#look at that subtle censorship

[xclowniex]

So there is a post going around with a realy suspicious map, and OP of the post has me blocked so here is a link to their post since I cannot reblog it.

Okay so, I looked into this as from my own experience the map looked suspicious.

The orignal post of the map has been deleted. You can find the deleted post on reddit about it here.

I managed to find a repost of the map on tumblr, which had linked to the deleted reddit post, and you can find the repost of the orignal map here. Now onto debunking OP's claim of the map.

The title of the map is not solely about the west bank, it is about full john oliver episodes being unavailable in countries. Not just the west bank episode, all full episodes.

When I try to watch the video, i get the below error from youtube

Yep your eyes do see correctly. It is the uploader who made it unavailable. This means that either John Oliver himself, his production team or HBO who has the rights to his show, decided to make his content not available to be viewed in certain countries.

A comment on the reddit post which I think people should read is

"The title of this post makes many people think OP means ‘countries that have banned this’. Instead, this is just ‘countries where a network pays for the broadcast rights for this show’. The highlighted countries are ones where the show is most popular. The blank countries are where it’s not popular, so they give it away for free to try to drum up support"

Aka this is not purposeful censorship by (((zionists)) like tumblr op is trying to frame it. Its not keeping what happens in the west bank a secret. It is a decision made by someone in charge of the show, to make as much money as possible. Which still sucks! But, it sucks for different reasons than what tumblr OP is alluding to.

3. Tumblr OP is being antisemitic. Whilst it is definately written in a more subtle way, it is still invoking the whole "jews control the media" trope. A well known antisemitic trope is still antisemitic even if "jew" is replaced with "zionist". This is because whilst not every use of "zionist" is a proxy word of jew, it happens more than you think, to the point where meta (instagram and facebook) updated their hate speech policy to puroposefully include "zionist when its being used as proxy (aka dogwhistle) for jew is now hate speech on our platform". Meta still allows it to be used when talking about zionism as a political ideology, and have only banned the use of it as a proxy for jew.

OP of this post has already blocked me (only found out when i saw this post), so I wanna thank @coffeeconcentrate for reblogging this and not having me blocked so I can actually have a chance at reaching even a small group of people to make them aware of this so they don't fall for this poorly made post.

[angelsdean]

I need people to understand how S&P (standards and practices) works in television and how much influence they have over what gets to stay IN an episode of a show and how the big time network execs are the ones holding the purse strings and making final decisions on a show's content, not the writers / showrunners / creatives involved.

So many creators have shared S&P notes over the years of the wild and nonsensical things networks wanted them to omit / change / forbid. Most famously on tumblr, I've seen it so many times, is the notes from Gravity Falls. But here's a post compiling a bunch of particularly bad ones from various networks too. Do you see the things they're asking to be changed / cut ?

Now imagine, anything you want to get into your show and actually air has to get through S&P and the network execs. A lot of creators have had to resort to underhanded methods. A lot of creators have had to relegate things to subtext and innuendo and scenes that are "open to interpretation" instead of explicit in meaning. Things have had to be coded and symbolized. And they're relying on their audience to be good readers, good at media literacy, to notice and get it. This stuff isn't the ramblings of conspiracy theorists, it's the true practices creatives have had to use to be able to tell diverse stories for ages. The Hays Code is pretty well known, it exists because of censorship. It was a way to symbolize certain things and get past censors.

Queercoding, in particular, has been used for ages in both visual media and literature do signal to queer audiences that yes, this character is one of us, but no, we can't be explicit about it because TPTB won't allow it. It's a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to those in the know. It's the deliberate use of certain queer imagery / clothing / mannerisms / phrases / references to other queer media / subtle glances and lingering touches. Things that offer plausible deniability and can be explained away or go unnoticed by straight audiences to get past those network censors. But that queer viewers WILL (hopefully) pick up on.

Because, unfortunately, still to this day, a lot of antiquated network execs don't think queer narratives are profitable. They don't think they'll appeal to general audiences, because that's what matters, whatever appeals to most of the audience demographic so they can keep watching and keep making the network more money. The networks don't care about telling good stories! Most of them are old white cishet business men, not creatives. They don't care about character arcs and what will make fans happy. They don't care about storytelling. What they care about is profit and they're basing their ideas of what's profitable on what they believe is the predominate target demographic, usually white cis heterosexual audiences.

So, imagine a show that started airing in the early 2000s. Imagine a show where the two main characters are based on two characters from a famous Beat Generation novel, where one of the characters is queer! based on a real like bisexual man! The creator is aware of this, most definitely. And sure, it's 2005, there's no way they were thinking of making that explicit about Dean in the text because it just wouldn't fly back then to have a main character be queer. But! it's made subtext. And there are nods to that queerness placed in the text. Things that are open to interpretation. Things that are drenched in metaphor (looking at you 1x06 Skin "I know I'm a freak" "maybe this thing was born human but was different...hated. Until he learned to become someone else.") Things that are blink-and-you-miss-it and left to plausible deniability (things like seemingly spending an hour in the men's bathroom, or always reacting a little vulnerable and awkward when you're clocked instead of laughing it off and making a homophobic joke abt it)

And then, years later there's a ship! It's popular and at first the writers aren't really seriously thinking about it but they'll throw the fans a bone here and there. Then, some writers do get on the destiel train and start actively writing scenes for them that are suggestive. And only a fraction of what they write actually makes it into the text. So many lines left on the cutting room floor: i love past you. i forgive you i love you. i lost cas and it damn near broke me. spread cas's ashes alone. of course i wanted you to stay. if cas were here. -- etc. Everything cut was not cut by the writers! Why would a writer write something to then sabotage their own story and cut it? No, these are things that didn't make it past the network. Somewhere a note was made maybe "too gay" or "don't feed the shippers" or simply "no destiel."

So, "no destiel." That's pretty clearly the message we got from the CW for years. "No destiel. Destiel will alienate our general audience. Two of our main characters being queer? And in a relationship? No way." So what can the pro-destiel creatives involved do, if the network is saying no? What can the writers do if most of their explicit destiel (or queer dean) lines / moments are getting cut? Relegate things to subtext. Make jokes that straight people can wave off but queer people can read into. Make costuming and set design choices that the hardcore fans who are already looking will notice while the general audience and the out-of-touch network execs won't blink and eye at (I'm looking at you Jerry and your lamps and disappearing second nightstands and your gay flamingo bar!)

And then, when the audience asks, "is destiel real? is this proof of destiel?" what can the creatives do but deny? Yes, it hurts, to be told "No no I don't know what you're talking about. There's no destiel in supernatural" a la "there is no war in Ba Sing Se" but! if the network said "no destiel!" and you and your creative team have been working to keep putting destiel in the subtext of the narrative in a way that will get past censors, you can't just go "Yes, actually, all that subtext and symbolism you're picking up, yea it's because destiel is actually in the narrative."

But, there's a BIG difference between actively putting queer themes and subtext into the narrative and then saying it's not there (but it is! and the audience sees it!) versus NOT putting any queer content into the text but SAYING it is there to entice queer fans to continue watching. The latter, is textbook queerbaiting. The former? Is not. The former is the tactics so many creatives have had to use for years, decades, centuries, to get past censorship and signal to those in the know that yea, characters like you are here, they exist in this story.

Were the spn writers perfect? No, absolutely not. And I don't think every instance of queer content was a secret signal. Some stuff, depending on the writer, might've been a period-typical gay joke. These writers are flawed. But it's no secret that there were pro-destiel writers in the writing room throughout the years, and that efforts were made to make it explicitly canon (the market research!)

So no, the writers weren't ever perfect or a homogeneous entity. But they definitely were fighting an uphill battle constantly for 15 yrs against S&P and network execs with antiquated ideas of what's profitable / appealing.

Spn even called out the networks before, on the show, using a silly example of complaints abt the lighting of the show and how dark the early seasons were. Brightening the later seasons wasn't a creative choice, but a network choice. And if the networks can complain abt and change something as trivial as the lighting of a show, they definitely are having a hand in influencing the content of the show, especially queer content.

Even in s15, (seasons fifteen!!!) Misha has said he worried Castiel's confession would not air. In 2020!!! And Jensen recorded that scene on his personal phone! Why? Sure, for the memories. But also, I do not doubt for a second that part of it was for insurance, should the scene mysteriously disappear completely. We've seen the finale script. We've seen the omitted omitted omitted scenes. We all saw how they hacked the confession scene to bits. The weird cuts and close-ups. That's not the writers doing. That's likely not even the editors (willingly). That's orders from on high. All of the fuckery we saw in s15 reeks of network interference. Writers are not trying to sabotage their own stories, believe me.

Anyways, TLDR: Networks have a lot more power than many think and they get final say in what makes it to air. And for years creative teams have had to find ways to get past network censorship if they want "banned" or "unapproved" "unprofitable" "unwanted" content to make it into the show. That means relying on techniques like symbolism, subtext, and queercoding, and then shutting up about it. Denying its there, saying it's all "open to interpretation" all while they continue to put that open to interpretation content into the show. And that's not queerbaiting, as frustrating as it might be for queer audiences to be told that what they're seeing isn't there, it's still not queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is a marketing technique to draw in queer fans by baiting them with the promise of queer content and then having no queer content in said media. But if you are picking up on queer themes / subtext / symbolism / coding that is in front of your face IN the text, that's not queerbaiting. It's there, covertly, for you, because someone higher up didn't want it to be there explicitly or at all.

[aibazuos]

My Brazilian ass is thinking way too much about a One Piece Brazilian military dictatorship AU and I need to put it out there or I will explode

Honestly, the only reason that's something I have such strong opinions about is bc Luffy is Brazilian and there's just so little Brazilian characters in media in general (There's more in Japanese media than in other places but I don't have the time to explain it, if you want to learn more about that you can watch this video).

I don't know how ethical it is to find parallels between a fictional work and very real events that caused the suffering and death of a lot of people. But I think that this is a way to share more of this very important moment in Brazilian history.

So, let's start with a bit of actual history before jumping into my strange attempt at mixing a media that I love and the history of my country.

(Tw: discussions of torture, death, abuse of power by the government, gun use, armed revolution, censorship and anything you can think about that has to do with a military dictatorship. I won't go into detail, but if that's something that triggers you be mindful of that)

Oh, not a TW but something you should know, there's a lot, and I mean a lot, of communism, socialism and anarchism, just so you know

The coup d'état

In 31th of March, 1964 the Brazilian President João Goulart was overthrown by the army. The coup would later be described as a "revolution" by Castelo Branco, one of the Presidents during de dictatorship. It was said to be revolution bc of the "threat of communism" that had been taking over Brazil.

I need to make this very clear, Brazil had at the time some communist and socialist party's, but there was no actual threat from them, since they weren't popular enough with the general population.

This anti-communism reasoning had been used before to instal dictatorships is Brazil, such as the Getulio Vargas government. And it's still being used to this day by far-right politicians to manipulate the public (no, I'll not be arguing about this, if you truly think Brazil has an actual communist threat you can go and find another blog for you, mine isn't the place. block me if you feel the need)

The coup, and the whole dictatorship, was funded by the US

The Institutional Acts

The Institutional Acts were extra-legal decrees that were issued. There were 17 of them and more than a 100 complementary acts.

The Institutional Act number 5 is considered the more violent one, it allowed: the revocation of mandate of any elected politician, the president to interfear in government of states and county's and it made possible for a citizen to lose their constitutional rights. This Act was the one that basically legalized the torture that was already happening.

The Torture and Assassinations

Again, not going into detail, but there was a lot of people who disappeared after being arrested. The most infamous case is of Vladimir Herzog who was found in his cell after "self deleting" with his tie. The photo of his body was sent to the news by the army, but it was questioned by the public, bc he used his tie, but his his legs could touch the floor, so not the most efficient way. I do not recommend looking for his name online unless you want to see the fake self deleting photo, there's no blood or gore, but it is a dead body.

You could be arrest for subversive behavior, basically anything that the government deemed to be against it. A lot of students and teachers were arrested, journalists, actual revolutionaries and people that they would call "communists" even if a lot of them weren't communists.

The Censorship

A lot of art was censored during the dictatorship. Some musicians, such as Chico Buarque , found ways to still criticize the government in their songs but in a more subtle way that wouldn't get them caught. But even then Chico Buarque had to flee the country at some point. (Construção, Cálice and A Banda are very good songs that he wrote during the dictatorship and that are seen a symbol of resistance, really recommend them)

Carlos Marighella

Carlos Marighella was at one point considered enemy number one by the government and was classified as a terrorist. He participated in the armed fight against the dictatorship and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional (National Liberation Action)

Before the coup he was already part of the Communist Party and an atheist, getting arrested even before the coup bc of an offensive poem he wrote about the administration of Bahia.

The ALN was involved in the kidnapping of an American ambassador in 69, along side the MR-8, another revolutionary movement.

Later that year Marighella was killed in the back of a car after being shot multiple times by the police. The photo of his body would be sent to papers, and through that way his son, fifteen at the time, discovered about his father’s death.

His death would get the urban guerrilla slowed down, but the rural guerrillas still happen and it got more support.

In 1996 the Ministry of Justice would recognize Marighella’s death as the estate’s responsibility. In 2007 it was decided that his wife, Clara Charf was to have a lifetime pension from the government (she is still alive at 99 years old). And, in 2012, after investigations, the Ministry of Justice declared his amnesty post mortem.

(Again, be careful when searching about him, the pictures of his body are not hard to find, and it’s a very bloody image. He was shot multiple times)

The end

The dictatorship ended in 1985. At that point the military was having difficulties keeping itself in power, since the direct elections for governor in 1982 had already elected 10 governors that were in opposition to the dictatorship.

Along side that, during 1983 and 1984 there was a civil movement called “Diretas Já” that wanted the direct elections for the president back, since those stopped happening after the dictatorship took place. That movement was taken down, but even then in the indirect elections of 1985 the non-military candidate, Tancredo Neves, won the election, officially ending the dictatorship.

The end of the dictatorship had already been expected by the military. So in 1979 the president João Batista Figueiredo signed the amnesty for anyone who had committed political crimes, including the torturers. Dilma Rousseff, the first woman to be president of Brazil, elected in 2012, was one of the many people to be tortured by the military and one of the few that survived it. And the current president, Luís Inácio "Lula" da Silva, was part of the syndicalist movement during the dictatorship (not saying I like them, but they are very important figures today and I think it puts into perspective that this events weren't that long ago)

About 400 people were confirmed dead after the end of the dictatorship, but more than 20,000 were missing. It's very hard to find the information about the missing people, since even if files were made about them they are either hidden somewhere or they have been destroyed. To this day new information about this period is being discovered.

In 1988 the new constitution had been written and put into place. It still is the constitution that is being used to this day and is called the citizen constitution, since it was made for the new democratic government. It also made the presidential elections direct again.

WTF AM I DOING??? (AKA: the actual One Piece part)

(honestly there's still a lot of history during this part, I'm terrible at this)

The Marighella question

I just needed to work someone based on Marighella into this, he is such an important figure in all of this. I had two main ideas, either Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Dragon could fulfill this role of a number one enemy but bc the main character is obviously Luffy i kinda want to make it Dragon.

I think I have some ideas abt their father-son relationship, or lack of it, that would make it interesting.

What I'm writing here is basically a pre-story and the very beginning of it, bc of it some characters are going to be left out (also I haven't watched all of one piece)

Monkey D. Garp

Born in 1904 in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Joined the military in 1922 at 18

Had Dragon in 1929 at 25

Fought in WWII as part of the cobras fumantes (smoking snakes)

Had a difficult time being there for Dragon when he was growing up since he at the time was to rising up the ranks

Tried to get Dragon to join the military

In 1951 when the Getúlio Vargas got into power again Dragon had been affiliated to the communist party for 5 years and Garp stated to hide their connection so that he wouldn't have to report his son.

Luffy is born in 1952 and Dragon takes care of him until 1955. Garp tries to take care of him for a few months, but bc he's a this point a Brigadier General he doesn't have the time to take care of a kid, so Luffy is sent to live with Dadan in Salvador.

When the coup happens Garp burns every file that has Dragon's full name

When Dragon is expelled from the communist party, in 1967, Garp thinks that he's going to calm down and stop, but a few months later more violent revolutionary actions start happening and Garp just knows that it is his son

Garp tries to disturb the investigations that are slowly getting closer to Dragon, but when the U.S starts putting more and more funds into finding and killing Dragon he is forced to stop or he'll be under suspicion of treason

When Dragon dies in 1969 Garp goes to Salvador to tell Luffy face to face abt his father's death

He again tries to get Luffy to join the military, trying to get his grandson to be safe, maybe that way he can resign

Luffy refuses and Garp knows that if he resigns he won't be able to protect Luffy, so he doesn't resign

When his colleagues start talking about this new traveling artists that are making subversive plays in the more rural areas Garp promises himself that no one will kill his grandson

Monkey D. Dragon

Born in 1929 in Salvador, Bahia

He remembers the fear that he felt every time a soldier came bearing news of his father's situation. Would this be the time they tell him he died while fighting the nazis?

The first time he learned about communism was by chance. Some activists had ran scared after the police arrived and left behind some copies of the communist manifesto. He was 14 and that was the first book he read through that wasn't for school

When WWII ended in 1945 Dragon was relieved to have his father back, but that didn't last long. Soon Garp was back to work

They moved to Rio de Janeiro after Garp came back

Since Rio was, at the time, the capital and Gétulio Vargas had just been deposed it wasn't particularly difficult for Dragon to start going to communist meetings

In 1946, when Dragon is 17, he officially joins de communist party

After he graduated high school in the end of that same year he officially moves out and start living in a college commune

He goes to the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) to get a sociology degree

He graduates in 1950

When Vargas becomes a President again in 1951 Dragon is arrested for subversion for the first time

He's in prison for a few months

When he sees Garp after that they both know that no one can know about their connection. Vargas is in power again and an active member of the communist party that is also the son of an important figure from the military has the biggest target in his back

They wouldn't see each other for years. Both still living in Rio de Janeiro, but no attempts at contact would be made

In 1952 Luffy is born, Dragon is his sole caretake

For his son he tries to lay low, he knows what is like to have an absent father, he doesn't want his son to have the same. He does more office work, publishing unsigned papers in various communist papers and that works

For 3 years that works, but then he's arrested in a violent way. He is shot in the stomach and 2 cops press him to side of the car while putting handcuff on him

Luffy sees everything

When he gets his one call he calls one of his friends and asks them to take Luffy to Garp's house in as many codes as he can use, trying to make sure that the cops didn't know he had a son.

This time his arrest lasts 2 years, he thinks that it would've lasted more if Vargas hadn't ended his own government by killing himself

He goes to visit Garp, to visit Luffy

But Luffy isn't there and Garp won't tell him where Luffy is

He's angry, furious, but at the same time he knows that Luffy is going to be safer away from him

He never sees Luffy again

Juscelino Kubitschek (JK) is elected President in 1955 and the construction of Brasília, the new capital, starts

Things calm down for a few years between JK's government, Jânio Quadros resignation from office and than João Goulart

But the coup happens

Everyone in the party knows that if things had been hard when Vargas was president they are about to get worse now

The younger members of the party, the ones that hadn't been there when Vargas was president, either get even more radicalized or leave the party

Dragon feels like they aren't doing enough, people are getting tortured and killed and they are writing articles that are never going to be published

He's expelled from the party, his colleagues see him as being way to violent, but he takes some people with them and makes his own revolutionary group

They finally get some world out there, but the military makes sure that none of it gets to the papers, censoring everything

The military gets more vicious in their search for Dragon, so Dragon gets more violent

Civillians are never to be killed, even if they are sometimes caught in the crossfire

They throw a grenade in an U.S building and things get harder, now the U.S wants Dragon's head too

He knows that he's going to die, that the police has found his colleagues, his friends. He knows that he is one of the few left and, maybe, if he dies first, the ones that are still alive can get away, maybe live normal lives

He writes letter and records messages in tapes, most os them are for Luffy

When he gets shot the first time he knows that this it, that he's going to die there in the backseat of a car

Quickly the other shots follow

Monkey D. Luffy

Born in 1952 in the city of Rio de Janeiro

His gramps sent him to live in Salvador when he was very young

For some reason he doesn't have many memories from before he went to live with Dadan... but he remembers someone being shot

He's 5 when he meets his brothers. He loves them

School is boring

Gramps wants him to join the army when he grows up

One day, when Luffy is 7 a band of traveling artists appear in town, the cops hate them but Luffy is immediately interested

Shanks is just so cool and so strong

Luffy wants to be like him when he grows up

They get into a fight with some low grade soldiers and Luffy tries to defend them

He fails

Shanks has to protect him and gets shot in his shoulder, he loses movement of his arm

Luffy promises himself that he would get strong enough to not let anyone he cares about get hurt

Shanks continues to tell him that it wasn't his fault, the cop should't have pointed at gun at a child

Just as sudden as they came the leave, Shanks gives Luffy his straw hat

Things go back to how they were before, except now Luffy knows he will never be part of the military

Gramps is angry when he hears that

When he's twelve his teachers start talking about how the military is now in power, they say it's a good thing "We'll finally get ride of the commies, there will be order in the country"

Luffy feels something sick in him

A month later Sabo dies

Luffy and Ace didn't go to school for a week

Ace graduated and left. He said he wanted to do something good, make their childhood dreams of changing the world into reality

Luffy wants to go with him but Ace refused

Luffy is now alone

School is still boring and now his teachers continue to praise the military in everything they do. Some of them seem scared of the military though

He's 15 when he hears whispers of this “commie bastard” that is been causing havoc in Rio de Janeiro

He's 16 when the papers now have the face and name of the commie bastard, a guy with a face tattoo, " THE TERRORIST DRAGON"

He's 17 when his gramps shows up in town, with a paper in hands that declared that Dragon was dead

"Your dad Luffy, he died"

Gramps begs him to join the military, to keep himself safe

Luffy can't agree to that, not after having see the military hurt so many people and stop them from being free

All Luffy wants is to be free

That is the first time he sees his Gramps cry

His gramps said that his dad left him tapes and letters

Luffy hears and reads all of them that night

When Dadan and gramps go to wake him up next day they find an empty bed

Okay, this post is already way to long and characters like Ace and Sabo are more interesting if I talk abt them at a later point

Honestly I really recommend taking pieces of the history of your country and characters you love and smash them. It doesn't need to be something so traumatic as my choice was, you can just use something that you think is interesting.

My choice was the dictatorship bc I think One Piece deals a lot with themes like these with the marines that it was the most obvious choice. Also communist Dragon, honestly that was a big part of it too

Less important, but like, I really do need to change the names of the IRL presidents and stuff like that. bc even the idea of "Monkey D. Dragon" and "Getúlio Vargas" being two people alive at the same time is weird

I don't know if this post will get attention, but I do plan on writing more of whatever this is

Also, this shit wasn't beta'd I just needed to get this out there as soon as possible

[chososnumberonepookie]

Vivid Memories

𝒟𝑒𝓈𝒸𝓇𝒾𝓅𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃: ᴄᴏʀᴀ ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡꜱ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴜᴍᴏʀꜱ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ ᴏʟᴅ ꜱᴄʜᴏᴏʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏᴠᴇʀꜱ ᴀ ᴏʟᴅ ᴇɴᴇᴍʏ

🌧️; ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴠɪᴏʟᴇɴᴄᴇ, ɢᴏᴊᴏ, ᴘᴏᴏʀ ʏᴜᴊɪ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴄᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱꜰɪʀᴇ, ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ;🌧️

It felt like it had been forever since Cora had been to Jujutsu High, let alone Tokyo. She had left her final year of high school, deciding never to look back, but yet here she was, standing in front of the school where she had lost many friends.

 Taking a deep breath, she decided to finally walk on campus. She had questions she needed answers for, and a certain 'person' needed to answer them. 

Walking around campus, Cora noticed that not much had actually changed here; it was oddly nostalgic. A little down the path, she spotted an oddly muscular man, seemingly around what she'd expect to be her age. "Excuse me, sir, I'm looking for someone. Have you seen--" 

The man turned to acknowledge her. "Holy shit! Kento, is that you??" He blinked in surprise, clearly recognizing the voice - but he was taken aback when he actually saw her, staring for a good moment or two before he spoke, his voice flat and even. "Ah... Cora, it is..."

 He seemed to study her as he spoke, his eyes roaming slightly over her stature and appearance, before his eyes met her own, and he gave a small nod. "It's been a long time..." 

"Tell me about it! How have you been?" Cora was happy to run into Nanami rather than the others because unlike them, she and him *were* actually close. "Fine." 

There wasn't much else for him to say; he had never been a man of many words. Even when they were younger, he took a moment before he gave any sort of reply to her questions - but it didn’t feel as distant as she remembered it. "How have you been? You look... good. Well." 

"I've been fine, but I’m not the one who bulked up as much as you did; puberty hit you like a bus!" Without much thought or censorship, that joke came flying out of Cora's mouth, causing her to laugh.

 He looked down at himself, and it was like he was looking at himself for the first time. Then, a small amused shrug. "I suppose a little..." His eyes wandered over her again - from her hair to her waist and back. He seemed to like her appearance, though there was no real way to tell. It was just a silent and subtle thing. "You look elegant, though."

 "Why thank you." He gave a subtle nod, his blue eyes fixated solely on her.

 "I see you still wear your clan’s colors..." He said, referring to the blue robes and coat draped over her, as well as the blue patterns of the clothing underneath. "You have always looked good in blue..." 

"Awww 'MiMi', you flatter me!" Even after not seeing him for years, Cora still remembered the nickname she made up for him when they were younger. He gave her a tiny glare when she called him that - it was cute, it was something she used to do all the time.

 But he couldn’t deny the small tingle of warmth he felt when she said it. "Not flattery. Just a compliment..." 

He gave a soft huff before returning his eyes to her, scanning her over once more before meeting her eyes. "…. I must admit I did not know you returned. What made you come back?"

 "Hmm, just following rumors." She hummed in acknowledgment as she listened to his answer, before a small scoff came from him.

 "Rumors. How typical of you, Lady-" He stopped himself; the word was almost foreign on his tongue after years of calling her "Lady Cora". He shook his head slightly, then continued talking calmly. " Cora Which rumors are you following, precisely?" 

“I’m sorry, MiMi, I can’t tell you.” Cora’s demeanor changed, her body language becoming tense and angry. “It's personal, family matters. You know.” 

Her mood switch happened fast, almost unnoticeable. Before long, she looked back at him, and smiled. He furrowed his brow as he noticed the change in her demeanor. It was like an entirely different person, and it caught him off guard for a moment as he listened to her words.

 “Hmmm…” His hum was low as he considered her reply. Clearly, he was suspicious, but the change back to her normal self threw him off. And he simply sighed, a small gesture of defeat.

 “You may hide your affairs from me, Lady Cora. If it is ‘family matters’ - then that is that.” 

She got embarrassed by being called that title, since no one really bothered to use it anymore. “My! My! Haven’t heard that title in a bit!” 

He gave a low chuckle, something that rarely happened even in private. He had a nice, low chuckle though it sounded more like a scoff than anything. “It is just the respect due to women of your stature,” he replied, giving a small shrug, and returning his eyes to her again as the small grin faded away.

 Looking away, Cora noticed a group of people consisting of a man she assumed was Gojo and a group of students. ‘That kid… the one with the pink hair must be his vessel,’ she thought to herself. 

“Say, MiMi, who is that kid over there, with the pink hair?” She asked, pointing over to the group.

 “That would be Itadori Yuji, one of Gojo's students.” ‘I got you, you son of a bitch!’ 

Before Nanami could register anything, Cora was gone and took off towards the group.

As Cora closed in on the group, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, it felt as if it dropped to the floor, she was fueled by a mix of adrenaline and anger.

Itadori, however, was completely oblivious to the impending confrontation, and continued chatting with the others Without warning, Cora lunged forward, allowing  her instincts to  take over.

 With a swift motion, she tackled Itadori to the ground, sending both of them crashing onto the grassy courtyard. Itadori let out a surprised yelp as the impact knocked the wind out of him, the others recoiling in shock.

Nanami's eyes widened as he watched the sudden altercation unfold. He moved to intervene, but Cora pinned Itadori to the ground before he could reach them, her gaze burning with intensity.

“YOU!”

“Cora? What do you think you’re doing attacking one of my precious students?” The voice speaking was Gojo no doubt. Looking up at him, her eyes looked dead, the sparkle that was in them just a moment ago was gone.

“Oh? What happened to the sweet ‘princess’ I went to school with? You changed”. He started to walk over prepared for a fight.

“This boy, is Ryomen Sukuna’s vessel right? I have some questions for him” She glares back down at Itadori, sending shivers down his spine. 

Itadori squirmed beneath her, his eyes darting nervously between Cora and Gojo. He could feel the weight of their stares, the intensity of the situation sinking in.

Gojo raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "Ah, so you've figured that out, have you?" He chuckled softly, as if he found the whole situation amusing. 

"But I'm curious, Cora," Gojo continued, his tone turning more serious. "How did you find out about him? It's not every day someone stumbles upon that kind of information."

 Cora’s gaze flickered with defiance, but she remained silent momentarily, considering her words carefully. "Let's just say I have my sources," she replied cryptically, her voice scarcely steady despite her predicament.

Nanami observed the scene with a mixture of surprise and concern. The rumors Cora mentioned earlier must have been about Itadori. He is the reason why she is back.

 Gojo nodded thoughtfully, his eyes lingering on Cora for a moment longer before he turned his attention to Itadori. "Well, it seems we have quite the interesting situation on our hands," he remarked, his tone light but tinged with an underlying seriousness.

Amongst the tension filled air a deep voice spoke out. “OH! THIS IS GOOD REAL GOOD!”  Everyone's heads snapped down to Itadori where the voice was coming from, his hand more specifically, a mouth appeared. 

“My my, if it isn't Lady Cora, you look almost identical from the last time I saw you.. What was it? Over a thousand years ago” 

“Sukuna, you should have stayed dead” Cora strained out.

Sukuna's mouth curled into a wicked grin, his eyes gleaming with malice as he regarded Cora. "Ah, but where's the fun in that, Lady Cora? It seems fate has brought us together once again." 

Cora's grip tightened on Itadori's collar, her jaw clenched in frustration. "I have no time for your games, Sukuna. I'm here for answers! WHY! WHY DID YOU KILL MY FAMILY!”

“Oh to hold a grudge for all these years”

“That's enough, you two, now Cora, if you would kindly let go of my student, it seems you have some explaining to do..” 

As Cora stared down at Itadori, the weight of her anger and frustration bore down on her. The memories of her family's tragedy surged to the forefront of her mind, fueled 10 fold  by Sukuna's presence. She gritted her teeth, her grip on Itadori tightening involuntarily. 

Gojo's voice cut through the tension like a blade, commanding attention and authority. His words brought a momentary pause to her frustration, though Cora's glare remained fixed on Itadori. Reluctantly, she let go of  him, though her gaze didn't waver.

 Itadori scrambled to his feet, rubbing his neck where Cora's grip had been tightest. He shot a wary glance at Sukuna's mouth, the fear evident in his eyes, shoving his hand in his pocket, before turning his attention back to Cora and Gojo. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any trouble," Itadori stammered, his voice tinged with nervousness. 

"I didn't know about your family, I swear!" Cora's expression softened slightly at Itadori's words, though the pain and anger still simmered beneath the surface. She took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm raging within her.

“No, No I should be apologizing to you, I shouldn't have done that to you, yo had nothing to do with it after all” 

“Cora- just how old are you?” A stern voice cut through their conversation, definitely belonging to Nanami. Her breath hitched, taking a sharp inhale. “Promise not to freak out” 

Turning back to Nanami she finally spoke, “1026 years old”

[bambibaby-afterhours]

I feel like the point of that commenter was missed, do you actually think that they knew, for Charlie maybe yes? but I personally didn't know that the other guy was an idf. your feelings are valid but the amount of times they said that they get punished for speaking up or doing thing on their own accord. Contracts are complicated, i hope div1/jype will give them more freedom. It's heartbreaking this is happening in the world right now. It shouldn't even be happening. Right now as a Stay and a person, donating and spreading information is what matters to me right now. I won't be unstanning but will boycott the song. I believe that the kids have their subtle ways to show their support for Palestine. I believe that time will tell. I hope it comes very soon. Free Palestine !! Free Congo !!

🍉 anon

I didnt miss the commenter’s point and im not asking or telling anyone to unstan or boycott skz but being a true advocate for something means doing the complicated and difficult things especially when your in a position to influence change. skz in comparison to the people im palestine, the students protesting and the different groups of marginalized people protesting and speaking out about the genocide happened have nothing to lose.

They’re a major group the writes and produces their own music and if their reputation precedes them then breaking their contractual censorship wont be as big of a problem as people are making it seem.

Chuu for example is from a smaller company but faced being blacklisted simply for wanting fair treatment and to get paid but her reputation and positive interactions with all of the people she’s worked with helped save her career.

The worst thing that can happen to skz for speaking up is they get dropped by jype and then what??? they write and produce all of their music they can keep doing that independently or with a new company.

The worst thing that can happen to skz if they continue to stay silent is happening right now. Giving a platform to two terrible people; a zionist rape apologist and a zionist IDF member and giving them access to their fandom which is allowing a crazy increase of hate and threats to people boycotting and standing up for Palestinians.

Threatening violence to other stays for talking about not watching skz if and when they perform lmb. threatening fights and assaults at large major music festivals and purposefully streaming that song raising it on the charts which just causes more people to listen and give more money to two zionists again one is a RAPE APOLOGIST and the other is an IDF MEMBER.

Doing the hard things, the difficult things can be scary but whats scary is letting this roll off our backs by saying that contracts are complicated and difficult and they need permission.

At the end of the say all of skz are adults and have control of their hands, mouths and access to the internet. It’s 2024 our morals need to be stronger than a signature on paper especially when lives are being lost.

Imagine if your neighbors, your community was all gone in a matter of 220 days (from oct 7 to now(may 14)) due to being bombed, starved, dehydrated, left out to the elements, executed and forced into concentration camps and someone you looked up to not only remains silent about it but gives people involved and in support of this horrible senseless inhumane crime because “contracts are complicated”

Begging people to see you as human and to help you live another day in a language that isnt yours because you simply want the freedom to exist without the sound of drones and bombs 24/7.

Thats the reality for thousands of people in Palestine right now that’s what they have to do to try and get freedom but all skz has to do is pick up their phones and start typing.

It’s extremely simple when you think about it that way.

Thank you anon for donating and spreading information about gaza and boycotting i appreciate it and i know the people in gaza appreciate it even more. Lots of love to you <3 Take good care of yourself and have an amazing may ‎❤︎ ིྀ

[miyamiwu]

Studio Lan knew what they were doing here. They definitely did. Not to mention that they have never been subtle with all the tender looks they had Lu Guang throw Cheng Xiaoshi’s way this season. In almost every fucking episode, mind you. And so much emphasis on them holding hands, too. If it weren’t for Chinese censorship, I bet this show would be tagged as BL already.

Lu Guang being tender each episode under the cut

Episode 2:

Episode 3:

Episode 4:

Episode 5:

Episode 6:

And now, Episode 7:

No tender looks in Episode 1 because Lu Guang was assumed dead, but hey, maybe this should count:

He even has CXS’s head in his hand

[douglysium]

Is FGO's Andromeda Black?

I already talked about this on Twitter So I figured I would mention this here and it was originally a sort of response to people criticizing for someone assuming Andromeda was some sort of gyaru.

I appreciate that people are aware of Andromeda’s Aethiopian / African origins in FGO but tbh I think there’s something to be said about how FGO design usually approaches drawing black people / features. Sure I think Andromeda is black but if you where to grab a random non-fate fan before putting FGO’s Andromeda, Amakusa, Emiya Alter, and Suzuka Gozen (Summer) in front of them with no context and asked them “Which of these characters is black?” or "Which of these character an African figure?" I hesitate to say that they would be able to tell you consistently.

I’m not saying no character can ever be racially ambiguous or everything can fit cleanly into little boxes at all times but as tempting as it is to say someone not realizing Andromeda is black is merely the ignorance of an audience member I can’t help but think that Fate also primes such expectations with how they often approach black characters in general. I think parts of the internet do bend over backward trying to deny a character being black when it makes sense but I also ask when is the last time Fate has idk drawn really curly hair or dreads? Like seriously think about it.

(Lenora maybe isn't the best example because I think she plays into some stereotypes but the point here is to look at the hair texture)

So, I think as good as the conversation about Africa in Greek mythology is to have and how easy it is to blame it on the audience (which is not completely unjustified) I think we also have to question how Fate itself primes the audience or may handle things in such a way as to increase the chance of miscommunication. And this is not to say that it’s always Fate’s fault or that black people can never have straight hair and / or lightskin black people or what have you, but i find Myself having to debate whether a character is black or not in fate way more often than I have to debate if a character is black in other media. I think the weaknesses that Fate has with these kinds of designs is something I don’t see with Magic the Gathering or Pokemon or even Digimon. Outside of specific characters I don’t see people arguing Marvin Jackson from Digital-Police is a gyaru or Lenora isn’t black.

Like if you look at Sid Story’s Mansa Musa design for example I don’t think there’s really anyway for someone to misinterpret that she’s not black without looking like they are purposefully trying to troll others for engagement.

(Shout outs to illust_ringo (https://twitter.com/illust_ringo))

Like yeah, there is a lot of racism in some parts of the Fate fandom but Fate itself did also make a bunch of Detroit jokes with Emiya alter and clearly realized they made some sort of mistake with design since they’ve been walking back on some subtle stuff so I can only give FGO itself so much grace in that context. I love Fate but I think if we want to have a productive conversation we need to acknowledge the racism within Fate itself and how that can attract certain people or set up certain expectations (even with the censorship of characters like Emiya Alter).

I guess what I’m also trying to say is for some people if you give an inch they’ll take a mile. If you give even a little bit of a possibility that a character isn’t black, even if they’re supposed to be, some people are going to take it and I think that there’s some stuff Fate could be doing more often (even if not all the time) to help prevent misconceptions from occurring and prevent me from pulling out an essay or history lesson on why a character is or should be black almost every-time they release and African servant.

While I ended up talking about some of the ways I think Fate could do better I don’t think it’s always 100% their fault. Like I said if you give an inch some people will take a mile (and some people don’t want to ever count Egypt as part of Africa for some reason) but I also think there’s stuff they could be doing to help curb this. I also don’t think it helps that Fate barely touches any black figures around / outside of Egypt but that’s for another time (where’s Yasuke?! Im on my hands and knees begging).

Anyway, those are my thoughts because quite frankly one could go on all day with almost infinite ifs, ands, or buts and numerous exceptions and when the responsibility is more on the designer or more on the audience or how there are always exceptions, considering racially ambiguous people and designs, etc but this is from Twitter and my brain hurts so I'll spare you an entire chapter book's worth of thoughts. I figured this was also fitting to go over during Black History Month.

Extra Thoughts

There are a couple of other points I would like to mention though. Some people have argued Andromeda is a win because they didn't depict her as white and I'm not sure I completely agree? Yes, it is a major win that they didn't do that thing where they only look at how white Europeans from the medieval century depicted her and used pale skin as a symbol of beauty but there are some fan translations of her profile and it says this " A tomboy princess who prides herself on her swimming ability. Ethiopia (Aethiopia) is said to mean "land of the sunburnt people"[1], however, it does not necessarily correspond to the nation of Ethiopia which exists today."

So yes, Aethiopia does not correspond perfectly to Ethopia but it still refers to parts of Africa and Africans. Quite frankly, this part of the profile reads like a summer servant and while it might be easy to say "Fate gave her dark skin so it's a win" I also worry that what happened is that they interpreted "land of the sunburnt people" as a tan and took the depictions of white Andromeda and interpreted it as a sort of tan. Which is a doubt I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish I didn't have and I can't stress this enough. I so desperately want to believe that they are saying Andromeda is at least black but like I said I think we have to be honest that Fate's depiction of black and African people adds a lot of room for doubt. I think her skin is naturally tan at least and while she does indeed have dark hair in some of her ascensions it ends up turning blonde. You could maybe argue this confirms that she actually isn't a gyaru since most stereotypical gyarus have blonde hair but even with that in mind I think the way Fate handles Andromeda and just black designs in general can often fall a bit flat or unclear and sometimes I think fans are doing a lot of heavy lifting with good faith readings (including me).

This is not me saying Andromeda is white this is me saying that Fate pretty consistently falls short with these designs which feeds into a room for doubt. Like I said, I just want Fate to be more willing to include some black features more often so I'm not constantly having to pull up a small dissertation on why a character is black. It would be nice if there were just a few more of their black characters that I could point to and have no doubts about and not need to debate anyone.

Also, Fate just has a SERIOUS whitewashing problem and a weird relationship with blonde hair quite frankly. It feels like sometimes it's an obsession. Like when they made it so blonde hair was a sign of divinity for most of the Babylonian gods. Something that has a lot of Eurocentric baggage with the history of associating often white / "aryan" traits with purity, beauty, goodness, divinity, etc.. Not to mention, that in my opinion, Fate seems like it is basically going out of its way to avoid black historical figures most of the time unless they have do Egypt. Yes, I know about Strange / Fake and Nzambi but they barely touched most of Africa and even outside of Egypt they haven't really even mentioned characters like Yasuke outside of some fan-submitted design in one of their gag mangas. Combine this with designs like Emiya Alter and the controversy around that and I can't help but be left wanting a bit more of a bare minimum somewhere even if there aren't a lot of black servants.

Greeks and Pigment

Since someone is inevitably going to bring this up. Yes the Greeks do technically depict Andromeda with light skin even way back when but I just happened to take an art history class so I know a bit about this.

Greeks did this weird thing where they sometimes depicted women with light skin and men with dark skin so if you really wanted to commit to that argument then someone like Perseus for example would have to be black or at least dark-skinned. To me it can hold about as much wait as arguing a man has blue skin and a girl has pink skin because people associate those colors with boys and girls.

For reference, here’s a pot depicting Perseus and Andromeda from 575-550 BCE on an amphora from Italy. If someone did want to argue Andromeda was white than they would need to argue Pereus is black or something which is to say Greek art and skin tones can be weird.

Andromeda wasn’t the only Greek mythological figure from Ethiopia (such as Memnon during the Trojan War) and the Greeks had settlements in African areas like Egypt and traded with Africans. Additionally, the myth of Helios explains why dark skin tones exist (so different skin tones are literally incorporated into their myths) so I think based on context even with art like this we can assume the Greek culture generally probably knew about black people. Also, Andromeda's profile clearly alludes to the idea that the designers and writers probably know Andromeda is from Africa too.

Ending

Idk, I try not to come off as a debbie downer or seem like the only enjoyment I get from Fate is when I bash it but I feel like some people are getting really caught up in praising the design or the individuals who are probably misreading Andromeda's race or ethnicity and not seeing the bigger picture itself. Something that limits the productivity of the conversation. I also think that where possible we should maybe push for more clearly black designs to prevent things like this from happening. I know that's usually not going to happen because FGO is a Japanese game for a mostly Japanese audience but you never know who's paying attention or who you might inspire. I also think that some of us maybe shouldn't be settling for scraps or half gestures as often.

Andromeda does do well with not just depicting her as Perseus white but at the same time I think everyone also just has REALLY low standards (including me) so even that little bit was a surprise. Which is depressing when you think about it. This isn't me saying you can't like Andromeda or that every character needs to have their race plastered on their forehead but it's very clear that Fate's design philosophy has some major pitfalls and weaknesses (especially with depicting black people) and I think it could be taking some simple steps to resolve them. It feels like every time FGO releases a black character the same cycle happens in the community and I'm not really sure it's going anywhere because people end up debating about what is basically a symptom showing up within the fanbase without addressing the actual source and elephant in the room itself, FGO and maybe even Fate in general.

There are also even people in Japan who at least kind of care enough to try to depict black people in a less ambiguous fashion that isn't racist or a stereotype (like Jinkei who has literally worked on FGO: https://x.com/jinkei_bunny/status/1759352092467364240?s=20).

BHM

Anyway, happy Black History Month. I urge you that while criticism is good and healthy positive reinforcement is also great and just as important. There's no point in ever only paying attention to the negative but never fostering the positive.

In the spirit of positivity and being the change you want to see in the world here are my Yasuke and Shaka Zulu fanservant designs

Demon Saber: Yasuke Full Profile- https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735141544541208576/mori-ranmaru-wikipedia

Grand Lancer Candidate: Shaka Zulu Full Profile- https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/721643569180557312/douglysium-douglysium-douglysium-grand

Steel Berserker: John Henry Unfinished Profile- https://www.tumblr.com/douglysium/735103259781578752/steel-berserker-john-henry-wip?source=share

[earthsickwithoutyou]

children...please.

(Miller's Girl spoilers) This is one of, if not the stupidest 'controversy' around a film ever. I only wish there had been a "graphic" or "X-rated" sex scene in this movie, but there ISN'T. There is no nudity and everything is implied. The "graphic" aspect comes entirely from the story being read by Cairo and Jonathan over a subtle and brief fantasy scene. The language is graphically sexual --and hot af -- but the acts described are not fully depicted on screen. Jonathan masturbates while reading the story, which is also suggested and not graphically depicted. What movie are these people talking about, exactly? Where can i see this cut of Miller's Girl which has so scandalized them? 👀 Because it's sure not the one that was released! I feel like these viewers do not know what a sex scene is. Or what a graphic depiction of sex looks like onscreen. As a starter pack, I recommend Lust, Caution, Nymphomaniac, Basic Instinct, 9 1/2 Weeks, Boogie Nights, The Dreamers, Blue is the Warmest Color. An inappropriate power dynamic and a large age gap between two consenting, 18+ fictional characters do not remotely call for this amount of "outrage." It genuinely gives "the children are taking over the internet" crossed with "this must be the Twilight Zone." I abhor this level of censorship-happy Puritanism over a movie which should be viewed for its artistry and story-telling. The "scandal" starts here, where we have viewers insisting that we must get rid of age gap relationships in movies so they don't have to be offended by content which they could easily avoid. But it could easily extend to cover all manner of content which is part of the human experience, whether positive, negative, or in between. And soon enough, going by these "rules," movies would not be able to show sex at all, which is a natural path to movies not existing whatsoever, since the puritans would be left with 'kisses on hands" and "a shot of her ankle" to clutch their pearls over. After that, they'd keep censoring until there was nothing left. Is that what we want for cinema and for art in general? Are we just going to ignore the nightmare stories history tells us about what censorship does to culture? When was the last time we saw this kind of reaction to, say, depiction of war violence in a movie? Yeah, that's what i thought.

[hils79]

Hils Watches In Blossom - Ep 23

Definitely not a subtle way to entrap the spy. "I'll just invite everyone to dinner and then casually show off a mysterious box that they're bound to try and steal."

I bet the spy isn't actually any of the people acting sus. I suspect we'll be in for a surprise when they catch them

Okay, it's definitely not him. I don't understand why they didn't just hide in the hall and catch the person taking the box. Instead of waiting for it to be stolen and then finding it in his bed

Oh look he conveniently wants to retire the day after the box was stolen. It's him.

Yep! I knew it! I don't think Pan Yue is that stupid I suspect he knows it too

It's like they know what I'm thinking

Everyone hunting for spies in secret. Well, it's important to have a hobby

I know they won't for censorship reasons but in my heart they banged against the library shelves

Him: sexy times Her: ooh, look, the scroll we were looking for

Not now, boner

They are both ridiculous

A skilled martial artist who fought of a dozen assassins while mostly blind being chased around a room by an old man with a stick

Aww pouty

I love that he's acting like he's meeting her father. So polite.

Man realises that he doesn't actually know that much about the woman he's in love with and that he's known since childhood

She was great even as a kid

My son looks like he's about to fuck some shit up! I'm glad to see him again I thought he was going to be missing for at least a couple of episodes

He's so ridiculous I love him

[hornetstabber]

twitter weirdos getting really mad about that stellar blade game getting 'censored' is really funny when the apparent 'censorship' of the main character's one piece swimsuit was such a subtle change i could hardly even notice it it's like the kind of shit i decided to get mad about when i was a horny teenager that i look back on and laugh at myself about but mark kern is going on 40 making petitions about it

[itsclydebitches]

With regards to subtlety in RWBY and the bees, when I first started reading your post I had a knee-jerk reaction to your point about only queer romances being subtle because of all the arguments over Good Omens and queerbaiting but you make a really good point about the tone of RWBY overall and about how in a show that obvious in everything, the fact that it's only 'subtle' about Blake and Yang is telling. I think it's easy to get stuck in an either-or mindset when it comes to discussing queer representation; that things must either always be as clear as possible or that subtlety is never a bad thing. So I appreciate your analysis focusing on how this relationship was executed in this show says about it.

"How this relationship was executed in this show" - exactly!! Oh, anon, I've been team "Of course Good Omens isn't queer baiting what are you TALKING ABOUT?" for years now and I'm of the very strong opinion that subtlety is a huge asset for that tale.

Suffice to say, yeah, the entirety of a show's context has an impact on how we read the queer rep (or lack thereof). A long-time ally writing a subtext heavy queer love story about two non-human entities, but refraining from defining that relationship with a singular, tidy label - or action such as a kiss - due in large part to that non-human characterization + the characters' status in the larger world + the fact that this was originally written 33 years ago + the complications of one half of the author duo having passed away, thereby making changing of that magnitude a very difficult decision is VERY different from a company whose recent homophobia/transphobia has come to light putting off a supposedly planned queer relationship for a decade in a story where every cishet relationship is established in a single scene. It's apple and oranges. Whether a show was cruel in its teasing of a couple, whether the fandom latched onto a couple that would have derailed the author's vision, whether creators are fighting tooth and nail against censorship, whether the story came out last year or fifty years ago, whether the story ever got to be finished... all of this and more impacts our reading of the queer rep; all of it needs to be taken into account. Which is partly why I think a lot of fans are upset with the bees becoming canon, despite simultaneously being thrilled that the bees are canon. When you strip away the generalized happiness of, "Yay queer rep!" and look at how this came about - the context - RT has done incredibly poorly, especially considering the leeway they had from the start. Viewers are allowed to be disappointed in that.

[soulsforscrapbooks]

Two subtle things about the June 30th entry: Stoker never specifies that Jonathan has been fed upon; he gives just enough plausible deniability that Dracula’s present blood-engorged state could be from other victims, possibly to avoid censorship. He’s also made sure Jonathan can’t look at his own neck to check for bite marks - he has no mirror.

Secondly, that Dracula has his eyes open and can move his head implies that he might actually be mostly immobile, not asleep in the style of living things - dead bodies are more prone to the affects of rigor mortis during the day.  Which means that Dracula has been watching Jonathan explore the crypt this whole time. 

[princeescaluswords]

Writing Doesn't Happen in a Void:

End Racism in the OTW

I read @saathi1013's excellent work and it inspired me to write something similar but with a different focus. She grapples with the relationship of the individual to the fandom as a whole which is at the heart of the End Racism at the OTW protest. You should read it, too.

However, it did put me in mind of a defense a lot of people employ about their writing. They argue that their fandom writing can't possibly be racist because they don't see race as involved ("Don't bring race into this!") or they insist they were only commenting on a character's specific and particular behavior. It always puts me in mind of Through the Looking Glass.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

This is an absurd statement from an absurd character in an absurd setting. If he encountered them, Lewis Carroll might not have interpreted the words "communication theory" the same way we do today, but he understood that to complete an act of writing it requires more than just an author. It is an action which also requires a medium, a cultural context, and a reader.

My perception is that the root of the problem with OTW's response to racism is that the organization holds it as a basic premise that fanfiction should be evaluated as an isolated creation, which its authors conjured from their own experiences with canon and that readers are obligated to only approach these works after shedding all personal and cultural context. This premise manifests in the organization's tacit approval of the stultifying and banal idea of "Don't like; Don't read." It's a simple concept -- and more importantly it's a defense that requires no effort -- but it fails logically. An author can propagate racist ideas without intention, and if they do, they're not going to label for it! And racism can be so subtle that a reader might not become aware of its presence immediately while reading a work. Most people are not precognitive.

I hope to Heaven that I don't have to explain how exposure to racism damages people, but I do suspect it might damage them even more if their reactions to it are met with "That's your own fault!" This is essentially what the OTW is saying when it promotes the idea that authors should not have to be exposed to negative reactions to their own work and that they as an organization aren't complicit in an individual author's racism when they maintain an imaginary neutrality. Thus they see every encounter a reader has with racism in fanworks is the reader's own responsibility, as if they encountered it through their own negligence.

I've encountered this type of thinking so many times. I've pointed out how a popular trope is racist in the past only to have the author come back with "I'm doing this for free and I didn't mean for it to be racist, so if you don't like it then leave." What they fail to grasp is that it doesn't matter if I leave; the work is either tainted by racism or it isn't. The author won't -- and literally can't -- make that determination for themselves if they are constantly encouraged to see all negative criticism as unfair, unethical, and unnecessary, and if they see the OTW, the publisher of their stories, as fighting tooth and nail to protect them from all consequence.

And, as a customary disclaimer, I'm not arguing for censorship, but there are responses, as I've said before, falling between a censor regime and dogged indifference.

[sang8262]

so im working on a pretentious, i mean, JP themed playlist, and i really wanted to throw in a composer with the same initials as a joke

which is why Johann Pachelbel and Jean-Philippe Rameau have infiltrated this playlist despite having no other relevance to his character;;;

speaking of, here's what i got so far:

J. Pachelbel - any fugue, just... anything that isn't Canon in D

J.P. Rameau - Les Indes galantes, Forêts paisibles (but this rock cover specifically)

Sergei Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet, No. 14 Dance of the Knights (stolen from another JP playlist you know who you are lmao. it gets bonus points for being from a ballet)

Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op. 18 (there's a reason it's popular!! and i like the strings in it!!)

Dmitri Shostakovich - Waltz No.2 (another popular one. it's a pretty tepid choice i admit)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade, Op.35 (this one's pretty well known too. apparently there's optional yelling in the 4th movement?? gets bonus points for being a ballet)

Aram Khachaturian - Masquerade Suite (another popular one, especially the Waltz, which fits him rather well. though i also like Nocturne and Mazurka. apparently there's a ballet of this so that's bonus ballet points)

Khachaturian - Gayane, Sabre Dance (I'M KIDDING. but a JP hater would have chosen this)

Khachaturian - Gayane, Dance of the Comrades (since i do not hate him, i'm replacing the previous with this from the same ballet. and ofc, bonus ballet points)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker, Arrival of Drosselmeyer (there was a whole thing on Twitter about how JP's smile resembles a nutcracker, so this was obvious. Uncle Drosselmeyer as a character is rather JP-esque as well, at least, when he's pretending to be nice)

Alexander Mosolov - Iron Foundry (referenced in JP's win quote to Zangief: "Seeing you, I can't help but recall Mosolov's Iron Foundry, tovarisch.")

Mosolov - Two Nocturnes, Op. 15 (it's really unsettling! and reminded me of JP's introduction scene in World Tour, with the horror elements)

Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird, The Infernal Dance of King Kastchei (bonus ballet points, and for sharing names with his j.HK) (honorable mention to Petrushka, another ballet, but it isn't exactly 'JP'. but i like Danse Russe so, i'm mentioning it lmao)

Alexander Scriabin!!! - everything!!! (recently discovered for me and im in love. there's a whole collection made by Dmitri Alexeev of all his works, and i can totally see JP doing paper work with it playing in the background)

this list is already too long, but here are some extra notes: Rimsky-Korsokov was part of 'The Mighty Five', also including Modest Mussorgsky, Mily Balakirev, Cesar Cui, and Alexander Borodin. This was a historically and musically significant group, which is why I wanted to at least name drop them. Actually, it was looking into Mosolov that sent me down the rabbit hole regarding similar Soviet-era composers. Obviously there's a lot going on here with the... artistic (and political) censorship at the time. Or, all of interesting stuff going on with composers finding influences from traditional folklore/ dances. Or alternatively, responding to and processing contemporary events through music, as a form of subtle protest...

But I've only glossed over these topics so I'm going to refrain from going too deep on it;;

As for connecting all this to JP, gosh idk, these comic pages from Vol. 3 and 4 seem relevant. I'll let these stew as a final thought:

[olderthannetfic]

Heyo, anon who was thinking about writing a Murdock/mannequin fanfic and asked about crack fics. I have realized that the term "crack fic" probably doesn't really fit the premise; I guess I was thinking about "fic for a (kinda sorta) crack ship" and my brain short-circuited that into "crack fic" (oops). Your description of "strange subject matter written in a standard way" does fit my premise nicely, I guess it wouldn't really be a crack fic then. The episode that ship is from also shows later that he genuinely cared about the mannequin and is really upset when it gets broken irreversibly later, so this is more along the lines of Murdock genuinely having a thing for and a relationship/an affair with this mannequin rather than just joking about it, so yeah, the plan is: strange subject matter but non-crackish depiction.

As for the definition of crack fics: the ones I have come across have been a) "usual/standard premise but intentionally silly/wacky (humourous) writing intended to be read as silly as if one had to be on crack to write it and to take it seriously" b) "strange/silly premise and intentionally silly/wacky (humourous) writing intended to be read accordingly as if one had to be on crack to think of the mere premise of the fanfic" c) "strange/silly premise and dead-serious writing as if the plot were the most standard and regular fanfic premise to ever premise plottily," so to say.

My personal definition would probably fall somewhere between a) and b), although I'd love to find more cases of c), as that sounds the most fun to read to me. Have also come across crack fics by middle/high-school students, and by that I mean people who wrote in their author's note stuff like "lolllz i wrote this during lunch break at school with a couple of friends and they dared me to post it so here you go lmaooo" (this is paraphrasing of course, but I have stumbled across multiple crack fics that have author notes like this).

Btw have decided to give it a go, so I'd like to thank you for helping me reach that decision! I was unsure whether this idea would be too silly to write, but then remembered that no amount of silliness can stop me from making fictitious people and fictitious mannequins smooch, ha! (Also am going to look for that Care Bears fanfic, that sounds like fun, so thank you for the recommendation.)

Another btw: I am no longer thinking that Murdock's potential depiction of potential interest in guys is just a joke... Have just seen "There goes the neighbourhood" (4x10), and pretty close to the beginning, they're deciding to leave with a client and her friend/boss is staying in the room, so they're saying their goodbyes and then exiting the room, and Murdock is the last to leave, and he says, "Such a pleasure meeting you, let's do lunch!" and puts on his hat and charmingly smiles at the guy, and then the camera is on the guy who does look interested. I am deciding to categorize this interaction as "not-subtle-at-all flirty encounter," and now firmly believe that either the character was written/directed as bi/pan or bi-curious (considering how much cheek-in-tongue innuendo and humour the show has, I wouldn't be that surprised if they'd decided to subtly and not-subtly get a non-straight character past homophobic film/TV censorship of the 80s) or the actor decided to portray him as interested in guys without the studio/director/whoever-decides-stuff knowing or approving, heheh. (Or the actor just felt like flirting with or hungrily staring at handsome guys, which I also respect lol.) Let's just ignore that I gravitate toward rarepairs and that that probably means I tend to interpret stuff as romantic/sexual interest innuendo that's not actually meant/written to be interpreted as such and that most other people don't bat an eye at, and that that probably means my interpretation is total bullshit, ahem. XD

Also wanted to say thank you for letting me ramble about this specific headcanony stuff from a circa 40yo TV series and unload my silly little thoughts and probable over-interpretations into your inbox. (Holy shit, this ask got long. Sorry for that!)

--

"Crack treated seriously" is how people often talk about option C.

[cuntylouis]

In these past weeks i have lost my faith in so many things: media, my country's government and politicians, international law and community, many people i used to like and respect. I used to have a really high level of trust in my country's media and news broadcasting but i now realize they aren't as trustworthy as i thought. The Finnish media has picked a side and is reporting things in a biased way and practicing self-censorship.

I go to the website of my country's biggest newspaper and the first thing i see is an article where they write in a concerned tone about how in the Stockholm pro-Palestine protest people were chanting 'from river to the sea Palestine will be free' and take it as a given fact that it's antisemitic. There are rather little reports of what's happening to the Palestinian civilans compared to the reports of the Israelians' experiences. They've changed from reporting 'Gaza health ministry says...' to 'Hamas says...' And i mean i think it's important to inform readers that Hamas' position in Gaza means that it may exert control over the health ministry and the information it gives may not be trustworthy, but i also think that completely equating Hamas and the health ministry and all the people who work there is offensive, and we don't actually know how much Hamas dictates what they say or how much if any of what they're saying is inaccurate. And Israel's government's words are taken as likely facts even though most of them can't be verified independently either.

The amount of subtle and not so subtle manipulation happening now is staggering. Maybe i was naive but i really expected better. I don't think i can ever forgive or trust the government and media in my country again. I'm going to always look at them differently from now on.