#it is so bad most consider it satire

[lady-hibiscus]

why did satan make me so pretty? (2024)

ebony dark'ness dementia raven way in all her glory

[lacking-hydration]

that postal movie is so inconsistently ok

[whetstonefires]

Honestly I think the main reason is the people in control of wizard society need it to be cult-shaped the way it is is so they can control their own, first and foremost.

Without the masquerade situation, the ability of a given practitioner to provide unique services to their ordinary neighbors would constitute a solid economic and social power base, easily expanded through networking and cooperation, that would make it very hard to keep all real power concentrated in the upper echelons of wizard society.

Without the secrecy, either they take steps to rule everyone, or they lose their position of power. Controlling the entire population would be very hard; it would take work and carry risks and be in constant danger of breaking down. But controlling the wizarding minority is pretty easy.

When all economic opportunity runs through a very few institutions, and it's generally accepted that stepping out of that tight patronage network without exquisite care to obfuscate who you are and what you're doing and generally remain isolated entitles those institutions to give your friends and colleagues brain damage and have you tortured. Like.

Generally people fall in line, go to jail, or quietly drop out of the wizard society. The hierarchy is preserved intact.

I think the rest of it is really just gravy.

Most stories about secret, underground supernatural societies make them an underclass. "Society sees us as monsters, and would treat as such, so we must stay secret." Or they have them be suppressed in some way - "we have superpowers, but a mysterious organization is after us!" Or they make the secret society evil or aristocratic/exclusive etc etc

Harry Potter doesn't have any of these explanations (I mean wizarding society as described is evil but that's not intended) but it like. Could've? There's a natural explanation, say "hey, Muggles used to hunt witches, and they still will if given a chance". Okay, secrecy explained. But instead she just had someone go "teehee, when the witch hunts happened, witches used a spell to fake being burned alive and just walked off unharmed! Teehee, Muggles are silly and we sure got one over on them! No we couldn't help any of the falsely accused Muggles not be burnt alive we have to stay secret. To avoid the persecution it's trivially easy to avoid & that we treat as a joke"

[rozcdust]

I don’t speak to whores

Pairing: Bonten x AroAce!GN!Reader

Genre: Crack, SMAU

Word count: 500ish

Warnings: Canon divergent, profanity, ooc, whore behaviour, NO ROMANCE, just reader bullying Bonten

masterlist

The breakfast passed with Kazutora stubbornly trying to get to know Kakucho better - no matter the man’s valiant attempts of evading Kazutora’s curiosity - the latter was a relentless chatterbox in hours even Sanzu would find ungodly early to try and speak.

By ungodly early, Kakucho means before 1 p.m.

He picked up on the fact that Kazutora was apparently an early bird, the habit of waking up at 6 a.m. sharp still heavily instilled in him, even if it has been nearly a decade since he got out of prison - today was an exception, considering the events of last night exhausted everyone present, but still.

Kazutora clearly perfected the art of being both a talker and an excellent listener, with a soothing smile and perfectly placed nods whenever the conversation demanded it, bright, amber eyes shining with more life than Kakucho has personally seen in years.

It probably said something depressing about his joyless excuse of a life.

Kazutora’s optimism and genuine desire to get to know him made Kakucho feel exceedingly small. Kazutora, even while knowing his background, seemed kind, gentle, lithe shoulders perfectly relaxed even in the company of a wanted criminal, silky smooth hair cascading down his back, back slightly slouched so his collar bones were revealed, showing off the end of his tattoo.

You seemed to ignore the conversation between the two men entirely, only offering brief, sarcastic commentary upon request, busy braiding and unbraiding a small section of Kazutora’s hair as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

The coffee was better than anything Kakucho has tasted before.

“So yeah, y/n loves to trash Fight Club, but they rewatch that damn fucking movie at least once every other month.” Kazutora smiled at your scowling face, only a roll of your eyes indicating your true annoyance as you proclaimed Kazutora a traitorous bastard, letting go of his hair only to take hold of it again.

“It is a homoerotic, satirical movie mocking toxic masculinity, and then dudebros salivate over Tyler Durden and call him an alpha male. That man is a peacock*. I’m not admitting I like that shit publicly.”

“I think Ran likes that movie, actually.” Kakucho remarks, tilting his head - he’s pretty sure Ran told him about it before.

You snort, shaking your head.

“Of course he does.” You clicked your tongue, “He doesn’t get it. Next you're gonna tell me he loves Clockwork Orange too."

“Y/n is a bit of a movie snob.” Kazutora took your hand into his - he glances up at you, silently asking your permission - upon a slight nod of your head, he smiled, planting a soft kiss on your wrist.

Such an innocent little gesture.

It has Kakucho's chest aching.

"I don't think he does." Kakucho tilts his head, scratching his cheek, "He mentioned how he hated the main character."

Your quirk an eyebrow, sipping your coffee.

"Well. Maybe he isn't a hopeless dumb bitch."

"He truly isn't that bad."

You choked on your drink, glaring at the scarred man - he shrunk under your gaze.

"Get out of my house."

a/n: i'm alive. shockingly.

Taglist (i need to start a new one so please do say if you wish to be tagged):

@rinsie @r-xochitl @7rkx @sunahyejin @yamaguccitadashi @minoozi @trashmemebitch @sup-zfam @xashiui @hana-patata @erza-uzumaki @sh4nn @sisnot @kneeapartman @anahryal @reiners-milkbiddies @satsuri3su @aretheea @bluerskiees @winterv-black @astropheia @requiem-of-a-fool @kunikya

(rest of taglist in the comments, so sorry if i tagged anyone twice!)

[dedicatedfollower467]

okay unpopular opinion but i don't think the colour of magic is actually a bad book.

i think it's a pretty decent book, actually! it's funny, it's weird, it's a loving-yet-vicious parody of a genre that i have enjoyed for most of my life, and it is a genuinely enjoyable read! yeah, there's some underlying sexism, racism, and ableism that isn't so much fun, but most of the time it's honestly trying to critique the sexist, racist, and ableist pulp fantasy conventions of the era in which it was written, even if it doesn't always do that super well.

it's just that terry pratchett wrote so many phenomenal books over the course of his life. like genuinely life-changing, spectacular masterpieces of writing and satire and fantasy. stuff that could and should be considered among the highest echelons of english literature.

colour of magic isn't a bad book. it's just nowhere near as good as some of pterry's other books.

but that isn't a fair comparison to make of ANY book, imo, even if it is something else he wrote.

[saintwyfe]

࿐ ˚ . ✦ PROVE IT. jude bellingham

summary. a night out, gone lewd

cw. slightly toxic relationship, implied infidelity, cursing, alcohol consumption, nsfw [!!!]

wc. 1682

most relationships, or at least the ones we see today, always have that overprotective boyfriend and free-spirited girlfriend dynamic.

as much as you hated it, you were the jealous, possessive one in the relationship. always ordering him around, issuing the ‘don’t do that"s and the ‘why are you looking at her like that?"s.

at one point in the relationship, the roles were reversed. he’d always be the one kissing up on you in public, clinging his arms tightly around your waist to let the men in the room know you were his, and only his. it’s crazy how times have changed now, huh?

“i’m gonna go grab a drink. you care for one?” he ducked, hovering over your ear, before taking a last sip from his bottle.

you nodded your head. “i’m fine for now, thanks,” you replied, quickly adjusting the collar of his top. he nodded, and with that, he drifted towards the bar. you glanced off at him during his departure before scanning the rest of the club, filled with young people dancing to bouncy music. 

to be honest, clubbing wasn’t your thing. maybe with the right group of people, it wouldn’t be that bad, but you're stranded for now. introverted you thought it was a somewhat-good idea to sway to the beat of the music while scrolling through instagram to not seem awkward. contrary to your plan, it did. and now, you were in the corner of the nightclub, pulling down your tiny cocktail dress that’d been riding up your thighs to some corny pop song. better than being stuck at home, right?

your eyes strayed from your bright phone screen for a second to check up on your boyfriend, just to make sure he wasn’t getting into trouble. and funny enough, you saw just that: his smiling, tall figure leaned up against the bar, giggling next to some short, dark-haired girl. your mouth dropped. you didn’t even want to hear the end of it.

in a fit of rage, you marched toward the entrance of the place, uber already pulled up on your phone. nothing else crossed your mind. just the image of him next to her. some skanky girl in a tacky, sequined dress. even thinking about it makes your fists ball up. to add to that, you looked ridiculous pacing the sidewalk bordering the club, getting glances from passersby as you waited for your uber, which at this point was a few minutes away.

your phone immediately buzzed after you found the location of your driver.

where are you?

i can’t find you

seen 2m ago

y/n?

i left

find your own way home

seen just now

thankfully, your uber had pulled up just in time. pulling the handle of the black sedan, you were ready to plunk down in the back seat and just sob. 

“y/n?!” the club door scraped the pavement, a wave of loud music following a breeze of air hitting your skin. fuck. maybe if you just got in quick enough—

“where are you going?” he was quick to shout from behind you, his warm hand stationed upon yours on the car’s handle.

“home,” you replied, turning your head to face him from behind you. “i’m going home. just have fun by yourself, alright?”

he shook his head, scoffing. “are you serious?”

considering him looking so taken aback compared to your aloof face—it’s almost laughable knowing that he was just cozying up with another woman back at the bar. did he seriously think you didn’t know? like you didn’t just see that flirty interaction between the two?

you huff out a laugh. “jude, you’re seriously so funny,” you mocked, squinting up at the puzzled individual. 

“what are you talking about? what the fuck’s gotten into you?” he spat.

“i’m sure the girl at the bar would keep you company ‘til you come home, yeah?” you click your tongue, a satirical smile spreading through your lips, before lowering your head into the back seat of the car.

but he had different plans.

you could almost feel your blood start to boil as his legs crept next to yours in the car as well.

you scoffed, throwing your head back. “what the fuck are you do—-”

“you can start driving now, sir,” he interrupted you mid-sentence, and contradicting the way he’d just been speaking to you just a minute ago, he kindly instructs your driver. you could almost feel your eyes rolling to the back of your head to his sudden change in mood.

and, bizarrely enough, he’s silent for the ride. his eyes glared at the road. the only sound was that of the car wheels on the street, the driver not daring to ask any questions. 

“have a good night, mister,” you said to the guy behind the wheel as you shut the car door behind you. jude, who’d already been at the front door of your shared home, was tapping the keypad, eager to come home once and for all.

your heels tapped the pavement of your driveway. his cold gaze locked on you while he held the door open for your entry inside. you, on the other hand, are not daring to speak a word. yet, you couldn’t ignore the adrenaline rush happening inside of you. jude wasn’t the type to go to bed angry, even if it meant handling things in a different way.

“so what is it with you?” he inquired, his voice softer, less hostile than before. “you just think leaving without saying anything would solve anything?”

you jumped a bit, not expecting to exchange words—not at least in the foyer. slowly, you turned around to meet his seething eyes. his hands still grasp the door handle, and he’s anticipating an answer from you.

“i could ask you the same thing, jude,” you stared. “what were you doing with her? hm?”

in an instant, he shook his head, biting his lip to stifle his laugh.

“y/n, did you forget who i am? that i have a public career, and maybe she was just a fan?” all of a sudden, it just hit you. you could just annihilate yourself from the shame you held upon him tonight, but it was in the heat of the moment, and you gave yourself no time to think. and, god, you looked so dumb just accusing him of something so distasteful and unlike him. 

“you think i’d just throw away our relationship for some girl at a club? no. i wouldn’t, y/n,” he added. “you’re mine, and only mine. understand?”

your eyes skimmed the floor, before meeting his dark brown irises. “then prove it.”

at once, his cold eyes turned ravenous.

“you don’t even know what you got yourself into,” he chuckled as he approached your figure. quickly, he locked his hand into your hair and pressed his lips against yours. he didn’t hold back on ambushing your lips. there was still liquor on h​​is tongue, which you could still taste. his arm intertwined around your waist as you began heading upstairs, groans escaping his mouth as you two struggled to find your bedroom.

your back was pressed up against the cold doorframe of your shared room, and he, taking advantage of your state, sought to lace his arms under your thighs. you took notice of the queue and jumped onto them, making it easier for him to spill your body onto the edge of your bed once he’d opened the door. you found yourself giggling once he did, especially with your dress threatening to expose the risque areas of your body. his hands locked your wrists in place, and now you were just docile under his spell. 

his kisses moved from your lips to your neck, leaving hickeys all over. his saliva around each bruise. you were a moaning mess, with his pace almost giving you whiplash. 

his fingers traced your waist, unzipping your dress’s zipper from the sides and finding its way to the wooden floors once it was off. he’s heaving as he’s doing so, almost like a predator finally getting its prey. you hissed once his hands fondled your now exposed breasts, with no warning, whatsoever.

his eagerness doesn’t halt while he’s pulling off your panties. he gives you a quick, sinful glare as his head dips between your thighs. you propped yourself on your elbows while you anticipated what he’d be doing next.

“you’re so wet already, angel,” he purrs against your dribbling cunt. “such a fuckin’ slut for me.”

his tongue wraps around your pussy, giving you no signal or build-up. your back arches from the sudden contact, which quickly leaves you breathless. his eyes linger on you, watching as you go dumb from being tongue-fucked so hungrily. his arms twined around your thighs, leaving you almost powerless against him while he held you in place.

his tongue ran through your slit while his thumb simultaneously found itself toying with your clit. your moans were so loud and pornographic, and you quickly grew your orgasm. 

“fuck, keep going, just like that, baby,” you cried. your hips found themselves grinding against his mouth. you were just growing so impatient, wanting to chase your high so desperately. your hands latched onto the bed sheets to distract yourself before cumming.

his tongue keeps swirling around your clit, your bud puffy and sensitive, while your thighs begin twitching. you could feel tears start to well up in your eyes—you were so close, and he could definitely tell by the way your legs started to tighten and clench around his head.

“jude, i’m gonna cum—” you yelped, throwing your head back and squeezing your eyes shut. right then, he pulled away, leaving you absent of your climax. 

you gasped, anticipating so heavily to cum, but instead, you were left emptyhanded. you could almost cry then and there.

he coughed up a laugh, almost mocking you. “brats don’t get what they want, at least not without earning it.” he stood up, petting your hair. 

“get on your knees.”

an: ntm on my amateur smut writing

[thousand-winters]

Saiki K is frankly fascinating because it's truly such a "technically this is comedy so while it does satire of anime tropes, it's in a comedic tone" and yet, and YET... the Horrors™️ are hiding underneath.

That said, I've been thinking a lot about that one teacher with the weird face (Iguchi Takumi) because that whole mini arc was so interesting to me.

First there's Saiki's comment about how he hadn't realized how different the exact same things were interpreted depending on the face of the person who says it. They were taking everything the teacher said in the wrong way because of his face. It's actually so interesting with the comparison of Yumehara freaking out about him knowing their names (because they were gonna be his students so he learned them) and the boys at school not only being okay but actively wanting Teruhashi to know personal information about them.

The difference looks make.

Furthermore, I think it was fascinating that he was worried about Nendo specifically, because while he was so off about his relationship with Kuboyasu, Kaido and Hairo, he was right on the money about people bullying him. The other students DO ostracize him and a big part of it isn't even that they consider him dumb, it's his looks. Consider that one episode where he gets a different haircut and people start liking him until they see him being "weird" again.

That he paid attention to Nendo in that sense was very sweet to me because he seemed to be such a caring teacher, even if he was kinda bad at making his students understand him (not aided at all by his face), and Nendo too is very sweet and kind. But due to how they look, most people didn't even give them the time of day.

[merlinmerlot]

Discworld character analysis is a can of worms because frequently, throughtout all the books, there is inconsistent characterization.

In broad strokes a character will remain the same — utterly static, in fact — but in the nitty gritty Pratchett will take whatever name and archetype is necessary and go baby-on-pottery-wheel with it. Satire over persona.

Which is why I cannot fault the fandom characterizing Vetinari as the sees all, omnipotent, always correct, 20 steps ahead 5-year-plan ankh morporkian mastermind. Because there is some textual evidence for it. But dear lord, it is the most boring interpretation possible for him.

Anyways, to further my point that Vetinari's character is simply what you make of it, here's a quote from Men at Arms:

"A great many rulers, good and bad and quite often dead, know what happened; a rare few actually manage, by dint of much effort, to know what’s happening. Lord Vetinari considered both types to lack ambition."

And here's a quote from Jingo:

"After all, you couldn’t plan for every eventuality, because that would involve knowing what was going to happen, and if you knew what was going to happen, you could probably see to it that it didn’t, or at least happened to someone else. So the Patrician never planned. Plans often got in the way."

The first quote implies he plans for the future. the second implies he doesn't bother. what is Really going on here is that Vetinari's Schrödinger's Plan is whatever Pratchett thinks is funnier/cooler in any given moment.

I've lost the plot a little. My main point: Broaden your horizons when it comes to vetinari's characterization! I find it much more fun to view him as a man with a flawed worldview and a capacity for mistakes! It's much more entertaining to see him as frequently not 100% knowing what's going on. This is the man who was so caught up in his big picture, all-men-are-cruel inner monologue that he missed when Leonard mentioned his Plot-bearing submarine! This is the man whose two last ditch efforts in a city he couldn't control were 1. Hiding in his own dungeon and 2. Running off to another country in the aforementioned submarine.

[ravings-of-a-mad-scientist]

Personal Heroes

Historian: My favorite person from history and one of the most influential people ever was Carl von Clausewitz

Military Scientist: Oh, that was literally what I was gonna say.

Political Scientist: That's funny. Well, my personal hero is Niccolò Machiavelli, he was the father of political science, and just got an undeserved bad rap. The whole “Machiavellian” thing came from a book that actually was written as satire, against that kind of thing, I think.

Military Scientist: Ah, yes, Machiavelli is one of my heroes too. He personally considered his writings on military theory, Dell'arte Della Guerra, to be his own greatest work.

Chemist: Well, uh, Fritz Haber invented artificial fertilizer stopping billions from dying of famine… so he must be fine?

Military Scientist: That same process also made bombs cheap, and he literally invented mustard gas.

Physicist: *cautiously* … Einstein?

Military Scientist: Without his recommendation to do so, the US likely wouldn't have invented the Atom Bomb.

Physicist: OH, COME ON!

[byou-shin]

CHARACTER ASKS !! tagged by @vicciouxs („• ֊ •„)

♱་༘࿐ O1 ─ WHICH OC IS THE FIRST AT A MOVIE THEATER OPENING NIGHT FOR A MOVIE THEY'VE BEEN EXCITED FOR?

The Pope really likes theater arts. He's one of the figures who persistents in preserving Italian dramaturgy after a period of decline. He likes many types of theater arts, especially those related to religious elements and Baroque-style romantic comedies. The Pope will usually come one hour before the theater starts just to take a comfortable position and read a literature book while waiting for the theater to start. Sometimes he even asked the opinions of Cardinals and his favorite priest to choose the right clothes to wear to theatrical events.

♱་༘࿐ O2 ─ WHICH OC IS THE PICKIEST?

He hates nonsense and small talk, his personality tends to be to the point and on the spot, but still very careful on facing things. If he doesn't like something once, it will last forever, even though he had to accept punishment from God, he still won't like that thing. His picky nature will be clearly visible on his face and even if people satirize him, he will become happier and his expression will become sharper. His firm stance sometimes actually makes him look a little arrogant for some parishes. Luckily his beautiful face helped him from beat.

♱་༘࿐ O3 ─ WHICH OC IS THE MOST STUBBORN?

Ayse had to admit to herself that she's a stubborn woman and difficult to advise. She tends not to want to listen to what other people say and prefers to trust her own instincts, which are either good or bad. Her ambition to free her loved ones from misery drives her to continue moving forward no matter who gets in her way. Even though the woman had fallen in love with a terran, she chose a rotten and mortal death.

♱་༘࿐ O4 ─ WHICH OC LOOKS LIKE A PUSHOVER, BUT COULD ACTUALLY KICK SOMEONE'S BUTT?

This lonewolf priest sometimes wondered whether his personality was a good thing, all he knew is how it feels to be rejected. He tends to be unable to refuse requests for help from church ministers. But for a special case from the Pope, whom he considers to be the greatest and most powerful representative of God on earth, he would do it as if his life depends on it. But don't get him wrong, even though he sometimes seems obedient, he won't hesitate to kill anyone he considers a menace.

♱་༘࿐ O5 ─ WHICH OC IS MOST LIKELY TO EXCITEDLY TALK ABOUT HOBBIES?

This cheerful beautiful girl will never stop talking about things she likes. Starting from collecting ancient accessories, painting, holding tea parties, picking flowers, visiting abandoned places and so on. The chatterbox girl also writes all the pretty memories she has in her diary. Sometimes her step-younger brother, Adam, would even pretend to have an agenda with the Church so he could escape from the endless chatter. But even so, a cheerful beautiful girl can get a little lonely sometimes.

I tag : @sewerwolfx @yuauaua @miwksowp @vampirepill and others who want (☆•ヮ•)八(•ヮ•)

[ghostinacardboardbox]

@averagecygnet-blog i accidentally deleted your ask about my opinion on the themes in Black Friday 😶 sorry bout that anywhere here’s my thoughts.

So like first of all, like you’ve already said, the critique of consumerism is incredibly heavy handed. You are right. It is not at all subtle. We’ve all heard Made in America. But I really don’t think it was possible to tell this story and have it be subtle; this was always going to be an incredibly overt anti-capitalist message.

Starting with the real life inspirations of the premise, the “Tickle-Me Wiggly” is already a direct reference to “Tickle-Me Elmo,” which was a toy that inspired real life riots ending in at least a handful of injuries and arrests. In the scene right after the Wiggly Jingle, Paul and Emma discuss Cabbage Patch Kids. The Cabbage Patch riots have their own wiki page. The idea of parents literally resorting to violence over toys on Black Friday is something that already happens. So this musical is really just looking at those events, saying, “Wow, capitalism sure makes people behave badly,” and then pushing that concept to its most exaggerated form. The fact that it isn’t subtle is not a bug, it’s a feature.

I also see people bring up this theme almost entirely in relation to the song Made in America rather than connecting it to almost every scene. As if this isn’t a show that doesn’t begin with an advertisement. The opening number is an ad.

(Apparently an effective one, considering how quickly Starkid sells out of the Lord in Black dolls whenever they sell them. People literally watched a whole musical about how the doll represents using the product of capitalism to distract from societal problems and then went and bought the doll. And I would have, too, if I had the money. But I think about the irony.)

I'm not going to go through every scene and the capitalist imagery in it, mostly because I don't actually have anything particularly unique to say about it. Like most of them are fairly self-explanatory and I'm not particularly good at analysis. But do want to specifically bring up the lyrics of "Our Doors Are Open" since they usually get overshadowed by people talking about how much cunt Corey served (it's a lot of cunt. Record amounts of cunt served), because the entire song is both satirical and foreshadowing. Also the bridge of "First of Famine" and the dehumanization of the worker, etc. etc.

I'm also fascinated by the social dynamics in Black Friday. Lex is basically raising her sister due to their mother's neglect; Tom is a single dad; Becky is a domestic abuse survivor; and while Linda's family externally looks very well-put together, she's had multiple affairs, and it's revealed in the Nightmare Time episode "Honey Queen" that she blatantly plays favorites with her kids and has a terrible relationship with her father. Lex is a poor retail worker, Tom and Becky are middle class, and Linda is very wealthy. Black Friday more than any other Starkid show acknowledges the implications of social class, I think. I wonder if part of why a lot of people don't like it is because it's not really escapism the way a lot of other musicals are; it's pretty clear about dealing with real life problems, in a very simplified but obvious way.

I think all the time about the scene where Linda tells Becky, in front of a crowd, that everyone knew her husband was abusive and chose to stay silent. It's such an important moment because it's directly showing the audience just how cruel Linda is. It had been implied before but this was on another level. And it also serves as, again, a pretty basic depiction of how society treats victims. Like, saying that "bystanders will always look away as long as there's plausible deniability to preserve their own comfort" is pretty simple, but that doesn't mean it's a bad point to make, and I think it's made well. The title song also has the lines "I don't want your half-baked sympathy, / When did it save those in need?" which reinforces a similar concept; expressing pity isn't the same as actually taking any kind of action.

And then, of course, there is all the religious imagery. Every time I watch this show I notice more of it, it's everywhere and it's so cool. The show takes place during the holiday season so there are a lot of references to Christmas, specifically. Wiggly keeps saying it will be his birthday, and Linda will "birth" him, so they are tied to Jesus and the Virgin Mary, symbolically (While writing this I had the thought that Wiley possibly counts as the angel Gabriel, then). And I think that using Christmas works because of how commercial Christmas in the US is. If your eldrith god is using capitalist desires as a recruiting tactic, having him bastardize Christmas for his own purposes is a pretty logical step I think. It's also not just that Wiggly is associated with Christmas thematically but also in a sense the iconography of the holiday becomes Wiggly. The garlands on the balcony turning into Wiggly's tentacles is one of the greatest set design pieces I've ever seen. Even apart from the functionality of it as a low-cost set that can go unnoticed until it's needed, it so perfectly evokes the imagery of Wiggly literally corrupting the holiday imagery. The first time I saw that scene I was amazed. I don't feel like checking rn who did the set design for Black Friday but whoever they are, they're fucking incredible. No notes.

And then the music. This is by far my favorite Starkid score overall. I love it so much. Partially because I, known 80's pop-rock enjoyer, am obsessed with a good synthesizer, but also just because of how well the songs suit this particular story. The synths are used most in the songs that show Wiggly's influence (Feast or Famine, Adore Me, Wiggle). Is "non-traditional instruments represent the unknown and otherworldly" the most unique special concept ever? No. But I like it and it sounds cool so like idc.

Jeff Blim is an incredible songwriter who is so talented in so many genres, and I'm always impressed with the songs he writes for Hatchetfield. I think sometimes we don't appreciate enough that all of these songs are by one guy (also Matt Dahan's musical direction for the entire series and the underscoring for both seasons of Nightmare Time that works in the melodies of previously used songs so incredibly). All of the Nightmare Time songs are so different, and all three of the stage shows have a very distinctive sound that really makes sense with the story that's being told. And one of the things Jeff does best in my opinion is the use of repeated melodies and leitmotifs.

Hatchetfield is full of them. There's been a lot of discussion of it in Nerdy Prudes because that show has so many motifs (i.e. the Nightmare Time riff, the "I'm not a loser" melody), and one of them actually comes from Black Friday. In The Summoning, right after Wiggly says "fwendy-wends," the keyboard melody that plays is the same as the part in the song Wiggle that goes "We will build a portal just for [when he comes]" (The last few notes fade directly into the chorus of The Summoning). I'm not the first person to notice this or anything but I thought it was so cool when it happened.

And Wiggle itself is using a different melody: The Carol of the Bells. Again, it ties into the idea of Wiggly completely taking over the idea of the Christmas season. The lyrics of Wiggle also include the lines "He will rise up with joyful noise," and I didn't realize that not everyone would catch that as a religious reference until a friend commented about it but "joyful noise" is a biblical reference (Psalm 100:1). It all ties back to the religious themes.

This last one may not be intentional, but the last song also really makes me think of another Christmas carol? The opening lyrics of What If Tomorrow Comes ("Do you all see what I see, / What I know, / What I see?") really reminds me of the song "Do You All Hear What I Hear?" The melody is different and only vaguely similar so I may be reading too far into it, but I always got the feeling that I'd heard something like that before and wasn't able to place it until last year.

Anyway TLDR Black Friday is heavy handed but I think it actually works better that way, and I like how strong the imagery throughout it is.

[peoplesrazor]

Stop trying to make fetch happen, Lily.

First, you don't just get to decide that, Lily. Sure, you can say, I think of this as a thriller, but you can't just say it is a thriller no matter what genre the creators put it in. It's classified as a Shonen and marketed as such, because that's what the people behind it intended it to be. The quality of the creations, as per your personal standards, doesn't matter, either.

Just call a bad show, a bad show. No need to blame a whole genre. If you didn't do that, you wouldn't have to pretend Spy Family was a different type of show then it is.

This is the same thing as you asking who would call BG and Dragon Age dark fantasy when that's what the people who made and marketed the games called them. You don't have to think of them this way when you engage with the media. You should acknowledge it, however, if you are going to talk about it with any authority.

Secondly, you really should engage with genres you don't necessarily like, more often. The more media you consume, the better you will be at critiquing media in general. It's just learning through exposure and experience. You may even find other things you like.

For instance, to use myself as an example; I'm not particularly fond of gore, even in horror films. I'm not squeamish necessarily, but I do find it's more often done just to be gross for the sake of shock value and I'm usually not shocked. Generally, it's just not an effective way to get my attention the way it's intended.

Yet, I consider the following one of the most enjoyable, fun, interesting, well-done and well-executed sequences in all of cinema. It's an absolute masterpiece. And it's one-hundred percent pure, unadulterated over-the-top, glorious carnage and gore:

As great as that four minute clip is all on it's own, I promise you it is so much better if you've seen the whole film. Sort of my point. Even if you don't like slasher/ teenagers being offed in the woods movies, and I usually don't, you'd miss that glorious scene if you didn't give this film a chance.

By the way, that's not the genre that movie is in either, but you wouldn't know that if you didn't watch it. Despite the fact that they marketed it as a Science Fiction Comedy Horror, if you only saw clips, you are going to think slasher movie. Myself, I consider it more of a satirical deconstruction of the slasher and eldritch horror genres.

But if someone asked me I'd include the sci-fi comedy horror elements as well. Because, yeah, it's that, too. I just appreciate the deconstruction elements more.

[mundifinis]

i know wwdits s5 just ended and most of us are happy about it but like i still feel there is room to critique on how just badly the female characters are written.

literally the first 3 seasons, nadja is quite literally the only main female character. the only other side characters that pop up more than an episode are jenna and charmaine. the only female relationship that nadja has is quite literally with the ghost version of herself and then jenna (but then she dips after the first season).

then season 4 happens and while we get the guide and nadja, the fact it took 4 seasons for there to be another main female character and an actual main female relationship is just horrendous. but even that doesn't make up for how bad the atrocity that is the character marwa.

yes, marwa's character is meant to show how truly fucked up nandor is but if marwa is quite literally the third main female character for that show, i don't think that's the time to fuck up on that representation and use her as a plot device. marwa quite literally has all her autonomy and free-will taken away and then her arc ends with her, a woman of color (and the only one besides guillermo's mother that makes more than one reoccurrence) being turned into a white man. if you were on wwdits twt at least, you know there was a fair amount of (rightful) backlash against that horrendous decision but nothing can change the fact that someone thought that was a good decision and no one in the writer's room felt the need to be like "hey this is a bad idea"

and in season 5, yes the prime focus is on guillermo and nandor and how the former was turned into a vampire and how the latter would react but nadja is still a main character on the show. they could've showed how she connects with the women of little antipaxos or even continue her relationship with the guide from season 4. i know this part does get addressed in the finale but also nadja quite literally says she wants more female friends and the guide is right there and yes it's supposed to be a bit but it quite literally is such an ooc for nadja considering prior the guide, she welcomes most women that she sees and even helps those that are getting treated badly by men.

so nadja treats the guide horribly and ignores her and it's all for the sake of what? the guide getting fed up and locking her (and the other vampires) up so nandor can find about guillermo being a vampire because of course female relationships have to uplift the men in some way.

anyways, that's all. call me reaching. call the lack of female characters to be a satire or whatnot-- i just think that it's a bit fucked up.

[watchmorecinema]

I was re-watching the Folding Ideas video about Nostalgia Critic's The Wall, and it got me thinking about something. I'm perfectly ok with people hating my favorite movies, so long as they at least understand them. The Wall is a dark and depressing movie and maybe you just don't want to deal with that. But if you think the main theme is "high school sucks" then you didn't really try to engage with it at all.

A lot of this I think is due to advertising. The Exorcist isn't the scariest film ever made, it's a family drama. It's very compelling but if you're looking for a lot of scares then you'll walk away thinking it's boring. Rambo isn't really an action film since it's more about the character of Rambo and how he has been dehumanized by the very machine that sent him to kill in Vietnam (the sequels dropped all of that). A lot of people went into Fight Club expecting it to be a straightforward fighting movie but actually it's a twisty thriller about the horrors of capitalism.

But outside of that I think it happens when the movie is abstract in some way. The Wall is very abstract, but it's easy to understand what it all means. An animated scene about inhuman monsters destroying London isn't The Wall trying to be a Kaiju movie for a minute, it's a metaphor for the horror and destruction of the blitz.

David Lynch and Tarkovsky get hit pretty hard by this too; people don't understand what the plot literally means so they get hung up on that instead of coming up with their own interpretation. What Stalker means to me is completely different to what it means to someone else. Any Twin Peaks theory is valid so long as its yours. Good art is a mirror that lets you engage with it and reflect about your own thoughts and feelings. If you unironically think that Whiplash or Wolf of Wall Street was about supporting hustle culture then that says more about you than about the film.

If you don't regularly engage with art in this way, well you should! Watch movies you wouldn't normally consider and see how it makes you feel. Even bad movies can help you feel a certain sort of way and that's valid. Maybe you find something that means something to you in a way that was never envisioned by the creator. Videodrome has a lot to say about parasocial relationships with online content creators, but it came out more than a decade before the Internet came into being. Starship Troopers was panned on release but now it's understood to be a pretty clear satire of right wing militarism. Every time I rewatch Akira I get something different from it, especially if I'm in a different stage of my life.

There's a lot out there to explore. And sometimes that means you walk away from a film where you might think it was well made but that it did nothing for you. It's happened to me too; I can understand that The Wolf Man did a lot for werewolves in fiction (literally creating most of the lore you recognize), but it's also mostly about a guy being really creepy towards women with pretty bad special effects. I can appreciate its influence, but I just don't think it's a good movie.

I'm sure most people reading this will have similar thoughts about Stalker. It's very slow, philosophical, a bit nihilistic and while the plot is pretty easy to understand it leaves so much open ended that you need to decide for yourself what it all means. It's a lot of work to watch. I love it for that reason; very few movies actually give the viewer homework to mull about and chew on and this one gives so much to consider. But it's perfectly reasonable for someone to decide that it's hard to relate to the movie about Russians being depressed about abstract concepts for nearly 3 hours.

[majorbaby]

i think when considering Margaret and her much lauded 'character development' it's less about her developing from a bad person to a good person, but from a narrative device, as she was in MASH 1970, to a three-dimensional character. the former isn't inherently poor writing.

this happened deliberately as the show shifted from satirical plotlines that emphasized the moral bankruptcy of the systems that prop up the war machine to a show about how being in the war wore on the characters individually and changed them as people.

season 4 and onward focus more on individual character drama, highlighting the flaws and virtues of each character, their interiority, their changing relationships with one another and brings in their relationships with offscreen characters - most infamously, Peg and Erin Hunnicutt but also Dr. Pierce Senior, Radar's mother and uncle who eventually passes and Honoria Winchester. Even minor characters get at least one episode that focuses on some offscreen relationship, Mulcahy's sister Kathy and Klinger wife/ex-wife Laverne.

maybe with the (blessed) exception of Frank Burns, I think the function of all the characters changes from 1-3 to 4-11 as the show made this shift.

Trapper is a lancer. we get some glimpses into there being more to him, in Kim and Check-Up - but most of what we see is him performing a specific function, propping up Hawkeye, who in turn props up the messaging of the show. I would have loved to see Trapper's interiority explored more in the later years but I'm not mad about it missing in 1-3 - it's not about him getting "more", he got plenty in terms of what he was created to do. him having 'conflict' with Hawkeye isn't something that would've ever occurred to the writers at that time and you would never hear trapper say something like 'i can't divide myself emotionally' he doesn't have enough of an emotional self to divide.

when it comes to Hawkeye, in 1-3 i think the details of his life beyond what we see of him on screen are extraneous. hence the inconsistencies with his backstory, his sister, his mother, him being form vermont - this stuff just didn't matter back then. focusing on it now can be fun if you're trying to explore the character in fanwork, but the reason Hawkeye's sister (who i've affectioned named 'benjamina pierce') disappears is because they weren't really thinking too hard about her in the first place, you're not supposed to remember her and so the show assumes you won't.

Hawkeye writes home to his father but we don't learn a whole lot about Daniel Pierce at the time, he's only there for Hawkeye to narrate to, that doesn't mean Hawkeye doesn't love him, it's just that the writers don't intend for you to focus on their relationship until at least The Late Captain Pierce.

Other major developments wrt to Daniel happen much later on: he is retconned into being a doctor in the later years when the show wants to care about developing those details of Hawkeye's life and in season 10 we get Sons and Bowlers.

Hawkeye gets a little more character stuff than the rest of the cast because he's the protagonist but there's still a marked shift between 3 and 4, starting with his emotionally charged personal drama re: Trapper - before that, he does have moments where he emotes but it's always to fulfill the show's anti-establishment messaging: Yankee Doodle Doctor, Carry on Hawkeye and yes, even Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde. again, that doesn't mean we can't diagnose him with a laundry list of issues based on that episode when constructing headcanons but his mental state alone can't be divorced from the messaging at this point. "why does he do these things?" asks Henry at the end of Pierce/Hyde, and Trapper replies not that Hawkeye is damaged or hurting or broken (even though he may be all these things) but with the show's central thesis "he took this oath never to stand by and watch people die" - his breakdown directly ties back to the show's criticism of state violence. compare to Bless You Hawkeye, which might've taken place anywhere whenever Hawkeye smelled mouldy pond water.

so if even Hawkeye is more of a device than a character in the early years, what can we say for Margaret?

the Margaret character does her job. the hypocrisy of "fighting for peace" is paralleled perfectly in her relationship with Frank. these are two people who claim to be god-fearing, well-to-do, conservative Americans, but they engage in the same vices as Trapper and Hawkeye: drinking, promiscuity and scheming and worse, Frank and Margaret look down on others for it.

i get why people want something 'more' (really, something 'else) from Margaret and I'm glad we did eventually get that because it was sorely needed, but tbh i adore early Margaret and i think it's a little silly to call her a 'bad person' or 'underdeveloped' - she's just a villain clocking in.

similarly i don't think we're meant to reflect on Hawkeye/Trapper/Henry's philandering as assessments of their character so much as they are clear statements on traditionalism and sexual liberty. you can personally dislike whatever you want in a character but i think the context of the show airing in 1972 when attitudes towards sex, particularly female pleasure, were starting to finally loosen, is relevant.

some people want character drama from MASH and that's their preference, but character drama isn't inherently 'deeper' or 'more complex' than satire. on the contrary some of the writing is so technically strong in the early years, the jokes on-the-ball, the witty criticisms of American foreign policy and the traditional values that uphold it buried within objectively hilarious episodes like Tuttle (where they create 'the perfect American man' except that he's not real and make fools out of ranking officers while they're at it)... I'd argue that that's highly complex.

i don't see the point in getting hung up on the morals of a character who clearly intended to be a villain when judging whether or not they're a 'good' character or not. calling her 'flat' when they're all somewhat 'flat' because the show is not trying to get you overly invested in their personal lives seems unfair to me. same can be said for comparisons of Frank and Charles which are critical of Frank. or my most beloathed criticism: of Henry for being an 'incompetent CO' - that is a feature, not a bug.

criticisms of 'flat' characters in general are definitely valid, but imo only when those characters exist alongside nuanced characters who have rich interiority. since Margaret exists alongside Trapper and Frank, I don't think that critique is valid here. she actually gets a few solid moments where we get the sense that there may be more to her, in Aid Station and Carry On Hawkeye. compare that to episodes that frame her as being entirely sympathetic when she's been a terror to people she holds structural power over: The Nurses or the Birthday Girls - both good episodes in general, but it's another kind of flatness to present a character as being wholly sympathetic when they've turned around and done the very same thing that was done to them to others. just something to consider about how making Margaret 'more nuanced' actually glossed over some of her interesting complexities.

[i-heart-hxh]

I finally read "ending D" now that the news is official, and honestly I laughed. It's such a cliche ending like you see in some other anime (including the main character being a bad parent and repeating history). It seemed like this was even alluded to with the whole "characters are living in different cities and may be so and so's child or grandchild" part. I think like you said, it being released likely has a lot to do with it being very far from any canon option (and even Togashi asked us to forgive him if anything happens to him and it becomes the de facto ending). It's undoubtedly very bad writing. What interested me a lot is Togashi saying his preferred ending is the one that he guesses will only get a 10% approval rating. I wonder what it could possibly be? My guess would be either something super pessimistic OR something super gay. But I guess we really aren't able to do anything but speculate. At least we know what the ending WON'T be now.

It baffles me as well how clichéd and typical of an ending it is, which is not normally Togashi's writing style in HxH. It feels so out of step with the rest of the series and how unconventional and trope-twisting it tends to be. I'm just repeating myself yet again, but I don't think he would have released it if he had any intentions of making an ending like it.

I've considered that ending D could be some form of joke/satire/commentary, or a challenge to himself to get to the real ending so this rejected ending doesn't end up being the de facto ending, but as usual, take both of these possibilities with a huge pinch of salt because all we can do now is speculate. It could also be an ending that was scrapped early in the series, or one that he didn't consider with any real weight. But, who knows! Only Togashi, and I don't think he's going to tell us more about it any time soon, if at all.

I'm also curious about ending C, I think a lot of people are from what I've seen! I agree that a pessimistic or gay ending are the first things that come to my mind when I think of something he thinks the majority of the audience wouldn't like but would satisfy him the most, but with him, it could be anything. Personally, I support Togashi doing whatever makes him feel most satisfied in the ending, whether I end up liking the end myself or not. After all the hard work he's put in, being able to finish it the way he wants is the best thing we can ask for.

I am grateful that ending D has been ruled out, though, as I'd certainly rather see it as a scrapped idea now than in the manga itself in some number of years.