#none of which can be summarized by 'he's a misogynist'

[mayasaura]

There's a fascinating double standard in a lot of the analysis of John's influence on the Nine Houses' society. Like, the role of cavaliers, the widespread commodification of the remains of the dead, these are all faults the Nine Houses have inherited directly from him. Fair enough. But the lack of gendered roles, the complete lack of male primogeniture, homophobia, or patriarchal family structures, these of course have nothing to do with John, who is definitely a misogynist.

edit: what I mean is that the stuff that makes it easy to hate John and frame him as a mustache twirling villain tends to be entirely credited to him, while complications to that narrative tend to fall by the wayside. this post has nothing to do with misandry and everything to do with craving nuance

[fanfic-obsessed]

Do you dream?

This is an offshoot of  Perchance to dream. While I highly recommend reading it, because I think it is neat (as the writer), I will summarize it here. The gist is that what we know as canon, starting roughly when council goes to confront Darth Sidious (though the timeline does not match exactly to reality) is a shared hallucination of the Jedi council, caused by a chemical weapon created by the separatists (which has been calibrated, using the Jedi councils’ DNA, to only affect the Jedi council).  In this Palpatine is not a Sith, rather he is exactly what he portrays himself in canon. 

In this variation the creators of the weapon make mistakes in how it was formulated. The first mistake is that it does not drag the victim quite as deep into the hallucination, in that they can interact with the real world, however they will disbelieve or not perceive anything that contradicts the world in the hallucination. The more important and far reaching mistake is that they did not restrict who was affected quite like they thought. The Jedi council was affected, to be sure, but so was roughly 80% of the galaxy and not all groups were affected equally.  There did not seem to be any rhyme nor reason to who was affected or not.  

90% of the senate was affected by the weapon, it should be noted that both Sheev Palpatine and Padme Amidala were not.  The GAR was affected at 75% of the clones not stationed on Coruscant, though only 3% of the Coruscant Guard were affected (Most of this is more horror than funny but I just want you to picture this: Random Separatist Leader: You created a chemical weapon that only affects people based on their genetic code. Scientist: …Yes. Random Separatist Leader: And it is affecting roughly 70-75% of a group of genetically identical clones. Scientist, slumping: Yes. Random Separatist Leader:How? Scientist, wailing: we don’t know!!!), every battalion has clones affected. Of the Jedi, something like 97% is affected (Because the original intent was specifically for Jedi ), including all of the council (Anakin is not affected, though Ahsoka is). The highest ranked Jedi, by experience and title, unaffected were Jocasta Nu, Depa Billaba, Bant Eerin, Aayla Secura, and Anakin Skywalker. Most of the rest of the unaffected were padawans, initiates, and younglings. 

It will only be looking back that anyone will be able to pinpoint the first indication that something is wrong. It is a simple thing, the Rodian senator mentions the ‘New Emperor’ to several of his fellows. Most of the room nods or responds, knowing what he was talking about. A few look at each other, confused but ignored. 

Before we fully look at the horror, consider this. Here Sheev Palpatine does not want to be an Emperor.  He was actually looking forward to retiring, to becoming a consultant where he could have all the influence and none of the responsibilities. Now 90% of the senate is sure he is an emperor (a human centric, misogynistic, bigot at that) and ignoring anything and anyone who tries to protest otherwise. He is being forced, largely against his will, to be an all powerful emperor who can’t actually do anything that is not based in pure evil because the afflicted will ignore it. 

There is much confusion.  We will get back to the effects of that confusion in just a moment. 

Within the hallucination Order 66 goes out. Though there are signs that something was wrong earlier they are not nearly as wide spread. This, then becomes the most defining moment of the new era. 75% of the clones, not stationed on Coruscant, fall under the control of a chip that does not actually exist. To the utter horror of the unaffected clones, the afflicted clones open fire on any Jedi present (no matter who they might have been firing at in canon). Countless Jedi survived because they fell comatose at the same time, killed within the hallucination. Handfuls of clones that otherwise would have survived died at the hands of their brothers, who were trying to protect the vulnerable Jedi. 

The 501st never marched on the temple, their battalion fell below the average with only 47% affected and without Vader to lead them, they are able to subdue the affected before it happens. However, the comatose Jedi cover every surface of the temple and for a bit it is believed that some sort of sleeping sickness afflicted the Jedi while most of  the rest of the galaxy went insane. 

The separatists are not excluded. They match the 80% affliction rate of the rest of the galaxy. Most of the leadership that is afflicted also fall comatose (read die in the hallucination). Even amongst the scientists who created the weapon (roughly 100-200 beings depending on when in development we are talking about) about 20% fell to the effects.  The remaining scientists try for 6 months on their own to reverse the effects without success.

All the while the galaxy has largely turned itself into an oppressive empire, built a rebellion (that is being secretly supported by the Emperor himself), and is both tearing itself apart and gluing itself together at the same time.  Various non affected beings, who would have died in the first few months of the empire, watch as the people they love mourn them.  More than one unaffected Senators, up to and including Palpatine, see the way a number of so called respectable beings in power act when they are given free reign (case in point, Tarkin) and are horrified.  And for those first six months no one can figure out what was going on. It is called an illness, a madness.  

Roughly 80% of the galaxy believe themselves to be part of an empire and are unable to perceive anything that would break the illusion (Anakin becomes largely reclusive, as they react as if he is Vader and he can’t take the pulse of fear when anyone afflicted sees him).  A new government has to be built, staffed by the non afflicted and weaved around the hallucination. They are building blind as within the hallucination the human rights violations start to appear and grow exponentially.   

14 months in, Jocasta Nu finds a way to access the hallucination, an old mind based force technique.  It works in that she is able to convey what had happened, what was happening within the hallucination. It failed in that she, having been dead in the hallucination, fell comatose. No one was willing to risk anyone else. In particular Anakin, as the non afflicted were afraid that Anakin would fall to Vader. They could not risk it. 

Cody, who had been afflicted, woke from the hallucination after 2 years. It was only a coincidence that he was in the temple at the time. Anakin had requested to speak with him (hoping that they could find out more about what the ‘chipped’ clones thought was going on). He would be one of 400 throughout the galaxy. It was discovered that non force sensitives with particularly strong minds could break through the hallucinations, eventually being able to see the contradictions. Anakin without a suit was one of those contradictions. Cody, upon waking, had what could conservatively be called a panic attack, and what could rightly be called a series of panic attacks so severe that it drew the attention of empaths from 6 levels away. His attack on his general, his Obi Wan (they had built a relationship during the war and had plans to marry after it was done), had been entirely real. Obi Wan and Yoda could not be accounted for, no one knew if they had survived or not. 

Between the Separatists, who rejoined the Republic 8 months after the weapon was deployed, Scientists and the Republic they were able to study enough of the reawakened, like Cody (Volunteer only), that they could start building a device to reverse the effects. 

The device is activated 10 years to the day of the original weapon.  It stimulates the brain waves matching the frequency of the awakened in anyone who was afflicted. The non afflicted gather together across the galaxy in little clumps, clutching at each other. The previous decade has changed the face of the galaxy in a way that cannot be properly articulated. The non afflicted have watch the reactions to a genocide, have seen the people they love embrace the very worst evils (or watched them rise above to fight back).  Even those who would have supported the Empire are horrified by the depths that the hallucination dipped into (Over those 10 years they have been able to get other, scant looks into the hallucination).  And this was a decade long tragedy in which everyone who was unafflicted experienced, to some extent. Tragedy is a great equalizer. 

First the comatose began to wake, family and friends or very variety sitting with them. Even those who had no one unafflicted had someone celebrating their waking in the packed rooms. Then the afflicted started focusing fully on the people around them, fully for the first time in a decade.  Spouses who had ‘buried’ their loved ones blinked to see them hale and hearty. Children that had effectively been orphaned, both as afflicted and non, found that there was suddenly a decade missing. 

On Tatooine a Jedi Master turned butcher froze. He, like all the other afflicted, had gone to work that day, never noticing as the non afflicted among them were more anxious. The oppressive darkness vanished so abruptly he could feel it, even through the shielding.  Not far away he could see a Togruta woman clutching one of his coworkers to her, who was bewildered.

An announcement went out to a broadcast system that had been built specifically for this (and Obi Wan realized he had never seen that broadcast tower before) an hour after the afflicted woke up.  It took two days to reach the Outer Rim (but to be fair, so did the ripple that woke the afflicted). It gave a brief explanation about what happened and a location that any of the former afflicted could go to register themselves, in case they had changed planets under the affliction and wanted to find their loved ones again. It was recommended that the former afflicted remain where they were, as long as they were not in danger, to keep from clogging up the hyperlanes. 

Obi Wan collected his lightsaber from the desert, and found that there was only one when he thought he had buried two. Driven by the force, he reported to the registration locations. Once his information was in the system it lit up from here to the Core. Cody was the one sent to collect him, as Anakin was helping to settle Ahsoka (who did not react well to being a decade older and having been killed by Vader). 

Cody and Obi Wan maintained skin contact for the entire trip back from Tatooine, after a decade of thinking the other lost they could not bear to be parted.

Palpatine was finally able to step down, playing the emperor had been a horrific experience for him.  He retired entirely, unable to bear the thought of power. Even if he had been interested, people still flinched when they looked at him.  

Everything that happened next was to a galaxy irrevocably changed.

[waywardavatarenthusiast]

Azula Will Never Be Redeemed-at the hands of Bryke or the writers

It’s as simple as this. Take a look at this post. To summarize it, the writers hate Azula. But it runs deeper than that. Look at the writers whom we have evidence from. What do we notice? First of all, they’re all well into adulthood. Second of all, none of them are both POC and a female. Let’s take a look at the person who is by far the most ableist, misogynistic, entitled, and rude writer to work in that franchise. No, it’s not Bryke.

Gene Yang no longer works on the avatar comics, thankfully. But let’s take a look at his track record while he was there.

He is a huge Zuko fan. So? It’s important that the writer likes their characters. But I’ll tell you why Gene’s interpretation of Zuko is so incredibly problematic. 

Zuko appears in every. single. comic. All the ones that Yang wrote. The gaang doesn’t show up in Smoke and Shadow. Toph doesn’t show up in the Search. His favorite character to use is obviously Zuko because I can’t tell you the amount of times he has unnecessarily been included in scenes.

He gave Zuko everything. If you asked Zuko what he wanted at the end of the series, it would be his mother and a relationship with his sister. Yang? He’s pulls Ursa from the ground below and gives Zuko a brand new perfect and angelic sister. But more on her later. He even gives him dragon fire which is just dumb because it doesn’t actually do anything but look cool unlike Azula’s fire. Which is why he did it, to level Zuko up with Azula.

There can(’t) be Zuko with Azula. Every single time Azula showed up in those comics was to serve Zuko’s goals literally or in terms of plot.  Yang has explicitly stated that it isn't possible for Azula to find happy closure and the dynamic of Zuko and Azula was explicitly intended to be like that of a severely mentally ill person and caretaker. He exacerbated her mental illness for Zuko's narrative. The whole thing horrified me because it was like one of those movie scenes where hero says the villain can’t get away with his actions but the villain smirks and says, “I already have.”

He goes out of his way to demonize Azula. He makes Zuko have nightmares of his three year old sister and makes her seem awful for stealing food at a sleepover. He makes her kidnap children to help Azula’s agenda. Honestly, it’s just stupid writing.

Bryke

They simply don’t understand Azula. They call her a soulless crazy mess and someone commends Azula’s sympathy and complexity they take credit. 

Honestly, the others are minimal and sound like antis I could find on tumblr.

So what then? Is this the end for Azula? Not quite. Avatar Studios is Azula’s last chance at canon redemption. But the only way it will happen properly is simple. Female writers, people. Several of them. Tired of watching female characters be mauled by the plot and narrative while they’re male counterparts are glorified.

[manchesterau]

my thoughts after reading my policeman: SPOILERSS of course!! (ignore spelling or grammar mistakes) (this is very ramble-y and not as in depth as it could have been sorrryyy lol, if you want specifics send me an ask after reading this)

okay...so i read the book in 3 days....which....im very proud of myself bc it takes me so long to finish books but that’s not why you are reading this.

im not going to lie to you...i liked the book. i love angst, and this had plenty of it and i liked it. if you like books such as: harry potter, six of crows, red queen, red white and royal blue you will not like this book. i know many people found it boring, which yeah i can see that, but i didn't find it boring at all. but mostly because i love boring books but that's beside the point. 

the book flowed easily, there isn't a bunch of raunchy sex scenes that ive seen people say it has (i...the things ive read idk what book they even read????) and Tom does has backward views on marriage and what it means to be a wife. but he is not overtly sexist or misogynist or abusive, or subvertly those things either. to be frank he's a scared gay man in the 50s trying to not get caught and thrown in jail. that's literally it. (ill go more into detail on him later). but if you want to read this book i recommend you go in knowing that there will be homophobia (the word queer is used as a slur....3 times or 4 but no more than 5), expect outing, expect not supportive characters, and remember to have some compassion (more on this later).

next i want to go into characters: starting with tom, then Marion, then Patrick, and then the other characters. so if you are planning on reading this book or just dont want to be spoiled them....don't read the next bit.

Tom:

I'm going to get this out of the way.........Tom (who we never get to know outside of the two-point of views we are presented with, and who is being played by Harry) is a police officer in the 50s UK. to be frank when the rumors first went around I was mad like a lot of people were, which is funny because when we got those pictures of harry reading the book before all the speculation we were....happy, that he was reading a book about a gay man. now...I don't care honestly. I could call out the hypocrites (i won't) and honestly I'm hypocritical myself. I use to watch shows like svu (if you were to turn it on right now I wouldn't turn it off) and I enjoyed watching svu. I know and have seen a lot of mutuals, people on my dash enjoy cop shows like b99, or who like actors who have played the character of police before. so it would be hypocritical of me to be mad at him (this is just my single black opinion) and then go and turn on svu (which I don't do anymore). 

I'm not saying that no one can be mad, I'm not saying that the anger people have at him playing this role is bad or not needed or valid. all I'm saying is.....is that I don't care. I got angry over this months ago, and all that anger I felt I don't have anymore, and I can't tell you why. Harry is playing an abusive demented husband who traps his wife in a simulation, and then he will play a gay policeman trying not to face persecution..........and that's that. nothing I can say will reach him, he's playing these roles and there is nothing I can do. will I watch them (pirating of course) yes.

anyways let's get back to tom's character (do not use my opinion to silence other black people I will find you....don't do that shit weirdo): tom is......tom?? like I literally was expecting the worst when I read this because of what other people had to say. but as I'm reading him through the eyes of Marion (his wife) and through the eyes of Patrick (his...true love, fuck the 50s I hate the 50s) one word came to mind constantly: scared. Tom is very scared that he will be found out and his life will be ruined. His family knows about him, which is why I think his father (more on him later) pushed him to be in the national service (where he was a cook, which disappointed him). you don't realize his family knows and then his sister says something and then you go 'wait....THEY KNEW???' and then you will go 'oh so that's why-' 

tom does have old fashion views that you would expect of any man at that time (gay or not it's the 50s and gay men are still capable of saying sexist shit). when asked by Patrick if women should still work after having a kid he said no it's the men's job to provide, Marion said she would like to keep working, he said no when they do have a baby (they literally never did, and idk why he thought he could be intimate with her for that long to produce a baby lol). that's....the most sexist thing he said in the whole book (there maybe some small things im forgetting but nothing that really stood out). that's it. I know it's not small and that was a legitimate issue in the 50s but yeah. Just in case you were apprehensive about Tom's character being a raging woman-hater, no,....he just wasn't a true feminist yet (???? I don't know that's like..the most this book says about an issue women were facing at this time). It's still bad what he said (you'll see how Marion justifies it in the book and both Patrick and her don't agree and try and challenge him on his view).

i dont want to go too in depth but it is very obvious from the beginning he has no and i mean ZEROOOO interest in her at all (you can tell when it hits him that he needs a wife and he starts to act a littleee different but it's not romantic at alll). 

i feel like my review on tom is shit but like!! we don't really get to know him without bias from Patrick and Marion. I think Harry will play a wonderful Tom (even tho he doesn't not fit the description for Tom...at all....like at alllll).

To summarize Tom: very scared gay man from the 50s who is trying to do everything he can to not be found out. his family knows, even he knew at a young age, and yes he does quit being a police officer but it doesn't happen as soon as id like but then again he wasn't one for that long if you pay attention to the years.

Marion:

😑 

i just...if yall could see the notes i made on her.....

To summarize Marion: SHE IS LIVING IN LALA LAND, TOM LITERALLY SHOWS HER NO ROMANTIC INTEREST AT ALLL, AND WHEN SHE METS PATRICK FOR THE FIRST TIME SHE FREAKING NOTICES THAT HE'S ALL BLUSH-Y AND SHIT LIKE...GIRL.....

this is a note i wrote that sums up her and tom's relationship (which is more like friends then anything romantic i mean god their honeymoon was horrible and he proposed to her....nvm 😑)

listen...i can't lie and say i didn't feel sorry for her up until the end when she (spoilers: she outs patrick to his employer which ends up with him getting arrested). after that...ive never hated a character more in my fucking LIFEEEE like oh my god i was pissed

all she does is have fantasies about him being romantic with her (holding hands, hugging, etc) and none of them come true...BECAUSE HES GAYYYYYY i really....the author could have done a better job because there were so many damn red flags.

she's fucking annoying and whiny and yeah it sucked to be a woman in the 50s but you literally outed someone your husband was in love with and thought that you could just go back to being married like he's not devastated and instead of telling what you did you stayed unhappy and made your husband thing that at any point they were coming for him too.......*****

Patrick:

PATRICKKKKK

Patrick and tom deserved a fighting fucking chance i hate the fuck 50s fuck you 50s!!!! I absolutely LOVEDDD his pov and seeing Tom through his pov like it was just so damn refreshing seeing the world through his eyes and how he navigates his queerness in the society they live in. (the dichotomy between a proud gay man and a scared maybe proud but fear overrules that (talking about Tom here) gay man).

There was a lot more to say on how gay men were being persecuted at this time than how women were treated in this particular book. There were some little things here and there about what was expected of Marion as a wife and of a girl/woman at that time but it wasn't the focus.

I loved seeing the way Patrick navigated through his world of art and creativity. And how Tom seemed to fit right in with him.

I hate the things the author made Patrick go through (outed, sent to prison, stripped of his job, and later on in the present day he has had 2 strokes in his 70s). it felt a bit much but it's not too distracting (Patricks pov takes place in the past as he writes in his journal). 

Patrick and Julia (more on her later) are my two favorites in the whole book (Tom is third bc he's a very multi-facted character, Marion is not even on the list) and I wish we got a lot more of Patrick's pov.

Other characters!! (speed round bc this is wayyy too long):

Syvlie (Tom's sister): SYVLIEEE IM MAD AT YOUU I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU WHYY WHYYY

Julia: JULIAAAAA QUEEENNN (you'll see why i love her at the end) 

Tom's parents: his father is abusive point-blank. or at least i think he's abusive (verbally). as im writing this i am now realizing that the way Tom's mom reacts to him (sometimes crying) is bc they knew he was gay omg wow.

tom's dad is very much a man's man guy?? Picture a sexist man from the 50s....now picture him with a gay son.....yeah, I'm not surprised Tom went into national service then to the police force. you can tell he didn't want anyone to find out about Tom so he pushed him to do what he thought best and Tom went with it, scared. 

overall: please do not go into this book expected things to be all flowers and rainbows...this is a book about two gay men in the 50s yall.....

there is something to be said about the tragedy that is in a lot of queer stories, I'm more interested in how white these stories are (that's a rant for another time). but I don't mind my policeman, and i think stories like this should be told. because this actually happened (here is a link to em forster's story where the author takes inspiration from, he really had an affair with a policeman!!! who had a wife!!!).

the ending is bittersweet, and i couldn't help but curse for what could have been. Marion could have not outed Patrick (which she instantly regretted), she could have gotten a divorce (she even contemplated it), they could have been more secretive, Julia could have not said what she said. I think Patrick and Tom were sadly doomed from the start, I just wish they had more time together because I loved seeing their love (the little glimpse we got) bloom into something bigger than them.

thank you for reading!! here are random screenshots of my notes as i read this lol enjoy!!

can’t*

[sometimes-men-need-help-too]

What does modern feminism do that you don't agree with? This is genuine btw

A couple things before I start: 

- This is not meant to bash all the feminists out there unless they fit into what I’m saying. I know there are good feminists out there 

- When I say ‘you’ I’m not meaning you, I’m saying it in a general way 

-I hope I get my point across and it’s clear. I sometimes struggle with that 

Also I’m sorry this is so long and it’s in no particular order and I hope none of this comes across as being aggressive or anything

~~ 

A lot of my issues with the movement boils down to attitudes. To me, that is very telling of its true colors. And I do try not to necessarily judge an entire movement from just the bad people because I know that isn’t fair, although I do feel like the bad feminists have taken over the movement and end up drowning out the good voices and that’s why we hear more negativity than positivity. 

One thing that I have issue with the lack of respect towards those that disagree whether it’s with the movement itself or it’s a particular thing. For a movement that preaches about a woman’s choice, I don’t feel that really happens like it should. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong here but depending on what the topic is I get a general impression like you’re not really supposed to disagree with what’s being side. You do and you might have someone lash out at you (that’s another point I have). Or if you say you’re anti feminist, you have people coming up with these reasons why they think you are; one being internalized misogyny  and you get called a pick-me which I find a bit insulting.  I should be able to have an opinion without someone assuming I’m trying to get a man’s attention or I can’t think for myself or I hate other girls. That isn’t it! Wouldn’t you think that is misogynistic? 

And if it’s not  internalized misogyny, then there are other factors; her being white (which usually then goes on to sound racist)  or it’s because she has money or  internalized racism or whatever they come up with. And it sounds condescending and that just bugs me. Hey, maybe instead of some underlying reason, we just don’t agree. 

or you have people try to stick the label on anyway. 

‘If you believe in equality you’re a feminist’

The label means nothing. I don’t understand why some will focus on this so much. I don’t want to be called a feminist. I don’t need to. In the same way, it’s not necessary for me to refer to myself as an MRA (men’s rights activist). And yeah, I know this says it’s an “MRA blog” that’s what I had when I started. But ultimately, the label isn’t important. I’m all for equality. It’s cool, it’s great. But I see this sort of thing (online that is) being forced on people and the thing is, with that wording it makes it sound like the movement is all inclusive when it’s not. You have to have certain politics and for the most part (unless you’re a religious feminist) you have to be pro choice otherwise you’re not a ‘real’ feminist. 

My next issue is all the aggression. You can just tell sometimes with how people respond online or if you catch a video that someone posted. And not only that, but how quickly people fall into name-calling or just all around acting like a child. And for the most it seems pretty acceptable to some because it keeps happening. It’s not hard to find on this site or otherwise. If you can’t communicate your opinions about something without having a fit or blocking someone (excluding if they just keep harassing you) then you’re not mature enough. That shows me you don’t really care about having a real discussion. And some can say that it happening on here is probably done by teenagers and to an extent they’re probably right. But it happens on other sites and in real life as well and it’s more than just teens. It’s people my age and older and that’s not cool. 

And then we have  how some like to ignore the differences between men and women. Sure, yes, there are many things a woman can do just like a man but we also have to acknowledge our differences.  I don’t see a lot of that with some forms of feminism. STEM, for example, is something I would attribute the differences more to just how men and women tend to be rather than sexism. Could there be certain circumstances where it is sexism? Sure, I suppose you can’t rule it out entirely. Otherwise I would say it’s just what they’re happy doing. I know girls who are doing science stuff or business things but I also know girls who are going to be teachers or psychologists or nurses. It’s not that they're actively being told by everyone that they can’t do it(I suppose unless they live in some other country like that). That’s just what they want to do, you know, their choice. Just like how some men go towards a job like with computers or farming or they’re pre-school teachers or gynecologists.

 I found an interesting fact (source will be posted below) that said women are actually preferred over men two-to-one for faculty positions. The study was done by psychologists from Cornell University with professors from 371 colleges/universities in the US. It also noted that: “recent national census-type studies showing that female Ph.D.s are disproportionately less likely to apply for tenure-track positions, yet when they do they are more likely to be hired, in some science fields approaching the two-to-one ratio revealed by Williams and Ceci.” 

Yet, we need to ask ourselves honestly, how often do facts like these get passed around vs the idea that women are suffering from misogyny and therefore are unable to fully represent in STEM jobs? 

The next thing I want to address is misandry. Now there are a good portion of people who don't think it exists or if it does, it's really not much of an issue because of the "power" and the "privilege" men have within society. And to me, I have a problem with that. If feminism is supposed to be for men as well, I would think they would want to combat misandry as well as misogyny. If someone really doesn't think it exists, I would suggest that the person really take a look at what goes on in real life and online that's directed towards men.

There's the whole "male tears" thing which is on coffee mugs and t-shirts. There's the kill all men/yes all men thing. All of which are supposed to be jokes and if a man says something about it he gets mocked for his "fragile masculinity"

That's just not okay. They're being immature and a bully which they usually try to justify (men have done this and that throughout history to women) but you just can't.

I found this article, this really really atrocious article. It's one of those open letter things and found on this feminist website (feminisminindia) and I almost believed it to be satire with how.... stereotypically Tumblr it was. I did research and looked at the info regarding the site and nope, it's a serious site. I'll post the article below but I'll also summarize it:

Basically this woman is telling the men in her life that she will not stop saying "men are trash or other radical feminist opinions." She's saying it because women and others have suffered so much at the hands of the patriarchy because they're not straight white men. She goes on to say:

So let’s establish: misandry isn’t real. Just like unicorns and heterophobia, misandry is a myth because it isn’t systematic or systemic. Unlike misogyny, cis men don’t face oppression purely based on their gender. While they may encounter instances of racism, homophobia and ableism, they are not dehumanised as a function of their gender identity (read: cis privilege).

That is wrong. Absolutely wrong. Misandry is real. "Cis" people do face oppression purely based on their gender. Anyone can. To deny that lacks understanding.

And the rest is just saying that: It is time to start hating on men-as-a-whole and starting celebrating the men that you are.

And: Because at the end of the day, feminists need men. Whether it’s because you wield structural power or because we genuinely value your existence, we need to band together to destroy ‘men’ because men are trash, but you, if you made it to the end of this, are probably not. Prove me right.

I would imagine this is a common viewpoint. And it's not a good one. If you genuinely think a whole group as a whole is bad you need to reexamine your thoughts. It's not "men" that are bad, it's the sexist people.

To wrap this up (I'm sure you might be tired of reading this lol); like I said, the attitudes play a huge part of it. Modern feminism, in my opinion, is just not good enough for me to say I agree with it and want to identify as one. I just can't

Here is the link to the feminist article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/feminisminindia.com/2020/09/23/men-are-trash-and-other-radical-feminist-opinions/%3famp

And here is the link for the STEM thing: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/04/women-preferred-21-over-men-stem-faculty-positions

[bottomharrykingdom]

Harry has for a while now been sort of frontlining a ‘campaign’ to normalize dressing however you like with no judgement. He’s talking about how anyone can wear anything, and especially how men should be able to dress feminine and that it’s completely okay, and does not define you. I feel like people speculating in his gender or sexual identity - and using his dress style as an argument - takes away from what he’s trying to do. I’d say the main reason why a lot of men are ‘scared’ of using—

— eminine outfits, even as costumes, is because they don’t want to be questioned, so when we do that to Harry, instead of promoting his attempt of helping other men embracing femininity, we end up with loads of comments on social media about his GI and SI. It doesn’t matter to me what he is, I love him for his heart and his personality, and that’s that, but I wish people would accept and promote him in the ‘package’ he comes in now, as opposed to make posts about what he could or couldn’t be.—

— I understand why people wonders, who haven’t? And I don’t mind when people speculate based on quotes like ‘not that important’ in terms of girls, or the whole ‘sue’ debate, that’s fine. But when it comes to this, something that he (to me) seems passionate about, I wish people wouldn’t take away from the importance of his statements about femininity, like ‘make men manly again’, by debating whether he is a man at all. (3/3)

Just because Harry is being used as an example by cishet media outlets trying to scrub queerness from gender nononcormity, doesn't mean it's something Harry is campaigning for. He's only spoken on his own, personal comfort with wearing what he wants without concern for the gender binary, while the media and public project "new masculinity" and "real manhood" onto those acts a way to remove any queerness from his self expression.

Men are afraid to wear dresses because of homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny, for fear of being seen as gay, transgender, or feminine. Telling them they're still masculine cishet men while in a dress or makeup does nothing to address their bigotry. Any campaign to defend the preservation of men's masculinity is absurd. And calling anyone in a dress the pinnacle of masculine cishet manhood does a horrible injustice to trans femmes looking to express femininity and womanhood in those things cishet people are trying to turn into a "real man's" thing.

Which is what Harry was doing when he captioned his photo "Bring back manly men." He was not declaring himself a manly man. He was rejecting the existence of that concept altogether and proudly mocking it, not announcing himself as the new standard of true masculine cishet manhood. To do that is to erase the fundamental queerness of gender nonconformity. And Harry, a queer person, would never take away gender nonconformity from the queer community by leading a campaign that encourages cishet men trying to preserve their cishet masculine manhood into claiming queer culture as their own, preserving the transphobic, homophobic, misogynistic beliefs that made them not want to do it before. If you don't believe he's queer, then he wouldn't do it as a decent human being!

Harry's VOGUE cover didn't prompt us into believing he's trans. No one believes Harry is noncis just for wearing a dress. The belief was prevalent since before he ever publicly wore a dress. Anyone who thinks Harry is noncis because he wore a dress is very ignorant! No one should think that. But here on this blog, no one does! So there's no need to tell us that!

It's a bit exhausting to repeat the reasons why trans people believe Harry is trans, especially to defend ourselves from lazy accusations that we think a dress in a photoshoot makes him a trans woman. The reasons are too long to put into a single list, especially every other week to educate people who came to the blog with a certain impression of us they didn't try to confirm before presenting us with arguments against it.

Please look at our 'trans harry' tag to understand that none of the talk about Harry and gender began over a dress in a photoshoot! It's full of queer coding, signaling, statements, and behavior that spans years and began officially when Harry put the trans flag on the cover of Fine Line. All of it are interpretations from trans people in fandom, people who don't need to be told the difference between a cis person in a dress and a closeted trans person expressing kinship with their community.

If you can't be bothered to read through the entire tag, we can't be bothered to summarize one year of posts for you in a single ask. Please have a nice day!

[angeloncewas]

give us the smosh discourse summary pls

Okay there's so much and I only dipped my toe in but I'll try to summarize -

Number 1 and most prominent atm is Saige - she's a new cast member they brought on to help with Twitch (I think, bc she's been a streamer for a while) + Board AF specifically. People already didn't like her (they never like new cast, especially women, I remember that from way back when Boze and Damien were new) but that got cranked up to 100 when it was announced that she and Damien are dating. They say she's not funny, a clout chaser, etc etc (a lot of misogynistic arguments from what I can see) but they're also accusing her of bullying Shayne ??? I think they're fun together but whatever 💃🏻

Number 2 (which looked legitimately shitty) was about Matt Raub -- I don't know how to describe it other than that he apparently sucks ?? The main posts are like a year old so disclaimer that there might be updates but I was just scrolling and there were a bunch of little things... like he apparently hated Sohinki for no reason and was weird about him sitting out with a super high fever. And he claimed that he invented Board AF even though it was Joven's work (which is super sketch imo bc we all knew it was Joven's work ?? so like he's gotta be lying and banking off of new fans not knowing ???) and Wes accused him of almost exposing him to something he's allergic to (which is ridiculous) and apparently Boze talked a lot about it at a certain time. Which was also weird to see because she said she thought she was friends w a lot of the cast and they didn't feel that way about her like apparently Courtney wouldn't even text her back. Idk that one feels a little more "none of my business" but I was still like wow

OH and number 3 is people being pissed about Smosh doing subathons and asking for money from their "young, impressionable audience" but that's just what Twitch is so I think they're off-base there. I am biased though since like, this is a Twitch fandom lol

[mariaiscrafting]

I am so sorry to bother you, but I just had to ask as someone who is fairly new to the fandom: What has Karl done that made people mad at him?

I was also reading through your asks and saw everything on Dream (as a fellow Mexican- ouch.) But I guess my second question is which members aren't problematic and are okay to still like them? Sorry if it all seems random, I've just been trying to get some answers and this seemes like the best place to get them.

I'm not the best person to ask about Karl since I stopped paying attention to him by the end of February, but based on the asks I've gotten and the discourse I've seen here and there, here are the valid things I’ve seen people get mad at him for:

The autism charity stream many celebrities and CCs participated in, which Karl was invited to. Karl apologized on his alt Twitter account arguably later than he should've, and Mr. Beast continued on to participate in the charity anyways.

Traveling cross-country during the pandemic, before getting vaccinated: 1 2 3

Associating with and watching/being a part of the community of streamer, Ice Poseidon: 1 2

I have seen other criticism for Karl because people think he clout chases, dislike how loud/energetic he is, dislike Mr. Beast & co., etc., but personally? I think those are biased, evidenceless reasons that aren’t based on any moral transgression on his part, so I’m disregarding those.

(Note for others: please do not send me asks regarding this post, adding to the context for Karl. If you have any more information that I missed, add it in replies/reblogs, so the original anon can more easily see.)

*****

For your next question, my answer is that it’s okay to like virtually any MCYT creator, as far as I know. Welcome to mcytblr, where there is almost no right or wrong to the people you watch or stan! Despite everything I say about Dream, all the asks I get about Karl, or any of the other CCs I’ve criticized, everyone has the right to like or enjoy any CC they wish (to an extent). It takes a lot- like, extremist and/or genuinely harmful stuff- to convince me that a CC should be completely blacklisted from people’s radars. As of now though, no MCYT CC or Dream SMP member that I can think of besides CallMeCarson has done anything immoral enough to warrant the dictation of who can or can’t like them.

Almost every CC has done or said questionable things that could warrant “cancelling” in some people’s eyes. As I’ve previously said, there are many factors people can keep in mind when evaluating someone’s actions or words, and that final evaluation can vary from person to person within the fandom. Because CCs aren’t people we personally know, we get a very limited scope of their past, their intentions, and their personalities; as such, we each, based on our biases, preferences, and information received, will come to different conclusions on whether or not we forgive/accept the apologies of each CC. 

This isn’t Twitter. That is to say, most of mcytblr doesn’t want to dictate who you can or can’t stan. The MCYT CCs in this fandom have done an array of things, including- used ableist, racist, homophobic, and misogynistic slurs; joked about suicide, mental health, sexual assault, anti-semitism, genocide, feminism/misogyny, and racism; expressed classist, transphobic, racist, and misogynistic political beliefs; excluded colleagues and other creators based on bigoted beliefs; supported bigoted organizations and/or people. They have done these things over a span of time ranging from 7 years ago to a few months ago. Stated out-of-context, this makes it seem like this is a fandom full of people stanning bigots. 

But lack of context and snap judgements are for Twitter. The reality is that some people tweeted some edgy joke years ago; some people said slurs when they were playing FPS’s as young teenagers; some people made and/or make edgy jokes whilst never expressing genuine belief in those jokes. If you were to summarize the things I have done/said in the past 7 years the way a Twitter user or your average Tumblr anti-MCYT user would, you’d say: “Maria has said ableist and homophobic slurs; expressed xenophobic, Islamaphobic, homophobic, and racist political beliefs; and spouted transphobic and homophobic rhetoric.” That makes me sound like a horrible person, and who is to judge whether or not I am or even was a horrible person? Based on the apologies I have made, the way I treat people now, the length of time that has passed since I said those words or committed those actions, the severity of the bigoted things I have done or said, and the the actions I take and words I use today, the people in my life get to determine if they think I am currently ableist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, or transphobic. 

Along a similar vein, it is up to each of us to determine if we believe a CC has changed, if we should accept their apology for whatever they did. And if you don’t, then guess what? You don’t have to watch them.

All I suggest is, if it bothers you that much, try to collect as much unbiased information as possible, so you can make an informed decision. Don’t just rely on Twitter thread summaries or Insider/Medium-style articles or my posts to make your decisions. Find the original video, screenshot, etc. Find the timestamp. Watch the CC and determine whether or not they express the bigoted beliefs or prejudices their past actions would suggest. There is no “right” answer. I might think Dream hasn’t changed because of many reasons I’ve repeated entirely too many times, but there are many people who wouldn’t agree with me, and yk what? That’s fine. If you want to forgive a CC someone else doesn’t, who gives a fuck? 

Disclaimer: None of this applies to CallMeCarson or anyone else who has committed actions of a similar or more severe extent. Fuck CallMeCarson

[justapoet]

God, B*ddie shippers make me sick to my stomach. You just love hiding behind that ableist label, don't you? Shannon was not ableist. She was a young mother with no support system who was unexpectedly given a child with more needs than she expected. She had no help except for Eddie's overbearing, mentally abusive parents, because her husband kept abandoning her without discussing anything first. She wanted what was best for Christopher, and she didn't know what that is, but she was willing to learn. She left with Christopher was young, and we didn't really have time to see her BE a mother. And ANA WASN'T BEING ABLEIST. She was BEING A TEACHER. Not every child, disabled or not, is going to be good at everything they do! Suggesting, incredibly gently, to CHRISTOPHER'S FATHER, that his failure might prompt him to find what he's good at in another area is NOT ableist. Teachers are literally taught that sort of thing in SCHOOL TO BECOME TEACHERS. Y'all forget Ana was the one who let him on the skateboard in the first place. She only reacted the way she did because EDDIE SCREAMED AT HER. Seriously, fuck you with something hard and sandpapery right the fuck there with that. Listen, you (yes) misogynistic little brat, who cries ableism to justify her hatred of women who get in the way of her fetishistic desire to see two men fuck, your reasons for disliking Shannon and Ana are flimsy and yes, misogynistic. And you don't write Maddie for the same fucking reason. All you care about is making two men you think are hot hook up, and you'll throw any female character under the bus to do it. I know you piece of shit b*ddies have your own Bitter Bitch Leader, who happens to be disabled, and who uses the word ableist to disguise her OWN misogyny, but you're wrong, and she's wrong, and you're all fucking assholes.

Firstly: the only woman I hate is myself, that much I can attest.

Secondly: I don't write Maddie because my relationship with my siblings comes nowhere close to hers and Buck's and, for that reason, it seems unrealistic to me to write their beautiful partnership (and quite painful, too). Yes, I'm fucked in the head, and you cannot make me believe it even more than I already do, but nice try, Anon.

In third place: I think is funny, and kinda sad, just how much you stress over fictional characters, Anon. You spent a lot of time writing hateful things in my inbox and calling me dumb in a lot of different ways, which is almost endearing, but it makes me question something:

If we're all wrong, and assholes, and dumb as you claim, then why does our opinion bother you this much? And why do you even search our opinions, for that matter?

Because, with all my heart, I did not learn and I do not teach English so you, Anon, can come to someone's inbox and make a whole essay that could be summarize in the sole word "hate".

You have your opinion, I have mine, and nothing none os us say it's going to change each other's mind ― and there goes the world, Anon. So I won't be wasting my time showing you my point of view ― but you should really consider dedicating yours to learn a bit more about respect.

I'm glad my blog was helpful, though, and you were capable to blurt out your rage here. Hope you feel better after that.

[zdbztumble]

GUNDAM WING review

For how much of it appears on this blog, Pokemon is more “comfort food” entertainment than a great passion of mine, and the same was true when I was a child. Back in my late grade school days, the two shows that dominated my thought, my viewing schedule, my play and my early writing were Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing. Like a lot of kids, I can thank Toonami for that. But while I’ve checked in on Dragon Ball, off and on, since those days, I haven’t seriously revisited Gundam Wing since it left Toonami years ago. Sharing OPs with a friend on Discord led to the Wing openings coming up, however, and with the series being free to view on Crunchyroll, I thought I’d give it a rewatch.

There’s no subtle way to put this - Gundam Wing does not hold up to my childhood memories. It’s a mess of a show that frequently falls short of its own ambition. But it remains an enjoyable - even admirable - mess.

The single biggest reason that Gundam Wing is such a mess - the single biggest reason for nearly all of its flaws - is that it’s too short. At 49 episodes (two of which are given over to a clip show recap halfway through), the show isn’t long enough to contain all the story it wants to tell. By way of demonstration, and for those who don’t know/remember the series, I tried to summarize the basic plot of the series in just a few paragraphs here.

Look at that. Look at all that text in a basic outline. That was me paring away all but the most essential details needed to understand what happens in the series. Now imagine trying to fit all of that into 47 episodes while also including character interaction and development, action sequences, aesthetic elements, and a good chunk of essential information being revealed via backstory and vague insinuations only fleshed out in the OVA and manga series.

Things start out promisingly enough, with the action beginning on Operation Meteor and the initial conflict emerging gradually. But it doesn’t take long for the brevity of the series to work against the intrigues happening within it. To say that the show falls into “tell, don’t show” would suggest that it gets across more information than it actually does. Narration opens most episodes with some degree of recap, and occasionally within episodes, but this device is established from the first episode and is usually effectively used in the context of ongoing action. The problem spots are where the show neglects to tell or show almost anything.

Because the series is so short, and because all screentime is spent with either the series leads or the major supporting characters, there’s never an opportunity to showcase the state of world and colonial affairs, and little opportunity taken to describe them outside of the opening narration. Consequently, any feeling of oppression, subjugation, or desperation for the colonies - and thus, a sense of what the Gundams are fighting for - isn’t present at the beginning of the series, and doesn’t ever really emerge. There is some sense of danger towards the end of the series, but it results from the various conflicts that happen within the show, not the state of affairs from the initial premise. Earth’s condition is similarly underdeveloped; if anything is showcased on Earth, it’s beauty. Characters will occasionally talk about the desperate straits of the Gundam pilots, and the pilots themselves will take developments like the targeting of the colonies or their betrayal to heart. The VAs and the animation are strong enough to sell such developments, but the lack of world-building to support them does hurt the series.

But it’s the developments around the Sanc Kingdom and Relena’s relevance to the story suffer the most from the show’s failure to show or tell. After Zechs liberates the kingdom, Relena’s installation as its ruler is set up but never depicted. Relena’s outreach to other nations, and her building up support for total pacifism, is also never shown, and barely discussed. She and Zechs are never even seen to have a conversation until near the very end of the series. There’s plenty of discussion of how inspiring and charismatic Relena is, and why she should be heeded and protected, but with none of the work behind that charisma shown and little of it discussed in detail, there’s little emotional resonance to be had here. Relena’s efforts as queen of the world are slightly more fleshed out, but when Zech’s declaration of war against Earth happens in the same episode - happens, if memory serves, less than a second after Relena makes significant inroads - the notion of Relena as an effective spokeswoman for pacifism is severely undercut by the series’ own haste.

Beyond the plot, all of this naturally damages Relena’s character. Relena begins the series as a somewhat bratty, somewhat depressed girl often neglected by her family due to her stepfather’s job, who finds Heero’s sudden presence in her life a vicarious if dangerous thrill. The murder of her stepfather and the revelation of her true identity further shake her out of teenage ennui and move her to take part in the great events of her time. Like the show itself, it’s a promising beginning, but because Relena’s greatest achievements are glossed over - and because, being a pacifist and a diplomat, she can’t be involved at the point of action - Relena ends up spending a lot of time on the sidelines, looking grim or worried. Worse, when the final conflict between Treize and White Fang emerges, Relena is completely ineffectual at trying for peace with Zechs, and any opportunity for her to use the soft power of her (brief) reign as ceremonial monarch to further the cause of peace isn’t taken, leaving her largely irrelevant to the finale. Relena is less a full-fledged character in Gundam Wing than a solid concept for a character that couldn’t grow to fruition in the time allotted.

The same could be said of the series protagonist, Heero Yuy. In his case, there is at least a bit more told; his scientist mentor describes him as a kind-hearted young man whose devotion to his mission has rendered him a dangerous assassin, Relena instinctively latches onto what kindness and idealism she can sense in him, various characters are inspired by his skills and his devotion to his mission. But there’s little to no evidence of the kind-hearted young man underneath the child soldier, at least not in the initial episodes. We only see the cold-blooded Gundam pilot, and that pilot has the worst starting luck out of any of them, from his Gundam being brought down to his attempts to destroy it failing. His willingness - even eagerness - to die for his cause comes up so often in the beginning of the series that it ends up losing its punch. But being the series lead, and getting more screentime by dint of being a Gundam pilot, Heero does ultimately get fleshed out more than Relena. His remorse over inadvertently killing the Alliance pacifists and his blunt but pragmatic advice to the other Gundam pilots do let his softer side emerge later on. His struggle to find a reason to keep going in the fight in the middle of the series - something multiple characters go through - is rather muddled (not helped by some obtuse and stilted dialogue, another major fault in the series), but he comes out of that mess resolved to protect Relena and defeat White Fang - so much so that he not only unites with the other pilots, but designates Quatre Raberba Winner as their leader instead of himself because he recognizes what’s best for the team. The series ultimately benefits from his being the main character because of developments like this, but the journey is more awkward and choppy than it needed to be, and his romance with Relena and rivalry with Zechs are never fully convincing even if their basic mutual interest in one another is.

Stilted dialogue more than absent material is what most works against series antagonists Zechs and Treize, though Zechs’s lack of scenes with his sister and an abrupt jump from Sanc Kingdom spokesman to genocidal avenger are an issue. The philosophical notions that pepper Zechs’s and Treize’s monologues and conversations - the nature of war, the value of soldiers’ sacrifice, mankind’s natural proclivities, the possibility of peace and what it would take to achieve it - are all fascinating, and I’m still amazed that a show that spent so much time on these subjects was put in an afterschool block bound to attract younger kids back in the day. But for every speech that’s thought-provoking and emotionally resonant, there are three that are a chore to sit through and a puzzle to comprehend. Granted, the Crunchyroll subtitles for this series aren’t the best, so that may partly explain and excuse this problem. But especially in the middle of the series, where allegiances shift and motivations collapse, having the principle antagonists be so difficult to understand isn’t ideal.

Then there are the plot holes - mostly characters who somehow survived apparent deaths with little to no explanation - and characters who just don’t work. One of them is unfortunately a Gundam pilot - Chang Wu Fei, an arrogant misogynist wrapped up in his own ideals of combat who resists any teamwork or even temporary alliances with his fellow Gundams until the very end of the series, and is an unreliable partner even then. None of this would make him a bad character - one hardly needs to be likable or relatable to be an effective and compelling presence in a story - but Wu Fei has virtually no chemistry with the other Gundams, or any character, when actually does interact with them, except for ex-Alliance soldier Sally Po. His standoffishness and stoicism are traits shared by Heero and Trowa Barton, making his seem redundant, and his professed ideals of combat are muddled by bad dialogue. His great rivalry with Treize is also on shaky ground; they only interact twice in the entire series. But Wu Fei is at least comprehensible; Dorothy Catalonia, a Romefeller spy who takes an almost sexual delight in war, is not only obnoxious and intrusive when she appears in the second half of the series, but her motivations seem to swing wildly, her allegiances impossible to follow, and I sorely wish she had died by the end of the series.

With all of those faults laid bare - I did say the show was enjoyable and admirable in spite of everything, and indeed it is. Wu Fei may be redundant and Heero only a partial success as a character, but the other three Gundam pilots are well-realized, so much so that I’m baffled to see various critiques of this show imply that they’re static and one-note. Duo Maxwell is essentially the same person at the end of the series as he was at the beginning, but he’s a wonderful source of levity in the series, and he does have his trials and his low points that contrast well with his typical personality; his moments of anger and despair are some of the best in the series for selling the stakes of the conflict in the absence of proper world-building. Trowa, while much less emotive, goes through a significant journey, with his sibling-esque relationship with circus performer Catherine far more emotionally satisfying than either the Peacecrafts’ bond or Heero and Relena’s romance.

And then there’s Quatre, my new favorite character from this series. I didn’t take a great deal of notice of him as a kid, but rediscovering his story has been my favorite thing about this rewatch. A bright, gentle, and friendly personality, disdainful of violence but prepared to fight for a worthy cause, driven to despair and madness by the loss of his father and the ZERO system, only to emerge as the repentant leader of the Gundams, instrumental in bringing them together as a unit and binding them to Relena’s ideals; of all the pilots, he sees the most growth and change, and all the essentials to his story actually make it on screen. He also has the allegiance of the Maganac Corps, a group that doesn’t have a great deal of importance to the series...but they do have a cool name and cooler mobile suits.

And if Relena is somewhat lacking as a female lead, Gundam Wing does have Sally Po, military doctor turned guerrilla fighter and stalwart Gundam ally, and Lucrezia Noin. For a character that could easily have just been Zech’s love interest, Noin sees a degree of growth throughout the series to rival Quatre’s, moving from OZ instructor to Sanc Kingdom defense captain to the instigator of the Gundams as a unit, working to defeat the man she loves. The show also avoids sexualizing any of its female cast, so - a point for that, I guess.

The designs of the Gundams are all unique (as are their abilities), and some are downright beautiful. The other mobile suits are varied as well and easy to identify, making combat easy to follow. The quality of the combat - and the animation in general - is hit and miss, but it’s never atrocious, and when it’s solid, the end result is some great shots and action. The series also boasts a fantastic soundtrack, with lovely instrumental themes and two great opening songs (though why “Rhythm Emotion” was brought in with only ten episodes left to go on the series still baffles me.) 

All this contributes to Gundam Wing being enjoyable, but what makes it admirable is actually the stilted dialogue and overstuffed story that bring it down. To attempt a series that ruminates on the nature of war and the various philosophical positions around its necessity or lack thereof, of the chances for real peace, for the evolution of humanity if were to move into the stars, and the interpersonal conflicts between various characters, would be a tall order for any series, and not the easiest thing to make into visually compelling animation. That Gundam Wing made the attempt at all shows ambition and aspiration on the part of its writers and staff. As I’ve said at length here, it was frustrated by its short running time and the weaknesses of story elements and characters, but an ambitious mixed bag - even a failure - that aims high is a much more admirable (and interesting to watch) affair than a success that aims low.

And, in its failures to get certain elements across, Gundam Wing shows enough of what it was trying to do that I, at least, can forgive some (not all) rough patches. Characters like Heero and conflicts like the Gundams’ basic fight for the colonies still work despite their flaws. And the final run of episodes, where White Fang and Treize clash and the Gundams work around the battle to save the day, are incredibly strong. It’s a finale that surpasses much of the content preceding it, and if it would’ve been improved by that content being better, it still works because the intent of that earlier content can still be perceived.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering Gundam Wing, and I’d like to check out the dub again when I’m in a position to renew my Hulu subscription. For now, though - there’s a certain waltz to attend to...

[peachyrm]

i feel like a lot of ppl on this site see a callout post for BTS, look at all of the problematic things they did in the past, and immediately ‘cancel’ them or see that as a valid reason to finally hate them or kpop in general, without considering the context of the situations or how the kpop industry works.

im definitely not here to defend the things they said or did, because it WAS gross. but those things are also from 3-5 years ago, have apologized for or had no control over whether it happened or not.

this post serves as a ‘clearing their name’ type of post, and will actually take a look into the problematic things theyve done and how they dealt with it, along with all the positive things they have done in the past few years. it will be pretty lengthy and will have lots of sources/screenshots. before i get into this though, i want to say that no one is obligated to like BTS, or forgive them for what they/their label did. you reserve the right to feel the way you feel, however that may be. that being said, this post is for people who never saw the apologies, who vaguely know who BTS are and saw only bad things about them, who want to get into BTS but aren’t sure if they’re extremely problematic, and more.

starting off, i want to explain the context behind the links of this post. i would link the original, but op has deleted it. so, obviously, yes bts did do all of the above. but like i said before, it was 3-5 (now, technically 6) years ago. when BTS debuted in 2013, they were all 21 or under. 15-16 year old Jungkook being the youngest, and Seokjin being the oldest at 21. they were merely teenagers and on top of this, had no or very little control of their self image. the hairstyles & photoshoots, the boys had no control over. bighit and bts’ stylists are in charge of these things. if you want someone to be angry at, be angry at bighit, bts’ label company. this includes RM’s hairstyle back in the ‘No More Dream’ era / early debut days, Suga’s dreads, and any other hairstyle, clothing, or photoshoot that caused controversy. (in case anyone, who isn’t familiar with kpop, is confused; kpop label companies usually control everything their idols do. from what they wear, to what their songs are about, to if they’re even allowed to date. it’s a very disgusting industry that has a history of abuse, but that’s an entirely different subject i could get into.)

here is an article where BigHit apologizes for the antisemitism + the ‘bombing’ shirt Jimin wore, and they explicitly state that “the band members were ‘in no way responsible’ for the controversy.” which further proves my point that the boys had no control over what they wore/how they looked.

here is a thread about RM’s racist behavior in the past, and admitting + apologizing for what he did, including how he has changed certain lyrics of songs because they could be seen as (or were) misogynist. to this day, RM hates and regrets how his hair looked at the time.

in case anyone doesn’t want to read the entire thread, RM says this: “As I went through the year 2016 I came to think about that. My words or behaviors, regardless of my intentions, could cause troubles or hurt others feelings. In the process, I thought I need to hold responsibility for that and I need to think about such things. What I said or did would not be undone. I thought so. Then I learned how to admit myself. [...] Anyways, to become a better person, I need to hold responsibility for what I do. I need to change my mindset. I need to change my way of thinking if it’s wrong. I learned I need to hear from many people. I mean, I came to think like that. Now when I do something, I think, ‘how would people feel about my act?’” 

again, this is not excuses for what they did, but rather how/why it happened or how they had no choice in the matter & what they had to say about it afterwards. BTS are living, growing people who have acknowledged their mistakes and apologized. in RM’s speech at the U.N. he says this: “Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become.”

since the apology part of this post is mostly over, i wanted to talk about the good things that bts has done in the past few years. things like their continuous support of the LGBT community, the powerful messages in their music, the bending of the ‘typical kpop style’, etc.

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over the years and as their popularity grew, BTS have actually managed to seemingly take more control over what they stand for and how they present themselves and their music. since around 2017, BTS have made a very impactful social stance with their string of albums & their concept: “Love Yourself”. for people who don’t know, this concept consists of three albums over the course of 2016-2018 and are in order as follows: LOVE YOURSELF 承 'Her', LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear' LOVE YOURSELF 結 'Answer'

the summarized version of the stories are love at first sight, the failing/one-sided-ness of said love, and then learning how to love and accept yourself before you are fully able to love others. along with this concept came the partnership with the anti-violence campaign, UNICEF, who work to protect young people from all over the world. the entire album concept consistently promotes self-love and acceptance, something that is not very explored in kpop or even western pop music in general. while some of the songs in “LY: Her” use female pronouns, almost all the rest of them across all the albums use gender neutral or no pronouns. this was done intentionally by RM (who writes/produces a majority of their songs), as he believes “feelings/love transcend genders, cultures, and barriers between people.” the title song of “LY: Her”, “DNA”, (as stated in the screenshot) further expresses this idea with the lyrics: “None of this is a coincidence Because we’re the two who found our destiny - I only focus on you You steer me a little harder The DNA of the genesis wants you This is inevitable, I love us We are the only true lovers”

and in “Serendipity”, as well:

“The universe has moved for us Without missing a single thing Our happiness was meant to be Cuz you love me, and I love you”

while, obviously, there is one ‘her’ pronoun in the song, most of it expresses what RM says. and bighit being bighit, im sure they had some say in how the lyrics were presented, esp since it was the title song. what i’m trying to say is that i truly believe BTS are doing their best to support the lgbt community, even with the tight restrictions that their label and the kpop genre puts on them. being on the topic of LGBT+ and support of the community, here is suga pretty much saying he’s bi. + and of course, his iconic lyrics in “Cypher Pt.3″

here is the bisexual flag colors in j-hope’s music video for his song “Daydream”.

RM saying he liked “Same Love” twice as much after reading about the lyrics, and Suga outright saying “Nothing is wrong. Everyone is equal.” in the first screenshot.

Jungkook’s love and support for troye sivan + Jimin wearing jeans with lyrics of troye sivan’s “Youth” on them

bts defying gender norms over and over and over.

fondness & friendship with/of multiple lgbt artists

RM referencing the film “Moonlight” in the song “4 O’Clock”

RM wrote the lyrics for GLAM’s song “XXO”,  that say ��Are you a boy? Girl? I don’t care, passion is the key”

Jungkook and Jimin covering the song “We Don’t Talk Anymore” and not changing the pronouns.

an excerpt from RM’s speech at the U.N. ;  “Tell me your story. I want to hear your voice, and I want to hear your conviction. No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, gender identity: speak yourself.” + full transcript here.

and these are just things i can think of off the top of my head. as for their political stance and social messages in their music, & talking about other things considered taboo in kpop (such as mental health/illness), here you go:

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suga talking about (his) mental health and struggles in various songs on his mixtape.

their ENTIRE “IDOL” music video is basically a response to how people stereotype them/the kpop genre & have said that they are “too westernized”. the song includes a “traditional African-Korean sound”, the boys wearing hanboks/traditional korean clothing, on top of lots of korean history references & symbolism, and how they take pride in what they do. here is a really good video analyzing & explaining the mv. heres 3 more posts explaining why it sounds/looks the way it does, and how BTS did it intentionally. in case nobody has seen/heard the song, here is the first verse: “You can call me artist (artist) You can call me idol (idol) No matter what you call me I don’t care I’m proud of it”

the song “Epiphany” on “LY: Answer”, is (as you can imagine) a song about having an epiphany about loving yourself. the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory. the chorus: “I’m the one I should love in this world Shining me, precious soul of mine I finally realized so I love me Not so perfect but so beautiful I’m the one I should love”

RM talking about his mental health/depression in “Forever Rain” on his mixtape “mono.” + as well as in “Reflection.” the outro of the song which i wanted to add, is just a repeated “I wish I could love myself.”

the lyrics to the song “I’m Fine” on LY: Answer express being able to love yourself without relying on somebody to fix you or make you happier, because only you can complete yourself.

the outro to the album, “Answer: Love Myself” concludes the Love Yourself album series, and has extremely beautiful lyrics. the full translation here, if anyone wants to read all of them. it’s about, as im sure you can guess, loving yourself even with all your flaws and mistakes & striving to be a better person each day.

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SO TLDR; BTS absolutely have made mistakes, like every person does, but have apologized and learned from those mistakes. they have moved on, and have done more good in this world than bad. they have grown over the past 6 years and continue to grow every single day. as a young gay fan, their message and their presence means a lot to me. that fact that they’re so popular and use that power to spread kindness & self-acceptance (no matter Who you are), is really important especially in today’s society. doubly to youth who, themselves, struggle with mental illness and family issues, school/education, and any typical problem young people face in their lives. i have struggled with self-hate, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, trauma, the whole ordeal. their songs have helped me heal, even if only a little. and they give me another reason to keep going everyday. even if you don’t like their music or the boys themselves, there is no denying the positive impact they’ve made on millions of people, adults and children alike. BTS are absolutely not perfect, but they acknowledge this and do their best to BE the best they can be.

[tv-kitchen]

Why Fleabag Season 2 Keeps Sticking with Me (And It's Not Just the Hot Priest)

This post is for people who have watched both seasons of Fleabag on Amazon Prime Video and contains spoilers.

If you've had a conversation with me in the past two weeks--online or in real life--I have inevitably brought up Fleabag. This elicits one of two responses:

           "Uh, Fleabag? What is that? Sounds gross."

           "OMG FLEABAG!!!"

For the latter camp, there's an immediate bond in the knowledge that this show is something special. And while much of the attention is on Andrew Scott's Hot Priest (who is, as Claire points out, quite hot) there's something more here. Other shows have had charming actors or sharp writing or an original voice, and Fleabag is undoubtedly a rare combination of all three.

But still, there's something else.

Here are a few of my guesses on what creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has done that's resonating so strongly with the people who love, and are in love, with this show.

1. It's about forgiveness.

When people talk about the divisiveness of today's politics and general cultural landscape, I think what they're really mourning is the loss of forgiveness. Nobody can make a mistake, and if they do, they're cast out from the conversation, from existence, almost. Everyone is on edge, scared they'll be the next to screw up, sometimes in ways they didn't even know they could.

About a year ago, I made a comment online about the NFL national anthem protests that I phrased badly. I immediately got a condescending rebuke from someone I've known for nearly 20 years. Because of this history, I asked this person to consider my comment in the context of what they know about me. The response? That what this person knew about me is that I'm a writer and I choose my words very carefully. In other words, that it was impossible I could have made a mistake. I was swiftly unfriended.

This confirmed my worst perfectionist fears: One misstep means you've messed it up for good. So the safe route? Stay hidden. Don't try. It's not worth the risk.

Season 1 of Fleabag is primarily about Fleabag's inability to forgive herself for what we discover was her role in Boo's death. To get there, she benefits from the forgiveness of others. She remembers Boo reminding her that pencils have erasers because people make mistakes. This same sentiment is echoed by the Bank Manager as he approves her loan, after earning his own forgiveness from Fleabag at the silent retreat.

In season 2, Fleabag and the Priest connect through a clear history of shared flaws. They've each tried to numb these issues through an approach to sex--she has lots of it, he chooses to have none--and ultimately, they're each looking for someone to tell them they're good people.

As funny as it is when the Priest overhears Fleabag's salacious conversation with the Hot Misogynist at the door of her apartment, and when he later opens her coat to see she's only got underwear on underneath, there's also an undercurrent of forgiveness and acceptance to the scene. A lesser script would have him walk out in judgment ("I think I've made a mistake") but he shushes her attempts to explain. He knows exactly what was happening--and he accepts her anyway, because he takes it in the context of everything else he knows about her.

2. It portrays people who are good at their jobs.

This is a less philosophical observation, but so much of modern comedy finds humor in incompetence. With Fleabag driving the show from her very specific point of view, it would be easy to portray her as smarter than everyone else, rolling her eyes at the dummies who come in and out of her life. (Think Veep.) But instead, Waller-Bridge lets Fleabag learn from people who are older, wiser, and skilled in their work.

The therapist scene starts with one of the series' funniest throwaway lines--"I have dry forearms"--but as the conversation progresses, we see she's a good therapist. Fleabag thinks she can coast her way through with jokes and psychological buzzwords, but the session ultimately helps her.

In that same vein, Fleabag's father was right to give her the voucher for the session. It's played for an awkward moment at the dinner table that he thought it was a suitable birthday present, but it was actually some good parenting, that. She was struggling, and he was brave enough to guide her toward the help she needed.

Even the Priest--our hot, hot Priest--is shown to actually be a good priest. Yes, he has alcoholic tendencies and he's, as he says, really fucking lonely, but he likes his job. In such a tightly scripted series, I've wondered why Waller-Bridge spends so many lines on the Priest going through the notices at the end of Mass. But it's to show that he's good at this, and his parishioners recognize it.

The scene in the confessional--inspirer of sexy gifs that it is--also is about him helping her acknowledge the vulnerability she's been hiding up to that point. (I'm convinced this is when he truly falls in love with her.) She hints at being burned in the past ("I tell you my secrets so you can use them to trap and control me"), but he asserts himself as someone she can trust ("You tell me what's weighing on your heart and I listen without judgment"). He's doing what the good parts of religion are supposed to do.

3. Phoebe Waller-Bridge channels a certain smart, funny American woman.

I'm talking, of course, about Brené Brown.

Yes, people have compared Waller-Bridge to Tina Fey; British GQ even had Fey interview her. But as I watched Fleabag, I got the sense I'd heard these themes before, about shame and imperfection and the courage of vulnerability to make real human connections.

Then I remembered I had just recently watched Brown's The Call to Courage on Netflix. The special summarizes the messages in her many books, particularly Daring Greatly, her 2012 breakout based on a now famous Teddy Roosevelt quote about achievement being in the willingness to fight, and not in criticizing those who try. Brown talks about the concept of "wholehearted" living, which can only happen when you're willing to be vulnerable and fail, but fail by daring greatly.

In The Call to Courage, she also explains the difference between belonging and fitting in. The latter is actually the opposite of the former, Brown says. Fitting in is changing who you are to be accepted, versus being accepted for exactly who you are. In Fleabag, we see characters consistently trying to adapt themselves in an attempt to be more like the person they think has it better.

This is perhaps most noticeable in Claire, who consistently takes on external changes that make her more like Fleabag--funky trainers, short haircut--and laments that she can be funny and interesting, too. It's no coincidence the person she ends up loving shares her name. She's finally learned to love herself.

Fleabag herself is trying to be a grown-up by exercising, eating pine nuts in her salad, and laughing with a group of people we know are not really her friends. But it's not until she opens herself up to being loved (to paraphrase the old Finnish expression) and to loving someone else, even when she stands to gain nothing from it, that she truly matures. By the final scene, she's become wholehearted.

There's been a lot of talk about how the Priest is the only person who "sees" Fleabag in his ability to notice her breaking the fourth wall. And at the wedding, he talks about how loving someone gives you hope. I think what's striking such a nerve for fans of Fleabag is that it's about the doubts and fears and imperfections we all feel inside, but never share. It feels like Waller-Bridge sees us, and that gives us hope that we're not alone.

4. The Priest is hot.

OK, OK, there's also that. What can I say? I'm not made of wood.

[han-hana-blog]

Feminism: Do You Support it?

“Onion haz eh yo.” It’s me, Ajumma. So, I was sitting in my room when I was contemplating which issue I should tackle for my very first blog? My answer came in the form of my lovely friend who asked the question listed below. Guess what rice bowls, like I said, leave your butthurt feelings at the door and woman up.

Do you support Feminism?

Short answer, no, long answer, yes?

Buckle up kiddies because this is going to be interesting. By the way, if I don’t happen to post a blog in at least two weeks then the liberals got me. Oh feminism, what a fantastic topic. Now remember, I’m a female minority so everything I say is correct. Goodness gracious, I’m going to be crucified. Lord bless us all.

Feminism (fĕmˈə-nĭzˌəm)

n. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of sexes.

n. The movement organized around this belief.

Yes, I support feminism. I support this definition at least. The original idea, which in fact the goal was actually achieved around the late 1950′s and early 1960′s, is that of equality of the sexes. 

Unfortunately, this once amazing and inspirational movement has been transformed and twisted into one of the most ignorant and abusive groups of people. 

Third-wave Feminism (thûrd wāv fĕmˈə-nĭzˌəm)

n. The third wave appears to be something of a backpedaling by feminism. The fierce misogynist backlash against feminists that began in the 1980s caused a number of women to get scared and avoid putting their heads above the parapet, and this continues today with the death and rape threats that are now ubiquitous on the Internet against any woman who speaks up. Many women now avoid calling themselves feminists because people like Rush Limbaugh have managed to make the label toxic.

Damn, you guys actually made me work. I had to click and scroll through the second Google results page to get this answer. Before I get destroyed, this definition came from a neckbeard that goes by the name of Ernest W. Adams, who has been a self-declared feminist for all of his adult life.

Now, this is a clearly biased definition, but if I gave you a right-wing definition instead of a left-wing all of you would piss and moan. We’re going to take this definition line by line so that you understand it and I can tear Mr. Ernest W. Adams a new one. 

“The fierce misogynist backlash against feminists that began in the 1980s caused a number of women to get scared and avoid putting their heads above the parapet, and this continues today with the death and rape threats on the internet blah blah blah.”

First off Ernest, this is a run-on sentence, unacceptable. I had to look up the first section, “fierce misogynist backlash against feminists...1980s.” It turns out it was due to something called sex-positivity which is basically the source of our unhealthy one-night stand culture. 

Yes, I have opinions on sex-positivity but that is another topic for another time. Summarizing more of this ‘try-hard’ rhetoric, we can basically just chock it all up to “yes, a portion of the male population were prejudiced, discrimination is not a new issue but it doesn’t make it right, but apparently, men are the reason why women have not really been succeeded.”

Look, discrimination sucks, but come one third-wavers, you’re going to blame men for you being afraid and then go post “the question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” Well Ms. Ayn Rand, apparently you’re going to let men scare you.

“Many women now avoid calling themselves feminists because people like Rush Limbaugh have managed to make the label toxic.” 

No, take responsibility. No. Third-wave feminists are the reason why I refuse to call myself a feminist. While I’m not a big fan of Rush Limbaugh myself, he was speaking his mind and expressing his opinion. It was the radical feminists of the 1980s who have made the label toxic.

Don’t believe me? They contradict themselves constantly, are ignorant, and will call people Nazis or Neo-nazis when they’re losing an argument. 1970-1980, third-wave feminists, that’s when the Pussy Riot, Slut Walk, and Femen were introduced. We expect men not to call us demeaning names like the ones above but we walk around nude to stop rapists? (How many rapes are you stopping? None, you just sit there and complain)

So there’s your answer. I identify as an equalist, because the term feminist has been twisted into someone who walks around exposing themselves to “stop racists.” For the majority, most feminists today are spoiled, Caucasians who feel like they need to pay their debt to society for being white.

This sure was fun. Well, this was my first blog on Tumblr, I pray to god that someone doesn’t hire a hit man to shoot me. However, I would love to hear your opinion. Please don’t hesitate to direct message me or submit your own post to appear upon Ajumma’s ‘Tea’ House. 

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Mother!

★★★★

I can only tell you one thing for certain about this movie: when you give a visionary director like Darren Aronofsky a lot of money and isn’t restrained, this is the kind of art you get. Mother! is a film that is rich in allegory, lacking in plot, and terrifically performed. None of it makes sense when you’re watching it, and even after the credits roll, you’re still kind of wondering what the hell just happened. It’s confusing, it’s beautiful, and it’s flawed.

  If you don’t know anything about this movie, let me summarize it briefly: Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are a married couple living in a big beautiful house that’s a bit of a fixer-upper, and everything begins to fall apart when some unwanted house guests stay longer than they’re welcome. That sounds tame, but things get very very crazy by the end of this movie. That’s all you need to know, everything else should be a complete and utter surprise. Because of that, there are some medium-sized spoilers ahead.

  Like I said, this movie is allegory heavy, but before I go into that I want to discuss some of the actual movie-like things about this movie. First, I love the cinematography and sound design. The camera focuses in on characters with a great intensity (and the actors, particularly Jennifer Lawrence, are the reason it all works so well). The sound design is beautifully dense; every piece of glass shattering, every creaking of a wooden stair, it all sounds perfect and wonderful. It more than makes up for the soundtrack, of which there is none. I think the plot is bare bones and weak, but it’s mainly in service to the themes.

  Now, as for those themes, the story here largely revolves around three big ones. The first: sexism. Lawrence is constantly bombarded with a casual sexism that is actually maybe the most disgusting thing about this movie. Men ogle her and comment on her appearance, nobody takes her opinions and feelings seriously (especially her husband), and when a man hits on her too much, obviously it’s her fault, cause, you know, she’s a bitch or whatever. Towards the end of the film when all the zealots attack her, they use an awful lot of misogynistic profanity. She even comes to the conclusion that Bardem doesn’t really love her, he just loves the attention she gives him. If this had actually been the central theme, this film could be to sexism what Get Out is to racism.

  The second theme is creativity. Bardem is the writer, and Lawrence is the muse. I can summarize this theme like this: what’s good for the art is bad for the muse. She inspires him to write beautiful poetry, but his writing ends up destroying her and everything around her. Artists can often feel like they labor over projects so long and so passionately that they can ruin everything around them, whether that’s their family and friends or the place they call home. Of course, when viewed through this theme the movie takes that concept to an almost comical degree; if it were the central theme, this movie could be some kind of horrific satire.

  But that’s not the main theme, because the main theme is absolutely Christianity. Bardem is God, Lawrence is Mother Earth, and the unwanted house guests are Adam and Eve. Once you realize this theme you can’t unsee it, because there are so many little details and references (which I won’t spoil because I’m sure some of you are reading this and haven’t seen the movie yet). It’s by far the strongest allegory, but I honestly didn’t even catch it until long after the last scene played.

  To use a trite rhyme, these themes both make and break the movie. They make it because, well, they’re really good themes and they’re executed well. They break it because there’s too many of them, and they don’t intersect with each other in any way at all. A movie like Get Out seamlessly weaves themes of slavery in America, the paranoia minorities can feel, the appropriation of black culture, and so much more, and wraps it all up neatly in a movie that is also entertaining to watch. But the themes in Mother! are sectioned off, as if they’re not allowed to interact with each other or do anything beyond just playing around with the same characters and scenes.

  The other big problem I have with this movie comes from Aronofsky’s unrestrained vision. I respect it, but I think checks are necessary, and I wish someone had told him to rein in a few things. Mainly, I don’t like towards the end of the film when Bardem says that he “is life, and she (Lawrence) is hope”. This theme doesn’t make any sense to me. All the other Bardem/Lawrence relationships make sense; man/woman, creativity/muse, God/earth. But life/hope? I don’t see the connection, life doesn’t need hope like this movie would have you believe. It makes as much sense as life and exploring, or life and democracy, or any other theme you can arbitrarily tie to life. I know it’s just one line in the movie, but it really diminishes everything about the last ten or fifteen minutes.

  This movie also doesn’t neatly wrap up like I want it to. There are so many questions (particular from the first half) that just never get answered. When the movie sets itself up to be a mystery and then doesn’t explain/answer these mysterious things, that’s a problem. Just a few I have (again, spoilers): what was that thing in the toilet? Why did the man actually come visit them? Why does Bardem care when the crystal gets destroyed since it seems irrelevant to actually holding the house together, and why does he squeeze the shards really hard with his fingers? Was the man actually a fan of Bardem’s work? How much of the cycle repeats itself? What in the hell is the rest of the world like in this movie?

  Okay, it’s starting to sound like I didn’t like this movie. I did like it, I liked it a lot. The first half of the movie is gripping. The tension and suspense are earned. The anxiety is uncomfortable. Jennifer Lawrence gives what is probably the best performance of the year so far. The themes are generally well executed and thought-provoking. But unfortunately, this is a case where the sum of the parts doesn’t quite add up. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s close.

[dachi-chan25]

Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 6 Recap Pt. 1

Oh boy… I need to vent again, I’m sorry, but thanks to everyone reading this, it’s a cathartic experience if anything.

WARNINGS: SPOILERS; Not a D@€ny fan, but if you follow me you already know that and if you don’t no problem that’s why I always warn you about it; Jonsa shipper and still growing strong ( I always loved the Tyrell OK???)

Before diving into the recap:

1.- The toughts, tinfoily wishy washy stuff, analysis, random stuff that I write are my own only, and in no form or way am I trying to convince you that I am right and every body else is wrong, I have been wrong about fandom stuff a LOT, and really it’s just fun for me to do this, anyway I am open to debate if you want just be respectful. Feel free to correct me if you notice I have some facts I present wrong, I will never get mad about it and will even thank you for your insight.

2.- The analysis/opinions I express of certain ships/characters are just my opinion as an audience, if you like the ship/characters good! That’s what makes the fandom experience such a diverse thing, and I have nothing against you. Keep on loving the thing you love!

3.- The Salt Throne and I are one entity of pure undiluted Salt and bitterness,if you don’t wish to subject yourself to reading my salty fangirl rants I completely understand.

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1.- We start on that table-map, helI feel I condemned myself saying I didn’t wanted no more close-ups of the thing, anyway so it’s just a pretty shot to get to where the story (plot? What plot?) really pick’s up: Eastwatch by the sea.

We are with the suicide squad on this show’s dumbest mission, but then again this season a lot of dumb things happened so I am resigned. Yeah so Jon and Tormund are talking about how dumb this mission is (got is breaking the fourth wall now???) while Gendry is freezing, Tormund is happy to be back North of the Wall cuz the air in the south is shit, Jon is like bih you never went south but really is agreeing actually Jon seems much more himself now that he is in the North again. Tormund and Jon tease Gendry about making do with him cuz there are no ladies here (ahaha joking about experiencing homosexual sex but no homo bro it’s just because we have no ladies amirite? Am I watching got or the big b4ng th€or¥?) and you know what else they don’t have?? Horses, and food, and those pesky dragonglass weapons, and a raven to send for help should anything happen… But no ladies are the priority. (*sigh* this show is so painfully obviously written by man) Gendry apparently believes them and goes away, Tormund comments he isn’t very bright, he needn’t be says Jon cuz they need the brawn and not the brains right? No this stupid ass mission could have seriously used some brains.

Anyway this next convo of conversations was very intresting to hear, not because they add anything to the plot (if such a thing exists anymore in this show) but I think they are important in understanding the theme they have in common and the relevance I think they have in the final scenes of the episode.

First we have a Tormund/Jon convo, our funny redhead asks about the Dragon Queen, and I expected they would use this chance to make some crude remark about her beauty or her body (dude not a second ago they were joking about bedding Gendry!!) but no, the conversation never goes in the direction that could further the idea of Jon’s attraction to D, Jon trusts Tormund and it would be normal for bros to discuss this stuff (remember how Jon giggled about Tormund mentioning Brienne last episode), instead a very weary and frustrated Jon states she (D) wouldn’t help unless he bends the knee, Tormund says that won’t happen cuz Jon spent so much time with the Wildings to be a kneeler again, but then he moves on to talk about Mance Ryder (dude this Jon/Mance parallels are hitting me in the face like a cold fish, I know D&D I noticed! You haven’t been subtle about this!!! You used the same FUCKING dialogue) and how the dude could have saved a lot of lives if he just had let go of his pride and knelt (so Tormund is our Jon in this parallel ain’t he?) it just made me laugh that Tormund, a wildling cuz they are still Free Folk and rule themselves even if they have an alliance with the KitN, is the one to suggests kneeling, but then I realized how big of a fucken deal that is, Mance could have saved those lives yes (and that’s mere speculation honestly cuz Stannis and his army could have also died at Hardhome #just saying) but he decided keeping his people’s will was more important, Jon respected that to the point he defyied Stannis (they needed his help and dude had just saved them) openly by killing Mance, and now Tormund who is kind of the new Free Folk king/leader is saying it would have been OK if he knelt to save everyone’s lives in front of Jon whom is in a very similar situation.

Then we get a Jorah/Jon convo, again perfect oportunity to show them as D’s love interests and rivals, or for Jorah to wax poetic about Khaliiisi and Jon being jealous or some shit. Some serious talk, if we had time in this compact season for Jon to threaten (or pardon) every man who ever crossed paths with Sansa, why Gendry or the Hound haven’t mentioned Arya at all, if logic states that she is someone this people have in common and should talk about? (like Theon asking about Sansa, or Tyrion) Why Jorah doesn’t talk about D if Jon is her new love interest and it would be a nice and neat contrast between the two of them? Instead they disscus another people they have in common, ex-Lord Commander Jeor Mormont and Ned Stark, oh yes they talk about their dads, Jon says how wonderful was Jorah’s dad and how awful was his death, while Jorah said it must have been heartbreaking for his dad whose entire life was the NW and Jon talks about Ned “the goodest most honorable man ever” dying like a traitor for his honor and pride (like I sense a pattern, can you tell? Gods D&D are too subtle guys) and goes as far as to say he is glad his dad didn’t kill Jorah (you know making him pay for his crime in a just honorable way). Honestly what was the point of this conversation if not that survival is most important than honor? The writers (through Jon) are celebrating that Jorah survived even if he has done sketchy awful things (among them he conspired to have D and her baby killed so he would be allowed to go back to Westeros).

Right we get an intresting end to this convo, Jon offers Jorah Longclaw (why would he give him the sword if he is gonna need it right now in the stupid ass Wight hunt? Why didn’t he gave it to Lady Lyanna Mormont, she has presumably begun training cuz she said to Lord Glover she wasn’t gonna sit by the fire while the man defended the North??? Why would he give it to someone if Jeor gave it to him cuz he didn’t wanted Jorah to have it???) but the point of the conversation it’s not the sword, because Jorah rejects it, it’s about planting the possibility of children in Jon’s future. people have been screaming Targ baby to the heavens and back, and if that is what you chose to belive alright, but I think not, if that was the case wouldn’t it be appropiate to have the Targ theme or the J/D song in the background and transition to DS where D talks about children with Tyrion like she does in a future scene? I would have believed it then. But instead we have the Stark theme and the scene transitioning to Arya and SANSA, call me delusional if you want but for me this is another check in the ‘targcest is building up tarbowl’ column.

Summarizing this we get the very bright neón message of Honor=Death. Which I’ll bring back later.

2.- Y'all remember those good times when the WF storyline was the only thing getting me through all the bullshit I was being fed by D&D? Well they’re over. As I said in point 1 we get a transition of Arya and Sansa looking down at the courtyard while Arya talks about how Ned watched the boys training and tries to diminish Sansa’s connection to her family by stating she was surely too busy sewing to know that (have fun freezing your limbs off darling!!! Sewing and Knitting and all those “delicate female” activities you sniff at are the reason you have clothes miss, really I can’t with this where is the Arya that thought woman to be of equal importance than man?) Sansa is having none of that and says she remembers, we get a cute memory of Arya practicing archery in secret and Ned approving (we get again nods to the patriarchy is wrong! But this is sloppy as fuck if D&D make Arya feel superior to non-warrior inclined girls, like that is also misogynistic) Sansa is smiling fondly (she at this point is more of a feminist icon than any other girl in this show, make no mistake she is not upset or resentful of warrior girls, she approved with a smile when Lyanna said girls on Bear Island were going to be trained too, and she smiles at the memory Arya is sharing with her of defying the rules and practicing archery cuz that made her happy) but then things take a turn for worse when Arya said that Ned is dead cuz Sansa helped the Lannisters. I never asked for this bullshit!!! Not even Ned blamed Sansa for anything, even if Sansa hadn’t alerted her Cersei was gonna kill Robert to protect herself and her children, Ned died for Joffrey’s cruelty (he wasn’t even supposed to die, he was to be sent to the Wall) and yes Sansa had a role to play in the chain of events that led to that, but Sansa had no way of knowing that, she only tried to save her family! The smile gets wiped from my girl’s face she is completely at loss. Arya takes out the letter and starts reading it out, even when Sansa asks her to stop cuz she already knows what does the letter say (wow I can’t belive D&D keep on triggering Sansa through her siblings, FUCKING disgusting) Arya is being unnecessary cruel, blaming Sansa for being powerless to stop their father’s death when she herself was equally powerless, like????? D&D are pushing this Starkbowl bs cuz this is got and nothing can be nice for 2 sec. But really this shit has no basis, you have Wight Hunt Team people who have literally killed each other or tried to working together and joking and then have two sisters who went through hell and back fighting cuz one of them thinks the other survived KL by being a princess in a tower??? Like how is this logical? Even if this is a cleverly crafted Arya plot (I think there is some logic to this) to kill LF is not fair for Sansa, god can’t she have good things on her life? D&D took away the safety of her home by marrying her off to Ramsey and have him rape her in her HOME, and now they make her family treat her one like a stranger and the other like shit???? I’m not asking for Arya to thank Sansa on her knees like she suggested (if anything Sansa was super brave standing her ground and defending her possition and everything she did to retake their home) I don’t want everyone to worship her as they do certain someone all I am asking for is respect and safety for someone who deserves it! Really and Arya suggesting Lyanna Mormont would go for Sansa’s throat why yes she is a child, one that has lost a lot with all this fucking wars but still a child that lacks the knowledge of the true game of thrones and what it takes to survive it, like you Arya (doesn’t she remembers she was cupbearer to Tywin who literally was responsible for the murder of her brother and mother? This is actually what leads me to think this is a ploy cuz Arya is not a hypocrite as far as we’ve seen) still this was painful to watch if you love the Starks.

Anyway leaving my frustration with this cheap drama aside, did anyone notice the parallels between the Arya and Sansa confrontation and the Jon/Tormund and Jon/Jorah conversations? The Wight Hunt Team was talking about great honorable man whose honor and moral code brought their downfall and in the Sansa and Arya, the youngest sister was blaming the eldest for having no honor and surviving (she goes as far as to say she would have rather died than betray her family) while Sansa defends what she did and shows how far she has come from paying the game.

Again this thing is not subtle at all.

———

This is too long so Part 2 is coming!

[oumakokichi]

I've seen your ranking, and I wonder why you like Juzo so much ? I can't help but think his redemption doesn't outweight his previous actions. He helped stopping the killing game but that was him fixing something he did and saving someone he cared about, which isn't selflessness. He assaulted people for reasons that were petty or unjustified, so it felt really forced when he saved Naegi. Also, he let Junko end the world because he didn't want Munakata to know he was gay ? Please enlighten me.

Personally, I like Juzo becausehe’s not supposed to be a selfless or a sweet or softhearted character. If Juzohad stopped the killing game for any of those kinds of reasons, or if dr3 hadsuddenly tried to play Juzo off as a character who was entirely selfless foreveryone’s sake, I’d have been incredibly disappointed. But as it is, Juzo’scharacter development was one of the few things dr3 managed to do right.

Juzo scores #3 on my personalcharacter ranking because he’s an incredibly well-written and flawed characterwho is given his own autonomy and has a compelling arc of development. He’s alsopretty much the embodiment of the Undying Loyalty trope, something I like in mycharacters—and even better is that dr3 managed to emphasize that that’s hisstrength and his weakness at the same time.

In a lot of ways, Juzo remindsme of a better-done Maki. Like Maki, Juzo is a bit of a throwback to some other“killing machine” characters, like Mukuro and Peko. While SHSL Boxer is a farcry away from SHSL Soldier, Swordswoman, or Assassin, it’s still a fact thatJuzo is thought of first and foremost as hired muscle, by Munakata, Tengan,Kizakura, and pretty much everyone else in the Future Foundation. He’s meant toact as an enforcer, act first and ask questions later—and he’s perfectly finewith that.

Juzo is no strategist or ideasman by any means, but he’s aware of that. His forte is punching problems untilthey go away, so that’s what he does, the same way that Maki’s first instinctis to eliminate a target so they’re out of her life completely.

But Maki’s characterdevelopment is ultimately hampered by having to center around Momota’scharacter, and all the frustratingly misogynistic “life lessons” he gives herabout how “women should take care of children, not use weapons,” “women shouldlook cute, not work as a hired assassin” etc. Juzo, on the other hand, doesn’thave that problem, because the sad fact of the matter is that male characterswho are cold and aloof and think of themselves as weapons will receive bettertreatment from the writers than female characters with the same flaws.

Just as Maki prioritizes Momotaover everything and everyone else in the group, Juzo does exactly the samething with Munakata. But again, unlike Maki, whose coldness and recklessnessalmost never gets called out by the narrative (not even when she tried to killeveryone else in Chapter 5, for which she received a slap on the wrist atmost), dr3 pretty much spends all its time calling Juzo out. And that’s exactlywhat I like. There’s hardly a character in Future Arc who didn’t allude to Juzo’sfeelings for Munakata or lampshade the fact that Juzo would throw everyone elseunder the bus in two seconds if Munakata asked him to. Characters like Kizakurawere smart enough to realize that Juzo will get angrier on behalf of Munakatathan he will on behalf of himself, even. And this is a good way to highlightthe fact that loyalty isn’t always a good character trait necessarily.

Juzo absolutely didn’tsacrifice himself for everyone else’s sake—he only did it for Munakata’s. IfMunakata hadn’t been involved in the killing game, I have no doubt that Juzowouldn’t have given two shits about pretty much anyone else involved, exceptmaybe Chisa or Seiko, who were in their same faction. But he wouldn’t have goneto the lengths he did to stop the game just for their sake. What really madehis sacrifice powerful and memorable is the fact that he was willing to stopthe game, willing to cut off an arm, all for the person he cared most about inthe entire world.

Juzo’s loyalty is tragicbecause it’s his primary character trait, both his strongest advantage and hisgreatest weakness. It’s tragic because he was loyal to someone who ultimatelynever felt the same way about him, who doubted him and suspected him and neveronce really had those same feelings towards him. His sacrifice to end thekilling game isn’t supposed to be taken as some selfless gesture for the group—it’sa gesture meant for Munakata only, and Munakata still arrives too late, unableto really understand or appreciate the lengths Juzo went for him.

I would hesitate to say Juzowas seeking redemption with his actions. Atonement, perhaps, but redemptionimplies receiving recognition and forgiveness from everyone he ever wronged.And there’s none of that with Juzo. Juzo’s hot temper, his excessive violence,and his pettiness are never excused by the narrative or played off as somecutesy character trait. If anything, the reason he saved Naegi is because he’sstill as angry and petty as ever.

He didn’t save Naegi for anygrand, overarching ideal. He didn’t do it because he wound up agreeing withNaegi’s idea of “hope,” or anything like that. No, in the end, Juzo saved Naegionly because he was angry at him—for having defeated Junko where Juzo keptquiet about her, for reminding him constantly of the ways in which he fuckedup, of his own role in the way the world is now.

By dr3, Naegi was essentiallyrevealed as some grand savior who stopped the Big Bad Enoshima Junko and herdespair with his platitudes about hope. For him to just give up and die supereasily from the same despair-brainwashing video that killed everyone else wasthe biggest anticlimax—it was anticlimactic and pathetic enough that it pissedJuzo off, and that’s why he savedNaegi.

This is also perhaps a bitoff-topic to the subject, but I’ve always been curious as to why people actedlike Juzo was more irredeemable for being violent and reckless and punchingpeople early on in dr3 than many characters who have actually committed murderor other atrocities. DR is a series about murder and death and killing—and yetJuzo was immediately deemed a more unforgivable, awful monster than characterswho have killed without any remorse whatsoever. I suspect it has something todo with the fact that many people were mostly angry about who Juzo was punching or kicking, rather than the fact that he wasviolent and reckless in general.

After all, without knowingalmost anything about Mitarai or his character, people were very up in arms about Juzo kicking himin episode 2 of Future Arc, because he seemed cute, innocent, and everyone waspegging him for an “innocent cinnamon roll.” People then said that this wasbecause Juzo got killed Bandai killed by violating his NG code—but it’s not asif Juzo did it intentionally knowing that Bandai couldn’t witness any violence.He was just as surprised as everyone else when Bandai died. But I stilldistinctly remember people bending over backwards to say that this automaticallymeant Juzo was the worst character in the franchise, despite the fact thatthere are many DR characters who have intentionally done much worse.

As for the final part of yourask, about Juzo “letting Junko end the world”… Haha, I guess this is somethingyou could probably only understand if you can relate with Juzo on a personallevel. If you honestly blame him more for Junko’s actions than Junko herself, Idon’t really know what to tell you. What Junko did to him was blackmail. It wasinsidious, horrible, and the absolute worst-case scenario for Juzo. It was “despair.”If you can’t understand the fear of being outed, especially to the person you careabout the most, then you’re probably very lucky, anon.

As someone who is gay andsomeone who has been outed to abusive family, I can say that it goes beyondjust normal fear. Gay people aren’t afraid of being outed to their friends andcrushes and family because “oh no, someone will know that I’m gay.” We’reafraid of being outed because there is always a chance that people we loved andtrusted will immediately turn on us when they know, will look at us and call us“monsters,” “evil,” “sinful”—all of which I actually did have thrown at me whenmy family found out.

Juzo wasn’t afraid of much, buthe was afraid of Munakata finding outand recoiling from him, disowning him as a friend, wanting nothing to do withhim anymore. Not knowing how Munakata felt was preferable because it meant henever had to face the “what-if” possibility of Munakata finding out andtreating him like he was “disgusting” for it. If that had happened, that wouldtruly have been “despair” for him.

He was blackmailed andpressured and manipulated into keeping quiet about Junko the same way thatJunko either manipulated or intimidated or brainwashed everyone into keepingquiet and doing what she said. It makes absolutely no sense, in my opinion, tohold Juzo more accountable for “letting Junko end the world” when Junko is theone who did it. And to be entirely honest, if Junko hadn’t been having so muchfun holding that threat over Juzo’s head and seeing his reactions, she would’vejust killed him. The only reason she let him live was to make him sufferfurther—but if he had seemed like he would’ve told Munakata regardless (andJunko could’ve predicted if he would’ve, I have no doubt), then she wouldn’thave let him leave those school grounds alive.

This has gotten pretty long,but I hope I’ve been able to summarize my thoughts pretty well. Juzo is mythird-favorite character in the franchise for many reasons. He’s well-written,his flaws and mistakes are never downplayed by the narrative or turned into anendearing character trait, and I can relate with him on a very personal level.I was overjoyed when he was confirmed gay, even moreso when it wasn’t played asa joke or retconned in future episodes. Dr3 didn’t contribute much to thefranchise overall, but Juzo was at least one really incredible character tocome out of it. Thanks for asking, anon!