#if it's for a british audience / from the pov of a british character

[para-psychopathology]

dunno if you're still looking for an answer but

1. grey: british* spelling; gray: US spelling

2. "blond(e)" is a loanword from french, and the ending changes depending on the gender of the person: a woman is blonde, a man is blond. (same with brunette/brunet.) however english doesn't inflect adjectives in this way, so essentially you can use whichever.

3. travelling vs traveling, dialogue vs dialog: also british vs US spellings, respectively.

for the first one: it seems that with verbs that end in /əl/, the british spelling adds another l to the end, where the us version doesn't. eg, channelling vs channeling

* really just anywhere that isn't the US tbh.

but also as you mentioned the way individual people spell things can be dependent on where they live / other external factors -- people outside of the US might spell it as gray, considering that much of the internet and popular media nowadays is predominately USAmerican, and so they might have seen that spelling more often.

it's a bit of a mess, and the differences are pretty arbitrary. ultimately there isn't one variation that's more "correct" than the other (except maybe the french one if you're extremely pedantic) and you can spell it whichever way you'd like, although the reason it'd be marked as incorrect by your phone or google docs is that the language is set to US english.

also keep in mind i'm not an expert on linguistics so absolutely take everything i say with a grain of salt lol. if you want more information i'd recommend etymonline or wiktionary.

From the US but i spell grey with an e because e just feels like a much greyer letter than a

[victoriadallonfan]

Since I seem to have a growing audience of followers from other fandom stuff:

Hello! I’m Victoriadallonfan aka Ridtom aka Tomrid aka any anagram with those letters. I have a Ko-Fi for art commissions and donations!

I also have my own supernatural fantasy story called Dead Eye!

This blog is primarily about Web Serials from the online author Wildbow aka John C McCrae, and my blog name comes from one of his characters!

These works include:

- Worm: a young bullied girl with superpowers is mistaken for a villain on her first night out and things escalate as her career grows

- Ward: (sequel to Worm) a retired and traumatized superhero is brought back to work in order to deal with a new generation of heroes and villains

- Pact: a young man who is part of a abusive family inherits a creepy house and is exposed to a darker, fantastical, side of the world

- Pale: (sequel of sorts to Pact) three young girls with difficult lives are inducted by a magical community to solve a crime

- Twig: a young experimental boy works as a spy and assassin for the corrupt and fascist 1920’s British Empire in alternate world of biopunk

- Claw (most recent): a round table pov following a cat and mouse chase between a criminal couple, a crime family, and a journalist in an alternate USA in the midst of civil war

I mainly post about Ward (my fave) but I also dabble in the other works at times.

I also have been branching out into doing analysis posts on the Alien Franchise, Predator Franchise, Alien vs Predator, and calling out right-wing grifters or TERFs

I hope you enjoy my posts and feel comfortable enough engaging in a fun and thoughtful way!

[akatharton]

now that i've thought about it for a little bit, i think i can articulate why forsaken fell flat for me. major spoilers ahead, obviously.

i had a lot of issues with the way bowden characterized haytham, tbh. an advantage of writing in first person POV is that it allows you to really get into a character's head and dissect whatever it is that makes them tick, but haytham comes off like a disinterested bystander in his own life for much of this book. it's most apparent in the earlier parts--like, i really can't suspend my disbelief enough to buy that any child would be able to sit down and write a dispassionate play-by-play of their father's murder shortly after witnessing it. yes, haytham is emotionally closed-off even by 18th century british guy standards, but i didn't get the impression that bowden intentionally wrote him as a character who represses his emotions to avoid dealing with pain--honestly, he just seems kind of bored.

this is made worse by the fact that a lot of important character moments happen offscreen or are breezed through haphazardly. to give an example--around halfway through the book, haytham witnesses braddock's troops massacre a group of dutch civilians. this is presented as a major turning point for his character, as his disgust and horror at the experience prompt him to question his (up until that point) rather insouciant attitude towards violence. you would think that we, as the audience, would get to witness this scene and be privy to our protagonist's thoughts and reactions during what is ostensibly a very traumatic moment for him. yeah lol no. we only hear about it secondhand when haytham relays his falling-out with braddock to birch. but we do get around 50 pages of him chasing a bunch of mercenaries through the black forest in a plot thread that ends up leading nowhere and getting unceremoniously dropped.

to give bowden due credit, older haytham seems much more like a fully realized character than his younger self, though as a sad middle-aged man enjoyer i may be biased. i love how jaded and bitter he is, though it's frustrating how the story never really goes into why he no longer believes that any sort of detente between assassins and templars is possible. his reflections on his relationship with connor are probably the strongest part of the book, and some of their interactions--like the scene where he saves connor from execution--are, imo, better than what we got in the game. that said, i really cannot wrap my head around some of the retcons, with the most egregious being the scene in which haytham finds out about ziio's death from connor. in bowden's version, he already knows that washington murdered ziio and is faking his reaction for... gaslight girboss reasons, i guess? (side note: his dumb ass is not that good of an actor.) just a baffling authorial choice. that scene was hugely important for both characters and one of the few times in the game that we get to see haytham genuinely panicked and unguarded, but god forbid you ever include drama and emotional gravitas in your story, i guess? can't distract from the important stuff, like uh... *checks notes* haytham strangling a guy with his thighs and burning a bunch of coptic priests alive for chopping his valet's dick off.

[leikeliscomet]

Flop and Bubble Part 2 - The Response

The responses to my original thread matter just as much as the episode itself. What is the audience taking away from the commentary? What have they learned? How is this racism commentary shaping the Doctor Who fandom for the better? Ironically, I got told my thread was bad because I critiqued the fandom as if I couldn’t tell the difference between the two. For an episode praised for showing microaggressions, there seemed to be a lot of it in my replies and quote tweets. Lots of white users were quick to tell me I misunderstood the episode and replied by explaining the plot to me even though the first tweet said I’d already rewatched it. Others explained to me how systemic racism functions and how white right-wing echo chambers hurt Black people as if I wasn’t the ‘Black people’ in question. Some white users needed to explain how much they disagreed with me because they interpreted the episode better than I did but still wanted to ‘boost marginalised BIPOC voices’ anyway. Some white users congratulated a Black woman’s response to my thread and said her take was better than mine as if it’s impossible for two Black people to disagree on the same topic. Some white users said I was wrong then wrote their own threads on mine using the exact same points I brought up and got praise for it. Some white users wrote whole threads and paragraphs on how they weren’t racist or bad people for liking Dot and Bubble, assuming my original post from a Black POV was a personal attack or restriction on them personally. Some white users thought I was banning white writers from having Black characters. Some white users were so surprised at how ‘well-spoken’, ‘articulate’ and ‘civil’ I was and congratulated me for this, assuming I wasn't capable of being those things in the first place. White queer users told me RTD did his best and as long as they got their queer representation it was A-okay. Non-Black POC said they didn’t see why I was so upset and because they liked it there was no issue. And others did what they usually do everytime I critique anything racial and RTD: Say I’m attacking white people.

Being told that as a Black person, my criticism of an episode that’s supposed to represent my own oppression and experiences is wrong, that I lack the experience, intelligence and media literacy to talk about the antiblackness that’s haunted me throughout my life and that I should be grateful for white people to lecture me because those other white people are only resharing it because they’re scared of me as a ‘POC’ is one of the most egregious forms of antiblackness I’ve heard in a very long time. And there was no shortage of it in my thread. Lots of users chimed in to dismantle my thread piece by piece. Apparently, only casting POC in the main cast for the past 15 years out of 61, just around a quarter of the show’s life counteracts the predominantly white casting of most of its run. Excluding Black writers in the writer's room apparently is the best and only way to represent the exclusion of Black people in the episode because none of them can write about their own experiences. Apparently, all the moments where the Doctor stood up against bigotry don’t exist anymore. Apparently because this is the Doctor’s first time being Black they don’t know anything about Earth’s anti Black racism anymore. Apparently it’s puritan censorship and infantilisation to question the ethics and optics of having your first Black actor playing the Doctor perform for white validation in the script the first day on set. Apparently you’re the antiblack one for questioning any of RTD2’s antiblack optics. Apparently, ignoring 60s racism in Britain is good because who the fuck cares about Black British history in a British show and a British cultural staple. Apparently Doctor Who’s just the silly blue box alien show and I’m overreacting because this show has never attempted to handle deeper political themes before or anything. Even in the follow-up thread and tweets talking about the racism I’ve personally experienced, which I didn’t even plan on making because I didn’t expect thread 1 to do numbers in the first place, white and non-Black users of colour took it upon themselves to remind me ‘that’s the point’. I know Dot and Bubble’s themes are echo chambers, white supremacy and privilege. I know the racism episode is about racism. I’m saying the themes were handled like shit. That’s my point.

Antiblackness in the Doctor Who fandom is nothing new to me. I’ve been told I make up racism in my head and that I look for it when it isn’t there. I’ve been accused of bullying Russell T. Davies. I’ve been accused of bullying David Tennant. I’ve been accused of being rude to Rose Tyler and her fans by her stanbase. I’ve been accused of being rude to queer fans because I don’t support the RoseMartha ship as if I’m not one myself. I’ve been accused of attacking the fandom. I’ve been told Freema Agyeman’s harassment was deserved because her name is ‘foreign’. I’ve been told Freema Agyeman deserved to be called Aunt Jemima and an affirmative action placement because Martha was ‘written badly’. I’ve been told I am a white supremacist for critiquing Dot and Bubble. I’ve been told I don’t understand racism even though I’m Black. I’ve been told I’m just like Lindy Pepperbean and just like her I should hop on ‘my boat’ and essentially die. I’ve seen my Black mutuals harassed by anon trolls, public trolls and called slurs for defending Martha Jones and other Black characters and critiquing other racism commentary episodes. Attacking, bullying, harming and hurting. Violent violent violent. The Black Bogeymen living on the space station that is the Doctor Who fandom. If every story has its hero, it’s very clear who the fandom imagines as its villains.

The most jarring part about the backlash to my thread wasn’t just the antiblackness itself, ‘subtle’ and explicit, but that the white and non-Black fans in my mentions genuinely believe their antiblackness doesn’t exist. They genuinely think they’re not like Lindy despite using her points word for word, bar for bar. The only difference between Lindy and the Finetimers and the white fans in my mentions is that Lindy had the balls to say she was racist with her chest. Doctor Who fans watched a whole episode about a white person assuming a Black person was unintelligent and threatening, praised it, then turned around and projected the exact same antiblackness on me because I didn’t kiss RTD’s nyash. They can walk away with their antiblackness unchecked and actively supported whilst still being the heroes of the story, the real so-called antiracists, over the Black people like me they’ve thrown under the bus. Or boat in this case. And this episode does absolutely nothing to challenge that.

I’m not surprised by any reaction from right-wing white fans of the show, as their hatred of ‘Doctor Woke’ has been ongoing since 2017. The reactions from left-leaning white fans, though not surprising in the slightest, still felt disappointing. From Queer as Folk to It’s a Sin RTD’s helped shaped queer British representation for decades and those flowers are deserved. It’s no surprise to me why white queer fans feel attached to him for that reason. But he isn’t Black and he hasn't shaped the landscape for Black British TV and Film despite his work for queer representation. RTD didn’t pave the lane for Black British representation. Why it’s controversial to state that is beyond me. The Doctor Who fandom, despite being diverse in gender, sexuality, disability and neurodivergence, region and class is still a predominantly white fandom and from this, a clear hierarchy of representation is built. Crediting cishet writers for the work queer creatives have been doing would never slide. And it didn’t. There was heavy pushback on the idea of crediting Chibnall for queer representation over actual queer writers like RTD when it came to Thasmin and I support those POVs still. Series 11 launching with no women in the writer's room would’ve never been supported by feminist sides of the fandom. If the Thirteenth Doctor had cried and begged for Jack Roberston or any other misogynist, Jodie’s singlet would’ve been torn to oblivion. It didn’t matter Thirteen wasn’t a human woman or that she’d spent most of her life presenting as a man then, she had the agency to call out her misogynists. The idea of any queer character in this show begging for a queerphobe wouldn’t be considered let alone debated. But when it’s Black representation, suddenly there is room for error. Suddenly it’s ‘Well they’ll get a POC writer next season!’ and ‘Well what about the sensitivity readers!’ Suddenly, there isn’t ‘space for all’ after all. The fandom has consistently celebrated the advances in representation for people that are women and/or queer behind the screen but treats the inclusion of Black writers as a taboo. Representation matters until it’s Black. White marginalised fans can accept and excuse the flaws of this episode and RTD2 on our behalf because they don’t consider Blackness as something worth getting right, unlike their own marginalisations. It’s disappointing to be stood with when speaking out about the issues people that are women and/or queer face and how they’re handled in the show and fandom but essentially stand alone (with other Black and mixed fans) when it comes to Black issues. Similarly, this sentiment is present with non-Black fans of colour. The importance of Demons of the Punjab, Yasmin Khan or Bel for example wouldn’t affect me in the same way it would for a South Asian or East Asian fan. I’d never centre myself as the authority on those experiences because being a ‘POC’ doesn’t automatically give me those experiences too. So it’s confusing and frustrating when Black fans aren’t centred in conversations about Black representation, anti Black racism and our specific experiences. I’m not speaking through a POC/BIPOC/BAME POV. I’m speaking from a Black one.

Post BLM-2020, there’s been a greater push for Black stories but this isn’t out of love. The white creative industry essentially wants Black stories and representation without Black people. RTD boldly claimed TV is so diverse nowadays but what is he talking about? Seriously? Dark-skin representation especially of marginalised genders is still lacking and Black British shows are still getting cancelled. As already written, Dot and Bubble appeals to the bias white fans hold already. It’s easy to create a binary between the ‘good’ racism episode written by the well-meaning super radical white guy than the ‘bad’ racism episode co-written by a Black woman aka Rosa. This comforts white fans because it’s an excuse to ignore Black art. The ‘good’ racism episode written by a Black person doesn’t exist in this framework. It’s hilarious but also peak that after all those posts about the anti-racist genius of RTD that when I suggested 4 Black British shows all created by Black British writers, all dwtwt could say was ‘Who?’. It’s easier for RTD and the fandom to think representing racism in the future is a big brain move to counter racism as a thing of the past, whilst continuing to actively ignore the racism in Britain’s history they so boldly claim has already been addressed in the present. It’s comforting for dwtwt to imagine me as an unintelligent, illiterate, angry and aggressive Black woman on the hunt for poor RTD, whether it’s my old work, that thread or even this piece I’m writing now because they’d rather him be the authority on Black British stories… than Black British people. It’s easier to imagine only white people could hate Dot and Bubble, that its critics are just white SJWs, blue hair, pronouns and all yapping on behalf of the real POC™ who all fall in line and love it, than that a Black person could ever reject a white interpretation of a Black experience. It’s easier to claim the episode is a good representation of the Black experience and antiblack racism because it’s been cosigned and created by white voices, when I’m a whole Black person literally telling you it’s not (in my opinion), alongside other Black fans who’ve critiqued this episode. It’s easier to imagine that Black fans hold irrational grudges against RTD for superficial reasons than that he could ever just have flaws in the way he handles Blackness in his works and that he could come off his pedestal to walk the ground just like the rest of us. This is where we go beyond racism in the Doctor Who fandom to antiblackness. The idea that not only we’re lesser but that our thoughts and ideas don’t even exist because they’re not worthy of existence.

To have Black writers in the room wouldn’t just mean filling a quota. It would mean the ability for us to tell our own stories. It would mean being actively involved in the creation process from beginning, middle and end instead of idly watching by the sides of sensitivity reading. It would mean Black writers writing for a Black audience as opposed to a white one. It would mean for our work to be considered art. It would mean allowing Black art to fail outside the idea of ‘go woke go broke’ and be bad without Blackness as a factor for its badness. It would mean Black art being held next to that of white creatives and even, held higher. It would ultimately mean Black creatives having full creative autonomy over our messages, representations and stories, engaging in creation for ourselves. And that is something, deep down, white audiences don’t want to happen. And the Doctor Who fandom is no different. Who needs enemies with ‘allies’ like these?

<- Part 1 Part 3 ->

[elfdragon12]

So I got a message in my inbox that tumblr somehow gobbled up relating to my post about the "IDW1 Megatron hating organics, but some fans were in denial because James Roberts brushed his xenophobia off too easily and/or they hadn't revisited it in a long time" thing. (It's not even the first time this has happened where I see a message, read it, click away for a moment, and then it's gone.)

This person commented how it seems to be more of a trend in modern sci-fi and fantasy stories that humans tend to be seen as the bad guys, whether or not that's actually true. Their charitable view was that this is because humans in these more fantastical stories are considered "boring". The less charitable view was that fans/writers are more misanthropic.

I think both are right.

A Transformers example is how humans are written in the G1 cartoon versus how they're written in Earthspark. To be honest... Humanity in Earthspark... Does legitimately have reason to be resentful of the Cybertronians. Two different human members of the main cast are amputees due to the Cybertronian war. (And the season 2 writers pretty much legitimized the season 1 antagonists.) Though Megatron has turned Autobot/good guy, the only humans he seems to be genuinely interested in are still just Dot and her family. He shows very little regard or sympathy towards any other humans. Meanwhile, we know that Optimus does try to maintain good relationships with other humans besides the main family. The big reasons that humanity's resentment of Cybertronians seems so bad is that we spend all our time with the Cybertronians, this is said to children who had nothing to do with it, the audience has very little context for how the war even happened, and older fans are much more resentful towards human characters thanks to the Michael Bay movies.

Another example is "War of the Worlds" by HG Wells versus "Gundog" by Gary Whitta. Both of these stories are alien invasion stories that turn pretty sour for humanity. Now, for total transparency, Gundog audio episodes came up as a guest episode on a podcast I really like, but I didn't enjoy Gundog so I never went to finish. The big reason why I didn't like it, however, relates to this topic. The narrator suggests that humanity deserved to be slaughtered and enslaved because they didn't share resources with the aliens and attacked them... Yikes(tm). This has a lot of gross implications when you sit and think about it for a few minutes. On the other hand, War of the Worlds is explicitly a criticism of British imperialism/colonialism. There are at least two lines, one towards the beginning and one towards the end, that make this very clear. HG Wells writes a variety of reactions towards this invasion (the artillery man actually made me think of Andrew Tate, all these big plans but little actual skill to pull them off), yet, despite this being a criticism of colonialism, never really implies that humanity deserved the attack (the closest being that this perhaps taught the British some empathy towards their colonies).

Now, part of this is more awareness of civil rights movements, but a criticism I've seen of using these themes of prejudice as metaphors for real life is that... Humanity often has perfectly legitimate reasons to fear some of these groups. In the 2005 IDW Transformers run, there were around 700,000 casualties on Earth alone, so yeah! Humanity, and organics in general, are not going to have a lot of charitable feelings towards these giant robots who only bring war and fighting! However, the POV characters are from these other groups, so the audience is not encouraged to actually think about the situation much beyond "wow! Humans are so prejudiced! They're being so mean to this not-human character I'm reading about!" when that's not really the case. Or at least, not the whole case.

Just something to think about. A lot of thought and nuance can be put into this topic.

[technicolorfamiliar]

Contraband (Blackout) Dir. Michael Powell 1940

This one has been on my rewatch list since I first saw it last year. It was one of the few films in the epic Connie watch-a-thon that felt like it had some kind of curative powers, in the surprising way some movies do. I never expected it to lift my spirits and lighten my heart the way it did.

10/10 no notes. I absolutely love everything about this movie. Except the randomly shoehorned "White Negro" scene. It's so out of place in an otherwise pretty progressive film. That cabaret act literally could have been anything, why choose that?? (I couldn't find a lot of info about the choreographer, but it sounds like he was into romanticizing and exoticizing African and Caribbean people in his work… which is not great, but pretty typical of that time I guess. Ugh.)

But otherwise delightful, a romp from start to finish. Apparently someone on IMDB slammed Contraband for being "camp expressionism", but honestly? Hell yeah. I'm 100% here for it. In fact, "camp expressionism" my new favorite genre if it means cute, quirky, risqué, well-directed, well-shot, romantic spy comedy with a tight script and excellent performances.

I've also seen people comparing it to American screwball comedies of the era, but that doesn't seem quite right or even fair. Contraband, thanks to Powell, Pressburger, the editor, and the cast, has a very light touch compared to the comedies coming out of Hollywood in the '30s and '40s. It's not as heavy-handed, it doesn't beat its message to death with over-done gags or affected performances. Michael Powell even said the movie was "all pure corn, but corn served up by professionals." And that's the Powell and Pressburger difference, baby.

The comedy in the script is executed with relative subtlety. The movie isn't telling you HERE’S THE FUNNY BIT, LAUGH NOW the way screwball, slapstick Hollywood would. You almost have to be looking for the humor here to catch it, and it pays off. It's a cheekier type of comedy, not really driven by jokes and punchlines. And as someone who never really liked American comedies of that era, I really appreciate this kind of film. It's silly, even outright stupid in some scenes, but it's not playing down to it's audience. I mean, the whole brawl in the night club is almost like the big fight at the end of Blazing Saddles where more and more people keep joining in, but the action stops for half a second while someone delivers a line. It's stupid. And I love it.

The espionage stuff in is a little convoluted and kind of treated as a throw-away. But really, if you're not paying super close attention to that part of the story, you're not missing much. The spy plot between the British and the Nazis is really just there to give the lead characters something fun to do, and you know what… that's ok with me.

The cinematography also helps elevate Contraband above just being a regular old comedy. Featuring the London blackout is actually really clever. It forces a number of scenes into almost total darkness, which was a risky move and could have been a huge mistake, but it adds yet another interesting layer to the film, visually and in terms of story. There's an unusual POV (possibly handheld?) tracking shot, when Andersen and Mrs. Sorensen are walking up to her house in town, that's just lit by their flashlight. We don't see either of them, except for her hand briefly putting the key in the lock, until after they enter and the camera pans around the hall. And there's a moment a while later when they're in the basement after being tied up where Connie's face is entirely in shadow -- we know he's looking at her, but his expression is completely hidden in darkness. On paper, it sounds like a bad shot, a mistake, but this "expressionistic" lighting and camera work adds a little extra special sauce that I for one greatly appreciate.

The supporting cast is all generally pretty good. Hay Petrie is fun in a double roll. There's the scene in the rowboat where he looks like he's going to get sea sick… despite being the first mate who practically lives on a ship. Little character touches like that throughout the movie make it delightful: The girl in short shorts doing exercises in her room when Connie bursts in on her, the line delivery of the woman who works in the kitchen with Uncle Erik, the guy outside lighting his pipe during the blackout letting those two cops HAVE it. I love a character actor driven movie, all these people in bit parts adding so much color to the story. Brilliant.

Valerie Hobson is so good in this. First of all, she's a boss bitch with an incredible wardrobe. Every look she's serving is iconic. The tweed jacket and headscarf that matches her blouse? The dress with the crazy angular shoulder pads? The big, wide-brimmed hat? Slay. She's authoritative without being shrill, she's got a confident swagger you don't see a lot of actresses getting to showcase at that time. Still, she's not really a femme fatale either. Mrs. Sorensen is independent, intelligent, stunning, and into dangerous spy shit because she enjoys it. She's someone I'd want to hang out with, but would be too scared to talk to because she's so cool. I mean, she almost missed the train at the end because she went back to get Andersen's watch! I have two words for you: Wife Goals.

Sadly, it sounds like Val didn't really get to do a lot of other fun roles outside of the two films she made with Connie. Which is a real shame. Someone on Letterboxd said they're better together than Tracy and Hepburn, and I fully agree. Val and Connie have a natural chemistry that neither feels feel too personal or too studied. Their on screen work together feels easy, without all the baggage and volatility of IRL romance.

The first time I saw Contraband, I think I was simply charmed by Connie as Andersen. Getting to see him as a fun, heroic, romantic lead is incredibly satisfying. But this time around I realized how funny he actually is. He's is so cranky, he starts the movie already at like an 8.5, he's so fucking over it. It's one thing after another -- Mrs. Sorensen won't wear her life jacket, British contraband control wants to hold up them up, someone stole the landing papers, and of course it was Mrs. Sorensen AND Mr. Pigeon. He's so grumpy from the get. (My theory is that he's hangry. He's temperamental and irritable up until he gets a decent meal at The Three Vikings. So relatable.)

It was fun to rewatch this one to catch all the comedic beats Connie is doing with his gestures and facial expressions. They're choreographed, but not affected or over done. His timing and delivery is subtle and finely tuned, which is always funnier than an actor who deliberately plays up the laughs. For example, the long pause after Mrs. Sorensen corrects his pronunciation of the name of the restaurant, he furrows his brow and looks around and finally mutters, "…VI-kings." His comedy is so understated, which keeps the rapid-fire pacing of the bits from being obnoxious.

Andersen is an interesting guy, too. I feel like his macho vibe is just a mask he wears as captain of his ship. He's so used to being That Guy, but, based on Connie's performance, I get the impression that deep down Andersen doesn’t really subscribe to all that traditional masculinity. Later in the film it's easy-ish for him to eventually drop the façade, adjust his expectations, becoming more flexible, malleable in his ideas about sex and gender. This of course is because Conrad Veidt was in reality a proto-feminist wife guy. Andersen isn't played like your standard manly man movie heroes of the time, because that's not who Connie was, that's not an image he wanted to project or support (and I feel one reason why Hollywood couldn't figure out what to do with him in the '40s, but that rant is for another post).

Andersen and Mrs. Sorensen are pretty evenly matched. In fact she has the upper hand and more progressive, dominant role especially once they arrive in London. On his ship, he's the boss, but on shore he's met with one disadvantage after another. Mrs. Sorensen has to be the one to pay for his bus and cab fare, confidently navigating her way through the blackout like a pro. Meanwhile, Andersen is pretty much a bumbling fool, a sidekick to Sorensen's spy adventure. But he's not totally incompetent either (I MEAN IT LOOKS LIKE HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING WITH THOSE ROPES, HE IS A SAILOR AFTER ALL *eyes emoji* *sweating emoji*), he's the one who comes up with the plan to rescue Sorensen from her Nazi captors (although I get the impression she probably would have found her own way out without his help). But what's great is that he doesn't do it alone, he goes back to The Three Vikings to round up a small army of Danish essential workers to back him up. And I love how Connie plays the whole last act of the film like he's actually on an adventure; you can see Connie the actor having the most fun ever getting to be the big movie star hero, tussling with cops and Nazis, solving puzzles with glee, getting the girl -- who is just as much of a badass as he is -- in the end. It's so good. And it's so much fun to watch.

There are so, so many wonderful little touches in this movie, many of which I only caught during this second watch. I have a page of scribbled notes I wrote while I was watching that ends with, "The cutest shit I have ever seen!" From the performances to the writing to the technical details, it's hard not to fall in love with this one. Contraband is easily one of those films I could rewatch over and over again and never get sick of it.

OH I can't believe forgot about The Boys:

The goodest boys.

[dhr-ao3]

Theres Glitter On The Floor After The Party

There’s Glitter On The Floor After The Party https://ift.tt/tpLNb9P by GoldMagpie “You’ll do what…?” “If I kiss you at midnight, McLaggen won’t.” He explained rapidly, his gaze falling to her lips briefly. “If you want me to…?” - New Year’s Eve changes Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy’s lives forever. [Written as part of The Story of Us Fest from the Dramione Writers’ Society.] Words: 4071, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown, Cormac McLaggen, Cormac McLaggen's Uncle Tiberius, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Gawain Robards Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy Additional Tags: dramione - Freeform, Romance, Fluff, POV Hermione Granger, POV Draco Malfoy, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, New Year's Fluff, Auror Draco Malfoy, Ministry of Magic Employee Hermione Granger, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Adult Hermione Granger, Cormac McLaggen Bashing, Cormac McLaggen Being an Asshole, Minor Hermione Granger/Cormac McLaggen, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Title from a Taylor Swift Song, Protective Draco Malfoy, Good Draco Malfoy, Lavender Brown Lives, Supportive Ron Weasley, HEA, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Fluff with a little existential dread, Quote: Started making it. Had a breakdown. Bon appetit (The Great British Bake Off) via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/7L3lZvW August 03, 2024 at 10:51PM

[the-moon-will-mourn]

now i haven't finished the dream thieves yet (i'm like,,, 7 chapters away from finishing) and i think this may contain spoilers???? but i'm not too sure yet. i'm basically gonna word vomit. i'm sorry for not using any quotes, i wish i could but i only have the ebook version and a very limited storage space on my phone where i can only have ~two books downloaded

like a normal person, i enjoy listening to video essays, see what creators want to explain to their audience and leave with a certain view, try to come to my own arguments about certain points in the videos, see if i can apply some points to other aspects of my life etc etc. (this was the type of shi that helped me with my eng lit essays rip i miss alevels) and like a normal british citizen i looked up stuff about classism in the uk. in the end, i found a video essay about classism in general and how the ultra rich try to mimic being poor to get away from their hard issues that comes with being rich (which, frankly, is probably a lot less compared to someone who is working class).

recently, i was talking to my friend about specifics in the book about certain characters and i remember we went onto the convo of making music playlists for the characters. they said "it's gonna be hard for adam [...] cuz his whole thing is about being unknowable" and it always struck me with how unknowable he truly is when reading his character because his character is intrinsically linked to his working class background. (context: i'm a middle class child of immigrants who built themselves in the uk)

it's very clear the kind of social commentary stiefvater wanted to make using adam's character with how isolating and alienating it can be coming from a working class background trying to assimilate yourself into a society of those protected and privileged enough to not have any problems with accessing opportunities. how class is a huge obstacle between interpersonal relationships and feeling safe enough to be vulnerable with your issues with being working class. how difference in class can cause one-sided shame because of the meritocratic society we're living in. how, no matter how much money you earn or how many connections you can make, your attachment to your working class identity can be enough reason to aim for something supernaturally larger than yourself.

it's evident that other characters overlook adam's social class because he's a "self-made man" (or smth) and mainly because he's their friend: adam. however, when we get a chapter in his pov, class is a driving factor in how he interacts and views everyone. we can see the privilege gansey and ronan have for being able to not even consider class as an intimidating aspect about themselves to a normal person, but it's everything to adam in the sense that he feels like his earned money doesn't give him access to a similar respect.

now that i truly think about it, it was a good idea for adam not to join them in monmouth manufacturing because it just feels like they're... mocking him in an indirect way? they have the ability to choose to live in a nice place and instead chose to live in a random, run-down building because it seemed aesthetic. adam was forced to live in a rundown trailer because that's all they could have afforded. i know gansey had good intentions for wanting adam to join them, but everything that he likes as an aesthetic (monmouth manufacturing, the run-down camaro, eating mint leaves instead of gum) can seem like he's flaunting the fact he can choose that lifestyle without any consequences.

back to the point of the meritocratic society (which we usually assume in books that take place in a similar world as our own) creating shame because of their class: the assumption that because someone has worked hard to earn what they have gives them a right to be proud. but this is the opposite for adam as he fights with the fact that he could have maybe be seen as even more equal to gansey if he had just been born with wealth.

we can frame it as, maybe, despite gansey's desire to appear working class, it only broadens the distance between him and adam. it only worsens adam's difficult relationship with his class shame despite probably wanting to be more relatable or even laid-back.

when reading the second book after his sacrifice, i was confused as to why adam was so un-adam-like. i mean, in the first book i didn't really understand him because of his huge insistance that his class makes him inherently inferior to everyone he surrounds himself with and i don't see class as an issue myself.

however, his sacrifice basically was watering the seed of ambition that was planted when he decided to aim for aglionby. it becamse clearer to me how much this opportunity to be superior, even if it's supernatural and terrifying, is important for him understanding in what he thinks he lacks. by those thoughts of what he lacks, he thought that this chance to be cabeswater's channel could be a way to compensate for his inferior social class. or something.

anyways, thank you for coming to my ted talk. this is not proofread, and my sister keeps nagging at me to shower. also i simp for gansey do not think this is me trying mischaracterising him i'm just trying to understand the theme of class in this series and having gansey as a figure to compare to is literally integral.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Why I like it: Leave It to Psmith

I've analyzed this book to death. I don't even know what to say about it anymore.

It's probably the most familiar of the series. It has had the most adaptations--multiple theatrical versions and radio adaptations, a mysterious Hungarian film, an early 1930s film that removed Psmith and replaced him with one Sebastian Help, an Indian series in which Psmith is called...Rambo? (seeing a theme here--adapters seem to be afraid of Psmith himself). It crosses over with the Blandings series, which was then just getting started. It's easy to read without having read the earlier installments, for readers who are more reluctant to take on all the cricket etc. of those books.

Wodehouse intended it that way. Leave It to Psmith was written for a different audience than the other Psmith books. Instead of British schoolboys, his readership was now adult Americans who wouldn't have known Psmith at all since the earlier books hadn't been published in the US then. They didn't care about cricket; they were looking for the kind of plot that Wodehouse is more often associated with today. Hilarious, intricate shenanigans with some light romance. And the ever versatile Psmith fits into this new genre perfectly. Perhaps that's where he belonged all along.

Leave It to Psmith is one of the finest examples of Wodehouse's best style. There are different views on this, but I personally consider his work from approximately the early 1920s through the 1930s to be the height of his talent (he had finally fully found his voice, and the stories are still new enough to avoid the more overtly formulaic feel of his later books). And Leave It to Psmith is one of the books that kicked off that era of his writing. It's got everything. A witty and distinctive prose style that complements the theatrically-influenced story and characters. A memorable cast. A bizarre and silly but ultimately sweet central romance. A shocking newspaper ad. Flowerpot throwing. Jewel heists. Gun fights. An obnoxiously large chrysanthemum. Umbrella theft. A very elegant hat. Extremely strong opinions on hollyhocks. Mistaken identity. Imposters. The worst poetry ever. The motivating power of friendship. A dead bat that apparently was somebody's mother. It's not going to remembered as a Deep Philosophical Novel ever, but that's not what we need from it. It's just fun and joyful and a delight to read.

Even though this is the one book of the series that opens with Psmith in a genuinely difficult situation and relatively low frame of mind following his father's death and the loss of the family fortunes. Psmith has skated by on his father's money for the entire series up to this point, so taking away that kind of invincibility from him was a genius choice on Wodehouse's part. It forces Psmith to grow even further in a way that he never has before. We see him at his most vulnerable; the narrative gives us more of his POV than ever, and there's a marked contrast between what goes on in his head and how he presents himself. And it's at this point that he's finally in a position for something that's never been an option to him before: a romance.

Psmith and Eve's love story would probably not work in real life. But they're in Wodehouse-land, where realism isn't the point. The point is that they are two people who complement each other well and enrich each other's lives and need each other. They're both clever and dynamic and adventurous and alone in the world. She appreciates his eccentricities, which provide the excitement she craves. He appreciates her listening skills and sympathetic nature. She's warm-hearted and impulsive; he's a calculating thinker--and they balance each other out. Each has a brand of weird that works well with the other's. It takes them a little while to get matters resolved, but Eve doesn't put up with his nonsense, and he gradually develops the emotional maturity to trust rather than manipulate. When they do get together, it's not because he's done his usual fast-talking. It's a mutual choice.

We don't get to see much of Mike and Phyllis, but it's also clear that they're happy, and it's satisfying to see that Wodehouse gave Mike, the original protagonist of the series, the ending he deserves even if he is no longer in focus and the American audience wouldn't know or care about him from previous appearances. But Psmith cares about Mike a lot. That hasn't changed, and the lengths that Psmith is willing to go to for Mike's sake are endearing. The choice to give Eve a parallel role as best friend to Mike's wife reinforces the significance of this devotion. This entire plot happens because people care very much about Mike and Phyllis Jackson. That's pretty powerful.

This is the end of the series. We never see Psmith again. But it's an ending that leaves the reader satisfied. Psmith is not trapped in an endless loop of growthless status quo for our comedic benefit. We've watched him grow up from the worldweary teenager leaning on the mantelpiece at his detested new school to a joyfully singing young man running through Blandings Castle on his way to meet the woman whom he's about to have a future of adventures alongside. In many ways, he's still his old eccentric self, but his outlook has changed for the better. He's simply, genuinely happy. What more could we wish for him? What more could we hope for ourselves?

[farahfriday]

im coping with my third week in the psych ward by developing a ghoap psych ward thing.

it’s so fun working out their treatment regimes…. i gave prazosin to soap so ghost can have risperidone. soap gets TMS (or they try it at least) so ghost gets ECT….

im basing this heavily off of my experiences in private hospitals (in australia, so ostensibly not too different from the UK) paid for with a private military health fund (thankfully i will not need to research this too much. way too much knowledge of the DVA… the british version seems to be OVA). i’m also going to try and write things like medications and treatments largely from experience. every hospital is different. this is MY coping mechanism and unless im saying some harmful shit rack off!

also it’s probably going 2 have a lot of mad liberation and sanism/ableism themes. This is incredibly important to me. every character in this story, whether original or from COD, will be written with empathy and compassion (by me), even if they aren’t sympathetic (to the audience, the characters, or me).

fine tuning their meds + treatments is my first course of action and then I’ll figure out some backstory. but at the moment they do not know each other and ghost knows price, but hasn’t met gaz (yyyyeeeet? I want to get him in here even if it means cramming in some weird POV of gaz or price at some point) as he was discharged before price picked him up.

here are some preliminary notes:

- ghost refers to medications by their generic name. soap refers to them by whatever brand name he’s been given. ghost knows the dosage of everything he’s on. soap does not. ghost can recognise his medications by sight. soap cannot.

- ghost generally has high blood pressure. soap generally has low blood pressure. <- partly medication related

- ghost is a long-term patient. soap comes in for shorter stays.

- ghost receives ECT therapy. soap recieves TMS therapy, though it was incredibly triggering <- because of ptsd

- ghost cannot remember other patients’ names for the life of him but knows the names of the staff. soap knows everyone’s names.

- soap attends groups. ghost does not.

- soap is cat3 for the most part. ghost is cat2.

critical: 15 minute visual checks. moved to crisis unit in safety room. cannot leave unit. reassessed in 48 hours.

cat1: 15 minute visual checks. cannot leave hospital grounds.

cat2: half hour visual checks. can leave hospital grounds with a safe person.

cat3: hourly visual checks. can leave hospital grounds alone.

[supernovaa-remnant]

I heard about this Shubble person recently, I stayed out of drama as much as I could but, what happened now??? You even wrote this in one of your tags "#I really did love him a lot (parasocially)". I was busy this week so I don't know what is happening now.

I highly recommend people watch Shubble’s vod on her twitch channel (I don’t have a link but I can’t imagine it’s that difficult to find). Be mindful though as the vod does talk about abuse which is a very triggering topic, so make sure to be taking care of yourself. I’m gonna put the rest of the post under the cut, so people can easily scroll past this if they want to.

As a little summary, Shubble streamed yesterday and talked about her abusive ex. She didn’t name anyone, but she also wasn’t hiding who it was, and contrary to what some people may say, a lot of the dots being connected are stuff we know from past streams and comments from friends and not leaked info.

So, the incredibly most likely case is that it was Wilbur. I’m not gonna get into everything Shelby said because she said it on her stream, but the signs do point to Wilbur, and you’d have to reach significantly further to claim she was talking about someone else. There’s not a lot of British male ccs who have a bigger audience than her who have a history of biting people and have reason to be going on long travels (tour) where they wouldn’t see each other often.

Listen. I was a certified dreambur blog, okay? Everyone who glanced in my direction knew that I was a Wilbur fan. Everyone knows that I loved him so fucking much. But that’s not an excuse to bury my head in the sand and ignore everything, y’know?

Anyway, this is gonna be the last time I talk abt this publicly (I’m sure my friends will hear more in DMs though sorry <3), so I’m gonna throw a bit more stuff here abt my blog going forward.

I will eventually talk abt c!wilbur again. I’m still gonna write my silly little c!dreambur aus, I’ve just put them on the back burner. regardless of cc actions, I genuinely do love so many of the characters on the dsmp. I’ll probably be focused on some other fics for a while, but c!wilbur’s my cat and I don’t think he’s leaving my brain soon. I just need a little time.

I think cc!wilbur is someone who needs help. and I genuinely do hope he gets that help. but having mental health struggles isn’t an excuse. and I just can’t see myself engaging in his content in the foreseeable future. you’re not gonna see me post neg about him. you’re just likely not gonna see me post anything about him at all.

I’m happy to know Shubble has an amazing support system. I’m so sorry she had to go through something so horrible. I’m wishing her nothing but the best, and everyone should check out her YouTube channel!! I haven’t watched her newest video yet, but I did watch Lizzie’s pov of the collab, so I know it’s a fun concept

If people have questions that this post doesn’t answer, then I’m happy to answer them in DMs, but I don’t wanna talk abt this publicly anymore. (I reserve a right to change my mind though if I for some reason feel the need to post abt it again)

Anyway, take care of yourselves. Love is never ever wasted, okay? And all that love belongs to you. And it’s always a good thing to put more love out into the world. Never feel guilty for loving, okay? 🫂

[iheartcartoons1]

POV: You're reading Prelude to Pursuit and need to tell the girlies about it.

➡️ read the penultimate chapter here ⬅️

Chapters: 17/18 Fandom: 大逆転裁判 | Dai Gyakuten Saiban | The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Asougi Kazuma/Naruhodou Ryuunosuke Characters: Asougi Kazuma, Naruhodou Ryuunosuke, Mikotoba Yuujin, Murasame Haori | Rei Membami, Original Characters, Many references to Mikotoba Susato, Jigoku Seishirou, Auchi Takeshi Additional Tags: Prequel, Dialogue Heavy, Slow Burn, "Enemies" to Friends to Lovers, Period Piece, progressive politics, Spoilers for all of Chronicles, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Social drinking, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Character Study Summary:

Kazuma Asogi, a law student on a long, single-minded road towards the heart of the Great British Empire, finds new avenues opened to him when he gets to know a wallflower in the English department. But when things spiral out of control, Kazuma is forced to reckon with potentially disastrous consequences from all directions. Will he choose honesty about his past or an uninhibited path to his future?

[ecoamerica]

Apply or nominate: https://ecoamerica.org/american-climate-leadership-awards-2025/

Calling all organizations, individuals, and small businesses successfully engaging Americans on climate! Showcase your creativity and climate solutions by applying for @ecoamerica’s 2025 American Climate Leadership Awards. You can win $1K - $50K by submitting your efforts for consideration by a stellar line-up of judges and individuals leading on climate. It’s quick and easy to submit your application or nominate inspirational climate leaders. Apply or nominate today!

[ao3feed-narlie]

To have a big brother

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3CXdRQT by Allon05 Living in the US for the last decade of his life, Evan 'Buck' Buckley hadn't seen most of his family in litteral years. That doesn't mean he hasn't been in touch, though, especially with a specific strawberry blonde little brother of his. So when said little brother informs him about his boyfriend, comes out to him and invites him to a family gathering, Buckdecides, that it's time that he introduces the family ha's built and the one he's left behind overseas. Naturally, him, Eddie and Chris make a trim out of it. Or, where Buck isn't originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA, but rather Slough, Berkshire, England and his parents aren't Phillip and Margaret Buckley, but Sarah Nelson and Richard "Rick" Buckley and his siblings are not Daniel and Maddie Buckley, but David and Nicholas 'Nick' Nelson Words: 3282, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English Fandoms: 9-1-1 (TV), Heartstopper (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen, M/M Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Sarah Nelson, David Nelson (Heartstopper), Charles "Charlie" Spring (Heartstopper), Stéphane Nelson, Victoria "Tori" Spring, Original Characters Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Nicholas "Nick" Nelson/Charles "Charlie" Spring, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Evan "Buck" Buckley's Parents, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Nicholas "Nick" Nelson & Sarah Nelson Additional Tags: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Established Relationship, Established Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Established Nicholas "Nick" Nelson/Charles "Charlie" Spring, Family Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Sibling Rivalry, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Bad Parent Stéphane Nelson, Good Parent Sarah Nelson, Evan "Buck" Buckley is Good With Kids, Good Parent Evan "Buck" Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley is Christopher Diaz's Parent, POV Multiple, Nicholas "Nick" Nelson Needs a Hug, Nick nelson gets a hug, Good Sibling Evan "Buck" Buckley, British Evan "Buck" Buckley, Buck has so many tattoos, timeline wise we're somewhere between season 5 and 6 in 9-1-1, and just after season 2 in Heartstopper, let's pretend I know how american and british schooling works read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3CXdRQT

[kermit-coded]

I'm At The Exit, Lookin' Back Through The Hall (700 words) by kermit_coded Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tenth Doctor & Donna Noble, Fourteenth Doctor & Donna Noble Characters: Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Donna Noble, Fourteenth Doctor (Doctor Who) Additional Tags: The Doctor & Donna Noble Friendship, Angst and Tragedy, Grief/Mourning, Spoilers for Star Beast, Donna Noble Remembers, Non-Linear Narrative, russell t davies i am in your walls, The Doctor (Doctor Who) Needs a Hug, POV The Doctor (Doctor Who), Angst with a Happy Ending, EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS YEARS AND HE STILL REMEMBERS HOW SHE TAKES HER COFFEE, Stream of Consciousness, Title from a Phoebe Bridgers Song, I Am Not British, Genderfluid Doctor (Doctor Who), Platonic Relationships, mentions of other companions Summary: She's still his best friend, even after all this time.

[transmutationisms]

re: the siblings’ politics, it is such an important tenet of succession to me that we are not mere voyeurs to their awfulness - it’s a distorted funhouse mirror of our own awfulness. we are all essentially compromised by/beneficiaries of capitalism, and the logans of this world who act as its conduits.

ok, i would nuance this by saying that succession treats viewers as being beneficiaries of capitalism because it (like virtually all american & british tv) assumes viewers have citizenship in the imperial core and a class position such that they do indeed have access to the material benefits capitalism is able to provide to a select few. mark fisher has a similar line about the political élite "laundering our libidos" and presenting our disavowed desires back to us—again, true insofar as his presumed audience is citizens of imperial powers who are actually able to enjoy the fruits of capitalist productive capacity.

cinematographically, though, i do agree with you that succession is making this argument. the show takes cues from dogme 95 and cinéma vérité, making the camera feel like pov of another person in the room: in other words, the audience can't totally disavow engagement in the drama. this is partly because it's generically a character study rather than a political drama, but i do also think the showrunners revel in some of that sense of discomfort. there are some points where the shooting is more voyeuristic (roman and mencken's bathroom scene; the cctv footage in 'safe room') but these shots are used for specific purposes and we experience them as an interruption to the otherwise more immersive sense of the show.

[steampunkforever]

Making movies about real tragedies is always a difficult undertaking. No matter the pains you take to be as sensitive as possible, it's inevitable that such a touchy subject is going to anger SOMEONE. This doesn't even take into account the times that you, as a hypothetical filmmaker, will actually mess up for real. Nevertheless, director Paul Greengrass set out to tackle the Irish Troubles-- by no means an uncomplicated subject --in his film Bloody Sunday, a piece of cinema that tackles tasteful portrayal of the Bloody Sunday massacre by putting you in the crowd.

When we talk about how using cameras to communicate affect in cinema, handheld is one of the simplest mechanics for getting the audience to feel present in a film. It's why the crowd shots in Pi or the Goodfellas club scene or even the Evil Dead DemonCam work so well. This is essentially first person POV, and even when it isn't directly so, we feel like we're there with the characters, protesting on the streets of Derry against internment at the hands of the British. Greengrass uses handheld camera effectively, eschewing the newsreel perspective in favor of camerawork that felt more like the handheld camcorder footage used to film the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers just a year before the release of this film. He pulls you directly into the narrative. You're as much of a witness to the violence as the reporters documenting the Derry protests or the commanding officers giving the order to send in the Paras.

This brings us to the way Greengrass edits the film. The footage in Bloody Sunday rarely cuts, instead fading to black and then fading in the next shot. It feels almost like archival footage, the fades cutting off characters mid-sentence before taking us to the next segment of the film. This technique isolates the shots, but it heightens our awareness of how these discrete places and people (The British Paratrooper squad, Irish Nationalist politician Ivan Cooper, Major General Patrick MacLellan) all led up to the massacre.

It reminds me of working on my own films and logging footage. Each clip stringing together in a vacuum, telling a story without the invisible hand of narrative shaping perception through crossfades and transitions. Until the shooting starts, and Greengrass organically moves into a seamless, breathless sequence in which the Paras start shooting and the crowd scatters. It feels like you're there, and I noticed my blood pressure raise at the injustice unfolding onscreen. Incredibly effective filmmaking here, and the intentional camerawork does an impressive job at bringing the audience into the events of Bloody Sunday without the feelings of voyeurism often present in cinema about human suffering.

Bloody Sunday is, in my opinion, an elegant portrayal of a tragic landmark in the Irish Troubles. It's a film that impacted me emotionally, elevating my heartrate at the injustice unfolding onscreen. The British Government still shields David Cleary from prosecution for the mass killing, with legal repercussions for anyone who refers to him by his real name instead of "Soldier F," making clear the need for us to remember these atrocities perpetrated in the name of imperialism.