#literally literary

[benevolenterrancy]

~ Extremely Unwilling Magical Protagonists Attempt To Outrun The Plot And Not Fucking Die ~

(@takofukkatsumi this tag is from a while ago but it hasn't left my brain -- L-Space got very weird all of a sudden)

[fairydrowning]

– Via "twinnedpeaks" on Tumblr

[TEXT ID: / july didn't even say goodbye. the years don't kiss you goodnight anymore. they just leave behind this empty space, a phantom pain. and still i ache, i ache, i ache! / END ID]

[thisischaostragic]

Gatsby: An American Myth is a brilliant literary adaptation. it asks: if we bring to the forefront many of the parts that are implied or hinted at in the text, how does that change how we view it?

if Nick and Jordan are undeniably queer, if Gatsby is actually white-passing and not white, if Myrtle and George’s briefly-possibly-alluded-to lost child is actually talked about, how much sharper does the book’s critique of the “lost” American dream get?

this musical refuses to let you ignore the nuances of these characters that were (more or less) *already present* in the book.

Daisy is absolutely a victim, but she is *also* a wealthy white woman who is willing to (literally) throw a working class woman under the bus (car) for her own safety, and who is willing to let a man of color face the consequences of her actions. Tom tricking George isn’t exclusively about getting rid of Gatsby, but also about a wealthy white man setting two marginalized characters against each other so that he doesn’t have to deal with them.

when we get to the end, when we meet Gatsby’s dad and learn that he’s Indigenous, when we contend with how disproportionately the violence impacts marginalized people, the conclusion is no longer that the American dream is lost or broken, but that it was a stolen thing to begin with.

I am sure there are political critiques I (or others) could / will make, but on first impression, I am blown away by how far it went with displaying the horror of the American machine.

[emilybraydenblogs]

I will remove anyone from my life to protect the peace that I've worked so hard for. Nobody took me out of the dark. I did it on my own.

[valtsv]

was thinking about this earlier but the dynamic of cannibalism being associated with high society and the culinary elite (hannibal comes to mind specifically) while also simultaneously being associated with the socially isolated and economically impoverished (as in texas chainsaw massacre) is so interesting to me i want to read 10 million books on why it happens so much in media....

i can only speak from a place of personal opinion and general knowledge, because i haven't read that many papers or in-depth studies on cannibalism, but i think it often comes down to an interesection between the themes of the story you're telling and class structures and divisions. cannibalism is a compelling form of narrative symbolism because it's undeniably impactful and hard to ignore. when portrayed as a practice associated with the culinary and social upper class, it might be used as a critique of the rich and powerful and their lack of ethics and willingness to consume and destroy others for their own self-interest by showing them literally preying on and consuming their victims, or a horror story/cautionary tale about how having everything can lead you to never be satisfied and turn to increasingly extreme measures to feel like life is worth living, or a dark fantasy of indulgence and excess. when associated with the poor, marginalized and isolated, it's often based in bigotry and harmful stereotypes of the "primitive" "inhuman" "savage" "other", however it might also function as a revenge fantasy where the most oppressed and exploited members of society turn on their oppressors and take "eating the rich" to its most literal extreme, exposing the fragility of class divisions and pointing out that those in positions of social and economic power are hardly the mythic titans their propaganda tries to make them out to be, but ultimately just as mortal and made of flesh and blood as any other human being, and not immune to being dragged down from their position at the top of the food chain and torn to pieces by the crowd (as well as reminding the audience of their own fragile mortality and precarious position in the social order, and the humanity we all share in common - however cannibalism often divides the perpetrators from both their victims and the audience, so this is rarer than the other interpretations mentioned).

cannibalism and power often go hand in hand. cannibalism has historically been used as both a means of displaying your power over defeated opponents and delivering a final, humiliating blow to their image by consuming their flesh, and a means of othering and dehumanizing your opponent by portraying them as the cannibalistic monster.

both the very rich and very poor also tend to be perceived as more distant from the people who make and consume these stories, making them easier to project fiction onto and transform into symbols and narrative devices (or, in the worst cases, dehumanize) than those who occupy the same social spheres as the creator. they can be held at an arm's length without discomfort and, depending on the target audience, may be a source of fascination due to the differences in their lived experiences. it adds to the fantasy, and makes any inaccuracies, exaggerations and fabrications feel more plausible because the majority of the audience probably don't have any personal experiences of being in those positions to draw on.

[lovesdaya]

@lovesdaya

[loveandlegacy]

i really think that if your read on mel is that she's manipulative and abusive even after she says (to a character who is in-text coded as a sex worker no less!) that no one is expendable you might actually just be like. stupid

[lopsidedgryffins]

green’s inner conflict and how it is manifested through greenscreen: an analysis

TLDR at end!

disclaimer: this is probably really ooc, and is mostly speculation by a mediocre at best student of literature ++ i’ve never been good at lit, so this analysis is likely not gonna be great :/ feel free to criticise/comment on this analysis! i’m open to feedback if there’s any :)

SPOILERS FOR INFLUENCER ARC EPS 1 AND 2 AHEAD!

we first see greenscreen when the cg abandons an overdone/overedited video of theirs - he is quite literally borne of neglect, and is thus a symbol of green’s negligence towards his friends and the inner turmoil he faces in trying to cater to all his viewers. 

why does greenscreen appear as, well, green? green is basically fighting with himself, a form of inner conflict manifested through the CG’s fight with what is essentially green’s neglect and negative emotions. 

this is also super interesting because inner conflict is usually internal and invisible: that’s what most of it is about. however, alan and the team present it here through actual physical conflict, which parallels green’s fight with himself - to make the content that he and his friends want to make, or to cater to the viewers and leave his friends behind, becoming increasingly self-centred? 

in the first fight with greenscreen, the CG beat him as a group, and green even takes a photo of them together post-fight to upload to instagram. this symbolises green’s (temporary) triumph over his neglect for others, still caring for his friends. 

however, over time, green starts to drift from his friends. he distances himself from them, isolating himself in a minecraft room by himself to make videos, neglecting friendships, genuine feelings and enjoyment in preference for catering to his viewers and all their preferences, taking each piece of criticism too seriously. therefore, as green’s neglect toward his friendships with the CG continues and increases, greenscreen grows in power as the negativity and abandonment become worse.  

before we continue with that though, let’s talk about the recycle bin!

the recycle bin is a recurring figure across AvA - being used in both AvA and AvM to get rid of applications. that’s what a recycle bin is at its core - a receptacle for waste, left to be neglected, never truly emptied. both greenscreen and the deleted videos of the CG are thrown into the recycle bin, where they perhaps fester into who-knows-what in ep 3. you know who else was also unceremoniously thrown into a recycle bin/deleted? victim! after he escaped from the animator’s neglect towards his feelings and sentience, victim is out to get his revenge. the recycle bin takes it’s inhabitants’ negativity (in greenscreen’s case, neglect), and turns it stronger upon their escape. green’s dunking of greenscreen into the recycle bin in ep 1 is symbolic of him ignoring his tendency to ignore and leave his friends behind in the pursuit of content creation. he does not actively work on stopping such behaviour, instead leaving it in a metaphorical (and literal) recycle bin, letting his habit of neglecting others in the chase for something he desires to grow. 

my theory is that greenscreen may come back in the last episode of the influencer arc, beating green at first, symbolising green’s negligence towards his friends’ feelings consuming him in his pursuit of content creation, but this is overcome as he realises the situation he is in - where he finally beats greenscreen and with him, his internal conflict, not by throwing him into the recycle bin where the neglect will be left to fester, but by coming to terms with his plight, communicating with his friends and agreeing to create the content that they want to create, putting an end to the negligence and laying greenscreen to rest.

(as of writing this, green’s newest video (reacting to my friends having fun without me) shows the rest of the CG being thrown around? it looks like they’re fighting something/someone, which is very likely whatever spawned from the recycle bin - i’m guessing this is greenscreen.)

TLDR: greenscreen is a physical manifestation of green’s neglect towards his friends AND his internal conflict, who will return in ep3 of the influencer arc, but will ultimately be beaten by green which symbolises him stepping back from content creation.

thanks for reading till the end! really appreciate it if you read the whole thing - once again this is purely my own speculation, opinions and theory!

[requinum]

"In me, he saw a storm coming. In him, I saw my heart breaking from its hard shell and my dreams disintegrating and reforming into something new and beautiful in its selfishness".

[emilyscastlevania]

You can’t stop loving vampires just because halloween is over. Vampires are forever.

[ruegarding]

i'm genuinely floored that this was marketed as a faithful adaptation

[randomgirl005]

[fairydrowning]

"But there is a clarity about September. On clear days, the sun seems brighter, the sky more blue, the white clouds take on marvelous shapes; the moon is a wonderful apparition, rising gold, cooling to silver; and the stars are so big."

– Faith Baldwin, Evening Star

[glasscupsss]

right…….bc azriel did not want to *canonically* eat tf out of elains pussy……..that’s not canon at all🎅

or when he saved her from hybern🙄

or when he gave her tt🤨

or when he took the potatoes from her and made everyone wait for her to sit🤮

or when she made him blush😨

or the multiple times he is the only one to express concern for her well being😒

or when they got each other meaningful gifts for solstice😠

or the fact they were both the last people to hold nyx in acosf (i promise you guys that is significant, i’m an english major trust me)😟

or when feyre literally said they would look good together😃

or when she said azriel might suit elain’s needs better than lucien😰

or when nesta found out his secret🥱

no, none of that is canon at all🤯

[areebianights]

I hate crowded places. I hate the nagging presence of people around me. I hate their comments and their judgments.

I hate that they are so close to me that when I speak up, my voice has no place to exist, and it comes back damaged.

I hate that my words come out just to be crushed by the melee the crowd forms.

I hate that people have the audacity to hug my body when they discard my words as if they're nothing.

Sometimes people are far away, so your voice doesn't reach them, but sometimes they are so much close that it dies before even coming out.

I like open fields, where I am insignificant. Where no spotlight is on me and I'm unbothered. Where I live for myself and am not performing for anyone.

They sometimes ask me what I want my superpower to be. Mind reading? Teleportation? And I just think to myself, Is it not possible to vaporize? To just convert into fumes and blend into the air and diffuse.

I hate that my whole being is concentrated into this form, which has an identity, a name, a face.

I can't stand it that all the qualities I hate come together and form me, and that I am on display to the world.

People want to be somebody to someone, but I want to be a nobody to everyone, so that I can be somebody to myself.

-Areeba

[amicus-noctis]

“Life must not be a novel that is given to us, but one that is made by us.” ― Novalis

Painting: "Portrait of Alphonse Leroy" by Jacques-Louis David.