'There is a scene towards the beginning of Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film, The Talented Mr Ripley, when Jude Law’s character, Dickie Greenleaf, asks Matt Damon’s Tom Ripley what his talent is – to which literature’s most famous fraud replies with: “Forging signatures, telling lies, impersonating practically anybody”. Yet there is another talent of Tom’s that is essential in his ability to deceive those around him into thinking that he is one of them – and that’s his sartorial savoir-faire.
Fashion is of vital importance to Tom, in both the novel by Patricia Highsmith and subsequent adaptations, including that 1999 film, but also 1960’s French New Wave retelling, Purple Noon, and the upcoming black-and-white Netflix version, Ripley, starring Andrew Scott in the titular role. The style of the 1999 movie – Jude Law’s polo shirts, white trousers and boat shoes, Gwyneth Paltrow’s high-waist bikinis, broderie anglaise tops and peasant skirts – is still referenced by designers today (it won costume designer Ann Roth an Oscar at the time).
And while Matt Damon’s character is certainly au fait with fashion, he’s without the means to access it in the same way that the other characters are: he has one shirt he washes out nightly, a threadbare cord jacket Dickie offers to replace, and one pair of dress shoes that he has to wear to the beach. In many ways, the film is at pains to emphasise that, though Tom is good at what he does, he’s not quite good enough – after all, Dickie, Marge (Paltrow) and Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman) all figure him out. Yet it is with fashion that he manages to move in these circles. In fact, it’s how he accesses them in the first place, having borrowed a Princeton jacket for a piano recital when he first encounters Dickie’s father, who mistakes him for a student and pleads with him to fetch home his wayward son.
In the novel, Tom is obsessed with clothing, spending hours touching Dickie’s shirts and jackets or fingering the jewellery on his dressing table, saying that doing so “reminded him he existed”. His spectacles serve as a way to switch between characters – like a villainous Clark Kent and Superman – while his decision to wear Dickie’s monogrammed velvet slippers and signet rings after he has (spoiler alert) murdered him, alerts Marge and Freddie to the fact something isn’t right.
Fashion is often used by literature’s anti-heroes as a significant tool in their arsenal to deceive...
“The way we dress does, to an extent, affect how people see us, but it’s context dependent,” explains Dr Dion Terrelonge, a fashion psychologist. “It’s about alignment and how we fit in with people’s expectations. We like to think we don’t judge others based on what they are wearing, but we do. It’s not a negative judgement, necessarily; it’s about interpreting and categorising. It helps us navigate the world.”
Whether or not you wield that power for good or for evil is the differentiator. “When you wear an item of clothing that you associate with a certain person, lifestyle or behaviour, then you’re far more likely to take on those things,” explains Dr Terrelonge. “When people copy other people’s style, they’re trying to align themselves with them and their lifestyle. It’s walking 100 miles in their shoes. It’s shorthand for, ‘this is the kind of person I am’ – you look the part.”
For conners, it’s “fake it til you make it” or “dress for the job you want” writ large. As Tom famously says in his final speech in the film, “I thought it was better to be a fake somebody, than a real nobody.”'
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New Author, Who This?
Howdy! If you've seen @poptartportfolio's art of my Spartan, you'll most likely have seen the writing that went with it. If not, you can see both here:
Spartan Luck – Google Docs
A collection of a Spartan-III's jumbled thoughts as she reflects on her life with what little focus she has left.
This piece also has a follow-up!
Not Dead Yet – Google Docs (A fair warning for the fun details of an AI breaking down slightly and the treating of blood and wounds.)
The Spartan's AI partner fighting as hard as she can to prevent the end, even if she's slipping away just as fast.
And on top of those two halves of one story, I also have a recently-finished piece. A tale of wounds of war and those left behind with the memories. The strange bonds that can form between wounds when they refuse to heal on their own.
Lost, But Not Forgotten - Google Docs
I hope you enjoy <3
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She-Hulk 1.09
“Whose Show Is This?”
SPOILERS!
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1.
2. I feel like this should be really important.
3. Todd and people like him are true monsters. Don’t come at me with the “not all men” argument because literally anyone could be like him. People like him are bad, very, very bad.
4. I really love how the whole second and third act is just a massive fourth wall break, and this kinda mocks us, the audience, in a friendly way 😂
5.
6. You can’t mistake it for anything else! The way those guards fell was beyond hilarious 😂
7. 🤣
8. I save the best for last 😎
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Imagine one of these girls accidentally waxing Ophelia's eyebrows off, getting chased around the mountain, being hunted everywhere they go, and having their head shaved bald off of their hair by Ophelia for payback. This was inspired by Jade West and Cat Valentine from Nickelodeon's Victorious. By the way, the younger boys will most likely hiding one of these ladies while Conner, Kaldur, Victor, and Nathan hold Ophelia back from killing them with that exact pair of murderous scissors from "The Scissoring" from Nickelodeon's Victorious.
Ophelia:
M'gann (Cat) when Ophelia (Melanie/Jade) finds out:
Kaldur'ahm & Ophelia:
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HAWKEYE - Kate Bishop "Payback’s a Bitch"
Hawkeye (2014) #20
Art by Annie Wu & Matt Hollingsworth
Disaster Girl - Zoë Roth (2005)
Photo by Dave Roth
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EVERYONE IN THE TGAMM FANDOM: Talks about Oliver and gets into ship wars between Molly, Libby and Andrea
ME: Is thinking about a crossover AU with Amphibia where Molly befriends Ivy and the latter has to pretend to be Canadian
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