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poopyloopy14 · 1 month ago

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WINX CLUB: MY FIRST OBSESSION 🧚‍♀️✨

Reasons why I still love it and I think it holds up as a good show to this day!

Characters & Design: One thing I love about about the design of the animation is how Iginio Straffi decided to use proper Italian designers to style the character's clothes!! The girls looked like fashion design sketches come to life on the screen ( also explaining how unrealistic their body proportions are). To this day the fashion inspires me, so many bright patterns and colour paired with celebrity fashion of the early 2000s. I also love how much care and detail was put into each character in season 1-4, I refuse to talk about any other seasons. They all had their own signature colours and symbols, such as Flora's floral patterns representing her sweet and gentle nature or Musa's clef symbolising her love for music. This really emphasised to me how fashion can be an outwards representation of your soul and who you are. I also love how there wasn't an emphasis on making them look 'modest' because in this fantastical, perfect world there weren't any creeps to sexualise them. I think what sets this show apart from other kids shows at the time was how femininity wasn't demonised, the characters were able to care about fashion, makeup and boys while still having strong personalities and being powerful. There's a connotation that a girl had to 'act like a man' in order to be closer to strength and power but this cast proved the opposite; although more masculine characters were represented such as Tecna, the girls were still represented as equal.

Another positive on the casting I think, was the diversity in the first few seasons. Cartoons are known for being the worst for lack of diversity and at this time there were very few different races and ethnic backgrounds being represented other than white and American. In Winx, Musa's planet 'Melody' is a representation of China and she explores this through the grief of her dead mother, Matlin. Representation in media is important as it decreases stigmatisation in the real world, creating less ignorance towards people who are different to us. Especially when kids are exposed to harmful stereotypes, representation is simply a form of cultural education. I think Winx did this successfully ! I also think it is important to note that even the 'villains' aka the witches weren't left out with the fashion detail, and as characters they were shown to be more naughty than they were evil, unlike characters such as Valtor. ( Valtor is so hot though ok) Making the witches seem just as cool and trendy as the fairies, instead of demonising alternative fashion and individuals.

Setting & Plot: The setting of Alfea was so perfect to me, it was the epitome of girlhood as was most of the show. The mix of fantasy with sci-fi was very unique and was representative of the harmony between the girls' both brains (being the futuristic technology such as the hover cars) and beauty ( being the colourful decorated buildings). I absolutely love 2D animation in general over 3D, it's a literal drawing on paper come to life which makes it appear more alike art than trying to be alike real life. The world building I thought had so much love put into it, how the girls each came from a different planet with its own customs and traditions aka culture and it all came together so naturally as one big universe. The focus on representing many features of our own Earth in the show only made the showcase of unity and community more applicable to our own lives and therefore inspiring.

As for the plot, the same idea applies. The show was originally directed at an audience of tween girls, many times their intelligence was undermined and producers would convey a very surface-level plot with many adversity plots being centred around stereotyped ideas of what young girls worry about. For example things Stella worries about in many scenes, although the contrast lies within these things being insignificant to the overall plot. In this way, these common worries aren't minimised but young girls are shown to have more complexity to them which they realistically do. Such as when Stella found out Brandon wasn't really a Prince and she didn't care. Each fairy having their own personality itself showed that the girls weren't being dehumanised or, defairytised as harmful stereotypes of the docile, or shallow, tween. Another important feature many shows savour for adult shows is character building! It is just as effective and arguably more important in childrens shows to convey realism in the way humans are able to grow and change. Many of the girls such as Bloom are shown to have difficulties within their family or with self-image, real concerns for young girls. This affords the characters a complexity and relatability factor appealing to real girls who can see themselves within a fairy and their struggle.

I don't think 'adult topics' should be limited towards children shows, I've realised the entirety of my favourite children shows do explore these topics. This is because these topics such as grief or trauma realistically don't just impact adults but children too, only in a different manner. This is how it should be represented within children's media too, in an age appropriate manner while also respecting the intelligence of children. We too often depreciate the depths of what children feel and know and at their age they don't have the complex words to describe it, rather they immitate the words and actions of role models. Role models are also able to be within media, representation within characters of their own age showcasing a healthy way to deal or communicate with what they experience or feel is a positive way to aid children on a mass scale. Overall I very much appreciated this about the plots of Winx, it is a shame from season 5 they changed their demographic to a younger audience and dropped the complex plots as that is what attracted me so much to the show.

My favourite character: Since I was a little girl it was always Flora, I think it was mostly because I saw myself in her not just through appearance but through her shyness, sensitivity and genuine care for others. Although I have grown these are still core parts of who I am, feeling responsibility for others and having to mature fast due to expectations placed on me as an older sibling. As well as the desire to connect to nature, that has only grown in me as I grow up and realise how the modern way of life is so disconnected from it. When I am under the trees or laying in a bed of grass or atop a body of water it's a feeling of rejuvenation I can't seem to recreate anywhere else. Now my ideal life would be to live within the countryside on a little farm planting fruit, veg and flowers. I think my connection with Flora was indicative of what means the most to me in my core as it has only flourished with time. Her relationship with Helia being so gentle, with him gifting her a poem speaks to what I've realised I deserve too although... my wants are a little messy. It might seem juvenile to think so deeply about Flora's relevance to myself but I think it's important in understanding yourself to figure out what about something or someone made you so attached to it/ them, before life got confusing. So I think there's something in going back to things that magnetised you before you even developed a sense of self, it helps me at least in understanding myself. I also loved her outfits duh!

#winx club #winx flora

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talenlee · 1 year ago

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Thoughts on fakes being more real than the real thing?

so there's this idea right, from this guy called Baudrillard

no wait don't go

there's this idea from a guy called Jean Baudrillard, of the idea of the hyperreal. Hyperreality, as Big Bauds described it, simplified for handling, is the idea that we live in a world where people interpret signifiers and descriptors for things themselves. That is, that there's a consensus reality of things that exist, but thanks to hyprereality, we live instead surrounded not by real things but by their simulacra.

I wrote about this in the context of Ranma 1/2 a while back (x), but I summarise it as a retreating standard of realness; 'The thing, the representation of the thing, the infinitely reproduceable simulacrum of the thing.' A typwriter, an illustration of a typewriter, an infinitely reproduceable ad in dozens of magazines for that typewriter. The purchaser of that ad, the person who sends in their money is not buying the typwriter, they are buying the reproduced simulacra of the typwriter and you can observe strange tendencies that flow from that. How many people when you ask them about a thing they've purchased or watched or cared about, will quote you stats or taglines from the advertising, and then, if pressed, be unable to explain what they mean?

How many people do you know who love an anime, but when presented with the question of 'should I watch it' would not recommend it because they'd rather talk about the things the anime should have in it or would have in it, whether it's a focus on this minor character or more mecha battles or extensive sister-on-sister inappropriate cuddling?

If you extend this further into the realm of semiotics, you might notice that you tend to exist in a space where you don't engage with real things much at all; there are things at your fingertips, in your house, on your computer that exist, they absolutely do, and you may love them and want to engage with them but only when you do are they there, are they present and exist. There are board games in my collection that I think of fondly with a plan to play them, but I haven't. The game is a hyperreal thing to me at this point, a fantasy of its own significance.

And like, fake what? Fake images? Taylor Swift is already presenting fake images of herself to me all the time, and I'm actively trying to avoid them. Someone drawing her as a pool toy is projecting another, different fake image, but theirs is less authentic because there's no pretense that it's real. One of the fakest things about images and personas is the conception that being real is opposite to being fake, when every fake thing that exists is still real - it still exists. The persona of Taylor Swift is a thing we can all reference, we can all point to it, it doesn't stop being a signifier we can communicate about just because she so obviously is making shit up.

Anyway, maybe.

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kileyreadsbooks · 1 month ago

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The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

Dates: Jan. 2 - Jan. 4

2025: 2/100

Rating: 1/5

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I selected this book as my November selection for Book of the Month Club. It is honestly the first selection from this subscription service that I am honestly fully and truly disappointed in. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong is advertised as a Cozy Fantasy with a gang of adventurers becoming a found family along the way. It falls flat in every aspect.

In an effort to keep with the genre of Cozy Fantasy -- which is known for low stakes, high reward adventure -- the author sends the four main characters on a series of Dungeons and Dragons side quest that revolve around avoiding the coming war and neglecting the two main plot points of "find the five year old girl whose been kidnapped" and "the mage's guild wants me to work for them". While I don't mind books that have low stakes adventure, every solution in The Teller of Small Fortunes became predictable, boring, and insignificant. There was one point where the gang signed a magical and binding contract to complete a task (retrieve a treasure from a cave) by a strange, excentric man who only referred to them as their RPG stereotypes. When they found out that the treasure was the egg of a Phoenix, the gang decided that they can not steal a child from its mother. While this is ultimately fine, there were absolutely no consiquences for their actions. The man just shrugged, went "that's too bad", and left. What was the point of them signing a contract if it wasn't binding?

On top of the entire lack of consiquences, the world building was lackluster at best. It relies heavily on Dungeon and Dragons (Forgotten Realms/Exandria) stereotypes alongside of non-fantasy, real world concepts to build a half completed and bare bones world. The setting of the book is the country of "Estrera", which to my knowledge is basically fantasy Europe. The main group characters travel through numerous small towns and slightly largers city as the book progresses. Very few of these small towns are given discriptions past the name of the town and what general region it is a part of (i.e. Fishing Town, Town in the Mountains, etc.). I don't mind lack of world building in this regard, however, it becames extra noticable when each chapter is in a new town with just as little detail as the last. There were also some real world concepts, like trickle down economics, being explained in the book that felt entirely out of place in this low-fantasy world.

Tao, the main protagonist and the teller of small fortunes, is from the country of "Shinara". Shinara is across the ocean and is very clearly a representation of China. Tao as a Shin experiences micro-aggressions and blatant racism throughout the book. While, as a white enby, cannot speak of the portrayal of racist, I can speak on some of the other minority representation presented in the book. Namely, how this book is -- at least on the BOTM selection page -- promoted as LGBTQ+ represention. However, the only representation of the sort in this book is a lesbian character who is introduced within the first ten pages and during a fortune reading, Tao suggests moves to a nunnery. Considering this a fantasy world, it is frankly playing into harmful streotypes of lesbians and nuns to treat a character as such. Tao very easily could have had the villager go to a lesbian sex commune or a "town where only women were allowed" in place of a nunnery. On top of that, Kina, the adventuring party's baker, is the inventor of the "fortune cookie". I think that there could have been away to integrate fortune cookies into the story, especially with how the established form of income for the group has is baked good and fortunes, but having a white women use Shin (Chinese) characters to sell fortune cookies to villagers leaves a bad taste in my mouth. At the end of the novel, the Head Mage of the Guild gives Tao what is basically a passport that says "don't be racist to this Shin, she saved the country and has promission to be here". While I assume this is address the racism in the book and act as a solution, I doubt that in a country that was repeatedly shown to dislike both the Crown and the Magic Guild would respect a fancy scroll that basically says "don't be mean".

Additionally, Tao -- along with the other three members of the adventuring party, Mash, Silt, and Kina -- had very little character development, and what development did happen was meant to be picked up on between the words on the page as nearly none of it is actually shown. This is particularly evident with Tao and her mother. Tao, who ran away either a decade or three years ago depending on which part of the book you are in, left her step-father and mother's house because of poor treatment, her step-father wishing to "sell" Tao to the Magic Guild, and her mother's belief that her strong "seer" magic was to blame for her father's death. This, like all other conflict in the book, is waved away with very little consequence and an "oops was a big old miss understanding". There could have been some big character moment of standing up for herself, sticking to her guns/beliefs. But instead the author allowed Tao to return and forgive people who treated her horribly. Mash and Silt probably suffered the worse of the group. Like Mash's only personality trait is "I need to find my daughter" and Silt is a bumbling idiot, who is in love with Kina. Kina is some what interesting, but her character fails to "earn" much of the development she see. It is something that just happens and the reader is expected to buy into. By the end of the novel, the reader is expected to understand that these characters are a family now, however, very little development happend to make the found family aspect actually feel earned and that these characters are actually a family now.

As previously mentioned, by the end of the book, certain facts get muddled together and mixed up. Such as how long Tao has been on the run, but also at one point in the final stretch of chapters, Mina says, that "ordinary folk will not know that Estera was preparing for war", however, numerous times throughout the early chapters, those same ordinary folk mention how the crown was preparing for war with the Shin and how that's why they were buying up cotton/grain, etc. By the end of the book, it was very clear that Leong had very little idea of where to take the story and had forgotten about several plot lines that needed to be wrapped up before it could actually be completed. This most notable with the ending of Chapter 17 which read as a very strong concluding chapter. I was shocked that there was fifty pages after that point.

I was looking forward to this book, as there haven't been very few horrible picks from Book of the Month in my year plus I've been subscribed. The writing style was not for me, and overall felt very juvinal. I was shocked that it was not advertised/published as a Young Adult Cozy Fantasy. The writing is flat, one note, and lacked depth. I could have, and would have been, much more forgiving if this was a YA/New Adult novel, but this being an adult fantasy leaves me feeling overall sour on the genre. I think that Leong would have a bright future in the YA fantasy realm, she just has to make the shift.

Up Next: Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce

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#kiley reviews books #the teller of small fortunes #Julie Leong #Cozy fantasy #book review #booklr #book blog

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willyaurtherblog · 4 months ago

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Why BDG Game Is Your Gateway to a Dream Life

In an era where virtual experiences blend seamlessly with reality, BDG Game stands out as a transformative platform that allows players to live out their dreams. With its immersive environments, creative freedom, and vibrant community, BDG Game is not just a game; it’s a gateway to a dream life. In this article, we’ll explore the compelling reasons why BDG Game can turn your aspirations into reality and how you can make the most of your journey.

1. Create Your Own World

One of the most captivating features of BDG Game is the ability to create and customize your own world. Whether you envision a serene village, a bustling city, or an exotic landscape, the game provides the tools you need to bring your imagination to life.

Design Your Environment: Use a variety of building materials, decorations, and layouts to craft spaces that reflect your personality.

Personalize Your Avatar: Your character is an extension of you. Customize their appearance, clothing, and skills to create a unique representation of yourself.

2. Unleash Your Creativity

BDG Game is not just about gameplay; it’s a platform for creativity. Players have the freedom to explore various forms of expression, from designing homes to scripting quests.

Build and Design: Let your creativity flow as you construct stunning structures and landscapes. The only limit is your imagination.

Crafting and Customization: Engage in crafting activities that allow you to create items, tools, and decorations, adding depth to your gaming experience.

3. Engage with a Thriving Community

A significant aspect of BDG Game is its strong community. Connecting with like-minded individuals who share your passion for adventure and creativity can enhance your experience.

Make New Friends: Interact with players from around the world, form friendships, and collaborate on projects.

Participate in Events: Join community events and challenges that bring players together, fostering a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Have a peek here bdg game

4. Explore Endless Adventures

In BDG Game, every day presents new opportunities for adventure. With regular updates and new content, there’s always something exciting to discover.

Questing: Embark on quests that challenge your skills and push your boundaries. From solving puzzles to battling foes, each quest offers a unique experience.

Dynamic Events: Participate in seasonal events and special challenges that keep the gameplay fresh and engaging.

5. Learn and Grow

BDG Game isn’t just about fun; it also provides valuable opportunities for personal growth and skill development.

Problem-Solving Skills: Engage in quests and challenges that require critical thinking and creativity, enhancing your problem-solving abilities.

Collaboration: Work with other players on projects, fostering teamwork and communication skills that are essential in both gaming and real life.

6. A Safe Escape

In today’s fast-paced world, finding a safe and enjoyable escape is essential for mental well-being. BDG Game offers a refuge where you can unwind and immerse yourself in a world of fantasy.

Stress Relief: Engage in calming activities, such as building or exploring, to help alleviate stress and enhance your mood.

Positive Environment: The game fosters a supportive community that encourages creativity and positivity, making it a great place to escape daily pressures.

Conclusion

BDG Game is more than just a gaming platform; it’s a gateway to a dream life where you can create, explore, and connect. Whether you’re seeking adventure, a creative outlet, or a community to call your own, BDG Game has something for everyone. So why wait? Dive into this immersive world today and start living the dream life you’ve always imagined! Your adventure awaits!

#bdg game

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comicsandculture · 5 months ago

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Have you ever opened a comic and felt connected to the story as if it was your own. Comics allow the reader to connect real stories and experiences to fantasy worlds and characters. Comics have been used as propaganda, as informative, and new ways to reflect changes in culture. What many thought were works of childish fiction grew to be an important piece in cultural history

From ancient sculptures and myths to comic strips in the newspaper, to an industry spawning movie and shows and franchises. The history of comics has been rich and has had a variety of different forms.in Centeno’s article “A Very Brief History of Comic Books” he explains the different forms comics have taken over the years and its importance.” Illustrated folios and wooden plates have been categorized as important artistic and political devices since the early points in most civilizations. Graffiti in Roman cities were political, but also crude and funny. Illuminated manuscripts contained holy images, but also doodles that have baffled historians for centuries. Illustrating a story to make it more appealing to an audience has been at the forefront of the human mind since its early existence in caves.” (paragraph 1).

Early forms of pictograms share similar elements to comics in forms of art and storytelling techniques in today traditional comics those aspects can be reflected. However, the transition of comics in history was not easy as explained in the ted talk “Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.” the problem was that if you go with this basic idea that space equals time in comics, what happens is that when you introduce sound and motion, which are temporal phenomena that can only be represented through time, they break with that continuity of presentation”.(10:34). The situational problem of adapting comics to the passage of time presents an obstacle but if done correctly provides a breakthrough in entertainment storytelling and allows comics to explore new creative outlets such as news, politics, and even education.

Comics have been used in history as more than just figures of art and fiction to political outlets and propaganda to promote world events. For example, the early Captain America comics showed political corruption and taught children the complexity of World War 2 and how it affects America, in today’s world comics can be used to highlight systemic injustices and representation as seen in Minicos article “comics, especially superhero comics, are an original, compelling and useful medium for an analysis of otherness and intersectional feminism. Revealing the utopian and dystopian grounds of their realities.” (3). Comics help bring political and social controversies into exposure by simplifying and proposing it to a general audience by substituting it with a fantasy background. Comics are also used as informational outlets of education such as mathematics as explained in Reily’s article on comics in mathematics.” Comic books as permanent artifacts is one of the reasons why they are often used in ESL classrooms. Students can control the speed with which communication progresses. It is the same as reading a novel but with the visuals bring creativity and communication into the classroom (Gomez, 2014). Comic books can be intermediary. They can form a bridge to help students move from simple to more difficult concepts”.

So next time you open a comic book, think about how influential and vital their role has been in building society’s culture as well as our politics, art, and philosophy. Sometimes it is not just heroes and villains but ideas and insights into our culture. Think of a comic you know, what symbols can you identify in the setting, the characters plot, the conflict, and the comic as whole?

Works cited:

McCloud, Scott. “Tedtalks: Scott McCloud--Understanding Comics.” TED, February 2009. https://www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_the_visual_magic_of_comics/up-next/transcript?subtitle=en

Reilly,Edel.”Superheroes in Math class: Using Comics to Teach Diversity Awareness.” Works & Days, Vol. 32,2014/2015,Accessed 9/4/2024, p61-74,EBSCOhost, https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=59b8dc6c-cb09-469b-97dd-e5d79b6d61a9%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#AN=117806160&db=hus

Di minico, Elisabetta.” The Ages of Otherness: How Superhero Comics Reflect on Systemic Injustice and Racial and Gender Representation.” Caietele Echinox, Vol. 46,2024, Accessed 9/4/2024, p219-237, EBSCOhost, https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=f79a7b78-6bae-4bb0-8e87-5e8e88f45046%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#AN=178605409&db=hus

Images cited:

Lim,Ron.Lee,Jim.Marvel Comics.1968.tumblr. https://travisellisor.tumblr.com/post/123171747638/the-cover-to-captain-america-383-by-ron-lim-and. Accessed 9/5/2024

Crocker,Sarah.British Museum.March 3, 2023.Grunge. https://www.grunge.com/1216514/egyptian-myths-and-legends-that-will-keep-you-up-at-night/ Accessed 9/5/2024

DMca.Peakpx. https://www.peakpx.com/en/hd-wallpaper-desktop-oymhe Accessed 9/5/2024

Granger,NYC.GRANGER-Historical Picture Archive.1777.alamy. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-revolutionary-war-cartoon-na-feathered-american-patriot-is-cutting-95839104.html Accessed 9/5/2024

Showface.Dreamstime.com. https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-student-reading-thinking-image13595399 Accessed 9/5/2024

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clariwell01 · 1 year ago

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Java for Virtual Reality (VR) Development: Crafting Immersive Experiences

Virtual Reality (VR) has transformed the way we interact with digital content. It's not just about gaming; VR is used in fields as diverse as education, healthcare, architecture, and entertainment. In this article, we explore how Java, a stalwart in software development, plays a significant role in VR development, the opportunities it presents in the software development industry, and the importance of Java Training Courses for aspiring VR developers.

The Rise of Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality is all about creating immersive, computer-generated environments that users can interact with as if they were physically present. Whether it's exploring a 3D archaeological site, simulating medical procedures, or gaming in a fantasy world, VR has limitless applications.

Java's Role in VR Development

Java has emerged as a reliable language for VR development, thanks to several key advantages:

1. Cross-Platform Compatibility:

Java's "write once, run anywhere" philosophy ensures that VR applications can be deployed on various platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

2. Performance and Optimization:

Modern Java runtimes, like Java Virtual Machine (JVM), are highly optimized, allowing VR applications to run smoothly, even with demanding graphics.

3. Robust Libraries:

Java boasts a rich ecosystem of libraries, including Java3D and jMonkeyEngine, which simplify the creation of 3D environments and game physics in VR.

4. Community Support:

The Java community actively contributes to VR development, creating frameworks, libraries, and open-source projects that facilitate VR application creation.

VR Applications Powered by Java

Java-based VR applications span a wide range of industries:

1. Education:

VR is revolutionizing education by providing immersive experiences for students. Java helps create interactive simulations and virtual field trips.

2. Healthcare:

From surgical training simulations to therapy for patients with phobias, VR is making a significant impact on healthcare. Java plays a pivotal role in creating these applications.

3. Gaming:

While gaming is an obvious application, Java-based VR games continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in immersive entertainment.

4. Architecture and Design:

Architects and designers use VR to walk clients through virtual representations of buildings and interiors. Java is essential for creating these lifelike environments.

5. Virtual Tours:

Tourism and real estate industries employ VR to offer virtual tours of destinations and properties. Java helps deliver these interactive experiences.

Career Opportunities in VR Development

As VR continues to gain traction, career opportunities in VR development are on the rise:

1. VR Developer:

VR developers specialize in creating immersive experiences using Java and VR development tools.

2. 3D Graphics Programmer:

Professionals in this role focus on optimizing graphics performance for VR applications, ensuring a seamless experience.

3. UI/UX Designer:

UI/UX designers in VR development focus on crafting intuitive and immersive user interfaces for VR applications.

4. VR Content Creator:

Content creators produce 3D models, animations, and assets for VR environments and experiences.

The Role of Java Training Courses

For those looking to enter the exciting world of VR development, Java Training Courses are a valuable resource. These courses not only teach the fundamentals of Java but also cover VR-specific tools and techniques, equipping developers with the skills they need to succeed in this burgeoning field.

Challenges and Future of VR Development

While Java has found its place in VR development, challenges persist:

Hardware Limitations: VR experiences are only as good as the hardware that powers them. As hardware evolves, developers must keep pace to deliver high-quality VR content.

Motion Sickness: Designing VR experiences that don't induce motion sickness is an ongoing challenge. Developers must find innovative ways to mitigate this issue.

Accessibility: Ensuring that VR experiences are accessible to all, including people with disabilities, is an important consideration for developers.

As VR continues to evolve, Java will remain a strong contender in the realm of VR development. Its versatility, performance, and robust community support make it an ideal choice for crafting immersive experiences. A career in VR development promises not only creative and technical fulfillment but also a chance to shape the future of digital interaction. With the demand for VR applications growing across industries, Java developers with expertise in VR will be in high demand, making it an exciting and rewarding career path.

#Java Development #Java Training Course

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arieso226 · 2 years ago

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The racial aspects of Sci Fi, Fantasy and other forms media

NO. 1

One of the blog posts I have written before was titled ‘Mean World Syndrome’, which talked about how race and media affects everyone on a global scale. Racial aspects of sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media have long been a source of controversy. From the stereotypes of aliens in Star Trek to the whitewashing of characters in movies like Avatar, Prince of Persia, etc. these issues have been a major source of discussion in the media landscape. In many cases, racial stereotypes have been used to create a sense of ‘otherness’ for the characters of color in order to reinforce a sense of white superiority. This has led to criticism from fans, activists, and academics who have called for more representation of people of color in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media.

NO. 2

In the entertainment business, inclusivity is hard to come by, and in some cases, the representation of characters of color in these genres is inadequate and often offensive. Characters of color are often relegated to the sidelines and made to serve as the backdrop to white characters’ stories, or they are depicted as tokens and stereotypes. This lack of meaningful representation has led to a push for more diverse casts in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media. ‘‘Like many social sciences, international/intercultural/interethnic communication and media studies are primarily an Anglo-American media images have always been critically dissected, often by scholars with some kind of privileged tie to other cultures—Most makers of these blockbusters are mostly white males with English as their mother tongue, mutli-millionaires or aspiring to become one as soon as possible. They usually internalize a mid-Atlantic view of global history and geography, its central myths and legends. So many blockbusters remain ethnocentric, even today—they tend to make non-Westerners look at the world through Western eyes.’’

NO.3

In addition to representation in the stories themselves, the casting of actors to bring these characters to life has been another source of debate. Many actors of color have argued that they are often typecast into roles that are stereotypical or that do not reflect the true diversity of the world. Films or TV shows with fantasy/sci-fi themes on Netflix, like Chambers or Raising Dion are not being properly advertised because, like Inclusive Advertising: What’s Holding the Industry Back? claims, ‘‘The industry itself is not diverse: The advertising industry — across the ecosystem and at all levels — is not representative, which is itself a barrier to creating representative and inclusive content. Only 19% of in-house and 23% of agency survey respondents reported that their leader almost always considers the demographic diversity of their team when developing content. That, and individuals (in these marketing companies) lack awareness of and access to the knowledge, skills, resources, and tools to create representative and inclusive content. Individuals are confident in their ability to create representative and inclusive content, but only if provided with adequate tools and resources.’’

NO. 4

Of course, there will always be people who dislike seeing a more diverse setting, especially against the established order of Western ‘‘whiteness’’ ideologies. Ultimately, the best way to ensure diversity in these genres is to continue to create stories that feature diverse characters and cultures. If authors, producers, and casting directors make a conscious effort to create more imaginative stories that are inclusive and reflective of the real world, then audiences will be able to experience a more authentic and meaningful experience.

#racemedia #race in media #characters #inclusivity #social issues #anime #stereotypes #fandoms #identity #social justice #social theory #cultures #colonialism #politics

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historyhermann · 2 years ago

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Things Get Better?: LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2022 [Part 1]

Komichi Akebi of Akebi's Sailor Uniform happily welcomes all the LGBTQ animated shows in this article. Logos of my favorite anime with LGBTQ themes which aired throughout 2022 are shown in this graphic which I created

In January 2022, I wrote that there was a possibility that in 2022 things would "get better" in terms of LGBTQ representation, with new fandoms developing from shows which take risks by telling diverse stories. Although 2022, in some regards, more than lived up to this possibility and went beyond, there were challenges.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the nineteenth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 16, 2023.

In the world of anime, some series with implied, or directly represented, LGBTQ characters, came to an end. [1] Often times these series had yuri themes. For instance, there were somewhat strong undertones between the protagonist, Komichi Akebi, and her friend, Erika Kizaki, in Akebi's Sailor Uniform, and the protagonists of The Demon Girl Next Door, Yuko Yoshida and Momo Chiyoda, and those of the short-lived, but intriguing, yuri isekai, The Executioner and Her Way of Life. In the latter series, one of the protagonists, Akari Tokitō, has a crush on Menou, a female assassin with a duty to kill her. At the same time, Menou's aide, Momo, has a crush on her and is jealous of how close she is getting to Akari.

One series, Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story, blew representation out of the water, with strong romantic themes between Eve and a Japanese girl she plays golf against, Aoi Amawashi. Eve is often unaware of how romantic she is toward Aoi, who has a clear crush on her. Erica Friedman of Okazu, a well-known reviewer who focuses on lesbian themes in anime, even wrote that she may "start measuring other anime based on how amazing this one was". Other series ranged from having implied to more direct themes, including Vampire in the Garden, Do it Yourself!!, Bocchi the Rock!, Healer Girl, Lycoris Recoil, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

There were additional anime with LGBTQ themes or characters. For instance, Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout, which had a three month run from January to March 2022, featured a reincarnated protagonist, Hinata Tachibana, who is heavily implied to be a bisexual trans woman. The spinoff from the popular Rooster Teeth series, RWBY, named RWBY: Ice Queendom, featured a non-binary nightmare hunter, Shion Zaiden. Christine Brent, Senior Brand Director for Rooster Teeth, confirmed this and said she would like to have similar characters in future productions.

Apart from these series, there were implied yuri themes in the ongoing idol series Love Live! Superstar!! and second season of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club. Such themes were also present in Management of Novice Alchemist, Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit, KanColle: Itsuka Ano Umi de, My Master Has No Tail, Prima Doll, Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation, Shine Post, and many others, [2] all of which began, and ended, in 2022.

Many of these series are on Crunchyroll, one of the biggest anime streaming services. With its recent merger with Funimation, Crunchyroll now dominates the anime streaming market, and will likely continue crackdowns on pirate sites. Its only real competition is YouTube, smaller sites like HIDIVE (owned by AMC), and streaming services such as Netflix, Tubi, and Hulu.

Notes

[1] Some could say that the final season of Princess Connect! Re:Dive has yuri subtext and point to the second season of Dota: Dragon's Blood featuring an Elven thief named Fymrym, who was once in a polyamorous relationship with a woman and two men, with her partners murdered by Luna, who attacks the Elves who don't worship Selemene. Also, Komi Can't Communicate featured Najimi Osana who has an ambiguous gender and Ren Yamai who is a lesbian, a bisexual man named Apollo in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, gay characters like Nagi and Soldier in Goblins Cave and Suma in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Attack on Titan has LGBTQ characters as well, as does One Piece.

[2] Others, as listed on Yuri Anime Reviews, include Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laughing ‘Til You Cry, League of Nations Air Force Aviation Magic Band Luminous Witches, Kakegurui Twin, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season, RPG Real Estate, Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost, Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall, Cue!, Slow Loop, and Girls' Frontline.

#lgbtq #animation #anime #akebi's sailor uniform #komichi akebi #akebi chan no sailor fuku #the executioner and her way of life #the demon girl next door #machikado mazoku #birdie wing #yuri #rwby #rwby ice queendom #rooster teeth #crunchyroll #hidive

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snailslovesketching · 2 years ago

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The non-human non-binary person trope: a nonbinary perspective

Hey Snails!

As a non-binary person it’s been great seeing our representation in media grow more and more, with more room for non-binary people to create their own characters and stories which represent the community in a positive way. More representation, however, has also caused harmful(?) tropes like the non-human non-binary character to become popular. I’m going to share my thoughts on this trope because its an interesting phenomenon which I have mixed opinions on.

The non-human non-binary character trope is explained in its name - it is a non-binary character who is, in fact, not a human. They may be of an alien species, a robot ot generally inhuman in appearance compared to the rest of the cast. Some examples of this trope are: Double Trouble from She-ra and the Princesses of Power, Raine Whispers from The Owl House, the gem species from Steven universe, BMO from Adventure Time and Primordial Chaos from the game Hades.

While most of our representation being non-human may seem like a non-issue to some of you reading, when you look more into this trope it can quickly become problematic. Having basically all openly non-binary characters being non-human can send the message that being non-binary is something unnatural. It makes it seem like only shape-shifting lizards or an alien species could be anything other than cisgender, and as a result the real lives of non-binary people (most of which aren’t shape-shifters or aliens) aren’t properly represented in the media we consume (and I’m a big advocate for media representation). It’d be nice to see myself represented in a regular human being to show the struggles we non-binary people face in the world. Because we have a lot of struggles which honestly really need to be represented.

As I mentioned before, however, my feelings on this trope are mixed. It’s pretty bad when most of our representation comes from non-humans; but the counter-argument to this is that aliens, robots, witches and primordial originators are cool as fuck. I love fantasy and sci-fi so obviously I love seeing non-binary characters in these stories, even when their lives and experiences being non-binary don’t reflect mine. And I know other non-binary people feel this way because 1. I’ve seen memes made by non-binary people reflecting this sentiment and 2. Multiple characters listed above were created by non-binary creators like Rebecca Sugar and Noelle Stevenson, the latter of which has stated that they find this trope empowering.

The non-binary community as a whole seems to be torn on this trope, which I find quite funny. The final summary of my thoughts on this trope is that I want more human non-binary characters to represent my experiences and all that jazz, but I don’t think we need to throw away all non-human representation in the process. The non-human non-binary trope isn’t inherently harmful, but it quickly becomes so when used in excess. We’ll just have to hope more good, human, non-binary representation arrives in the future :)

Thanks for reading!

Your friendly neighbourhood Snail

#nonbinary #tropes #lgbt #blogging #she-ra and the princesses of power #steven universe #adventure time #hades game #the owl house #toh #character tropes

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freeflowersofmuseums · 3 years ago

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General FF Headcannons

AN: Part 2 &3 of Bar Boyfriends are coming out sometime tomorrow or the day after that. Sorry it took so long i got sick. in the meantime heres some general head cannons i have to make the would of food fantasy make more sense.

Not all food souls can be summoned. Sometimes you have to physically find them and forge a contract with them. Some souls do this because they simply want to be left alone or they want only worthy master attendants to find them.

Only a small percentage of all food souls have been discovered there are an estimated 400-800 food souls who haven’t shown up on records yet, but it’s thought they will eventually show up over time.

Only one version of a food soul can exist at any given time. (even though this has been canonically disproven it just feels weird to me that Milk can meet another Milk. Like what? Imagine meeting another version of yourself.)

The skills you use during combat like those of Healing, Damage, and Control skills are magic and only the master attendant can use this kind of magic. This headcanon helps make actual battles make more sense story-wise.

Most people aren’t born with magic and sense summoning food souls requires magic not everyone can become a master attendant. In fact, less than 1% of people are born with any sort of magic skill

And even then, people who have magic can differ in strength. Some weaker master attendants will only ever summon 5-10 food souls in their lifetime. This is what makes the MC (you) so special. Unlike some other master attendants, your magic is naturally strong which allows you to summon as many food souls as you want.

Being a master attendant isn’t a real job. And while the chefs guild may pay you money it’s only a small fraction of what you earn at your restaurant, which is your main way to earn money and live.

You live in a giant mansion where all of your food souls live. (think of it as a giant dormitory). Whether it was given to you by someone or was commissioned by the chefs guild is completely up to you. But it had enough room to house all of your food souls and then some. (Personally, I just use this as an excuse to have all my food souls in one place. Think of this as a physical representation of the SOULS tab in-game)

Since only less than 1% of the world actually has magic, laws, and rules around being a master attendant aren’t fully established and it’s pretty much a wild west. Although there are some unsaid laws within the master attendant community about food souls. (Don’t cause them any harm on purpose whether it be mental or physical, Don’t ask them to do the impossible, etc.)

While its not outright said that you CANT do it, falling in love with a food soul is at least seen as a little strange in modern society.

#food fantasy #food fantasy x reader #small fandom #fandom #headcanon #headcannons #general #thanks for reading #thanks for the support #worldbuilding

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felassan · 4 years ago

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Dragon Age development insights from David Gaider - PART 1

This information came from DG on a recent SummerfallStudios Twitch stream where he gave developer commentary while Liam Esler played DAO, specifically the mage Origin. I transcribed it in case there’s anyone who can’t watch the stream (for example due to connection/tech limitations, data, time constraints, or personal accessibility reasons). A lot of it is centered on DAO, but there’s also insights into DA2 and DAI. Some of it is info which is known having been out there already, some of it is new, and all of it imo was really interesting! It leaps from topic to topic as it’s a transcript of a conversational format. It’s under a cut due to length.

Note on how future streams in this series are going to work: The streams are going to be every Friday night. Most likely, every week, they’re going to play DAO. Every second week it will be Liam and DG and they’ll be doing more of this developer commentary style/way of doing things, talking about how the game was made as they play through, covering quirks and quibbles etc. Every other week, it will be Liam and a guest playing a different campaign in DAO, and Liam will be talking with them about how DA changed their lives or led them into game development, to get other peoples’ thoughts on the series (as it’s now been like 10 years). Some of these guests we may know, some we won’t. When other DA devs are brought on, it’ll be in the DG sessions. They hope to have PW and Karin Weekes on at some point. Sometime they hope to have an episode where they spend the whole time going through the lore.

(Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

[wording and opinions DG’s, occasionally LE’s; paraphrased]

DAO’s development actually finished up around April 2009. They then put it on ice for around six months before release. Human Noble is DG’s favorite Origin. It’s one of the ones he wrote. He also wrote the Dalish Origin as well (Tamlen is his doing ;__;). DAO’s temp name during development was Chronicles. DG has never played any of the DA games after they were released. He played them pre-release loads of times, when they were half-broken or incomplete etc. This stream is his first time seeing everything played after completion.

NWN: Hordes of the Underdark was the first game where DG was a/the lead writer, in charge of other writers, as opposed to a senior writer. It was pretty well-received. In the fall of 2003, BW were just finishing up HotU when James Ohlen came to DG to talk. BW had been having issues during the development of NWN with the IP holder for D&D Wizards of the Coast, so they were interested in starting their own IPs that they would have ownership over (and also for financial reasons). JO said to DG that one of these new IPs would be fantasy and one would be sci-fi. He knew that DG was more fantasy-oriented, and so asked DG if he wanted to take this on. DG was down, and the first thing to figure out was what that fantasy IP was going to be.

JO gave DG an atlas of European history, which he still has, and said that he wanted him to make a fantasy world that is reminiscent of medieval Europe and reminiscent of D&D - “make it like D&D but not, file off the serial numbers really well”. This worked for DG because he was pretty familiar with D&D and there were also lots of things that he didn’t like about it and wanted to change. So DG went off and for the next six months worked on creating a setting, beginning with documentation and the map. This was kinda strange because they had no idea at that time what their story would be. JO was very interested in having a “genetically evil” enemy in the setting (like an equivalent to orcs). DG wasn’t a big fan of this and his initial go at the setting omitted this (i.e. darkspawn were not a thing) and was a lot more realistic. JO insisted on adding them later on.

This period of development wasn’t actually a good process. There were other people who were working on the project who were designing the combat side. Looking back, DG feels that they should have put their heads together a lot sooner. The combat designers had various ideas for various prestige classes and subclasses, and DG would be like “these are nowhere in the setting [lore]”. He tried his best to add a few of them after the fact, which is why we see things like DA’s version of the bard archetype. The combat designers and artists originally had a vision in mind of a game that was much more along the lines of the type of fantasy you’d find in the Conan the Barbarian world - bare-chested barbarians, sorceresses that show a lot of skin, a grimdark world with barbarian hordes. They were just assuming that’s what it was going to be. At this point in time DG had never thought, “Oh, maybe I’m responsible for communicating my ideas to them” - he’d never done this role before and was just told to go create the world. He created world-building documentation and would send out emails saying “I’m making this documentation, please go ahead and take a look”, not learning until later on that nobody outside of the writing team really likes reading such documentation. He learned tricks later on like making the docs more accessible, less dense and wordy, and overall easier to peruse.

There was no real ‘vision holder’ for DA. Mass Effect did a much better job of that. Casey Hudson was the project director and the vision holder for ME, and he had the power to enforce a set vision of what was and was not ME. ME therefore ended up having a bit more of a coherent vision. DG was in essence the vision holder for DA, but he didn’t really have the authority to enforce it on the artists. The DA teams ended up spending a good 3.5 - 4 years of the ~6 years of DAO dev time going in circles, not exactly sure what they were going to make, the various people working on it having different ideas of what ‘kind’ of fantasy they were going to make. The writing team were leaning towards LoTR; the artists were leaning towards Conan; at one point one of the project directors was leaning towards a point-and-click Diablo-style action adventure; and nobody was overriding anybody else.

The fans who hang out on the forums and in similar places have a very different idea about what kind of game they like and want to play versus the telemetry BW get from the public in general. As an example, fans on the forums tend towards playing non-humans and feeling that playing as a human is boring. Forum-polls reflected that, but BW’s general public-telemetry shows that around 75-80% of the playerbase played a human in DAO. Elves were at 15% and dwarves 5%. In contrast, in the core/forum-based fanbase, the human figure dropped down to 30%.

DG originally wanted Zevran to be a gay romance (he has talked about this before). He asked JO if he could do that pretty early on, thinking of Jade Empire which had same-gender romance options which were really popular. BW were surprised about that, and DG had no idea that the JE team were going to do this. For DAO, he had an idea for an assassin character. He had been reading about how the CIA and KGB would often recruit gay men to be their assassins, as they didn’t tend to have family ties. DG thought this was really interesting. JO was cool with the idea on a conceptual level, but thought that the work that would end up going into it would be better served if those characters could be romanced by both male and female PCs. Zevran and Leliana weren’t intended to be bi, they were “bi out of convenience”, but at the time these sorts of things (representation and such) didn’t enter into the equation as much as it does today. DG wrote Zevran in his head as being romanceable by men.

DG would ask the hair artists, “Why all the mullets?”, because he never understood that, and he’d get “a sort of shrug response”, and an indication that “it’s easier to model, I guess?” Having hair which is loose, in the face, in locks, coming over the shoulders etc wasn’t really supported at this point by the tech or the engine. Hence, they ended up with like five different versions of mullets. On the subject of the engine, for the first half of development they were using an upgraded version of the Aurora engine from NWN, and it was not good. Several years in they decided to switch. Trent Oster was in charge at the time of making a new proprietary BW engine. At the time it wasn’t ready yet, but the DA team decided to grab it, use it and hammer it into the DA engine. That engine had “so many little weird quirks”, like lighting on skin not working properly and looking bad, and one of the issues was hair. It was supposed to be BW’s proprietary engine but it really wasn’t optimized for RPGs and didn’t include a dialogue system. They had to custom-build the conversation system. (At the time Trent didn’t think BW should be doing RPGs anymore, which is a whole other story of its own). DG recalls programmers complaining about things in the engine that weren’t ready for ‘prime-time’. Even compared to games released concurrently, DAO’s graphics were a bit dated.

For the worldbuilding, they had an internal wiki and they kept everything on there. They ended up with a lot of legacy documentation on there very quickly. Eventually they solved this by hiring an editor whose sole job it was to wrangle the documentation. DG started work on the setting in the same manner in which he’d embark on starting a homebrew - ‘so like, first, here’s a map, oh, I like this name, vague ideas, a paragraph on each major nation, a rough timeline of the history, expanding, and it just growing from there’. After about six months, they brought on other writers, and by then he had around 50 pages of documentation. This 50 pages was a minute amount compared to the amount they had generated at the time of release. Originally, they weren’t sure where in the world specifically the story would take place, so DG made sure to seed potential and brewing conflicts throughout Thedas. They settled quite quickly on the new Blight starting in Ferelden. Once they established that, the writers went to town on taking Ferelden specifically and blowing it up detail-wise. Jennifer Hepler was in charge of the dwarves and Orzammar. Mary Kirby was on Fereldan customs and traditions.

The first version of the setting was more grounded in realism, almost like a post-fantasy. The dragons and griffons were extinct and a lot of the things that were thought to be fantastical were thought to be over with. During development, they started clawing these things back. They brought back dragons because the game was named Dragon Age (lol). DG was approached like, “Hey, we named the game DA, can you bring back dragons and weave them into the story more powerfully?” Wynne’s writer Sheryl Chee had a bit of an obsession with griffons and was often like ‘omg, griffons :D’, and this is the origin of Wynne’s dialogue with the Warden about griffons.

KotOR was the first time BW had tried to do a game that was fully voiced-over. For KotOR, BW sent the work of casting, direction and so on down to another studio in California called Technicolor. BW had little say in the process then and when they got it back, “it was what it was”. By the time they got to DA and the first ME, BW had a good system down for recording and VO had become an important thing in games at the time. BW are really one of the premieres for this, a lot of actors really like acting on BW games as they get a lot of space to act where they wouldn’t normally be able to do so otherwise. DG has learned a lot from Caroline Livingstone on how to encourage the best performance out of an actor. For DAO, DG worked together with the various lead designers and Caroline to decide on the auditions, casting etc. This was one of DG’s favorite things to do.

Gideon Emery as Fenris, GDL as Solas and Eve Myles as Merrill were times where DG had written the character and then went to Caroline and said “I have an actor in mind for them, can you check it out?” These were specific times where he was able to secure the actor he wanted. This didn’t always work out, for example there are times when actors aren’t interested or have no time due to scheduling conflicts or were too expensive etc. Eve and GDL were DG’s roommate Cori’s idea. Cori was a big fan of Torchwood/the actors from Torchwood, and worked as an editor at BW for a long time. Gideon was DG’s idea after playing FF12. For DAO, DG didn’t have any specific ideas in terms of actors. Casting Morrigan was the longest, most drawn out process.

The Circle went through a whooole process during worldbuilding. Initially, mages in the game weren’t supposed to have any “fighting magic”. The restrictions were originally such that in the lore, they didn’t teach mages that. Mages weren’t taught any magic that could kill people, only ‘indirect’ forms of magic that could support others. However, [during what sounds like] playtesting it was asked “Why can’t I cast a fireball? I just want to cast a fireball”, so the writers had to go back and rework how magic in the lore worked completely.

Flemeth was originally going to be voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo, and she was totally on-board, but unfortunately because of DAO’s development delays, she was unable to attend the new recording time as she had a conflict in her schedule (she was filming House of Sand and Fog). Shoreh was quite disappointed about this and her family had been so excited that she was going to be in a video game. When the movie was finished, Shoreh came back to BW and let them know that she was still available, and this is how she ended up in ME2. For a while they were trying to find an actress with an accent that authentically mirrored Shoreh’s. Out of the blue around this time, Claudia Black’s agent sent BW an audition tape of her. At the time Claudia hadn’t done any games but wanted to get into it. The tape was of Claudia doing a beat poet rendition of Baby Got Back. DG still has this tape. DG was a big fan of Farscape and on listening to the tape, it clicked right away in his head that Claudia would be perfect for Morrigan.

The Fade ended up being a big irritation for the writers. They wanted the PC to be able to assume different forms and such while in there. A lot of this stuff proved too difficult for the combat designers to work out, and so it ended up getting changed a lot. They had a hard time coming up with gameplay that could work in the Fade. The mage Origin is DG’s least favorite of the Origin stories, as he’s really dubious about the Fade section in it. It didn’t work out like how they had pictured it in their heads. By the time they got to DAI, that’s when the Fade really looks like how the writers first described/envisioned it. By this point the artists were more keen to give it a more specific feel. DAO was made at a time when ‘brown is realistic’ was a prevailing thing in games dev.

The experience of a mage in the world isn’t represented or conveyed very well to the player when the player is a mage. The experience of the player when they’re playing a mage or have a mage in their party doesn’t really match up with how the world lore tells them how dangerous mages can be - for example, how they can lose control and so on, we never really have an example of a PC mage struggling with being taken over by a demon. This was originally supposed to be a subplot in DA2 for mage Hawkes, in one of the last cuts. In Act 2, mage Hawke was originally slowly being tricked by a demon in their head that they thought was real, only to realize at the last minute. Mouse the Pride demon in the mage Origin is the only time in the entire series that they really ever properly demonstrated how demons can fuck with [PC] mages. Also, PC templars were originally supposed to have a permanent lyrium addiction that they needed to ‘feed’, but this was scrapped as the system designers weren’t keen on it and felt that it was essentially handicapping the player.

Mages were originally also not supposed to be able to deal with pure lyrium (it would ‘overload’ them). There is a plot where mage PCs run around touching lyrium nodes to refill their mana bars. On this DG was like “Wtf is this?” The designers said that it works, and DG said “but it flies in the face of the lore”. This instance is an example of how the DA team was working where the various departments (writers, artists, designers etc) all had their own ideas about how the game and its world would work and never overrode each other (see above). DG feels that DAO is a little contradictory in that way. It’s only after the game came out that a lot of the people on the team really “bought into” what they’d put forward. This got easier as they went on, with people involved buying then into the things that make Dragon Age, Dragon Age. At one point, not everyone on the team was even aware of those things.

DG relates that originally, they would ask the artists, “Ok, can we get a village?” and said village once created would be quite generic and non-specific to DA. The writers would try to relate how things are in the DA world and list things that would be found in a village like this specific to the DA world, and the artists either didn’t read it or had their own ideas (DG isn’t sure which), and nobody was around to tell them not to do that and that they should do it differently. Everyone having their own ideas like this is why we ended up getting something that is this sort of “cobbled together half-Conan half-LotR mish-mash”, and after a while this sort of became DA’s “thing”.

Initially, BW had concepts drawn up for a lot more different creatures. After they went in circles for those years and consequently ran out of time to do all the models, they had to cut these concepts down more and more. Demons were among the ones that were the first to go (this is why we have situations like a bereskarn as the Sloth Demon in the mage Origin). The original concepts for things like spirits of Valor and Sloth demons were really good. Early on, JO made a list of D&D creatures that he liked. He picked the ones that they were thinking of doing, sent them to DG and said to make a “DA version of this”. For example, D&D succubi essentially became Desire Demons. Desire Demons were originally patterned off Sandman, neither male nor female yet really alluring, acting more like a genie and trying to ferret out mortals’ inner desires (which are not necessarily sexual in nature), without being overtly sexual. The artists’ version came back and that was basically the model seen in-game. The writers were like “What is this, this is nothing like the description?” and the artists responded that on the list from JO, it was included, in that you had to click on “succubus” to get to the Desire Demon description, so they had just read “succubus” and done their version of a succubus. The artists did loads of great work, but this was one of the instances were DG was like “???” By then, it was too late to change it. The writers were able to encourage them to make Desire Demons a little more fearsome, so that made it in at least.

The mage Origin was one of the more contentious Origin stories. It had like 4 different versions written of it over time. It was often the case that BW would hire someone, and writing an Origin story was their first test. Three different writers came in and wrote a version of the mage Origin and those versions just didn’t work. Finally they passed it to Sheryl Chee and she wrote it. The Origins were the parts of the game in general that were written/rewritten the most often. There were several others that got written that they discarded.

Duncan was slated for death from Day 1. When DG writes a story, the thing he does first is pick out the big emotional beats that he wants, such as deaths. He decides these ahead of time and the stuff in-between comes later and is more often changed. Oghren was also originally supposed to die, but this ended up getting cut. DG related a story of how Oghren came to be: At the time, there was a phase JO went through when he thought everything had a formula that it could be done by. One of these ‘creative forumulas’ was that all such IPs had a two-word name that they’re known by, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Dragonlance (being Dragon-Lance). This is how ‘DA’ and ‘ME’ came to be. One of the formulas he wanted to implement was how to distill the ‘comedy character’, like Minsc or HK-47. These characters were very popular with the fans and JO was certain that there was a way to figure this out to create one for DA. At the time, DG argued with him a lot about this. JO insisted it could be done. DG was originally supposed to write this character but ended up not doing so. JO came up with a list of comedic archetypes and had DG write a blurb about what kind of character each could be. These were then sent out to the team who voted on which was their favorite. This process eventually resulted in an archetype basically called ‘The Buffoon’ (think Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin, the kind of guy people laugh at because he’s such an oaf).

At this point ‘The Buffoon’ wasn’t named or made a dwarf yet. JO came to DG to write him, but DG said there was a problem which is that he hates this archetype. Homer and Peter are characters that he despises. DG is a professional writer, but this was comedy (outside of his areas of strength), and he felt the best he would be able to do is write a character who makes fun of this archetype and lampshade that. Comedy is something that has to come from within the writer. Oghren was given to someone else, and he ended up getting rewritten again anyway. By the time they were working on Awakening, DAO had not yet come out, and the assumption prior to the game going out was that Oghren was still going to be the most popular character from among the followers. The comedic character that ended up being the most popular along these lines was Alistair, which was interesting as he wasn’t intended as a comedic character, “so shows what we know”. DG was dubious that Oghren was going to be popular, because “he was kind of pathetic, honestly”, but that was the thinking at the time. Thinking he would be well-loved is why he was in Awakening.

On Alistair, any character DG writes is going to be sarcastic. At the time DG had made it a sort of personal challenge to recreate Joss Whedon’s dialogue patterns in his characters. Alistair was a sort of mish-mash of Xander from Buffy and maybe Mal from Firefly. DG wanted to see if he could do it, so Alistair was kind of quippy and self-deprecating. DG never really considered this to be Alistair’s main personality feature, but when other writers wrote him, they often had him doing this, as they liked the trait so much, and so this is how Alistair ended up as he did.

On dwarves, the dwarves being cut off from the Fade is very much baked into who the dwarves are as a race. There’s a specific reason why. This has been hinted at so far and it’s likely to come up in the future. DG had various ideas for some things that he wanted to include with the races or the way the world works etc. Some of them ended up never happening or some are mentioned only as part of the lore (templar lyrium addiction never coming up in gameplay is an example of this). Dwarven history and the nature of the dwarves is one of the things that survived pretty well though. DG calls Jennifer Hepler “mistress of the dwarves” and says that she did a really detailed, amazing breakdown of their history. After Jennifer left it was Mary Kirby, and DG feels that they did a good job of maintaining how dwarves were, in terms of both how they’re often presented in fantasy and yet also quite different in DA. Orzammar is one of DG’s favorite plots all together. You can really tell that Jennifer Hepler really enjoyed the dwarves and brought a lot of love to that plot.

DG draws a distinction between DA fans and the unpleasant people who harassed Jennifer Hepler.

They managed to keep the Tranquil in. There was a while there where they were going to be cut. At the same time, DG regrets that they couldn’t solve the making of the player more aware of how mages are dangerous, thing. Players could make a cogent argument like “they’re not that dangerous, look at me [mage PC]” and the writers were like “well... yeah, that is fair”. It was a case of showing one thing and the player experience of it being another. DG feels that this made the templars come off worse than they are. DG feels that they are being massively unfair and too extreme in their approach to the problem, but the problem itself is a real thing. He feels that there’s some merit/truth in the argument that mages are oppressed, but he looks at it more like an issue like gun control rather than as treatment of oppressed people, saying that we don’t have an example in real life of oppressed people who can explode into demons and cast fireballs and so on.

There are some funny pronunciations that worked their way into DA, and the reason for a lot of them is as follows: the writers had to create a pronunciation guide for VO, because otherwise you end up with a lot of inconsistencies. (Some did still slip through). The guide was online, and if you clicked on a word, an audio file for it would play. Jennifer Hepler was in charge of this and did a great job, but has a really strong NY accent, and in some cases the ‘NY-ness’ of her pronunciation endearingly worked itself into things (the way Arlathan is sometimes said is an example of where this happened sometimes).

Sometimes the writers trying to communicate the “hotness” of a character to the artists didn’t go smoothly. The writers would sometimes say things like, ok, this character is a romance, they need to be hot, and the designs would come back looking “like Burt Reynolds”, and the writers would be like “???” And then a character that wasn’t particularly intended to be hot, as in that wasn’t mentioned at all in the descriptions of them, would come back “accidentally hot”, and the writers would be like “Why couldn’t you have done this when we were asking for a character that was meant to be hot”, and the artists would be like “What?? He’s not hot”. And this became a thing (lmao - this discussion was prompted by DG being asked “Was Duncan meant to be that hot?”, for context). Some of the artists were so paranoid about their [in]ability to judge actually-hot characters that when it was time to pick an appearance, like for Alistair, they gathered up all the women at BioWare, and DG (“resident gay”) into a room to show them an array of faces and bodies like “Is this hot? Is this hot?” DG and co would sit there like, “How can you not tell? Is this a straight man thing?!” Anyways, this is why oftentimes we ended up with characters who are accidentally hot.

Over time, the writers realized that the way they communicated to artists needed to be managed better. The words they would use would have different connotations to them the writers, than what they did to the artists. For example, for Anders’ design in DA2, he was supposed to be “a little haggard”. When DG thinks of haggard, he thinks ‘a little tired, mussed hair, looking like you’ve been through some shit’. But the artists based on that produced concepts with super sunken cheeks, looking like he’d been terribly starved. The writers needed to develop a specific vocabulary for communicating with the artists, as artists think in terms of how something looks, but writers are thinking in terms of what the character “is”. Anders’ description talked about his history a lot, and the one visual-type word that jumped out was “haggard” due to its visual connotations. “A lot it came down to the writers being up their/our own asses.”

When they got to DAI, they had figured out that the way to get best results on this front was /not/ to have the writer go off and develop a long description and pre-conceived notion of what the character looked like in their head. In such scenarios artists don’t feel that they have much to contribute to the process or an ability to put their own stamp on who this character is and make them interesting to them (the best, most interesting characters are when people at all stages of the pipeline properly get to feed into it). They learned that the better solution was to bring the artists in earlier, and to give them little blurbs, and not name the character but give them an ‘archetype’-sort of ‘name’. For example, Dorian was “the rockstar mage”, “cool”, “Freddie Mercury”. The writers wouldn’t be sure that a particular concept would ‘hit’, so at this stage they would offer an array of options and sit the artist down and walk them through the concepts. The artists would then provide a bunch of sketches and it would go back and forth, with both taking part in the character creation process together. For the first two games, the writers were “really hogging” this process to themselves. They got better at not doing this and better at communicating with the artists by DAI.

There were a lot of arguments about how mages in DAO had a lot of specific lore words like “Harrowing”, “phylactery”, “Rite of Tranquility” etc. There was concern that this would be too confusing for players to understand and that it was too complicated. DG says that thankfully he put his foot down and pushed for this stuff to be kept. A lot of fans assume that as lead writer DG had all this influence, way more influence than he could possibly exert on a team. He wasn’t even a lead, he was a sub-lead, under a lead designer. He only had so much say. If the lead designer or lead artist wanted to do something differently, often there was not much he could do. Hence he had to pick his battles carefully, choose the important ones to fight. The mage vocabulary thing was one of these.

Templar Greagoir’s name is pronounced “Gregor” and it comes from a place in Alberta near where DG lived.

Codex entries are usually one of the last things that get done in a project like this, and so all of that kind of textual lore comes in super late and is super punchy as by then the writers have written so much and are exhausted. They had to find a way to make this process cute or interesting or fun for themselves, which is why a lot of entries are quite fun to read. Sometimes a writer would make a joke for banter [irl], and it would end up making it into an entry.

Only Morrigan and Duncan got unique body models in DAO. The companions all have custom-morphed heads but not custom-morphed bodies (Morrigan not included here). This is why every model has a necklace or a collar right at the point where they had to be attached to be a body. These sometimes used assets that couldn’t be used by the PC but were not unique to that character. Duncan probably got a unique model because he was in a lot of marketing/promotional material. Qunari were originally conceived as having horns.

Most people didn’t even finish DAO once (public telemetry again here), only approximately 20-25% actually did. The devs try not to read too much into this kind of thing, but the telemetry does tell them where a lot of people stop playing the game permanently (they call these “drop-off points”). One of these points in DAO is the Fade during Broken Circle. Sometimes when people interpret this data they involve self-serving biases, but it was generally accepted that the Fade there was too long, too complex, not interesting enough, etc. [source]

[Part 2]

[Part 3]

[Part 4]

[Part 5]

[Part 6]

[‘Insights into DA dev from the Gamers For Groceries stream’ transcript]

#dragon age #bioware #morrigan #solas #video games #queen of my heart #mass effect #lgbtq #jade empire #fenris #the Fenaissance #alistair theirin #lul #fav warden

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alwaysahiccupandastrid · 4 years ago

Text

How Bad is Sia’s “Music” really?

I watched it illegally (because there was no way I was paying for that bullshit) and found out. It’s not as bad as we thought... It’s worse.

TW for ableism, Sia, drugs, alcohol, just in general a terrible movie, meltdowns, blackface

Literally the first thing you hear while they’re showing the production companies is THOSE stereotypical noises. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll know what I mean.

And yes, she does this for the WHOLE fucking movie

What was the need to show her in her underwear? Maddie Ziegler was 14 when this was made, so what was the need??? And why did Sia prolong the scene by having her hitting herself?

Less than a minute in and my reaction was already “what the fuck is this shit?”

So the opening number not only had stereotypical exaggerated facial expression, it has Maddie in BLACKFACE?!? And with culturally appropriated hair?!?

The exaggerated facial expressions are literally constant and I took photos during the film to show it, more later, but I’ll keep mentioning it

ITS LITERALLY THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME SHE IS ON SCREEN

Even her way of walking is fucking offensive, Jesus Christ

The vocalisations just had me cringing so hard, I cannot describe how awful it made me feel

Why do all the neighbours need to be paid off and help her when she goes for a walk? I don’t-

Yes, by about the five minute mark I was already seriously debating all my life decisions. It was that bad.

Kate Hudson really didn’t give a fuck that her grandma died

I will keep saying it but WHY are the facial expressions/vocalisations CONSTANT?!! Literally they do not stop at all. I work with a child who is actually similar to this in that he’s nonverbal and he makes similar noises/faces, but the way they’re in this movie is so over-exaggerated?!? And even the kid I work with doesn’t do it 24/7?!?

Sia, calling your characters Zu and Music doesn’t make them interesting in the slightest. They’re still painfully terrible and one dimensional

Literally ONE minute after being left alone with her autistic sister, Zu calls the mental health service asking if they could “theoretically” “pick up” her sister?!? Like she wants to get rid of her already?!?

“A magical little girl” - autism isn’t a magical power?!? And Music is a young woman, not a little girl?!? Why are you infantilising her?!?

Okay I’m not being funny but this choreography is NOT hard. ANYONE can do it, so claiming that you needed to hire a dancer to be Music because of the numbers is literally bullshit (and even so, there are so many amazing autistic actors and dancers?!?)

20 minutes in and I wanted to give up

So she had her first meltdown because her hair didn’t get braided immediately and that’s... certainly interesting??

The fact that Leslie Odom’s character says “I’m going to crush you now”?!?

AND THEN HE FUCKING PICKS HER UP AND FULL-BODILY PINS HER DOWN ONTO THE FLOOR

“I’m crushing her with my love” - oh fuck you, just fuck you

So Sia lied, the restraint scenes were NOT removed and there was no warning. She’s a fucking POS liar

I have no idea why he’s called Ebo or why he has such a cliche African accent?!? I might have missed out on why because I was busy trying not to bang my head into the table while I watched this film but just... yikes

“He (his brother) liked to be held” - YEAH, HELD. NOT FUCKING CRUSHED

“He is dead now” - IM NOT FUCKING SURPRISED IF YOU CRUSHED HIM LIKE THAT

The constant babying and patronizing of the autistic character is so exhausting to watch. I’m so tired

“Planning on sending her to the people pound but I guess I’ll keep her a little longer” - SHE WAS JOKING BUT THAT WAS NOT EVEN REMOTELY A FUNNY JOKE. NOT EVEN IN AN AWKWARD WAY

STOP THE FACES IM-

^ YEAH, Sia, totally a fucking love letter to the autistic community here ^

So Zu finds this necklace she made as a kid that had a little dog on it, and she says to Music, “He had seizures too, just like you”... MELTDOWNS AND SEIZURES ARE NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE SAME FUCK THIS MOVIE-

It’s like Sia is trying to make the movie funny but it’s really not at all

Is Zu implying that Music is autistic because the mum was a junkie?!?

For real though, the dialogue in general is so fucking awful and cringey. Whoever wrote this should never be allowed to write again

Did she seriously leave her autistic sister alone to talk to who I’m presuming was her dealer or loan shark?!?

Also why is he - a white dude - wearing cornrows?!?

So who is the film really about? The autistic girl or the older sister saviour? I think we all know the answer to that one

WHY IS SHE WALKING AROUND WITH HER TEETH JUTTING OUT LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME

The musical numbers are literally so painful to watch. The overly bright colours, the flashing... my eyes were hurting and so was my brain

Autism representation aside for a second, the musical numbers/choreography are all fucking atrocious. Ditto for the costumes

LIKE WHAT THE FUCK WERE THE PINK OOMPA LOOMPA FRUIT THINGS?!? THEY LOOK LIKE THE PINK VERSIONS OF VIOLET BEAUREGARDE THE BLUEBERRY

I wanted to cry by this point, this movie is far more awful than I thought

“I’m not saying she doesn’t want to change, I’m saying she can’t” - FUCK YOU. Why is it okay for him to assume what she can or can’t do

Can I just say that autistic people aren’t constantly in a coked up wonderland state?!! We don’t see the world as a wonderland fantasy world 24/7?!!

“She can hear you from two rooms away” / *shows her listening through two brick walls to a conversation* — Also, we don’t have super fucking sonic hearing?? WE CANT HEAR THROUGH FUCKING BRICK WALLS?!?

“She can understand everything you’re saying to her” - she’s autistic not fucking deaf

Less than 45 minutes in, there’s another meltdown in the park

“I’m not climbing on top of a small screaming white girl in public” - yeah please fucking don’t

So Zu fucking pins her down with her weight 🤦‍♀️

“She doesn’t know who she’s hitting” - IM SORRY WHAT

EBO LITERALLY SAID “TREAT HER LIKE A BEAR” when talking her through the prone restraint, I fucking CANNOT

“Tell her she’s safe” - NOT IF YOU FUCKING RESTRAIN HER LIKE THAT SHE IS NOT

The fact that she gets up, smiling and happy after a meltdown and immediately is excited to get a snow cone... I can honestly say that after a meltdown, I am in no way happy or smiling. I am often not very verbal and I’m withdrawn/not myself for at least several hours, usually the rest of the day. Fuck this film

This film is literally just about Zu, and Music is there for a plot device to give her character development. That’s all she’s there for.

Love how Sia shoehorned Zu being suicidal in there. You know, just to try and make her more easy to sympathize with (it doesn’t work)

This film is literally just a 1 hour 47 minute Sia music video with ZERO plot

WHY WERE THEY WEARING PILLOW DIAPERS IN ONE NUMBER-

I really did not feel into the side plot with that guy who was fighting but it was still better than the actual movie so...

I am SO DONE with the NON STOP CONSTANT vocal shit. So tired.

LOJ’s only role in this film is to be the stereotypical wise black guy who assists a white woman’s story. There’s like hardly any other depth there

The Ebo/Zu romance is so fucking stupid and pointless and out of NOWHERE. I couldn’t even tell if they were into each other or not

I was already so bored of the musical numbers by this point. They added NOTHING to the plot but they pretended they did, and I was so over it. And it’s not because I’m not “creative enough” or anything to understand, I love musicals and I think it could have been cool if done right... but it wasn’t. They were a mess. It’s just bad.

Sia really tried to pretend her movie was deep but really it’s a shallow mess

So Zu is meeting rich drug clients and says to Music “try not to have one of your freak outs up there” and “if you could try to get it out now”... FUCKING YIKES. It’s not an on/off button, shut the fuck up

YEP THIS WAS THE SIA CAMEO FUCK THAT BITCH

The fact that she just calls “DRUG DEALER?!? DRUG DEALER IS THAT YOU”, fucking end this please-

I fucking hate this bitch I’m dead serious

“We’re gonna send them to Haiti cause there’s been an earthquake. All these buildings fell down, children’s bones were dislocated” - WHY WAS SHE SO CHEERFUL ABOUT IT

“Gonna buy a shit load of pain meds, gonna but them on my private plane” - FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU

“Pop stars without borders” - Sia thinks she’s so clever but I would give anything to punch her I swear-

ANOTHER MUSICAL NUMBER JUST STOP IM BEGGING YOU

There’s this awkward conversation/bit with Zu and her drug dealer/loanshark about his outfit that was clearly meant to be funny but was just flat and painful

Yep, Sia really showed Music eating chewing gum off the underside of a park bench. Of course.

Look, the kid I work with does similar stuff by putting literally anything and everything in his mouth but like... why would you put that in your movie?

And there’s no indication before this that Music puts everything and anything in her mouth, she just randomly decides to get on her knees, under the bench and eat chewing gum, like she calculates that it’s there and gets it???

She has a THIRD meltdown after an allergic reaction to a bee sting and her sister just yells at her before realizing... I’m not here for this movie, I feel like I drifted off and was not really there

So Zu got angry because she left the drugs at the park but she’s not that upset that her sister had an allergic reaction???

Zu gets absolutely drunk because a) she lost Sia’s drugs and b) she’s stressed out by her autistic sister... wow, great message, Sia!

She really fucked off and left her sister alone to go clubbing/on a bender

The less said about the musical number here the better

Sia’s movie also checks the box of having stereotypical Asian parents, specifically stereotypical Asian dad being harsh/angry and hitting his wife!

ALSO HE PUSHED AND KILLED HIS SON WTF IS HAPPENING

Less than 3 minutes after the last, there’s a musical number that I think was about this side character going to heaven... another shitty Sia-esque number

The patterns during the number made my brain hurt.

Also there are so many autistic actors who can also dance, and yet Sia chose the neurotypical one because ✨ N E P O T I S M ✨

I just want to know how it was deemed necessary to show the fact the autistic character peed/wet herself? I mean... ??? It’s just so undignified and not at all necessary to the plot. Nothing happens after that, it just moves onto the next scene and it didn’t do anything

“I have no one” - 1) YOUR FUCKING SISTER. 2) GEE I FUCKING WONDER WHY, couldn’t be that you’re a shitty human being?!?

There’s a scene where Music is walking and she does ALL the stereotypical behaviours at once... just YIKES

Zu somehow stopped another meltdown just by grabbing Music by the shoulders and sitting her down???

Aaand yep. Another shitty musical number

Zu really goes to put her sister in a fucking facility and claims it’ll be “better for her” - BULLSHIT. Better for Zu, maybe, not Music.

Ah yes - the girl who the characters have said has problems with routines being changed/change in general... you’re now going to fuck up her routine by dumping her in a facility. Perfect Plan.

The nonverbal autistic girl suddenly speaking to say “don’t go” - you can just predict it from the off, can’t you?

Love that as soon as Music starts talking, Zu is like “fuck it, I’ll keep her!”

Zu really went and crashed Ebo’s brothers wedding... in a fucking bralette... YIKES

“I almost gave Music away” - SHE IS NOT A DOG YOU DONT GIVE PEOPLE AWAY

“We should sing a song” - PLEASE DO FUCKING NOT

Also that kiss/romance montage between Zu and Ebo was the CRINGIEST fucking shit ever

This movie seems to be implying that Music has locked in syndrome or something, like she’s locked in her own head or whatever it’s called, and I just... *sigh*

Oh and now Music magically fucking sings in a room FULL of strangers... this is literally embarrassing, please let this end

I mean it, this movie was fucking painful to watch on ever level

She got a service dog puppy which... okay?

Oh look, it’s the only decent song on the soundtrack but with an absolutely shitty over-stimulatory music video with the credits!

I can only name 5 characters in this film. Maybe 7 at a push, but even then I would be guessing

AND YEP SHE THANKED AUTISM SPEAKS OVER THE CREDITS. FUCK YOU SIA 🖕🏻

Let me reiterate: this is a movie about a neurotypical former drug addict whose character development comes from the autistic character, from having an autistic sister she has to take care of. I’m so tired.

We are NOT plot devices or tools for character development. Not once does anyone in this film treat Music like a human being - she’s treated as a burden, a problem, and then like a pet that they decide to keep. Not once is the film focused on how she is feeling - it’s always about Zu or Ebo. The performance itself was so over exaggerated and it made me want to cry when I watched it because this is how the world sees us, and this movie will make it ten times worse. It’s stuff like this that made me think “I don’t want to be labelled as autistic because people will think I’m a certain way”, that made me wait so long before going to the GP to get a referral.

As I said, poor autistic representation aside, the movie is just so appallingly bad. It truly is one of the worst films I’ve watched. If you’re going to watch it, please don’t - or, if you want to because you want to see how bad it is/to raise awareness/critical posts, at least do it illegally. Do not give Sia your money.

#sia #music #music 2021 #music movie #autism #tw ableism #tw meltdown #tw blackface #anti sia #lol sia

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