#imo all women deserve to be evil

[don1t1red]

I know that this is a very unpopular opinion but hear me out!

I think not enough people consider Corvo as an unreliable narrator. We see the story from his point of view and all we know about Jessamine Kaldwin comes from his perspective. So, to think on that, do we really know how good Jessamine was as the Empress? 

I know that she is usually portrayed as a good person if not a saint but what if it wasn't that way? A lot of people in the streets are indifferent towards her image, if not hostile; the situation with Delilah; how both Geoff Curnow and Corvo are treated because of their nationality; two hatters recalling how greatly Corvo dealt with workers uprising under her command  – a lot of things are a tell-tale signs that something is not quite right. 

And at this point I have to clarify that I'm not saying things like "boo no I hate Jessamine". No, it's actually quite the opposite, I love her character. But the way it is usually portrayed seems to be so dull and static. Let her not be a saint. 

Let her be manipulative. Let her tell Corvo that "he is not like other serkonans, he is sooo special and that's why he is where he is and not somewhere deep in the silver mine", while being (just as any nobility in Gristol) not very welcome to any outlanders. 

Let her be power-hungry and afraid to lose this power. Remember a bonecharm in her hidden room in the Tower? Who knows how it ended up here! Maybe she knew (or felt) that Delilah was coming, capable of overpowering and taking everything from her. Maybe Jessamine was so afraid to lose her posh life that she was ready to use some kind of a black magic! 

Let her be disloyal. Obviously, she and Corvo developed some kind of codependency. But along with that, she was the Empress so who could stop her from having an affair or two? And Corvo was just the safest option, with a way less unnecessary risks and questions. 

Let her be an imperfect person. 

Obviously, Jessamine could be easily born a perfect ruler and a perfect loving woman for her chosen one and her daughter. But maybe she had to learn it the hard way. 

Maybe she changed along with Corvo. Maybe the plague was a critical point for her character, maybe those months without Corvo made her rethink a lot of things. 

And isn't it tragic, finally understanding and becoming the Empress everyone wants to see in you, just to be killed the other day, because all those changes have been seen as a weakness? Have nothing but faith in your closest one, faith that these people will be more wise than she was? 

Give her some development, give her some motion! She could easily  be a saint, static point.  But in my opinion, she deserves to be not perfect but in constant motion. Trying and learning, understanding and making mistakes. She was too young when she became the Empress, she was a part of gristolian nobility, not so kind to anyone but themselves, she literally had no prerequisites to become a good person. And yet somehow she did. 

It's always so easy to be a "saint" from the very beginning. And it's always so hard to learn how to become one.

[margridarnauds]

The answer to the question of whether I love BG3 or hate BG3 is "yes"

[bittermarching]

If you go thru the notes of this post, almost all of the people disagreeing with OP are either (a) repeating historical revisionist lies ("gays owe TW everything! Stonewall my dude") or (b) ignoring the actual words in the OP and just wishing violence on lesbians "terfs". Which is just soo interesting that the "be kind/we're on the right side of history" crowd would respond to "we should focus on our issues and you focus on yours" with "well you deserve to be brutally murdered/how dare you refuse to worship the males that gave you your rights."

It's always the same shit. They don't know or care to learn about what we're actually saying because they heard thru the internet grapevine that we're horrible and irredeemable regardless of anything we actually say. And they're keen to believe it because it reinforces the existing worldview that women who refuse to capitulate to men are the worst kind of evil.

why are transactivists so hostile about drop the t? it’s good for us all. we can focus on our issues, and you can focus on yours. plus you don’t have to deal with us nasty lesbian “terfs” in your community c; it’s a win-win.

[regretevator-confessions]

folly’s writing fucking sucks & regretevator writers arent very good at their job imo ✋

for starters folly’s a plot device being used to move shit along which could work if they werent so blatant with it??? there are no subtleties or nuances anymore. everything has to connect back to her because she has to spoon feed information to the audience instead of show dont tell, it all relies on her to reveal information, just like that? not to mention shes still a very new npc and suddenly alllll this lore is connected to her one way or another… half of regretevator lore is said on stream or through twitter posts which is so? inaccessible lmao? ik folly is the lead writers oc or something but omfg she feels so much like some self insert or some shit she stands out sm… its so insulting and telling of the writers to prioritize their own fucking oc over the other characters who clearly need more expanded on (split, lampert, poob etc). everyones acting like her writing is peak but its subpar at best and the only reason ppl like her is because shes edgy or boohoo sad backstory. its giving babies first oc. cleave was compelling in a way ill give them that but it left more questions than answers. all that hype feels like nothing now… shes just a letdown idk. shes not all that but i hope one day she is cuz i wanna like her too… but rn as she is… just a bad overrated character with glitter sprinkled on top lmao. she doesnt deserve all this spotlight and attention when there are older npcs who havent got 1/3 of it

and b4 anyone comes at me trying to downplay my argument with “op hates women” “its because shes an evil woman” yadayada this aint about that at all lmao. if you really care about equality you wont shy away from criticizing female characters. this is coming from someone who was a folly theory person too. peace

.

[seikilos-stele]

The misogyny from David and Ben bothered me in this latest episode of Evil — I do like when the show tackles real-world isms and explores the trio’s blind spots, but I think until now they’ve managed to do it while still maintaining the trio’s care for each other.

Kristen as a white woman is ignorant about what David and Ben go through a men of color with the police, and she benefits directly from her whiteness when the police cover for her re: LeRoux. But she’s also outraged by the police targeting her friends, she doesn’t think they deserve it. When Kristen points out that the church exorcises far more women than men, David defends the church’s misogyny in the abstract — but he never applies that misogyny to Kristen or claims that she’s more emotionally attuned to the world than he is, more susceptible to evil. Ben has to take a stand about the jinn exorcism and points out David’s and Kristen’s Catholic upbringing sometimes makes them prioritize Catholic beliefs over other religions — but the three of them find a compromise and develop more respect for each other. All of these episodes explore the characters’ blind spots in a realistic way while still maintaining that they all care for each other; Kristen is willing to learn, David needs to be challenged, but it’s clear his misogyny comes partly from defensive being the only believer in a group of atheists. Just a few episodes ago, we had that excellent moment where David has to explain what a Black bluff is to Ben, since the racism Ben experiences as an Indian man is sometimes very different from what David experiences as a Black man: David has to subvert expectations by being successful and respectable; Ben has to subvert them by being working-class and down-to-earth. Society expects Ben to be a doctor or a lawyer, not a blunt contractor who works with his hands. He listens to David and learns. Kristen is outraged by police treatment of men of color and then has to grapple with exploiting her status as a wealthy white woman anyway. David internally struggles with the racism and misogyny of the church he’s devoted himself to while also benefiting from the latter. These are clever, realistic depictions of societal oppressions and how they impact a friend group who are all very different from each other but care deeply about each other and don’t like seeing anyone among them hurt.

This episode felt different. Unpleasantly so. I don’t think I would have minded if events were tweaked somewhat … if Kristen learned that the professor had sexually harassed someone else, and the guys initially dismissed it, their judgment clouded by their admiration for him. But the professor sexually harassed their best friend and Ben just shrugged and suggested he was joking; David breezed past it as irrelevant to their investigation. The love and care between the trio seemed to instantly evaporate in favor of making a point about how in #MeToo cases, men can even dismiss accusations from people they know very well. An excellent point, but at the cost of degrading the main characters’ relationship and (imo) edging David and Ben into OOC territory.

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

I think that the misandry by the writers , especially Hess, is something that isn't discussed much. It's much deeper and dare I say, more sinister than just 'men bad women good' because the way she wrote the last episode shows that she wants to convey how Alicent's actions are commendable in a sense that her male children don't deserve her devotion and unconditional love anyway, while her only female child and grandchild do. It's framed as her liberation because she sells her own sons to another woman who is their enemy, but you know, it is good because Rhaenicent and reasons. As a woman, I'm appalled by this. What's worse is that I've seen takes here and on x like "Alicent regained her agency by ditching her sons for the woman she loves, her betrayal is understandable, go girl, you have my support" (and this one is tame compared to some others). Believe me, I'm not exaggerating. And I must be from mars because in my book that's not acceptable, understandable or commendable in any way, just the opposite. The problem, however, lies in the fact that the narrative and the writers' agenda support these vile and delusional takes. You don't even have to be a parent to see how evil and nonsensical this idea is, you just have to be able to understand basic human emotions and family dynamic. The writers and a big chunk of the fandom apparently don't.

Hello!

Thank you for this, really. The writers' (Hess' specifically) misandric agenda is absolutely crazy - and IMO crazy evident as well, so seeing so many people fall for it is baffling, sad and infuriating at the same time.

Don't they see that in HotD the women are the ones to blaim for something only when they side with men in one way or another? Don't they understand how forced, unsubtle and - because of that - cringe all the "you are a woman so you can't rule", "they don't respect me because I'm a woman" and "women suffer while men fight" are? House of the Dragon is one of the most force-feeding shows I've ever watched - and for some reason GA and even some people in the fandom believe it's alright. Media literacy is dead for real.

And the parent-children aspect of misandry you brought up is indeed one of the most atrocious things about the whole debacle. I am not a mother myself - but I have one, just as, I think, the majority of the viewers do. I refuse to believe that everyone who cheers for Alicent to abandon her sons has their own familial relationships so screwed that they are unable to understand the outlandishness of the opinion they are choosing to uphold.

Not to mention that in their quest for showing just how terrible Alicent's sons (minus Daeron - at least for now) are, HotD writers completely destroyed Helaena's personality, even the sparks of it she had in season 1. Now she is all about three things: bugs, clairvoyance and suffering (and I can't believe that the first point has been handled the best development-wise). Helaena is supposed to be good and kind: but what good and kind things have we seen her do? Taking care (kind of) of her crickets, offering a necklace in exchange for the life of her son (oh wow) and saying that she shouldn't really grieve for her child that much because the commoners' kids are dying all the time (how relatable for anyone who actually lost a child, right?). For most part she is just there, staring into the distance and saying something prophetic (or, again, suffering).

Just imagine a real mother saying to her son "You know, sonny, I love you, but you forgot to thank me for the pudding I made for your birthday plus you called my bestie an old cow - so I invited your school bullies to our house so that they could beat the shit out of you, you ungrateful jerk. They are in the backyard, go on, don't make your mommy wait".

Just imagine a real woman whose son has just been brutally killed say "You know what, there are so many children starving to death in the world. Why should I cry over mine?"

Honestly, I am beginning to think that people are steadily losing the ability to connect the things happening on screen to actual human emotional experience - as if the characters (in HotD in this case) are aliens to whom basic concepts that have been holding humanity together for millenia do not apply.

[alishaaxo]

I’m sorry ur dealing with stupid team black ppl that aren’t willing to listen to you, to read canon laws in the books, and that accuse u of being a misogynist over fucking fiction 🩷🩷 like I’m genuinely so annoyed for u and u deserve wag begged

thanks!

honestly the only thing between team green and team black imo, is that you are more likely to be team green if you think laws are more important and team black if you think the kings words is important!

like thats it!! i get ppl having a different opinion, but like thats NO excuse to start calling stuff like a simple opinion misogyny.

both fandom sides are heavily misogynistic anyway and thats a huge problem in of itself!

some ppl are preferring aegon due to misogyny’s sake but imo i feel like misogyny was more prevalent in the decision for the great council with rhaenys and viserys, cos by ALL RIGHTS, it should be her throne! but when it comes to rhaenyra-aegon, it has not only been established by the 101 great-council that men have precedent, but younger son over elder daughter has been followed for decades by the targs!!

also on a side note, its so weird to me how people treat the valyrians and first-men as super feminists compared to the “evil” andals, when like cregan stark literally usurps his granddaughter’s position as heir with his second son, just like jaehaerys i did!! the andals let women be heirs, like jeyne arryn, anya waynwood, tanda stokeworth and rhea royce (my beloved)!!!

[lesbianboyfriend]

another nugget to consider for your sexual violence Buffy thesis:

In season 7, episode 8, we find out Spike has been killing and siring people. The official count is 10 women and then just however many men we see in the basement.

obviously the show has compared a vampires bite to sexual violence before so this is an instance where Buffy has given a second chance to the man who tried to rape her and there are now 10 dead women around him. And Buffy gives him another chance even after that.

in the story, he doesn't know what he's doing and is being influenced by the first evil but I think there's still a lot of messy messaging in how Buffy keeps this man alive despite his body count. She can forgive him all she wants but he repeatedly demonstrates how he is a danger to the women around him

okay you’re so right. spike occupies such a massive place within the sexual violence thesis. he’s the character that looms the largest as someone the audience is supposed to like while also being explicitly named as a perpetrator of sexual violence. + the whole vampirism as sexual predation thing is like, a key part of the thesis

now i think the scenario with season 7 is kind of like i mentioned in the original sexual violence post, spike has a soul now. ergo, he cannot (by the show’s logic) still be a perpetrator of such violence bc he’s #good now. and of course, there is the first evil to be reckoned with as a factor in it. which is i think where they get back to the, “see, the sexual violence this guy did was because of some intrinsic monstrous evil” once again cementing sexual violence in the realm of monstrosity instead of actually grappling with it.

to be honest this is where i think angel season 5 ALMOST did something really interesting with spike. we know that angel as a person and tv show operates under the realm of, trying to make up for what you did as a vampire despite the fact that it “wasn’t their fault” so to say. it reckons with those acts of (sexual) violence as something intrinsically horrible regardless of “fault”and asks the perpetrators to truly reckon with their actions and past…..kind of. as we’ll see

and like, spike’s whole thing is that he only really became good because of buffy. and he thinks because of that he intrinsically “deserves” buffy (which is a whole nother level connected to sexual violence as system imo). and BECAUSE he has a soul, he doesn’t actually have to grapple with what “good” means, because that’s not how it works in the buffy moral universe. but then angel season 5 separates him from buffy. and asks him to be good WITHOUT reward. WITHOUT the promise of buffy. particularly with him as a ghost, only able to manipulate the world if he wants it enough. and we see him “wanting” it in moments where he’s trying to do good!!! just for good’s sake!!!

……and then they reintroduce the fucking shansu prophecy and spike compares his/angel’s atrocities to a scared girl lashing out at her oppressors and they go to rome and try to separate buffy from her new boyfriend and all over again we see him (and angel!!!!) still having that sense of ownership over buffy, that they somehow “deserve” her for being good. and that while they may be reckoning with their pasts for being “bad” they don’t actually fully understand the system of (sexual) violence that their actions took place within. so they don’t understand or grapple with how they’re still upholding those systems. so kind of a flop there!!! but for a brief second i thought angel season 5 was doing something really cool. should have known better i guess

but yeah saying this all as a spike fan. an enjoyer of spikebuffy. the narrative does NOT at all reckon with his position as perpetrator of sexual violence and honestly the show and his character arc suffer for that. and quite frankly the fans who refuse to acknowledge it as part of his character are deeply annoying. lol. lmao even

[yellowspiralbound]

Since season 3 of The Witcher Netflix comes out tomorrow...here are some of my concerns on adaptation from this season onward. Potential spoilers for the future seasons and definite spoilers for the books. Long post ahead.

The Hansa's Dynamic

I am so worried about how the Hansa is going to be handled in the show. Like shaking in my boots terrified. The showrunners already really messed up Dandelion & Geralt's dynamic...and that's one of the easier dynamics present in the Hansa imo. The dynamic is already going to be screwy because Cahir is a middle aged man and not a petulant teenager if he's present in the Hansa at all (though I think he will be since Emhyr called him and Fringilla out at the end of s2).

Emhyr as a Character

Speaking of Emhyr...I think they might attempt to give him a redemption arc, and I cannot emphasize how bad of an idea that is. They're going to retcon the whole "wanting to impregnate Ciri" bit, which I have mixed feelings on. Like yes, on one hand that's fucking gross but on the other hand, that bit is in there to show how fucked up Emhyr is and why Geralt needs to get to Ciri so quickly; it adds a sense of urgency to the Hansa's travels. If I see Emhyr sympathizers on my dash after this season I will lose my fucking mind.

Milva's Pregnancy & Related Scenes

I suspect that Milva's pregnancy is going to be cut entirely or play up the rest of the Hansa's concern for her as a weird "men think they can control women's bodies" thing which Milva will have to fight with them about so the show can be appropriately pro-choice without exploring any of the pro-choice nuance the books bring up. I can just see Regis talking to the guys about it being turned into a "the father deserves a say in a woman's choice to abort" scenario instead of the "I will give this woman her abortion regardless of what you all think about that (and I've made that VERY clear) but I think she's making this choice because she believes you all will abandon her/not support her if she wants to keep this baby and someone needs to make sure that she knows that won't happen" scenario that it actually is. This is also plays into my concerns about the Hansa's dynamic as changing that scene changes it irreparably.

Characterizing Nilfgaard as a Nation

Right now I feel like the show could go one of two ways 1) Nilfgaard is wrong in everything it does or 2) Nilfgaard is right in everything it does (if Emhyr gets a redemption arc). The show has already made a show of the Northern Realms' racism, which is book accurate mind you, but I fear this will translate to a sort of "Nilfgaard is the better nation as its less racist" scenario. While Nilfgaard is better in that aspect and a few others, it is still a militant slave nation. Nilfgaard and the Northern Realms both have their evils and their virtues; that's a big point in the books and the games. Neither nation is 100% good or 100% bad - they're just nations. I don't think the show will be able to handle that kind of nuance.

Jaskier & Radovid...

Apparently, Radovid is supposed to be one of Jask's love interests this season. Radovid is a massive racist, a war criminal, and a teenager. I'm sure all of that's going to be retconned but for fuck's sake just make a new character if you're going to age up and completely change the personality and insanity of an existing one. Important note: I am 1000% in support of queer Jask. I have never shipped that man with a woman in my life (even in the books and games) but for the love of God why did his LI have to be fucking RADOVID??

Mistle & the Rats

If they make Ciri and Mistle a love story, I am going to be disappointed but not surprised. Let me be clear: Mistle is a rapist and an abuser. I suspect they will change that to shoehorn in a queer relationship (even though Triss and Philippa are RIGHT THERE if they want a semi-canon wlw couple). The Rats as a whole are definitely going to be made into more robinhood-like characters because God forbid a main character like Ciri is morally grey or does questionable/bad things.

Geralt's Disability

If this season ends with the Vilgefortz and Geralt fight, as I suspect it might, Geralt will be disabled permanently by the end of this season. The dryads do not fix it. Magic does not fix it. Geralt becomes disabled and stays disabled. His disability becomes a hindrance during the books and the reader actively sees him grapple with the fallout of this. I do not trust this show to handle that - especially with how much more closed off Geralt is in the show compared to the books. If I had to guess, Geralt's disability will be handwaved away or mentioned in passing and never actually shown to impact him which is not cool.

[fillejondrette]

my white trans man cousin posted this, wondering what people think. the info available rn is vague but it seems that while imane khelif has always lived as a woman, it seems likely she has some sort of intersex or other condition. after all, she has been disqualified from previous competition on sex grounds. racism played a role in people’s reactions to the situation (portraying her as a monster, saying that she “obviously” looks male which I don’t think is true) but i also don’t think it’s fair to treat the italian boxer and her “white woman tears” as evil. khelif had previously been excluded from women’s sports so if the italian boxer thought she was fighting a male she’s obviously going to be upset about it. and she’s a professional boxer who’s been punched countless times, so if she says she felt she had to stop the fight for her own safety im inclined to trust her judgment. it’s unfortunate but entirely predictable that people have no faith that athletic governing bodies will exclude males from women’s sports, after years of men being allowed in just because they feel like it. imo the greatest blame for the situation should be on these athletic governing bodies. they need to develop consistent and transparent guidelines for intersex athletes. however, there is also a long-running phenomenon of people accusing women of color (esp black women) of being male when there is literally no reason to think that’s the case. anyone accusing serena williams of being a man is obviously just acting out of misogynoir. but im confused about the inclusion of caster senenya bc she was found to be genetically male. so it’s like….what point are you trying to make. i don’t think anyone should be condemning, let alone harassing, khelif. i’ve seen a total lack of sympathy for (potentially) intersex people. it’s a tough situation bc people deserve the right to keep their health information private but that information is sometimes necessary to ensure fair competitions. im certainly not claiming to know enough about biology or sports to make those calls

[nicnacsnonsense]

My version of a Wicked-style Maleficent would start with the same basic premise of the fae and humans are at war, and Stefan and Maleficent having a romance that ultimately ends with him betraying her so he can become the next king (but we’ll make his future wife the king’s grandniece or something distant like that to make her a weaker contender for heir). Maleficent does become more ruthless and merciless in the war against humans as a result of this interaction, but not full on evil or anything.

One day, a woman is brought before Maleficent after she was caught trying to sneak into the Moors. Maleficent recognizes her as the Queen and is about to sentence her to something brutal when the Queen is like, wait, no, please I need your help to protect my baby!

And Maleficent looks a little closer and yep there sure is a baby bump there. So she tells the guards to let the Queen go and conjures up a tree stump or something for the pregnant lady to sit down on, and then is like Explain Yourself. Why would you come to me for help?

The Queen is like, I didn’t know where else to go. My husband hurt you once; I’ve seen your beautiful wings he keeps mounted on the wall like a gruesome trophy. He hurts me too. And I’m so scared he’s going to hurt our baby.

Of course Maleficent is immediately on the Queen’s side, like stay here with me, Stefan is scum, I’ll protect both you and the baby from him. But the Queen is like no, I have to stay and do everything I can to protect my people, but I need to know my baby is going to be safe. And Maleficent is like I have an idea.

Now is when you get the christening scene, except the whole thing is a show, designed to get baby Aurora out of the castle without any attempts by Stefan to find her and without implicating the Queen. And now Maleficent has the heir and 16 years to come up with a plan to overthrown Stefan once and for all.

This is the women supporting women version of Maleficent we deserve, imo.

[vole-mon-amour]

3x08, part 1.

Opening the episode with literally Jamie's name is !!! I'm already smiling. My boooy. <3 A streak of four wins just bc Jamie saw the flaw in Total Football, fixed it, and there we go <3

I am so incredibly sad for what Ted has to go through. This SUCKS. Some other man is bad enough, but your fucking therapist is a punch in the gut. Especially when you still have feelings for the woman you love, but she doesn't love you anymore.

I don't UNDERSTAND! If TedBecca isn't supposed to be romantic like Hannah and the writers say, why this? Like, yeah, they've been to the same party, obviously. And the mention is casual, "they're brother and sister to me", but I still see the foreshadowing. Like, I'm all TedTrent and bi Ted, but ????

Mae is so sweet. What a woman.

Seeing wlw in s3 of Ted Lasso was the last thing I expected, but hell yeah. Please don't make Jack evil. Please. If they're gonna break up, let it not be a scandal and a mutual breakup or something. However, I can see Keeley staying with Jack and Roy telling her he has feelings for Jamie and they hit it off pretty nicely. But that's just my shipper heart's desire. We'll see bc I don't think this show might be that bold.

I wonder how many women actually sleep with their bra on. It's the most uncomfortable thing EVER imo.

Keeley is such an excitable puppy. Just like Jamie when with Roy. :)

I'm actually surprised about Nate and Jade. Like... it's almost a complete 180? Idk, I still dislike him. I think I understand the point, be kind and and not judgemental, all of that, but I can't with him. I don't like him and his storyline. A lot of screen time was wasted on him when imo when it could've been something way more interesting.

She might as well might be a butch bi.

Laughing. Trent with his what I almost sure is an empty mug, just for the drama of it. Doesn't matter that he 'drinks' from it after. Show me liquid in there or I'm not fooled.

S1 Roy would never, and I'm proud of his development. Ted is one of his people now, isn't he? A good friend for sure. It's also very interesting for me to watch in terms of Roy's other relationships and interactions. He already went somewhat there with Jamie in Amsterdam, "I was a dick today, I'm sorry" and how he realizes that he often releases his negative emotions on Jamie "whether you deserve it or not".

Crying with laughter. Roy is ready to "talk about it", but definitely isn't ready to do THAT. It makes me feel good for getting this part of a relationship right in my fic, lmaoooo. Also, where is Higgins?

A real conflict here, hehe. Hopefully, one day, he's gonna be ready to join them and talk about it. That would be fun to watch.

Higgins summoning succeeded.

What are you doing there, Helga soft boy, with your sparkling pencil? This makes me think of that "Jamie — Jamie" thingy. Yeah, no, Roy and Jamie are in love.

This is more like a soft howling/whining :')

Babe, wake up, new reaction meme just dropped.

He sure does, but he's still repressed about it.

Trent Crimm woof'ing with a soft look on his face can be SO personal. I love him, your honor. I wonder what he'll write in his book about that. I also wonder when is Roy gonna join them. Oh, i'l watch him barking and woofing, alright. Jamie wouldn't let that go, EVER. At the same time I feel like Roy would refuse to imitate barking & they would let him just bc that's Roy. A simple "fuck you" and that's ok.

The difference in body language, wow. Love hounds though? Nate, you need to get back with Ted then. Gosh, this entire storyline is SO awkward.

I think I'm still in love with her a little bit. What a woman.

[watermelinoe]

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but I was curious since you mentioned manga - what are some of your favorite shoujo works? Thank you in advance and have a nice day.

i have been asked this before but you have no idea how desperate i always am to talk about shoujo 😭 so i'm gonna split my recs up kinda by genre and i'll note whether it's completed or not, i'll try to include some of the more recent ones i'm reading

my fav shoujo manga is kimi ni todoke (completed), i especially love the female friendships in this manga and it's an incredible coming-of-age story, i think this one is more well-known but it deserves it!!

another well-known shoujo with a great female protagonist is of course kamisama hajimemashita (completed), i would die for nanami

something that i love abt shoujo is that the female leads may not be physically powerful but their actions shape the narrative and they are shown to be powerful because of their qualities, i think for girls you want to see girls kicking ass of course but you also want to see that girls are not passive, that they will do what they can and that their actions are powerful

my fav isekai manga, kanata kara (completed), has a protagonist like that, it's a really underrated gem that does a lot of world-building and the female lead even has to learn the language of the world she's teleported to, she can't communicate with the male lead or anyone else at the start, and i love her she's so clever and resourceful and compassionate, it's one of those "good beats evil" stories

i am so behind on it but i also love akatsuki no yona, incredible world-building, intricate character relationships and growth, it's so so good i need to get caught up, but if you like this one i also enjoyed kusanagi's other work mugen spiral (completed, short and cute demon/shrine maiden romance)

other recs: watashi no shiawase na kekkon is a cute cinderella story, colette wa shinu koto ni shita (completed but not online yet ;_;) is a touching persephone/hades style story where the female lead finds new appreciation for her life and her skills as a doctor, sayonara rose garden (completed) is a historical shoujo yuri where you really root for the couple...

isekai manhwa recs (somewhere between shoujo and josei imo) :

for better or for worse (completed) is classic shakespearian romantic dramedy imo, the miscommunications are a genre standard, it's fun and the female lead is drawn with fangs like a rough and tumble anime boy and i love that for her the villainess is a marionette, closer to josei probably, kayena is a certified Girl Boss and hellbent on revenge and she has a lady squad backing her up + devoted pretty moid a wicked tale of cinderella's stepmom, female lead is almost 40, lots of focus on the daughters coming of age and who they want to be, "cinderella" not wanting to be with the prince the villainess flips the script, i just really love judith she's so funny and she's athletic and accidentally kills a guy not-sew-wicked stepmom, snow white story, deals with misogyny and disordered eating and also it kinda looks like there's gonna be yuri on the side rn ?? two female characters confirmed to be into women master villainess the invincible, our girl is so badass.... and the original heroine is also bloodthirsty and she rocks too, also i personally think the male lead is hot tbh and usually it's just some guy to me the crow's prince is just really funny to me, how did they make that crow so expressive... and if i had a nickel for every isekai where the female lead spends a good chunk of it as a bird i would have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice but anyway the falcon princess is also a lot of fun with birds

and i'm also really into how to hide the emperor's child bc astelle is insanely cunning but the male lead does not deserve her at all

my anilist is miniblin and i have logged basically every manga i've ever read on there lol so if ur curious

[transmutationisms]

this isn’t rly a coherent point just a thought but i feel like the succession audience anon might be getting at the fact that the sociopolitical commentary of the show is lost as its audience increases? imo jesse’s political commentary is very clear but i also have my commie goggles on. but i know for a fact that the show is was not written nor marketed the way i’m consuming it. maybe jesse leans that way a bit but like he’s obviously descriptive and not prescriptive in his art so there’s that, and the constraints of tv are that it has to have broad enough appeal so you can’t be shoving your politics down the people’s throats necessarily. i think it is marketed to the brooklynite class you’re describing and i think they don’t fully get it and i also think as more people watch the more its themes are ignored in favor of stuff like omg who’d make the best successor, despite that not being what the show is about at all (also jesse has told us from day one who would make the “best” successor). idk like the people who get excited abt kendall becoming ceo you know? like omg it’s a win for him! like… are we watching the same show

ok i agree with a lot of this, and i am certainly also a known user of commie goggles lol. i think the fundamental limitation with the show is, like you said, that it's more interested in a descriptive mode than a prescriptive one, which means at its best it can nail character development and political satire, but it isn't really trying to offer any coherent alternative worldview. the portrayal of logan's gender / body politics is not flattering and doesn't flinch away from either the interpersonal trauma he inflicts on those around him or the broader political harm done by liberal capitalism; the show has also always been fairly sharp i think on the fascistic tendencies of capitalism and the way the latter turns into the former—again, shown both through logan's ideology of domination, social darwinist thinking, valorising certain types of bodies, etc, and through waystar's engagement with politics and politicians. however, i'd agree that this is all motivated by a description of the characters' worldviews and by satire of them, and we would probably see more of the cracks in the writers' and showrunners' politics if they tried to put forth some kind of more active alternative political platform.

that said, the fact that people miss these aspects of the show says as much to me about the political consciousness of viewers as it does about the intentionality of the writing. people with certain beliefs about masculinity are always going to watch 'fight club' and think tyler durden rules, no matter how effectively the critique is or isn't being made. similarly, people who think capitalism is a good or necessary system and doesn't derive value from fascism, or that succeeding in business is a matter of skill and mystical genius powers rather than a game of luck and accreting wealth, are always going to watch 'succession' and think that logan rules, or that the point is to identify the person who 'deserves' to take over waystar, or that capitalist electoral politics is a noble exercise in rhetoric that has simply been corrupted by a few evil apples, or what the fuck ever.

like, i'm not saying the writing is perfect or denying that it hits a wall in terms of actual radicalism. but i do think there are certain critiques the writers consistently and clearly make, often specifically via satire, that large swathes of the audience simply don't pick up on because they're approaching the text through their liberal capitalist ideological lens. you can see this, for example, in the journosphere's takes on the cruises storyline, which by and large completely failed to engage with the broader critique of capitalism as inherently producing death, exploiting bodies, and specifically preying on those deemed other or marginal—namely sex workers, migrants, women, etc. these points were very clearly made in the show and the meliorist viewpoint very clearly satirised (eg, in 'argestes'). ultimately, though, you can't rescue viewers from their own liberalism and you can't make them read the text from beyond those parameters. it's an issue of political consciousness, and although it can certainly be exacerbated by bad or milquetoast writing, even an explicitly radical piece of art will be interpreted through that liberal lens by people who are liberals (anyone remember the reviews of 'sorry to bother you'?)

i also would add that, in my opinion, this season has actually been more willing to overtly engage with the political threads than season 3. viewers can no longer hide behind the idea that the problem starts and ends with logan as an individual. matsson and his people have consistently been characterised as staking their own worth on their supposed biological superiority, with specific references to athletic ability, bodily strength, élite education that forms a class barrier, and the general idea of racial and genetic superiority ("nasdaq master race," "shallow end of the gene pool"). i'm aware there are many viewers, including on tumblr, who are not stringing these things together and seeing an overall discourse on capitalist eugenics and racism—but i do actually think that the satire here is being laid out pretty clearly in front of our faces. is this a show interested in exploring imaginative political alternatives? no, and you could convincingly argue on that basis that its fundamental stance is more self-satisfied snark than anything resembling actual leftist politics. i think, though, that this would be pretty evenly true since day 1, and that, at its best, the writing does hit on some key aspects of how capitalist spectacle functions, the power abuses it creates and enables, and how these things are inherent to capitalism writ large rather than being a unique pathology of the roys or waystar.

ultimately i love to see art that is actually communist / leftist in nature, is interested in alternatives to capitalism and ways out of our current political economic arrangement, etc. 'succession' is not that, clearly. part of the reason i do shit like blog about it is because it used to annoy me so much that no one was connecting certain more radical dots (like the obvious path from the show's historicised thinking -> a critique of capitalism as contingent) that are implied or allowed-for by the writing but never unpacked or explicated. so, often what interests me in the show is at least as much the lacunae left in the writing as the things it explicitly says. again, commie goggles. i also would tentatively agree with you that it's primarily marketed to people who are basically liberal and milquetoast, for reasons of profit motive, although again i honestly take in so little television advertising that i don't have much that's cogent to say about this angle of things lol.

i'm certainly not lying to myself that this show is any kind of radical statement of communist party values—i just also think that there are points of actually interesting satirical critique that the writers are very deliberate about, and that the guardian-new yorker-industrial complex is pretty much inherently going to miss these points or ignore them, for reasons that don't necessarily reflect one way or the other on the actual quality of the writing.

anyway, it was maybe goofy to write this out like an hour before the election episode airs, but these are certainly questions i will continue rotating after i see it lol.

[reasoncourt]

if anyone is wondering why i care about taylor swift discourse it’s genuinely just because i think people lose their point in their hate for her. and they lose perspective.

like she’s actually not the most evil woman in the world. she gives her workers insurance (bare minimum) and good bonuses (she’s mega rich so also bare minimum) and she buys carbon credits (bare minimum but also opens an interesting convo - i.e. how much should we value carbon credits?). she doesn’t use her voice enough imo but she also doesn’t speak out of turn (i.e. she doesn’t pretend to be well-versed and authoritative on topics she has no knowledge in (arguably she should educate herself on certain topics but tbh i’m inclined to view it as a positive that she doesn’t introduce global political issues beyond “trump bad” to her crazy af fan base… like she could do more but i also don’t have much faith in her politics cause she’s so so so out of touch so i prefer the silence)).

an important note here is that i do think she’s absolutely fucked for not condemning the genocide of palestinian people (especially when she’s supposedly close friends with the hadids who are outspoken on the issue and would greatly benefit from her public support (obv she shouldn’t just speak out bc it affects her personal friends but the fact that she isn’t speaking out when she has personal friends is honestly bizarre to me)).

but she's not unique for any of this. she does more than most of her peers and also way less than she should. that's all i see.

and yet ultimately it’s like - people side with kanye when he put a naked wax figure of her in his music video without her consent when she was 25. that situation was obviously misogynistic but people hate her so they largely glossed over it and decided she deserved it for "lying"about a phone call she didn't lie about. people also seem to think it’s funny that football bros are making ai porn of her (arguing she “deserves” it) despite that line of thinking obviously being detrimental to all women and especially those who are so much more vulnerable than her. people got angry at her for donating $250,000 to help with kesha’s legal fees in her case against ‘Dr. Luke’ because they considered it a publicity stunt even though taylor swift wasn’t the one to make that donation public. people called her performative for taking a man to court for sexually assaulting her and only asking for $1. and obviously they would’ve criticised her for asking for more.

the thing that really aggravates me is that there is so so so so so much to criticise her for. but it’s so so so so so obvious that a lot of people just hate her and don’t actually have any legit problem with the things they say they have a problem with. their favs could do the exact same thing and they won’t find any issue with it. cause they just really hate taylor swift and won’t step back a bit in order to just critically think about what their principles are and how those principles apply to this situation with taylor swift and whether they’re actually consistent with those principles and will apply them to someone other than taylor swift.

there are such valid points and important discussions i see being completely missed because the complaint is about Taylor swift and people seem to be incapable of thinking beyond the fact that they just, first and foremost, hate her

and let it be said that this is not a taylor swift defence post. i could not give a single shit about her specifically. i do find her music fun and nostalgic but i also think it deserves more criticism than it gets (but that’s not what this post is about). it’s just that she’s one of the most talked about people in pop culture and i feel like legitimate and productive discourse is rlly hindered by people’s disproportionate focus on her

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 1

Propaganda why Feyre Archeron is insufferable:

"She is Miss Perfect Special Never Does Anything Wrong. Rhys with her is like Gordon Ramsay with children, EXCEPT SHE'S A GROWN ADULT. I didn't hate her tooooo much in books 1-3 (she was barely tolerable), but in the novella, she becomes this housewife First Lady type character who is fine doing paperwork after stating previously that she wants to be doing something more "important", and living in a McMansion. THEN THE FIFTH BOOK STARTS WITH HER HAVING AN "INTERVENTION" FOR HER SISTER, WHICH IS BASICALLY FEYRE TELLING NESTA THAT SHE'S GRIEVING INCORRECTLY. Bitch, who are YOU to tell someone that THEIR grief is making YOUR life uncomfortable?? "Wah wah the social implications" you're the literal queen, no one cares that your sister is embarrassing you.

Imo, Feyre is also the result of a lot of internalized misogyny on the part of the author, bc she has two men in love with her and gets along very well with every other male character that's not "evil", but many of the female characters are antagonistic or unhelpful towards Feyre, seemingly apropos of nothing. It's giving "I'm not like OTHER girls". She also very clearly doesn't want children but then miraculously changes her mind bc apparently female characters can't be fulfilled without children. 🙄

Oh and btw Feyre also manages to get the powers of EVERY fairy court ruler at the end of the first book. I DO NOT use the term "mary sue" lightly, as that label has been used against feminist characters a lot, but Feyre exemplifies the Mary Sue trope."

"SHES SO ANNOYING AND SO SO STUPID AND BY THE END SHE JUST BECOMES A COMPLETE DOORMAT AND LETS RHYS WALK ALL OVER HER tbh im more mad at the author for butchering her but she's still annoying as all hell"

"Thinks she’s the victim of everything. Destroys an entire Court. Forces an intervention on her sister who is grieving differently than Feyre is."

"She's the WORST. She's an asshole to her family but thinks she deserves to be worshipped by them because she hunts or whatever, feels entitled all the time, is ableist to her dad, is fantasy racist and turns from being racist to not being racist in a BLINK, is ridiculously overpowered and treated as oh-so-special by every single other character ... I hate her and I wish she would die. "

Propaganda why Tim Jackson Drake is insufferable:

"he is so generic the only thing distinctive about him is his rich white boy privilege and arrogance and yet the writers go out of their way to frame him as extraordinary and outstanding from every other character he appears beside which is crazy because he is just a less likable version of dick grayson and his character only works when the reader is reminded at every turn that he is a child so all his flaws are supposed to be endearing even when they negatively affect others"

"Other characters (including a murdered child) are bashed to prop Tim up as a good Robin. He's also constantly sexist and classist. He cheats on two women at the same time and is ultra smug"

"oh man. i've had enough of this duckboy (as the protag, he's tolerable in yj and stuff.) like when tim is the protag every character in the story becomes Worse. lady shiva gets nerfed. steph is turned into jealous hormonal catfight girl. helena is dumbified and too womanly to function (they have a nice dynamic as long as tim isn't the protag). cassie and tim were great in yj98, but as soon as he is The Protag then she is his best friend's girlfriend and they're barely friends anymore. cass is turned into a rapist. dick is turned into a lazy mediocre robin. jason turns into fucky wucky dumb brute yaoi stalker boyfriend who is suddenly obsessed with tim's awesome skills. 10 y.o. damian somehow deserves to be put on a hitlist because he's a savage and tim is civilized. Sometimes the story is bogged own with tim's internal or external lectures about their flaws and how they need to be better (better like him), except for dick HMMMM wonder why that is. probbly wouldn't be so bothered if tim wasn't crammed into the spotlight of every crossover in the 90s and early 00s and then so much of dc and the fandom wave it around as the peak era of comicbooks. like im sorry. he is not a relatable protag. like the editors literally told newspapers that he was created for gen x white dudes who blow their money on comics and merch, the info is on wikipedia."

"His definitive writer is a conservative Republican. His series is full of moral PSAs, *dumb* *hormonal* girls getting into catfights over him, and blatant sexism and racism. He gives anti-marijuana speeches to a standing ovation, he lectures about how babies need a father and a mother, and sex is for marriage. Other characters suddenly become stupid around him so that he looks smart. The other characters talk about how he is the best, nicest, smartest Robin ever and ALL the others were dumber and meaner than he is, even the one that mentored him. He as a grown adult man is canonically still bitter about "his" child sidekick role being given to an actual child (fans pretend he is the victim of this on both sides—nope he's the adult fighting a child for the child sidekick role, no adult wanted to replace him). Did I mention that this character is the amazing pure white boy, and his 10-year-old successor is painted as a savage Arab terrorist who needs to be put in his place? T*m is a 5'9"+ adult grown man, not a delicate sensitive baby boy."

"White twink rich boy who always has to be smartest bestest boy even when he is a part of a whole group of smartest bestest ppl (aka bat family as a whole, like he's literally THE Mary sue of a group of Mary sues) at expense of literally everyone else"