#its also the most grown up one with the darkest themes and most violence

[crowcrash]

would you believe me if i said i’ve read legends: darkstalker at least a dozen times

[zhoras-bitch]

Shadows Creeping

Book: Blades of Light and Shadow, Book 2

Pairing: Aerin Valleros x elf!f!MC (Reina 'Ray' Nightbloom)

Genre: Angst

Rating: Mature

Warnings: violence, mentions of blood, torture, involuntary drug use, vague sexual themes, crippling guilt, general sense of hopelessness, Valax is exaggeratedly evil

Word count: 3.2K

Summary: After a botched raid on the Ash Empire outpost, Aerin finds himself locked in a tight chase with Princess Valax. The labyrinthine dungeons beneath the Shadow Court Fortress stir up some of his darkest memories. Will he be able to escape Valax, or the ghosts of his past?

A/N: Post book 2 chapter 8. The story is mostly inspired by @secret-fungi with a little bit of @spacetravels. Valax is very OOC in that I made her so evil (for the plot!) I actually feel kind of bad about it. Also, shamelessly using this as an opportunity to practice writing action sequences. Enjoy (you won't).

Taking a sharp left, Aerin dives into the secret alcove behind an inconspicuous shabby tapestry and slowly slides down the cold stone wall, greedily gasping for air. Thank the gods he has memorized the layout of the dungeons beneath the Shadow Court Fortress so well, even if the Ash Empire has… redecorated the place since they took over. Admittedly, he hasn't had the chance to properly look around—and he really, really hopes to keep it that way. Still, this little chase, unfortunately, left him enough time to notice the fresh blood spatters in some of the empty cells and hear the blood-chilling screams of unfortunate souls trapped deeper in the labyrinth of these wretched hallways. 

'Lovely,' Aerin mutters to himself, allowing his eyes to close for just a second. 'Very lived-in.'

His solace is hopelessly fleeting, shattered by the distinct clicking of heels against cold stone. Distant for now, the footsteps echo ominously in the dim candlelit hallway—the only path that could lead Aerin to freedom. And each one of them is louder than the last.

'The famous Prince Aerin,' Valax's voice seems to resonate through every nook and cranny of the dungeons, a low purr of a big cat about to jump its prey. 'Please forgive us for the cold welcome, your highness. We didn't realize we would be receiving such an esteemed guest.'

So they have identified him already. That's unfortunate, though not entirely unexpected. One of the guards must've recognized him during the earlier scuffle. Aerin bites his tongue, fighting the urge to curse, knowing that any sound would instantly reveal his hiding place. It was supposed to be a straightforward mission — get in, grab the supplies, get out. Two hours, maybe three, tops. Or it would be, hadn't he run directly into a squad of the most elite Ash Empire soldiers, led by Princess Valax herself. Why was she here, anyway? Last he checked, she was supposed to be chasing Ray and her merry band of intrepid adventurers all over the forests of Morella.

And yet, here she was.

'I've heard so much about you, you know. It's almost as if we're acquainted in absentia.'

Of course she has. Aerin knows what they say about him in the Ash Empire. Dreadlord's errand boy. His resident Lightrealmer lap dog. His little—

Aerin bites the inside of his cheek, hard. Distracting him is precisely what Valax wants. The self-pity can wait until after he's free. Now, he needs to think.

His bag of supplies has grown much lighter after he parted ways with Ray and others. The Shadow Realm's charred wastelands can be challenging to find herbs in. Especially the healing ones — the migraine has been killing him. And the skirmish with the soldiers earlier has depleted his already very unimpressive reserves even further. But surely, he can come up with something?

His fingers fumble through his bag, searching for something—anything—until finally closing around a half-empty pouch of dry resin, and Aerin clutches it so tightly that his knuckles grow white. Yes, it isn't much, but it will suffice—and at that moment, that's all he's asking for.

The approaching footsteps grow uncomfortably closer, each one counting down the seconds before his demise. Aerin's heartbeat matches their eerie rhythm, but he's ready. With swift precision, he sends a tiny pouch of flaming resin skidding across the floor toward Valax's feet and the next moment, it erupts in a thick cloud of bitter black smoke. Aerin launches. He can feel the rush of air as Valax's hand nearly grazes his hood, but the surprise is on his side. Twisting like an eel, he slips away from her outstretched grasp and bolts.

He knows better than to believe that his little diversion will stall Valax for long, his instinct keen as ever. Behind him, a fierce gust of wind, strong enough to bend trees, sweeps the smoke away in one fell swoop. A second more, and it might have toppled Aerin too, but he lunges into the nearest open chamber just in time. Behind him, the heavy metal door slams shut with a deafening boom. 

The room he finds himself in is peculiar. A large, dimly lit chamber welcomes him with the quiet hum of strange machines, the ticking and clicking of odd knick-knacks and the soft glow of iridescent vials. Metals cages bare their bars ominously in the dark corners of the room. His gaze takes it all with greedy interest. At a better time, Aerin could spend hours here, figuring out the purpose of each strange device and weird contraption. Now, though, he scarcely has a moment to take cover behind one of the towering metallic cabinets and calm his breath. Just in the nick of time before the door opens again.

Valax pierces the room with her dark, heavy gaze, no doubt noticing every minute detail before stepping inside. Her steps are slow and deliberate as she circles the room, a shark sensing the smell of blood, and each time her heel connects with the floor, it's a sledgehammer blow to Aerin's temples.

'Your friend Reina told me so much about you, you know,' Valax purrs.

Every one of her words is a stone in an avalanche. But it's not even the words themselves; it is the sheer wrongness of hearing that name uttered by this voice that truly shakes Aerin to his very core. He knows Ray is not particularly fond of her full name, not really. She told him she'd always found it too old-fashioned. It made her sound like some stuck-up Whitetower noble, she said.

Unless it was him who called her that.

'Ah, we've had so many wonderful times together. In this very room, actually,' Valax continues. From his vantage point, Aerin can clearly see Valax's hand as it tenderly caresses the large stone table in the centre of the room. As his eyes follow her movement, it dawns on him that the table has leather straps at each corner. 'Yes, she became quite talkative at times. Especially after I treated her to a bit of belladonna and dreamroot tonic.'

A chilling shiver slithers down Aerin's spine. He's familiar with the effects of belladonna tonic. Thank Vostrasz, that sadistic bastard. He loved dosing his victims with this vile concoction and watching them as they screamed, unable to escape the visions of their worst nightmares. Aerin has witnessed its effects once, the memory carved into his mind. A young man, skin glistening with cold sweat, empty eyes with freakishly wide pupils staring at something only he could see, dry lips whispering a desperate plea as tears streamed down his face. 

As if compelled by some wicked force, his gaze is drawn back to the stone table. For a haunting second, he can see Ray's lifeless body sprawled upon it. Bile surges in his throat. He shuts his eyes and clenches his fists.

'She screamed so loudly. Screamed until she had no voice left to scream with. Would you like to know what she screamed, your highness?'

He needs to get out of here.

As Valax turns her back to him, Aerin seizes the opportunity and hurls a small pebble to the far corner of the room, where it lands in a tiny clink. Valax's head snaps towards the sound, and Aerin jumps, throwing his whole body onto the massive cabinet serving as his cover. The cabinet creeks, staggers, and topples right towards Valax's head. Vials and boxes spill across the chamber in a cacophony of clatter and crashing. Amid the ensuing chaos, Aerin rushes towards the exit, swiping a bunch of supplies laid out on one of the side tables into his bag.

Unfortunately, he doesn't make it all the way. Valax, with her inhuman strength, halts the toppling cabinet mid-air with a single hand. Crouched behind an overturned table, Aerin can see the dark veins pulsing on Valax's forearm as she holds the cabinet still for a moment, metal crumpling like paper tissue under her fingers, then shoves it back into the wall. One of the glass vials must have shattered against her forehead because he can see a strange iridescent liquid mingling with dark blood as it slowly trickles down her brow, but otherwise, Valax doesn't look hurt at all. Just pissed.

Holding his breath so as not to make a single sound, Aerin frantically sorts through the ingredients he managed to snatch. There is some dry hemlock and foxglove. A vial of dragonfly wings. A pouch of saltpetre and sugar. Oh, if only there was sulphur… Please, let there be sulphur…

In his frantic state, Valax's voice is cold and still like a blade. 'Don't do it, Aerin. That's what she said... She seemed so scared, too. Terrified. I wonder what you did to scare her so badly, your highness?'

Aerin grits his teeth, forcing his hands to keep working through the tiny vials, but his mind is, unfortunately, much harder to control. He knows nothing of Ray's nightmares—there is no way he could know—but he's got plenty of his own. And as Valax's words keep ringing in his ears, one in particular raises its ugly head. 

Smears of blood blooming on the throne room floor. A portal buzzing with dark magic. Tang of metal and ozone in the air. Nia—the priestess's limp body in his arms. He tries not to look at her face—it's easier this way. Instead, he only looks into the portal, Shadow Realm's lifeless landscape spread out before his eyes. He's so close. One tiny step away. But just before he's about to take it, he glances back.

Briefly, his mind registers Mal's face, twisted with rage. The terror in Tyril's eyes. Imtura's teeth bared in a scorching scowl. But in the end, it's her face that is burned into the back of his eyelids.

Her cheeks, oddly wet. Her body, trembling ever so slightly. She looks so tiny at that moment. So lost, like a puppet with her strings cut. And so utterly, heartbreakingly sad. She doesn't make a sound, but her lips curve around the words, and Aerin swears he can hear her voice as she pleads, 'Don't do it.'

'Maybe you should try being afraid of me as well!' Aerin erupts, letting go of the pent-up anger as he hurls the burning concoction he mixed up at Valax, then dives through the doorway. Behind him, the makeshift bomb explodes with a deafening roar of fire, its fiery breath shuffling the hair on Aerin's nape. The skin on his hands and knees burns, scraped from the clumsy fall. But the pain is so worth it. So worth the feeling of dark satisfaction blazing through his veins. Having this place where Ray suffered countless days and nights reduced to ashes… It's invigorating. 

Celebration will have to wait, though. Aerin knows that destroying Valax herself won't be as simple as her laboratory. The echoes of the explosion still ringing in his ears, he scrambles to his feet and takes off in the direction of the dungeon's exit.

He doesn't get far before the sinister sound of Valax's approaching footsteps reaches him again.

'So, the Dreadlord's little lapdog has some bite, too. Still, that won't be enough,' Valax… giggles? It's a disturbing, chilling sound that makes the hairs on Aerin's arms stand on end. 'Unfortunately for you, you don't have quite the same… effect on me as you do on the Realmwalker.'

In this dark, horrifying dungeon, her voice rings with eerie delight, as if she's remembering a very funny joke, and Aerin is not in on it.

Aerin has no time to dwell on it, though. Reaching a crossroads, he takes a sharp right and, hiding behind the corner, steals a glance over his shoulder. As expected, Valax is closing in, tendrils of smoke and shadow swirling around her body as though she carries a piece of the very fire he started on her.

'You see, the Realmwalker and I have spent so much time together. Months… Why, I would almost consider us to be close friends! And she has told me many, many things over those months… About you, too! Aren't you curious, little princeling?'

Why are you listening to her, his mind screams out. She doesn't know where he is. She's just baiting him. Trying to get a reaction, provoke him into revealing himself. There is no reason to believe a single venomous word that escapes her lips.

'I'm sorry, Aerin. That is one of my favourites. Do you like it, princeling?'

Lies, lies, lies, every single word of hers. After all, whatever would she ask his forgiveness for when everything… Everything is his fault. And yet, as Valax's words echo in his ears, Aerin swears he can hear her voice—

Ray has always been so strong. He's seen her in battle, the hero of Morella, as deadly as she is beautiful. But her heart… He knew her tender, bleeding heart. Always too kind to people who didn't deserve it. To people like him.

Of all things, his mind goes back to the night of the fair in Riverbend—their night. He remembers her skin, dressed in nothing but candlelight, her body melting under his touch like wax as he kissed her thighs. The mighty hero, in his arms, exposed down to her very soul. It struck him then, the power he held. At that moment, he could break her. It wouldn't even be hard.

The thought terrified him. He had power, once. And look where it got him. Power… It brings out the darkness within people. Most live and die without ever truly experiencing it, but Aerin has seen his shadow already. He looked it in the eye. And that is how he knew he could never allow himself to touch her again.

He clenches his teeth and tries to melt into the shadows, away from Valax's piercing gaze.

'Come back, she said. Oh, why wouldn't you come back to her, princeling?'

Aerin knows he shouldn't listen. But every word that falls from Valax's lips is a drop of acid eating away at his very soul. Perhaps that's why he doesn't notice the shadowy tendril winding around his ankle.

Pale rays of early dawn filter into the tent as Aerin hastily packs the last of his admittedly unimpressive belongings.

Ray still lies amidst the crumpled sheets, her hair tousled on the pillow. She's asleep, yet her brows are still knitted together in a painful frown.

That night, he didn't sleep at all, the chatter of his own thoughts too loud to let him rest. For a while, he just laid there, silently studying her face. She whimpers in her sleep. What awful things does she see when she closes her eyes? He didn't know; he just stroked her hair tenderly until she seemed to calm down. Her frown never went away, though. Why is it that every time she is with him, she looks like she's in pain? The thought made him feel ill.

Finally, he secures his bag and steps toward the exit, his goodbye letter resting on the nightstand. Before him stretches the forest that skirts the edges of Riverbend, tranquil and beautiful in its robe made of golden dew. But just as he's about to step into the dawn, he glances back. He just can't help himself.

As though sensing his gaze, she stirs in her slumber and raises her head. Aerin freezes. Her lavender eyes twinkle for just a second, half-obscured beneath the heavy fawn lashes. From her perplexed expression, it is clear she's not yet fully awake.

'Aerin?' she exhales.

'Yes,' Aerin replies, the word sticking in his throat. 'It's me.'

He's utterly still, fearing that any sudden movement or noise will awaken her further, revealing him standing there. Fully clothed. With his belongings in tow.

'Come back,' she asks, her feather-soft voice piercing right through his heart.

'I'm just getting some water. Go back to sleep.'

It's so hard to keep his voice straight, but he manages. He's lied for so long it's become second nature. Finally, Ray lets out a compliant hum, seemingly convinced by his words, and falls back onto the pillow. Aerin lingers for a few more moments, then finally walks away. Her voice still echoes in his ears, but his mind is made up. This is for the best. If he stays away, he won't be able to hurt her again.

That's the lie he keeps telling himself.

The shadow yanks him closer to its master. Aerin almost loses his balance but rolls away at the very last second. In one fluid motion, he draws a short blade from the sheath on his shin and slices through the tendril, freeing himself.

But it's too late. Valax stands in front of him, and behind his back, the corridor stretches into a dead end.

In one last desperately hopeless attempt, he tightens his grip on the hilt and lunges at Valax.

'Help me,' Valax whispers, the plea laced with cruel amusement.

His stomach drops, and his head spins, but he almost manages to keep his composure. Almost.

Valax leans into his attack, sidestepping at the very last moment, and strikes his wrist with an open palm, sending his dagger clattering across the dungeon floor. Her other hand grabs his throat and slams him into the wall like he weighs nothing at all. The back of his head connects with stone in a hollow thud. It's over.

Valax's clawed fingers tighten around his neck as she studies his face with a ruthless smile.

'You'll serve as bait quite nicely,' she declares.

'You're wasting your time,' Aerin chokes out. 'She won't come for me.'

But his lie rings hollow. He might have believed it once, but not anymore. Not for a while. As if reading his mind, Valax smirks.

'Oh, but I think she will.'

Ray will come for him. Once upon a time, this thought would've filled his stomach with butterflies, but at this moment, it sounds like hollow dread. She will come here, into the Shadow Court Fortress, right into Valax's eager clutches. Because of him.

How foolish he was to think that her anguish would end if he just stepped away. Even now, even here, he's still putting her in danger. Still hurting her. He really is good for absolutely nothing, isn't he?

Darkness begins to engulf his vision, but just before it consumes him entirely, Valax abruptly releases her grip. Aerin collapses to the ground, his body limp, coughing violently.

'But until she does, we have much to discuss,' Valax says, grabbing a fistful of his hair and pulling until Aerin meets her gaze. Her eyes are dark and cruel as she studies his face. Then she grins. 'I wonder if you'll scream her name too, little princeling.'

She doesn't need to guess. She knows he will.

[aspoonofsugar]

I have seen that Eren's actions are similar to those of Homura in Rebellion as both are willing to do anything to protect their loved ones regardless of whether those loved ones want it or not even if they have to lock them in cages or destroy the world to create a new one where they are happy and this has made me think that they love their friends but as their stories move forward said love becomes a twisted love so I wondered if you could make a parallelism between Eren and Homura.

Hello anon!

I have discussed some parallelism and similarities between Madoka and Snk here.

When it comes to Homura and Eren specifically, I have written this:

When it comes to Homura, her later conflict with Madoka which is set up in Rebellion might be similar to the possible one between Eren and Armin which the story seems to be building up in the current arc:

H: “Kaname Madoka, do you treasure this world? Do you consider stability and order more important than desire?”

M: “Well, I…Um…I do treasure it. I guess I do think it’s kind of bad to break the rules because you feel like it”.

H: “I see…Then I suppose one day you will be my enemy as well”.

Homura treasures personal feelings and individual desires over the world, whereas Madoka thinks the other way.

This could be the very root of a conflict between Eren and Armin if it turned out Eren gives more importance to the interests of Paradis and to the well-being of his friends, while Armin treasures the world the most. All in all, it is too soon to say, but we’ll see soon.

Let’s also underline that Eren hiding things from his friends, putting them in a cage to possibly keep them safe and so on are actions which are very similar to what Homura does at the end of Rebellion.

Other than this I find interesting that both Homura and Eren have powers linked to time. As a matter of fact Homura is able to go back in time and to stop it, while Eren is able to see the future.

These abilities have a huge effect on both Homura and Eren’s development. As a matter of fact Grisha’s memories of the outside world and of what will happen in the future poison Eren’s perspective and Homura acquires information about the magical girl system and about the darkest parts of the other girls. Both characters grow highly cynical because of this and become unable to properly convey how they feel and what they know to other characters. As a result they appear cold and difficult to read.

At one point, Homura states that ironically her wish to protect Madoka has made so that the two of them have grown more and more apart in each timeline Homura has visited. Similarly, Eren has been pushing others away after the time-skip to the point that his closest friends do not know what to think about his behaviour.

What is more, both Eren and Homura’s abilities are meant to have symbolic meanings.

I have talked about Homura’s power here:

Homura’s wish is born by the unwillingness to accept Madoka’s death, so by her being unable to move on and this is symbolically shown by her repeating the same month several times.

So, Homura’s wish negates what the series wants to convey since 1) it is born by Homura’s refusal to accept something negative which happened to her (Madoka’s death) and 2) it literally makes so that the time won’t keep flowing and so that Homura and all the other characters won’t go on and won’t grow up.

In short, Homura going back in time is symbolic of her inability to accept the future and Madoka’s loss. She prevents everyone else and herself from growing up.

When it comes to Eren, it is difficult to properly come up with what his power symbolizes since many different hypothesis can be made and up until the end of the story many of them are valid. I have discussed some here.

As for now, I think that there can be two meanings when it comes to Eren’s power.

1) It represents the ability of looking forward which has been so many times associated with the SC and with freedom. (freedom theme)

2) It represents Eren being the future and his attempt to fight the old system and to change the past. (father-children relationship)

At the same time, even if these two meanings seem positive, I think that they can very easily be transformed in something negative.

On one hand Eren is using his knowledge of the future to impose his vision on others (which goes against freedom). On the other hand he is contributing to the cycle of violence instead of stopping it and he is killing children (which goes against the theme of protecting future generations).

What is more, it is not even clear if Eren is actually acting freely or if him knowing what will happen in the future has somehow clouded his judgement.

In short, Eren’s powers seem representative of both freedom and its opposite and I think that this is good for a character who is so paradoxical and ambiguous to the point that it is not clear what he is currently thinking.

When it comes to this parallelism, I will briefly consider the possibility that Eren’s future memories have influenced him and that he has simply accepted them and has given up on finding any other solution. If that were the case, then his behaviour would be the opposite of Homura. As a matter of fact Homura’s flaw would be not to accept something she can’t avoid, while Eren’s flaw would be to simply accept the future he has seen in his father’s memories.

There are probably other similarities, but since snk has still to finish and so we still have to see what will happen to Eren, this is the most I can come up with.

Thank you for the ask!

[awed-frog]

(unintentionally) Horrifying Italian Songs - the Top 5

I know we’re all going through massive amounts of trauma what with politics being a complete blood&gore extravaganza and fiction turning darker and darker with superheroes killing each other and turning Nazi left, right and centre, so I thought I’d add to your misery by sharing the very worst Italy has to offer: a handful of songs we’ve all grown up with before (hopefully) realizing how weird and plain sexist they were.

[ Long post, but videos are externally linked. Warning: mentions of rape, abuse, domestic violence. Be safe]

Now, there are many reasons to love Italy, and the quality of its music is definitely one of them. If you’re a language learner and you’re looking for songs that marked three generations and everybody mostly knows by heart, just Google people like Fabrizio de André, Francesco de Gregori, Lucio Dalla, Claudio Baglioni...there are so many excellent songwriters out there, you really can’t go wrong. On the other hand, it’s undeniable that Italian culture is still dripping sexism, and if things are getting better, they’re doing so very, very slowly. Only last week, feminist activist and writer Michela Murgia chose to celebrate International Women’s Day by discussing how the most important Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport (yep, that’s a thing that’s only about sports, and it’s the most successful paper in the country - deal with it) chose to present the case of five Cuban athletes arrested in Finland after they gang raped a Finnish woman. Basically, the article lamented the loss to Cuban sport, and bemoaned the fact that ‘a night of fun’ can have such grievous consequences (link to Italian video here). Anyway, I don’t know how much music has to do with any of that, but as I said, I wanted to ruin your afternoon, so here we go.

1. Lucio Battisti, La canzone del sole

Now, this is a childhood favourite for virtually everyone who grew up in Italy over the past forty years. It came out in 1971, and, like 90% of Battisti’s songs, became a huge success and a crucial part of the national identity. And the thing is, I enjoy singing this song, a lot. I’ll surely teach it to my kids. But if you look at the lyrics a bit more closely, it turns out it’s not all that sunny? Which isn’t a surprise - most of Battisti’s songs are (unintentionnaly) horrifying, from the one where he tries to trade his motorcycle for sex, to that other one where he tells his girlfriend she’s simply not as good as his ex, all the way to the one where he cheats on his girlfriend because he’s sort of forgotten about her but hey, it was just a night of fun, so whatever. To be fair, though, most of the awfulness comes from the lyrics writer, Mogol, who was very good at his job and also sort of a dick and wrote unforgettable lines such as In front of you there’s me, or another man: beg for forgiveness, so, I don’t even know. Frankly, what disturbs me about La canzone del sole is the transparent attempt to control women’s sexuality. 

The song is that it’s about a girl turning down her childhood crush because she wasn’t ready and then losing her virginity to someone else and basically having boyfriends and when she comes back, presumably after years, he’s horrified: Where have you gone, and what the heck have you done? You say you’re a woman now, but how many men have you slept with to become the person you are now? It doesn’t matter. I know you won’t tell me, unfortunately.  

In case you’re wondering, there is no happy ending. Instead, our hapless narrator soon realizes that his childhood sweetheart not only is a blushing virgin no longer (No, oh no, you’re scaring me), but someone who knows exactly what she wants. In the idyllic context of a sun-kissed meadow, she tries to touch him, uhm, somewhere, and Oh no, stop moving - where have you been, what the heck have you done?  You say you’re a woman now, but what does it mean? I don’t know who you are, I don’t recognize your self-assured smile, and unfortunately, now you scare me.

 A variation on the same theme is - 

2. Lunapop, Qualcosa di grande 

I think this is meant to be a romantic song? It’s certainly catchy, and a good dancing song. Unfortunately, the video is a stalker’s wet dream - a guy pursuing a girl through school halls and concerts as she tries to hide and literally crawls away from him - and the lyrics point to the same misfortune that befell Lucio Battisti’s jealous hero: a woman breaking up with her partner, and then having the sheer audacity of sleeping with someone else.

What happened? You’re different. You’re not the same thing - or are you the same person who grew up with me? What happened? You ran away, and my life disappeared with you - I really looked for it, but I have no life without you. There’s something powerful between us, and you can’t change that, not even if you want to.

Other highlights include: You fell too low, and now you’re trying to get back up and, in case the meaning wasn’t clear, Your light was snuffed out by someone who took you away from me.

(The music’s awesome, though.) 

3. Adriano Celentano, Una carezza in un pugno

Delivered in Celentano’s drool-inducing low baritone and prefaced as it is by the sleek LP’s cover -

- it’s not immediately clear this much beloved romantic song is actually about a husband threatening to beat his wife if she isn’t faithful to him while she’s away on an unspecified trip (not that it’s relevant, but considering the life of Italian women in the late 60s, she was probably taking care of a sick relative or something).

You know that at midnight I will think about you. Wherever you are, you’ll be mine, and I’ll bury my face in the pillow as I remember your face - it will appear, beautiful in the shadows, and it’ll be like plucking a star from the Heavens. You will be close to me as you shine in my hand. 

(So far, so good.) 

But I’m scared - maybe at three minutes past the midnight bells, you’ll be thinking of another man. I’m lost now, and this hand which was shining with your memory -

(Wait a second - does that mean what I think it means? Ew.)

- is now closing into a fist. I’ve never felt this vicious, and if you truly care about me, think about me at least thirty minutes after the midnight bells, so my closed fist can become a gentle stroke. 

Believe it or not, I sang this song for years before I realized what the text was actually about. And when I tried discussing it with my friends, pointing out that, sure, great song and all, but maybe - I don’t know - it is also slightly creepy, there was a massive row. Apparently I’m a feminist who reads too much into things? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

4. Marco Masini, T’innamorerai

Let’s be honest: picking only one Masini song for this list has been excrutiangly difficult. I mean, the man literally waltzed into the biggest Italian music event with a song titled You Beautiful Cunt, so. I almost picked that one, but then I decided this one was a forgotten jewel, far more deserving of my helpless outrage.

Now, the great merit of this song is that it starts out okay and you’re almost fooled into believing this is a sweet coming-of-age thing. Honestly, considering this is Marco “I bought you a shiny pin and still, you dared to call the cops on me just because I punched you in the face, what an ungrateful bitch” Masini, this sounds almost friendly and aaaw. 

You will fall in love one day, maybe not with me, but you’ll just be standing there and it will happen, all on its own. And you won’t give a damn about your freedom and your friends once you’re in love, you’ll see. He’ll be as beautiful as a James Dean poster, and you’ll be sweetly afraid as you undo the buttons of your jeans. It’ll be as wide as the sea, as strong as a god: it’ll be your first real love.

See? Sort of poetic. And then -

And it won’t be with me. You’ll fall in love with some dick who’ll lie to you to break us up. He’ll protect you from the darkest night, from this life which doesn’t keep its promises. You’ll fall in love, and then you’ll be all alone in the world, because I won’t be there as you wash the dishes and cry and life tells you no. You’re six days late, you don’t know if you can tell him, and in that moment, you’ll think about me, even if you don’t want me now. In that moment, you’ll fall in love with me, but I won’t be there with you. You’ll fall in love when it’s too late, and the sky will cry, because one star will be gone forever. 

- BAM.

Are you sensing a theme yet?

5. Marco Ferradini, Teorema d’amore

If not, someone took pity on your oblivious self and wrote down the actual rules of love, so you know exactly how to pick up women and how relationships work. This understated prophet was a moderately well-known songwriter, fresh from a painful break-up and full of resentment towards, apparently, every single woman on the planet. Here - enjoy.

Be with a woman, tell her you love her; write love songs for her, send her roses and poems and heart smoothies.

(Yes, really.)

Make her feel important, give her your best, try to be a tender lover.

(Key word: ‘try’.)

Be always there for her, solve her problems - and I’m telling you, she’ll leave you. If you love someone too much, they won’t love you back and they’ll break up with you. The secret is to love her less than she loves you, that’s how to be the stronger one.

Okay, message received. So, how do you bag yourself a woman? 

Be with a woman, treat her like shit. Leave her waiting for hours, never call her first and if you do, sound like you’re doing her a favour because she’s not important to you. Find a balance between love and cruelty. Try to be a tender lover, but outside the bedroom, give her no mercy. And then you’ll see - she’ll love you alright. If you love someone less, they will love you more.

To be fair, there is a sort of afterthought where a second person butts in and is like, You’re just saying that because you’re hurt and Chill and all that, but, honestly - considering this the general rule of the thumb many of us are still inculcated from childhood - that boys are mean to you because they secretly like you, that women prefer jerks, that if you treat someone decently you’ll end up in the friendzone and so on and so forth, I’m always slightly repulsed by this song.

Plus, Ferradini recently said, “It’s good I wrote that song back in the 1980s. If I’d written it now, I’d be accused of promoting domestic violence, and all that. But I think it’s an important message, and I stand by it.”

(The only consolation is that his ex recognized herself in the song - or, rather, knew precisely he’d written it because she’d left him - and called him up out of the blue one day to tell him he was a real jerk. Yay for small mercies.)

No Means Yes Award: Raf, Ti pretendo

Tonight I’m demanding to be with you, you’re all I have. I know we’re circling around each other, it’s useless to say no. I’m not here to negotiate, you’re the only right I have. I’m demanding to be with you - in the name of love, if there is love between us - but tonight I’m going all the way, I need you too much. I don’t want you - I demand you, and it’s useless to say no. I want to hide inside you, just tell me when and where, tell me when he won’t be there.

Sleep tight, you guys. 

[nothingman]

The pro-Trump forum is Reddit’s hate-mongering shadow. But admins want to work with the community.

The community of “involuntarily celibate” men on Reddit’s r/incels subreddit has long been one of the internet’s darkest underbellies: teeming with violent misogyny, it’s a space where its members dramatically perform victimization at the hands of the women who’ve rejected them, members who view Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger, a self-identified incel himself, as a hero.

But not anymore. Last week, as part of its recently announced recalibrated moderation policies, Reddit banned r/incels for violent content. The move comes in the wake of the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this year, which resulted in a previous ban of at least one community. Reddit has banned alt-right communities before; after the new rules took effect, however, administrators promptly banned more of them than ever before.

Many of these subreddits, including r/incels, have served as targets for alt-right recruitment. And there are indications that such strict Reddit bans actually work to curtail violence and harassment on the internet.

But not everyone is cheering Reddit’s new administrator crackdown. In fact, many Reddit users are extremely skeptical that the newly tightened policies will bring much real change to the site.

Why? For one thing, many users seem to feel as though the site has been here before. For another, in a crucial indicator of how far Reddit isn’t willing to go to disturb its uneasy equilibrium, it continues to accommodate the most controversial subreddit of all: The_Donald.

Reddit has tried stricter moderation policies before, with inconclusive results

Reddit’s newly updated content policy contains stricter and more specific language about inciting violence — specifically against “any content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people; likewise, we will also take action against content that glorifies or encourages the abuse of animals.” Notably, the new policy applies to all content, including usernames and meme images.

The most upvoted thread on the announcement post about the policy, however, speaks to the level of frustration on the site. In the comment, users Grickit and ImNotJesus sum up what many Reddit users perceive is happening with such announcements.

“This cycle is so tiring,” Grickit writes:

1) reddit admins totally ignore all reports of horrible shit going on and ramping up

2) something really despicable finally emerges from the buildup

3) reddit makes national headlines

4) reddit finally adds some lukewarm rule clarification

You'll enforce it for maybe a month or so. Then when the news has died down, we'll be back to step one.

Below Grickit’s comment, ImNotJesus adds, “In case anyone doesn't believe that this is the cycle, I made this exact same comment in 2014.” That comment refers to similar observations the user made that year, after Reddit banned r/TheFappening, the subreddit responsible for the site’s infamous leak of celebrity nude photos. At the time, Reddit administrators seemed open to the idea of adult nudes — including revenge porn, which many of the leaks clearly were — being posted on the site. They claimed it was the presence of nude photos depicting minors and an onslaught of Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices, not a wish to censor the site, that ultimately resulted in the banning of r/TheFappening.

Reddit has often found itself at odds with its user base in its fight to curtail toxicity on its forums while maintaining its commitment to openness and free speech. The banning of r/TheFappening kicked off a period of unrest marked by the persistent harassment of interim CEO Ellen Pao by Reddit users after Pao tried to enable stricter policies against sitewide harassment. Pao ultimately resigned in 2015 after users staged a massive sitewide protest, partly against what they saw as her “politically correct” banning of subreddits devoted to fat shaming.

Since then, Reddit’s rules have expanded — revenge porn is now explicitly prohibited, for example — and its content policy has grown more specific. And the banning of toxic subreddits has proven surprisingly effective in combating the site’s ugliest elements.

It helps that the rapidly changing political and cultural climates have shifted the priorities of many members of Reddit. After all, while some Reddit users may be in favor of fat shaming, most of them are firmly anti-Nazi, which is why the unfolding battle that has played out on the site since Pao’s resignation has not been about too much political correctness, but too little — especially when it comes to the alt-right and one subreddit in particular.

The issue isn’t creating stricter policies — it’s implementing them.

The comments from the Reddit users mentioned above neatly highlight not just the cyclical nature of Reddit’s policy changes but also the true problem with them: It’s not the policies themselves, but the inconsistency with which they’re enforced, that leads to trouble.

This is a theme we’ve seen again and again with various internet communities, from YouTube and Tumblr’s repeated conflation of queer content with sexually explicit content to Twitter’s ongoing failure to combat hate speech and abuse. The best and strongest content policies can essentially be rendered useless if they aren’t enforced in a consistent and responsible way.

In Reddit’s case, this inconsistency is reflected in the site’s ongoing accommodation of what’s arguably the single most damaging community on the site: r/The_Donald, which became the major hub of Donald Trump’s alt-right supporters in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

The_Donald has become notorious for its incitements to violence, its blatant white supremacist rhetoric, and its use as a lure for the alt-right into more explicit forms of right-wing extremism. Trump’s notorious anti-CNN tweet, which seemed to advocate violence against journalists and arguably violated Twitter’s own content policy, originated from a post on The_Donald. Prior to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, The_Donald hosted a stickied post encouraging members to attend the rally and march alongside neo-Nazi and “ethnostate” groups, because, “In this case, the pursuit of preserving without shame white culture, our goals happen to align.” Most recently, a member of The_Donald, an alt-right blogger who formerly worked for Milo Yiannopoulos, murdered his own father after his father accused him of being a Nazi.

As Polygon recently pointed out, Reddit’s new stricter content policies won’t do much, if anything, to halt the violence and hate speech in sub-forums like The_Donald and r/KotakuinAction, a notorious Gamergate hub that also fuels alt-right rhetoric — the reason being that, well, Reddit administrators don’t appear to see them as serious problems, despite routinely being handed evidence to the contrary.

Reddit administrators are trying to accommodate The_Donald. It isn’t returning the favor.

In a recent Q&A session with Reddit’s co-founder Steve Huffman (better known on Reddit as the user spez), one exasperated user linked to 45 different examples of comments on The_Donald that clearly violated Reddit’s rules against violent content. The comments include refrains like “kill them all,” “kill all SJWs,” and “kill the unnecessary ones,” plus plenty of targeted racism and xenophobia.

Huffman responded to this comment, and basically said that The_Donald could stay because the mods were agreeable to addressing abuse:

Generally the mods of the_donald have been cooperative when we approach them with systematic abuses. Typically we ban entire communities only when the mods are uncooperative or the entire premise of the community is in violation of our policies. In the past we have removed mods of the_donald that refuse to work with us.

But if anything, moderators of The_Donald have been consistently uncooperative in dealing with Reddit admins. Past mods have been accused of using hundreds of sockpuppet accounts to upvote posts and boost moderating decisions in violation of Reddit’s rules. The moderators were also well-known for gaming the site’s ranking system by pinning posts in order to prevent them from getting downvoted, thus ensuring that The_Donald posts wound up being constantly promoted to the top of Reddit’s front page — again in violation of Reddit’s rules.

To stop them, Reddit had to completely overhaul its ranking system earlier this year in order to keep posts from The_Donald from spamming the site’s front page. The moderators also subtly encouraged their users to brigade Reddit’s r/Politics subreddit — a huge Reddit taboo — to the extent that Reddit administrators banned them from being able to link to r/Politics at all. Administrators also removed the top three moderators at The_Donald, reportedly because they refused to take actions against doxxing, harassment, and brigading; in response, the remaining mods briefly shut down the entire forum in protest.

This pattern suggests that Reddit has done far more to accommodate The_Donald than The_Donald has done to accommodate Reddit’s community standards and good-faith guidelines.

The mods of The_Donald have also been consistently unwilling to take steps to deal with toxicity on their forum — and they arguably encourage it. Last year the moderators pinned a giant Islamophobic post to the forum’s front page and explicitly invited white supremacist users into the forum, announcing that they would not be enforcing its “no racism” rule “with regards to the middle east.” Transphobia across the forum has been well-documented, and at any given time one can find a litany of hate speech and racist, misogynist rhetoric on posts there. As of this writing, The_Donald currently features a vaguely threatening transphobic post, a post with comments favoring Nazis over the current political left wing, and several helpings of straight up racism, all on its front page, all apparently unchecked by moderators.

The_Donald’s moderators have themselves been called out for a string of alleged bigoted remarks, and have kept the forum mired in drama in the process. Last year the forum lost five of its moderators in the span of a week, when one moderator, who’d been accused, along with another moderator, of making bigoted remarks, suddenly deleted his account, demodded three people, and left a new mod in charge. That mod then deleted his own account just days later, after Redditors noticed he had a history of bigotry and misogyny. At the time, the user calling out his behavior described that mod as “all the bigotry of the subreddit compressed into a single person.”

Clearly The_Donald’s mods have a history of being something less than “cooperative” in addressing abusive behavior on the forum, but the rest of Huffman’s response highlights an even knottier aspect of The_Donald’s relationship to the rest of the site. Huffman went on to argue that The_Donald had the right to expect the longstanding support of free speech around which Reddit has built its community:

Finally, the_donald is a small part of a large problem we face in this country — that a large part of the population feels unheard, and the last thing we're going to do is take their voice away.

It’s understandable that Huffman would want to try to work with The_Donald rather than banning it altogether, given the site’s commitment to free speech. But The_Donald has habitually seemed uninterested in integrating into the rest of the community: Moderators routinely suppress opposing views, “ban[ning] hundreds of people a week who are either concern trolls, berniebots, republican shills, spammers, sjws and so on.” Between its hostility to outsiders, perpetual rule breaking, perpetual drama, and perpetual hate speech, The_Donald has become, statistically speaking, the most unpopular community on Reddit.

All in all, The_Donald seems to have done far more to disrupt Reddit as a whole than it has to enhance it. In this case, Reddit’s commitment to free speech has meant allowing a deeply toxic community to actively undermine the general spirit and tone of the site.

Reddit’s own rules, as stated in its user agreement, are “intended to keep people safe, protect kids, keep Reddit running, and to encourage personal responsibility for what you do on Reddit.” It’s hard to see how the rhetoric and tactics of The_Donald are contributing to an atmosphere that’s intended to keep anyone safe. But this seems to be the rhetoric that Reddit administrators have chosen to uphold — at least for now. Whether this approach can sustain Reddit’s community into the future remains to be seen.

via Vox - All

[s0021816]

E. Creative Investigation Planning – Source Review Sheet 1

Source 1

Name Of Book / Magazine: KINEMA

Author: Vicky Wong

Publisher, Place Of Publication And Date: University Of Waterloo, Department Of Fine Arts (Film Studies),  200 University Avenue West Waterloo, ON, Canada  N2L 3G1, Established In 1993.

Title Of Chapter / Article: Deconstructing The Walt Disney Animation The Lion King: Its Ideology And The Perspective Of Hong Kong Chinese

Page Numbers Used:  (Online Article)

Web Address Used To Access Source: Http://Www.Kinema.Uwaterloo.Ca/Article.Php?Id=210&Feature

Date Accessed: 22nd September 2017

Your Research Topic / Question: Representation Of Animals Through The Lion King 

Brief Overview Of What The Article / Chapter / Book Is About: The Representation Of Animals Within The Lion King, And The Moral Reasoning Included Within The Film

Key Quotes From Article / Chapter / Book That Relate To Your Topic:

 “The Lion King, In Analysis, Is More Than A Fable”- How the deeper moral meaning within the film allows the audeince to connect with the characters. 

 “The Lion King Should "Rightfully" Be An Adult's Film.” -Further expresses the nature of the film. 

 “Hinson (1994) Said, "Of The 32 Animated Films Disney Has Produced, This Story Of A Young African Lion's Search For Identity Is Not Only More Mature In Its Themes, It Is Also The Darkest And The Most Intense. Shakespearean In Tone, Epic In Scope, It Seems More Appropriate For Grown-Ups Than For Kids.” - demonstrates how the serious messages within the film allow the audience to connect with the characters . 

“Ebert (1994) Also Expressed That The Superbly Drawn Animated Feature Was Surprisingly Solemn In Its Subject Matter And Was Too Intense For Small Children. And Actually The Violence Depicted And The Death Illustrated Are Always Commented As Too Much For The Children.” - Even though through the initial concept of the film, it may appear as a childrens film, it is not. 

“The Animation Is Not A Mere Light Entertainment” - Because the film is not meerly entertaiment this may be why the audeince are enabled to connect with the charcaters. 

 “Neufeld (1996) Said, “The Characters In The Lion King Exhibit Behaviours That Are Uncharacteristic Of Animals They Portray” - This may be why the audeince are able to connect withn the characters more, because they are not animal like. 

 “Non-Father Males Will Kill Other Male's Offspring And Cubs Are Always Abundant And Dying Of Starvation. The Relationship, And Hence The Struggle, Depicted Is More Human In Nature.”- Further suggesting that the audeince are able to connect with the characters because the representation of them is nothing like real life. 

  “A Number Of Themes Emphasised By Different Critics Abound In The Lion King (E.G. Social Interactions, Familial Relations, Bravery, Responsibility, Vulnerability, Faith Etc. See Schwalm, 1995” - The moral compass of the characters is also a lot more stable that the those of a actual animal, therefore the characters are more human like and the audeince are able to connect with them. 

 “In Contrast To Villains, Who Are Evil; Simba Is Good-Tempered, Kind-Hearted, Loyal To Friends And Brave” - these are all characteristics and personality traits of someone who would make a good person, therefore the audeince are able to connect with the  character due to the fact that they recognise these traits. 

  “Many Other Characters Are Passive; Simba After Introspection, Actively Goes Back To Pride Land To Fight For His "Rightful" Place”- The audience of the film become emotionally involved with the characters therefore, support Simba as he returns which provides them with great satisfaction because they are emotinally invested within the plot. 

  “They Often Have Helpers, Assistance, And Tutelary Figures To Teach Them Important Things (Simba Has Rafiki, Who Perform The Ritual Future King Presentation Ceremony, To Enlighten Him).” - All of the characters have very different roles and provide the characters with different elements of support, as do people in real life; thus further likening the similarities between the animal characters and humans. 

 “Apart From The Story Line, The Physical Portrayal Of The Two Characters Themselves Already Reveal Their Inner Qualities. The Mature Simba Is Young, Energetic And Calm-Looking, With A Clear And Firm Voice”- The characters personalities are not solely portrayed through their verbal interactions with one and othe, and thy are infact portrayed through their apperance too which allows the audience to be able to understand the personalities of the animal. 

 “Scar (The Name "Scar" Already Tells Of Some Bad Things Happened In The Past, Which Now Appears As A Scar) Has A Scar Just Cross His Left Eye. He Is Skinny, With A Low And Secretive Voice And A Cunning Look.” - An example of how the audience of The Lion King understand the moral compass of the characters through their names and physical representation. 

[movieswithkevin27]

The Book of Eli

In this post-apocalyptic western, Denzel Washington stars as Eli. Traveling to the west with a book that could save the world, Eli has walked the roads that once made up America for thirty years. Near the end of his journey, he encounters a town run by a mysterious man named Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Scouring the Earth for the very book that Eli is carrying, the two face off in a battle of religious significance as the book Eli is carrying is the last Bible on Earth. After the end of the world as we knew it, religion was blamed for the collapse of society and all Bibles were burned. Only one survived, which was found by Eli after receiving a premonition from God as to where the book was located. Now determined to bring it west where God had instructed him to deliver it to whatever may be awaiting him, Eli must defend the word of God from falling into the hands of Carnegie, who wishes to use them to control and obtain absolute power over the townspeople he lives with.

The best way to describe the film is exactly what the title suggests: it is another book of the Bible. Depicting Eli as a man of unshakable faith who puts his head down and walks the path that God set before him, he is undoubtedly a man that makes mistakes. Though he never kills without provocation, he is a man that let a woman get attacked and not help her. He is not infallible and not some angelic figure. Instead, he is a man sent on a mission by God to deliver the Bible to people who need it and for it to be spread, once again, among the masses. As with every mission in the Bible, this one puts many tests before both Eli and God. Traversing harsh terrain in the aftermath of a flash of light that rendered the world mostly destroyed, he has walked the country for thirty years and often finds himself getting lost. Yet, what never changes is his faith in God.

As with any book of the Bible, the film shows that not only must Eli prove himself a man of faith who, though he may stray, carries the word of God in his heart, mind, and soul, but God will provide. Inherent in faith and any religion is that God, or whoever that religion believes in, will provide for your every need. When you are hungry, food will be there. When you are thirsty, your thirst will be quenched. When you are in danger, you will be cloaked with an invisible shield of armor and an army of men will be at your direction. Having grown up religious, this is obviously something inherent in every prayer and every waking second. God will never put you in a situation that you cannot handle and, if you wind up in something out of your control, he will help guide you out. For many, this means preventing them from death or keeping them from any harm. However, everything happens for a reason and we see Eli struggle. He gets shot, even if God previously protected him from being able to be shot, and he loses his Bible to Carnegie. Yet, no matter what happens, he is able to overcome them and continue on his path, for the word of God and his message lives not in the pages of a book, but in your heart. When I accepted God in my life, I did not pray that he would come to life in the pages of a book. I prayed that he would reside in my soul and guide my heart and mind to make sound decisions. Eli shows this and the strength he receives from the knowledge that he has the power to save the world by simply delivering himself in lieu of the book is what he eventually realizes to be the message. When he can save Solara (Mila Kunis) from her life with Carnegie, but loses the book to Carnegie, it does not mean he has lost God. God went nowhere and neither did His words.

In its overt approach to religious themes, the film often feels akin to Clint Eastwood westerns, namely Pale Rider. Interestingly, it includes a few links to those films. Not only is Eli a drifter who comes into this small town built around a water supply, but he sees a nameless woman be attacked and does not act to save her. Later, he saves Solara from the same situation. With the latter coming off similarly to Eastwood saving a woman from rape in Pale Rider, Eli similarly punishes the man according to Matthew 5:30, which reads, "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to depart into hell". Though he does not cut off this man's hand - though he does cut off another man's hand earlier in the film for similarly sinning by using his hands to kill others - he does shoot an arrow through his groin. A man arising to save the world from absolute darkness, Eli's mission is one that will test, but unlike Eastwood in films such as High Plains Drifter or Pale Rider, Hell does not ride with Eli. Rather, it is God that rides with Eli. Having Eli read from the Book of Genesis late on in the film, the film shows that this is truly the first Book of the New New Testament. Connecting the words of the Bible with the final images from the film of the sun rising once again on the horizon after the world was sunk in darkness, you can practically hear the words of God saying, "And let there be light." In our darkest of times, God will rise once again to lift us up and deliver us back into the light. The Book of Eli shows how He has arisen once more to lead us back into civilization in this post-apocalyptic world.

In viewing the film, it is quite easy to draw comparisons between the character of Carnegie and Satan, though I am most often reminded of Robert Mitchum's cruel reverend Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter. Willing to go to the end's of the Earth to find the Bible, he sees its words and beliefs as representing power. Absolute power. With these words, he will be able to convert the masses and control them by using the word of God against them and convincing them to do his bidding without any hesitation. He is a man that has read the word of God and desperately seeks to find the Bible in order to teach the townsfolk the word of God. Yet, Eli is a man that does not need the Bible to teach the masses, for he knows it line-by-line and word-for-word. Every beat. Every period. Every inch of that Bible is in his heart and mind. He does not need the book to teach and spread the gospels. Carnegie needs the book as he does not understand the word of God and is not compelled to learn about the word. Instead, he is only interested in how it will advance him and work to his benefit. Thus, while Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter knew the Bible and used it to manipulate others, Carnegie is a man who knows what the Bible stands for and how it can be used to mislead those who do not understand. He, like Satan would, seeks to therefore use the word of God against people and confuse them, leading through straight through the door of sin.

Adorning this stylish action western with a unique visual look, the Hughes brothers seem to have taken a page out of Zack Snyder's book before he even released Sucker Punch, though it also borrows freely from films such as Kill Bill or the films that inspired that Tarantino revenge film. With a washed out green/brown filter coating every single shot of the film, the often looks similar to Sucker Punch in how every inch of every shot contains this same greenish/brownish hue. Articulating the barren emptiness of the world, this color scheme makes the film quite the visual feast, while also giving it a unique calling card. However, symbolically, it also plays quite the role. With the Earth scorched, suffering from drought, and depravity, God is here to renew the Earth through Eli. Spreading the gospel through the land via Eli's heroic journey west, the film's color scheme of green hints at the renewal - both physically and spiritually - set to begin for the Earth and its inhabitants once they are once more armed with the word of God and the strength that brings a person. In its action scenes, however, the film strikes an old balance between the religious connotation of the its color scheme and how its action scenes are staged. Using slow motion, quick cuts, and silhouetting to obscure more graphic moments, The Book of Eli feels like a PG-13 version of Kill Bill due to Eli's reliance upon knives and swords instead of guns. Willing to cut down those that will harm her or Solara, Eli wields the sword like a trained assassin, able to outpower any number of men on pure faith alone. Though its action scenes are brutal, the film's depictions of a David outnumbered by the vicious and massive numbers brought by the Goliath that is Carnegie furthers its Biblical elements, even if its descent into violence and samurai-inspired action scenes, as well the Hughes' dedication to slow motion action scenes, make it seem far more hollow and focused on style rather than substance.

This certainly lends itself to some issues with this reliance on slow motion and reaction shots becoming quite comical and overdone, particularly in one scene when Eli and Carnegie confront one another. Yet, The Book of Eli also has quite a few other flaws. Featuring an endless sea of cliches as this man embarks on a hero's journey, the film relies upon a series of convenience to really tell its story and is also marred by plot holes. For example, in one scene, Eli leaves Solara lacked in the water spring area, which has no exits besides the one he used to lock her in the area. The guard is unconscious. Yet, we soon see her walking around outside looking for Eli with no scene showing she got out. There are a few of these moments that are quite cliche, overly convenient, or simply lack any sense, all of which serve to really bog down the film as a whole. Additionally, its themes are often quite heavy handed and hamfisted - such as the title - and as such, can come off as too forced and on-the-nose to have a true impact in moments. The writing is also further flawed when considering Solara, though it is tough to judge whether she is a bad character or just one that is underdeveloped. Saved by Eli on a few occasions and never really given room to fight, the one chance she have to fight, she takes it and brutally kills her male cohorts. She is ruthless and certainly capable of defending herself, yet the film never allows her to do so. Instead, she is the helpless girl who constantly needs rescuing and is seen as nothing more than a sex object by those around her. It is a shame to see her constantly turned into a damsel in distress needing to be saved by the men around her constantly, even if she is capable of fighting back. It shows a lack of confidence in her ability to fight back, while also displaying those same cliches about how the hero must save the woman in his life. Though Solara is hardly a romantic interest, she is the only woman/person that Eli allows near him.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the 30 year journey made by Eli to deliver the word of God to those who can help spread that word and need to hear that word is christened in The Book of Eli. A tale of strife, challenges, and one of destiny as ordained by God Himself, this new gospel is the opening to the New New Testament of the Bible. Beginning after the end of the world as we know it, the world is plunged into darkness as Eli must traverse barren landscapes, avoiding cannibals, criminals, and worse along the way, and still deliver the prior gospels to their new home. Carrying God in his heart, mind, and soul, Eli shows that a believer does not need the Bible always at hand. If studied and your relationship with God constantly watered, trees will grow and their roots will take hold within you. Armed with the word of God, you will be able to move mountains on faith alone. In the case of Eli, he is able to be the man that restarts mankind, lifting the world on his shoulders, and allowing God to shout from the heavens, "Let there be light" once again.