#journey to the west is the most perfect example of this trope

[thekingofwinterblog]

The Problem With Yasopp

So like many people I was genuinely surprised by Netflix One Piece, adaption, which turned out the exact opposite of pretty much every single travesty that america has made when adapting Manga and Anime.

It certainly was not without flaws, for one thing it needed to be at least 3-5 episodes longer in order to fix it's pacing issues if it wanted to get all of East Blue into one season, and the fight scenes while very well choreographed, didn't exactly sell me on the superhuman strength of most of these characters.

However, there was one thing that genuinely pissed me off, in large part because the american adapters changed something they didn't like, in order to fit "western sensibilites" and in doing so, completely missing the point, and frankly tragedy of the original context.

That of course, is the character of Usopp's relationship with his parents Yasopp and Banchina, and the rather sad tale of plans going completely arry due to twists of fate.

In the west, the character of Yasopp has been a rather contentious one, for several reasons, but also one that has been a bit altered by the changes from Japanese to English.

Yasopp is critiqued heavily by people who don't like him for abandoning his kid, and his wife to seek adventure on the high seas. Now this is not untrue, but there is a bit of context here that's a bit lost in translation.

And you can really tell that, because the way Netflix portrays Yasopp leaving is the surface level one you might get if you just read Syrup Village arc, and you don't pay any attention at all to the timeline given.

In the neflix series, it's explicitly said that Yasopp left Usopp and his mother while Usopp was still a baby. That is such a common reading, that it's actually what the One Piece Wiki claims happened(Another example of why you should always be critical of Wiki's).

The actual Manga tells a different story.

Yasopp left Syrup village right before Banchina unexpedetly got sick with the disease that ultimatly killed her.

When Usopp is so touchy against Kuro about him badmouting his father, it's not in the context of him idolizing some father he never met, because Usopp and Yasopp knew and loved each other dearly. Usopp's wish to see his dad again isn't some wish to meet the father he only knows through stories, but to reconnect with the dad he loved so much growing up and was sad when he left.

And then of course there is the glory of mistraslation. If you've read this part of the manga, you might rightly be wondering, what sort of woman would be proud of the man who abandoned her to take care of their kid while he sought adventure.

The answer, which the english translation does not give, is a woman who was the one to convince him to go out on that journey in the first place.

Because that is what happened in the orignal manga. It was Banchina, for reasons we don't fully understand or have the context for, eho convinced her husband to go out and seek his dreams.

That's the reason why she is so certain Yasopp will NOT be coming home, but why she is also not bitter about it. She was the one who encouraged Yasopp to go out to sea, while she stayed home and took care of their kid, until he grew old enough to care for himself, and seek the seas himself if he wished.

The story of Yasopp, Usopp and his wife is a genuine tragedy, but not because Yasopp abandoned Usopp before he ever got to know him, but because Usopp's parents made plans for the future, that while not perfect by any stretch, seemed workable enough... only for the entire thing to come crumbling down after Yasopp left due to something as mundane as a random disease.

One can certainly make an argument that this was NOT the best course of action for Yasopp and Banchina to take, but it's not the complete deadbeat dad who abandons his baby trope that the Netflix series portrays it as.

Further hammering in that this was a bit more complicated than that, Yasopp seems to have been one of the very first crew members Shanks tried to recruit, having sought him out not long after Roger died... And Yasopp seems to have flat out rejected him, as he stayed with Banchina for years and years afterwards.

It adds a lot of context to the idea that Banchina was the one who ultimately convinced Yasopp to go out and chase his dreams while she took care of the kid... Because it took years and years for it to ultimately conclude at this course of action. Yasopp would continue to reject Shanks offer to join him for years to instead to take care of his wife and kid, until about a year before Shanks met Luffy, when his wife told him to go.

It's a hell of a lot more nuanced and interesting than what Netflix did, that's for damn sure.

[mask131]

The Zeus Case: Why such a messy love life? (1)

Short answer: Because people are parrots who repeat blindly everything they hear without doing their research. :)

Long answer: get ready for a class.

So I expressed several times my strong dislike of TV Tropes’ descriptions of the Greek gods, and they notably use to describe Zeus one quotation from the Youtube channel known as “Overtly Sarcastic Productions”. This is the quote:

From a modern perspective, when we look back at the original tellings, it’s very difficult to see Zeus doing his thing and conclude anything other than that the king of the gods is an omnipotent serial rapist who leaves a trail of shattered lives and bastard children in his wake and this pantheon is a fucking nightmare.

This quote is a perfect summary of how modern Internet perceives Greek mythology... and this point of view is wrong. I am sorry to say that, but it is wrong. I do enjoy the OSP videos, I do follow faithfully their Journey to the West videos and the like - but they also simplify some stuff to fit a small-video format and, of course, ARE OVERTLY SARCASTIC. That’s in their very name. Their videos are fun to watch, but I wouldn’t use them as a scholarly work about Greek mythology.

And so studying Zeus’ love life reveals a much more complicated history and evolution than just “In truth he was a serial rapist but nobody wanted to say it”.

 1) If you want it Roman, sprinkle some rape

Let’s tackle already the very concept of “Zeus as a serial rapist”. The answer is: no. I already talked about it previously (see my post about rape in mythology) but the whole reputation of Greek mythology as being all about rape is a huge misunderstanding caused by the Romans. Most of the stories of mythological rape came from the mind of Roman authors and writers. Ovid is a particulary bad offender, because thanks to his rape fetish he either invented lots of rapes or reinvented consensual relationships into rapes - and the problem is that Ovid’s Metamorphoses, despite being a Roman text that built a Romanize mythology, was used for a long time as a source of info about “Greek mythology”. When it was as Greek as Disney’s Hercules. And with Zeus you can actually see that: if you look at the texts in which most of his “rapes” are recorded... They are either Roman texts, or texts written far after the age of Ancient Greece, texts written in a Romanize Greece or by authors who tried to “reconstruct” the lost Greek myths by taking the preserved Roman versions as a source. So while yes Jupiter was a rapist, Zeus wasn’t a “serial rapist”. I haven’t checked EVERY story mind you, so there might some true “ancient rape”, but most of the time there is no rape - at most there is deceiving as for example Zeus will disguise himself under another shape, but this calls for more subtle, case-by-case analysis, as the transformations were done as much to not frighten/kill the often mortal lovers, as to protect said lovers from the wrath of Hera. 

2) If you like it, don’t say it

There is an implicit consent in Ancient Greek texts that modern audience, sensibilized to sexual harassment and “the evils of patriarchy”, often does not get. When someone rapes another person, the Ancient Greek author will explicitely say it. There will be descriptions of struggle, of violence, of resistance. If there is no mentions of that, if the relationship is not called a “rape”, it won’t be a rape. This notably led to a great confusion due to several myths describing Zeus “taking away” or “ravishing” a person in animal form, snatching them away from their home or community to isolate them and have love with them. I can sound like rape - but in effect, in the text, it is just ravishing someone. The confusion notably arose in latinized languages thanks to the word “rapt”, “rape”, originally meaning “taking someone away by force - usually with romantic or lustful intents but not always”. With time “rape” became what we know today, but in old-fashioned language a man in love with a girl but refused her hand by her parents, if he took her away from her parents nonetheless, it would be a rapt/rape - even if the girl was in love with him, because it was still forcefully and brutaly stealing away from a family/from parents. There is a big confusion arising from all that.

Second point is that in Ancient Greek texts, there is no need to explicitely describe the love and the consent of two parties to say “this was a consensual relationship”. While rape is explicitely described as rape, consensual love is not glossed much about. It will often just be said as “X laid with Y and they had three kids”. Or “X came into the bed of Y” or “Y was loved by X”. Often only one side of the couple will be evoked, but not because it was a one-sided relationship - just because there is an implicit consent that is not explicitely described. The Greeks thought that by nature, if two people had children together, it meant they had to be in love. If a man was described as “entering a girl’s bed” without mentions of him enslaving her or brutalizing her, it meant that she had allowed him to climb in her bed. It was a thought-structure that has been recently lost in an effort to prevent the “romanticism of rape”, but it was a thought logic that was prevalent in Ancient texts. Rape is explicit, consent is implied. 

(This also tied with a very Greek aesthetic of “sexuality is vulgar”. The Greeks were known to be disgusted by too expressive manifestations of desire. Sexuality was a needed and fine thing - but in moderation and subtlety. If someone loudly or openly enjoyed having sex, they were seen as pervs. Poets kept their art... well, poetic, by saying as little as possible about sexuality itself. This is why Ancient Greek statues of male nudes depicted such tiny genital organs. To have a “big one” was seen as something vulgar and ugly, as a manifestation of an excessive lust or overflowing desire that repelled rather than attracted. On the contrary, to have small sexual organs was something attractive, elegant, “polite” we may say.)

3) Confusion

If Zeus’ love life seems so messy today, it is because people confuse everything and mix together stories from so many sources. 

I already pointed out that there is a confusion between the Roman sources (aka “Greek myths rape edition”) and the actual Greek sources. But people also love to throw in Orphic content, not realizing that the Orphic religion was not the “mainstream” religion of the Greeks. This is why it is called “Orphic religion”, not “Ancient Greek religion”. Orphic poetry and Orphic literature fits with an Orphic cosmogony and Orphic rites that differ MASSIVELY from what we know as “Greek mythology”. Orphic religion is WEIRD and completely reinvent the Greek gods and legends by mixing them with motifs and concepts taken from Near-East and Middle-East religions and mythologies ; and so “fusing” it with well-known Greek myths such as the Homerics or the Hesiodics necessitates a HUGE rewrite because they were NOT made to fit, they belong to two different worlds. 

For example this is where you’ll find the whole legend of Zeus raping Persephone. Which doesn’t fit because if you look at “traditional” Greek myths, Zeus never slept with any of his daughters. 

4) Love VS Lust

As I said previously, the Romans and the “late” Greek authors (understand those that wrote in a Romanize Greece or in a post-Roman Greece/Christianized Greece) took the habit of turning the love life of the gods into a series of rapes and savage hunts. This applied to Zeus’ love life.

Because if you look at the older texts, at the “original” texts, what are the words you find? You find the words “seduction” - Zeus “seducing” women, women being “seduced” by Zeus, aka a process of charming and attracting his lovers, and the lovers themselves falling in love with Zeus or allowing him to share a night with them. And you find the word “love”. Zeus explicitely describes his feelings towards his old flames and affairs as “love”, or “sweet love”, “deep love”, “tender love”. 

This is in sharp contrast to the later writers and the depictions of rapes who use more explicit words such as “desire” and “lust”. There is a sharp contrast between the “older” Zeus as an all-lover, and the “newer” Zeus as a deity overflowing with lust. Mind you, in Ancient Greece love and sex were still mixed together (virginity being seen as refusing all love, and chaste lovers being unusual couples) but the Greeks still had a clear way of dividing sexuality as driven by love, from sexuality as driven by pure physical desire.

Which does tie into...

5) My weird Greek wedding

Greeks had a different conception of marriage.

Now, I am not adding as a “solid proof” that Zeus was better than what you think, or that him cheating on Hera was a socially accepted thing in any way. One must point out that the laws and society of Ancient Greeks didn’t actually fit their own myths - such as how Greek mythology presents strong, autonomous, “feminist” goddesses when in real life being a woman in Ancient Greece sucked. The Greeks themselves recognized that the gods, due to their inhuman and superior nature, were allowed things forbidden to mankind (for example incest was perfectly allowed and normal among gods, but sternly forbidden among humans - this topic had been discussed at length by the Greeks themselves). But... to take a peek into the society and the social norms of Ancient Greece does allow one to understand better the myths, by having a different light shine onto the legends. 

And the reason Zeus’ love life became so debordant (and why in general gods are known to have what we call today “affars”) is because Greek marriage was much more... permissive than our modern-day marriage. But just for men. Women were sworn to complete and utter fidelity and were owned by their husband or consort - they had no way of sleeping with anyone else. HOWEVER... men were allowed to sleep with women other than their wives in given conditions. Don’t understand me wrong: unfaithfulness was seen as a crime by Greek law, and a husband cheating on his wife was to be punished. But the law also allowed the husband to have a legal sex with other women outside of marriage without suffering any kind of punishment. It was the “Pallakai/Hetairai/Gynaekes” system. A man had to marry to a wife, and they could only have one wife to which they were to be faithful (they were the “gynaekes”). The wife was the “guardian of the house” and the keeper of the man’s home, and she was the one supposed to bear the man’s children, as well as the “tool” through which legitimate succession took place. She was a legal and domestic element. But a man was also allowed to have a “pallake”, that is to say a “concubine”. Pallakai were female slaves (either bought through the slave commerce, or taken back as war prisoners) that their master had sex with. Concubines were allowed for sex - but nothing more. They were sex slaves, but they were not supposed to take over the position of a wife. (In the legend of Agamemnon, Cassandra was a pallake/concubine, as opposed to Clytemnestra the wife).  And third came the “hetairai”, the prostitutes, who were also legally allowed to have sex with married men in exchange for money. 

So in conclusion, married men were allowed to have sex with prostitutes and concubines - as long as they did not made them fill a roll of “wife”. For example, while men were allowed to have pallakai, it was seen as of very poor taste to have your concubine live under the same roof as your wife (no need to tell you the “concubines” were usually found in noble ranks of the Greek society, among the rich and powerful). As it was said : “We have hetairai for pleasure, pallakai for the body’s daily needs, and gynaekes for the bearing of legitimate children and for the guardianship of our houses”. Three different types of sexual relationships allowed within a marriage, with three different purposes. To be crude: a commercial pleasure ; a living sex-toy ; and a legal wife. 

Taking this into account, the many extra-marital relationships of Zeus (and other gods) can gain a bit more sense as, in the Greek mindset a married man is allowed to have sexual relationships with other women as long as 1) it is just casual, non-consequence sex and 2) the other women is of a lesser rank (prostitute or slave). If we try to transpose it to the world of the gods, it explains why the male gods are searching for pleasure among mortal women (by definition, “lesser women”, as humans are inferior to gods and would be a good equivalent of prostitutes/slaves to the “citizen”), but never marry any of them and stick to having one divine wife. But in return, applying such a view onto the myths (which again is not the “correct” one, but just another angle) also explains why Hera would become so furious and so mad at Zeus’ affairs - because 1) as said above, Zeus often deeply loved his mistresses, and seems to have treated them as more than just casual one-nights and 2) he had children with them, which is normally the “prerogative” of the wife. This all leads to a divine repetition of the “Cassandra/Clytemnestra” tragedy, when a wife becomes jealous of a concubine when the husband seems too much attached to her, to the point of almost replacing his wife with her.

Because that’s a last point I should add: wives could easily be replaced in Ancient Greece. Well “easy” might be a bit of a strong word, there were legal procedures to be undertaken and there was money to be exchanged, but the thing is that divorce was a normal and usual thing for the Ancient Greeks. And not just for the men! A man could dissolve his marriage and get rid of his wife - but the same way a wife could get rid of her husband and dissolve her marriage. It was all allowed - and in fact this is why Zeus had so many wives before Hera in such a quick succession (up to seven wives if we believe some interpretations of the poems!). This social consideration could also add another point of view on this set of myths - if you decide to have a “social reading” of them - by raising the question “Why doesn’t Zeus leave Hera?” or “Why doesn’t Hera leave Zeus?”. Of course there is an answer to be provided with the construction of the myth itself - they would have never left each other in mythology because they were a couple in religion and a myth of a separation would only have occured if suddenly religion changed and declared the two weren’t a couple anymore, which likely would have never happened... But since we talk here about interpretation of the myths, and “reinventing” the myths, this is a very legitimate question to ask, especially since people keep this very Christianized view of ancient wedding as a thing people are stuck in till death. It opens a lot of funny and fascinating reinterpretations of the Greek myths: try to imagine, why would Zeus not leave Hera when he left his two or six previous wifes, and that despite all the crap going on in their marriage? You can find a dozen of answers going in very different directions...

ADDENDUM: Gods are not characters

... but while I always encourage people to be creative with their reinterpretation of the Greek gods for FICTION, here we are talking about the ACTUAL god and mythical figure, and I have gone a bit too far. Because all these later considerations are actually treating Zeus as a character. It isn’t all wrong - especially since a good chunk of what we know about Greek mythology comes from literary works, so the gods we know are a third “fictional characters”/”literature characters”. But it is also forgetting that they are mythical figures, AND religious figures. You know, actual gods, of a religion, with rites and canons and theological debates ; and figures of myths, as in the equivalent of today’s folktales and fairytales. Archetypes. Stock figures. Metaphores. Allegories. Not entities supposed to have human-like psychology, not entities supposed to be treated as fictional characters of an author’s work ; and whose stories are not supposed to always be coherent or logical - as long as they are powerful and meaningful. 

Yes there was a literary Zeus, akin to the various incarnations of Zeus we have in books today (and this is why we have different Zeus depending on the author - an Homeric Zeus, an Hesiodic Zeus...) ; but the religious and “truly mythical” Zeus of Antiquity was probably more akin to the folkloric/artistic/cultural figures we know today. The Grim Reaper, Father Time, Mother Nature, Jack Frost... Everybody knows who they are, what they look like, what they do, but nobody can give them a true “psychology” or will start saying “They’re like that because they had a bad childhood”. Books will give them backstories and personal traits and human depth - but you can’t call it the “true” incarnation of the entity. [Of course the analogy is a bit shaky because the texts of Homer and Hesiodic were heavily religious in nature, and so there is an effort to stick to an established belief and coherent canon - but we know that for later authors, religious authorities of Ancient Greece clearly considered some of their depictions of gods clear blasphemy.]

Note: I originally planned this post to be just one post, but as it turns out I have a LOT of things to say, so I better split my post into two to let you better appreciate the nuances of this debate. 

Second note: Of course I do not tell you to believe me on everything. Remember I am just one person, with a knowledge maybe big but still limited. Always double-check, triple-check, go look for other sources - and if I make any mistake don’t hesitate to tell it to me! With such vast and complex topics one can easily get lost into details and forget the big picture ; or the opposite. 

[lilnasxvevo]

Road trips are a good trope but nothing in this world is better than a forced road trip where one or more members of the expedition either don’t want to be there at all or don’t want to be there with the other person/s specifically and hijinks ensue

[linkspooky]

Your analysis on shigaraki's worldview is 😍😍😍. Who's your fav bnha character btw, and what kind of manga are you into? (i mean as in genre, but my phrasing is terrible at times so idk how to put it all in the last sentence)

My favorite manga in the whole world are the manga that run in Weekly Shonen Jump. I read almost everything that runs in the magazine from week to week. I know that’s not technically a genre, but let’s not arguen semantics. 

And now because no one asked for it, my opinion on all of the manga currently running through Jump that I read. 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba usually manga in shonen jump slowly get worse over time as they try to stretch their stories out, but Kimetsu no Yaiba is a story that continues to develop on itself and improve the longer it runs. 

The art is phenomenal and has a good balance of when to be silly and when to be drop dead gorgeous. It’s more of an ensemble piece tied together by a big brother trying to save his little sister, and because of that almost every character Tanjirou interacts with is fun and really immediately attention grabbing. 

It’s also a pretty heavy story that deals with death, grief and loss and trying to find life beyond a world that has suffering like that. I’m actually planning to make some meta of it soon, especially with the interactions between Domi and Shinobu. My only real complaint is that it’s deep but not too deep. Usually the demons are always bad and the demon slayers are always good in the end, even if sympathy is expressed for some of the demons. Once again though it does so well in the technical aspects of telling the story it wants to tell. 

My Hero Academia it’s pretty obvious that I like it. The biggest draws for me are the art style and the characters, specifically the villains. Also the idea of a reverse X men world where what are basically the mutants now outnumber normal people and dominate society is a fantastic idea for world building with a lot of options. 

I’ve actually followed Horikoshi’s work for a long time. His two previous works, Oumagodoki Zoo and Barrage both ran in Shonen Jump for a short time before they were cancelled which I find really unfortanate because they both had a lot of potential as well. 

I love both the hero kids and the villains, though sometimes I feel like the villains are more connected to the central conflict of the story than the heroes. It would be nice to see Deku evolve a more radical philosophy then just wanting to save people right in front of him, or protecting the status quo. The heroes should ideally act in response to the villains to create a better world and resolve a problem the villains brought up, but if say the League of Villains were wiped out now another League would be created later because the central problem of the story has not been dealt with. 

Dr. Stone this is a series that almost got cancelled, but was saved by a main character switch. Senku is really likable and unique as a character, kind of a mad scientist archetype who turns out to be the good guy and the hero of the story.

He reminds me a lot of Yoichi from the writers previous work, Eyeshield 21. In that they’re both laughing mad eccentrics who seem like they have little scruples for how they use and treat other people, and yet are surrounded by friends and act as the leaders of their team. They also both have a tendency for strategy over brute strength and like to outwit their opponents. 

The only thing I can say about Dr. Stone is that while the characters are a fun little group of oddballs, they rarely get any deeper than that. The most interesting thing is still figuring out the central mystery of the world and what happened to turn everybody to stone, which is why having Senku as a main character was a really smart move on the series part. 

Yozakura Family This is a new series that I actually really like and hope beats canellation at the two week mark. It’s kind of your basic romantic comedy characters get married in the first chapter promise, but also there’s some really strong character writing with the older brother. He’s one of the few examples of the obsessive and overprotective brother type that was portrayed as actually abusive and damaging for seeing his younger sister that way. 

The premise also reminds me a lot of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, just suddenly getting sucked into the underworld of spies and crimminals when you’re an unlucky loser with no social skills. If the character writing is as strong as it is for the brother I can definitely see a lot of improvement and staying power. 

The Promised Neverland the smartest written series in Shonen Jump write now with the best ideas. The Promised Neverland is all about theme, theme, theme, theme, which is why someone like me who devours stories for their nutritious value and content loves it. 

While there are only about three major characters with arcs that matter to the plot, Norman, Ray, and Emma they are some of the deepest characters in shonen jump currently and the complexity of their relationship and the way they all foil each other is superb.

It’s a story about children trying to escape a neverland where they can never grow up, and live in a world that never wanted them alive. Not only is it just about them though, it’s also about adults who are still inside the system and gave up at one point or another and decided to just live in the evil world rather than change it. It’s a deep story but it’s also undeniably shonen jump, the central theme is about not giving up even in a world that is determined to deny your existence. 

Act Age If you’ve read Chihayafuru this manga has a lot in common with that, because both of them are about very singleminded girls with complex emotions that they themselves don’t understand, finding themselves completely enveloped in a niche hobby to the point of obsession. 

Act-Age is a story that’s primarily about storytelling and the nature of stories themselves, with each arc focusing on an adaptation of either a movie made up for the sake of the story or a pre-written play ie, Journey to the West, Night on the Galactic Railroad. However, it’s also bout the nature of stories, as understood by the perspectie of an actor. 

There are only a few major characters but they all get intensely developed in their arcs. My absolute favorite relationship is that of the main character, quiet on the surface but with deep emotions that she uses for her acting talent with her rival an actress that’s much more like a pop star or idol. Rather than having deep talent she instead uses her ability to read people to appeal to them. She is cheerful and lively on the surface, but empty inside. The way they envy each other and learn to grow from each other because each of them has what the other one desires. 

Jujutsu Kaisen reminds me of really early bleach that was just Ichigo and his teenage friends fighting Hollows. This is one of the manga I definitely reccomend, because it’s one of the lesser known manga in jump currently. The art style has this scratchy look about it which really adds well to the horror aspect of the series. It’s a demon fighting anime with some of the best demon designs, more attention is put on making them look grotesque and scary then in series like KNY where the demons for the most part are pretty good looking still. 

The main trio is very solid, a reckless idiot who swallowed a cursed finger in the first chapter and is continually dealing with the consequences of that, the shadowy, quiet type cool headed one who almost never talks about his past or his true feelings on the matter, and between them the cheerful girl whose a tad on the merciless side. 

Not only are the characters good, but it’s one of the few series where the fights and lore are super interesting. Rather than dealing with demons directly Kimetsu no Yaiba style we deal with curses, which are generated from the human subconscious. 

For exmaple one of the villains Mahito is the embodiment of the fear humans have for other humans, that is the anxieties of life, and the fear and suppressed feelings that go hand in hand with humanity. Because that he’s much like a child curse quickly learning and progressing with a human intelligence. 

The fights, the powers of characters, they’re all used to further develop a really interesting world of curses and the people who live dealing with them that it feels like we’re only scratching the surface of right now and desperately makes you want to figure out the system they have in place for this entire world. 

Yui Kamio Lets Loose - I find it to be a really sweet romantic comedy about a stuck up boy obsessed with appearances and what other people think of him falling in love with two sides of a girl, the uncontrollable Yui that beat him up and constantly gets into fights and trouble, and the perfect demure girl who can only ever be helpless and kind and needs to be protected. It has a feel of a lot of classic 80s high school romantic comedies. The only real problem is that it needs to acquire a plot fast, because it’s at risk for cancellation which makes it hard for me to get invested in a series that might end soon. 

Double Taisei - One of those shonen manga that had a really interesting beginning chapter, but then failed to do anything with it. I think it would work well as a character piece between two personalities who act like brothers in the same body, but the characters aren’t strong enough quite yet to work that way. I do like the character design… 

Tokyo Shinobi Squad - It looked like a ripoff at first but the main character is actually fairly different from Naruto, and the manga itself is uniquely its own thing. I just hope it learns to utilize it’s cyberpunk setting better, because ninjas fighting in a cyberpunk dystopia is a very tropey premise and the story needs to utilize those tropes in order to work. I do like the fact that the main character starts out pretty powerful so it’s not a typical shonen formula about a main character slowly learning to gain power, instead it’s him taking in and being responsible for a kid. 

Manga I don’t read - One piece, Yuuna of the Haunted Hotsprings, Chainsawman, Samurai 8 the tale of Hachimaru, Beast Children, Miitama Security Busters. 

[jackie-talks-about-starkid]

A Very Potter Sequel (Rewatch #3, 9/23/2020)

YouTube publish date: July 22, 2010 [three years and a day from the book release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]

Number of views on date of rewatch: 4, 850, 972

Original Performance Run: May 14-16, 2010

Ticket price: Free! And available via email reservations! (because of parody-legality things) [x]

Director: Matt Lang

Music and Lyrics: Darren Criss

Book: Brian Holden, Matt Lang, and Nick Lang

Cast album price and availability: $9.99, on Bandcamp (x)  and iTunes

     Release date: 8/3/2010

Parody or original: a very original sequel parody (parodies Sorcerer’s Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix specifically while incorporating other elements of the Potter books, movies, and various other pop culture references)

Main cast and characters

Harry - Darren Criss

Ron - Joey Richter

Hermione - Bonnie Grueson

Draco - Lauren Lopez

Snape - Joe Moses

Dumbledore - Dylan Saunders

Umbridge - Joe Walker

Lupin - Brian Holden

Sirius - Nicholas Straus

Lucius Malfoy - Tyler Brunsman

Yaxley - Corey Dorris

Musical numbers

Act I

     *all music and lyrics by Darren Criss

“Not Over Yet” Characters: Lucius, Yaxley, and Death Eaters

“Harry Freakin’ Potter” Characters: Ron Weasley, Rita Skeeter, Harry, and Hogwarts Students

“To Have A Home” Characters: Harry

“Hermione Can’t Draw/Lupin Can’t Sing” Characters: Harry and Hogwarts Students

“The Coolest Girl” Characters: Hermione

“Gettin’ Along” Characters: Dumbledore and Umbridge

“Let The Games Begin” Characters: Company

“Those Voices” Characters: Harry, Sirius, James, and Lily

Act II

“Guys Like Potter” Characters: Lucius and Snape

“Stutter” Characters: Umbridge

“No Way” Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco

“Days of Summer/Back to Hogwarts” Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Company

Notable Notes:

The entire filmed version of AVPS premiered at the Harry Potter convention, Infinitus, which is one of (if not, the first) convention that StarKid officially attended as guests

A Very Starkid Album, which includes many songs from AVPS as well as the Darren Criss solo versions of “Ready to Go” and “Even Though” from Me and My Dick, debuted as #14 on iTunes Top Pop Album charts when it was released, earning a spot higher than Glee and Lady Gaga, whose albums were placed at #31 and #29, respectively (x)

Cultural Context: 2010

Hurt Locker wins Best Film at the Critics’ Choice Awards

The Winter Olympics happen in Vancouver

Matt Smith has his first appearance as the 11th Doctor on Doctor Who

Iron Man 2 opens on April 26th

One Direction is formed on X Factor

California’s Prop 8, banning same-sex marriage in California, is overturned

The global outbreak of the Swine Flu is still ongoing

Content Analysis:

There are a two things that stuck with me the most while watching AVPS for the umpteenth time that I could not stop thinking about:

     1. each character portrayed in the show shows off each actor’s comedic strengths perfectly, and

     2. despite not every single creative team member having a musical theatre specific formal education, growing up in and around musical theatre made the team more aware of the intrinsic musical theatre characteristics and formulas that aid a work like this in its success.

The first point should be somewhat obvious to those who have watched the show and are fans of the original source content, both book and movie universes. I cannot sing the praises of Lauren Lopez and Joey Richter’s comedic timing enough! I have no words for how incredible their performances are. Darren Criss’ performance is charming as always. Joe Walker as Umbridge is absolutely hilarious - StarKid’s comfortability with performing in drag is something I really admire that not a lot of productions can successfully pull off. I’d like to give a special nod to Tyler Brunsman as Lucius Malfoy who honored Lopez’s physicality as Draco perfectly while still making the overdramatic poses and gestures a trait that is the character’s own. Overall, 10/10 love the performances.

Now for the music. Darren Criss has an extensive background in musical theatre and theatre in general, so it isn’t surprising that he was able to make music that worked so well for a musical that he helped create. However, there are certain things about musical theatre that a person can’t learn via formal education and experience in professional settings. A lot of musical theatre (I’d say all of it, but that wouldn’t be giving professionals enough credit) is simply trial and error. While the loose idea of book-and-lyric/dialogue, song, and dance musical theatre has existed for over one hundred and fifty years (historians often attribute the first musical to The Black Crook which debuted in New York City in 1866), the modern-day formula for musical theatre was perfected, though by all means not invented, by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the 1940s with Oklahoma! They are often credited for creating the traditional musical theatre plot formula and song types that were used almost exclusively in the Golden Age of musical theatre in the 1950s, and are still commonly seen today, even with more experimental and non-traditional pieces.

Like how the Hero’s Journey in literature is so commonly used and reused over and over in different mediums and genres, even in theatre, there are certain types of songs that are traditionally used for servicing a musical’s plot and character development. A classic example of this would be the “I Want” song, such as ‘The Wizard and I’ from Wicked or ‘Something’s Coming’ in West Side Story. In A Very Potter Sequel, the “I Want” song is ‘To Have A Home’. Another common song trope in large cast musicals with one specific lead is something I like to call the “Hero’s Welcome” song, though I’m not sure if that phrase is the proper term for what I’m talking about. An example of this type of song is ‘My Shot’ from Hamilton or, in this case, ‘Harry Freakin’ Potter’. A personal favorite of mine is the “Jilted Lovers” song, like ‘Take Back Your Mink’ from Guys and Dolls and ‘Stutter’, from this show.

Anyone who is familiar with musicals, and particularly musical comedies, would recognize these kinds of songs and the roles that they serve in their specific productions, but the reason why it’s so hard to write successful musicals is because not every song a person writes for a specific part of a show fits the rights tone or follows the more traditional type of song seen in previous musicals that follow a similar plot structure of character introduction, conflict introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution (with a happy ending for a musical comedy). Yet Darren Criss, who was in his early twenties at the time, executes it so very well.

Even in the character performances, actors use very specific gestures and intonations when delivering a line or performing an action that the audience immediately knows the intentions of, because that delivery is so commonly used in whatever instance is being performed. One that immediately comes to mind is the scene in which Umbridge discusses the dorm rules with the girls. While explaining the cruel and unfair treatment the world gives for girls who aren’t as pretty and perfect as Cho Chang, Umbridge says,

“Because that’s just the way the world works for frumpy little turds like us! I mean…

*Umbridge stiffens with realization, then turns her neck in a very jilted fashion towards the girls*

Like you”

It’s the neck action that does it for me. I don’t know how or when that performative gesture became a physical symbol indicative of aggressive mental instability, but the media consumer inside of me knows that gesture is what is meant to be done at that moment in time to convey the threat Umbridge represents. And that’s what makes the comedy of StarKid, and the comedy in this production work so well for me. The cast and creative team just get what it means to perform something for an audience, and particularly an audience of fans. And it’s definitely because the cast and creative team are such adamant fans themselves.

[mrsq8geek]

Advice for an aspiring author hoping to write lgbt muslim characters?

Hi, thanks for your question!  This is quite the rabbit hole, so I can't cover everything, but I did my best.  Some general guidelines and then my own view:

1. Do not write this story unless it is from personal experience or with the direct express written permission from the person it’s based on, and I hesitate with that second one.  Like many other experiences, this story hasn’t been told all that often, so unless you’re one of the above, you don’t have many points of reference and will probably get it wrong and, I suspect, as ‘exotic’.

That said:

2.  Start by examining yourself. One of my favourite resources is @writingwithcolor​, which has many great references for this.  At this point, we're asking questions such as "Why do you not want to represent us?" and "Why do you need to tell this story right now?" among others.  Do check it out.

3.  Please, please don't write an apologetic acceptably assimilated model minority.  I don't know where you're from, or where you intend to set the story, but we're all influenced by American media, so I feel it's important to mention.  We generally don't have positive feelings towards those characters, let alone relating to them, at least not to the aspects where they're supposed to represent us.

(My personal pet peeve example is Abed Nadir from Community, a Muslim enamoured with Christmas and is an all-around Acceptable Arab... played by an Indian actor.  It's extra irking because the show was touted as being Better Than Big Bang Theory, and it seemed okay addressing many other nuances, but when it came to this? Think of it this way: why didn't they cast an Asian actress to play Britta or Annie and called her white? Or, indeed, an Indian actress to play Shirley and called her black? Because clearly they believe the audience can't tell the difference? Arabs are black or white but not brown, guys.  Not all Arabs are Muslims and vice versa.  Some Muslims are (gasp!) white.)

Anyway, the point is Abed, and others like him, are non-threatening.  They reject their own identity and are desperate to be Just Like Us Default White People.  While this is definitely the case for some people, 1. it's not the case for most people, 2. it's just a really tired trope especially in current times, and 3. the other side of this trope’s coin is that in order to be acceptable for The West, they have to rebel against their character’s original identity, which is just as tired.

But I digress.  You already know by asking this question that it’s controversial.  Why not play it straight instead?  Pun unintended.  Do your research, whatever way you choose to go. 

4.  Speaking of doing your research, do. your. research! Muslims are a diverse group of about 2 billion people*.  There are two major sects and many smaller ones.  In the major ones, homosexuality (etc) is a sin, haram, full stop, end of sentence.  Any level of presenting like the opposite gender is not only haram, it’s cursed.  Yes, there are many people coming up with exceptions and loopholes, or just doing what they want regardless, and if you want to write about them, that's your prerogative, but:

* so Kamala Khan, for example, is completely unrelatable to me. (See: 9)

5.  You know what else is considered haram in majority Islam? Extra-marital sex.  Pork.  Alcohol.  Drugs, yes including cannabis, in fact even nutmeg.  People do all that anyway! Especially in non-Muslim-majority countries where the laws don’t make it harder for them, or in poorer Muslim-majority countries where people don’t get educated in religious matters, or indeed all over everywhere because not all people of any religion actively practice that religion.  It's a non-issue by this point. 

5A. The only reason LGBT Muslims is An Issue, and it’s An Issue Now, is because America’s making it one.  It’s no different than, say, modern white feminism.  They stir the pot, we deal with the mess.

5B. Muslims are people, and people aren't perfect. We know this, and we've addressed it as nauseam… and that’s just it, we’re allowed* to talk about these things because we know ourselves and our experiences.  It’s more acceptable coming from us to us because we have a common ground to start discussing things.

* I wrote allowed, but it really depends on the situation. Sometimes you’re not allowed simply because you don’t want to make it an issue, and that’s okay too.

5C. Since you’re asking, I’m assuming you’re not a Muslim yourself, and that puts a layer on scrutiny on you.  We don’t know where to begin to talk to you, and it’s worse if you represent us in any controversial way or in any way less than perfect.  Less than perfect by whose standards? It depends. Nobody knows! (See: 3)

5D. Examine yourself, research the topic, and know just what you’re trying to say.

6.  That said, here’s my personal take on it that I’d love to see someone do, but haven’t so far.  I don’t know how people arrive at their sexuality, whether it’s by nature or nurture, but they do end up there one way or another.  When it comes to Islam, you’re highly encouraged to (heterosexually, to be clear) marry and reproduce.  You’re discouraged from sex outside that framework.  If you are unable to marry for whatever reason, you’re supposed to find a way to deal with it. Fasting is often recommended.

And the way I see it, finding yourself not being attracted to the opposite gender is just one reason to not marry.  “So I NEVER get to have sex?” Yes, just like your straight brothers and sisters who realize they can never marry for their own reasons. Maybe their health prevents them. Maybe they have family depending on them, especially financially, and they realize can’t add a husband or wife into the mix. Maybe they’re incompatible with the person they wanted.  

The West worships Romantic Love (also money, but that’s another thing), but it really isn’t everything in life*.  Just see any post here on tumblr dot com discussing the different kinds of love the Romans acknowledged and wrote about extensively.  Yes, it’s a powerful drive, but again, it’s not the only thing in life, and coming to that realization is its own journey.

* (Something something Harry Potter)

I am so, so sick and tired of characters who don’t practice their religion (“hi, I’m Muslim/Jewish/Christian/Hindu/Buddhist/whatever, but I will have that pork, that beef cheeseburger, whatever”*), and equally tired of characters who are the personification of their religion (“hi, I’m religious, hear me act out my stereotypes”). Don’t get me started on characters who exist just so the authors can bash that religion.  

* a recent disappointing example was the show Crazy Ex Girlfriend.  When Rebecca is first introduced, I was excited to learn the show was about a Jewish character, finally a religious character portrayed as practicing!  But it was quickly revealed they were focusing on the cultural aspects, and not only is she non-practicing, she doesn’t even believe any god exists.  Snore. In contrast, see: Shepherd Book from the show Firefly.  Not just a practicing Christian, an actually interesting character in his own right.  Not a perfect person by far, but someone who’s doing his utmost to live his life and still maintain his faith. 

I want a Muslim character who finds themselves attracted to whomever, someone from the same gender or whatever you want, or feeling like they want to present as not their birth gender, and then proceeds to do what so many of us real-life Muslims do: find ways to deal with it and come to terms with it.  Acknowledge it and make peace with it.  Make the choice, the conscious decision, to remain faithful to their beliefs and maybe not pursue a romantic relationship with the other person… and instead interact with them like a human being they care about.  Help them reach a goal or achieve a dream, keep them safe from harm, something.  Maybe focus on the traits of the other gender that are accessible, or fight the toxic effects of the patriarchy, something.  Writing like “a happy ending == they end up together”, and any and all other outcomes are Bad and Tragic and Void, is boring and unrealistic.

Just as a black woman being soft and feminine is a rebellion against the mainstream, a religious character sticking to their faith above all else is way more interesting than yet another character breaking the rules.

Addendums:

7. “But Islam is homophobic?” No, Islam has rules against intentionally engaging in specific behaviors.  You’re not faulted for having low alcohol tolerance, you’re faulted for the act of consumption. You’re not faulted for being addicted to drugs, you’re faulted for making the decision to try it the first time, or if you were tricked into it, for not trying to get clean once you’re there.  However!  People, all people, hashtag not just Muslims, often try to enforce rules by creating fear and hatred around them.  It’s a convenient societal shorthand, even if the consequences can be different than intended.  It’s the same mechanism that leads to “abstinence = zero sex ed” in the US.  Abstinence isn’t the issue, people trying to enforce it by making information around sex opaque are the ones causing problems.

So some Muslim people end up homophobic, and some Muslim people go all in the other direction, because the balance is delicate and difficult to find.  

8. “LGBT stories aren’t just about sex, what about asexuals, transsexuals, etc?” True, but most LGBT stories tend to go in that direction, and I’m keeping it as broad as I can here.

9. Even if your character is Muslim but not Arab, it’s probably going to come up, in your research if not in your story.  Although the most populous Muslim nation is Indonesia and the most famous “Muslim” terrorists are Afghani, the most prominent Muslim sites are in Saudi Arabia and Palestine.  The branding is there.  With that in mind, required reading is the film Reel Bad Arabs, and any primers you can find on Orientalism, Colonialism, and Imperialism.

***

Honourable mentions:

Check out the Saudi series Masameer by Myrkott on YouTube, many episodes have subtitles. They recently made a movie and it's on Netflix internationally!  You can't escape American Imperialism any more than you can escape British Colonialism*, but we're all way past being enamoured by them.  The Emirati series Freej is also in Youtube, sans subtitles, though the DVDs have them, and I’ll leave it at that.  Hashtag quarantine let us catch up on shows?  Stay safe, stay home.

* she said, in English.

[harusha]

I just saw your post about PJ and I'm wondering, do you have any book recs?

On mythology specifically or overall? I’m gonna do both since I’m not sure. Also sorry for the relatively late reply, I had to think about this, and I just got back from dinner.

The Count of Monte Cristo- Fantastic page turner, and a genuinely good “revenge” tale. It’s actually one of the first of that kind (or at the very least, one of the most popular ones). It’s also a book that a lot of people cite as the one that changes their mind on classics as “boring.”

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Somewhat of a controversial pick (both because of its subject matter and because it’s often “required high school reading,” ie “boring” to a lot of people.)

Huck Finn is an exceedingly complex character, and his friendship with Jim is really good. Pay attention to what Huck Finn does and says; he’s an unreliable narrator due to how he was brought up, his age, and his illiteracy. There’s also a lot of symbolism and other literary devices at play in his character (ex. notice his fixation with death and how it colors how Twain writes him). It’s very much a book I recommend if you want to study the unreliable narrator as a trope, the  Naïf version of it.

As a side note, it’s very poignant because of how Huck learns to condemn his racism. One of the messages you can get from this book is “If this uneducated poor white boy can learn to overcome his prejudices, so too can someone who has been educated, has money, etc.” It is a brutal condemnation of racism (though you do have to consider the time period, the “lens” of which you have to view through.)

Lolita- Another controversial pick, and one I’ll upright say as a lot of trigger warnings attached (google the summary, and you’ll see what I mean).

Beautiful prose (some of my favorite in literature actually) and a monster of a protagonist. When you read this, remember how Humbert Humbert is framing it. He is telling his tale to a court; he is unreliable and will frame events to make himself appear sympathetic. One notable factor of the author’s skill is how often Humbert gains the readers’ sympathy despite the atrocious subject matter. I personally felt viscerally uncomfortable reading his thoughts, and this is one of the few books that has ever made me feel that way. I didn’t fall into the sympathy trap, but look at any discussion of the book, and you’ll see what I mean.

I also recommend this author’s (Vladimir Nabokov) other works.

Franz Kafka’s literary works- Kafka is one of my favorite authors because he really showcases the isolation (both due to WWI, technological advancement, and the “beginnings” of modern capitalism) of the beginning of the 1900s, and he’s one of modernism’s premier authors. His works often deal with the themes of isolation, judgement, and outcasts. 

In particular, I’m fond of “The Metamorphosis” (cliche pick I know) and “In the Penal Colony.” The former is a short story so quick read if you just wanna try his writing style + it’s very influential (See Part 1 of Tokyo Ghoul for one example).

Also know that Kafka had a very strained relationship with his father and a conflicted relationship with his religion. I recommend reading “Letter to his Father” first to get an understanding of Kafka’s psyche to truly get pass the “nonsensical” nature of his works. It, like the title says, is a letter he wrote to his father, but his mother never delivered it.

If you want even more info on Kafka to understand his works, I recommend Kafka: Judaism, Politics, and Literature which covers a lot more (and in more succinct words) than I can on his works and life. As a fun fact, Vladimir Nabokov also placed him as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. On Kafka himself, he thought he was a failure of a human being and writer, and now look at him. He’s up there in the Western Canon with Shakespeare.

Paradise Lost + Paradise Regained- If you’re interested in Lucifer (or Samael if you subscribe to that theory), this is a must-read. Beautiful, haunting, and with a very charismatic figure in Lucifer. Alongside the obvious Divine Comedy, this work has influenced the portrayal of Lucifer and Hell quite a bit imo. Namely, the “sympathetic” portrayal you find in works such as Supernatural. It’s also an epic poem so it’s best listened to imo rather than read.

No Longer Human- Osamu Dazai’s work if you’re into that one show. An incredibly depressing book that’s often thought to be semi-autobiographical. It’s a haunting book that I don’t recommend for prose, but for the mood it evokes. I don’t recommend this unless you’re in a decent state of mind.

The Catcher in the Rye- Mildly controversial pick in that you either hate Holden or love him. It’s a book where you have to be in the “right” state of mind to appreciate Holden. For example, the period of moving away from home for college  This work deals with societal isolation and human loneliness and features an unreliable narrator.

It’s just a very particular feeling you have to be experiencing to appreciate Holden. I think anyway.

The Epic of Gilgamesh- Not super fancy or a reinterpretation of whatever. Just the oldest known written work of mankind. I like it a lot, but I like Sumerian myth so YMMV. It’s still missing a few tablets last I checked, but still a good read.

Also the related Enuma Elish, you get the creation myth.

Vampire Chronicles- I recommend the first three or four so books honestly. Afterwards, Anne Rice just goes off the rails. Prose is pretty, and Lestat is a terrible person but fascinating to read about. I am partial to Armand though tbh.

Dracula- I think this is another page-turner. I certainly enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s as scary as it would be in its’ published time period, but it is a classic Gothic horror. The unabridged version may look intimidating, but like Monte Cristo, you’ll sweep through it rather quickly.

“A Rose for Emily”- One of William Faulkner’s short stories. I think it’s a lovely piece and showcases the Southern Gothic (crumbling house, decaying and failing tradition and the southern nobility, etc.) There’s a theme of decay and time passing throughout this work.

As a side note, I actually enjoy Faulkner a lot, but he’s a difficult author imo. It’s not as apparent in this work, but more so in Intruder in the Dust (the first racial thriller) and especially The Sound and The Fury.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof- A play that deals with repressed homosexuality (maybe, it depends on how you interpret Brick’s dialogue and actions), loss, and denial. I quite like it a lot, and Tennessee Williams actually was gay (was because he’s dead and all). I read it, but tbh I feel like it would be better watched if you can find a performance on Youtube.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde’s most well known work imo. I enjoy the prose and the themes of corruption and indulgence present throughout the novel. There’s also a lot of allusions to Faust in it if you’re interested in that.

Peter Darling-a more modern choice but it features a trans and gay protagonist. Part of what I enjoy is how it’s not browbeaten into you that the protagonist is trans. It’s interwoven into the character where it’s an important part of him, but to where it doesn’t overwhelm his entire character. However, this is a novel where I feel the beginning and ending are great, but the middle is so-so. It’s a retelling of Peter Pan.

The Tain- Focuses on Cu Cuchulain and his cycle.

Poetic Edda- A must read if you’re interested in exploring Norse myths outside of Marvel. It’s basically a collection of tales.

Arabian Nights- Scheherazade is one of my favorite female figures from literature. She’s daring, clever, and particularly resourceful. It’s a frame narrative sort of tale so you technically won’t be seeing her as much since she’s telling each story, but it’s a lovely piece and perfect for a bedtime read because of its collection of tales. A lot of them have been referenced in media and related as well.

The Book Thief- Classic YA novel rec. It’s set in WWII and one of the novels that really showcases what YA could be. Basically a classic gem in the rough pile.

John Keats- He’s a poet, but I love his poetry because of how haunting and dark it can get; he often deals with themes of mortality.. Ode to Nightingale is particularly good.

China’s Four Great Classical Novels (Journey to the West, Dreams of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms)- I decided to clump them here since this is already super long. Each one is incredibly well-known in Asia (and obviously China), and you can find allusions everywhere to these four novels. Each novel is rather long and expensive though (I paid like 40 USD for each set). Journey to the West follows Sun Wukong, unarguably one of the most well-known figures in literature (at least in the East; he’s super influential, but somewhat less so in the West; keyword somewhat). Dreams of the Red Chamber has some very pretty poems, but it’s often thought to be the semi autobiographical work of the author (it deals with the rise and fall of his family and the dynasty).

Daiyu’s flower poem is one of the most memorable for example.

The blossoms fade, the blossoms fly,  the blossoms fill the sky. Their crimson fades, their scent dies out,  and who is there to pity?  Drifting threads gently twist together  and float past the springtime lodge;  Falling willow floss lightly sticks  and strikes the lady’s window drapes.

Water Margin is a bit “bawdier” than the other ones imo, but it’s a good tale and has many notable figures and scenes. On Three Kingdoms, it’s the one I’d recommend to start with if you’re interested in military intrigue and battles.

I also have a Goodreads where I organize everything by shelf if you prefer to look at that. I do need to update it though tbh.

https://www.goodreads.com/Mahariel

[eliamatrell]

jaga! your taste is frequently and consistently sublime! would you happen to have any media recommendations to share? could be literature, films, poems, tv shows, etc. 💞💗💕

oh mita, thank you! 💕this is such a lovely message to find in my inbox during this hellish heatwave. this list is quite incoherent - it’s so hard to find right words when your brain is melting and for that reason my english might be quite terrible at times - but! these are a few of my favourite things:

and then there were none, alias grace and the terror are great examples of acclaimed novels turned into equally good tv shows. imo the miniseries format is a superior option when it comes to adapting literature - there’s enough time to cover every important point, yet it doesn’t slog. also - there’s some terrific acting. 

i love horror, but only good horror - the kind that serves as a social commentary and doesn’t rely on gore, jumpscares and violence. there’s also my unfortunate catholic upbringing that makes me scared of anything with religious undertones (like the exorcist. or rosemary’s baby). despite being a bit of a snob who’s wary of mainstream writers, i adore stephen king’s works and his enormous impact on western cultural landscape. he shaped and influenced so many great creators and goodness - i can’t help but admire his imagination. i lovelovelove castle rock - it’s uncanny, connected to most of king’s novels and utterly engrossing. i’m hooked.

speaking of mister king - the shining (1980) is a masterpiece and it (2017) is one of my favourite movies ever. i was talking about this to my friend the other day, but i can’t bring myself to care about anything if it’s absolutely grim and hopeless. i need some light and hope, even if it’s just a spark. there is this great quote by sir terry pratchett (here’s the full essay): ‘The morality of fantasy and horror is, by and large, the strict morality of the fairy tale. The vampire is slain, the alien is blown out of the airlock, the evil Dark Lord is vanquished and, perhaps at some loss, the Good triumph – not because they are better armed, but because Providence is on their side. Let there be goblin hordes, let there be terrible environmental threats, let there be giant mutated slugs if you really must, but let there also be Hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know that we do not live in vain.’ - that’s what i love about dark stories. there are always characters that are simply good, characters we can trust, characters that guide us and reveal all those monsters and terrible things, all while holding our hand and protecting us. stephen king, just like all great writers, is well aware of that, and it-the-movie (i hate this title! it’s so vague that i always have to specify what i’m talking about) is a great example of this trope.

i have this personal quest of watching every movie directed by alfred hitchcock. psycho (1960) was the first entry on my list and oh goodness. how i loved it. 

i love anglophone poets, but at the end of the day, i keep coming back to polish poetry. it’s sad. it’s mostly sad. we were conquered, invaded, wiped off the map, controlled by foreign empires, and it’s all reflected in our literature. still, there is this ever-present stubbornness - we’re still here. we’ll always be here. tadeusz różewicz was one of our greatest writers. his poems are about surviving and re-learning how to live after. they make me cry every single time. here are three of my favourite ones (i am twenty-four / led to slaughter / i survived). also, zbigniew herbert. report from the besieged city was written about poland (after the failed uprising of august 1944, hitler personally ordered that the entire city of warsaw be razed to the ground) but god. it’s very universal. now when i read it i tend to think of aleppo, of damascus, of mosul. warsaw rose from the ashes - i can only hope so will these cities.

and wisława szymborska, always wisława szymborska. photograph from september 11 is one of my favourite pieces written by her - the last lines are phenomenal. also - cassandra, lot’s wife, on death, without exaggeration.

speaking of ‘on death, without exaggeration’ - the good place is one of the best pieces of media about afterlife ever created. it’s bittersweet, so smart, and heartwarming. its portrayal of what’s beyond the veil is very familiar, very human. god, i love it. i can’t recommend it enough. also - moral philosophy has never been so cool.

c.s. lewis is mostly known for the narnia series, but his true magnum opus is ‘till we have faces’ - a retelling of the classical myth of eros and psyche. gosh, what a beautiful and melancholic book. it’s about possessive love, about bonds between the mortals and their gods, about families, about lovers, about the sacred and the profane. this goodreads review captures my feelings perfectly.

my fondness for joan baez is well-documented and baptism: a journey through our time is my favourite album of hers. it’s mostly works of various poets - spoken and sung by baez. i especially adore ‘the magic wood’ (written by henry treece). it’s so haunting! also, it reminds me of this one short story by stephen king (yes, i know!) - the man in the black suit.

recently i’ve finished reading the collection of fairytales composed by angela carter. it was very diverse and simply Great. i’m also taking ‘the bloody chamber’ on holiday with me. i’ve already started it and oh goodness. ooooh goodness. (“The girl burst out laughing; she knew she was nobody’s meat.” - i mean!!!)

when it comes to fairytales written by contemporary authors - emily carroll’s graphic novel ‘through the woods’ is one of the best examples of this genre. i’m not a fan of Edgy Fairytales, but these are definitely not edgy - they’re refined, bloody and gothic. also: ’It came from the woods. Most strange things do.’ is one of my favourite quotes.

in this household we stan and support everything inspired by eastern european folklore. please, do read uprooted. and also spinning silver. i might be a little bit biased, but still - it’s just very well-written and imaginative. 

‘east of the sun, west of the moon’ illustrated by p.j. lynch will always be my favourite version. here are some samples: one, two, three, four.

i’m not too fond of ya as a genre, but. but. the cruel prince was incredibly good - much better than its title (although there was a prince. and he was indeed cruel!) and description would suggest. it’s a perfect summer read and it features faerie, a lot of bickering, some slashed throats and also good ol’ schemes and court machinations.

i love musicals. a lot of them - the good, the bad, the mediocre. i just really like people singing, you know. however, ‘natasha, pierre & the great comet of 1812′ is… god, it’s a lot. it’s about love, about war, about depression and loneliness, about honour, about healing - but first and foremost about humanity. please, do watch this performance (and then listen to the whole cast recording). goodness, what a wonderful show.

to be quite honest, this is only a fraction of my recs, but i didn’t want for this post to be too overwhelming. once again - thank you so much for asking! 💝

[thegirlandfilm]

Stagecoach as the Grand Narrative of the Western Genre

John Ford’s first sound western film, Stagecoach (1939) began his career as an iconic auteur definitive of American cinema. It was praised upon its release, but the momentum of critical appraisal increased throughout the 20th century, and the film is now revered as a classic. This early film of Ford’s has come to define his own film career, as well as the American Western genre. There are numerous critiques and appraisals of this film that discuss the film’s iconography. Among their discussions, as they hold similar or oppositional criticisms, each critic agrees that Stagecoach has greatly contributed to creation of the stable western genre. Film scholar André Bazin has noted in his writing: “Stagecoach (1939) is the ideal example of the maturity of a style brought to classical perfection. John Ford struck the ideal balance between social myth, historical reconstruction, psychological truth, and the traditional theme of the western mise en sc��ne” (149). Bazin sees that Stagecoach encompasses the distinctive themes, tropes, and motifs that have come to define the western genre today. He makes no specific mention of the films artistry or intellectual achievements, but contends that Stagecoach is significant for its irrefutable impact on the formation of the genre. This essay will discuss the various writings of critics who similarly argue that the themes and tropes of Ford’s Stagecoach have become engrained in the western genre. Particularly, there is considerable mention of the film’s visual signifiers and musical signifiers of the west, the introduction of archetypal characters, and its ability to communicate relevant American social issues.

In just the opening moments of the film, Ford introduces the visual and musical signifiers that have come define the genre. The opening credits play over the the army troops riding through the scenic image of a dessert landscape, followed by images of natives on horseback. In Jeremy Agnew’s writing The Old West in Fact and Film: History Versus Hollywood he posits that Stagecoach is remembered for its visual imagery of Monument Valley. Although the majority was filmed on set in Los Angeles, its brief images of the desolate valley are remembered. Ford realized the potential in this landscape early on, when he was approached by a local farmer who pitched the location to him and “Ford went on to film six more westerns in Monument Valley, which helped to confirm the images of this scene as ‘The West’” (Agney 88). This iconic image depicts three rock formations was used so frequently by Ford, that it now often appears in the background of other movies and has become known as ‘Hollywood Boulevard’ (90). Since its initial appearance, Monument Valley has been used regularly for movies, television commercial, and advertisements, as the recognizable scene has become one of the most dominant visual signifiers of the west. Bandy and Stoehr in Ride, Boldly Ride:The Evolution of the American Western relate in an interview with Ford in 1964 who stated “I think you can say that the real star of my Westerns has always been the land.. My favourite location is Monument Valley... it has riders, mountains, plains, desert, everything land can offer. I feel at peace there. I have been all over the world but I consider this the most complete, beautiful, and peaceful place on earth” (Bandy and Stoehr 95). It is clear why Ford appreciated the landscape so much, there are reasons beyond Ford’s personal aesthetic attraction to the land that have caused its success as the primary image of a Western landscape. Bandy and Stoehr suggest that Monument Valley “provides a seemingly eternal canvas against which the variables and vagaries of human existence can be etched. Many a classic Western film depends on its capacity to create the illusion of spatial and temporal passage, a passage that is emblematic of the wider notion of the transience of human life” (95). The reasons behind Monument Valley’s success is the deeper meanings that is represents; through a brief image of a stagecoach making its way through a dirt road in a vast and intimidating landscape, a viewer can appreciate the American spirit for success and expansionism. Bandy and Stoehr also reveal that the distinctly American musical score is also evocative of American nationalism. The score of the film by Richard Hageman,  was adapted from American folk tunes of the late 19th century, which are simple and familiar. In Stagecoach, the music is nostalgic of the developmental period of America’s past and “provides an almost subconscious connection with America’s past while also affording an upbeat accompaniment to the journey of the stagecoach passengers” (95). The score also appears within the first moments of the film that picture Monument Valley, thus making image and sound of the west inseparable and forever engrained in the audiences mind. In these first moments which combine American folk music with the expansive dessert, Ford creates the key visual and musical signifiers of the genre. It is these classical qualities, which are rooted in American history, that are echoed and repeated in many later westerns.

With Stagecoach, Ford introduces and popularizes archetypal characters that reflect the varying social classes of the nation. In Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers’ Guide to the Great Western by Howard Hughes, he discusses the two different social groups that Ford creates within the film: “The stagecoach passengers split into two groups: the ‘respectable’ and the ‘disreputable” (Hughes 6). He distinguishes the respectable characters as Peacock, Mrs Mallory, Hatfield, and Gatewood. Ford then uses the characters of outlaw Ringo, prostitute Dallas, and drunkard Doc Boone, as the disreputable counterparts. Hughes also notes that many other characters in American westerns are modeled after these archetypes, as they perfectly embody different social positions and represent familiar characters that are drawn directly from dime novels and pulp fiction (Hine and Faragher 509) . In this way, the relationship between these characters act as a microcosm of relationships between the social classes of the larger nation. In My Darling Clementine, the character Doc Holliday resembles the Hatfield the gambler, “Doc is one of the night, dressed in black he is an alcoholic” (8). Yet perhaps the most iconic figure that Ford created was with John Wayne as Ringo Kid. Hughes states that the “introduction of Ringo, as he waylays the stage, became a classic western moment. A rifle shot stops the stage horses in the track, while Ford zooms in on Wayne shouting “Hold it!”, twirling his Winchester with its outsized loading lever, in a could of dust” (6). As the morally questionable good-guy, an outcast of society, and skilled with a gun, Ringo Kid becomes the American ego-ideal. In fact, in Germany, the film was released with the title as Ringo, emphasizing John Wayne’s character as the center of the narrative. It is this revenge seeking yet heroic figure that John Wayne so famously played, that has consistently reappeared throughout western narratives. With this colourful cast of characters, Ford creates fixed representations of social groups for the genre. In Fifty Key American Films, White and Haenni review Ford’s representation of Native Americans as a “constantly implied threat but almost faceless and allowed no opportunity to state their case in a context where they were often treated shamefully” (White and Haenni 64). Similarly Eckstain and Lehman agree that the Apaches are deprived of words, as they are only either completely silent, or savagely yelling as the violent opposition from the landscape (Eckstein and Lehman 172). This limited representation set the standard for depiction of aboriginals in American cinema. Women are presented as similarly limited stereotypes; Mrs. Mallory fits the role of the mother, while Dallas is the typical whore. The characters of Stagecoach set the standard for character types of the western, as their contrasting and varying personality types create the perfect on-screen tension that is perhaps reflective of a tension between social classes in America.

The characteristics that Ford uses with Stagecoach have become permanent  tropes of the Western genre as a result of their innate connection to core American values. Particularly, America’s Christian values are reflected in Ford’s western: “Based on Christian forgiveness, love, and tolerance, these values are brought into open conflict with racial and sexual difference constructed in binary terms” (172). The film also invites viewers to critique how the disreputable characters are treated by by the respectable characters. James Roman argues that “Ford has woven a morality tale into the narrative: those characters who have postured with airs are depicted as superficial, while those os substance and ‘grit’ suffer the disgrace of their peers” (Roman 32), thus earning the audiences respect. These characters are clearly mistreated and this prejudice is presented as immoral, however the two outlaws are still sent to live as outcasts separate from he rest of society. Similar to the popular belief of those who act against the values of Christianity in American society, they should be forgiven for their sins, yet also be kept far from the upstanding members of society. The music, characters, and themes of Stagecoach collectively work to project a distinct American national identity “with one foot planted in U.S history and the other in American mythology. This symbiosis of fact and legend is the very essence of the film’s enduring appeal and its tremendous influence on the regenerate A-Western form” (Grant 42). After the slow decline of the genre’s popularity, it again rose near the end of the 20th century. Hine and Farhager argue that this turn back to the genre was due to the Western’s ability to critique contemporary social tensions of American culture” (Hine and Farhager 509). The genre has uses beyond entertainment, and has come to act as a mode of representation for relevant issues surrounding nationhood and social status. The clear narrative structure that Ford uses, has also become the standard for the western narrative, using a “three act structure that is marked by events and shifts in a geographical setting” (Premaggiore and Wallis 41). This same structure, is used repeatedly throughout the genre, retelling similar stories. Yet the genre remains successful due to its ability to discuss culturally relevant tensions. The formulaic competition of of Ford’s western narrative is timeless, as it deals with universal issues of class conflict and racism.

Ford’s iconic film is considered important by film scholars, not particularly for its cinematic artistry, but for having made a permanent mark on American film history, and perhaps American ideology as well. With one film, Ford is able to create distinct visual and musical signs that are now inseparable from the genre. The diverse cast of characters in Stagecoach have reappeared time and time again, varying slightly, but always reflective of certain social classes. The tensions that arise from these character’s differences are representative of different social issues in America that arise throughout history. The film has been discussed since its initial release in 1939, but has gained recognition increasingly throughout the years. It is now recognized for its introduction of dominant western tropes that have come to signify America as the West that is is known as today. Stagecoach’s impact reaches far beyond its popularity and critical appraisal, but has become the grand narrative of the western genre.

[bouncingtigger10]

New Post has been published on The Bouncing Tigger Reads

New Post has been published on http://www.tiggerreviews.com/when-you-want-to-know-which-type-of-story-you-may-be-reading/

When you want to know which type of story you may be reading...

So one thing I like to think about when reading a story is what type of story it is. When I was writing (academic folks!) I found out there were 7 archetypes types of stories that could be used, but in fact there are many other ways of identifying which story you are reading – and sometimes it is fun to guess. So I took look at what authors think about story tropes or archetypes and found the following. this is far from comprehensive, but it is a bit of fun research. If you want to find out more then take a look at: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes and https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MysteryTropes

There are sub-divisions of mystery and crime tropes eg:

Military and Warfare Tropes

Genre Tropes

News Broadcast

Murder Tropes

Crime and Punishment Tropes

The Oldest Profession

Monster Sob Story

Murder Tropes

Mystery Fiction

Mystery Literature

Mystery Story Creator Index

Toxic Tropes

Basic Mystery Classes

Criminals

Crime and Punishment Series

Crime and Punishment Tropes

Cops and Detectives

Detective Drama

Forensic Phlebotinum

Historical Detective Fiction

But I particularly like this list:

Absence of Evidence

The Alibi

Anachronistic Clue

Anonymous Killer Narrator

Anti-Climactic Unmasking

Beneath Suspicion

Blood-Stained Letter

Bluffing the Murderer

The Butler Did It

Cast as a Mask

Chronic Evidence Retention Syndrome

Clock Discrepancy

Closed Circle

Clueless Mystery

Condensation Clue

Confess in Confidence

Consulting a Convicted Killer

Conviction by Contradiction

Cozy Mystery

Curtain Camouflage

Cut Himself Shaving

Death in the Clouds

Did Not Die That Way

Disability Alibi

The Dog Was the Mastermind

Dramatic Curtain Toss

Driving Question

Eagle-Eye Detection

Eureka Moment

Everyone Is a Suspect

Everybody Did It

Evidence Dungeon

Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Evil Plan

Exposition Victim

Fair-Play Whodunnit

Finger-Licking Poison

Fingertip Drug Analysis

The Game Never Stopped

Hide the Evidence

Hidden in Plain Sight

Hidden Villain

I Never Said It Was Poison

Important Character, Important Evidence

Intrepid Reporter

Let Off by the Detective

Lights Off, Somebody Dies

Locked Room Mystery

Lotsa People Try to Dun It

The Meddling Kids Are Useless

Mistaken for Evidence

Mockspiracy

Mockstery Tale

Motive Equals Conclusive Evidence

Mysterious Stranger

Mystery Arc

Mystery Magnet

Mystery of the Week

Needle in a Stack of Needles

Never One Murder

Never Suicide

Never the Obvious Suspect

Notable Non Sequitur

Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon

Old, Dark House

Only One Plausible Suspect

Ontological Mystery

Orgy of Evidence

Perfect Poison

Placebo Eureka Moment

Precrime Arrest

Proof Dare

Public Secret Message

Puzzle Thriller

Red Herring

Reverse Whodunnit

Rewind, Replay, Repeat

A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma

Ripped from the Headlines

Saying Too Much

Secret Identity Apathy

Serial Killings, Specific Target

Shell Game

Sherlock Can Read

Sherlock Scan

The Seven Mysteries

Signature Item Clue

The Stakeout

The End… Or Is It?

Stranger Behind the Mask

The Summation

Summation Gathering

Suspect Is Hatless

That Mysterious Thing

Ten Little Murder Victims

Thriller on the Express

Twist Ending

Two Dun It

The Unsolved Mystery

Weather Report Opening

Wheel Program

Who Murdered the Asshole?

World of Mysteries

Writing Indentation Clue

You Meddling Kids

You Wake Up in a Room

You Wake Up On A Beach

The Kurt Vonnegut Jr 8 forms/tropes of stories.

Kurt Vonnegurt is very well respected for his story analysis. He made a map of his analysis against time.

He made a visual mapping of the length of the story against the time inhabited by the story and the different ups and downs each classic/trope will take. Helps explains how when you feel unsatisfied by a storyline it is often because you are still waiting for the next point to occur.

On the other hand Ken Miyamoto, Produced screenwriter, former Sony Pictures script reader/story analyst, former Sony Studios liaison claims that these are the story tropes.

Coming of Age – Seemingly innocent (although not always so) youth experience the evils, trials, and tribulations of the real world. Stand by Me, To Kill a Mockingbird, Almost Famous, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, The Graduate, American Graffiti, etc.

Revenge – Our most primal instinct.  We see and read stories of revenge in nearly every genre.  In film we have Mad Max, Carrie, Death Wish, Once Upon a Time in the West, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Gladiator, Election, Munich, The Counte of Monte Cristo, Hang ‘Em High, Memento, etc.

The Great Battle – An individual or group of people in conflict with others.  This ranges from epic battles (War movies, Lord of the Rings) to comedy (War of the Roses) to science fiction (Star Wars, Terminator franchise, etc.).

Love and Friendship – Love stories (Romeo and Juliet, Romantic comedies), buddy movies (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Lethal Weapon), dramas about friendship (The Big Chill), etc.

The Big Mystery – There’s a mystery to be solved, and the protagonist has to solve it.  You’re looking at classic characters in the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Tin Tin, Nancy Drew, etc.  Comedies like The Pink Panther series.  Agatha Christy novels.  Tom Clancy and John Grisham novels and movie adaptations.

The Great Journey – This theme follows characters dealing with trials and tribulation during travels… many of which are epic.  Huckleberry Finn, Apocalypse Now (Heart of Darkness in literature form), The Odyssey, Star Wars, and probably the best example in both film and literature, Lord of the Rings.

The Noble Sacrifice – The protagonist sacrifices himself for others.  Glory, Armageddon, war movies where a character dies for his fellow soldiers, etc.

The Fall From Grace – Showing humans going where only God should go, doing what only God should do, or attempting to do what humans shouldn’t do.  You look at films and novels like Jurassic Park, Splice, Frankenstein, etc.  And then look into science films like A.I. and even Terminator, where we as humans have gone too far in trying to create life… and it backfires on us.  Then into the horror genre with the aforementioned Frankenstein and even Stephen King’s Pet Semetary.

And Reedsy gives you 14 Fantasy tropes:

September 3, 2018

Fantasy tropes, like any other type of literary trope, are recurring images, themes, or devices that are used to the point of being common conventions amongst its genre.

When writing a genre such as fantasy (with such well-known conceits),  authors often feel the need to straddle a fine line: include too many tropes and readers will get déjà vu; don’t include a single cliché and you risk losing readers who have come to expect certain themes and touchstones from a fantasy novel.

The thing is, conventions commonly crop up in stories because most of them contain some element of universal relatability — and people enjoy the familiar.

So embrace the balancing act by acquainting yourself with some of the most popular fantasy tropes out there, and by learning how to prevent your characters, plots, and worlds from becoming a complete cliche

Character tropes

At their heart, all stories are about characters who represent some aspect of human nature — and fantasy is no exception. Many novels in this genre feature archetypes, which is not necessarily a bad thing — so long as your characters’ development aligns with the narrative arc and doesn’t rely on cliché pitstops.

1) The Chosen One

A character who is alone capable of fulfilling an important purpose, and whose responsibility is to resolve the plot’s main conflict — which will often be to save the world.

2) The Secret Heir

An orphan ends up being the long-lost scion to a royal throne. Often, this character is raised on a farm or another humble situation that contrast their true lineage. Maybe they lost their parents at a young age and sent away for their own protection. Perhaps they were switched at birth in some sort of hilarious misunderstanding. Maybe their mother had a summer fling with an undercover prince in her gap year.

3) The Evil Overlord

Fire and brimstone, darkness and inhospitable lands, the Evil Overlord usually lives in a realm that reflects their wicked intentions, surrounded  by their minions and followers. The Evil Overlord is also often bent on world domination.

4) The Reluctant Hero

The protagonist is thrust down the path of a story they don’t wish to be a part of. They long to return to normal life and only continue on their quest out of obligation or necessity. Think of it as the difference between Frodo (who wishes to return to the Shire but knows a task must be completed) and Conan the Barbarian, who relishes the role of rough-hewn hero. Often, the Reluctant Hero is also the Chosen One.

5) The Lucky Novice

This sometimes manifests when a character who has had never attempted a specific activity before is suddenly extremely talented at that specific skill.  Other times it’s presented in the form of a protagonist — who’s had a moderate amount of training — defeating the villain who has been honing their powers for years or decades (or even centuries).

6) The Mentor

Usually an elderly character who prepares the protagonist for whatever conflict they are facing. The Mentor often leaves before the big climax — whether they are killed, retire, or have to leave to carry out a job elsewhere — forcing the protagonist to stand on their own two feet.

Worldbuilding tropes

While the many subgenres of fantasy will all have their own tropes, here are a few worldbuilding conventions that you’re bound to see more often than not.

7) The World That Never Progresses

When a novel of series covers a society through the ages — but that world seems never change or progress. It could be a century later, but no social, technological, political, or cultural developments seem to have occurred. This one is fairly typical of high fantasy, which usually take place on grand, epic scales. ( and the one that really irritates me about Game of Thrones. Surely by now they have learnt how to fix holes in wooden doors!

8) The Pseudo-European Medieval Setting

A feudal system governing a society where taverns are frequented and duel-by-swords are a daily occurrence. The stories don’t usually take place in actual Europe, but a world that very much resembles the continent’s medieval era. This setting is a mainstay of fantasy — significantly solidified in the genre by The Lord of the Rings, but harking back to European folklore and tales of King Arthur.

9) The Powerful Artifact

This convention is used across all types of genres: an object of great power must be saved from falling into the wrong hands. The object is typically inanimate and derives its power from the manipulation of those who use it. The object might not be inherently evil, but its powers can have the effect of tempting and corrupting even the noblest characters.

10) The Homogenous Species

All elves are beautiful and love trees, and all dwarves are obsessed with gold and living underground, right? Categorizing entire races into a few commonalities is typical of fantasy novels, and if one character from that race differs, you can bet they’re an outlier — and often the protagonist of the novel (or a trusty sidekick). Another common feature of this trope is when one species is inherently “good”, and another is inherently “bad.”

Plot tropes

The Plot is the chain of events that comprise your narrative arc. Many fantasy novels will share a link or two (or seven) in common with other novels, including these:

11) The Waiting Evil

Long, long ago, an evil force is defeated in battle and locked away, never to wreak havoc again. That is, of course, until now. Having bided its time, the evil entity breaks free with an eye for vengeance. This Waiting Evil might break free of their own volition, might be released by an avid supporter (that is usually then disposed of — hello, Peter Pettigrew), or it might be released accidentally by an unknowing passerby or by natural causes.

12) The “Here Comes the Cavalry” Twist

All is lost. The villain and their minions are too strong and despite a noble fight, the jig is up. The heroes simply can’t hold off the opposition any longer. Time to lay down and die. But wait! Do you hear that? It’s faint, but growing louder. It’s… it’s… it’s the heroes’ friends, showing up in the nick of time to save the day! Hooray! Not all is lost!

13) The Black and White Morality Theme

The battle between “good” and “evil” is such a prevalent theme in fantasy — and it’s no wonder. When it strays to a cliché is when the line between good and evil is perceived as black and white, with no grey area. The good guys are purely good, and the bad guys are pure evil — end of story. Often, the good guys manage to defeat the bad guys without killing a soul or even wrecking a single building.

14) The Quest

The hero — and usually a handful of secondary characters — sets out on a quest with a specific goal. Typically the goal ranges from saving a princess, defeating a villain, destroying a corrupt artifact, or finding someone. The goal of the quest doesn’t matter as much as the fact that there is a solid one. While The Quest very closely resembles The Hero’s Journey, there are key differences between the two story structures: while the former is all about the character’s journey to achieve a goal, the latter is more about the character’s inner journey than the actual objective. [ https://blog.reedsy.com/fantasy-tropes/ ]

On the other hand Jill Williamson claims there are 145 (!!!) Romance Tropes.

abduction to love

accidental pregnancy

afraid to commit

all grown up

amnesia

antihero romance

arranged marriage

athlete

bait and switch

beauty and the beast

best friend’s lover

best friend’s sibling

best friends/ friends first

billionaire

blackmail

blind date

bodyguard crush

boss/employee

boy hates girl

boy meets ghoul

boy meets girl

break his heart to save him

brother’s best friend

bully turned puppy lover

can’t live with them, can’t live without them

celebrity loves commoner

celibate hero

childhood enemies fall in love

childhood friends

childhood marriage promise

Cinderella story/wrong side of the tracks

classes clash

clueless love

consanguinity

crazy love

Cyrano/matchmaker

damaged lead finds happily ever after

dark secret keeps them apart

different worlds

disguise

enemies to lovers

everyone can see it

fairytale

fake engagement

fatal attraction

first love

fish out of water

fling

forbidden love/Romeo and Juliet

friends with benefits

girl wants bad boy

guardian/ward

guy wants cheerleader

huge guy, tiny girl/ tiny guy, huge girl

if I can’t have you, no one will!

imaginary love triangle

impotent love

innocent cohabitation

instant/false sweethearts

it happened in Vegas

jilted bride/groom

law enforcement

long distance relationship

long-term lovers

love at first sight

love interest has a profession protagonist abhors

love interest reminds of estranged family member

love potion

love reforms villain

love triangle

love/hate

lovers in denial/ they’re the last to know

mad love

maid/janitor

mail-order bride

marriage of convenience

men in uniform

mistaken declaration of love leads to love

mistaken identity

noble rescuer steps in, She’s dating Mr. Wrong

nobody thinks it will work

not good enough for him/her

oblivious to love

older man, younger woman/ older woman, younger man

on the rocks

one night stand

one wants true love/other wants a fling

oops! fall in love with the wrong person (which could ruin everything!)

opposites attract

orphan

overly shy love

parent/childcare worker

partners in crime

passionate lovers

Plain Jane get the hottie

playboy

politics

pretending to be married or engaged

protector

redemption

rejected as unworthy/ turns life around

reluctant sex worker

removing the rival

rescue romance

return to hometown

reunion romance

revenge

rich man, poor woman/ rich woman, poor man

rivals/ protagonist vs. antagonist

road trip romance

rock star hero

royalty

runaway bride/groom

scars from the past

second chance at love

second time around

secret admirer

secret baby- He doesn’t know she’s PG

secret that can end everything

sibling triangle

sibling’s ex-spouse

similarities attract

sleeps with everyone but you

sorry, I’m taken

stranded together

student/teacher

sudden parent

the one that got away

time travel

tortured hero(ine)

tragic love affair

tragic past

two-person love triangle (involves some mistaken identity) ex. superman

ugly duckling

unobtainable love interest/ one-sided

unrequited love

unrequited-love-switcheroo love triangle

unwanted harem

virginal/innocent

wallflower noticed by the rake

was it all a lie? (undercover love)

widow(er)

(wo)man in peril

working with the ex

workplace romance

So you reads your story and takes your pick.. Have fun…

[casualarsonist]

RDR2 Last Impressions

Click here for my formal review of the game:

https://casualarsonist.tumblr.com/post/179824865660/red-dead-redemption-2-review-ps4

Full disclosure, I haven’t finished RDR2 yet. I’ve put close to eighy hours into the thing, at a guess, and I still haven’t finished it. There was a time I was hoping to 100% it, and while that’s not an impossible task, it is exceedingly time consuming, and not something that I’m ever likely going to care enough to do. The last few hours of my time were spent just begging for it to end, and failing that, I simply reached the point where I finally stopped caring about finding everything, put down the control, and left. Late into my run, once everything in the game finally opened up, I did feel a gentle nudge that gave me the energy where there was none before to keep pursuing the side-activities and challenges. But everything in the game only opens up in the epilogue - the last eight of nearly one hundred hours, once the main story has been completed. It’s unprecedented, in my experience. And it’s impressive, if frustrating. But it’s also incredibly draining to waste so much time trying to figure out ways to do things that you don’t realise can’t be done until after the main part of the game is effectively finished. And by the time the game comes round to letting you have free-reign, it’s been going on far too long for you to care anymore. 

My final impressions of Red Dead Redemption 2 are...mixed. The main issue being that the problems I identified much earlier in my playthrough never resolved themselves, and only became more frustrating as I was exposed to them again and again. My horse never stopped veering into trees, or into rocks, or into people in towns and giving me a wanted level. I never really managed to completely master the temperamental, complicated, and unresponsive controls. The game never stopped feeling like it was a bloated copycat of its predecessor, enslaved by the tropes its towering forerunner established. One of the biggest issues I experienced was during one of the multi-stage side missions that exist in the world to be stumbled upon by unsuspecting travellers. These missions are one of the most valuable parts of the game’s design, filling the world with organic moments that advance themselves with the passing of time, but are unmarked for the player, meaning that your thirst for exploration is the only thing that can help you find and unlock these stories. One of these ambient side-missions involves helping a railway foreman with the construction of part of the line. You have to track down an employee stealing from him, and later chase off some aggressive competitors, and after a time the construction of the railway is supposed to progress along its intended route until it’s finished. Mine did not. Instead, after I had cleared the land for the company’s advance, my railway just up and disappeared. I first discovered this when I unwittingly rode into a sky-coloured chasm in the ground, tumbling for a good 30 seconds before reloading the game. Once, maybe twice, a blank, featureless ridge of flattened gravel would load in, but nine times out of ten, it would simply be a void - a massive hole in the ground that let you see through into other parts of the map. If your horse fell in, anything it was carrying would be lost, which caused me to nearly break my controller after I lost the first perfect raccoon skin I’d found in dozens of hours. This void cordoned off an enormous section of the eastern part of the world, meaning that if ever I wanted to travel from west to east I’d have to divert my journey by three or four minutes to skirt around it, and if ever I forgot that it was there, well, too bad. This enormous glitch was never fixed in the weeks I played this game, and was a thorn in my side for dozens of hours, and had the game not been quite so long, perhaps this issue wouldn’t have progressed into such frustrating territory, but with the amount of time I spent in its company it became a real burden, which is analagous to much of my experience with RDR2. 

After those eighty hours I felt that the game failed to rise above its flaws. It’s often a breathtaking experience, but it’s a tiresome and frustrating one too. Which isn’t to say that it’s not worth the price - I honestly don’t think I’ve ever gotten more of ‘my money’s worth’ out of a game than when playing RDR2; I mean, how can one complain when there’s so much to do? Make no mistake, it’s not that Red Dead lacks value in any kind of tangible sense, but my overall satisfaction in the experience was noticeably waning for something that was seven years in the making and with all that money thrown at it; for something that should have been a generation-defining experience. No, sadly, what RDR2 represents is a triumph of efforts and budgets beyond anything else. It’s a testament to what a massive team of developers and artists can do with infinite money, as much as it is a testament to the bloated product of such a lengthy and ambitious project. For all its virtues, RDR2 is not a particularly well-made game. In fact, all the apocryphal tales of its creation simply serve to render more starkly how lacking it is in terms of its core design. It is by far the most cumbersome of Rockstar’s games, easily the least fun to actually play, to control, and while I was initially happy to credit this as a commitment to recreating the slow, methodical pacing of life in the time in which it is set, at this point I’m far more certain that it’s actually just shitty design. Picking up God of War after putting RDR2 down was a breath of fresh air, and as Kratos smashed his fist through the lid of chests in order to wholly retrieve whatever spoils lay within, I came to realise that having to watch Arthur crouch down, creak open a lid, and one-by-one take out each individual item again and again and again had left me somewhat traumatised. God of War is an engaging experience, but rarely forces the player into inconvenience for the sake of immersion; it only ever asks you to do things that it plans on rewarding you for doing. Every chest has a useful item in it, every corner of the game has something worth seeing. Collectibles are hidden, but not obscured, and in following your instincts you can find treasures that are both practical enhancements to your character, and small emotional rewards that positively reinforce your behaviour. There is plenty of exploration to be done, but there are no true dead-ends. There is a point to everything. And while the hack-and-slash genre is, in my opinion, mechanically crude and difficult to innovate, God of War is a superbly refined product. RDR2 is not. 

I would compare it to assembling a ten-thousand piece puzzle. There’s a certain respect that such a mammoth undertaking earns, undoubtedly. Whether you enjoy that kind of thing or not, you can’t help but admire it. But it’s an activity of diminishing returns, and after a while you find yourself just looking at the box to see the finished product. In the same way, after a time I wanted to skip out on RDR2 and read the wiki. In lieu of that, I found myself just railroading the story missions towards the end, which isn’t difficult, given that the entire second half of the game is a series of dumb shooting galleries. There’s a very clear turning point, after which literally every single mission follows the same formula, and that formula always revolves around killing everything in sight, which feels even more out of place given that it runs parallel to your character more frequently voicing his doubts about the gang’s brutality. It’s no coincidence that during this latter half of the story is where it becomes abundantly clear that the game’s shooting mechanics are terrible. Lock on, fire, lock on, fire, for five to ten minutes straight. All depth falls out of the bottom of the gameplay, and it feels like the team either ran out of time or inspiration and just phoned in the final ten hours of the main story. When the game finally reaches its climax, the tension in the story is squandered as it forces you into a pointless, repetitive, and overlong fist-fight, and then things finish up with little sense of closure. For those that played RDR1, Marston’s death feels like a fitting, if crushing, end point for that character. But there is little of that sense of satisfying drama here. Instead, the game’s epilogue, rather than wrapping up loose ends, takes the place of the ending of the third act. Again, while I might have initially thought of it as a bold move, that feeling quickly wore away in favour of the opinion that it’s just shit writing. 

It’s not entirely mismanaged, though. The fact that the game forces the player to follow through with the debt collections for a long time before offering a choice, and then eventually forcing them to let the debtors go, is an example of the gameplay smartly imparting the definite shift in Morgan’s personality. It understands your discomfort at having to enforce them, and then slowly changes its own rules to reflect the changing mindset of the character. And the game is superb at retrofitting a backstory to the existing characters carried backwards from RDR1: Dutch’s final speech of RDR1 is repeated almost verbatim here as a ploy to get himself out of a bind, and in that moment completely redefines his end in the first game from a man musing on his own animal nature, to a shyster, full of empty words and devoid of real convictions and values; a pathetic human being. But for the largest part, the moments of genuine pathos are disrupted by the irreverence of the world, or by the repetition of ideas for the sake of drawing out the story, or by the disconnect between the narrative and the gameplay.

Red Dead Redemption 2 feels like two games serving separate, conflicting interests. On one hand it’s a third-person survival game that relishes the grind; a slow, methodical approach. It suffers from many of that genre’s flaws, such as unrefined controls, and a struggle to strike a balance between labour and frustration, but its dedication to the realism of its interactivity endears at times. On the other hand, it’s also a typical Rockstar narrative of crime, morality, and revenge - largely humourous, but retrofitted into a bloated body that doesn’t match it. It’s a teenager’s head sewed to an old man’s torso, with a brash intention that its creaking frame can’t properly execute. Rockstar’s writing style is a bad fit for the introspective themes the narrative aims for; the Housers cannot help themselves but plant their tongues firmly in their cheeks, and while the era in which the game is set is ripe for parody, that parody doesn’t mesh with the seriousness of the main character’s struggle. John Marston was a man whose nature was never legitimately contradicted by the gameplay. In RDR2, ‘Arthur Morgan the character’ can be in the middle of a crisis of conscience when the player decides it’s time for ‘Arthur Morgan the avatar’ to start the bandit challenges, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. It’s just too disjointed. And I don’t care what genre you’re talking about, or what kind of achievements the game itself has earned, a 3:100 story-to-content ratio is never going to offer a wholly satisfying experience. No matter the price, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth here, but whether that’s going to feel like a good thing or a bad thing at the end, well, that’s an outcome a little less certain. 

[spynotebook]

We’ve run our 11 Best Single Issues Of The Year. Well now, Rich Johnston and the Bleeding Cool writers (not Jude) give you 11 collections and graphic novels to reflect on as we say good riddance to 2016 and welcome 2017 with nervous worry.

Eliot Cole

Doctor Who: A Matter Of Life And Death by George Mann, Emma Vieceli and Hi-Fi.

I don’t have quite as much to say here as I did in my “lack of words” on A-Force #4, but I find this Eighth Doctor collection just the lovely example of (a) comics and (b) what could’ve been with the best of all the doctors. George Mann’s stories are each self contained, following the fantastic journey of Josie, and how she becomes part of Eight’s life. Each story was a book, and was self contained, but lends well to the whole. I wrote 3 sentences on George Mann’s awesome plotting (and such), and having a good take on 8 but they amounted to that word, “awesome.” Emma Vieceli’s trademarked panelling design compel you through this beautifully, I could genuinely read pencils of this quality on anything. Ms. Vieceli is surely meant for the greatest of things. Do yourself a favour and check out Titan’s Eighth Doctor Collection.

Jeremy Konrad

The Fix Vol.1-Where Beagles Dare by Nick Spencer, Lieber, Ryan Hill, and Nic J Shaw

I actually was starting to feel a little burnt out by Image this year. Quite a few of their series were blending together and felt to be covering quite a bit of the same ground. That all changed when I picked up The Fix. This series, with its dry, sarcastic humor and panels that you have to study to catch every little  gag in the details very quickly became one of my favorites. And I mean, Pretzels. How can you not love a dog like Pretzels??? Every issue gets better and better, and hopefully it runs for a very long time.

Hannah Means-Shannon

Aleister & Adolf by Douglas Rushkoff, Michael Avon Oeming, and Nate Piekos

This book has been an outlier on many press radars, but it’s one of those densely crafted, significant works that hopefully will be the gift that keeps on giving, showing comic creators and fans what new directions in the medium can be taken. Written by powerhouse social critic Douglas Rushkoff and drawn by the endlessly original Michael Avon Oeming the book tracks a fictional account of Aleister Crowley’s media wars with Adolf Hitler based on a few key historical facts. It follows the life of a young military reporter assigned to Crowley through the course of “sigil” developments, like the swastika by the Nazis and V for Victory by Churchill in the war over human minds during WWII. Rushkoff’s characterization, research, and narrative framing devices, combined with Oeming’s emotive and often highly symbolic artwork make sure this book has something significant to say about the ongoing role of symbolism and propaganda in the way we see the world around us. It might just remind you of the dangers and the positive powers of belief and focus to influence any struggle, even on an international level. Aleister & Adolf may be about the second World War, but it’s highly relevant to our times and makes for a thought-provoking, and at times disturbing, read.

Joe Glass

The Wicked + The Divine Deluxe Hardcover by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matthew Wilson and Clayton Cowles.

I mean, just look at it.

Let’s not even go into the story or anything yet, just take in this huge, black, hot foiled beauty! You can read comics on your train to work looking like you’re reading out of some mystic grimoire of mystery!

Plus, it contains Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matthew Wilson and Clayton Cowles’ incredible series of pop stars as gods and the hard price of fame (it kinda kills you in the end, which 2016 proved in force really, didn’t it?). Collecting the first two story arcs, plus loads of behind the scenes materials and a good chunk of Gillen’s breakdowns of the book, it makes for the absolute best purchase for fans of the series.

And it just looks sexy as hell on a book shelf!

Abdulkareem Baba Aminu

Huck by Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque.

Surprising myself, and after a great deal of thought, I have picked Huck Vol. 1 by Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque as the best graphic novel/collection for 2016. I started reading the monthly issues, up to the second, and I somehow fell off. But I did know I’d catch up on the trade when it gets released. And boy was I glad I waited. The story, collected, had a pace that was missing during its monthly run, and the character development proved to be near-perfect. Early comparisons to Superman did no justice to the story of a small town resident who’s revealed to have some truly awesome powers, of course with disastrous results. The art – oh, boy the art – is beautiful, aided by perfect colours and it sets the tone the right way. There’s almost a Spielberg-ian sense of wonder and adventure to the tale, enough to make me ignore the irritation that is an editing error which portrayed a factual kidnapping of schoolgirls by insurgents as having happened in East Africa, when the stated Sambisa Forest is in Nigeria, in West Africa. You could say it was personal for me. That aside – and I truly enjoy most of the Millarworld books – Huck is my absolute favorite.

Marilyn Weiss 

Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks

I was so excited for this graphic novel to be released, it was easily one of the highlights of my reading this year. We meet Kaidu, a recent arrival to the Nameless City, and son of the latest ruling clan, Dao. As he trains to become a warrior, his adventurous nature drives him into the city, where he meets up with the lovable, street wise Rat. Hicks did an amazing job creating a detailed world that I would love to explore and get lost in. I can tell that there are so many stories hiding within the city, just waiting to be told. I would gladly hand this book to any fan of comics, be they young or old. The sequel, The Stone Heart will be out in April 2017.

  Rich Johnston

Patience by Dan Clowes

I’m a sucker for a post-modern time travel story. See my love for least year’s There’s No Time Like The Present by Paul Rainey. And Dan Clowes gives us actual plottage with Patience. A story of rags to – well not exactly riches, but a different state of being, as the newly pregnant young Patience is murdered, a series of events that destroys her partner, Jack. It’s his attempts to “put right what once went wrong” and the calamitous consequences of his actions, digging his own grave – or Patience’s  – deeper and deeper that drive this book forward. Or backwards. Which means you’ll have to reread it the moment you finish for that Sixth Sense experience. But for all that it’s the attitude of Jack, the anti-Hollywood hero that sets this apart, refusing to follow the obvious tropes or experiencing triumphs – or disasters as he may be expected to.

And the devil is always in the details. Clowes has always had a style that grabs the eye, gives it direction and pulls it forward, the narrator grip in full effect. Here every object in every panel could have serious significance that you will need that second – or third reading to pick up on it.

Toward a Hot Jew by Miriam Libicki

You know those overnight sensations who have been working hard at the craft for decades? That’s Miriam Libicki. In something that resembles the missing link between Marjane Satrapi and Joe Sacco, her autobiographical work exploring her Jewish identity, attractiveness and the reaction of those around her, whether as a Israeli soldier or a professor of art, this collection of a decade’s work jumps from illustrated essay to comic book panels, exploring the medium, the tools to create the work and express inner neurosis as beautifully – and as ugly – as possible.

Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash by Dave McKean

Art about art – Dave McKean creating a comic about war artist Paul Nash, and how that artist turned the worst extremes of humanity into art that illuminated the mind. And then how it affected the young Dave McKean, and how his work has existed in relation to that of Paul’s. This is a giant standing on the shoulder of another giant and between them they can see so much about us. An incredibly moving masterpiece, and stands alongside McKean’s Cages, as an exploration of the effect of art on both the viewer and the artist themselves. Psychologically complex and using the very strictures of comic book panels, speech, character positions to demonstrate so much of what we are.

Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden

Another example of comic book journalism, Sarah Glidden takes a trip to the Middle East with an eye on America’s influence on the region, travelling through Syria, Iraq and Turkey. But its also an examination of journalism itself, as Sarah is accompanying two “proper journalists” as they look at the effect of the Iraq War and of its refugees, so it also becomes a procedural for the profession as well – especially when they are joined by a friend and a US soldier who served in Iraq. And it suddenly gets a whole lot more awkward. Something that is made more palatable by Sarah’s soft watercolors, a different look than we might have otherwise expected.

Everyone has a story to tell. It turns out that’s as much true of the journalists as it is those they report on.

Clean Room Vol 1: Immaculate Conception by Gail Simone, Jon Davis-Hunt and Quinton Winter.

For some reason I never find The Walking Dead comic as gross as I do the TV show. I occasionally wondered if that was a creative choice of the limitations of the medium? Well, Clean Room answered that. It really is something very nasty indeed. Writer Gail Simone has rarely been given the chance to operate at this level. And she choosing the tack of making the people far scarier than the Entities that are meant to be threatening them, in terms of the moral choices they hold. Jon Davis-Hunt’s choices of style are also a surprise, eschewing the darkness for something brighter, more visible and cleaner. This is horror with the strip lighting turned up and refusing to blink.

It also takes suicide head on, as something fuelling the survivors, and as psychological as that is, the comic is never afraid to shlock-horror out, embracing that aspect rather than being embarrassed about it. It’s the combination of both approaches that elevates this title above the norm and makes it something special. And the way it buolds from issue only helps the trade paperback – even if you are denied the pain of waiting from month to month for cliffhangers to resolve.

Buy this for the Scientologist in your life. And then get Gail Simone to write Crossed.

            Bleeding Cool’s 11 Favourite Graphic Novels/Collections Of 2016