#lets choose violence

[fatally-alive]

Monday

[mikkeneko]

While writing that Dragon Age 2 post the other day, I made a narrative connection I had never made before.

I was writing about the Templar route, and about how the game makes no bones about how the Templar route is the evil route, it's clearly narratively marked as such. Because the structure of the game sets itself up from the start to make Hawke have some sympathy for the mages: they are the child of a mage and the sibling of a mage. This is an issue that Hawke cannot exempt themselves from having opinions on.

But that said, yes, you can choose the Templar route. You can decide that the tragedy of your family being ripped apart by the mage plight has hardened Hawke's heart against them. You can join forces with the Order that has hunted your family members their whole lives. You can choose to tighten the iron fist, instead of choosing to break it. You can become the ruler of Kirkwall. You can kill your sister.

And then I realized: That's Meredith's story.

Meredith, whose sister was a mage, the sister who died from it and ripped her family apart in the process. Meredith, who hardened her heart against people like her sister and dedicated the rest of her life to punishing others like her. Meredith, who joined causes with the Templar order who made that happen. Meredith, who took over the city.

You can choose to become Meredith. The game lets you do that. But you have to know -- as you climb over her corpse to ascend her bloodied throne -- that it's not a 'good' choice.

[pretty-weird-ideas]

Episode Seven and White Tears

The trial's allegory is not just a lynching, it is a lynching for a Black person entering a relationship with a respected White man, and proceeding to leave him. It's not a murder case, as seen through the show, there's actually very little emphasis on the murder in the episode in regards to Louis. The emphasis is on his "seduction", his "ungiving nature", and "refusing to give his body". It is a public humiliation and lynching for turning a respected white man down. The crime isn't hurting Lestat, it's hurting his feelings.

Lestat doesn't speak to the audience about the pain of his throat being slit. He speaks of loneliness, the audience chants and jeers about how cheating was justified if Louis isn't putting out. Santiago isn't talking about the murder, he's talking about how much of a sexual deviant Louis is the second he is introduced. The show is telling us what's important to the case, and what language hurt and stuck out to Louis the most. The deciding factor in the eyes of the audience, the story that Sam and Santiago are trying to tell, is that the crime is heinous because Louis turned down Lestat.

The audience isn't mad about the murder, they're mad about Lestat's emotions, they're mad about the betrayal, and they are mad that Louis and Claudia didn't put up with things. The case built against the two of them isn't based on violence, it's based on white tears. Louis isn't called a monster for slitting Lestat's throat, the audience member calls him a monster for turning down Lestat's advances.

The show is clear that the trial isn't really about the murder, it is about Louis not "giving enough" for Lestat. It's about Louis asking Lestat to turn Claudia and literally bargaining his happiness where he literally gets on his knees and says "I'll be happy for you, I will never leave you if you do this for me". It's never been about the murder, it's quite literally just shaming Louis for not "loving a good man who might be abusive".

At the end of the day, the trial as framed and written by Sam is building a case off of Lestat's tears, not actual physical harm.

Like my skin is crawling but also the show is so chilling with how it portrayed the "He's a good man so hold your tongue and endure! Lest you read as ungrateful".

Anyways someone take the laptop from me before this becomes my life.

[starry-bi-sky]

danny and officer martinez's relationship in "late at night, when the nightingale sings" in a nutshell:

Martinez: FREAK! GET YOUR FUCKING KID!

Battinson, on the other side of the crime scene: he don't bite

Martinez, with Nightingale firmly attached his arm, visibly biting him: YES HE DO!

*points at them* Danny is the Bugs Bunny to Martinez's Elmer Fudd.

Another Officer: i can't believe you're fighting with an actual twelve year old. Martinez: i swear to god that is not a twelve year old, that is a little hellion that crawled out of batman's shadow one dark and stormy night and decided to dedicate his existence to tormenting me. Officer: Are you really that mad about him putting a sticky note on your back-- Martinez: thats not the point

in danny's defense: the word "freak" is. a mini beserker button for him for.... obvious ghostly reasons, so like, even if its not directed at him, he still very much unappreciates Martinez's insults at Battinson. Danny may or may not be projecting.

he's not going to hurt the guy! not in any serious or permanently disfiguring way at least! But he is going to leave mean sticky notes on the square part of his spine that he can't reach, and stick salt in his 3AM Late Night Crime Scene Coffee, and kick the bottom of his heel while he's walking so he stumbles. And other petty, infuriating things that tally up and boil over, over time.

[adelinamoteru]

its kinda crazy that yall will apply real world politics and situations to gotham when it comes to jason and his ‘vigilantism’, but never choose to take that angle when analyzing any other bat character’s

brother eye from batman? hello? does constant nonconsensual surveillance seem like an ethical way to keep an eye on supposed allies or stop crime in real life? does beating people up until they comply with u (under fucking duress) seem like the ethical way to produce testimonies and confessions?

but nah, one speech from jason in utrd and yall are up in arms about how nothing he’s saying is actually conducive to lowering crime rates.

at the end of the day, it doesn’t fucking matter who’s right and who’s wrong regarding these morals in real life because the dc universe is so fucking far from reality in the crime that the justice system has to deal with. there is no point in arguing a reality standpoint if its not going to be applied to vigilantism in the bat comics as a whole.

and on the topic of fiction, the willful ignorance as to how jason’s story also portrays a victims revenge/justice is just boring at this point. how are themes in a narrative not coming through to you. especially when doing literature analysis for any of these comics.

[metamatronic]

Please PLEASE tell me we do get a reunion between Greed and Ling?? I'm sobbing just thinking about it!!

first / prev

the boys get to hug. as a treat.

also listen. we all know lan fan could easily take barry in a fight, but we’re suspending disbelief for content, alright?

[boreal-wood]

Hey Stormlight fans why are we so quick to forgive Dalinar for killing innocents- including his own wife, but when it comes to Elhokar, whose worst crimes were just being immature and incompetent- both of which come from not being ready to inherit the throne- he's unforgiveable?

Do yall actually think Elhokar is irredeemable because he let Moash's grandparents die?? If so then yall should really take a good long look at Dalinar's arc and compare it to where Elhokar is when he's swearing the First Ideal, because Dalinar at his lowest on the whole was far worse than Elhokar ever was

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

That cursed quiz is back

Whatever do you mean??

Also heres the quiz!!!!

[purenonsens]

Casually daydreaming about breaking all my upstairs neighbour's kids bones and tossing them into the sea

[mueritos]

a small moment of kindness that touched me today. speaking about our struggles as grad students in class with classmates. our small group is all BIPOC; another latine and two arabs, one who is palestinian. we are speaking very honestly about our fears and frustrations. feeling useless. feeling scared. upset at the world and its horrors. angry at other peoples' silence. but at the same time so so full of joy and hope. i talked about being scared of being forgotten, and we continued on with our group task of creating a liberation health triangle.

professor transitioned us back to the full class and while our professor began speaking again, my Palestinian classmate--so beautiful and with the most wonderful curls--leaned close to me and whispered "I'll never forgot you." I almost didn't hear her so i whispered back, "what?", and as sweetly as the first time she said, "I'll never forget you. And I'll never forget what you said last semester. You were the first person in this entire program who spoke of your frustrations. I felt less alone."

the walk home from class was very cold, but i could not help but let myself repeat the moment in my head over and over again.

[moeblob]

And then she threatens to kill him if he doesn't man up and say that while looking her in the eye (and then he apologizes while looking at her in the eye because he cannot be directly rude).

[timeskip]

I don't know what the common interpretation of this moment is, but I think that this:

is Killua being pissed at Gon as well as at himself.

Like obviously he still loves Gon, and his main conflict in this moment is feeling like he couldn't do anything for Gon's sake. But this happens RIGHT after Gon pushes Killua away and says that this isn't important to Killua. And even though Killua knows that's not true, he still can't fight back without making it worse. He's doing so much for Gon!!! But Gon doesn't see it!!! And I can't imagine that Killua wouldn't feel a little angry about that, even if he'll continue to do everything for Gon's sake.

Instead he's taking it out on an enemy--which is the correct thing to do in this situation, since he has to keep fighting either way--with no time to slow down and think about what he's feeling. He's just feeling upset, pissed off, sad, and hopeless. And he can't let himself think about it, so right when he fights Youpi he shuts it down internally to focus on the fight!!! Because even if he is a little pissed at Gon, I don't think Killua thought through at all, and using Godspeed on Youpi was a way of handling it, because he'd been taught by his family to deal with emotions through violence first and foremost.

It ends up all exploding later, where he realizes what he's really feeling is a desire to help Gon when he feels like he can't do anything (except to die with him...) but in the moment his anger could be a bit toward Gon, with the rest of it directed at himself for being unable to play "his role" in their friendship (that of stopping Gon) and being ultimately unable to calm Gon down and make things okay, the way he feels like he has to do.

[coffeecatcraze]

Will never get over Charlie's absolutely feral growl, this woman was ready to lunge across the courtroom and tear Adam to shreds and I am HERE for it

[livesincerely]

“So, uh,” Jack starts hesitantly, turning to Jacobs. “I’m real sorry ‘bout all that.”

“Uh huh,” Jacobs says, looking supremely unimpressed. “Sure.”

“No, honest,” Jack insists. “It was about time someone knocked that smug look of his face. Do you, uh,” he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, not sure what to do with himself. “Do you want some ice for your hand? That was a mean left hook—“

“I am just fine,” Jacobs interrupts, his tone biting. “So feel free to spare me the All-American, Boy Scout routine. If you really want to help⁠—” the look on his face makes his opinion on the quality of Jack’s help perfectly clear, “—then you can make sure assholes like Oscar DeLancey stay the hell away from my squad. And if he comes within spitting distance of one of my girls again, I’ll have his dick in a vice.”

A razor sharp smile. “So glad we had this talk.”

And with that, he marches away.

“Oh, fuck me,” Jack murmurs to himself, utterly enraptured as he watches him go. He’s real pretty and he’s real mean: Jack’s heart is already doing loop-de-loops around his chest. “‘M so fucked.”

[startledstoat]

Maybe its just my angst loving ass but I would've killed for a scene in the house of hades where like grover or someone goes to Sally and when she opens the door he's so broken up and sad looking that she knows he's gonna tell her percys dead or something so she immediately just

"no... Grover no."

"he-they fell into tartarus. Him and Annabeth."