#media reviews and analysis

[ai-yo]

Is This 90s Magical Girl A Sailor Moon Rip Off?

No, but I need a click bait title and thumbnail.

Thank you so much to @hotwaterandmilk and @thunderlina for letting me use pictures and videos ❤️🩷 big help since I couldnt find decent quality ones on my own.

This was bare longer probably longer than it needed to be but it's a test run for a future video

[poetslore]

An exploration of themes in Netflix’s “Leave the world behind”

1. Societies reliability on technology and the side effects of this reliability. One example of this is Ethan Hawke’s character Clay. Clay attempts to drive back to town so he can buy a newspaper and hopefully come across someone who knows something about the blackout. Unfortunately Clay gets lost on the way to town due to the fact that his cars GPS isn’t working. If he hadn’t relied so heavily on technology he would’ve known how to read a map and likely would’ve made it to town.

2. Societies distrust in humanity. One theme that I immediately noticed is the characters distrust of other characters. Julia Roberts’ character Amanda immediately distrusts George and Ruth, while their spontaneous arrival is strange she immediately didn’t trust them (the second she heard them knock on the door she didn’t trust them). We as an audience also experience distrust. When we first see Kevin Bacon’s character Danny we think he is odd and is likely going to be a possible villain due to this odd behavior. When Rose and Archie come across the tool shed in the middle of the woods I presume most of the films audience thought someone creepy likely resided there. This growing distrust that society holds for humanity is caused by are easy access to negative media (petty and major crimes are reported more often) and due to our growing obsession with true crime which has made us paranoid and distrustful of even the kindest of people.

3. Sometimes old is better. The teslas. If your remember just after the halfway mark of the film, Amanda and Clay decide that it’s best to leave to Scott’s house and go to Amanda’s sisters house in Jersey. On the way there they come across a pile up of Teslas and nearly get killed by oncoming teslas. This is because Teslas contain a self driving feature. This feature is purely technological which is how the hackers were able to manipulate the Teslas self driving feature in order to isolate communities.

4. Violence in the media. This is a rather small theme but remember when the flyers are thrown from the drone and Clay is absolutely terrified. Well the flyers said you know what (I don’t want to get reported or banned) Archie immediately knew what these flyers said due to the fact that he saw that exact same phrase in a video game.

5. Our hatred, yet reliability on humanity. This movie has one major theme and it first appears in the beginning of the movie. Amanda reveals that one of the prime reasons why she wanted to go on vacation was because she wanted to get away from people. Ruth is consistently harsh and downright disrespectful to Clay and Amanda and everyone in the family shows an annoyance to Rose, the youngest child. It’s obvious that 90% of the characters don’t actually like people and dislike socializing yet the characters consistently attempt to rely on the news and fellow people in an attempt to figure out what’s going on.

6. Age leads to discredit. Rose is probably one of the smartest characters in the film. She consistently takes note of small details such as the sirens and the deer, unfortunately everyone around her including her own parents consistently ignore what she has to say and discredit her intelligence as simply being the musings of a 13 year old. It is obvious that everyone (meaning Clay, Amanda, Archie, and Rose) don’t have any respect for each other and because of this lack of respect they aren’t a cohesive family whatsoever and they consistently get in little tiffs about the dumbest of things.

These were just some things I noticed while watching the film.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Arcane Season 2's One Big Problem

Arcane should have been three seasons.

That, I think, lies at the core of the show's problems in season 2. While Season 1 was fast-paced, it felt right for what was happening. Season 2 is much like most of its characters, trying too hard to do too much all at once. If they had had a third season they could have tied up their plotlines in a more satisfying way.

Don't get me wrong, I love Season 2, but I can't ignore how much this pacing affects things. I can't ignore how the political drama is shunted aside in favor of introducing and resolving these wider fantastical elements which are just too much for a single season of television.

I understand why they did it this way. At the end of the day, Arcane is a fantasy action series first, a familial tragedy second, and a fantastical geo-political war drama last. That's why those first two elements are given narrative precedence over the last one, but it's hard to ignore how the broader problems with the world of Arcane go unresolved, especially when they are such a huge part of the story beforehand.

Arcane should have had three seasons. Season 2 should have been focused on the escalating war between Piltover and Zaun while the wider fantastical elements brew in the background. Season 2 should have focused on Piltover's gradual descent into wartime fascism and Zaun's more and more desperate and inhumane measures to fight back. With another season to breathe and give this focus, it could also mirror in the escalating conflict between Vi and Jinx.

And then, when those massive fantastical elements do explode into focus with Victor's cult becoming wildly known, it's could be all the more impressive and frightening, with these elements properly built up over an entire season.

The third season would then, of course, see the forces of Piltover and Zaun be forced to unite against Viktor and his glorious evolution. Maybe he has been taking the dead killed in the war and making them into his soldiers, and know the cast must face slain friends turned into living nightmares. Forcing a total breakdown of societal barriers in the name of survival as Viktor makes a play for Divinity.

I dunno. I think it might have been better

[musings-and-overanalyses]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Why This is My Favourite Ghibli Movie

CW: Major high-school English teacher vibes ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

Nausicaä of the valley of wind is a story of the titular character Nausicaä and her being a bridge between the world of humans and nature to bring peace, thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy.

Nausicaa is the princess of the Valley of the Wind. The film begins with her walking and exploring the Sea of Decay, an area with toxic air, plants and fungal spores. She collects some spores and finds the hard molten shell of an Ohmu (gigantic blue-blooded trilobite-looking creatures), which her people use to make weapons and tools. As the name suggests, the Valley of the Wind is a civilisation that depends on and bases their culture around wind, which one can see through an abundance of windmills and gliders, including the one that Nausicaä rides. They are shown to be peaceful people who do not interfere with the politics of the warring human kingdoms or disturb nature. Nausicaä in particular is shown to have a special gift with animals—from calming Ohmus to having a pet fox-squirrel. As the existence of the kingdom depends on the sea wind that shields them from the effects of the sea of decay, there is a general reverence towards nature and its other members such as the Ohmus, that are often referred to with honorifics.

This was an element I liked: the symbolism goes deep in this film; for example, with the nature of wind—it being the very breath necessary for life is contrasted with its other face, through toxic spores in the sea of decay capable of killing anyone who inhales it.

It is revealed that humans had built The Giant Men, weapons so dangerous—not unlike our atomic bombs as shown through the characteristic mushroom cloud—that the destruction caused by the war had unleashed the fury of the Ohmus, an otherwise gentle species. They wiped out entire civilisations and where they died, the Sea of Decay grew on their decomposing corpses, showing how all life is interconnected and that even in death the rage of the Ohmus, and through them the rage of nature, wouldn't subside. It is then that the viewers find out that this is not some far-off planet, but a post-apocalyptic future on earth.

New species of plants and fungi made the Sea of Decay their habitat—nature and life always find a way. It is implied that the humans lost the war referred to as the Seven days of Fire, but the truth is that it is not a war that can ever be won. Even if you win the war against nature you lose. As the story progresses, we see that the plants and fungi that Nausicaä collected from the Sea of Decay are actually trying to purify the soil and water—nature holds no grudges but only seeks balance.

The seventh of the Giant Men, a sentient atomic bomb if you will, apparently hid underground for a thousand years until the kingdom of Pejite found it for use against their enemy, the Tolmekians. They both remain oblivious to the sheer destruction that can be caused by this Giant Man and they don't care either. Despite the balance between humans and nature being a delicate one, instead of trying to rebuild together, they justify to themselves that the war is necessary for self-preservation and to put humans back on top of the food chain.

In their hubris, the Tolmekians and their princess Kushana believe that with the help of their superweapon they can destroy the Sea of Decay despite knowing that it will trigger the wrath of the Ohmus. The Giant Man however is not complete and hence, though the devastation is great, the final giant man dies and all that remains to be done is to calm the wrath of the Ohmus.

Nausicaä saves an Ohmu child who was injured by Tolmekian soldiers to lure the Ohmus into a war. She saves the baby Ohmu and sacrifices her own life to calm the sea of maddened Ohmus. The now-calm Ohmu then revive Nausicaä, symbolising the mystical healing power of nature and its ability to support and create life.

Nausicaä is an excellent protagonist, and how the trope of the chosen one is utilised is beautiful and full of symbolism. Right from the get-go, we see her being inquisitive and brave. She is willing to defend her people but not through violence. And it is made abundantly clear that her avoidance of violence is not due to any lack of strength; when she strikes down the soldiers who killed her father, rather than feeling any sense of pride (as one might expect from a character not used to strength), it sickens her. She shows understanding even towards Kushana, whose men took over her kingdom. She sincerely loves and respects animals and plants.

There was a prophecy among the people of the valley of wind that a person clad in blue over golden fields will save their kingdom and bring peace. And towards the end of the film, Nausicaä's clothes becoming blue with the blood of the baby Ohmu she saved and the golden fields being the tendrils of the Ohmus healing her is poetic to say the least.

In addition to a good female protagonist, we also get a powerful female antagonist in Kushana, who starts out as a one-note expansionist ruler, but it is revealed that she lost her limbs and got severely maimed by the sea of decay, motivating her to destroy it once and for all. Proud and arrogant, sure, but she has a motive beyond just wanting power and possesses some form of a moral code. In another story she could be the protagonist bravely defending humanity against the evil, alien-esque trilobites and spores.

It was a unique and meaningful choice on Miyazaki's part to symbolise nature through the Ohmus—alien-looking giant insects—instead of something cute and fluffy. Oftentimes humans care more about the conservation of animals that they find cute (pandas over, say, Panamanian golden frogs), but an animal doesn't have to appeal to human aesthetics to be worth conserving.

Absolutely not to be missed is the breathtaking soundtrack by Hisaishi. There are symphonies, techno music, sitar-like instruments and a child's humming, all elevating every scene to give a moving experience.

Ultimately it is an ambitious story that aims to deal with themes of coexisting with nature, the futility and dangers of war, and of how innocent children who should live carefree lives are dragged into it and made heroes. This film is often categorised as falling into the genre of Solarpunk: a literary and artistic movement that centres around building a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community. Although this film does depict violence and wars, it ultimately shows a peaceful future is possible.

Truly a masterpiece. 9/10.

[literallys-illiteracy]

Viktor in Arcane Season 2, Design and characterisation, an essay:

I do not like the Viktor redesign, nor his character within the show Arcane.

This is a thematic analysis of his design and depiction within the show which elaborates in moderacy why.

First and foremost, the design itself, before the character: Viktor, alongside his glorious arcane evolution in the show, is shown through an extremely organic, completely sleek design for his drones, and a membranal, coloured pattern for its corruption.

In both cases, I feel as if their design is stuck in the realm of purgatory in which it is not fully committed to either biomechanical replicants, eg. Androids, nor brutalistic utilitarian augments, eg. Adeptus Mechanicus.

As it stands, the droids in particular demonstrate this combination of themes, being almost entirely human in their appearance, showing no outward mechanical nor magical aspects in favour of a purely white, polished, mannequin-esque design.

In discussion of the droids, I want to note that for their themes of Viktor’s singularity and removal of humanity, this design does in fact work in their favour. This is particularly clear within the scenes presenting them in combat, and the moments in future when they are stalking Jayce through the world; In the final episode particularly, they are shown working in whole unison, scaling the towers and chasing people in a manner reminiscent of World War Z zombies, however in a more unified, hive mind-like manner, due to their purposeful manoeuvring acting as structure for another to get further.

These drone’s primary feature is their mask, being a visage vaguely akin to a humans, though unmoving and clearly artificial, which of course shows the inhumanity of this horde and Viktor’s rejection of human emotions – The lack of a face is an aspect that is used quite directly, most notably in Viktor’s bargaining with Mel and Jayce, alongside the skittering, almost insectoid movement that the droid features to avoid destruction.

While this singular theme of cohesion and inhumanity is in favour of these mannequin drone designs, there is more to Viktor’s characterisation than removing humanity as a blanket thought; Rather than removal for the sake of removal, rather than disdain for humanity in large, Viktor should be seeking to move to a state beyond humanity, which is shown in his own personal design.

The concept of moving beyond humanity is one that Viktor shares with Singed in this regard, being a vague dichotomy between the synthetic evolution and the biological evolution, punctuated by their respective epilogue scenes within act one particularly, however I feel as if these contrasting thoughts were intentional narrative choices, then the somewhat organic nature of the arcane evolution works against the contrast.

Before moving to Viktor’s personal design I want to share my own personal view of Viktor as a character.

I want to preface by saying that I am in no way a veteran of League itself, however I have been interested in the lore long before Arcane’s release, and Viktor’s characterisation since I learned of his character.

Viktor as a character was not always the most consistent, varying between benevolent and something near the utilitarianist machine lord we see in Arcane, his primary consistent trait was that of synthetic evolution and moving beyond humanity’s flaws, improving the human form with mechanical augmentations.

There are many routes that one may take this story path, in essence Viktor’s main consistent trait was his relation to an archetypal visionary, similar to Swain, but in the nature of humanity rather than Noxus; In all incarnations of Viktor, he should remain as this same archetypal character, in any shape or form, which all incarnations so far have successfully done.

I want to note something, there is the concept of characters who “Are created to embody an archetype not challenge it”, specifically, at least from what i've seen, popularised by TBskyen. I want to clarify that I am referring to archetypes in the psychological or unconscious storytelling sense, rather than the conscious character archetypes such as the “Nordic Viking” character archetype that Olaf embodies.

 I may write in depth at a later date relating the concept of archetypal characters to storytelling, moreso as templates from which character bases emerge, rather than the typical observation of a character itself, but I wanted to note this as writing about League made me remember Skyen’s phrase and I thought to clarify my meanings.

As i’m sure i have made abundantly clear, my personal preferred interpretation of Viktor’s character is that of the synthetic, syncretic and unifying ascension beyond humanity; Once again there are many pathways that this interpretation may lead to, notably, a utilitarian rejection of humanity is best based on one of two pathways, physiological imperfections or improvements, akin to the mechanicus, which is my preferred focus, which is akin to the Mechanicus in Warhammer, or the removal of unnecessary emotions for the sake of pure efficiency and cohesion, which reflects a character similar to HAL from a Space Odyssey – Neither of these interpretations of an inhuman herald is malicious, nor an incorrect interpretation, however i feel as if the new incarnation of Viktor leans too heavily into the purely unifying cause, when the synthetic evolution acts equally as important to the character in past and in theme.

While there is an element incorporated in the drones that Viktor creates, being faster and stronger than a human, there is a key trait of ascension beyond human limitations that these designs do not accomplish, as they are almost entirely human in design.

This improvement can be seen in the most crucial difference between Viktor and his drone’s designs, Viktor is not part of this unification, Viktor possesses differences, his walking stick, his differing mask, and his third arm, each of which marks him as separate from the surrounding evolution.

Viktor’s transformation seen in the final episodes of season 2 features many traits that I dislike for Viktor’s characterisation, especially when he takes the route of humanity’s emotions and differences being its downfall.

As mentioned above, Viktor hisself is not uniform in the same way that the drones are, being a wholly different colour, wearing a different mask, and featuring different kinds of synthetics to the rest of his flock.

Viktor’s departure from humanity is meant to be symbolised through his mask, being akin to those possessed by his drones, however having a large split, from which comes forth a decidedly inhuman remainder; the concept of his mask is one that was featured in the first act of the season notably, his suspension in the hexcore leaving nothing but his face, and his eyes glowing in the scene which he blessed the first sinn- healed the first wounded.

I feel as if, though conceptually this design is valid, the existence of his drone’s renders his divergence from the unity as antithetical to his own ideals; Though his motif if that of ascending beyond humanity, uncaring to human emotions and morals for the sake of evolution, he acts as the only synthetic which retains its humanity to any extent, while bearing the mask with the largest departure.

His gaining of this mask was a moment foreshadowed for a long time, being the only part of him that was uncorrupted by the arcane, being the only part of him visible properly during the astral sequences with Skye, and being the only part of him that is newly concealed after he abandons Skye once more; the leaving of Skye acts as his abandonment of humanity, his internal compass and anima, which is then followed by his later ascension, however as stated before, for someone who is meant to ascend beyond human individuality or emotion, he still remains as the only source of human individuality in the legion of synthetics.

I cannot stress enough this divergence, the fact that despite this incarnation of Viktor acting as an amoral, inhuman, “driven assimilator”, wanting to bring all others into the same fold, he is the only one who does not follow this tennant.

We can see this even further with the details of his colouration, his reborn body, and his augmentations; Viktor takes directly after the Hex core, being a greyish purple in colouration, with golden accents, which match in colour but not location to his drones.

Viktor’s body itself diverges from the standard drone we see, being extremely human in its design, appearing even biological, coated in metal, rather than a true biomechanical form due to its textured design, not present on his followers.

This leads to the primary problem that I have with this incarnation of Viktor, he is simply put, not the “machine herald”, and is hardly the ascensionist that defined the character for so long.

While I understand the choices made, the directions that Viktor was taken, I cannot help but think that he is simply lacking, in story and development; in thematics; and in what should be the singular unifier of these two aspects, his design.

His goal in this latest incarnation is more directly to remove weakness, rather than to build on existing strength, which both act as the plausible goals of an ascensionist herald such as Viktor, this is in large why his drones lack these same overtly mechanical, almost brutalistic design traits that are present in designs such as his Legend of Runeterra followers, yet at the same time, his own personal design features augments, rather than this same unifying design, with the third arm on his back.

While his archetypal story of ascension towards a vision remains in tact, seeking singularly to remove the human weakness of emotions and individuality, I cannot help but feel that his design does not share this trait, being the only individual in the world is not the removal of individuals, it is just the suppression.

-

Lore.

Though lore was somewhat discussed in the prior section, it was more so characterisation that was used argumentatively before this; My view of Viktor is one that I have made abundantly clear: “An ascensionist, visionary, who seeks to herald machines or augments”. 

I have no inherent problems with the incorporation of the arcane, with his mystical presentation, nor his outward depiction as a villain, in fact, i believe that this utilitarian bargaining and carelessness acts in his favour, being one of my favourite character tropes in fiction, “Doing the wrong things for the right reasons” (Oh, worm).

My problem comes twofold, in his depiction through the show both before and after ascension, and his rejection of this sought ideal.

To summarise the first point, while Viktor acts in a cold logical manner for the scenes immediately before his rebirth, these scenes exist as the primary example of his inhumanity, placing him in the body of his drone – This bargaining scene is another that i feel could have been improved on, most notably, the spliced scenes in which we see Viktor’s face in the astral plane or something(?), severing the dissociation that would have serviced this scene and the following act perfectly. Imagine if Viktor’s face, for the entirety of act 3 prior to the finale, in which Ekko fractures the mask, was hidden; The face acts as the gateway to the soul, being the primary feature used to punctuate a creatures humanity, if Viktor’s bargaining to Mel and Jayce were without this depiction, the rejection of humanity would work far more effectively, and would have helped to enforce his separation of emotions.

Following the ascension, which occurs immediately after this bargaining, Viktor’s design is revealed, which i have already addressed my stylistic problems with, however, in his interactions following this moment, he acts in a more human manner than during the prior scenes, still holding a hope to show Jayce this beauty that he has discovered, yet still waiting until he arrived at the roof to do so?.

Viktor’s motivation is never allowed to develop in whole for the same reason that i dislike this incarnation, he refuses to act in either archetypal role of a visionary or a humanist, while seemingly attempting to remain as both.

While he claims to have become more than he ever was, more than human, his design and characterisation fail to show this at almost every turn, with almost every scene bar two (the aforementioned conversation in the council room and the moment when Ekko throws the Z drive at him) showing him as equally human from before the transformation.

While he claims to want to remove human suffering, he acts only to remove humanity in whole, not improve any aspect of it, or build off of its design, only mimic its appearance.

Viktor’s realisation of humanities weaknesses was not one that was unforeseen, and there is a theoretical merit to the concept of one who wishes to remove humanities imperfections in a communal, hive minded nature, the abject removal of all humanities aside from his own is simply a flawed execution.

Viktor, even after his transformation, clings to his flaws and to his humanity, separating him once again, even further, from his vaunted perfection: Viktor’s irregular textured body compared to other synthetics, his ostentatious mask, his seeming care for outward design, and most damningly, his walking stick, all of which far from necessary in his new perfect form.

If Viktor were to wholly choose, either ascension or unity for humanity, then I would be more than fine with his incarnation, if he had been firmly humanist or inhuman for his goals, then I would have liked his character.

If Viktor were to truly reject humanity, then why not show it first with the removal of his own flaws, his own separation of humanity, from which follows his realisation about human emotions, why have Skye representative of his humanity, of his nature in all of its flaws, when he clings still to his walking stick that represented them from the start.

The Finale.

In the finale of the show, Viktor embraces his humanity, Ekko having shattered his mask and revealed his face, following which he sees Viktor in the future having come to realise his flaws.

I dislike this ending for one primary reason.

It was never our Viktor who learned this lesson. *OUR* Viktor was robbed of this realisation, and even a flawed conclusion it may be, we have still lost a pivotal development in Viktor’s character.

There is no prize to perfection, only an end to pursuit.

And herein lies my biggest dislike of this characterisation.

Viktor’s future statement is one that has sat wrong with me since I heard it, and it is one that is a consequence directly of Viktor’s mischaracterized ascension discussed earlier.

Viktor’s sentiment is his desire to bring an end to suffering, hence that all suffering is derived from emotions, and from humanity.

And even in the end, Viktor describes this as “Perfection”. Viktor does not lament the loss of individuation, rather the loss of pursuit, that he had already completed his life’s goal.

And from this future revelation, Viktor chooses to abandon all his notions of improvement, in his future realisation borne of stagnancy, from the loss of a dream, he willingly abandons all notions of this dream.

This final speech of the future Viktor is one that almost in itself motivated me to write this discussion; should Viktor have simply lamented the loss of humanity, of minds to think, even of unpredictability, rather than the simple monotony of perfection; Should Viktor have understood the drive borne of emotions, from which progress is unattainable; Should Viktor have wished more outwardly to improve human flaws, to grow beyond human, in any way other than removing the “Human” aspect, then I would not dislike this character as much as i do.

Viktor’s design and mischaracterisation, in my opinion, are derived from a countless number of minor missteps and choices, wholly intertwined faucets of character which sought to represent discordant images of a person, souring both aspects in whole.

I do not hate Arcane, I loved it, and that is why I wish for its improvement, for its evolution beyond what it is, to improve its flaws and retain the core integrity of the show, to see it become what it could have been.

Also as a final message, having Jayce and Viktor kiss in the finale would have been infinitely better in the concept of humanity and the necessity for emotions, especially if it was preluded by a realisation of Viktor's actions and biases towards Jayce even following the transformation.

Let the men kiss riot.

Also small edit in post: I want to note that these statements are still for all intents and purposes, criticisms, however made with an attempt to remove any sort of knee jerk or personal reactions to the ending, I did not like the ending too much in general, however i tried to acknowledge those biases where possible and remove them where not.

Authors note: I am so sorry this is so much fucking longer than i thought it would be I didn't mean to ramble on for so long about him

[safsunderc]

Queer (2024)

I’ve tried about a hundred times to write this in a delicate and beautiful way, but it's hard to articulate the feelings Luca Guadagnino’s Queer gave me.

I want to start off by acknowledging all the movie aspects of it. The performances, Daniel Craig first and foremost of course, I think allows the film to be as great as it is, he is the entire soul of it, and his performance as Lee is one of the most striking I’ve watched. In a similar essence to other performances I love, Drew Starkey is wonderful in this limited role; Eugene says little, but has lots on his mind, Starkey makes this so evident and, has anyone ever looked so beautiful in a role as he does playing Eugene? The costuming, hair and make-up certainly play a part, but he is simply so chic, so beautiful, so encapsulating. There’s no wonder Lee is so wrapped up in Eugene with him looking and behaving as Starkey does. 

I know I say this about every film I watch, but it was stunning, and more than that, Queer is visually striking. The bars, hotels, scenery, particularly when travelling, that just looked so otherworldly, as Luca’s films usually do (Bones and All particularly is an incredibly stunning film). Some parts with models for sets felt very reminiscent of a claymation; there’s been a lot of comparisons drawn between Space Odyssey and Queer, but Chicken Run seems more adept personally, because it looked and felt so cartoonish in some parts, so unlike the realm of the real world, as though Mexico City and Lee’s life as a queer man were not really his life. There is perhaps always a distance between what you think of yourself and the reality you are living. I always love the texture of Guadagnino films, the smell and taste of them more than look and sound, like you are within the film, more than observing. How dry the place felt, how hot it was, the cool night air, you can feel it all on your skin, close your eyes and be there in a moment. It's not a feature unique to Queer, but of Guadagnino movies generally (particularly Call Me By Your Name, which is a feast for the senses entirely).

Nowadays ‘queer’ is simply a name for a minority group who, while may face hardships, are not condemned to sad, fragile lives as they might have once been. But in this film, by Lee’s definition, ‘queer’ is by no means a good thing. Interactions with other queer men are always bad, the jewelled centipede wrapped around a young man’s neck proves it, hung like a noose - no matter how beautiful the necklace is, however, it is still a parasite. The thought crosses Lee’s mind (or bleats through like a blazing fire) that he might want payment because on what planet would someone want him and not expect a cash payment? The thoughts of self-deprecation, self-hatred and shame are a lifestyle, not weekend habit. Later scenes with Eugene reinforce this, he tries to make a move too soon after the last time, comments he is breaking the contract they’ve made up; why would anyone want him unless there were conditions? 

Another user put it as “Queer beyond sexuality, Queer as a state of mind. A state of being,” and I’ve yet to read something so accurate. Lee’s desire for Eugene is propelled by his immense loneliness, which exists due to his inability to connect, because of his shame, of the unreality of his reality. Not being able to coincide this life with the one you thought up for yourself; “I’m not queer, I’m disembodied.” Denying yourself so easy and so quick you won’t even let yourself think it, question it. “I know.” The strings of comfort you feed yourself, even if you know you enjoy it, can’t help being drawn to everything of it, but you do look away, god, how many people look away from the open door. 

The surrealist gore and unimaginable scenarios are some of the best of the film, my favourite being the morphing of bodies, the becoming of one from two. I have nothing to say really except that scene was beautiful and I have never felt so singular. I try to keep my reviews non-personal because, frankly, I don’t think it aids your point to have a whole segment about your personal experiences in there. For this film, however, it is impossible for me to not speak on the things that touched me so profoundly. 

I’m only eighteen, but I’ve always felt isolated from everyone I’ve ever met. Friendships full of paranoia, people I never really know or even like, family who never seem able to enter into my feelings of disconnect, distant parents, and never a single romantic prospect because I’m always too withdrawn, too caught up in myself that I hardly find space for others. When I do allow myself to think of others, I think so much, and I think and I imagine, I play it over and over in my head like a winding roll of film and I sit beside these people, pretend I have not imagined a thousand things, a hundred lives with them, I make no move toward them; I take no step, I speak no words, and I breathe no breath. I understand nothing except the imagined, except that which does not exist. 

For the first part of the film, Lee is the same, not even motioning toward Eugene, merely imagined touches and caresses, because he cannot face his desire for fear of scorn. He is intimate with Eugene, but the second part finds Lee still merely reaching out, hand desperately outstretched and alone, hand splayed out against the canvas of beautiful skin, ribs all in a cluster protecting the heart from damage. He wants to claw it out and take it for himself. Rather, in the third act, they cough their hearts up; everything comes out with that, and without the distance of singular hearts, the pair are merely bodies, two that can become one. There is no longer any need to reach out when the one you love lives within your skin. Lee finally has what he wants, to communicate without speaking, through touching, the effortless language of lovers, for he’s never had a lover and cannot understand how it works. For Eugene, he still cannot come to terms with his sexuality. He might sometimes enjoy it, but he’s not queer and that’s it, he is slipping from Lee once again. When they leave that jungle, everything is lost. Too afraid, too slow to catch; too much done and not enough said. They are singular once again. 

What intrigued me most though is just how beautiful the film was. Visually, yes, but emotionally, physically, in every realm; how Luca Guadagnino manages to make such immense feelings of deprivation, loneliness, desire beautiful is beyond me. Daniel Craig does a wonder of communicating the beauty of lifetime loneliness, of penetrating desire. Even the sex scenes are beautiful. This film is palpable, you can taste the sweat in your mouth, feel the mud on your skin; above all, the loneliness and desire takes hold of you, and you leave starstruck and hopelessly determined to carve out a better life for yourself. But the next morning you wake and you’re still alone. When you close your eyes you see the merging bodies of Lee and Eugene and that singular feeling is still there, and you feel so completely alone in the world. 

[thehuntfortrencherlostmedia]

The Origins, Ramsay Fiction & The Confusing Mishmash of Everything Before Fix Me - A Marianas Trench Retrospective

Okay, so my post got likes, but I only got one actual response from anyone, agreeing with me on the fact they like things in chronological order. So, I guess it's time to talk about the bands early days, eh?

The truth of the matter is, the band as many know them started in late 2003 and early 2004. Anything before that gets placed in this weird murky middle section with a name change, members leaving, and also a complete and utter mess of when Ramsay Fiction came to an end and where Marianas Trench begins. We have located a demo disk from 2001 with the Marianas name on it, but we also don't have any dates as to when certain things were recorded or uploaded onto MP3.com.

Here's what we do know: Josh Ramsay, a teenager dealing with both an addiction to heroin and an eating disorder, loved music from a young age. His father owned a recording studio, and his mother was a vocal coach. Music was literally in his blood, but even though the two had connections into the industry and everything, he set out to make it into the business on his own. And he knew one thing for certain: He DID NOT want to be a solo act, he wanted to be in a band.

The issue for Josh was getting that band together. At first, it was him and his sister Sara (backup vocals), her then boyfriend and later husband Trevor Spilchen (on bass, even though he was a guitar player), Josh's friend Steve Marshall (on guitar and backup vocals, despite being a BASSIST), and a rotating list of drummers, eventually finding Ian Casselman in a series of classifieds in a newspaper late into the bands life. This lineup didn't last long, as once Sara became pregnant with her and Trevor's first kid, they stepped aside... leading to 2 new members joining: Josh's friend Matt Webb (originally a keyboardist), and Steve's pal Morgan Hempstead (the man who bestowed them the Marianas Trench name). It's tough to say who plays what on a lot of the Ramsay Fiction tracks that make up Cooler Than Me, as I think they come from two different recording sessions, if not more. Same goes for a lot of the self-titled EP work too, as we know at least two tracks from that era, an early recording of Fix Me, and a early recording of Skin & Bones, were both first made public to people in 2004... months after Steve and Morgan left, and Mike Ayley joined the group after getting to know everyone as Ian's roommate.

In fact, for the longest time, a lot of the Ramsay Fiction stuff was lost media, songs that nobody outside of a rare few had ever heard. As of April 1st this year, this is no longer the case, and all the songs have been found and preserved (yes, even PMS... despite it being taken off Youtube, has been saved.)

To talk about these songs is hard. There's definitely a lot of emotion and pain in these tracks, and the overall sound is very 90's, going for more of heavy grunge and alternate rock sound, very reminiscent of Matthew Goode. But you can also hear those other elements creep in from other acts Josh has referenced time and time throughout in small snippets. The biggest thing holding a lot of these songs back is a mix of production (which is still insanely impressive for the time period and the fact it was done by a teen no less), and lyrical ckunkiness, making them semi hard to decipher.

What do I mean by this? Take track 1, the one everyone knows: Primetime. The song's verses speak about how something is this, but the person is the opposite... bu we don't get a clear picture of who the person is.. only that supposedly a hit of heroin will make everything feel better. It's odd that this is the song that's somehow lasted the test of time out of all these tracks. But hey, it did lead to a great callback on End of An Era.

Track 2, Shiny Like Dirt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG-OoIsFbow), is truly a song where Josh took a ton of ideas he had for songs, and threw it against the wall to see if it would stick. And... it does stick, but also doesn't? The chorus is super catchy, basically admitting he's a confusing person, and that nothing he does makes sense... and yet, despite it all, he still has fears of the unknown. The "coming up for air" bridge is probably my favourite part, but it's definitely an earworm I return to occasionally. I've also linked it in case you've yet to hear it.

Track 3: Shallow. The song we've known about for the longest time, the one the fandom cherished like a baby... and honestly, it's probably my least favourite? I've tried to decipher the lyrics on this one for ages, but I can't come up with anything concrete. I do think the song has a good tone, and the guitar solo is totally awesome. In fact, there's a lot of great guitar and bass work throughout a lot of these songs. But there's something missing for me on this one.

Track 4: Playing Dead. This seems to be the earliest recorded song of this bunch, going off Josh's voice here. And honestly, I think it's the closest tonally to a current day Marianas Trench song. There's a bit of a swing sound going on in the drums, the harmonies.... and it's an interesting number overall. Also, it's our clearest sampling of Steve's voice, and just how close it is to Matt's vocals xD... it seems to be a simple love song about a girl and how he's open to roleplaying almost anything with her, using "playing dead" as his main metaphor. It's the black sheep of the CD, but a good one.

Track 5: Hideous. Here we go... the first track Josh ever wrote about his bulimia and depression... and how it was eating him from the inside... and how he was asking for help, even though he wasn't fully ready to accept it at the time. The beginning parts are very slow, and methodical.... only for the song to pick up energy in it's second half and become truly one of the standouts on this album.

Track 6: PMS. Okay... so... this one is tough to talk about. We knew for years it was supposedly very comedic in nature and that it was also politically incorrect, but that was it. For those of you who still have not heard it, there's a copy of it in this Discord server in the links and archive section: https://discord.gg/d5M3xVN9

As for the song itself, I personally really love it. It's a song about Josh being petty to a girl and truthfully telling her off. It's definitely of its time period, but in the best way possible. And once again, the guitar work here is SO GOOD. If you can stomach a song that truly is a time capsule and understand that Josh would never write anything as juvenile today, give it a listen.

Track 7: Don't Touch Me. The song that holds a special place in my heart... as I was the one to LOCATE IT after 18 years in the massive pile of MP3.com links that were given to the Internet Archive in 2021. And it's a ballad all about Josh dealing with both the arguments and turmoil he would feel when coming down from getting high. Truthfully, this might be the most emotional song of this batch, and one that definitely sticks its landing.

So, my overall thoughts here are to give these songs a listen, and understand them for what they are: the start of a musical prodigy finding his footing and his sense of style while getting clean and hoping somebody, anybody, would give him a chance. While the tone might not have influenced Josh’s style fully going forward, there are elements from these songs that were taken and repurposed into later Trench tracks.

Luckily, and also sadly... Jonathan Simkin & Chad Kroeger gave him that chance. And thus, we got ourselves a self titled EP... and a full title debut. But that'll be next time.

[godmademeinmspaint]

Going to say this now even though I barely post here::::: Adaptations are never meant to be a 1:1 recreation of the original source material. The goal is never to recreate the exact same experience in a different format, the whole point of remaking something in a different format is to make something new.

I don’t understand why people are out here acting like the new Netflix ATLA walked onscreen, shot the original with a 44 and declared itself the new ATLA. I’m not saying you can’t criticise anything about it or any other adaptation, I just think a lot of people need to remember that an adaptation that gives you the same experience and explores the exact same themes and doesn’t elaborate on or look at things in different angles would be utterly pointless.

[watermelinoe]

Have you seen this post?

ivyblooms (dot) tumblr (dot) com/post/742518636794839040/ormondhsacker-randsexual-scifigrl47

It’s theories why men don’t write fic, and it’s got such a libfem take at the end, essentially saying: “Fic is written by marginalized groups in order to see themselves in canon, so cishet white males don’t need to write fic because canon already caters to them”

The observation is correct (female fandom is more creative than male fandom) but they come up with the wrong explanation bc it’s only “cishet white males” they’re willing to dunk on.

Gay men and MoC aren’t represented in most mainstream media either, but they aren’t the ones writing 300k fics to resolve this. So the differences between male and female fandom can’t be explained by the need to “see oneself in canon”. Creative fandom and fic especially is a majority-female hobby. But female writers aren’t trying to “see themselves in canon” either bc all they ever write about is fictional men. I’d say that women ACTUALLY write out of intense and often romantic passion for the (usually male) characters, which compels women to generate endless fanworks to satisfy their romantic ideals and numb the pain of their dull realities. Men also have dull realities, yet the fandom divide is purely male/female and the reason is money vs passion.

Women’s passion for fictional escape is so great that they’ll write a 300k fic saga for free if they have to. Do you honestly think any man capable of producing 300k words of creative writing would share it FOR FREE? No, he would try to publish it as an original novel to make money off his labor. Men aren’t socially conditioned to perform free labor like women. Women are conditioned to generate free resources for others while men hoard resources, only giving them away if something of equal or greater value is promised in return. That’s why YouTube (monetization) is male-dominated and they will never touch Ao3, because it’s illegal to make money off fic. It’s the one female-only space men aren’t interested in.

Men live by the motto “If you’re good at something never do it for free.” Whatever passion and creativity men possess comes second to their need for material reward. Women dominate fandom bc we value love and connection more than squeezing money out of every opportunity.

i don't even have anything to add to this bc i think you hit the nail on the head, it's not about "seeing yourself" in the work at all it's about intense passion for the work and the characters and the relationships, and male characters get much more love than female characters do! it's literally the urge to get out your beloved toys and put them in elaborate situations

[torpedopickle]

I finally watched Transformers Earthspark Season 2 today. I have a lot of thoughts and I wrote some paragraphs for every episode. As you can see I wrote a LOT, enjoy my way too long cartoon analysis:

Episode 1: the cracks are showing but it hasn't crumbled yet

The animation feels less alive than in season 1 even if strong storyboarding still carries some scenes, as I know several of the season 1 storyboarders did work on this episode. It has a couple good sequences, a couple incredibly stilted ones. The overreliance on slowmo feels weird, and the animation struggles to properly convey things, like how we're supposed to take Hashtag's injury very seriously, but it just looked like she got bumped lightly.

the Decepticons are butchered and watered down into "evil because they're Decepticons". Chaos Terrans is an interesting concept and the way they're executing Aftermath would provide a foundation for exploring topics such as delinquent youth, but knowing how the series will go on to treat them in later episodes, I'm not hopeful.

the Maltos feel like they're sleepwalking. They have a lot of screentime but for some reason they don't feel present at all, it's like I'm watching their shadows move around on screen without the things that made them feel alive shining through.

If I didn't know beforehand what this season would eventually stagnate into, I could see myself being fooled into thinking the gripes I have with this episode are just growing pains, however i'm not so hopeful.

Episode 2: Improved in some ways but not in others. The episode premise is decent, and the narrower focus compared to episode 1 does help make the focus characters feel a bit more like themselves again. Unfortunately i just don't think the premise was utilized well at all. Introducing quintessons to the conflict is kind of a big development, but it doesn't flesh them out well IMO. They treat them like wild animals with no characterization for a majority of it, and then hint at some deeper conflicts at the very 3nd before promptly disposingof them. So ultimately it feels unsatisfying (although we do get some expositon in episode 9, but it doesn't add up to much).

And once again i must comment on the character acting on the humans especially being severely lacking.

Robbie and Mo having helmets for like half their screentime definitely feels like a cut corner not to animate their faces

Episode 3 review: some well animated sequences this time around, i'd seen the storyboards for them on twitter and they're really well done, but then there's some others that really werent as decent, so big ups and down in animation quality. Most of the episode did feel like a slight return to formula for Earthspark tho, with how it felt like it was actually making a point about something for once, which so far has been rare in season 2, although the conclusion wasn't the most satisfying with the whole "you can't have everything" message but then hashtag kinda gets most of what she wanted anyway.

Episode 4 is like.... baffling.

Like the fact that they swapped to a wholly different and much cheaper animation studio was so far just somewhat shining through, but now it's impossible to unsee. The animation here feels BEYOND stilted, in every way. Like not even the 2D FX animation looked convincing this time. That clip of Robbie dropping a cake is the weirdest animated thing i've ever seen. It's like it gets sucked out of his hands by a magnet.

The Faire Maestro is a type of character I feel like would have been handled really well in Transformers Animated but was just kinda nothing here, super ugly design too and very odd voice direction. Lots of just bizarre and mindboggling things in this episode, like them seeing faire maestro having an emberstone shard, and then deciding to steal it right in front of his face for absolutely no reason even though they think he's a normal guy and not a villain. And tiny inconsistencies like Mo knowing his name even though he never said it. Bizarre episode all around, Weird Al cameo is cute but then he's gone.

Episode 5 review: Finally Jawbreaker gets to be in it. Except now he feels like a baby. Just a big stomping juvenile baby.

And speaking of big stomping babies, Aftermath is one too. He feels like he's supposed to be a representation of troubled/delinquent youth who don't get along with their peers and who don't have positive role models or a support network, but he really comes off as being just... chaotic, no real sense of interiority to him other than "I'm mean and I enjoy being mean and I can't help it". He's entertaining on a surface level vibes basis, but it doesn't feel like any attempts are being made at making a point. He's barely been in the show so pretty much anything that could make his character interesting is completely missing. Like there's no development of how the decepticons are raising him other than the basic assumption of "bad role models", and the decepticons barely get to be characters this season either. Aftermath feels like an Afterthought, as Chaos Terrans have basically been less than a footnote, and the series has attempted to do no form of storytelling with them beyond surface level observations that honestly feel insulting to the other characters like how the decepticons are just evil now, and the autobots/terrans have lost all nuanced expressions of empathy and solidarity in favor of just "they're generally friendly"

oh and also the evil mushrooms are boring.

Episode 6 review: Man this episode just *feels* wrong, like viscerally.

The show's handling of the chaos terrans just keeps getting worse. There's absolutely NOTHING about spitfire that compels any form of empathy. Like there's not even a mote of her being a troubled and misguided youth, she's just straight up ontologically cruel, like nothing about the conflict in this episode regards a failure to understand, communicate, or empathise with each other, it's just a straight up rejection of those things on both sides. For this chaos terran delinquent analogy thing to work you NEED there to be a sense of humanity or waywardness to them. You NEED to be able to conceive of them as being capable of more than just anger. This just feels meanspirited, especially the way the Maltos have no desire for Spitfire to be better. They just wholeheartedly accept that she's ontologically evil, and honestly, the way she's presented in this episode you'd think they were right, but they're not SUPPOSED to be right.

It sucks too cuz chaos terrans are a great idea

season 1's terrans were all representations of good natured minority kids, particularly third culture kids, who despite their best intentions and kindness end up having to fight for acceptance.

The chaos terrans are a natural progression of that, with depicting kids who end up on the fringe of society because they're inherently different from others and have a harder time being understood, and who don't have a support network to set them straight.

So it starts out in a place where they'd easily be able to build on it, but it's squandered imo. And for several reasons:

1. the Decepticons are 1 dimensional bad guys this season so they fail to capitalize on any potential storytelling they could have done with how their generational resentment might be passed down to the younger generation. They also fail to build any sort of relationship between the Chaos Terrans and the decepticons, so any obligation to stay or debt of gratitude that they might feel is just not there. You get no sense of why they'd want to be decepticons other than wanting to be enabled and encouraged for cruel behavior. They could have given breakdown an actual father son dynamic with aftermath but instead undercut it and play it for laughs.

2. Because the malto's solidarity have been completely watered down into just being "good guys", and never really get to articulate any sort of deeper point in their attempt to appeal to the chaos terrans, so you don't get a sense of how they might help them if they were allowed.

and 3. because the chaos terrans themselves don't really feel like they have much of an inner struggle, interiority, or conflict, it doesn't really feel like there's much of a foothold for

Anyone to latch onto to get through to them. Which makes them feel unredeemable.

so to reiterate and summarize these 3 points; 1. there's no sense of how the chaos terrans are being given negative reinforcement, 2. there's no sense of how the Maltos might help undo this, and 3. there's no sense of how the chaos terrans might want to be helped or not helped.

I understand that like part of the point is that they don't understand the chaos terrans, which supposedly makes them feel more alienated and further pushed towards anger, but there's no nuance or attempt at solidarity to the way these misunderstandings occur. Like there's no hint of Twitch and the Maltos trying their best to reach out to spitfire in meaningful ways. There's no sense of there being some fundamental difference in perspective or circumstance that make them able to understand eachother's point of view, it's just straight up "i tried to be nice but you were mean so now i won't be nice anymore" and it never goes beyond that. It's insulting how easily the Maltos give up on them.

Episode 7: serving as a direct followup to the last, it continues a lot of the same flaws. It squanders any chance of giving Spitfire some depth, like they could have spun her obsessive competitiveness into a deep-seated need for approval or validation or something, but no, she's as one dimensional as her behavior would suggest. Her behavior just becomes more and more destructive to a cartoonish degree where it no longer becomes possible to feel empathy for her.

the whole freaky friday misunderstanding thing too also feels super forced, which isn't helped by the animation failing to convey a lot of ideas.

Comparing this season to season 1 so far, man it just really sucks at juggling the characters. We've had practically 0 focus or development for any of the autobots and decepticons, and the maltos for that matter, despite their overwhelming screentime.

This is likely a casting budget thing. Which is why bumblebee has been demoted from main cast member to a guy who maybe says 2 lines every 3 episodes.

The quality of season 1's writing would go up and down quite drastically between episodes, but so far season 2 has consistently been on par with some of season 1's worse entries. It's juvenile and it has next to nothing to say about anything. Barely even any basic surface level messages, just mostly meaningless antics with next to no focus on exploring characters.

Episode 8 review: it's fine. No notes. It's a competent comedy episode. Fun premise with the whole "thing getting continuously stolen by different people" trope. Basing an episode around optimus's trailer is funny. Animation isn't stellar. Overall it's just an ok episode. I have nothing to say about it other than it's well executed even if it's not very ambitious.

Episode 9/10: okay! End of the season. The finale's mixed for me. In a different universe, this would have been an OK finale for the most part, but the fact that the season has tarnished every single character and plotline from season 1 and made no successful attempt at building anything new of value makes it lack any impact it could have had.

Interesting angle to flip the quintesson creator race narrative that transformers fans are used to. Although they too were an afterthought for this season. Aftermath and Spitfire getting killed really was the rotten cherry on top of their miserable cake. First they're treated like dirt by the story and handled as poorly as they could possibly be, squandering the excellent potential they had, but then they just kill them. Just so starscream's heelturn is even more evil. It honestly feels sad to me that they even bothered to acknowledge the fact that starscream was redeemble in season 1. Just makes it feel even more annoying that they conciously gave up trying to make him nuanced. Some of the animation was good. The shots of terratronus rising were very well composited and communicated the scale extremely well. As for the actual climax, it felt pretty lacking.

Overall a dissapointing season. A shadow of what earthspark was. Most of the characters are completely sidelined (likely for lack of a casting budget), and the few who aren't don't get a single story that feels reminiscent of that immensely strong sense of confident identity that season 1 had.

Hasbro cannot help themselves can they

[meerawrites]

AMC's Interview With the Vampire, season 2: a most quiet & underrated TV show

Let’s get the record clear, and out of the way. This TV show is brilliant but is neither the book nor any adaptation that came before it, and frankly, I wouldn’t wish it to be.

Read on Wordpress.

[gayiconwaluigi]

Twin Peaks and I Saw The TV Glow are really companion texts. Laura Palmer dies, and with that death, the normal facade of the town is peeled away, while when Maddy disappears, there is no fuss and no grand change. Maddy dies to find her actual world being run by nefarious supernatural beings. Her actual life isn’t banal suburbia. It’s evil. It’s life and death. She tries to peel back the reality of the Midnight Realm for Owen just as Agent Dale Cooper peels back the mysteries and horrors of Twin Peaks, while Owen pleads with her to go to the cops, to engage in the rules of the fake world they live in. Except in Twin Peaks, Coop is a visitor who leaves messages to Diane on his tape recorder, an outsider willing to believe in the supernatural, while Owen is a prisoner who speaks directly to the audience and cannot believe what Maddy has told him. While the whole world of Twin Peaks cracks and falls apart from Laura’s death and Coop’s investigation, revealing the town’s underbelly, Maddy’s death does not free Owen. Instead, the horrors simmer for decades, the facade of normalcy plodding on until the suffocating shell of existence breaks under exhaustion. You are trapped but in what way. And who is there to free you.

[visio20]

Godzilla: Minus One is a genuine masterpiece. Please go see it. It's getting a wide release in the US which is out of the norm so that's great.

They found a solution to the lame human plot that's in every Godzilla movie. You simply need it to be super well written.

Godzilla and the human plot aren't completely separate or awkwardly jammed together. They found a way to elegantly weave him into the external and internal motivation of the characters. Godzilla really embodies more than just the giant lizard this time. The giant lizard destroying Japan stuff is S tier though, don't worry.

Please do yourself a favor and watch this movie.

[nanomooselet]

On Narrators

You know what, fuck it.

I've seen a lot of references to Trigun Stampede having an unreliable narrator, and unfortunately it's activated my media analyst trap card. While there's always a degree of interpretation to these things, there is a difference between interpretation and declaring a banana skin to be orange zest. It makes a difference, especially if you're trying to bake a cake.

That isn't at all what Trigun Stampede is doing. Among other things, it doesn't have a narrator.

Narration, loosely defined, is text (or spoken lines etc) that directly addresses an assumed audience, which may or may not be the actual audience (it depends on the needs of the story). Think voice-overs, think Kuzco in The Emperor's New Groove, think the text panels in a comic or manga that list time and location, or describe the situation. The song of humanity continues to be sung is narration. A narrator is the character who performs narration; sometimes from with the story, sometimes from a position adjacent to it.

Honestly one of the most interesting things about Stampede, in my opinion, is that it makes a point of having neither.

There's no framing device, no presenter, no announcer, no chorus, no soliloquy, not even an internal monologue. There's no direct line to the writers, giving away their intentions. Indeed, the imposition of any text at all is almost entirely absent, save some pointed timing on the title cards, and no character's voice is objective. Zazie or Roberto, who come the closest, can definitely still be wrong - Roberto says Vash is "not long for this world" when Vash is longer for the world than almost anyone else; the man he says would kill with a smile was in fact coerced into becoming a killer. Zazie knows much and is always truthful, but isn't all-knowing, nor operating with complete understanding. And on the other end of the scale you have characters like Dr. Conrad or Knives, where the easiest way to tell they're mistaken or lying is if their mouths are moving. (Outside of brain fuckery. Then you're on your own.) Then there's Vash, who doesn't lie, necessarily, so much as he doesn't volunteer the truth, and tends to dodge giving answers when asked outright.

Now, an unreliable narrator is metafictional, taking advantage of the narrator being a character, and therefore capable of having an agenda.

What makes them unreliable is that they exert motivated influence over what we see - even accidental influence like distorted recollection or misconception. But before declaring such influence is occurring, we need a solid reason to doubt. You don't dismiss an account as unreliable just because it doesn't line up with your own expectations or desires - not without something like a clear contradiction, perhaps, or some conspicuous omission. *

We simply have no reason to believe what we see in Trigun Stampede is anything other than the truth (inasmuch as it's obviously fictional of course). We see some events from multiple viewpoints - here is what Vash experienced, here is what Knives saw, here is what other characters are doing - and what one character sees isn't different from what any other character sees when the perspectives swap. It's just from different distances and angles. The same words are said, the same events play out, and the same reactions are demonstrated by the characters, according to their established values and motivations.

The narrative itself is unadorned and unchanged by their viewpoints. Whether a character is being truthful is simply a judgement you're given to make as the events that occur and their actions reveal more about them.

The term for this isn't narration; it's focalisation, and it's hardly some avant-garde artistic statement. It's intrinsic to telling even the most simple story.

For instance, the way Knives evolves from his initial presentation. His introduction as an adult is as a wrathful would-be god and a merciless killer before his more nuanced motivations and origins are slowly revealed. It would have been different if he'd been introduced first, discovered Tesla and was then depicted destroying Jeneora Rock. He'd come across as more of a protagonist. Instead, because the central character is Vash, we see him first, the humanising struggles of Jeneora Rock's people and Vash's efforts to help them, his anguish when it's rendered moot, and all the ways he suffers as a result of Knives's actions. This is focalisation that makes Knives the antagonist, representing what Vash must overcome. A complex, compelling and perhaps tragic antagonist, but still - not the guy the story is about.

Oh, and that has nothing to do with their respective moral positions, good or evil. It's structural. A protagonist attempts to achieve while an antagonist obstructs, and both by nature will transgress.

Stampede isn't exactly free of ways to manipulate sympathy, and exerts strict control over the perspectives it presents. You could argue it misdirects, or lies by omission - but that's not the same as an unreliable narrator. A narrative is always going to impose some kind of order on events to produce a specific effect, and that does come with bias. But it's the nature of storytelling never to be entirely objective.

I'm not sure that I really have a point, honestly, except that Trigun Stampede is a show that's exceedingly careful to show the characters exactly as they are. It doesn't lie. Personally, I find that more interesting to contemplate than the alternative. We have everything we need to know why the characters do as they do. Certainly far more than some would rather have us know.

* There are two times I think something like this is happening. One is Wolfwood's flashbacks to the orphanage, which are coloured as memories of the softness the Eye ripped away from him. Hence the different art style, and the title of the episode they occur in: once upon a time. It's a fairy tale, more emotionally true than literal to highlight the harshness of his life since then by contrast. There's likely more to that story than Wolfwood is recalling at that moment.

The other, big surprise, is within the memory world. It has manipulative editing, clips taken out of context, video noise, ADR, everything. All you'd need to make it more obvious it can't be trusted is a disclaimer in the corner or inconsistent timestamps or something.

[fictionstudent]

Kafka's magnum opus.

Metamorphosis is Kafka’s most celebrated novel. And it’s no doubt that it’s well-deserved. The way the characters play their part, the way this world works, and the themes that the story tackles—Metamorphosis truly resonates with a lot of people today.

I read the novel long ago, but I couldn’t help but think about it still. And, to be honest, I wanna re-read it once again these days. My recent writers’ block has left me demotivated about reading and writing a lot, and I really wanna read something that brings that motivation back.

Anyway, I’m not here to trauma-dump lol. I wanna engage in this conversation about Metamorphosis, how it reflects Kafka’s feelings, and the themes that it tackles. So let’s get goin’.

***

#01 – The Plot

The plot of Metamorphosis is simple—as Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. And if you couldn’t catch it, this is the exact same sentence that begins the novel. I ChatGPT’d it, by the way, and different translators are gonna use different vocabulary, you know, because the novel is originally written in German—so maybe it’s not entirely your fault that you couldn’t catch that.

Anyway, everything that happens after that is quite… tumultuous. He finds out that he couldn’t talk, walk like a human, or even get of this bed without much difficulty. And his family—they’re obviously scared.

But all that doesn’t bother me. Gregor, all this time, is only thinking of his job till now. He’s the sole breadwinner of his family, and he has some important stuff to do at his job today that, apparently, I forgot about. Lol.

As time goes on, his sister tries her best to help him—she cleans his room, gives him food. But his parents have already lost interest. His appearance worries them, and they can’t see their son in him. Because there’s no one earning now, money is their main problem. They try renting one of their rooms, but, well, let’s just say that didn’t really go well. Because of Gregor. (i dun rly wana spoil it all yk.)

Gregor feels like a burden to his family. And that’s probably because he’s a burden to himself, too. He can’t work, or even get outside his room now. His family is scared of him.

Some misunderstandings later, even his sister is not interested in him anymore. But, as Gregor cuts himself away from these people he can’t even communicate with anymore, he finds it fun to climb and use his new limbs. He’s finally enjoying his transformation—and that’s precisely what brings about the misunderstanding I talked about earlier.

And soon, he dies a tragic death. A death that everybody is happy about. A death that brings about the hopes and warmth in people’s life, that takes the burden off their shoulders. And maybe Gregor’s too.

***

#02 – The Alienation

Now, the story very obviously focuses on the themes of alienation and loneliness. And maybe that’s why the novel is as relevant as it is today—loneliness is never easy. And it’s hard to convey this emotion. Probably because it refers to being alone, but you can feel lonely without being alone, y’know.

At the beginning of the novel, Gregor wakes up and finds that he’s turned into an insect. And it’s a really powerful opening, because loneliness is not something that seeps into an individual’s life slowly. It just… happens. One day, everything changes.

One day, you wake up. You look around. And you find out that you’re different. And that makes it difficult to even get outta your bed and start the day.

But is there something wrong with you, and that’s why you’re alienated? This is a question that this novel asks itself a lot, though not explicitly. Is there something wrong with Gregor, or is he just different?

Or has something changed? Yeah, I’d take this one—something changed. Not just how Gregor sees himself, probably, but how others see him. Or Gregor’s just find out how people actually see him, and that’s what brings about this metamorphosis.

It’s really a tough question, if you think, what Kafka is trying to symbolize with this. Why has Gregor turned into an insect? I mean, why is it not the other way around, where others have changed but he hasn’t?

That’s probably got something to do with how alienation makes you feel. If—God forbid—has such a situation come up for you, you know how you feel that there’s probably something wrong with you and that’s why people won’t talk to you. You can’t point out what it is, but you get the gut-feeling that there is something.

Another thing that turning into an insect might represent is that Gregor thinks that he’s smaller, weaker, or in some way just worse than others. Just… not equal to others, y’know.

Kafka has done a really good job setting this up, now that I think about it. The symbolism of turning into an insect really describes well what people might experience during loneliness—and probably this is why we still read and talk about this novel.

As the story goes on, Kafka goes deeper into this feeling of despair and self-denigration. Gregor is a burden to himself as well as to his family. And because he can’t communicate, he’s pushing everybody away—though others didn’t really try to be with him either.

However, Gregor starts to find peace in this darkness too. He learns to live with it—and now, he enjoys using his limbs to climb up walls. That’s another symbolism—how people kinda get used to this feeling of loneliness and start finding enjoyment in even the littlest of things. And, sometimes, even use it to their advantage.

It so beautifully represents how life is not just black or white—it’s gray. It’s not happy or sad—it’s bittersweet. And that’s what I love most about this novel—even though the situation Gregor finds himself in is so damn unrealistic, everything that happens around it is way too real. Way too real.

I, personally, resonate so much with the whole premise and every symbol that’s presented here. If you look at it, the novel is so obviously one big metaphor for loneliness.

***

#03 – The Third Act

In the end, Gregor dies. Alone, at one corner of his room.

And everybody is relieved. The big insect is not haunting their room anymore, Gregor’s sister is mature enough to take up the house’s responsibilities, and the family has enough for now to move to some better place and start a better life.

The ending doesn’t make sense. When Gregor turned into an insect, the family was being slowly relegated to poverty. But now that he’s dead, all their worries have suddenly gone away.

The thing is—this ending reflects Kafka’s own state of mind. It’s not logical—it’s not supposed to be logical. It’s supposed to convey what might happen when Kafka dies—and it’s that people would be better of without him. That people around him would thank Destiny for his death, for taking the burden of the man named Franz Kafka away from them. For ever.

It's so damn pessimistic, but I guess that’s what loneliness does to you. It’s no doubt that Kafka has always felt this loneliness in his personal life. His works were never published in his lifetime, so he must have felt worthless as a writer. And as a human, he had so little social relationships. He had some tensions with his father, and he felt his mother was never there for him either. He had lovers, but he never married.

He died alone.

The third act of this novel is not the real ending to the story—it’s how Kafka thinks it’s supposed to end.

***

#04 - Conclusion

Sorry it got a little depressing, lol. For this blog, I thought a lot about the story and the ideas it toys with, and I think it’s really a masterpiece. His magnum opus. And now I have sufficient reasons to back it up.

I’d love to write something this deep and realistic. That’s why I aim to study novels, after all.

And yeah, sorry for these rare uploads. I’ve been suffering through a really bad writers’ block for the past couple of months, as I hinted earlier, and at one point, it was so bad that I could not even move myself to open my laptop and write. I’d never procrastinated writing before, so the anxiety that comes with it kinda made it worse. I even scrapped the novel I was working on (again), and I guess I’d start writing something new in some time.

But it’s better than before, and I should be back on track from now on. Also, Imma write a blog about the writers’ block, lol, so just you guys wait. More good stuff is on its way.

[gameshowtrainwreck]

"Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett

I just don't understand the outrage being directed to those who have expressed some degree of satisfaction from the news of that United Health Care CEO getting shot. Why would his death be any more outrageous or any more unacceptable from the slow, often painful deaths endured by those at the stroke of his pen?

Frankly, the victim got off lighter than what some movies use for plotlines. It's not something I woulda done, probably not even how I'd do it (a couple of ideas, but they're assumptions that would require stuff anyone privy to the investigation might have already ruled out and i feel as if i contribute enough to the problem of online content as it is anyway), but the ruling class experiencing the same kind of terror they've been okay with allowing everybody else to endure is not something that really moves the needle for me. Frankly, I hope they never catch the shooter and the perp becomes a folk hero for the 21st century. Hell, murder ballads about the shooting are already popping up online. This shooting is reviving folk music. Nobody but family weeps for the low-born criminals dead in the gutter, why are the rest of us low-born expected to weep for an industry who has killed more than the drug cartels? Nah. They spent a lot of money on a lot of politicians to fuck us all over. As ye have sown, so shall ye reap. If a paycheck depends on abstracting people into a line item on a ledger and people end up dying because of it, then you really should consider another line of work.

"I have never laid a finger on anyone in my life, Mr Pump. I may be–– all the things you know I am, but I am not a killer! I have never so much as drawn a sword!" "No, You Have Not. But You Have Stolen, Embezzled, Defrauded And Swindled Without Discrimination, Mr Lipvig. You Have Ruined Businesses And Destroyed Jobs. When Banks Fail, It Is Seldom Bankers Who Starve. Your Actions Have Taken Money From Those Who Had Little Enough To Begin With. In A Myriad Small Ways You Have Hastened The Deaths Of Many. You Do Not Know Them. You Did Not See Them Bleed. But You Snatched Bread From Their Mouths And Tore Clothes From Their Backs. For Sport, Mr Lipvig. For Sport. For The Joy Of The Game.”

― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Sometimes there are people in this world who will make their best contributions to humanity on their departure. If you're afraid that might happen to you: (1) if you're letting shit get so bad in your interactions with others that somebody might take a swing at you that's probably something you should turn yourself in to the authorities over and try to plea bargain even though you can still get shanked in prison, and (2) lol why are you rich enough to work in health insurance and still fucking slumming it on tumblr? Get tae fuck with that scrub-league bullshit. Rich people are horrible fucking fanfic authors anyway, look at what's getting made in movies. (yes, golems speak by capitalizing every word of dialogue in the Discworld novels, it's something Sir Terry Pratchett did with his books and supernatural characters; Death is a character in them and speaks in small-caps without quotation marks. It's a little annoying personally, but Terry is such a good author you get used to it to the point where it feels wrong without it)