#media literacy is dead i fear

[atomicjellyb3an]

Arcane season 2

im sorry but she looks so good

i support women’s rights AND wrongs

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Aegon: rapist, enjoys watching his children fight violently to the death, murders innocent people.

HotD Fandom: Poor Aegon, he has an awful mother 🥺.

Alicent: Child bride at 14, rape victim, pimp father, deadbeat husband, forced to have 4 children.

HotD Fandom: Alicent is the root cause of all our problems. This woman is pure evil and the worst mother to ever exist. Shame!

[talknerdytome18]

Another day, another fucking Pip x Max fic on the ao3 tag 🤮

Atp I've just grown accustomed to the fact that people are gonna ship that freak with Pip and can't do anything about it because those shippers get highly defensive over that nasty ship. I'm just saying but if you need to go to extreme lengths to defend shipping Pip with a rapist, then maybe the ship is just awful 🤷‍♀️ (because it literally is. Fuck Max Hastings).

[verdantdaises]

There’s nothing funnier in the world to me than when people expend the time and energy into interacting with media they don’t like—

[f4ggottree]

online discourse about imaginary people is so funny to me. like we can share headcannons all day long and i WILL participate in good fun but if we get to a point where you’re seriously arguing like its life or death over what random character five’s line meant in one throwaway episode and refusing to accept that other people can just disagree with you…good luck charlie.

[cheshire-castle-library]

I feel like as a writer I'm such a coward. I want to write things, but I hold myself back because I'm afraid of people finding out I'm a fucked up little guy. I know, academically, that every one who puts themselves out will end up tried on public opinion. I know that doesn't mean I'm a bad person, just because there's a chance for a pitch fork mob. But I'm still I guess "ashamed"? Afraid the church will burn me at the stake for writing romance like a Ludo song? Ashamed people I know will see that I do - in fact - have dark and scary thoughts? As if they don't already know I have edge-lord characters??? Do I fear I am unlovable if I write a fucked up thing? Am I so programmed to be the "Respectable Oldest Daughter" that these ideas must die with me?!

How do I free myself from this fear? I want to write messed up romance, the kind of true love on the torture rack that Morticia and Gomez had, I want to write the horrors that killed people and splayed out their insides before my scifi MC. I want to admit the world is terrifying and beautiful in horrific and yet conquerable ways! But I hesitate, choke myself back, write only things that you could show a 10 year old without giving them nightmares.

But I had nightmares as a 10 year old. I saw things that made me afraid. I imagined things that haunted me, that chased me in the dark. I know fear and I have faced it. Why am I so afraid of showing that? Why am I afraid of being perceived, when that the point of writing?!?

[imakatperson22]

“Why can’t Eddie and Buck just be friends?”

Because, dear fandom, they have not been set up as just best friends. Intentional or not, the way they have been cinematically filmed and edited, the way they have been written, and the way they have been acted scream romantic/sexual chemistry.

You want to watch meaningful male friendships? Go watch Psych, a show that portrays a best friendship with no romantic or sexual elements and does so quite beautifully.

Go watch Shawn and Gus and then compare them to Buck and Eddie.

I can respect the Tevan shippers who prefer Tommy over Eddie. That’s a matter of opinion. What is a matter of fact is the queer, homoerotic subtext that has been injected into this show between Buck and Eddie.

If you watch this show and don’t see that, I fear media literacy is dead.

[purpledemonlilyposting]

Okay it's time for me to go a bit crouching retard hidden genius here, take off the clown nose and put my thinking cap on. Cause unlike many, many people who reference Nineteen Eighty-Four I've actually read it. Several times. And not as a school mandate.

What does "He loved Big Brother" tell you about media literacy?

Like what even is that point, Lorch? What does just knowing the final sentence of the book tell you about someone's media literacy? What do YOU even think that line means? Cause I'd love to hear it and I doubt you've ever actually read the fucking book.

There are many take-aways you can have from Nineteen Eighty-Four regarding the control of the populace through deception, fear, propaganda, regulation, indoctrination of the young, the dumbing down of language, and sheer hypocrisy. I'd be more interested in someone's take on passages like this to gauge their media literacy:

'It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn't only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take "good", for instance. If you have a word like "good", what need is there for a word like "bad"? "Ungood" will do just as well -- better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of "good", what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like "excellent" and "splendid" and all the rest of them? "Plusgood" covers the meaning, or "doubleplusgood" if you want something stronger still. Of course we use those forms already. but in the final version of Newspeak there'll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words -- in reality, only one word. Don't you see the beauty of that, Winston? It was B.B.'s idea originally, of course,' he added as an afterthought. A sort of vapid eagerness flitted across Winston's face at the mention of Big Brother. Nevertheless Syme immediately detected a certain lack of enthusiasm. 'You haven't a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston,' he said almost sadly. 'Even when you write it you're still thinking in Oldspeak. I've read some of those pieces that you write in The Times occasionally. They're good enough, but they're translations. In your heart you'd prefer to stick to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?' Winston did know that, of course. He smiled, sympathetically he hoped, not trusting himself to speak. Syme bit off another fragment of the dark-coloured bread, chewed it briefly, and went on: 'Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,' he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. 'Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?'

The speech had been proceeding for perhaps twenty minutes when a messenger hurried on to the platform and a scrap of paper was slipped into the speaker's hand. He unrolled and read it without pausing in his speech. Nothing altered in his voice or manner, or in the content of what he was saying, but suddenly the names were different. Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremendous commotion. The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong! Quite half of them had the wrong faces on them. It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work! There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls, banners torn to shreds and trampled underfoot. The Spies performed prodigies of activity in clambering over the rooftops and cutting the streamers that fluttered from the chimneys. But within two or three minutes it was all over. The orator, still gripping the neck of the microphone, his shoulders hunched forward, his free hand clawing at the air, had gone straight on with his speech. One minute more, and the feral roars of rage were again bursting from the crowd. The Hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed. The thing that impressed Winston in looking back was that the speaker had switched from one line to the other actually in midsentence, not only without a pause, but without even breaking the syntax. But at the moment he had other things to preoccupy him. It was during the moment of disorder while the posters were being torn down that a man whose face he did not see had tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Excuse me, I think you've dropped your brief-case.' He took the brief-case abstractedly, without speaking. He knew that it would be days before he had an opportunity to look inside it. The instant that the demonstration was over he went straight to the Ministry of Truth, though the time was now nearly twenty-three hours. The entire staff of the Ministry had done likewise. The orders already issuing from the telescreen, recalling them to their posts, were hardly necessary. Oceania was at war with Eastasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. A large part of the political literature of five years was now completely obsolete. Reports and records of all kinds, newspapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound-tracks, photographs -- all had to be rectified at lightning speed. Although no directive was ever issued, it was known that the chiefs of the Department intended that within one week no reference to the war with Eurasia, or the alliance with Eastasia, should remain in existence anywhere. The work was overwhelming, all the more so because the processes that it involved could not be called by their true names.

Also please read Nineteen Eighty-Four everyone. It's a very good book, it's not very long, and it's still scarily relevant to today.

[rainy-writers]

When are y’all gonna get it through your heads that no one actually cared if the Velaryon boys were bastards or not? They could have come out with white hair, violet eyes, the whole shebang and the rumor still would have been spread because it was meant to undermine RHAENYRA and her claim, nothing else!!

It was a misogynistic attempt to paint her as reckless and irresponsible and another way for the greens to push for Aegon. It was fear mongering, meant to say “Hey! Choose Aegon because you guys don’t want a bastard on the throne, right?” And it didn’t fucking work, save for on the idiot audience that still eats this shit up and genuinely believes that the dance happened bc Harwin and Rhaenyra weren’t married, rather than realizing the whole theme is MISOGYNY!! ITS ABOUT USURPING A WOMAN NO MATTER WHAT SHE DOES, SOLEY BC SHES A WOMAN AND NOTHING ELSE!!

If she had no kids = Vote for Aegon cause she’s barren!!

If she had kids = Vote for Aegon cause they’re bastards!!

If she has kids that look exactly like her = Vote for Aegon bc her kids are clearly Daemon’s bastards am I right? Vote Aegon bc he’s clearly the more responsible of the two with his trueborn kids!!

It. Does. Not. Matter.

And it makes me so mad, especially when people say that the realm wouldn’t have accepted Jace like DUDE. Nobody is just casually going around saying these kids are bastards, save for the people that KNOW they can get away with it if they’re caught bc Viserys wouldn’t dare punish them. Aka:

Alicent, Otto, and her nightmare kids. That’s it. No, some random Lord in the Reach wasn’t preaching about Jace, Luke, and Joff being bastards. I sincerely hate to burst your bubble (NOT!) but you guys as an audience care more than the actual people that live in this world and it’s so funny.

Basic media literacy will tell you that NO, Westeros did not care. How do I know? Well it’s simple really. If they cared then majority of them simply wouldn’t pledge to support Rhaenyra, clearly knowing that Jace is her heir??

I mean, these are all of the houses that supported Rhaenyra AND Jace:

I mean do yall honestly think Cregan Stark thought Jace was a bastard when he swore an oath in BLOOD with Jace, marched PERSONALLY to the south AFTER Jace was dead, and tried to literally kill the CHILDREN of the Lord’s who rose up against him and Rhaenyra?

Do you think Lady Jeyne gaf when she personally pledged to support him? Lord Manderly? Hm.

No, they didn’t lmao.

So please, kill this narrative that “There was going to be rebellion if Jace ascended the throne” and “The realm wouldn’t accept him bc all of them secretly knew he was a bastard despite having no proof because his father, his grandfather and THEIR KING never said otherwise.”

It would not have happened y’all. And one day you blood purist, Velaryon boys haters are going to get it through your head that YES !! They were legitimate because no one ever said otherwise. It was never proven. Rumor isn’t proof. Hair isn’t proof for fucks sake. You need actual words from Laenor himself saying that RHAENYRA cheated and those boys are Harwin’s. You need Corlys passing over Luke for Driftmark and outright saying it’s because he’s a bastard to even get a SHREAD of doubt from the great houses.

One day you guys are going to realize that those boys were loved and no matter how much you try and discredit them, they will always be legitimate. Whether you like it or not, Viserys was content with Jace being on the throne after him, THE REALM was content, and Corlys Velaryon was ready to die peacefully knowing Luke was going to be after him. Hell, he damn near handed that boy the keys so don’t you dare say Luke didn’t deserve to inherit anything.

And sorry for the long post but some of yall are really starting to piss me off. Never mind that this is fiction, your attitude towards these boys is disguising and saying that they don’t deserve a good life, that they dont deserve things that were literally GIVEN to them with no complaints, and even going as far as to call them dirty or saying they deserve to die all because their mommy and daddy weren’t married is fucking disgusting.

This “bastards don’t deserve anything,” attitude needs to stop being preached by real life people. Hell, some of the people saying this are literally in the wedding photos of their own parents wedding LMAO. It concerns me on how much disregard you guys have for adopted kids (which is basically what they are to Laenor), and I’d hate to see the shit you preach in real life. Acting like blood actually matters in order for someone to be considered family.

Because regardless of what you believe, had their mother not been usurped because she was a WOMAN, Jace would have ruled, Luke would’ve gotten Driftmark and, yes, the world of Westeros would’ve kept fucking spinning.

By law these boys were legitimate and people seem to forget they came out of Rhaenyra’s coochie so REGARDLESS, they are Targaryen. Like unless Viserys or Daemon was their father, they were always going to be half NOT Targaryen lol…Just like Alicent’s kids. It just so happens that they’re half Strong, but again, it doesn’t matter, because Jace gets his claim from RHAENYRA, not his father, so even if Harwin was married to Rhaenyra he still would’ve been the heir?? Even if it wasn’t Laenor who was his father, he’d still be heir because of his mother and being married to someone does not change that.

Some people even go as far as to argue that they’re not Targaryen so Jace shouldn’t be the heir which is stupidest thing I’ve ever heard and the most blatant case of misogyny ever. Like unless your father cloned himself then you STILL get half your genes from your mother dumbass. They are as much Targaryen as the Hightower kids with their DARK HARIED PARENT, it just so happens that their Targ side is from a woman, not a man. Which, like I said, if you don’t consider them Targaryen just bc they don’t get their claim from their father then we know what you are. 🙃

But anyways, to make a long post short, yes these boys are legitimate, they were recognized as such by:

The King himself (who they’d be inheriting from)

Rhaenyra

Laenor (their father, who they’d be inheriting from and wanted Luke to have Driftmark)

Corlys (their grandfather, who Luke would be inheriting from and wanted Luke to have Driftmark)

Rhaenys

The Realm

History

And if you still don’t believe me, here’s the official Targaryen family tree from Fire and Blood which all of Westeros sees :)

You see how they’re listed as Velaryon? You see how they’re directly linked to Laenor and there’s no little astric saying how they’re bastards? Yeah me too.

PS - Read Fire and Blood as well. This whole argument about them being bastards is literally stemmed from no more than two paragraphs, IF that. And their legitimacy is never brought up again.

[pigidin]

I know well it won't ever happen, but it'd be great if on FIRST (official) Hazbin (as a show, not a pilot) pride, Al's finally confirmed to be AROACE.

The rejection of Al's orientation in this fandom is crazy and I'm not speaking of fanon, but CANON.

I'm SO tired of people saying "but he was just confirmed to be asexual!", "but the moment with rosie!", "what amir said was incorrect and he apologized for it!", "what faustisse said isn't canon anymore!" COZ-

Viv literally heavily implied on one of the streams Al's aroace, saying:

Oh no, I'm going to destroy the ship. I can't say. I don't want to ruin the fun for everybody. That's why I've been very quiet on whether or not Al is aromantic.

If I give a real canon answer [..] I don't wanna ruin anyone's fun

She knows the CANON answer to that question but doesn't say it aloud coz the canon somehow ruins fanon fun.

I really don't get why viv was then so eager to give everyone right to do whatever the hell they want but never confirm Al as aroace in the same. damn. fear. to ruin shipper's fun. Like? Bro if you gave the opportunity to do everything why hide what will change nothing? People will still ship, people will still play with his orientation (which is valid as long as you're respectful), but you know what it will give instead? Damn REPRESENTATION, damn CONFIRMATION, the damn thing your show is supposed to give.

Not to be rude, but then Husk being pan is non-canon as well (that's faustisse who said he is). And then media literacy is dead once again coz it's obvious Rosie was talking about dating Charlie not bout Al f=cking her. I might sound like overreacting but it's viv herself who is the reason of the war.

Screw fanon, canon should be stated by you, as a creator, giving the canon answers, coz you provide the show, you provide the characters, you provide the plot and lore and you are the one who created the characters the way they are. You can't really affect what people do with them, how they interpret them and how they create stories of them, but you are responsible for giving clearly defined information especially if it plays part in representation of the repressed group of real people.

Coz having actual confirmed aromantic IS a big achievement for us. Forcing him into the closet and taking away the bits of rep we could have is, honestly, a highly unwise choice. Saying fanon is a wide playground on which canon can have minimum influence but never giving specific canon statements is just utterly hypocrite. Aaand hiding the fact that someone is meant to not have any relationships for the sake of fanon (which is somehow much more important than real-life issues of literal erasure of aromantics) is pretty aphobic ngl.

[daddyduncan69]

One of my recent posts got a few comments about media literacy being dead and Neil being an unreliable narrator so I want to clear some things up.

Firstly, media literacy isn't dead becuase it cannot die. Also, I am not a big fan of fear mongering. Humans have always sought to understand and communicate with each other about the things we create. It is a skill that can be taught and should be practiced. There is no one right way to do it. And, while I think the education system fails so many of us (something something to make us easier to control something something), I also think that there are tons of resources to help us learn without the need for an official "teacher". So, instead of pessimistically saying is it "dead" (especially on someone's textual analysis post, like... are you saying I prove it's dead becuase I don't have media literacy? are you agreeing with me and therefore proving yourself wrong? do I not count for some reason? i don't think I get it), engage in discourse about media that you love. And I mean actual discourse, not just fighting on social media about whether or not everyone should "like" your favorite character. Ask yourself "what is the effect of this rhetorical device in the text?" "is the text trying to make me like or not like this character? is it working, why or why not," (do not ask "why did the author do this?" because that is not relevant nor are you a mind reader). Take free online Literature classes from colleges that help you learn how to analyze. Invite others to do it with you. Join or start a book club. Engage in various types of media, not just YA, fantasy, fiction, etc. Consider kindly rebutting or offering a counter point to other people's interpretations, bringing actual textual evidence to back up your points. Use Google Scholar to access free scholarly articles to see academic prospectives on various medias that are not just from social media or blogs. Your local library may even have subscriptions to paid sights like JSTOR or collections of essays that would let you access articles that are otherwise behind a paywall. All of these things can help improve your own media literacy and, in turn, will help improve the media literacy of the people around you.

Secondly, the point of my other post was NOT that Neil is an unreliable narrator. I've seen a lot of people make this claim so I wanted to chime in. Unreliable narrators are marked by a few characteristics, some of which are exaggeration, detachment from reality, naivety, and deception of the reader. I don't believe Neil falls into any of these categories. I would be open to arguments that claim he does, but it would be hard to sway me because I can't find any textual evidence to support it. This is an important distinction to me because the larger claim I make in that post is that ALL narration, 1st person, 3rd person, omniscient, limited, etc is biased- all of it. It is CRUCIAL as readers to identify a narrators biases and consider the text through that lens. If you aren't practicing doing that (or only doing it when the narrator is "unreliable") you can easily fall into the trap of saying "well Neil says Kevin is a coward so he is", which is obviously an issue in the grand scheme of textual analysis. However, you can also easily fall into the trap of saying "Neil is an unreliable narrator because he is wrong about things/lies to people/has trauma so you can't trust him". I believe that Neil tells us as the reader the truth in his narration almost 100% of the time, Neil just lies to the other characters 24/7. So, as readers we should take what he says in his internal monologue at face value but question the motives behind his dialogue with other characters.

Anyway, that was a long winded, probably boring monologue about critical textual analysis. I devote maybe 16 out of my 18 waking hours to thinking about this, so thanks for hanging in there to read it all. I just care so deeply that we as a culture continue to grow these skills without shaming those who haven't had the same opportunities to learn how to do it or making the act of learning how to feel hopeless or doomed.

[twentyfoursevenghost]

tiktok dead poets society fans have absolutely zero media literacy i fear..... i've seen so many videos where all the comments are calling Charlie "Nuwanda" and hating on Cameron and if you literally sit down and think about either of those things for more than five seconds you'll understand that Charlie's nickname and so many of the other things he did were straight up insensitive cultural appropriation and that Cameron was a child who was struggling to come to terms with his friend's death just as much as the others were and just didn't want to see his other friends get expelled for GRIEVING. it's okay to like Charlie and dislike Cameron if you want i don't care but they just don't seem to be able to view the movie critically or from a mature perspective.

love seeing the edits and stuff but holy shit y'all this is getting out of hand!!

[horizon-verizon]

Hate to use this phrase but media literacy it’s truly dead. People saying Rhaenyra doesn’t care about losing Daemon when Emma delivered Rhaenyra’ sadness over this possibility in a heart wrenching way…

She spent 6 years married to him and had 3 children in those years, to say she didn’t have romantic feelings for him and wasn’t happy with him it’s just deny the obvious. And clearly one of those feelings in succumb into a vulnerable and intimate position with Misarya, the only person who’s saying to her exactly what she needed and wanted to hear, she’s feels she’s losing everyone and Mysaria brings her a feeling that she’s still believed and capable. Rhaenyra sharing that moment with Mysaria doesn’t exclude her conflicted feelings with Daemon, she can love him and resent him at the same time. Right before kissing Misarya, she literally tells her that she and Daemon are “two halves of a whole.”

Wow, I just got off talking about this...

Huh...I didn't watch the episode, but my hunches are shared? Noice.

I think that the disconnect is that Rhaenyra also says she never trusted him, not "truly". Without the Dragonstone-family scenes I have said should have been included and expanded in S1, we can only rely on the picture of happiness and teamwork we got in episodes 7 & 8. And no, even episode 10 has some serious faults with how Rhaenyra calls it "Daemon's war", as if she wasn't the one who enlists him and marries him with the words (paraphrasing) "I cannot stand against the greens alone", knowing exactly what sort of dude this was. Which included knowing he still would always support her, not his own nonexistent ambitions for the throne. There is a diff b/t one's ambitions to become king, and one's willingness to be largely obedient to one's orders or anticipate their desires well, as what I think the writers were trying to convey in that argument but failed utterly and made it more about Daemon wanting the throne for himself. None of this "those who don't want the power are the best leaders" crap...and no, Viserys did not have any points about Daemon's loyalties, the man cut open his own wife and he decided he should question Daemon's loyalties?! Ha! When have we started validating Viserys' stupidity?!

So, to some in the audience, it is jarring for Rhaenyra to doubt him or feel miserable by his actions even under the context of a war breaking out and her doubt of getting support from those outside of Dragonstone. Which still doesn't make sense bc Aemond should rather be feared and reviled for his kinslaying, but apparently Jaehaerys' death is the only death that matters and suddenly Westerosi lords care for "compassionate" payback over oaths of loyalty. It appeared as if Rhaenyra forgave Daemon for the brothel thing, and yes completely bc the show didn't give us anything to think otherwise--again, they might have if only the show had shown us life at Dragonstone before the war. The writers play a game of tug of war with the point of their scenes and pass them off as "complex" when they are just piss-poorly written as a chain of scenes linking a story/particular arcs together.

Anyway, yeah, that's the disconnect, most likely. To set up other things, the show contradicts itself even though the scene by itself is conveying a very clear plotline AND can be connected to another moment from another episode. I don't really blame people who think this way at all.

[bl00dlight]

The fanon concept of Helaegon overtaking canon has been something to see. The only time they talk he completely ignores her wishes and instructions for their son. She never displays any care or compassion for him, and after the funeral, he never mentions Jaehaerys again. I don’t understand how everything she does have to be about him? We see her watching them bring Aegon home, and she does not look like she cares at all. Maybe that will change next episode and maybe she goes visit him, but based off of this it doesn’t make sense to me. Where are they getting this from? If her confronting Aemond was supposed to be about Aegon, we would have seen her and Aegon lol.

EXACTLYYYYY. I mean I have no idea how people are so unbelievably insistent on Aegon being this centralised figure in Helaena's life, when the very plot itself was written to determine how isolated Helaena is within her marriage and family itself.

I don't even particularly find Aegon x Helaena as a dynamic very intriguing, given... the fact Aegon actively doesn't give a fuck about her? Even Viserys and Alicent had more love and care within their marriage and their dysfunction literally RESULTED in the forming of the war. Helaena and Aegon don't speak, have no visible chemistry either? So I don't get the pairing other than girls online who think Aegon is hot, and are self inserting as Helaena? Like I COULD see the vision if Aegon deep deep down had care/love for Helaena. But we know he doesn't? We know he literally feels nothing for her, its even stated by the actors. So???? Huh?

And again, I truly fear for people's media literacy if they think Helaena was asking Aemond about Aegon. As you said she literally could not give a fuck if Aegon lived or died. She's not visited his ass ONCE LMAO. But you know who she did visit and seemingly will continue to have scenes with? Aemond.... hmmmm I wonder why??? It's almost like Helaena has a connection with her younger brother who also has suffered abuse from Aegon and neglect etc. Wowwww. It's almost like... Aemond and Helaena are paralleled in the story. Both just want to make their mother happy. Both keep their heads down and get on with it their ENTIRE lives and let Aegon ABUSE THEM - for their mother.

When Helaena said 'I forgive you' to Alicent, when Helaena showed sympathy and kindness to her mother despite Alicent forcing her into another traumatic situation... what did they think was going on there? Is Helaena saying I forgive you for fucking Cole? Nah i dont think so... I dont think Helaena gives a fuck about Alicent and Criston Cole. I think she is saying she forgives her mother for everything that has happened and everything that will. Because she knows Alicent will suffer in the end, will be alone with all of her children dead, for what? And no one else is to blame but Alicent (in regards to the care of her own children, which we see Alicent struggle with last ep). Aegon doesn't give a fuck about Helaena - because Alicent neglected all of her children enough to the point where they all are in a state of constant servitude to win Alicents love/affection.

Helaena literally sacrificed her life for her mother and so did Aemond. But the outlier is Aegon, who was both so neglected and abused but also pressured to care about the throne that, he became the abuser.

He abused Aemond and Helaena, and I don't get how people don't see that dynamic in the Greens.

I also have to point out, how could it be possible everyone is shipping a character as GROSS as Aegon is with Helaena. Cause let's be real, Aegon is gross, he literally is complicit in the sexual abuse of his little brother. And there is no doubt about it, Aemond def was sexually abused, the difference is - it wasn't necessarily by the Madame. She is still a prostitute who is at the mercy of a Prince? What is she going to do? Turn down feeding herself or risk being punished? Aegon is the one who forced Aemond into it, it's Aegon's fault that the encounter made Aemond feel so much shame and humiliation and wounded Aemond to the point of which that Sylvie is the only woman he is capable of sexual vulnerability with so far. And then on top of it, Aegon is martially raping Helaena? Which YEA it is marital rape considering Hel prefers him ignoring her over being drunk and pursuing her sexually. Do they really think about how deeply fucked up that is lmao? Helaena literally proclaims her preference for total neglect by Aegon, because 'when he's drunk' is implying that suddenly Aegon DOES pay attention to her... and we know what Aegon likes to do to women when he's drunk.

TGC is just a hot dude and a fantastic actor who plays Aegon completely charismatically and with alot of complexity. And Phia is the same, she's beautiful and has transformed Helaena from a dull one note plot device in the books, to a fascinating, captivating character who is the only truly innocent character in her family.

We can all feel the actors intentions behind the screen. Which is why Helaemond is such a huge thing.. because the actors went in with the intention that Helaena and Aemond share an affinity regardless of if it's familial or romantic. We know both Ewan and Phia, could sense something a level of understanding, safety, care between those two siblings. Where as again Phia and Tom have said neither Aegon or Helaena cares much about the other. They can't even bond over the fact they have CHILDREN. Hel is basically just a baby maker.

And speaking of Jaehaerys, I mean what does Aegon say after he finds out his son is dead in the small council? He asks why wasn't anyone there to protect their King? What if AEGON had been killed? Not what if my daughter had been killed, or what if my sister/wife had been killed? He asks what if it was ME?

I feel like that says it all about Aegons character, he is narcissistic and ultimately can only think about his own wants/needs. That is legit Aemonds whole beef with him in season 1, it's not even that he was bullied - it's that Aegon isn't worthy of being King because he is selfish and has no sense of duty/dosent care.

We see when they are kids and Aegon is like "i don't want to marry Helaena cause she is fucking stupid and we have nothing in common." That Aegon can't see beyond the fact HE thinks she is weird and isn't attracted to her therefore = I don't give a fuck about her and I don't want to do my duty.

And Aemond literally responds by saying "bro she's literally our sister/future Queen have some respect and be grateful cause ur the one who gets to keep our bloodline pure and carry it on." And what does Aegon say? " Ew why don't u marry her?" And what does Aemond say, "Yea bitch I would. I love duty/incest. Sucks mum didnt let us."

Okay obvs that is not a word for word account. But we see it RIGHT there as early as these characters introductions - we see Aegon x Helaena's dynamic is one of complete neglect/lack of love. I don't know what exactly is so attractive about that dynamic to so many? But I assume it's because Tom is hot.

Another Helaegon rant done.

[magpiewithinternetaccess]

i really love the early seasons of supernatural for something I feel like they lose later on in the show,,

which is that as alone as Sam and Dean are, almost every episode they interact with people who feel the same grief and pain and loss and isolation and hopelessness and faith and fear and wrongness and shit that they feel!!

people who have just lost loved ones or seen some general fucked up shit, sibling parallels and people with shitty dads and dead mums etc.

they have all these conversations with strangers where there’s this acknowledgement that even tho the brothers live in what seems like an entirely different world there are still connection points between them and ‘ordinary people’

i get that that’s trickier later on cos they’re canonically God’s Favourite Little Guys who have been thru stuff that doesn’t really translate as directly lmao but still i miss it

that one scene where cas is comforting that baby (bonding over being newly human himself) also comes to mind as an example of this I adore that little moment

and u know what I know there’s tons of this all throughout the show and I just can’t remember it cos I’m rewatching season fucking 1 lol

anyway don’t mind me for stating the obvious about the effectiveness of including basic empathy in a narrative to get the audience to connect to the characters even tho they’re in fantastical situations,, something came over me and I felt compelled to connect dots that were literally one circle all along,, I think I’ve just earned my badge for media literacy 😌

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

oh no i'm not a melvin anon, but i have been experiencing some byler doubt since david harbour said that thing back in november last year. so i guess i got kinda paranoid when i saw that pic and looked a bit too deep into it.

Yeah I understand! I think we’ve all been there before where doubt seems louder than normal. David’s comments definitely didn’t spark joy, and they came at a time where the fandom as a whole was in a dark place/in shambles/going through it, so that added to the general sense of negativity.

That chaos has mostly dissipated, and Byler tumblr is a place where confidence is expected and vocalizing doubt is frowned upon (or at least it goes against tag norms), so if you find yourself in a place of doubt, it can be isolating for sure. But it’s important to keep in mind that the actors lie and tell half-truths all the time. They shouldn’t just be taken with a grain of salt. They should be taken with the whole Red Sea. Remember DH himself once said that Hopper was dead following the S3 fake-out, and look how that turned out.

What’s most important is to trust the show itself. The vast majority of Byler doubt cases have nothing to do with the narrative arc of the show or its characters, which overwhelmingly point in a pro-Byler direction. Sure, occasionally people get doubt because of the monologue or because of early-ST Mleven, but the vast majority of Byler doubt is caused by external factors such as what the actors say (or don’t say), the way the show is promoted on social media, feelings of negativity caused by the barrage of name-calling from toxic Twitter Mlevens and anti-Byler Redditors (delusional, fetishizer, sloppy seconds, etc), and just the general fear that Byler is too good to be true and that the show would never “go for it.”

But none of that is “real.” None of that should supersede all the careful analysis that has been done. None of that should challenge the media literacy we are simply applying. None of that should erase what your eyes see when watching the show, especially in S4, which is filled to the brim with Byler momentum and evidence. The show is the thing, and if something like the out-of-context brozone pic generates paranoia, it’s a sign of misplaced faith and energy.

Remember that we all watched Byler flirt multiple times in the real text of the show: