#narrative lenses

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

It’s fascinating how the show plays with narrative lenses and allows the viewers to reassess Stede through Ed.

It’s said Stede should be killed for incompetence in episode one. Badminton calls him pathetic and mocks him mercilessly. We see the disdain of Stede’s father, and how ostracised Stede feels within his marriage. Jackie thinks he’s a loser within minutes. Blackbeard’s interest in Stede is ambiguous. Stede’s own self-loathing is evident. The only kindness we glimpse is Olu, Buttons and the indigenous islanders, none of whom seem to truly know or understand Stede.

Interestingly, Izzy seems to clock something of the power of Stede early and the threat to his status quo. Izzy does as much as he feels able to keep him from his Boss. It’s not quite clear though at this stage as to the reason why.

Finally, Blackbeard arrives on the Revenge, and gives us an entirely different lens in which to evaluate Stede Bonnet even before they’ve properly met: this guy is fucking fascinating.

The viewer needs to reassess who Stede is from this point on. And it makes us look at ourselves and go, ‘oh…OH!’

[captainofthetidesbreath]

I alluded to it in the tags about how I have another Spahr post to percolate on and think about, but I have to write a post about like, arguably, in terms of narrative role, Spahr IS the Trust.

I mean, not in like the people are shaped by institutions and cultures BUT institutions and cultures are composed of people way, though there's a lot to be said about that I'm sure. In that way, the Trust exists in all its agents and adherents, but I'm talking in a narrative iconography sense.

But, in a sense that like Spahr and the Trust sort of share a vitality, and they spiral at the same time, and you can trace the state of the Trust in parallel to Spahr's own narrative footing. In a sense, arguably, Spahr's arc follows that of the Trust. Spahr can be argued to be the highest narrative representation or stand-in or embodiment of the Trust as a social structure and hierarchy for a mechanical parallel, as an incarnation of its health as a structure: it breathes as he does, and it falters as he doubts, and it is lost the moment he walked out with his clarity.

I have to write a post, I have to write a post articulating all this bc this is just abstract high concept rambling that isn't really laying out the logic here.

[zigzagspam]

“Chihiro is trans fem” “Chihiro is trans masc” NO Chihiro is a cis guy and Mondo is a stealth trans man.

[sleepygaymerdisease]

something ive noticed a lot in fantasy media is that the religions are either obviously evil/hyperbolized/meant to be mocked/etc or the gods are like Actually Real. which is honestly odd to me. especially the second one. like idk, as interesting as the concept can be i dont think that any religious figure needs to prove their existence (or that their existence has to be proven false) for the audience to take their impact on the characters or society seriously. like idk the way that religion is written to have a "correct" answer is really telling i guess

[dogwhizzer]

i am GOING to write an essay on the transgender narrative of whizzer brown and i am going to publish it so help me god

[little-fandom-dump]

can we. use our media literacy skills for five seconds and realize that it’s okay for different people to feel different ways about the season’s end. can you do that for me please.

[blueiight]

Coming slowly to know his evil, or being catapulted into it ... was all the same. I wanted none of it finally. And, deserving nothing better, I closed up like a spider in the flame of a match. And even Armand who was my constant companion, and my only companion, existed at a great distance from me, beyond that veil which separated me from all living things, a veil which was a form of shroud. (IWTV, 1976)

[ludinusdaleth]

i try my absolute best to be nonbiased and withdrawn when discussing meta but sometimes you have to admit to biases you fight and orym is fascinating because he really is, even without any of his dark progression in story, the kind of guy i would end up getting into a fight with. i process grief faster than i should by just accepting shit happens (this is not a brag, im sure it's Bad, but ive experienced no ill effects so far), ive had my chance for justice (revenge) and know it fucking sucks and isnt worth it, i see big picture and find small picture problems tedious, and i hate people who try to be a bastion of explicitly Normal status quo morality. also he's clean shaven and an excercise nut. hes a great character but i would actually probably strangle him in real life

[menlove]

also ppl complain so much abt how moffat wrote the companions but tbh I prefer their endings so much like. amy and rory get stuck in time, yes, but they're stuck together and live happily and already wanted to stop traveling and settle down before that. clara is functionally immortal and essentially completes her arc of Becoming the doctor by stealing a tardis and traveling across time and space. bill gets to run off with her girlfriend and explore and be happy. they end Happily whereas so rtd era companions get so severely fucked over all the time. and it's tragic, yes, and tragedy is fun too, but personally I like that the companions in moffat's era get to find happiness on their own outside of the doctor.

[liliallowed]

not me adding fear and hunger and outer wilds to my content list...

[burinazar]

wondering how many more people in my circles i've accumulated enough Recommending-Things-To Credit to throw the hole show at them because i am dying for more sickos to show my things to

that 'write for an audience of thirty sickos' tweet is like aspirational to me because if i had that many (especially if a couple were like, Concrit-giving Sickos) i'd be really happy and not even slightly wish for a bigger audience. but it seems i can at most pull three-to-four sickos at a time and the prior sickos orbit away before new sickos come. Where Are My Thirty Sickos

[samglyph]

Realizing there’s probably only a week or so till the new malevolent drops. Hooo boy. I’m still jumping between a John pov episode or a dark world arc. Who knows. Could be neither. Will kayne be there? If he isn’t I’m reblogging the meanwhile image again. Every episode kayne isn’t in the podcast that image is canon.

[kuhatoarchive]

tifa jumps off the train first btw. always, always.

[obstinaterixatrix]

now that I'm thinking back on it, I've been following you since like 2017? I think. I remember you feverishly ryukita posting and despite both not having played p5 (id only played p4 then) and not really knowing a lot about them the way you discussed them was really engrossing and I decided to follow. Back then I was a teenager who was also super romance in media averse (gay teen, most romances being Like That) but following you and listening you discuss and pick apart and engage with romance in the way you do made me more evaluative of the genre and its many iterations/tropes/emotional underpinings and more open to exploring it myself in the first place. You made me romance literate is what I'm saying

lmao??? 1) sorry for the late answer I legit did not see it until now, 2) genuinely charmed by this. the power of never shutting up pulls through once again. happy to play this role in your life

[shippy-from-apocalypse]

Y'all why isn't there a video essay about Min Ryan and The Queer Reading of infinity train book 4 i feel like this is something that should exist like

[alexcabotgf]

why is there shipping discourse on my dash in 2023 lmao