#instead of just hiring an old man actor to play an old man character?

[zoobus]

Prometheus (2012) was entertaining but annoying in such a way that describing it would heavily suggest I didn't find it entertaining. For a movie that's (allegedly) meant as thought provoking, they sure did let a lot of unchecked stupid happen. What's a protocol? What's wrong with immediately anthropomorphizing an alien planet? Why can't I wear my mask under my nose while playing with a corpse? These are all scientists.

[frasier-crane-style]

These posters are actually a major reason why the MCU Spider-Man sucks. The "Spider-Man in high school" stuff had been largely picked clean by earlier adaptations, but Feige was still set on making Spider-Man the MCU teen movie. So instead of basing it on the comics or even on contemporary teenage culture, they decided to turn it into a huge John Hughes reference (because he's the most iconic teen movie voice, even though he's largely irrelevant to actual teens, to say nothing of comics from the sixties). They didn't have Mary Jane in their movie, they had Allie from the Breakfast Club, only they made her the endgame love interest because people found her character more memorable than Molly Ringwald.

I mean, there's a little bit of Miles Morales in there, because he's the most recent 'Spider-Man' origin story and the MCU has a huge recency bias, but by and large, the throughline of the MCU Spider-Man is that Tom Holland is a wittle babby. Spider-Man 3 ended with Tobey Maguire proposing marriage. No Way Home ends with Holland getting a GED and moving into his own apartment.

I could keep going... Black Widow is shockingly derivative of The Americans and gives Natasha a 'little sister' she never had in the comics, while Shang-Chi entirely erases his supporting cast and Ant-Man 3 bizarrely turns into a Star Wars movie... but the adaptation process where every comic character is turned into a stealth remake of an old, popular Hollywood blockbuster I think has definitely resulted in the MCU's samey-gamey feel.

It's the same problem as DC turning all their villains into a variation of Heath Ledger's Joker--all the colorful, oddball characters of the Marvel universe are turned into lesser versions of RDJ's Tony Stark, or at least given quippy sidekicks that turn them into a gestalt Tony Stark.

Imagine if every cop movie was done by taking a novel about the police, adapting it as a Lethal Weapon movie, then just changing the names and hiring different actors to play Murtaugh and Riggs. It'd get old fast, right? Even the Disney+ series are essentially drawn-out blockbuster movies. It's all a copy of a copy of Independence Day and the like.

Even Spider-Man... which started out with the thesis statement of "he's too small-time for the Avengers"... immediately became about going into space, foiling terrorist attacks on London Bridge, and even preventing the entire multiverse from collapsing. They can't go smaller because a smaller movie, even in the action genre like John Wick or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is outside the 'blockbusters from the last twenty years' mindset. So I think they're just going to keep doubling down and doubling down until they run out of nostalgia (this is all they have going for them at the moment), because it's not in their wheelhouse to do anything but big massive summer blockbuster, they can't conceive of anything that wasn't first done as a Michael Bay movie.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

So what do you think that RDJ is back and now playing Dr. Doom?

Will they giving him treatment like thanos? Or will be different?

Also I want bet they will make Dr. Doom be tony stark variant

I think there's a stark (heh) contrast between what Marvel used to do in the past and the mistakes they're making now.

They hired a bunch of unknown actors in the beginning because they were focused on the stories. They wanted the audience to connect with the plot and the characterization, so they went hard on that. And it worked wonders.

But now the story is not as strong as it used to be. They're going back to some of the stuff we had two decades ago: big CGI fights and world/universe-ending stakes. Which, for some characters might make sense, but Ant-Man with Kang? Seriously?

So now that Majors is gone, I suppose they needed something to make the news and get the audience back, except... it seems so desperate. Like an admission that they're aware their stuff is not working but they're not listening to what we want, instead they're choosing to go the old "the execs know better route": Just give the audience a big name and they'll fall for it. Too bad the audience is not as stupid as they think.

PS. As I mentioned, I know nothing about comics but I'd swear Doom is heavily linked to Stephen. Getting RDJ there, maybe not as a Stark variant but probably leaning hard on the sarcasm side of things, sounds like such a waste.

[trangenderstan]

Tullius has so much wasted potential. As much as i absolutely adore Michael Hogan's voice, i wish Bethesda didn't hire a celebrity voice actor so we could have more Tullius content. He hasn't had a single update to him since Special edition (and even then i'm not sure if the lines they added were just unfinished voicelines or completely new ones)

The writers also seem to constantly be unable to decide if he should be a metaphor for the empire - a tired, old man with a heart of gold but far too much horrors seen to keep going, or a genuine person like Ulfric is (he hates speeches, despises the Thalmor, he comes to like Skyrim and appreciate it's harshness). So we get this amalgamation of symbolism and genuine character that doesn't seem go to anywhere

Especially after playing Oblivion, i wish his personality and views were explored more. He's like the first imperial General we see alive and in the flesh. There are only mentions of them in Oblivion (not sure about the other games). So seeing a man of his importance should be this monumental thing and it isn't

What are his views on the Talos ban? Talos, who is the literal founder of the Empire. Talos, who has a whole section of the Imperial City named after him. Talos, whose presence in Cyrodiil is even more prominent than in Skyrim. He's not just a God to imperials, he's the reason everything they know exists at all. What are his views on the Dragonborn? Where was he born? Is he Colovian or Nibenese? What made him a General? We get bits and pieces of his story and yet they never add up fully in the way Ulfric's backstory does

It makes me so sad that such an incredible concept for a character is completely omitted and reduced to fractions of what could have been. I wish his morality was explored more. I wish we had actual debates about his actions the way the game debates Ulfric. Hell, he didn't even get his own card in the Tarot set. Instead of him there's fucking ARVAK. As much as i love that good horse, goddamit the Chariot literally symbolises war, rebellion, leadership. COME ON

I am very frustrated by the lack of respect for this man. Tullius come here i will make up a backstory for you myself

[denimbex1986]

'Even for an actor as skilled as Andrew Scott, playing a character as infamous as Tom Ripley poses a serious creative challenge. Since the release of Patricia Highsmith’s now canonical 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, the elusive, murderous grifter has become a fixture in the cultural imagination. He’s headlined multiple novels and movie adaptations — meaning that almost everyone is acquainted with at least one incarnation of Tom Ripley.

Even so, in writer-director Steven Zaillian’s eight-episode miniseries Ripley, the Irish actor manages to deliver the definitive portrayal of the literary schemer — a sociopath who is an expert at self-preservation, a man seemingly driven by overwhelming desire, envy, and greed. As Scott developed his approach to the tight-lipped character, he says it was vital to forget about Tom’s formidable reputation and focus instead on how such a man might realistically move through the world.

“I think what’s gripping about the show is that we see the logic of what he has to do to survive, and each episode leads us in a very particular way,” Scott says. “We spend time with the character when he’s doing these things and [see] how much of an expert he isn’t. Sometimes what he’s really talented at is being able to think really, really quickly.”

Scott clearly knows a thing or two about talent: His was obvious from the moment he began his career on the Irish stage, though global audiences only learned of his gifts when he made his showstopping — and BAFTA Award-winning — television turn as Sherlock Holmes’s brilliant nemesis Moriarty in the BBC hit Sherlock. The actor’s subsequent portrayal of the sensitive (and yes, sexy) priest in the second season of acclaimed series Fleabag then launched him into a new stratosphere of stardom, earning him a Critics Choice Award and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. “Particularly in L.A., people just shout, ‘hot priest!’ at you all the time when you’re crossing the street,” Scott says. “It’s extraordinary.”

The Olivier Award-winning actor has further burnished his credentials with singular, riveting work on both stage and screen. Last year alone, he starred in Vanya, an impressive solo adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at London’s venerable Old Vic Theatre, and earned rapturous reviews for his role as a lonely screenwriter in the sensitive and stirring drama All of Us Strangers. Now, Scott’s unforgettable turn in Ripley has critics again raving over the actor, who gives his Tom an eerily placid demeanor that surely conceals an inner raging tumult.

That facade proves indispensable to the character when, in the series, he’s hired to travel to Italy to convince the errant Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to return to New York to helm his father’s company — under the mistaken pretense that Tom is Dickie’s close college friend. Upon arriving in Europe, however, the amoral Tom is staggered by the scion’s privileged, romantic way of life, and disguises his true aims to live for as long as possible in his new host’s shadow.

“One of the reasons that I love the character: He’s got this huge appreciation for art and Italy and food and culture and nature,” Scott says. “I think that’s something that the other characters take for granted. I was just seeing his appreciation for life and the arts. He’s never been exposed to that kind of beauty before.”

Krista Smith: Ripley is so gorgeous — it just washes over you. It’s my favorite kind of viewing experience, where I’m rooting for the sociopath at the same time I’m terrified of him.

Andrew Scott: Steven Zaillian has done a great job of replicating what Patricia Highsmith herself did, which is to make you root for somebody who’s doing these terrible things. The big challenge for me was to make the audience feel what it’s like to be Tom Ripley rather than to be a victim of Tom Ripley. That’s quite an unusual thing to surf because I’m required to love him, protect him in the way you do with all your characters. But it’s difficult with Tom because, even in beginning to talk about the character, I have to protect his secrets a little bit. You don’t want to overexplain him too much.

That’s especially difficult when the camera is trained on your face for eight full episodes, I would imagine.

AS: Yeah, that was challenging. I don’t feel like there could be a bigger part on television than Tom Ripley because he’s just there the whole time. He’s a loner character [so the question is]: How are you able to convey what he’s feeling without a lot of talking and not a lot of deep relationships? It’s quite rare for a limited series like this to focus so much on one character. And as an actor, it’s quite an unusual thing to do.

It was challenging to be with somebody who’s quite opaque as a character, to spend so much time with him. There was an awful lot of internal work, but it’s such a great privilege to get to play this character.

It’s fascinating to watch how Tom is viewed by both Dickie and his girlfriend Marge, played so marvelously by Dakota Fanning. So much tension and jealousy and suspicion develops among them. What was it like to work through all of that with Johnny Flynn and with Dakota?

AS: Johnny is an absolutely gorgeous, warm person and with Dickie [and Tom], there’s a sort of love between those two characters that we were reluctant to define too much — whether it’s romantic love or whether Tom wants to just occupy his space. To me, their [scenes together are] love scenes in a way because if you don’t have love at the heart of it, we don’t fully understand why Tom does what he does and why he’s so enamored by Dickie. Marge, she’s suspicious of Tom. We had really good chemistry, Dakota and I, and we enjoyed the scenes because we have to do so much without saying anything. We have to sort of say, “I cannot bear you,” but do it with a smile.

You shot in some of the most amazing locations. Italy itself is really a character here. How did physically being in those breathtaking environments fuel your performance?

AS: We shot in Venice during the pandemic — when I think about it, it lent a real feeling to me and to the character because I did feel isolated. I [remember] walking to the set through Piazza San Marco [in Venice at] six-thirty or seven in the morning. It was so extraordinary because this would usually be one of the [busiest] tourist spots in the world, and it was completely empty. It was unique, and sometimes quite sad in some ways. But you find your joy. We went to so many different places — Capri, Palermo, the Amalfi Coast. And we shot in a place called Atrani, which is the tiniest village. The experience of being in Italy, particularly on the coast, it’s sort of transfixing. You’re walking up these incredibly steep stairs . . . I love the [scenes with Tom climbing the stairs]. He’s experiencing life for the first time in a completely different way, and his confidence grows really, really quickly.

So, I want to take you back to the early days of your career. You were one of those kids who was shy and maybe did a drama class to see if that might work for you?

AS: Yes, exactly. I used to act a little bit as a kid, not much, just in commercials and little theater things. There’s a myth with actors, that they’re extroverted. I was a really shy boy, and the acting really helped me to sort of overcome that.

Then you go to college and immediately drop out. Why?

AS: When I was about 18, I went to the Abbey Theater in Dublin, which was an incredible learning ground. That’s why I dropped out of college, to go and actually do the thing rather than study the thing. I spent a few years at the National Theatre in Dublin as a really young person — it was extraordinary when I think about it, playing these amazing parts in the Abbey. I moved to London when I was 22, and I was auditioning a lot. It’s a big, big journey. My inspiration has always been good writing. I don’t believe you can make a great film or TV series or play if you don’t have a great script, so that’s where I’ve always gone. That means doing things that maybe don’t hike up your profile; I’m always happy to play supporting parts if the writing is good. So, it’s never been about trying to play leading roles necessarily, but in the past few years, that’s what’s happened.

Can you recall a film or a play that maybe informed who you are now, the kind of actor you became?

AS: When I was 17, I made my first film, which was a tiny Irish film called Korea, and there was an actor in it who was, to use that beautiful expression, a journeyman actor, called Donal Donnelly. He had a huge amount of theater credits and film and television credits but was not a particularly famous actor. What he was was a very kind actor. By looking at him, seeing what way he talks to the crew and what way he talks to the other actors, I learned how to behave on a set. That’s something that I’m always so grateful for.

I love hearing that. So, coming off of this very challenging, very intense production, what’s next? What are you excited to tackle?

AS: I want to do something funny, and I want to be in a musical. I’d love to be in a really well-written rom-com. I’m putting that out there and sort of hoping that manifests in some way. I had to sing onstage for the first time in Vanya, in a very small way, but I really loved it. It’s extraordinary to sing, isn’t it? It’s about confidence and it’s about really listening.'

[burgerrat]

Alright so... let's talk about this scene

(Fair warning I will be talking a lot under the thread cut and might touch on some sensitive topics. TW for s/icide mentions)

Oh boy where do I even start- this entire rainstorm scene is charged with emotions man. The music, the ambiance, the facial expression of each actor, their body language. Everything right down to the bone is terrific. It almost completely drags you into the mind of the characters, mainly- Winslow and Swan.

I don't need to say much but the entire scene is practically Swan purposefully hurting Winslow further and taking great enjoyment in watching him suffer. PLUS TRAGIC IRONY how the song 'Old Souls' Phoenix sang a moment earlier brought joy to Winslow and a smile on his face as he watched her perform, and now that same song is being used to passive-aggressively make a mockery of him as Swan gets intimate with Phoenix.

I cannot BEGIN to tell you how these facial expressions made me feel:

At first when he initially positions himself on the glass, he looks almost like he's in disbelief of what he's seeing. Like he's shocked to see Phoenix willingly getting intimate with Swan. There's also something I can only describe as a feeling of yearning in his look? It's quite obvious that he wants to be there instead.

He cares for Phoenix- tried to warn her and is completely aware that Swan is just using her. Especially after being sealed into his own room and seeing Beef perform his music instead of her. He knows Swan doesn't give a shit about him or what he wants. He made the mistake of reluctantly trusting this snake once again, only to be tricked again. Now potentially putting in danger an innocent lady he cared for that just wanted to sing.

I know a picture is not the same as watching the scene in motion- but here in this part you can that, no pun intended, how he looks and his body language seem as if he just got stabbed through the heart, long before actually doing it himself.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, theys and thems, is where I broke down:

It's amazing how much a mostly-masked face with only one eye visible can convey so much emotion. You can even see in the first picture Winslow's lightly biting his lip as if trying to hold in his tears.

It's hard to pin-point it in the scene because it's raining, but if you pay attention to the shine in his eye, you can conclude that he does begin to cry. Tries holding it in for a short moment, but it's too much to bottle up.

Intentional or not, the amount of details and the little things all spread around in this scene leave me beyond speechless. It's so like... raw and beautiful.

In this one moment, I feel that all the rage, indignantion and desperation to be recognized for his work leave Winslow for a second- and all that's left is his pain and regret. Because of the realization that Swan, his supposite work partner, lied to him again and he got played again; because Swan never intended to credit his work or respect his wishes, now going a step further and humiliating him (Winslow probably being fully self-aware Swan knows he's watching them since he's facing up to the glass, and he himself never tries to hide or make his presence unknown) by making love to Phoenix, his voice; because of how unaware Phoenix is to who she's dealing with and him possibly having doomed her by allowing Swan to hire her.

And despite how much he may want to undo it and help her see Swan for who he really is, he can't. After all, Swan is the respected owner of the Paradise that has granted her to become a rockstar; he's just the masked 'freak' with a stained reputation that is now only known for murdering Beef and the Juicy Fruits, he's not exactly the one people would want to side with immediately.

He can't do anything but watch.

I feel it's this sense of powerlessness and dehumanization that drive him to give up entirely and committing suicide soon after.

[apollos-olives]

Tbh i distrusted mark hamill for years due to some shady shit he's done, besides the racist garbage he spouts on social media for attention. personally I don't think actors should be put on a pedestal in this fandom or associated too closely with the characters they play.

can lucasfilms please also recast luke instead of continuing to plaster hamill's digitally deaged face and soulless eyes onto another man's body? it's so embarrassing at this point.

literallyyyy like omfg get rid of that racist white liberal old man already bro 😭 just. hire someone else i fucking despise seeing his face. i hate how the fandom puts this guy on a pedestal bc he's fr a disgusting piece of shit and i want him dead so badddd

[britcision]

Sooooo

Doctor Who specials

Done the first one and holy shit I fucking died it was amazing 10/10 the look the feel the acting it was all so fucking good

And also

I’m going to kick RTD to the ground and stomp on him jfc every single thing about taking Davros out of his wheelchair is driving me fucking insane

“We’re going to completely change the look and feel of this classic villain whose aesthetic is intrinsically connected to the most fucking iconic aliens in the series because “people will associate disability with evil”

Because clearly all of the audience are stupid children who will be somehow surprised that Walking Davros is just as evil as Wheelchair Davros”

If you wanted to challenge the association of wheelchairs and evil… put some fucking heroes in wheelchairs. We got Shirley, great! 3-1 ration of good guy minorities to bad guys, if we’re bringing back Davros we need another 2 protagonists in chairs and then, GET THIS

Hire. Disabled. Actors.

There are actors who use wheelchairs as part of their daily fucking life. A lot of them could not audition to play Walking Davros. Recast the guy who’s played him so far, he’s done such a fantastic job but literally the choice is “give money to an actual real wheelchair user or stand this guy up”

“We can’t possibly show a villain with a visible disability because people will think disabled people are evil”

Aka “people would associate disability with this One Bad Character so instead of giving them good characters associated with disability too, we’re taking one away”.

Going on about removing his fucking facial scars, I DID NOT REALISE DAVROS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HUMAN. I didn’t think he was supposed to look like Just Some Fucking Guy, he was a fucking alien I figured his eyes were just Like That and he liked the cyborg third eye aesthetic

(Kelads and them other dudes from the first dalek special get a pass for being Just Some Guys because the budget, man, the budget, we don’t know that they don’t all age into scrunkly lil aliens)

Like. Just fucking. Look at this.

https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/rtd-indicates-davros-classic-look-is-being-retired-as-it-associated-disability-with-evil-99183.htm#:~:text=November%2018%2C%202023-,RTD%20Indicates%20Davros'%20Classic%20Look%20is%20Being%20Retired,it%20“Associated%20Disability%20With%20Evil”&text=The%202023%20Doctor%20Who%20Children,support%20unit%20and%20facial%20scarring.

“There’s a problem with the old Davros: he’s a wheelchair user who is evil.”

Because… wheelchair users are magically immune from sin? People might think the wheelchair is what made him evil?

There’s a better fucking way to counter The Disabled Evil trope and it’s with more disabled heroes and giving roles to actual real disabled people who exist in the fucking world and need money to not be dead actually

Wiping your show clean of its most well known visibly disabled character is not a fucking improvement over having visible evil ones when the world already wants to shove disabled people out of the way and pretend we don’t fucking exist

If you’re scared people will associate disability with evil, don’t remove the evil disabled folks. Add. Disabled. Heroes. Explicitly associate disability with good too, and humanity, and the idea that we are human fucking people and capable of just as much duality as everyone else

Davros fucking walking is just WRONG. His character was visually designed to be dude-but-dalek, he’s in that life support system because it looks like a fucking dalek, and they rode those bitches around on bicycles inside the cases because big budget has never been a Doctor Who guarantee

He looks like a wrinkly little scrotum and he rolls around being bad at stairs because lifeforms that aren’t human are fine too because the show is about fucking aliens (and the fandom is about fucking aliens)

Davros walking around on feet and looking like Just Some Guy because Oh Dear Disability Cannot Possibly Be Something A Villain Has

We shall simply put a minor UNIT character in a chair and give her badass lines and also wheelchair guns but not, y’know, someone as iconic and memorable as Davros who will come back for 60 years (well the daleks have, Davros himself is a wee bit younger but he’s still great)

Like no I get that RTD’s been trying and he’s been getting an education and getting down with trans characters and all that other good stuff and social consciousness but Speak To Some Actual Disabled People And Also Hire Them. For the writer’s room, for the actors, for the crew

Real disabled people can be assholes. They can be dicks, they can be unpleasant, they can be evil, and so long as THAT IS NOT THE ONLY THING YOU SHOW ON TV people aren’t going to get confused

Taking away disabled roles isn’t an improvement

If the only notable thing about your villain is that they are disabled, you have written a boring villain. The way you prove it is not removing the disability.

Too many stories “fix” disabled characters by having them magically not need their wheelchairs anymore and that’s their “happy ending”, “oh they can walk again”

I am not in a chair, I am not visibly disabled, but walking still fucking sucks and it hurts and it is overrated and the constant messaging that disabled people should not be visible or just plain aren’t there is actually so much worse than the Disabled Villain trope

Because if visibly disabled people are not allowed to exist and take up space, why the fuck would I want to be part of that space? My disability’s going to become “inconvenient” on a pretty regular basis, and after 3 years of covid there are not words for how goddamn over I am of “well you can just stay home and never participate in society again”

I will give Walking Davros a shot but holy shit that article is depressing

(and if they gave him cyber legs I would absolutely die sorry daleks xoxo your creator said cybermen win, but they won’t, because leg braces are also a Visible Disability Aid)

[galaxythreads]

I guess none of y'all have seen the star wars shows? Where they used cgi on old man mark hamill instead of getting a younger actor to play luke in the mandalorian

I have, actually! They also did that in Captain Marvel to a few of the actors (coulson and fury specifically). It's easier to make someone look old with makeup than it is to deage them. Software can do that, but it's still a really complex, expensive process. I think it probably would have been better to hire a younger actor for Luke, but that's just me. I think Disney got a little bit burned when they tried to do that in Solo with Han and people hated it. I thought Han's actor was fine, but people are weird and nostalgia is strong. They did that on Anakin's actor too, right? In Ahsoka?

The unfortunate thing about Disney recently is that they keep trying to continue stories of live action characters that are in their 20s from 10-20 years ago, but they really, really like their original cast. it does create a disconnect between the audience and the character when the character is supposed to be like 22 and the actor is 40+, or, in Luke's case, 70.

22 year olds look like they're 15. I'm 20 and I got mistaken for a 9th grader a few weeks ago.

I personally think we should just find new characters to tell stories about instead of constantly rehashing old ones, but that's just me.

[laufire]

last night I went to a showing of En los márgenes (the English title is "On The Fringe"). it's a film mainly focused on the eviction problem in Spain, although it also touches other issues -immigration, social services, job insecurity, etc. I liked it a lot; it was very real and gutting (especially when you know other than the main characters the people in the Stop Desahucios organisation shown are actually part of it irl and those are their stories), but that's beside the point. mainly it's one of those films I leave wanting to have a long talk with the director lol.

(spoilers ahead, obviously. I do recommend watching the film and I'm of the opinion spoilers don't ruin good things, but YMMV)

said director, btw, is Juan Diego Botto. some of you in Tumblr might know him from Good Behavior? it wasn't too popular around here, I don't think, but I have seen people talk about it at least. he played a killer for hire next to Michelle Dockery's con artist thief xD

anyway. as I said. I wanna talk to him about it. after we spent probably a good hour or two expanding on the most important parts of the film, like the housing problem and social welfare and community outreach, and then a brief detour where I tell him I like him in Good Behavior but I like Dockery better xD, I REALLY want to pick his brain about what are his thoughts on husbands and fathers (and men in families in general) because I gotta say, I felt VERY in-sync with this film on that regard LMAO.

first of all, I'm very amused by the role he gave himself. I get why he wouldn't play the salt of the earth activist lawyer since that might've been too big a part to do while directing (plus like, if you have Luis Tosar as an actor that was clearly HIS part. now, why isn't he one of the ugly old balding celebrity man I find on the streets. he's a TALENTED ugly old balding celebrity man at least). but he could've just as easily played that poor woman's son, whose story was more tragic and a tad more sympathetic, and who at least ended the movie desperately trying to right his wrongs.

but nope! he played the part of a husband whose wounded pride was completely screwing his wife and son, instead of actually supporting them. he didn't even get to kiss Penelope Cruz about it xD. I kinda expected the character to get a redeeming moment at the end, like joining his wife and Stop Desahucios when they're fighting the cops to stop his family's eviction, but we just have a moment with him looking at them from afar with an :O expression. we don't know if he's still ashamed they need their help and that he still thinks what his wife is doing is "an embarrassment", or if he's finally touched by the show of support, or what.

now I want to discuss the lawyer because his character really hammered home one of the principles I firmly believe in, which is that even arguably good men make for shitty husband's and disappointing father figures in our society xDD. like I said he was played by Luis Tosar, which automatically makes me a little more lenient, I can't deny that (OTOH boy, did the character remind me of my own father aldjskk. that balanced it a little!). and yes, he tries to help people in need, and helps that immigrant mother whose daughter the cops took away. and looking at the bigger picture, which IS my default position, that's more important than the stepson's trip and MAYBE even than the wife having company in that medical procedure, although that part was really shitty... but maybe in that case you shouldn't try to be a Family Man if you aren't wired that way, or make promises you can't fucking keep as the stepson accuses him of (when the wife told him at the beginning that he should've warned her she was going to have to deal with the pregnancy alone... fuck him etc.).

I also feel more lenient about him than about Botto's character because the story ends with the wife kicking him out lmao. she doesn't even discuss it with him or gives him a chance to talk it out, she just leaves a suitcase on the street next to the apartment. it was glorious xD. he and the stepson have a nice progression and end on a good note, with the son telling him to be around (and hey, maybe he'll actually keep that promise...), but the wife said "enough" and it took, which I love. and I appreciate how the film made the point a couple of times to say SHE was the one bringing home more money, and that's why she COULD kick him out and be fine. something that subtly contrasts with the marriage between Cruz and Botto's characters, which ends on a bad note but doesn't definitely end, because that's not an option for her.

there's also the other story, with the old woman whose son is too ashamed to have screwed up once to be there for his widowed mother until it's probably too late. that one was absolutely gutting too, and gendered in a different, less usual way.

I'm just rambling at this point but TL;DR: even married women are single mothers. motherhood is a thankless tragedy. men's pride has a body count. very in-sync, as I said lol. Juan Diego Botto let's discuss this. I want to know how much of this is conscious thought or whether you'd feel defensive about it xD

[benisasoftboi]

Horrible Histories Was So Goddamn Funny

Okay, so. Most of the jokes in Horrible Histories were pretty surface level. Which is fine, because ‘surface level’ is not the same thing as ‘unfunny’, and also it was for children. But every so often there was something that only got funnier the more you thought about it.

In Horrible Histories, sketches were often based around a show-specific trope I call the Unremarkable Time Traveler. A sketch would be set in a modern day school, or hospital, or pet shop, or whatever, and the whole thing would revolve around someone from the past showing up and trying to get the modern people to do things the historical way. So an Ancient Greek doctor’s working at the hospital, or the school’s hired a Victorian headmaster, that sort of thing. The whole joke of these sketches is very British - it’s an Absurdity interacting with the Mundane, but the Mundane’s reactions to the Absurdity never address the core strangeness of the situation (i.e. an Ancient Athenian practicing medicine in a 21st century hospital), but instead only object to the inconveniences it causes (i.e. his outdated medical practices not working). You see this sort of thing all the time in British comedies, especially classic ones. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is built on this.

So when you first watch the Historical Paramedics sketches, you have every reason to believe that this is just another Unremarkable Time Traveler situation. Two guys claiming to be from the Stuart/Victorian/etc. era show up, try their weird old medicine on people, and leave. Except.

EXCEPT. 

In the other Unremarkable Time Traveler cases, they’re never the same people. It’s different every time. But with the Paramedics, it’s always the same two guys. Now, you might say ‘hey, no! This show stars a troupe of character actors, they’re constantly doubling up on roles, it’s just the same actors playing different characters!’ To which I say no! Do not presume you know more than me about this! It is, without a doubt, the same two guys! Because the Historical Paramedics have names:

(They are also, apparently, a couple)

Horrible Histories has tonnes of running characters that transcend era, but most of them are modern-era characters (Mike Peabody, Cliff Whiteley, the host of Historical Fashion Fix, etc.) who talk about or interact with the Time Travelers, or in Mike’s case, are themselves Time Travelers. The Grim Reaper, as an immortal being, is basically the only exception (and I guess the Shouty Man, but he’s really just a representation of a concept). Which makes Jeff and Nigel a bit of an anomaly, being named, recurring characters... from all manner of historical eras. What’s up with that? 

Perhaps they are immortals, like the Grim Reaper, living through all of history, but popping in and out of our modern era from time to time, by whatever method the other Time Travelers also use? Could be, but I don’t think so. Jeff and Nigel are uniquely aware that their actions are not appreciated in the modern era, as demonstrated by the fact that they always run away before the real paramedics arrive. So I propose a different theory:

The Historical Paramedics are actually modern-era characters.

Jeff and Nigel are not Unremarkable Time Travelers. They are, in fact, history enthusiasts who have always lived in the late 20th/early 21st century, have somehow got their hands on an ambulance scanner, and, instead of handing it in to the authorities, are using it to harass the sick and injured while wearing silly costumes. 

In other words, these two are perhaps the truest embodiments of Be Gay, Do Crime in all of televised media. 

This show was so great, you guys.

(It is, admittedly, the tiniest, slightest bit possible that none of this was intentional and I have brainrot. But I don’t think that’s the case, do you? And even if it is, this idea still makes an already funny sketch that much funnier, doesn’t it? Yes. Of course it does. I knew you’d understand.)

[mccoyyy]

moving this to my new blog so I can pin it again lol

@stregoni-benefici you are completely correct but I just wanted to expand on this a little bit - also i’m putting this under a read more cause this got a lot longer than i originally thought it would be

sexism: smeyers treatment of female characters throughout the entire series is extremely problematic. like you don’t even need to read deep into the books to see that. the backstories of all her female characters all involve some form of trauma and are significantly more violent than the male vampires (Rosalie and Esme enduring physical/sexual assault meanwhile Edward dies of the flu and Emmett gets vibe checked by a bear).

she also creates the idea that a woman isn’t complete without children/being a mother. every female vampire in the series is desperate for children yet can’t, its mentioned in pretty much every book and extreme emphasis is placed on how tragic this is. a female character wanting children isn’t wrong or sexist at all but the way its written in twilight makes it seem like its something a woman has to do in order to be happy and smeyer pretty much cements this idea by making Bella suddenly desperate to have Renesmee despite showing no interest in children/audibly voicing her thoughts against having children in eclipse and the start of breaking dawn (i’m pretty sure Bella has a line of dialogue in the books where she says something like she didn’t realise it was something she wanted/needed until it happened bit I’m not sure I try not to read/think about breaking dawn)

there’s also the way she writes female characters, specifically Rosalie. its mentioned throughout the series that Rosalie has extreme mechanical skills and multiple degrees in STEM fields but its barely ever shown, and instead her characterisation focuses on being obsessed with her looks (first couple pages of this, written by smeyer for new moon), and being a ‘stereotypical bitch’. for the first three books most of her character/dialogue is based on being cold and rude to Bella. She is unnecessarily painted as the villain for having different views on Bella (quite literally) giving up her life and future to be with a man (which is a whole other can of worms). the same is done to the character of Leah in eclipse/breaking dawn. Leah is a woman in the Quileute Tribe, she has been severely affected by the Cullen’s presence in the area and is painted as a character that the reader is supposed to dislike simply because she doesn’t like Bella/the Cullen’s despite having extremely valid reasons not to

anti-Native - smeyers treatment of native tribes is horrendous. she has profited fr years off of of native american culture for years and has done so without any acknowledgements. furthermore, she also demonises native american teens (especially in new moon) by calling them wild, violent, dangerous and out of control and then uses these stereotypes to create a contrast between the self control and patience of the Cullen’s and make them seem more like the good guys, and the wolf pack being lesser. She does this again with the treatment of Jacobs character in new moon and especially eclipse.

Jacob starts off in new moon as Bella’s best friend. he helps Bella come out of a severe depression caused when Edward left at the start of the book. however in eclipse his character makes a complete flip and he becomes moody, temperamental, argumentative and disrespectful of Bella’s boundaries. his character becomes unrecognisable and despite smeyers claims of a love triangle, it is obvious what the outcome will be. I have seen countless instances of people on this site claiming they hate Jacob because he is a dick/disrespectful/just as unhealthy as Edward. this was done on purpose by smeyer as she uses Jacob to make Edward seem like the obvious and correct choice for Bella. if you need more proof of this, take the scene where Jacob kisses Bella without her consent and she breaks her hand when punching him, Edward swoops in and almost gets into a fight with Jacob for touching Bella without her consent. this is an obvious attempt to make Jacob seem like the villain and Edward the white saviour

there’s also the treatment of the native characters by the white characters in the books. multiple times in the series, the native characters are called/compared to dogs/brutes and have a distinct unpleasant smell. I don’t think I need to explain how this is racist. the pack also helps the Cullen’s/saves Bella’s lives and never receive any acknowledgement/are treated any better by the Cullen’s/anyone really. the pack are only ever used as a way to make the Cullen’s look better.

there’s also some pretty obvious similarities to colonisation with the Cullen’s entering Quiluete lands which then forces them to start phasing into wolves (and I’m pretty sure none of the pack actually want to start phasing). also, remember Leah? the only female member of the wolf pack? because of the change she effectively can’t have children? that has implications.

and to top it all off, after doing all that, smeyer has never once addressed this or even acknowledged the Quileute Tribe.

pedophilic - I mean even without mentioning breaking dawn its pretty awful. first of all you’ve got the blatant sexualisation of minors throughout the entire series. Edward is 17 throughout the series and smeyer is writing literal paragraphs about his chiselled abs. Jacob is 16/17 when she has him running about forks topless with a 6 pack. this is way more apparent in the movies but its still a huge issue in the books and lead to Taylor Lautner being confronted by adult fans trying to get him to sign their underwear, and being forced into being shirtless for most of the movies which made him extremely uncomfortable (Elizabeth Reaser (Esme) briefly talks about this in the ID10T podcast on spotify). and just as a reminder, Taylor was 16 when the first one was filmed and 17 for the second.

Breaking Dawn is a whole other can of worms. the glaringly obvious issue is Jacob imprinting on a literal newborn baby. now the concept of imprinting itself has racist elements to it, but its heavily implied in the series that imprinting will inevitably lead to a romantic relationship. Jacob imprinting on Renesmee and waiting until she is old enough to enter into a romantic relationship (never mind the fact that shes ‘old enough’ she will still technically be 5) is pretty much grooming. The same happens with Quil and his imprint, Claire (a two year old) where I’m pretty sure there’s a scene in breaking dawn where Jacob and Leah are watching Quil play with Claire and talking about how Quil isn’t going to date anyone because he and Claire are ‘pretty much inevitable’ (i might be wrong though, like I said I try not to read/think about breaking dawn)

smeyer has also written a spin off book (its like 250 odd pages) called the short second life of Bree Tanner (Bree is that newborn vampire killed after the battle in eclipse by the Volturi btw). In this book, Bree is 15 almost 16, and another character Diego is 18 which is definitely pushing the boundaries of ok. (also as a side note, funny how Bree and Jacob are literally the same age and smeyer states multiple times how Bree deserved better and is only a child (who straight up kills people), yet when it comes to Jacob he has to be a responsible adult and is vilified for every mistake he makes)

racist - smeyer refused to let Catherine Hardwicke (director of the first twilight) have a diverse cast because she ‘imagined them a certain way’ (white) and it was a fight to get Edi Gathegi cast as Laurent and had to compromise with smeyer to make Bella’s friend group more diverse. this woman straight up refused to hire more diverse actors and only agreed to when they were side characters/villains.

Also in the official companion book/guide to twilight, smeyer literally writes that vampire venom makes you white

‘the venom leeches all pigmentation from the skin into a more indestructable vampire form…regardless of original ethnicity a vampires skin will be exceptionally pale’ (official illustrated guide pg.69)

this is a whole lot of bullshit cause she is literally whitewashing characters, but when you pair this with the idea that vampires possess inhuman levels of beauty it becomes extremely problematic and implies that being pale/white is more beautiful than darker skin tones.

also, if we go back to Laurent’s character for a second. so Laurent is one of the only characters who isn’t described as white (in the books he is described as having a pale olive skin tone) and in the first book he comes across as pretty reasonable (warning carlisle about James/Victoria, travels up to Denali and tries out the veggie lifestyle) but in new moon, his characterisation pulls a 180° (sensing a theme here) and is suddenly trying to kill Bella as a favour to Victoria and is Evil™ despite in the first book he literally says to Carlisle he didn’t particularly like travelling with James/Victoria and was only really doing it for convenience. where did this undying loyalty come from? yet again, smeyer is completely disregarding established characterisation in POC characters specifically to villainise them.

and finally, we have Jasper. for some reason (that reason being that she is racist) smeyer decides to make Jasper a confederate soldier in his human life. if you don’t have a lot of knowledge on the american civil war, the confederacy were the side of the US that seceded from the union in order to keep their slaves. Jasper was a confederate soldier, and not just any soldier, but a major. Jasper was a major in an army that fought for 4 years to keep the existence of slavery (and don’t even try to say that slavery wasn’t the root cause of the civil war. states rights aye? states rights to do what). now there’s an argument out there made by certain fans that a lot of people joined the confederate army out of pride/were forced into it cause of conscription to try and head canon the racism away but like that doesn’t matter. there was literally no need to make jasper a confederate in the first place. if she was so desperate to have a civil war vampire then she could have made him a member of the union. its been common knowledge that the confederacy was racist for a long time now, smeyer has absolutely no excuses here.

a lot of these issues overlap and I have probably missed heaps of issues (so feel free to add on) but hope this helps explain why smeyer can *ahem* get tae absolute fuck

[denimbex1986]

'Netflix fans appear to be divided over the streamer's latest crime drama Ripley. Moreover, they can't seem to agree on Andrew Scott's performance of titular character, deadly con artist Tom Ripley.

The 47-year-old award-winning actor rose to fame portraying James Moriarty in the BBC series Sherlock and is known for being the Hot Priest in the second series of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag. He's also starred in a number of films and theatre productions, including All Of Us Strangers alongside fellow Irish actor Paul Mescal.

Set in 1960s Italy and shot in black and white, Ripley is based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling Tom Ripley novels. The Night Of's Steve Zaillian serves as writer, director and executive producer.

It sees New York-based Ripley hired by a wealthy industrial to travel to Italy, where he must convince the man's son, Dickie Greenleaf - portrayed by Johnny Flynn - to return home. He finds himself stepping into a complex life of deceit, fraud and, of course, murder.

The eight-parter premiered on Netflix on Thursday April 4. Already, viewers are sharing their thoughts on the drama. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, many praised Andrew's performance. @Oluwabvkola reckoned: "Andrew Scott doing a lot of heavy lifting in Ripley on netflix. An amazing performer, truly."

@itswessums said: "Just finished Ripley and all I can say is GIVE ANDREW SCOTT THE EMMY OR I WILL THROW THE BIGGEST TANTRUM!!!!" as @DubbsLove added: "Andrew Scott is phenomenal in Ripley. He can convey so much emotion with his face".

However, others pointed one particular issue they had with Andrew being cast as Ripley - his age. @silentcinephile said: "I love Andrew Scott and I'm definitely not an ageist, but isn't he too old to be playing Tom Ripley? I'm still watching 'Ripley' though".

@sugelanlaoma agreed, writing: "‘Ripley’ is good but Andrew Scott is twenty years too old for the role; it’ll be much easier to swallow if they adapt the later books. Hopper is still the best Ripley followed by Malkovich" as @lint_ax added: "It’s unfortunate that Andrew Scott is and looks 20 years too old to play Tom Ripley..."

In the novels, Ripley is meant to be 25 years old, while Andrew is 22 years older at 47. Elsewhere, the series has received mostly positive reviews - including a Rotten Tomatoes score of 88 percent.

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan described Andrew as 'spellbinding', adding: "At the heart of it all, and in virtually every scene, is Scott. He has said in interviews that he didn’t want to diagnose or define Ripley too closely, which could have been a recipe for either blandness and confusion. Instead, it makes him a wellspring of possibilities".'

[space-city-traffic]

yet again im back on my bullshit so... (gazes with mixed feelings at the TV show Firefly) i could fix him.

my extremely long thoughts about my Own Personal Good Version of Firefly (with plenty of spoilers for the show and the movie) under the cut:

things that are getting axed first thing no question:

out with the whole “let’s add in a thin veneer of Chinese cultural aesthetics out of context for ~flavor~” deal. just no.

instead, let’s hire some actors from a bunch of different cultures and work with them to figure out how their characters would bring those cultures into space with them!! and also hopefully bring some experiences with immigration/alienation/travel into it, since the Whole Core of Firefly is about how humanity always brings our doomed and silly and stubborn and unique warmth with us even into the cold void where nothing is familiar or homey in the slightest.

let’s respect our sex worker character shall we?

i do appreciate that Inara’s work as a companion is described as legitimate and well respected in the show. however please stop having your captain and hero call her a wh*re every five seconds against her clearly expressed wishes and portraying this as just a totally acceptable thing

let’s be more respectful of our characters of color and also have some more diversity, shall we?

others have put it better than me but yeah, the way Zoe and Book are treated is very uncomfy, and the rest of the show is depressingly monochromatic. come on let’s do better.

stop the weird confederacy hat tips

again others have pointed these out with much more thoroughness than I could, but the names of some characters and locations, as well as some of the language used to describe the browncoats, has uncomfortably confederate vibes. instead i propose we very Clearly tip our hats to the Alliance equaling space capitalism instead! you can’t go wrong with space capitalism as a villain.

don’t! make! the! psychotic! character! violent!

listen i love River Tam with my whole heart. but you should absolutely not portray your only character with psychosis as violent because of that psychosis!!!!!!! and yeah, a huge part of her character is that her brain got fucked up by the alliance and so she hallucinates and is also a super ninja. but like. she doesn’t need to be a super ninja for her character to work, okay? the crew does not need to be scared of her for her character to work, okay??? more on this later bc it would take a lot of care and nuance to make her character work but i really think it can be done

things we are absolutely keeping:

found family tropes my fucking beloved

this should be self evident. this is why the show is as appealing as it is despite its flaws, at least in my eyes.

malcolm reynolds, the knight in dusty armor

there’s something so appealing to me about what Mal stands for. because at his core is this ridiculous, silly, stubborn, doomed devotion to what he thinks is important and right, a romantic idealism thinly covered by cynical cowboy platitudes that he thinks make his bleeding heart totally invisible. and he is so obvious and entirely incorrect. bless. this is a man who will do anything for his family, who charges into swordfights to defend his friend from a man who wants to turn her into an object despite having no clue how to hold a sword. at his worst, he starts brawls in bars just for the martyr’s thrill of being persecuted for supporting the right; at his best, he inspires downright religious belief from his crew because he represents a romantic and chivalrous and doomed dedication to the right thing over any practical concerns. and then he throws a “selfish” quip over it with 100% confidence that everyone fell for his clever distraction and believes him to be a dirtbag. he’s oblivious and ridiculous and god he makes me want to be a better person because he’s just so goddamned sincere. stupid, but sincere. 10/10 himbo. <3

Mal and Inara ultraslowburn friends to enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers to friends to...

there’s nothing i love more than a ship that’s just two people who know each other way too well, and they’re each the only one who knows the other well enough to call them out on their bullshit. the way Mal and Inara interact in the show sometimes makes me uncomfy but like. the core of their relationship has to stay.

space western aesthetic

i need the cows on a spaceship scene to stay like i need air okay

that sweet sweet religious shit

mal, who lost his faith in gd and a whole lot else during the war. who lost his faith in himself, and now feels he has to hide the part of him that still wants to be good, because he knows he can’t be anymore, and he feels like it’s embarrassing for a guy like him to want something so unattainable. who takes a preacher on board, and the preacher has lost something, too. the preacher has his own past, and his own questions. but not questions like the observant neurodivergent girl, the one who wants to interact with and understand this thing that’s so important to him, but it just doesn’t click with how her brain works and she feels like something needs to be fixed, either the Bible or herself. and Mal takes care of them all, and slowly, he begins to find gd again, not in a prayer but in humanity. humanity doesn’t need to be fixed, like the alliance thinks. the shining imperfect strawberry sweetness of it in his family’s smiles is something to be worshiped and served and devoted to. and he finds he has something to believe in again. (and his crew find that he’s given them someone to believe in, too. and maybe suddenly he’s a saint.)

and finally, my brilliant ideas as to what i would like to add:

TRANS WOMAN KAYLEE RIGHTS

listen her femininity is so important to me okay? it’s so thrilled about everything that’s pretty, from dresses to the spaceship’s electric innards, and it’s so non-traditional and grease stained until it’s not and it’s pink and ruffly and twirly, and she never sees any of it as a contradiction, because none of it contradicts, it’s all just her! her gender is warmth and love and prettiness, feeling pretty and appreciating the pretty and making her friends’ days pretty too.

i want us to find out she’s trans in that episode with the ball, and i want us to find out alongside Mal who just never asked or never realized. Kaylee gasps and squeals at the dress in the shop window and Mal makes an off handed, ill considered comment, and then... someone yanks him aside and hisses a few very significant words in his ear. and suddenly he remembers what the blue white and pink she painted all over the engine room means, and he knows he has something to make right. so he buys her that dress himself and lets her know just how pretty she looks, and when he walks into that ball with her displayed on his arm like something precious, he looks the proudest out of any man there. and she notices. for a few seconds, of course, until there’s chocolate, and ‘nara, and a chandelier—and some horrible girls, but she’s used to that, until—suddenly, she finds her people. a group of old men who light up when she jokes about compression coils and whack presumptuous boys who ask her to dance. they adopt her as a treasured granddaughter, and Mal is beaming at her like a proud dad, and she finds that one of her new elderly friends gazes a little too long at her bracelet, and so she gives it to xem and teaches xem a few new words, and... it’s a good day, huh? it’s a really good day. (of course, then the captain has to go and punch somebody in the face, but it was a real nice party up until then.)

also she and Simon are both transhet t4t im correct and you know it

time for a better River Tam

the first thing we’ve established is that this version of her is not unpredictably violent and the crew is not scared of her!!!! it makes no sense to take a kid who’s primarily brilliant, experiment on her brain, give her telepathic powers....... and tack on the fact that she also has super strength and speed and dexterity and what not, AND say that they programmed her to be super violent. no! no. not only is that extremely harmful rep, that’s also just stupid.

instead!! my version of River is in fact not terrifying to the crew, but is actually the one they feel safest around. River has always been totally blunt, she was one of those kids you could tell realllllly early was autistic, and she doesn’t like being disengenous at all. so you can always trust her to tell the truth and not play weird passive aggressive games or have any hidden agenda, which makes her just a really chill person to be around. also, one of her longtime special interests is music and dance, so whether or not she’s nonverbal on a given day, there will always be some sort of beautiful sound when she’s around. she does have the singing voice of a dying crow unfortunately but that’s ok bc Simon’s is even worse and they’re both incredibly competitive so you’ll at least get free entertainment out of the affair.

my version of River does have psychosis and hallucinations because of the trauma of the experiments, and they are really troubling to her. she and Simon work together to find ways to cope and meds that help, and it’s a process, but there are some things that help.

the only thing she gained from the academy was the ability to hear people’s thoughts and sense the future a little bit. and yeah, that led to her picking up a few spooky secrets at the beginning, which, yikes. and for a while, it was hard to figure out which voices were real and which were hallucinations. but around her friends, she always feels safe to ask “did you just think about triple cheese burritos or was that just a me thing?”, and they’ll always tell her the truth no matter how embarrassing their thoughts are, bc it’s important to all of them to respect her and help her sort accurately through what’s reality and what’s not. and bit by bit, she gets better and better at figuring out what kinds of things tend to be telepathy and what kinds of things tend to be psychosis, and that each one feels a little different. and because of the trust and respect and support of her found family she’s able to do that in a safe environment!!!

trans man Simon rights

listen i wanted to keep him as just a side note on Kaylee’s list but he is my son and he’s important to my heart so here goes

out on the outer rim where Kaylee’s from, gender ain’t much of a big deal, there’s an individualistic quality to life out there, and so if the trail you blaze is the trail of a woman or a man or neither or both, that’s respected even in the rare cases where it’s not outright encouraged. but in the inner planets, where competition and connections and public faces and family names are everything, you have to be what’s expected of you to survive. you can’t change your brand, you can’t be anything other than what your family planned for you since before you were born, it’s incredibly hard to survive in such a hyper competitive environment, and so your very identity becomes just a tool in how to market yourself for better success.

needless to say Simon (just as autistic as his little sister and also very trans) fuckin hated it there. but he was very good at it. correction: he was very good at his very specific field of STEM, good enough to where people stopped talking about how cute he looked in bows and started talking about how impressive his work was from a very young age. and his work had no gender. he could be whatever he wanted to in equations. so that was where he could express himself, and gd, he got so much praise for it, he never wanted to stop.

not until he discovered that his sister needed him, and ran away, and needed a disguise, and realized... suddenly, every stifling rule and prying eye was a million miles away. he was freefloating, freefalling, with none of the charted paths he’d been following all his life... so you know what? fuck it. he’s always enjoyed the name Simon. and since it’s not on any legal records, it’ll make him just that much more untraceable.

and on Serenity, starting over with new people who never knew him before his transition feels like an unbelievable blessing that just dropped right into his lap. he has to keep up the secrecy, he has to make sure they never find out who he used to be, because gd, it’s so nice when they look at him and say his name right, and he doesn’t know if he can handle losing that, not when it’s so new and so important to the person he’s finally becoming. but then one day, the unthinkable happens, the wanted posters for his arrest have an old name on them, they’re looking for the Tam sisters, and... nothing changes. the crew of Serenity could not give even a tenth of a percent of a fuck, and it doesn’t seem like they even know they’re supposed to. huh. that’s new. Simon could get used to that, he thinks.

i’m sure there’s more i could add, but it’s 4:30 in the morning now, so if more occurs to me, ill simply add it in a reblog tomorrow. if you’ve read down this far, i am in love with you. please let me know your Better Firefly ideas, too, bc im always down to yell about this show!!!

[myshyyangel]

"Problematic Writer" - the case of the BL that criticized its own industry.

"lovely writer" review.

As some of you know, I adored, loved, worship, this series. And for the right reasons.

Writing:

As surprising as it is, I was not impressed by the trailer of this bl, nor did I ever thought of watching it. I saw the other series that Kao was in and that left a bad taste in my mouth, I hated it. But I thought, "who am I not to watch the first ep??? For the gays, let's do it". And God did I love it. The writing though, it's just amazing, whoever wrote the series, y'all did that. I am in love with the transparency. Finally, a bl that says "I AM GAY", "I DONT LIKE GIRLS", "YOU SHOULD ASK FOR THIS INSTEAD OF JUST DOING IT", and so on... It's just magnificent, chef kisses, for a gay man to watch this... Y'all did it yes. There's no awkward representation, there are no stereotypes, I mean, maybe some times, but nothing overwhelming. There's only one character that was not even in the series, and the sides characters didn't get the proper treatment, but I am not mad about it. Ugh whoever wrote this, yes you did that. The family issues, well addressed, the consent always WELL FUCKING ADDRESSED YES. Nubsib deceiving Gene, WELL ADDRESSED, YES. Even the sexy moments, those were well written, although, i felt like I had no right to be watching, that's when you know there's chemistry and good writing.

Direction:

Alongside "Manner of Death", this bl didn't get me dizzy. Finally, a proper conversation without switching shots, we love to see it. Up was game on this, he is a good actor and because of the direction, you can see how good he is. Kao too, I think this is an improvement for him. There are not shots that you feel like "why is he showing me that door, I want to see the facial expressions", there's just one ep. That I felt like some shots were out of place. Long shots properly used and overall great.

Acting:

I already talked about Up, so I'll move on to Kao, he improved in this series, he really conveyed a 18 year old lol. Ep. 10 was a clear sign on how his acting has improved because he went from cute to

With no problem and naturally. BUT. The rest of the cast, the actor who plays Hin was good, but my only problem is the crying scenes... Which applys to Bruce and Ken. Now, in comparison to the average BL actor, this cast was great. Zorzo nailed her character, and hers was a strong character. Ken, he was a little weak at times, you can tell he felt a little uncomfortable at times (is like when you are recording a video and people are watching you and you are like hehe) but nothing that made me not want to see more. Bruce, oh Bruce, he is good, he just needs to work on his crying, but overall, I felt for him and cried with him. Aksjakjs freaking show so good omg.

Overall:

I know we won't get series like this all the time, but I just wish... For a gay person like, I was so happy every Wednesday, because of how this series made me feel. And I am so happy the threw the whole industry under the bus and dragged them. Some of the things that I loved the most:

Consent, even if its for a picture. "CAN I KISS YOU?".

Holding hands whenever they were going through a serious situation.

"I am Gay", "He is my boyfriend", this is not 1900.

Hetero man can do the same thing as Gay man, make up, clothing and all, and vice versa and there's nothing wrong with that.

"I don't like girls", but he is not an asshole, only with his sister lol but she deserves it.

Characters are grown, some of Aey's decisions are driven by jealousy but he admits he was wrong and does not justify himself.

Ally mothers, we love to see it.

Ally brothers and chill omg I loved them.

A FREAKING PARENT THAT IS GAY OMG I CRIED SO MUCH. Pete's father 🤝 Gene's father. Best fathers ever.

Criticizes social media.

Criticizes people in power such as Bua.

Hiring a Gay Director!!!

Not showing many of the toxic scenes for the series "bad enginner" because what's the whole point of the series then...

Oh but that "THIS IS HARRASMENT" YEEEESSSS BTCH TELL EM.

Gene not being in love with Nubsib when they were kids but rather telling him that it makes no sense because they were young. Omg yes, that would have been predat00r behavior and we condemn that sht.

I probably forgot about other points but... POINTS WERE MADE.

Rating: 10/10. Excellent, loved it, unforgettable. At the top of my list. Second after CherryMagic.

[martianbugsbunny]

OUAT Thoughts Pt.8--18-19

I have watched through S1E19; spoilers DNI. Also, spoiler warning for those further behind than I am.

—The actor they hired to play young Snow White is such good casting, I could believe somebody time-travelled to have actual young Ginnifer Goodwin play that role.

—The Evil Queen’s grudge against Snow White is even stupider than I expected.

—I’m even more sad for Snow than I was before. All she wanted was to have a mother, and she ended up with a sworn enemy.

—The Evil Queen’s riding habits are always gorgeous.

—Mr. Gold has just the handsomest nose. (Me, I love a strong nose. Gives character to the face.)

—Emma is a terrible investigator. She’s been letting Sydney do all of the actual work, instead of looking into things herself. Even if she trusts him, Snow White is her best friend. That should warrant a little bit of extra effort from Emma.

—Finally, Emma’s found out that Sydney is not on her side.

—Y’all, I figured out Auggie was looking for the knife basically the second he stepped into Mr. Gold’s store, and I spent the entire episode panicking and stressing that Mr. Gold was gonna die.

—That crisis was averted, but unfortunately the writers have decided to double down on the fatherly tragedy.

—Did Rumplestiltskin really mastermind this entire plot so he could see his son again? *falls facedown on the floor* *sobs angrily* This show is going to kill me with sadness!

—I love how, because the backstory in episode 19 is shortly after Rump became the Dark One, he doesn’t have all of his villain mannerisms yet. His voice isn’t as frantic, his gestures aren’t as dramatic. That kind of visible progression is excellent.

—His clothes in this episode were great.

—I’m glad Kathryn is alive. I like her.

—The very depressing thought I’ve just had is that, assuming the fairytale timelines runs parallel to the “real” world timeline, Rumplestiltskin’s son might already be dead. Rump is possibly ancient, or possibly only a few decades older than the rest of our fairytale characters, but either way his son could be rather old or rather dead. That, or he’s in the “real” world but hasn’t aged.

—Oh, one of my absolute favorite things (possibly the favorite thing) from this episode is the scene where Mr. Gold goes to Dr. Hopper for help. Any other character would probably either be uncooperative enough that Mr. Gold would leave, or would simply laugh in his face, but Dr. Hopper is very kind. (Some of that can probably be attributed to his occupation, but I think some of it is the conscientious goodness of Jiminy Cricket.) Dr. Hopper treats Mr. Gold like he would any other patient in need of counseling, without a hint of judgement or resentment. Dr. Hopper is beautiful. I also find it interesting that Mr. Gold (the same man who killed his mute maid because he was paranoid about her revealing the secret of the knife) is willing to confide in Dr. Hopper. He’s very open and vulnerable, in a way he rarely ever is. He’s even emotional. That scene was delicate, despite how raw it was, and it treats both characters with an exquisite compassion.

—I just remembered that a couple of years ago, I actually did have Mr. Gold’s hairstyle. It looked really cute on me (in my humble opinion) but A: It looked like that because I was growing out a pixie cut, and I don’t really trust a barber to get it right from the long hair I have now, and B: I really like braids, and I don’t think those would work if my hair was that length again.