves afterwards are two entirely different groups of questions. It’s mentioned that there were once dozens if not hundreds of Antari prior to the catastrophe that happened in Black London. I find it hard to believe that, even if they each had their own loyalties, some of them wouldn’t have come together to create a unique culture. Even, at least, something more or less academic, trying to find answers to the question of how Antari come to be.

I was really disappointed to find that the lore of the Antari was never expanded upon. More information on the Antari could have provided a lot of substance to many different areas of the story. The Antari characters could have learnt something about themselves while delving deeper into the mysteries of their predecessors, the concept of a culture of inter-dimensional travelers opens up more opportunities to include traveling in the story, and the plot could have received some much needed resolution for several key questions (I’ll expand on this later, too).

This leads us to the overarching plot of books 2 and 3, easily the weakest part of the series. I love a good “save the world” plot as much as the next fantasy junkie, but I feel like it was just tackled lazily here: some evil force shows up, threatening to destroy all that the characters love, and they are the only ones who can defeat it. Other than that, there’s not much else to say about the main conflict, no twists or turns in the structure that keep you on your toes. A large chunk of the time was just waiting for the characters to find a solution they can start working on so they can finally have something to do.

It doesn’t help that Osaron is one of the least compelling villains I’ve read about recently. I feel that Schwab was aiming to make him both a threatening, alien force unable to be reasoned with or properly comprehended by mortals, and a relatable human-ish being with desires and personality. I find him to be a failure on both ends, since the addition of some aspect of humanity completely destroys the image of him as an imposing, unbeatable entity, and he never reaches a level of depth and complexity that the human characters do, making him seem more like a caricature of a villainous person than anything. And this comes in stark contrast to Athos and Astrid, the villains from the first book, although you don’t even know they are the true villains until at least halfway into the novel. They were quite compelling for how they were very human and yet very, very twisted, and I really wished there had been more with them, especially for how they could have contrasted with Holland, showing us what White London is versus what it could be. Obviously, Athos still would have had to die, but it would have been interesting to see Astrid try for revenge or something of the like.

All in all, I don’t think the structure of the series helped. The first book very much feels like a standalone; one or two elements don’t get completely solved, but I also don’t think it was necessary to have seen them get resolved to have still had a full story experience. And while the first book provides set up, the plot of A Darker Shade of Magic feels entirely separate from the plot of A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light, and because of this, the entire series feels stilted. Books 2 and 3 are so intertwined they might as well be one book, but the jump from book 1 to 2 is downright jarring in comparison. To be honest, I prefer the jump from 1 to 2 over 2 to 3, but considered as a whole, the lack of a continuous plot through all three books (or the lack of dedication to a series of single book adventures) definitely makes it seem like Schwab only intended to write one book but somehow came out with three.

In general, I would have liked to see a story that had an overarching plot, but included smaller moments of drama and adventure within. The characters are what really make this series stand out, and they shine the brightest when they interact with each other. They needed more time together, conversing and taking part in some action, solving problems together. Setting up almost episodic mini-arcs would have provided a good platform for this.

When it comes to leaving the main plot (mostly) intact, the ending could have been a bit more like this. Lenos could have known of an Inheritor due to his Antari grandmother, and, through tracing its path, they discover that she smuggled it to one of the other worlds (providing a little validation for Kell). Thus, our three Antari travel to either White or Grey London (perhaps Lenos’s grandmother sent it somewhere it could do no harm), and take part in their own little adventure to retrieve it. This would also provide an ideal chance to have them discover and learn from each other and/or their surroundings something about Antari history and culture. Meanwhile, Alucard stays behind with Rhy, and the two discuss what happened in the past (I’m not sure it’s ever explained why Alucard can’t just tell Rhy the truth. Is there a reason why Rhy may not believe him without proof? Seriously, it bugged me how they just never talked it out.). Rhy forgives him either then or later, and Alucard should have a moment where we see him protecting Rhy, making Rhy’s choice later on to have Alucard be an official protector make more sense, especially politically since there would have been witnesses. The three Antari eventually return, and execute their attack (or still have to travel to the ship market since maybe the Inheritor got smuggled around again). The point is the majority of the time spent mostly just sitting around the palace struggling to find a solution would be cut out, or relegated to some much more concise Rhy/Alucard chapters.

There are a few other disappointments I had with the series. Ojka, while an interesting character, is never really given much to do, a moment to shine. Most of the chapters involving her feature her internal thoughts about Holland and what he’s done, but not what she’s done. It feels like she was built up to be and do more, and so is far too quickly killed off.

I’m also disappointed that there wasn’t some deeper connection revealed between Osaron and the Antari. I really got the sense after A Darker Shade of Magic that there was something about the Antari specifically that resulted in Vitari not being able to immediately take over their minds and bodies, something more than just “they are extra magical and thus extra magically resistant”. Once I got a bit into A Gathering of Shadows, I theorized that everything from Black London, including stones, was a piece of Osaron via his magic, and that Vitari was just a branch of Osaron’s consciousness. Thus, whatever special connection Vitari had to the Antari also applied to Osaron.

After more solid evidence was given to suggest Delilah was Antari, I came up with a more fully-fledged theory: Osaron was to be the Black London Antari, or at least used to be one prior to absorbing all of the Black world’s magic. This would check out with the general pattern that was emerging: one Antari from each of the worlds. It also made sense logically as only an Antari should have been capable of whatever magic resulted in Osaron claiming it all in his own world. Not to mention this would explain the relative lack of/access to knowledge on the Antari; one of their own practically destroyed an entire reality, and they would not want that happening again. The magic, thus, that connected Osaron/Vitari to the Antari was more than just power, but some mystical tie that exists between Antari. Obviously, this is not what happened at all.

I have a few other, smaller nitpicks. I really wanted to see Kell and Alucard face off in the tournament just to experience the absolute bitterness that would be Kell after being forced to throw the match or else be caught. This would have contrasted well in a later scene of Kell and Alucard fighting side-by-side and discovering that they work well together. I also wanted to see more adventures aboard the Night Spire. It could have been more removed from London, or at least on the outskirts and so available to the group. In any case, the ship got a lot of play early on and build up in general for something much bigger, and for it to pretty much never come back in the main plot was disappointing. Pretty much everything with Ned and King George the IV was a waste of time. I was really hoping that that subplot would go somewhere if only to allow for some inter-dimensional traveling, but unfortunately not. I’m not a fan, either, of the decision to make the series rather dark and depressing by the third book. I understand that the situation was meant to be dire and “real” and adult, but it started to feel cheap once characters just started getting killed off left and right.

Also, while I feel that the characters were very well-written, there is one thing concerning Kell that has bugged me since the end of the first book: he never seems to feel any real guilt over sending Holland to Black London. Admittedly, Holland was the aggressor, and so I can see Kell not feeling overly guilty about besting him and pretty much killing him in their last duel, but Kell is an Antari and he knows that they heal faster than most and can recover from some otherwise pretty nasty injuries. So, it kind of baffles me that his excuse for why it’s alright that he sends Holland to Black London is because Kell’s sure the other Antari is going to die anyways. Holland did end up recovering, so I just feel that maybe Kell should have known better than to assume.

In any case, Kell’s never really forced to confront any guilt over the fact that the whole situation is entirely his fault even if it was simply a chain of consequences from one unfortunate choice. The closest we get is that he, eventually, sympathizes with Holland and the poor treatment he’s getting from everyone, because, had he given in at the end of book 2, Osaron would have used his body to get to Red London. If anything, though, this consequence didn’t feel like a result of a decision Kell made, but rather one that Holland made when he first found Osaron in Black London. The reason for Kell’s guilt or regret should come from the decision he made back in book 1 to send Holland to Black London, but there’s never get a good scene of him mulling over this fact, or even approaching Holland about it in a meaningful way. There’s also, that I can remember, no mention of Kell ever feeling that he should be completely responsible for finding a solution to the situation he inadvertently caused. Even if he never vocalizes it, or tries to go out on his own, he just never even thinks about it, and I just find it so incredibly odd that a character like Kell never feels the depth of that guilt either towards Holland or the entirety of Red London.

So, that’s all I have to say on this series, I hope. I do really love this series. It captured me from the onset, and even as I sat there with a critique starting to form in my brain, I couldn’t help but want to read more, for it to go on forever. My complaints are largely things I’ve noticed in retrospect, and aren’t about to deter me from picking up these books again. The Shades of Magic series deserves all the praise it gets, and I hope this rant doesn’t deter anyone from loving it any less.

#shades of magic #a darker shade of magic #adsom #a gathering of shadows #a conjuring of light #v e schwab #book rants #booklr #rejectedembers

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equivvitch · 7 years ago

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Fassathon: A Summary (Part I)

So, this summer, in the year of Our Lord 2017, I decided to do something stupid and unnecessary, as I do, by watching every single theatrically-released movie Michael Fassbender has been in thus far. Every single one. I dubbed it the Fassathon and didn’t rest until I was finished. (I know a lot of his early career was in television and in television movies (trust me I know the only thing I have to type in my search bar is “im” and his IMDb page pops up automatically) and given more time I’ll probably watch some of those but for the sake of not having to watch like seven more movies I granted myself that leniency.)

All in all, I’d say it took about two months. In total I believe I watched 24 movies, having already watched five beforehand (the new X-Men trilogy, Shame, and Jane Eyre) for a grand total of 29 damn movies (full disclosure, one was a bonus which you’ll see eventually but whatever). Some of them were actually ones I needed/wanted to watch but a lot were….not.

In any case, for the sake of posterity and making myself feel better about being a dumbass, I decided to write up some kind of summary piece about it, so that’s what this is. It got fuckign long so it’s gonna be divided into three parts: two just reviewing the movies and one with some summary thoughts.

This is part one, but first, it wouldn’t be a post by me without eighty disclaimers so let’s get that out of the way first:

This is all subjective obviously. Keep in mind I had to watch all of these so a lot of times I tended to compare them more to themselves than films as a whole. I tried to see the big picture after the fact but when you have 28 films to watch you tend to get hyper-focused on the task at hand. Also I’m not a film critic. I’m just an asshole and a dumbass, a dumb asshole if you will. I am interested in film theory but that means about jack since I have no formal education in it.

It should also be noted that a) Fassbender’s performances in these movies were almost uniformly excellent. The man can carry a movie on his goddamn back and often does if required to do so. This was noted consistently to the point of it being funny in the reviews of each movie. b) A lot of these are British movies. They’re not Hollywood. Just…..pointing it out. And c) I’m 1000% attached to some of these films/franchises outside of this “challenge.” X-Men in particular and also Jane Eyre I’m invested in deeply so that might affect my ideas.

That out of the way, without further ado, some reviews, thoughts, and recommendations:

X-Men: First Class (Erik Lehnsherr)

Rating: 8/10

Quick Summary: At the height of the Cold War, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr meet under unlikely circumstances and form an even more unlikely bond. They end up with a common goal in defeating a ghost of Erik’s past, Sebastian Shaw, who is determined to cause nuclear war between the U.S. and Soviet Union in hopes of destroying all humans and making way for mutant rule. The two set out and put together a team of mutants to help combat him, but push their relationship in the process to an unfortunate breaking point.

Some Thoughts: I have watched First Class so many times you have no idea. Understand, I once did a full rewatch of this movie for the sole purpose of fact-checking a post that was talking about how many times Charles says “Erik” throughout the movie. I sat there and tallied them by rewatching the entire thing. I love this movie to pieces, so I really have no ability to objective over it. Because of that I do know its flaws pretty well, trust me. It has issues (coughs about the ridiculous awful romantic subplots), but I really do think it’s a strong film and an interesting start to this quasi-reboot. Ultimately it’s a movie about the relationship between Erik and Charles, so that is its strongest point. There are some big shoes to fill, considering Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan had the roles first, but McAvoy and Fassbender do a great job with it. It was stated in interviews that McAvoy was cast first and then they made the guys going out for the role of Erik read with him to cast a chemistry instead of a person and it shows. It really is shot like a love story, especially when the B-plot is an explicit romance between Hank and Raven. In my opinion it’s a fun ride, watching everyone meet and use their powers, train together and learn together. The ending is not that happy and I always shake hands with movies that dare to do that, especially big films like this (see GotG 2). It can be silly and frustrating at times, but after Last Stand I feel like we could only go up. I know some people really don’t like this movie which? I guess I’d like to hear from someone who doesn’t to understand why. That being said, Armando deserved better. Fuck his nonsensical death.

Warnings: Montages? Also some violence. Not a ton but what’s there sticks in your head.

Recommend?: Yeah! If you like superhero movies this is a pretty solid one.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Erik, but this time in the 70s, and with less turtlenecks and more scarves)

Rating: 9/10

Quick Summary: (This plot is so convoluted I’m going to have to be vague otherwise this could take years.) In an apocalyptic future these robots called Sentinels are murdering everyone, particularly mutants because at one point a guy named Dr. Trask got ahold of Mystique’s DNA and used it to make them indestructible. The always wonderful and patient Logan gets sent back to the past to try and stop this from happening. There he finds Charles in a terrible, drug-induced spiral having lost everything and has to attempt to get him out of it so he can help find Raven who’s gone rogue and wants to kill Trask for his experimentation on mutants. In the process they join up with Erik, courtesy of Peter/Quicksilver, which doesn’t go well, which no one could have ever seen coming. The whole thing comes to a head when Raven has to decide whether to become a murderer and risk an even darker future or let Trask walk free and go against what she believes in.

Some Thoughts: I remember so clearly sitting the theatre and seeing the first preview for this, turning to my family and joking about the really stupid title. Like “Days of Future Past? What kind of title is that?” It’s up there with Back to the Future in terms of dumb titles, but is somehow pretty much acknowledged as the best of the current three, alternate timeline movies?? In spite of its ridiculously convoluted plot, it’s a really solid film and has great character development for two of the big players, Charles and Raven. Wolverine acts as a familiar foundation and point of view for the story and grounds it as he often does. Charles has to learn to stop trying to control those around him and move on with his life despite past losses, and Raven has to make a pivotal choice for her character. The scene at the end where it’s flipping between the future and past and all the original cast and the new cast are fighting at the same time is really cool, and the character arcs are strong and satisfying. The only one who doesn’t change much is Erik, but arguably First Class was his platform for character development or, more accurately, regression. He doesn’t do anything that helpful (which is….true to form) but watching him lift an entire fucking baseball stadium, fly it through the air, and drop it on top of the White House is pretty rad. Also Quicksilver is incredible holy shit the way they do his scenes is iconic. Kind of confusing maybe, but it also retconned almost the entirety of the original timeline in a genius move to destroy Last Stand once and for all. It’s usually called the best for a reason.

Warnings: Wolverine gets stabbed by stuff and shot a lot but that’s par for the course

Recommend?: Yep! But you might want to have watched some of the other movies first. Watching it with no background would probably be….too much.

X-Men: Apocalypse (Still Erik/Polish(?) Lumberjack/Poster child for Man Pain™)

Rating: 5/10

Quick Summary: An ancient mutant named Apocalypse (or En Sabah Nur if we’re going to be technical) awakens in the midst of the 80s (because there must be a 10 year gap between each movie it’s a rule). He used to rule but now he doesn’t and he’s mad so now he wants to destroy the world or some shit and rebuild it in his image. He does this by getting together his four horsemen (get it) including Erik who is inexplicably in Poland with yet another family that gets fridged. The X-Men find this out and get together to take him down.

Some Thoughts: I can (and have) ranted about this movie for literal hours. I have some serious personal gripes with it and it annoys me to the point where I’ve blown it out of proportion so keep that in mind. That rating might be a bit low but this movie is mediocre at best. I guess the core of it is because the X-Men conflict is a lot more interesting when they’re up against some government entity or society as a whole rather than just some random villain, at least to me. This movie also does not have a strong foundation like the first two did, no solid grounding point. In XMFC it was Erik and Charles’s relationship, in DoFP it was Wolverine being the POV character, but in this we really have nothing. The stuff with the kids is probably the most interesting and I hope they do more of that in the upcoming sequel. It has a few good moments (Quicksilver’s scene and Erik dramatically throwing down giant steel beams in the shape of an “X” in front of Apocalypse as he switches sides to save Charles and co stick out in my mind) but it tends to drag otherwise. There are about twenty plots going on and it takes forever for them all to connect. The romantic subplot crap is a pain in the ass and dragging Moira back was particularly idiotic when you realize they once again gave her nothing to do in the final act except overlook Charles completely violating her personhood in the first movie by wiping her mind without consent so she can get back together with him. The shit with Erik’s Poland family is stupid even if it’s done well. Magneto of all fucking people does not need more man pain for god’s sake. Lawrence is so checked out she really might as well be a phone recording as Lindsay Ellis points out in her Loose Canon series on YouTube. The only one who really had any interesting development was Storm and I hope they keep on with her because she’s a really good character. There’s just not much there for me, or what is there isn’t of any value. I really hope the next one is better. (Probably a far-fetched hope but a girl can dream.)

Warnings: Lazy writing (and comic-book-movie-typical violence)

Recommend?: I mean you probably want to watch if you’re watching the series. It’s not the worst X-Men movie. I’m probably a little harsh on it. There are the Wolverine sequels. Still, if you’re not that invested, it’s probably not worth it.

Jane Eyre (Rochester)

Rating: 11/10 10/10

Quick Summary: Jane Eyre has lived a fairly unfortunate life, having been put under watch of her cruel aunt after her parents’ deaths and consequently sent to a boarding school that beats its pupils into submission, but remains strong in spite of this. She finds herself a new job as a governess at Thornfield Hall and soon meets its master, Edward Fairfax Rochester. The two begin to talk and form an interesting relationship in spite of their large age difference. Jane begins to fall for her employer, overlooking his rough exterior to the person underneath. Rochester reciprocates, but all is not well. Jane discovers her lover is hiding a dark secret and must decide whether to be true to her love for him or to herself.

Some Thoughts: I WOULD DIE FOR JANE EYRE TBH THE DAY NETFLIX TOOK IT OFF WAS A TRAVESTY. Really, though it’s such a good movie and very loyal to the book. It’s a period piece, but it’s very different from something like Pride and Prejudice, a lot because Jane is such an interesting character. I love her and Mia Wasikowska does a great job. Rochester is a bitch, but…..he’s a bitch with a good heart. Realistically he’s supposed to be kind of….not good looking? So casting Fassbender might have been counterproductive, but it does mean he has to compensate for his incredibly square jawline which can’t be hidden behind that shit sideburn beard with his acting, which he does very well. His charisma kind of helps to smooth over the fact that Rochester can be standoffish to viewers that aren’t prepared for him. He is no Mr. Darcy. The chemistry between the two is great and the story is really enthralling. The music is gorgeous and the ending is satisfying. Well-shot, well-paced, loyal to the original, just a great adaptation all together. It’s not a happy movie, but it has a happy ending. I really have nothing but good things to say about it. Please give it a chance if you’re even a bit interested.

Warnings: You might cry/a little blood

Recommend?: Yes!

Shame (Brandon)

Rating: 10/10

(Quick note: if you’re like “wow you sure aren’t harsh on these movies” listen this was back when I was actually choosing the ones I wanted to watch….so yeah….these are mostly good ones at first. There are definitely some bads on here….don’t you worry…)

Quick Summary: Without giving away everything: Brandon is a pretty normal man struggling with a sex addiction which he basically refuses to acknowledge at the beginning of the movie. His lifestyle is disrupted when his younger sister Sissy comes to stay at his apartment without asking him first. The rest of the film is about their complicated and mildly toxic relationship and Brandon dealing (and not dealing) with his addiction with mixed results.

Some Thoughts: This is one of those movies like Brokeback Mountain that just kind of….sticks on you. I felt that way about Silence of the Lambs too where you watch it and then you can’t really forget about it. Fassbender has worked with Steve McQueen who directed this film three times, this being the second, and they make a great pair. McQueen loves him some long takes and he does them well. His style of directing is unflinching to the point of it being uncomfortable which works well for the type of stories he likes to tell. It’s a very quiet movie, not much dialogue, but it really hits home. This really is one of Fassbender’s best of performances in my opinion. He can do a lot with just his expressions and it really shows here. The dynamic between him and Carey Mulligan who plays Sissy is really poignant. I probably could never do it justice with words alone. It’s difficult to watch, but worth it. It’s one of those movies where the protagonist doesn’t really grow, pointed out very blatantly here. True development hasn’t taken place, at least not yet. Whether or not you think it actually will after this is left up to how optimistic you are for the characters and the story.

Warnings: This is rated NC-17 for a reason. They do not shy away from anything and they do not cut you a break by easing into it. Translation: if you’re disinterested in becoming familiar with some very particular bits of Fassy’s anatomy I’d steer clear. Also strong warning for themes (and fairly graphic depictions) of self-harm.

Recommend?: I would never tell someone to watch this movie, but I would definitely advocate for it. Read the description (that a professional has written, not just mine fff), check the warnings, see if you’re up for it. This is one you need to choose to watch, not be forced to.

Macbeth (Macbeth)

Rating: 6/10

Quick Summary: Oh god, I still don’t remember the plot of this thing…. I swear I read it once but you’d be better off reading the Spark Notes or something. It’s based on the Shakespeare play (obviously) where this dude named Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth go around killing people to gain power because some weird ladies in the middle of a field told him he’d be king. Everyone fucking dies at the end per usual due to really ridiculous loopholes. A grand old time, as always, with Mr. ‘speare.

Some Thoughts: Listen pal I got food poisoning trying to watch this damn movie THE CURSE OF THE SCOTTISH PLAY IS REAL. But really, it’s kind of what you’d expect? All of this is coming from me, an idiot, who doesn��t remember the play super well and is shit at Shakespeare, so bear that in mind, but?? It stuck to the original pretty well. It’s played dead-ass straight, so know that right now. There is no humor in this movie ever; it’s completely serious. Also impossible to understand because it’s Shakespearean English in Scottish accents. You’d be better off with a background knowledge of the play I think. That said, the visuals in this movie are absolutely gorgeous holy shit. The ending fight scene is incredible. That alone made it worth the watch for me at least. Marion Cotillard who plays Lady Macbeth is amazing as well. What a great performance. It’s a solid film. You need to accept its no-nonsense attitude to get into it, but otherwise it’s fine.

Warnings: It gets pretty bloody, but not overly so.

Recommend?: Not really, unless you really like the play or have a good knowledge of it already. It’s beautiful, but a little too serious for the casual viewer. I assume that’s why its reviews are kind of mixed.

Prometheus (David)

Rating: 6.5/10

Quick Summary: Two scientists discover a series of ancient drawings, all of which are very similar despite appearing hundreds of years and thousands of miles apart. They believe this might be a clue as to how the human race came to be, a path to our creators. They set out on the Prometheus to investigate a planet they believe to be the origin of these so called “engineers.” Things go awry as one might expect when they find the planet is already inhabited, but not by any “engineers.” Moreover, several crewmembers have secret motivations of their own for coming along which doesn’t really turn out well for anyone.

Some Thoughts: I feel like a lot of people don’t like Prometheus because it’s a think-y movie. It’s not really an action-packed thriller like other movies in the Alien franchise. This was the first in the franchise I’d ever seen so I didn’t really go in with those kind of expectations which I think was to my benefit. If you go in looking for answers you’re probably going to not like it, but I just sort of went to have a good time and pretty much did. Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw is really great. I really enjoyed her as the main character. There are some really good actors in this movie and I think they do a good job. I loved Idris Elba’s character a lot for example. It’s a beautiful film as well. Fassbender plays David, the resident android of the ship. It was interesting to watch him play a robot because he is, to me, a very emotive actor and this had to be more restrained. I don’t remember the movie super well which probably speaks to it just being an average sort of film. It’s not great, but it’s not as bad as some people seemed to think it was. Just go along for the ride and it can be a good popcorn flick.

Warnings: There’s one really graphic surgery scene that was hard to watch, but otherwise it’s (compared to the other Alien film on this list) not too bad. It really is more introspective than bloody. Also, maybe obviously, there are aliens in this movie.

Recommend?: If you’re into sci-fi thought-pieces, sure. Just don’t go in expecting a masterpiece.

Alien: Covenant (Walter and David, yes both)

Rating: (completely subjective) 8/10

Quick Summary: A group of forgettable, idiot crewmembers who are all inexplicably married for no reason other than a desperate bid to get you to care about them in any way (you won’t. trust me. they’re so stupid you’ll probably rooting against them eventually) are piloting a ship called the Covenant with 2000-some passengers and a lot of embryos on a colonizing mission. Along the way they intercept a strange transmission coming from another habitable planet they hadn’t noticed before which is much closer and decide to investigate. Once there things take a turn for the worst. After several deaths and the completely avoidable destruction of their ship, they run into David who’s been living alone on the planet for ten years after the Prometheus crashed there. They soon learn that they would have been better off braving the planet and waiting for rescue alone.

Some Thoughts: Listen I went into this movie completely expecting it to be horrible. This really was the one that started it all, where I decided I’d watch all of them. I wasn’t going to watch it because it looked ridiculous, but then it was available to rent and I was curious. In all honesty, I really only went in to see with my own eyes how and why the actual hell Fassbender was playing two characters which at some point kiss, so that was part of it. Ultimately I ended up really liking it. Now mind you, this is not a good movie. It’s not. The cast is forgettable and stupid to the point where you just want them to die already and get it over with. The only person I even slightly cared about was Daniels, the main crewmember character you follow. People die without any pomp and the movie is riddled with clichés. That said, it is a lot more like what I expect an Alien movie usually is. There’s a lot more fighting of aliens and a lot more blood. So what’s with the rating? Really it’s completely subjective, but if you know me and watch this movie you’ll probably understand. Let’s just say I have a very specific type of character I tend to like and this movie delivers.

Fassbender carries this gotdamn movie on his back half the time and somehow pulls off the ridiculous scenario of him being the two different robots. The interactions between Walter and David really were some of the more interesting parts of the film for me, completely ridiculous as they are (“I’ll do the fingering”). If you can just suspend your disbelief and go with it I insist that it can be a good time. My favor of the movie really comes from my opinion of David and I think that’s what will make or break the movie for you. It was a ballsy choice of protagonist, and when you realize that I think the forgettable main crew is a little more justifiable. Big kudos for the ending as well, at least from me. It ended exactly the way I wanted it to, and I ended up being invested in who I needed to be invested in. It’s a stupid movie, but I do think you can have fun watching it if you’re in it for the right stuff (namely the fassbots).

(Also, people are not happy about the fuck-million more Alien movies in the works but hear me out…. I have a great pitch idea….what if with every new movie we just double the number of Fassbenders…… so there’s four and then eight and then sixteen all the way until we just have infinite Fassbenders….. listen this is a great plan Mr. Scott please hire me as script consultant from now on)

Warnings: This is a lot more of a horror movie than Prometheus. It’s bloody and violent, and yes there are more aliens. Also it is really stupid. Also warnings for that sweet, sweet ‘bot-on-‘bot action ;)

Recommend?: I mean….not really. Again my opinion is so subjective here that it’s worth a grain of salt. If you do, you need to watch Prometheus first because you need to form an opinion of David.

Hunger (Bobby Sands)

Rating: 5/10

Quick Summary: Without me sitting here for like a half hour looking up a lot of proper names and dates (which I’ve already done once when I was watching the damn thing), this a movie about a hunger strike led by a man named Bobby Sands. It takes place in a prison in Northern Ireland. A group of people called the Republicans who are fighting against being part of Britain and want one united Ireland are being arrested for political acts and are protesting in any way they can. This begins with bathing and clothing strikes, and eventually leads to a hunger strike when this accomplishes nothing.

Some Thoughts: So this is a critically-acclaimed movie and I know people really like it. I guess I can see why but compared to McQueen’s other films I didn’t think it was super impressive. It’s his first project with Fassbender and in a lot of ways it feels like an early-career film. It has a lot of pacing issues. I read reviews saying it’s two movies in one and it really is. As an American (and therefore a dumbass when it comes to conflicts in other countries because our history classes here are Shit) it was sort of a confusing movie to watch just because I didn’t really have any background knowledge about what was happening. I was doing a lot of googling throughout to catch myself up with the conflict and acronyms etc. It’d definitely strike more of a chord with someone who knew about it beforehand. It is a prison movie and it’s difficult to watch because of that. There’s a lot of mistreatment of prisoners and just kind of gross stuff in general. I was whining at one point about the hunger strike not starting until like…20 minutes before the movie ends but I see now why it didn’t because you’re basically just watching Fassbender starve to death from that point on and it’s Not Fun. There are impressive parts of it. There’s a long take of a conversation between Bobby and a priest where he explains his idea of starting a hunger strikes that is, I shit you know, seventeen fucking minutes long. It’s crazy. There are other long takes in the film but they’re not always used super effectively. This can cause the movie to drag at times. The use of sound in the movie is also really amazing. It’s very quiet usually, but picks its loud moments and picks them well. Overall I didn’t get much out of watching it, but that’s just me. I didn’t think it was worth the difficult watch.

Warnings: It’s unrated but I bet it would be R or even NC-17 if it was. Lots of disturbing shots of violence against prisoners and behaviors of the prisoners themselves tbh. There’s nudity as well, but it’s used as humiliation mostly. As usual, McQueen’s style of filmmaking is unflinching and watching someone starve to death isn’t fun.

Recommend?: Not really. McQueen has better films you could watch. Unless you’re personally interested in the conflict at hand, I’d skip it.

Frank (Frank)

Rating: 10/10

Quick Summary: An untalented aspiring musician named Jon suddenly stumbles across the opportunity of a lifetime to play in actual band when they find themselves out a keyboard player the day before a performance. Jon lends them a hand and is accepted into the group in spite of some friction with most of the members. They invite him back on what ends up being year-long trip into the woods to write a new album. While living with the band, the Soronprfbs, Jon gets to know the members better, as well as their many quirks. Notably, there is Don, the manager who seems level-headed if somewhat depressed, Clara, who doesn’t take Jon’s being there very well, and Frank, the apparent leader of the band. Jon takes a special interest in Frank who appears to be the heart and soul of the group. In spite of wearing a giant fake head at all times, he’s very friendly, encouraging, and strangely inspiring. As they work to write their album, Jon begins to record and post their progress on social media, gaining them a new following of people amused by their bizarre antics. This new popularity ends up landing them a bigger gig than they’ve ever had before, but comes at the cost of risking the band’s identity and solidarity.

Some Thoughts: Frank is an amazing movie. If someone wasn’t interested in Jane Eyre but wanted a Fassbender rec, I would 100% give this one. I love this movie to pieces and I’m so glad I watched it because I was initially on the fence with it. In fact, I liked it so much I watched it twice within my rental period, and have now purchased it. If you’re looking for something close to a comedy on this list, this is it. I kind of describe it as if Wes Anderson directed Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, threw in a strong lesson about mental illness, and bumped up the rating a bit. This movie is hilarious and wonderful and poignant. The message is a really good one and one I don’t think we hear a lot. It’s a good commentary on the relationship between art and mental illness, and it’s done respectfully for the most part. Fassbender as Frank is kind of incredible. You don’t see his face for the majority of the film, but he still gives an amazing performance. I think it shows how talented he is as an actor that he pulls this part off so well. You’re intrigued as much as Jon is by him, or at least I was. The humor is a little out there and some of the themes may be off-putting, but I really do think this is one to see. Maggie Gyllenhaal as Clara is fantastic as well. It’s a difficult part but she pulls it off so wonderfully. Domhnall Gleeson as Jon gives a decent grounding point of view character as well. It’s funny and touching and goddammit maybe someday I’ll watch one of these movies without crying but that ending hit me right in the heart.

Warnings: Themes of self-harm and mental illness are present. They’re not played as a joke, but they’re there.

Recommend?: Yes please watch this movie I beg of you it deserves all the praise

Fish Tank (Connor)

Rating: 5/10

Quick Summary: The movie is a coming-of-age story of sorts for the protagonist Mia. Mia has a difficult home life with a neglectful and often abusive mother as well as a penchant for causing trouble. Having been kicked out of school she is directionless which only furthers her spiral downward. Her only true passion is dancing, but she prefers to do this privately. One day she meets her mother’s latest fling, Connor. Unlike the others, however, Connor seems there to stay. Mia begins to interact with Connor and the two form a relationship. Connor is kind to both her and her younger sister, treating them with respect and parental affection they do not receive otherwise. Connor encourages Mia’s hobby and leads her to begin searching for a career in dancing, helping to turn her life around. Things take a turn when Mia and Connor overstep a boundary in their relationship and this leads to Mia discovering that Connor was not what she thought he was.

Some Thoughts: I’m very…ambivalent about this movie, so I don’t probably have a lot interesting to say about it. It seems to me that Fish Tank is a part of a very particular genre of movie about a specific part of the British lower class, making it difficult to relate to for someone who hasn’t experienced that way of life. I watched another movie called Beautiful Thing a long time ago that was part of this genre as well, and that’s what Fish Tank reminded me of more than anything else. It seems to be characterized by poor, crowded living conditions and abusive family dynamics more than anything else. The characters struggle to get by and are generally mean-spirited to everyone they encounter automatically. It can make for a bitter watching experience, even if it is realistic. Mia is a somewhat believable teenager. Since this is a British movie about hip-hop dancing however and the actress playing Mia has…little to no actual dancing skill, any parts of the movie that have to do with this dancing can be embarrassing to watch. You really have to accept that it’s stupid and move past it to watch the thing.

The relationship between Mia and Connor is…troubling which I’m sure it’s supposed to be but it’s never resolved. Some of the scenes in the movie are disturbing as some in Hunger. One of my biggest issues with the movie was there really seemed to be a conversation missing. The end of the film felt like it was lacking a crucial interaction between the two and it made the ending fall pretty flat, at least for me. I know people like this movie and it’s award-winning but I couldn’t relate to it in any meaningful way. It left me feeling conflicted more than anything else. I have no strong or final opinion on this movie. I do respect that it had a female director, but I feel as though I very clearly wasn’t its intended audience, so its impact on me was minor at best and non-existent at worst. There are some nice cheesecake shots in it of Fassbender I guess. I think it still wins for best ass shot afdjks;lj

Warnings: Some disturbing character behavior, especially from Mia. Abusive family dynamics and physical child abuse are also present. Also statutory r*pe. Also some really embarrassing excuses for hip-hop dancing and general cultural appropriation shit that comes from a British movie about hip-hop.

Recommend?: You can try it, but I wouldn’t advocate for it. There are better artsy films to watch unless you’re actually in the target demographic and think you might like this sort of movie.

Inglourious Basterds (Lt. Archie Hicox)

Rating: 7/10

Quick Summary: When she was young, Shosanna’s family was murdered by Nazis hunting down Jewish families who had escaped to France. Now, as a young woman, she finds herself with the opportunity to get revenge. Meanwhile, Lt. Aldo Raine has formed a group of rogue Nazi-hunters called the Basterds, infamous throughout Germany for their lack of restraint and ability to avoid capture. His team is hired by the Allies to help with a plot to hopefully take out all the big political figures in the Nazi party, including Hitler himself, in one fell swoop. It just so happens these two plans are meant to take place in the same place, on the same night.

Some Thoughts: This is the first Tarantino movie I’ve ever seen and I do think it was good for me to at least see one. I was glad to see the movie itself too, actually. It was one on here I just needed to watch outside of this thing. I enjoyed it for all it reveled (as expected) in gore occasionally. I really loved Shosanna. Mélanie Laurent did an excellent job with her and she was easily the best part of the film for me, though I did enjoy Brad Pitt’s shenanigans as Aldo. Fassbender has kind of a bit part in this one which was a little different, since he tends to steal the spotlight otherwise. It really wasn’t my favorite performance of his. It was a little unfocused, though that might be because his character is just a plot device. Kind of a shame but in true X-Men fashion all he did was show-up, fuck things up, and then make his exit. Ah well. It’s well-shot and a good time, if a little long. The blood was there, but not excessive. Maybe a good choice if you, like me, wanted to see one of these movies, but were a little nervous about the violence.

Warnings: Typical Tarantino violence, I presume. Really, it’s just a few focused shots of it, but there is scalping in this movie, as well as some mutilation and gunshot wounds. I whipped my hand up to cover the screen more the once throughout and I’m pretty decent with blood.

Recommend?: Sure. It’s a pretty solid film and last time I checked it’s free on Netflix.

Centurion (Quintus Dias)

Rating: 6.5/10

Quick Summary: In the something-or-other A.D. the Romans are up somewhere near Britain trying to expand the empire, as one does, but are having trouble with the native peoples of those lands called the Picts. The Picts keep decimating their armies, as they do with Quintus Dias’s men. The Picts take him in rather than killing him because he speaks their language, allowing him to escape and meet up with another regiment. Together, they try again to attack the Picts and again are defeated handily. This time the Picts take their general of sorts. Dias and a small group of men are the only ones to survive and attempt to rescue him, but ultimately fail. Afterwards they begin their attempt to escape to safety, all the while being hunted by the Picts.

Some Thoughts: So I fully expected to hate this movie. When I saw this was the other one on Netflix I was Not Happy, but? It kind of surprised me. I think really it did a couple small things well and that turned my favor of it. It really isn’t that great of a movie, with a lot of narration and not a ton to say, but it’s certainly not offensive. It turned into a survival movie rather than a war movie which I greatly preferred. They also weren’t super over the top with the romantic subplot which was….SHOCKING. Usually, in my experience with the Fassathon, if there can be a sex scene there Will Be A Sex Scene, but not here. They meet a cool witch lady along the way who takes to Quintus, but never is it obnoxious, nor does it waste time with it. It was a breath of fresh air tbh…. I’m probably patting this movie on the back for little things too much, but I really do think it could have been a lot worse. It’s fine. I don’t really know who the target audience was supposed to be but it might be good for a night when you’re bored and can’t think of anything else to watch. You get to watch Fassbender run valiantly and stupidly shirtless through the snow if nothing else.

Warnings: It can get bloody, but not overly so. Also mentions of past sexual assault, but nothing shown.

Recommend?: Eh…like I said. Maybe for the night you’re flipping around and there’s nothing on. Decent popcorn flick, probably not worth spending money on.

Trespass Against Us (Chad Cutler)

Rating: 3/10

Quick Summary: Nothing I could write will make this movie’s plot make any damn sense but I’ll try anyway. Basically there’s this family called the Cutlers who are….Irish tent-people and also a weird kind of mob family with a patriarch named Colby. They live in this little trailer park circle and commit crimes to get by. The plot basically revolves around Fassbender’s character Chad Cutler trying to get out from under Colby’s thumb in order to give his wife and two children a better life. Unfortunately, it seems again and again that he’s already dug his grave and there’s nothing to do but lie in it.

Some Thoughts: So this is a weird movie. The whole conceit is weird and another one that you just kind of have to go with to be able to watch it. Its problem is that it doesn’t really have an arc or a narrative that goes anywhere. If it really had wanted to do something it would have needed to allow Chad to make any progress in his attempts to get away. The dialogue is full of slang and really difficult to understand at times. The whole dynamic of the family is sort of confusing and it’s never explained, just thrust upon you immediately. There are some good interactions, notably between Colby and Chad. The parental relationship between Chad and his son is interesting too, but it really just doesn’t go anywhere with itself. I got a little caught up in the emotionality of it watching it, but looking back I can see how flawed it is. I really don’t see what the director was getting at. Also the religious overtones are strange and didn’t do a whole lot. Just kind of unimpressive if still nice to look at sometimes.

Warnings: Animal death. A lot, actually, and often purposeful. Disturbing behavior, especially one scene where a man is stripped and humiliated. It was surprising and difficult to watch.

Recommend?: Hard pass. Skip it.

300 (Stelios)

Rating: 4/10

Quick Summary: Gerard Butler leads a group of 300 dudes against a gigantic, vaguely racist depiction of the Persian army.

Some Thoughts: I have nothing original to say about this movie, I’m sure. I was……not super happy to find it on here honestly, so I did my best to just enjoy it by making fun of it. Most people know what 300 is like. It’s got some interesting visuals, but it’s definitely one that looks pretty and does as little as possible. Mostly it’s a male power fantasy interwoven with quite a bit of racism, particularly in the portrayal of the Persians. It’s saturated with slow-mo shots and rousing speeches that aren’t really that important to anything. It’s a good one to watch on a bad movie night probably if you don’t mind some of the gore. This was Fassbender’s first theatrical appearance if I’m correct and he’s fine. I guess one plus-side of this movie is that everyone’s practically naked the whole time and super buff so that can be fun to ogle if nothing else. It is what it is.

Warnings: Body horror, lots of blood, and war stuff. Tiddies? Racism? Scottish yelling?

Recommend?: It’s your life buddy. It’s probably one to see once so you can rag on it in good conscience.

Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs)

Rating: 9/10

Quick Summary: A movie shot in three parts showing a dramatized version of the events before the release of three of Jobs’s products, focusing in on his relationship with his coworkers as well as past lover and daughter.

Some Thoughts: This is an excellent movie. It’s another one I’d readily recommend to anyone. The scale of the script is unheard of, meaning it’s super dialogue-heavy but you don’t notice at all. It’s completely absorbing. The performances are top-notch all around. This is another one of Fassbender’s best performances. He sinks into the role completely and does a phenomenal job. Kate Winslet is equally wonderful and balances Fassbender’s Jobs well. I really knew nothing about Jobs before watching this movie and I don’t know how much is true and how much is dramatized but I think that shows that even someone who knows nothing can enjoy it and find it interesting. The politics of it all were particularly wild to bear witness to. It’s a great character piece and it deserved the nominations it got in my opinion. I really liked Jobs’s relationship with his daughter as well. I don’t know how they managed to make a movie full of mostly talking so exciting but they did. I also think they did a great job of not idolizing Jobs at all, nor vilifying him. They walked a fine line and wrote him so he seemed truly human rather than a historical figure. That’s hard to do but they nailed it. Once again, I have little bad to say. If you’re not interested in Jane Eyre, Shame, or Frank here’s another good option for you.

Warnings: The IMDb parental advisory page said something about there being some sex/intimacy stuff but I never saw anything which makes me Highly Suspicious

Recommend?: Yes! Give it a chance!

(cont. in pt. 2 / pt. 3)

#fassathon #shut up alice #holy shit an actual post?#that's never happened before #listen i know this is long as shit #and no one's going to actually read this #but i spent a long-ass time on this #and i wanted to actually put it up for posterity #really i'm just proud of how hard i dragged the counselor #i'm sure there are grammatical errors in here but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#i had to wrap this thing up somehow #it's 1000% self-indulgent but....i don't Care #if i had anywhere more appropriate to post this i would but....#where tf else am supposed to put this crap

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sahibookworm · 5 years ago

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The original tag was created by ReadLikeWildfire and Earl Grey Books!

I’m not someone who is fond of doing wrap-up posts, but I also feel that giving some sort of update about my first half of the reading year will make me happy. And hopefully, all you friends of mine are also interested to know about all the wonderful books I’ve read these past six months. And before I get started with the tag, let me give you a tiny overall update about my reading year and goals.

Goodreads Challenge: I’m upto 91/130 books.

1000 Followers on the blog: I’m at 982 right now, so hopefully I’ll reach my goal soon.

80% on Netgalley: I’m going steady at 85% and hope to keep it up.

Stars and Sorcery Book Club: I have actually read all our BOTM’s and I am very proud of it.

Around the Year in 52 Books: I’m at 44/52 but the remaining prompts are gonna be a bit tough.

Year of the Asian Challenge: My goal was to read between 21-30 books for this challenge and I’ve already finished 28 books, so I count this as a win too.

I’ve also never used charts and graphs to show my updates before, but everyone seems to be using them and they look awesome and colorful, so I’m gonna give them a try too.

As you can see, majority of my reads have been romances (which also tend to be contemporary) with fantasy coming closest second. I think I will also be happy if I can maintain around 10% for non-fiction till the end of the year.

This one definitely makes me feel very proud because almost half my books are ownvoices and I only hope this count increases as the year goes by.

This is definitely a bit unexpected because I love YA, but I seem to have gravitated towards reading more adult romances this year. Hopefully I can make similar inroads into adult fantasy in the latter half of the year.

This chart totally reflects me because I love reading ebooks and have also been trying to listen to more audios. What I didn’t realize was that I have been reading a lot more ARCs and I hope I continue to be approved for them.

A majority of my reads being 4 star and above surely shows that I have become a bit better at picking books that suit my taste. I surely hope I read many more 5 stars before the end of the year.

Now…. Let’s get started with the tag…!!!!!!!

💨 1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019:

Well, it was a given that Red, White and Royal Blue was gonna be here because it was such a delight to read. But an unexpected addition to my best books of the year is the finale of the Bone Witch trilogy, The Shadow Glass because it’s one of the most emotional and satisfying conclusions I’ve read in quite a long time.

💨 2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019:

I just couldn’t choose between Soul of the Sword and The Heart Forger because both of them are excellent and very action packed than their predecessors, and we also can’t help but fall in love with the characters more.

💨 3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to:

These were some of my most anticipated book releases from the first half of this year. Now, I just have to find time to read them all.

💨 4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

There are many many books on my most anticipated list for the upcoming months and I even listed many of them in this post, but one very recent announcement that has me excited is Rachel Maddow’s next. I really love watching her show and was pretty impressed by her other book Drift, so I’m very sure this one will be amazing too.

💨 5. Biggest disappointment:

I have other books which I gave lesser ratings to, but The Women’s War was more of a disappointment because I was expecting so much more from it, and it just didn’t have a lot of substance. On the other hand, I suddenly got the ARC for The Seduction Expert (which I wasn’t expecting) and read some rave reviews, so decided to give it a try – it turned out to be just downright awful.

💨 6. Biggest surprise:

While I was very excited to read We Set the Dark on Fire, I just didn’t expect to fall in love with it so much, and the world building was so amazing too.

I decided to pick up Magical Women on a whim because I wanted to know more about the sci-fi fantasy landscape in the Indian publishing industry and was pleasantly surprised by so many talented authors masterfully blending SFF tropes with Indian mythological elements.

The Priory of the Orange Tree was too intimidating and I didn’t think I would read it, but decided to take it up as a challenge and was very surprised by how easy it was to read. Definitely worth the size of it.

💨 7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you):

While I read some awesome debuts this year, I want to mention a new-to-me author Rin Chupeco. I knew the Bone Witch trilogy was supposed to be good but I was amazed beyond expectations because it was such a different kind of fantasy but highly impressive in all aspects, and also gave me one of my favorite OTPs of this year.

Reviews: The Bone Witch / The Heart Forger / The Shadow Glass

💨 8. Newest fictional crush:

I had to think a lot for this because apparently I don’t seem to have crushed on many characters this year. But one who comes closest is Zavier Demos, the pansexual aromantic rockstar drummer from Syncopation. He is talented, sexy and has a very cool head on his shoulders and I really enjoyed reading his story.

💨 9. Newest favorite character:

In this case, I actually couldn’t choose again because I have a lot of favorite characters this year but one who’s definitely impressed me the most is Yumeko from Shadow of the Fox. She is sweet, trusting, loyal and very brave and I completely adore her. Another one is Lady Tea from The Bone Witch. She has one of the best character developments I have ever read and she is the most loyal and loving person ever.

💨 10. Book that made you cry:

This is so easy to answer because there is no book that could make me cry more than The Song of Achilles. I remember sobbing in anticipation even before the inevitable happened. Another book that made me very emotional was Ghosts of the Shadow Market because it’s about Jem and he is one of my favorite characters from that universe, and reading his journey through so many tumultuous times made me weepy.

💨 11. Book that made you happy:

While Book Boyfriend might not make it to any all time favorite lists of mine, it made me very happy because it featured a romance author hero and a romance blogger heroine, and had so many relatable situations. The Candle and the Flame was a quiet and atmospheric fantasy but it made me happy because of it’s very inherently desi elements and reminded me a lot of home.

I don’t need any particular reason to love The Red Scrolls of Magic other than it being about Magnus and Alec and them being together makes me extremely happy. Sandhya’s books are always a delight to read but There’s Something About Sweetie is special because it features a happy fat brown girl and I could see so much of myself in her.

💨 12. Favorite Book to Movie you’ve seen this year:

I haven’t seen any movies but I eagerly awaited and watched the final season of Shadowhunters and wept when it finished. Whatever the detractors say, I really enjoyed watching this show a lot.

💨 13. Favorite post you’ve written this year:

I love writing reviews but I know I’m not that good at it like my other lovely blogger friends whom I’m in awe of. But a couple of reviews which I poured my heart into are Red, White and Royal Blue and Good Talk. I also loved writing the post about the Books that define my reading life.

💨 14. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received):

I mostly rely on my library and other subscriptions for reading books but one among my kindle purchases that is gorgeous is King of Scars – I adore the golden aesthetic. And after resisting all these months, I finally bought the paperback of Foundryside in June because it’s amazing both inside and out.

💨 15. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?:

There are obviously many new releases I want to read but these are two backlist books I wish I am able to read sometime this year. I feel I have put them off long enough.

💨 16. Favorite book community member:

I am actually very happy to have many book community friends these days, especially my dearest ones in the Book Dragons India discord group, but a very recent friend I’ve made is Liz @ Lost in Literature with Liz. Both of us have quite a few things in common and we love lamenting about the fact that we can never pick our next read or find the right motivation to continue. Do checkout her blog for amazing reviews and more interesting bookish discussions.

I am not tagging anyone but if you wanna give an update about your reading year, please consider yourself tagged and link back to me so that I can read all about it.

Half Yearly Check-In AND Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag The original tag was created by ReadLikeWildfire and Earl Grey Books! I'm not someone who is fond of doing wrap-up posts, but I also feel that giving some sort of update about my first half of the reading year will make me happy.

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recentanimenews · 8 years ago

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My Week in Manga: April 17-April 23, 2017

My News and Reviews

Well, I didn’t manage to post my in-depth manga review for April last week after all. Today I’m starting in a new position at a different library, meaning that last week I spent most of my time tying up as many loose ends as possible at my previous job. This included writing a lot of documentation. And since I was doing so much writing for work, by the time I got home I didn’t want to do anything but read, so that’s what I did. (Which goes to explain why I ended up finishing Cixin Liu’s excellent novel The Three-Body Problem much sooner than I had originally anticipated.) But never fear, I’ll be posting my review of Nagabe’s The Girl from the Other Side later this week in addition to the monthly manga giveaway.

In other news, Seven Seas continued its string of licensing announcements, adding Orikō Yoshino and Z-ton’s light novel series Monster Girl Doctor, Kazuki Funatsu’s Yokai Girls manga, and Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki’s To Love Ru and To Love Ru Darkness manga to the slate. Recent announcements from Viz Media included Sankichi Hinodeya’s Splatoon manga, a Hello Kitty coloring book, picture books of Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke, as well as the My Little Pony: The Movie artbook. Kodansha Comics had a couple of announcements to make recently, too, such as the upcoming release of full-color hardcover edition of Gun Snark’s Attack on Titan: No Regrets (I’ve previously reviewed the series’ first English-language release) and a hardcover omnibus edition of Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita. (The series was originally published in English by Viz Media but has been out-of-print for quite some time.)

I also came across a few other interesting things last week: Over at The OASG, Justin interviewed Mariko Hihara and Kotoyo Noguchi, two independent manga creators in Japan. Noguchi also had some questions to ask in return. Frederik L. Schodt (whose work I greatly enjoy) was recently profiled at Nippon.com. The article takes a look at his involvement as an ambassador for manga over the last four decades. Caitlin from I Have a Heroine Problem presented a panel called “Is This Feminist or Not? Ways of Talking about Women in Anime” at Sakura Con 2017 and has made her slides available. A very nicely designed site called Persona Problems offers criticism of Persona 5‘s English localization and delves into translation theory and practice that even people who don’t play the game may find interesting. Finally, the author and designer Iku Okada has started a series of autobiographical essays called Otaku Girl and Proud which explores Japanese gender inequality and identity and how popular culture can impact that experience.

Quick Takes

Dorohedoro, Volumes 17-20 by Q Hayashida. Despite being one of my favorite ongoing series currently being released in English, I seem to somehow always forget how incredibly much I love Dorohedoro. I tend to forget how tremendously horrific the manga can be, too, mostly because it simultaneously manages to be surprisingly endearing. Hayashida’s story and artwork is frequently and stunningly brutal, gut-churning, and grotesque, but Dorohedoro also carries with it a great sense of humor. Granted, the comedy in Dorohedoro tends to be phenomenally dark. Lately, as Dorohedoro continues to steadily progress along what I believe will be it’s final major story arc, the series has become fairly intense and serious, but it remains exceptionally weird and has yet to completely lose its humor. The plot of Dorohedoro does meander a bit and because it’s been so long since I’ve read the previous volumes I’m sure that I’ve forgotten a few important details as the story takes multiple convoluted turns along the way. Ultimately, it doesn’t seem to really matter though since the world and characters of of Dorohedoro follow and operate under their own peculiar sort of logic; Dorohedoro doesn’t need to make a lot of sense in order to be bizarrely enjoyable.

FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, Volumes 1-2 by Kanata Konami. Before there was Chi’s Sweet Home there was FukuFuku Funyan, Konami’s cat manga which started in the late 1980s. The series featured an elderly woman and her cat FukuFuku. More recently, Konami created FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, a spinoff of FukuFuku’s first series which, as can be accurately assumed by the manga’s title, shares stories from the loveable feline’s youth. While Konami’s artwork in FukuFuku: Kitten Tales is black-and-white rather than being full-color and the manga is only two-volumes long rather than being twelve, the series is otherwise very similar in format to Chi’s Sweet Home. It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve read any of Chi’s Sweet Home, but FukuFuku: Kitten Tales feels like it might be a little more episodic as well. However, it is still an incredibly cute series. Each chapter is only six pages or so but manages to tell a complete story, accurately portraying the everyday life and antics of a kitten. FukuFuku: Kitten Tales isn’t especially compelling or creative as far as cat manga goes, but it is an adorable series which consistently made me smile and even chuckle from time to time.

Magia the Ninth, Volume 2 by Ichiya Sazanami. I enjoyed the first volume of Magia the Ninth immensely. I’m not really sure I could call it a good manga per se, and I don’t think I would necessarily recommend it broadly, but personally I got a huge kick out of it. That being said, I can’t say that I’m surprised that the series only lasted two volumes. (I don’t know for certain, but I get the feeling that Magia the Ninth was cancelled.) What did surprise me was how well Sazanami was able to pull everything together to conclude the manga in a coherent (and almost satisfying) fashion when obviously it was intended to be a series on a much grander scale. To be honest, Magia the Ninth probably would have done much better for itself if the manga had had that level of focus from the very beginning. Magia the Ninth is a strange and somewhat goofy little series about demons, magic, and music. While the series wasn’t always the most comprehensible, it’s stylishly drawn, has tremendous energy, and even manages to effectively incorporate legitimate music history into the story. Magia the Ninth may not have lived up to its potential, but I had fun with it.

The Prince in His Dark Days, Volumes 2-3 by Hico Yamanaka. More and more of The Prince in His Dark Days seems to revolve around Itaru, but at this point I would still consider Atsuko, who is serving as Itaru’s double, to be the real lead of the manga. Unfortunately, Atsuko is casually threatened with sexual violence on a regular basis in the series which frankly makes me uncomfortable. In general, the power dynamics in The Prince in His Dark Days tend to be fairly disconcerting. It doesn’t really help when other characters’ try to play it off as a joke, either. If anything, it only seems to emphasize the fact that so many of them are unrepentant jerks. I know that I’m supposed to empathize with some of their personal struggles, but I find it difficult to spare a lot of sympathy for entitled assholes. However, the themes that Yamanaka explores in The Prince in His Dark Days are of tremendous interest to me, most notably those of gender expression and sexual identity. I also appreciate the manga’s melancholy mood and the slow blossoming of love in unexpected places. There’s only one volume left in The Prince in His Dark Days and despite some of my reservations about the series I am curious to see how it ends.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. If my memory serves me right, The Three-Body Problem is actually the first contemporary Chinese novel that I’ve read. It initially came to my attention when it became the first work in translation to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Interestingly, when The Three-Body Problem was translated into English by Ken Liu, the order of the chapters was restored to what the author originally intended and a few additional changes were made in consideration of some of the real-world scientific advances that had developed since the novel was first published in China. As a novel that leans heavily on hard science, I found The Three-Body Problem to be fascinating. (At one point in my life, I actually considered going into theoretical physics.) But what makes The Three-Body Problem so compelling are the social aspects of the narrative. In particular, China’s Cultural Revolution and the characters’ responses to it play a critical role in the story’s development. The Three-Body Problem is the first book in a trilogy, Remembrance of Earth’s Past, and so while largely being a satisfying novel on its own, it’s obviously only the beginning of a larger work. I definitely plan on reading the rest.

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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