#nothing annoys me more than characters who are unrealistically one dimensional

[writers-potion]

♛ Write Your "Alpha Girls" Right

Women in literature and other media have traditionally played a side role/ femme fetale, with the "strong female character trope" often falling into two categories:

Loud and abrasive characters taking on traditionally masculine roles of skillsets.

Overly modest strong characters who doesn't know what they are capable of.

There's nothing wrong with your characters having the above qualities. The problem is when your character has ONLY these traits.

Let's start with a definition of an "Alpha Girl":

A girl/woman who has embraced her ambitions and power. She is talented, highly motivated and self-confident.

The term "alpha" comes from research on animal behavior, and used to designate the animal that is the leader of a pack. Thus, an alpha girl will have characteristics like:

believing her ability to achieve is limitless

self-identify as a leader

being recognized as others as impactful and competent

have extremely high ambitions

Here are some things to keep in mind to make such a character believable:

Give her complex emotions

The greatest danger of writing powerful women is that they are only powerful, which reverts her back to being a one-dimensional trope.

she can be a stoic warrior who cries when her best friend dies, or a sweet kindergarten teacher who boxes to deal with her rage.

People are complicated and often unpredictable, so giving your female character the same complex range of emotions you yourself experience as a human being is a good way to start writing stronger characters.

2. Give her flaws

Trying to create a "perfect" character will make her ingenuine and one dimensional. If your alpha girl has flaws, that flaw cannot be one that is somehow advantageous or liked by everyone that essentially makes it NOT a real flaw.

Every character trait is a double-edged sword. Instead of just leaning on sterotypical "female" flaws, think of how a good thing about your girl can also be bad, adding depth to her.

You can also give her multiple (albeit minor) flaws. Trying to define a character using a sole primary flaw tends to appear forced and unrealistic.

Refer to my list of good character traits gone bad.

3. The alpha gril doesn't have to be alone to rise above sterotyping

One thing that annoys me is how strong female characters are often portrayed as being a lone wolf. This includes the "I'm not like other girls" attitude where a smart girl is simply set apart from the rest, with the other girls either (1) admire/half-fearing her or (2) trying to bring her down.

Integrate them into a group of friends/ society/ league. Show how she can lead naturally and mingle with others, not just being high-nosed and better than everyone all the time.

4. Give her More than Looks

I'm not against attractive female characters, but it makes me sad how being good-looking is the default for being powerful.

So, no more "she was pretty but didn't know it". Does she have a defining physical feature that is integral to the storyline? Does she know that she is pretty and actively uses it to her advantage? Give us a character who is not beautiful but still confident and liked.

5. Give her Female Allies

Sometimes writers try to make a female character appear stronger by turning her into a "tomboy" with only male friends.

Make her sound more real by giving her genuine female friends (not some paper-cut princess to complement her, but an actual alluy)

6. Involve character growth

The reason why "I'm not like other girls" trope is criticized is because the strength of such female characters come by default and not a result of character growth or actual effort or further development/evolution.

Your alpha girl must put in the effort to be the alpha, not rely on circumstance or worse, another character, for her powers.

Women, like all people, are always changing and evolving. Focus on creating a dynamic that pushes your alpha girl to face new challenges and even change herself.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

References:

https://www.scienceofpeople.com/alpha-female/

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-strong-female-characters#5FssLVhh2sHsEUpxARewuS

[youdontloveme-yet]

[It is the law] or a GMMTV 2023 line up's worst commentary. (part1)

Hello, my dudes and cryptids. Don't lie I know some of y'all are cryptids. Anyway, I said I will make the worst commentary for the new GMMTV line up, and so I am delivering. If somebody gets offended by something I've said - fuck you. That is all.

We all know what the gmmtv2023 line up is and apparently "diversity" in their dictionary is disability or weird conditions. So let's get to it.

Enigma

Starring: Prim Chanikan, Win Metawin, Piploy Kanyarat; Director: O Patha Thongpan; Genre: Horror, Suspense;

Interestingly enough the trailer starts with a Nietzsche quote, which sets the bar somewhere high, but at the same time, not the entirety of that quote is included, which I find kind of weird, since it is a horror series. What I mean with that? Well, the whole quote is as follows:

“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

I cannot comprehend why this was left out, when we are obviously going to be dealing with demons (monsters). Whatever, I am nitpicking I guess.

Typical school setting, because yes, that is exactly where all the occult shit always happens. Nothing new here. I’m guessing there is dimensional jumping, if I’m judging by the trailer. A person with a snap off blade that looks like it can give you some tetanus, is seen, which if I may add is not very creative. Can we finally have people with actual knives for once? Or swords. Swords are good. Anyway, is that supposed to be a girl holding the knife? Because in the shot with the knife it is definitely a man holding it. Some cool shots of occult shit - nice touch. Oh and our FL’s picture being cut into. Some more occult shots, because why the fuck not? There’s always something wrong with the school. We been knew. Students going crazy, yada-yada. The depiction of schools in Thailand is always horrific. The stress, the pressure, I can see why the favourite setting for horror is the schools. There always has to be one person to drown, it is the law. Can you imagine this occult shit happening every year and your parents not moving you to another school? Parents in this show will not be included as actual characters, it is against the law. They do not exist, these students are entirely on their own, it is the law. The new teacher is a socio, how surprising. (probably doesn’t shower as well). I love black magic, but too many western/christian ideas into this shit. Crosses, really? Thailand is a Buddhist country, no? Who the fuck holds a person’s face like that? It seems it is the socio teacher… oh, well, let’s hope he washed his hands. Suddenly has tattoos and jiggly things around his neck - kitsch. And we continue with the western symbolism. Ah, yes, putting that cape on makes you look so much cooler in front of the faiting student. Oh, my favourite - closing doors with the snap of the fingers. I’m guessing it is supposed to look seductive or whatever… it doesn’t. Ah, sorry, he can do more than just closing doors apparently. Who knew?

Well, it tries to look promising. But I am very much on the fence if it could actually deliver. Love me suspenseful horror, but I don’t see how GMMTV can execute this. Also, I cannot believe how many roles Prim has lined up!! I will indeed be watching for her only.

Conclusion: will definitely try watching it, but emphasising on the “try” part.

A Boss And A Babe

Starring: Book Kasidet, Force Jiratchapong (and other gmmtv people); Director: New Siwaj Sawatmaneekul Genre: Romance

It’s those dudes, whose names I keep forgetting every time.

At first I was “ah! A gaming series!”, but nope, not really anyway. I want his setup, ngl. But I would beat the shit out of him with that smugness. Annoying. Ah, no, they used the nickname of one of my favourite pro players, oh gods. The team is introduced. None of these people look like they can play games. Unrealistic. Where are the bags under their eyes or the dark circles? You say you play for 30hrs a day, which does not exist in the first place, yet you look as if you got out of a cryo chamber or whatever. Next thing you know, the 30hrs guy has an office job. Downgrade, my dude, very big downgrade. He’s the boy for everything in that office, as per the law. Yeah, nobody can convince me this guy has that amount of energy. The boss is grumpy, and the boy for everything is stupid, as is the law. What are we gonna do if there is no awkward bathroom scene? Most romantic thing is to ask your crush to dinner, while he’s taking a shit. The boss has no boundaries whatsoever. Oh, yes, the courting rituals are very intricate, borderlining with psychopathy. Typical trope, nothing to see here. Yes, ask your friends about love. The thing you are too much of an infant to understand. Stupid advice as is the law. He has an ASMR channel ?? Why the fuck are you doing an office job, if you are a pro player and have an ASMR channel? That makes you more money than that shitty office job, brother. This is not a real gamer. This Force guy is kind of attractive in a suit. I guess they have sex, idk. Wait. “Don’t act like main character in a novel who confesses his love when the other is asleep.” Who comes up with these lines. It is not even cheesy, just bland and cringe. Oh, he says it, okay. That is forgiven. Boss guy is done. And so am I.

Oh, another thing. Whoever comes up with these titles, I hope your socks are wet. Also, have in mind this is a New series, meaning that there’s the possibility this series will be progressing extremely slow.

Conclusion: looks kind of boring. All over the place plot. Overused trope of stupid office romance. Might take a look, but I doubt it.

Find Yourself

Starring: (a majority of people you don’t know) Nonkul Chanon, Aff Taksaorn, Earth Pirapat and other gmmtv lakorn people; Director: Petch Varayu Ruksku Genre: Business, Romance, Drama (it’s a lakorn)

Have these people been courting since the dark ages or what? I do not understand the constant nagging about having a younger partner, when you are female. Never will and never will try to understand. ‘Tis bullshit. Homeboy is very awkward, so I like him. So, she’s almost 40 and single? What about it? Stupid archaic tropes. Okay, homeboy has balls now, being all touchy-touchy. Are you looking for a sugar mommy, my son? Cute montage of them doing couple shit - 7/10 I’ve seen better. Ah, yes, the drunk first time. Classic. Girl, you are almost 40, can you not act like a 15 year old who just lost her virginity? Too much screaming. And ofc there is the accusatory “what did you do to me?” idk, babe, maybe you both initiated in sinful acts. This is per the law. Now she feels like a whore or some shit. Apparently sleeping with someone is the worst thing you can do. The mother is creepy, as is the law. And we continue with my least favourite thing - meddling in other people’s affairs. Ma’am your daughter is 40, why are you sending her brother to figure out who she’s dating. Stupid trope. Never let people come out with their partners on their own, it is against the law. Ah, yes, some dude taking a video of girls dancing or whatever. Classic. Now he has an accomplice in this bullshit. This girl is cute, but they are all psychos. Yes, everyone is dating, but there has to be that one guy who says it can’t be true. And the girl who apparently has ownership of the guy, even tho he really is not aware of that, bless his soul. Stupid one-liners. Again with the age garbage. Now, there’s an old man, idk what his deal is, but if I have to guess - to make drama. So, she likes him, but the age thing is a thing, how boring. What the fuck is a 3-month relationship trial, this is not a game or some astrological site behind a pay wall, girl. Another cute montage. Oh, they kiss… finally, I guess? Sign. What sign do you even need? You like him, he likes you, are you batshit insane or something?

Conclusion: it’s a lakorn. Looks cute, has an age gap - will watch.

Double Savage

Starring: Ohm Pawat, Perth Tanapon, Film Rachanun; Director: ??? Genre: Action

Starts off gritty and looks violent, I approve. Oh, not a terrible fighting scene, this is new. From the get-go we have the good and the bad. Who is who, we are yet to see. Aren’t these people like brothers or some shit, why so mad? Foei with a gun to a dude’s head, pretty sure I’ve watched this before. Good fight tho, enjoyed it. I can tell you from here that Foei’s character jerks off to men fighting. Ah, yes, the stare down. Good old stare down. Woah, jail? This doesn’t sound like giving him an option, jerkface. More like a threat. Disowning your children the moment the fuck up? Classic parents. This is very allowed per the law. Ohm and his staring through your soul, peak acting. Oh, no, he thinks he is irredeemable. I mean, unless you’ve killed someone I don’t see how you’re such a big bad criminal, my son. Why the fuck is Perth’s character mad? His brother got kicked out, not him. Calm your balls, boy, the world hasn’t stopped spinning. They keep calling him a criminal. Idk what this is about, but it sounds greatly exaggerated. Ofc there is a girl, it is by the law to like your brother’s girl. A fighting montage. This is right up my alley - more fighting, less talking, like in the stone age. Oh, no, the popo are involved - the horror. All of this for a girl. I’ll act surprised - GASP, IT IS ABOUT THE GIRL. Yeah, I can bet you all that he hasn’t done something so criminal. Foei and his psycho characters. Good touch. Always appreciated. I’d shoot him tho. Won’t even wait for his clown act before I pull the trigger. “Between blood brothers” is the “blood” that needed? Yeah, we kind of got the idea that they’re biological brothers. These people talk too much and shoot too little. You might as well blow both your brains out, that’d be fun.

Conclusion: will watch, let’s hope there is less talking in the actual series and more fighting and stare downs.

Hidden Agenda

Starring: Dunk Natachai, Joong Archen, Aou Thanaboon; Director: Tee Bundit Sintanaparadee Genre: Romance

Alpha rule of trailers: start with a cliche quote about love. Idk if it is the translation or the actual quote, but it sounds so weird. Ah, Louis! My child is in whatever the fuck this series will be. Wait, didn’t he say the same thing in Star In My Mind? University setting I’m guessing. Yes, we are definitely not sick and tired of the university thing. I mean, it could’ve been high school, which is much worse, but still. He’s stupid. This is literally the plot of half of the shows out there. The boy who wants a relationship, the popular girl that he will never have and the guy who will creepily pursue him. I haven’t finished the trailer yet. Show her you’re so manly bro, even if you look like a wet noodle. Seeking advice from HER ex? What have y’all been smoking, because that’s some otherwordly shit right there. His name is JOKE, hahahahah. I’m gonna watch it just to make fun of his name I swear. Ofc, he’s a jerk, it is the law. Wait, so it’s Zo and Joke… sounds like the worst possible joke. Can you imagine the ship name tho. I’m losing it here. Personal space who? He asks you to help him and you ask him to spend the night with you ?? If somebody told me that I’d get a restraining order. Taking notes, as if that will help you when the guy next to you will definitely do you before you do her. There has to be a study date, it is against the law to not have one. The staring. There was only one bed. Ah, yes, the stranger into whose home you went, now snuggles with you, this is by the law. Cute gays want kids. I hope you can adopt like 5, my dudes. Weird one liners, more intense staring. Then we have people not minding their business as is by law. Denial. Pushing him to be uncomfortable. Because that is exactly how you get in a relationship with someone. Okay, he’s not talking about the girl. Thought so, but I had to get sure. Smol guy gets annoyed, I am pretty sure this is Star In My Mind. Weird debate. So, I guess he got with the girl, who would’ve guessed. Joke is jealous. Girl needs help for who-knows what bullshit. But ofc, as is by the law, she would go to her ex, not her current partner, because that makes so much sense. And here somebody is gonna say “but, Ra, they have a bond!” and all I will hear is the voices in my head, not yours tho. Oh, no the secret. Could it be that he’s gay and people are once again too nosy? Oh, no, he lied. Local angry noodle throws paper at man who lied to him. You cannot trust anyone, bro, don’t try it. This is the drama world, you can’t trust even your mother. Ah, yes, cry on the shoulder of the next man that will lie to you. Smart. By the law, you have to be possessive of the person who probably wants you dead. Some angry grown ups. Idk what their deal is, but they might as well kiss with all that stupid tension. How many people wanna have this Zo guy ?? Confrontation done wrong. People giving weird looks as we read their names. Now you ask him not to hit on the girl. The hypocrisy is crisp. So, all is forgiven? The magical forgiveness is here by the law, okay? You won’t get it. They be smoochin’.

Conclusion: 50/50. Might try it only because it is the director of Lovely Writer. But I am pretty convinced this is at least 90% what happened in Star In My Mind.

23.5

Starring: Milk Pansa, Love Pattranite, Gemini Norawit; Director: Fon Kanittha Kwunyoo

Congratulations, my dudes, we made it! I don’t know who made a human sacrifice for this, but your jail time is not in vain. Anonymous chatting is my go-to romance bullshit. It never disappoints really. Cute conversation, some weird shit about the Earth and Sun, which sounds relatable and is probably some profound metaphor, but I am not here for that. Ah yes, walking past the person you are actively flirting with, can be a coincidence only in a drama, otherwise is pretty much stalking. Gotta love Milk’s backpack. The hat is stupid tho. Don’t be creepy, my girl. Ah, yes, seduction through knowledge. Gotta add some sadness to it, such is the law. Babygirl, we are all nobodies, chill. She’s not the center of the universe, she is just extroverted as fuck, while you probably stutter when speaking. Pretty sure you’re the only one spinning around her, but okay. More nerdy talk, because that is indeed hot as hell. No creepy staring, babygirl, you are better than this. Ah, yes, the “i must hide my feelings trope, cuz that person is out of my league” grow a pair, girlie. Ofc they all think it is a guy, how very heterosexual of them. Some creeping around. I’m guessing this is the rival or whatever. Or not, which is great. Let’s mope around instead of hyping ourselves up and actually talk to her. Because that always works so well. What do you mean she has the guts?? Are y’all insane? She’s literally hiding. Drama logic, as is the law, make no sense. Supportive friends I approve of, tho. So you are forgiven for being stupid. Love’s character asking the real questions. I mean, it could be some hobo, but she got the right spirit. Some cute moments in the gym are absolutely mandatory. More looking. Oh, there are gays here? This is some elementary school type of behaviour. What’s next? Pulling his hair and biting him in front of the class? And he continues throwing things at him. Take him home, but for the love of anything holy stop throwing stuff at him. Oh, no, she figured it out! Be distressed for nothing. Especially when she’s literally pining you at the book shelf. Gay panic. THEY CUTE AS SHIT BRO. I want what they have. Face rubs are cool. We continue with the profound astronomy metaphors I just can’t deal with right now. Overall good shit.

Conclusion: 100% watch, no need to even elaborate.

Phro Thoe Khue Rak Raek

Starring: Dew Jirawat, Prim Chanikan, Neo Trai; Genre: Romance

A lot of Prim and Dew this year. Delightful. For me, idk about you people.

I don’t like her with that ginger hair, makes her look older, not my jam. I can and I will complain about this when her series air. It’s a first love story. Not that anyone is surprised or anything. Girl, that’s some bomb-ass outfit and I need it. Guess half of the show will be in the past… or the majority. Ladies and gentleman, we are back at square one - grumpy guy and the girl who fell for him. I hope she’s not stupid. Height difference oh my. She’s literally like his child. How fucking tall is this guy?? Like 180? He makes you smile, yet he never fucking smiles at you. That’s just sad. I mean, you literally had him take space in your head. The memories of all the times he just straight up ignored your existence? Damn, girl, you thirsty. Jealousy, my beloved. Why is it always Neo tho? He’s like the go-to guy when you need jealousy. Now the tall motherfucker reacts. The confusion is mutual. He left. The drama. The irony. The cliche. Yes, pretending you’re not staring at him works every time. Hiding behind a notebook in a very non-suspicious way. It is the law, you won’t get it. Girl, if you look at me like that with that slow head turn, I can and I will turn into a human puddle. Adorable. I want to punch him in the face. Ruin it a bit, y’know. She smiles and he’s stoic as fuck. I’m punching you brother, I swear. Pretty doe eyes. Woah, he finally smiled, can you imagine. I still want to punch him tho.

Conclusion: will watch, but will be angry about it. Mostly because he never smiles at her.

Cooking Crush

Starring: Off Jumpol, Gun Atthaphan, Mark Pakin, Neo Trai; Genre: Food, Romance;

Okay, the first thing I said when this started was “another cooking flop”, because let’s be real here, they are bad at making cooking series. And that is that.

Anyway, some cool ass shots of food being prepared, because that’s how you know it is about cooking. Per law, it is mandatory that he is nothing less but a TOP CHEF. Hands. Gourme. Pretty boy. This guy is a fucking disaster. How in all hell is he a top chef? Yes, because grabbing the extinguisher is the hardest thing one could possibly imagine. Maybe if one of these absolute idiots removed the hat from his head and dropped it in the sink all of this could’ve been much easier. It is the idiot trio, maybe a disaster trio? Something along the lines, I am not good with words, shut up. A cooking competition? Wasn’t he like a TOP CHEF? Misleading intro. 10 million baht sounds cool and all, but it really is like 270k euro or something along the line. Oh, so the old dude is the top chef. The intro continues to be confusing. What does simple food even have to mean? Not putting black pepper and honey in one or what? Don’t mind me, I am everything but a food person. That is a necessity, idc about food beyond that. Off just appears out of nowhere. Who the fuck are you and why are you leaning on him like that? Fucking creep.Do they even know each other? This is so confusing. “From dog food to doc food” is legit the worst pun I have ever seen. This boy ain’t cheap, damn. Straight away with the fee, I feel you bro, that’s the way to go. You be calling him a fool, but you’re both fools. I can smell it from a mile away. He cannot hold a fucking knife. I would nope out of there is somebody held a knife like that. Neo’s character being the relatable one again. Fi-fi ??? No, no, don’t learn his name please, call him Fi-fi, it is most entertaining. My son, you are anything but fire with that ugly ass shirt. Please sit down. Love me some self proclaimed playboys. And a monster? I don’t think that you scared him, more like turned him on, because it is drama logic and these types of weird outbursts usually mean that for whatever reason. Yes, licking food off of the hand of the person you like is mandatory, you know it’s the law. Woah, bro, no need to make it gay. I too would be shocked. This is unhygienic. I’d freak out and punch him, that’s disgusting. Only 16?? I have friends who used to sleep in the university. Weak shit. Is he learning to cook for a girl? Weak shit x2. Another top chef, it’s like they’re selling them at the market with the fish. “For the price of one fish, you get a top chef for free!” or some shit like that. Top chef #2 wants some twink for dinner that’s for sure. Pure unfiltered jealousy as it is meant by the law. How the fuck did you deceive him? He didn’t learn how to cook or what? That would be only his fault really. Ah, the classic Off stare, has to be one of my favourite stupid faces. What funny business, my man? Oh yeah, give it up for spilling secrets, because this is purely platonic. Back hugs my most beloved. That yellow sweater is gorgeous and I want it. Did he just punch top chef #2? So, Neo and Mark are a thing now? I would never understand people carrying others bride style while unconscious. I am pretty sure that arm behind his neck has to fall off if he ain’t awake. But then again, by the law, this is a mandatory scene. Yeah, he does look heavy to carry around. But pulling him up like this may as well break his spine, this is stupid. Please, don’t fucking do this, guys. As usual, we have a dead parent, because it cannot be a good drama if we don’t have a tragedy along the line. The gay chase! Hugging and crying. Weird seductive noodle eating, as is by law. Do you like the food or him? I think you be lying about his food. Yeah, we’re not talking about food, damn. Awkward hand holding is my jam. And some weirdly animated stuff just floating around.

Conclusion: looks weird, 50/50 on this.

Wednesday Club

Starring: a bunch of people y’all know. Director: ??? Genre: Romance (?)

I don’t think anyone quite understands what this show is about. Star cast tho. Might flop.

What is this weak ass russian roulette? Choosing between friendship and justice sounds as dumb as it gets really. There’s like 10 of them, yet they chose to be crammed up in the smallest of spaces. Peak stupid. Mandatory squad shot. Can’t know who is in the squad without that shot. It is the law. These skinny motherfuckers be running nakes. Why is the guy next to Ohm so fucking pale ?? Somebody has to take the video I guess and girls absolutely love watching men’s ding-dong swing left and right while they run. It is definitely not the funniest shit. They definitely did not hit each others ding-dong while pushing each other, this is purely heterosexual. The popo is here! Always ruining the fun, huh. So you’re trying to tell me these fuckers meet after 2 of them run nakes on a fucking roof. Shit on the popo, as you should. Party time. Fancy bar. The middle children club. Can Jane be less pretty or do I have to constantly suffer? Oh, no, let’s make it dramatic that we are middle children. The outcasts. Poor rich kids. People like you? Brother, you ain’t a minority or whatever. This guy is a theatre kid. You guys need rules for friendship? My confusion grows. Is she taking a blood bath? This boy is like he has never seen money in his life. Greedy motherfucker. Slave? Ew. Not the sister, bro. You be breaking the bro code, bro. How dare you? Actual backstabbing? This trailers is confusing. Is this guy a freak or something? That looks like a cut scar, so maybe he’s into that shit and that’s why he doesn’t want to say. No romantic shit, says who? Yeah, because you can actually stop that shit from happening. Foolish. I am not understanding the russian roulette reference of this show. And they all got into a fucking fight I guess. Is the gun loaded this time? It better be or I am suing.

Conclusion: lots of pretty faces, huge confusion on my part. Will watch tho, I’m curious.

Last Twilight

Starring: Sea Tawinan, Jimmy Jitaraphol, Namtan Tipnaree; Director: Aof Noppharnach Chaiwimol Genre: Romance

The other two dudes, whose names I cannot remember. Nothing personal, you guys, I know you love to get offended at such things.

Ooh, bad boy mechanic vibe. Nope, nvm, I saw those atrocious jeans. I take my words back. More like wet towel boy. So, you can buy cigarettes, but you cannot pay your debts. Your maths suck I’m sure. Namtan pretty. Some poll going on. Idk how he can play poll when he has no money, but okay. It feels like she’s trying to set him up to be gigolo and I absolutely love that. She’s not unfortunately. Yep, wet towel boy. Fancy house. This is the mother I see in every show now. She plays all the good ones tho, so may she proceed to do so. This guy be going blind, damn. Sorry for your loss, my dude. Or whatever the fuck you say for shit like that. Why is he in a wheelchair? I thought he was only sight impaired. He makes the job sound like the worst in the world. Some self loathing going on around I see. Another wet towel boy. This is the wet towel boys series. Ahahah, straightforward NO. He looks so stupid. He just basically told him he’s a buffoon, didn’t he? “Can you read?” I am dying here. Yes, make fun of the man who will take care of you, that just never ends bad. I hope we get to know what the accident was. Very grumpy. Ah, we have the grumpy + stupid trope again. It is by the law that you make jokes about the disability of your employer. My dude still wants a pity party, who is he trying to lie to? Continue to be grumpy, doesn’t want help, while actually hiring a guy to help him. Logic at its finest. Why the fuck are you smoking in a non-smoker’s house bro ?? Go outside, these people rich, they have big yards and all. This is just poor manners. He can definitely walk by himself. If walking is defined as being on all fours. The gay shaving. This guy has balls, gotta admit. But with that smoking, I doubt he wants you to be too close. I want someone to explain to me what in the burning hell is a water curtain supposed to be? Weird gay mating ritual. Some flirting. They just made it sound like he’s dying, not going blind. “You have only 180 days. Make them count!” Or some other generic anime line. Despair. Depression. Namtan being a queen teaching the stupid gay what to do. Dramatic lying on the bed ying-yang style. Pining. The mating rituals are sophisticated and difficult, okay? Beach shots are kind of mandatory, it is the law. This guy has superpowers, but I can bet you that he would never guess what a person is online. So far with your powers, huh? Some more awkward flirting, but with face touches this time. We are progressing quite nicely. No smoochin’ here I guess, just some shoulder lean. Montage time. Some jealousy I see. Drama time. I mean, he is kind of your boss and all. Pretty shots all over the place, damn. Ah, yes, the smoochin’ has arrived. Beautiful shot tho. This trailer had more beautiful shots than an actual plot so idk.

Conclusion: might check it out, might not. Depends on my mentality at the time.

Part 2 with the other 10 shows will be tomorrow at some point, idk. Let me repeat myself, if somebody feels offended or does not agree, you can fuck yourself, this was made purely for my enjoyment.

[gasterofficial]

Hey, it's the mass/matter anon again (sorry), and I just wanted to make sure you knew that was for you, too. I've been following you for a bit prior to all this, and I just wanted to say there's never been a time where one of your posts fails to brighten my day, even just a little. So, seriously, thanks!

(I also wanted to say that the way you characterize Gaster is SO fun. Like, I really appreciate how you've balanced the good and the bad, and made him into less of a villain or a hero, but just a person. Super cool!)

you guys are going to make me CRYYY FOR REALLLL seriously thank you 😭

[tercessketchfield]

Thoughts on the Episode 3.

• The only real queen here is Mary. We're undeservedly deprived of her scenes, which is grossly unfair, as she's clearly the greatest asset of this show.

• Somerset deserved to be executed right in the middle of that scene, and yet no one bothered even to silence him.

• Can we make a character look and sound cool, opinionated, and in charge, otherwise than by making them say f*ck every minute?

• I'm once again asking to stop bullying Jane and stop treating her like a carpet to rub your feet of. She was one of the most intelligent young ppl of her generation, you fools! (And yet, if they make even Elizabeth look extremely foolish, why do I wonder?)

• The Tudor children are getting pretty annoying. Edward, Edward, you have had enough of royal power to call poor Jane's performance shit, but none to make your idiot uncle shut up? But hopefully he (Edward) amends next time.

• The great, clever, and 'magnificent' Elizabeth knows no better than to be put off to the point of madness by such a silly, pathetic little idiot as they portray Jane to be? I mean, is it quite a level for her? She, who craves for 'making own decisions', stands stuttering before the council, but self-congratulatory comes down on a child who cannot stand for or protect herself, just to humiliate Jane and show her own 'power'? And then go ranting about 'beating my kin'? What a greatness of mind! Great thanks to Robert for pointing out the right things and playing Mr Knightley there:) but his Emma, I'm afraid, wasn't quite as good. I'm almost sure that, despite Robert and the dress, Elizabeth will never get herself to treat Jane with any share of kindness or respect if they chance to meet (unless actually forced by Robert on the spot).

• *Robert being protective of his future sister-in-law;)*

• Robert is absolutely love.

• Also, Elizabeth refusing S*ymour chiefly on the grounds that he and KP 'have secrets from her', wtf?

• To find nothing better to say in response to e.g. reasonable arguments of Robert's than to pathetically enquire 'Am I naive/ am I stupid/ am I ugly/ am I a child?' and the like? Are they making Elizabeth another 'powerful great dramatic bitch' by the type of Starz's Elizabeth Woodville, Lizzie of York, and the 'Spanish princess'? Which is a very, very disappointing impression.

• We're lucky it's 'a girl we didn't know' for that girl is unfortunately a fool.

• I sincerely hoped that when 'the scandal' between Elizabeth and S*ymour happened they would make Elizabeth disappointed and disillusioned of him, not set her in the 'mourning the lost lover' mode and angry with KP, which is annoyingly stupid, solves nothing, and does no service to her judgment, really. Really, damn, what was this!? Hopefully there are still episodes ahead.

• I have to comment on Jessica Raine’s brilliant performance. I grew to like her character so much better in this episode (that scene of quarrel with S*ymour!), especially in the second half. it has to be admitted that, apart from that coldness and manipulativeness, which were so obvious from the start, she is far, far more than one-dimensional character. The more the pity when she dies :(

• Well, since Elizabeth is already sent from Chelsea, and Seymour will (probably) not die till the ep.8, am I reasonable to hope that they will let the whole thing hang up and treat us with more of Mary and Edward (Edwarfd needs development so badly)? No, it’s unrealistic of me to expect that; they will  make ‘the scandal’ ongoing. 

[kitsunefyuu]

I think the annoying thing about the bnha fandom is that either the villains should be hated and their attitudes repudiated or they become UwU baby who did nothing and all their actions are justified because their story is sad, this happened to me a lot in the case of Midoriya, Ochako and Todoroki, but especially Midoriya, because the most fervent fans of the villains seemed not to understand why Izuku had no compassion for someone like Tomura when until the arc of the war all the interactions were negative (usj , the mall, the camp, the kidnapping, the war until its last moments), for many people empathy has to appear out of nowhere and without logical explanation because Izuku, being the MC of a shonen, should have innate empathy about any person even if this previously threatened his life, funny they would call Izuku a Gary stu if this had happened because obviously, MC is morally superior and stronger, etc. Quite funny how the fandom complains that Midoriya seems to have no flaws but then he shows flaws and they also hate him because he has flaws like all the other characters.

However, going back to the point, the villains in bnha are interesting, many times more interesting than the side of the heroes, but the fandom makes them one-dimensional, AFO is a terrible being, but entertaining to see, he moves by his own interests and uses and manipulates the people around him, it's established that he uses his followers and finds them replaceable, he acts like a villain because he's a villain, one should not look for a moral to his actions but enjoy of the role he develops, the same with Tomura, he isn't a UwU baby who did nothing wrong, he's a wounded child who has seen the worst, has been manipulated and abused all his life but that doesn't take away from his actions, however we can still enjoy and suffer with him.

Empathy isn't something people seem to understand. Empathy is the act of FEELING what the other person feels. Tomura has shown only contempt and rage, there was nothing to empathize with.

Just like there is nothing to empathize it is unrealistic to expect Izuku to immediately understand that this is someone hurting. When News flash Tomura is a murderer who literally told Nomu's just to destroy everything. Also, his first reaction to people he annoyed or hate is to use Decay.

They also forget something... ONLY WE KNOW THE BACK STORY.

The heroes are NOT seeing what we are seeing. The only one who told the heroes anything is Dabi who literally like LOOK AT ME!

Toga tried to talk to Ochaco but she misunderstood and made her cry. But I'm only seeing people calling Toga crazy.

Tomura certainly isn't telling anyone SHIT about his past only AFO knows about it. What are the heroes supposed to do? Let themselves get killed and murdered?

When comes to AFO... We just legit have no idea about anything. But you are right nothing can really justify his actions but I think it is quite fun to make theories, ideas, and guesses. Though I will say regardless he did do a lot of terrible things but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with enjoying or watching an unrepentant villain.

He's just fun.

On the heroes' side, they also aren't allowed anything really. Izuku had a cool arc and he was in no way weak. But everyone kind of ignores it at this point honestly I don't really care about others people's opinions.

The problem with Tumblr is that they all want to make sure you know their opinion and how they are right while you're wrong. Instead of accepting your interest.

[baldrambo]

On Jim Hopper....

After reading a myriad of analyses and meta on Hopper’s character in S3 on Tumblr/Reddit/Twitter/everywhere, I've come to realize that my understanding of his character and his arc is very different than most interpretations I've seen.  And it frustrates me because i think ultimately, the criticism of him is unfairly harsh and misses the point of his arc.

I will make a few bold assertions (bold=likely unpopular) and address them under the cut because the more I’ve thought about this the longer it got and I want to appropriately address each point.

Assertion 1: S1 Hopper is NOT the Hopper we want, in fact, this is regressive! Hopper and we should be glad he’s gone

Assertion 2: S1/S2 Hopper is inappropriately romanticized and it created unrealistic expectations for Hopper’s characterization in S3

Assertion 3: The circumstances in S3 are dramatically different than S1-S2 and drive the changes we see in Hopper’s characterization in S3

Assertion 4: Hopper and Joyce’s arguing in S3 was a symptom of a shift in their relationship dynamic, and not OOC

Assertion 5: Hopper's negative character traits were intentionally amplified in S3 as a juxtaposition for his redemption arc coming in S4

Assertion 1:

When we are introduced to Hopper in S1 he is a pill-popping womanizer. He is a jerk. In episode 1, he shows up to work hungover cracking "your mom" jokes and when Flo tells him that Joyce is worried about her missing kid he dismisses her and says "I’m gonna get on that." A frantic Joyce has to beg him to look for her son and during the conversation, he's throwing in interjections about screwing Chrissy as a teen in the back of his dad's Oldsmobile and somewhat snidely inquiring about whether Will is gay. Not a very nice dude.

It's not until later in the episode when we learn that he had a daughter who is now dead, and begin to suspect that perhaps there is more to him than the jerk-off cop from a small town. And then the first real introduction we get to Hopper, the real Hopper, is in 1x2 when an agitated Joyce asks him "wouldn't you know your own daughter's [breathing]?" He nearly caves then, caves under the weight of his grief, the pressure of dealing with a case of a missing kid, feeling empathy for what Joyce is going through. So what does he do? He retreats to his cruiser as soon as possible and pops a pill. Why? Because he cannot handle the grief and emotion. So he medicates it away.

For anyone who has ever been on Xanax (or see i.e. Benzos in general) they are typically prescribed to dull intense emotions, such as a anxiety attack. You can be in the middle of an anxiety attack (shaking, crying, unable to breathe), and a Xanax kicks in and it halts the entire thing.  You feel nothing.  When you're in pain, physical or emotional, it kills that pain almost instantly, too. And that’s what makes it so addictive. And it's not just pain that it kills, but pretty much all emotion with it.

Hopper in S1 is popping Benzos because he is at the lowest point in his life. He lost his daughter and his purpose in life. He is merely existing. He feels like a curse. Part of him even seems to feel responsible for Will's disappearance for no other reason than his own misery. Think about 1x1-1x7 Hopper for a second: can you remember a scene when he smiles? Laughs? Gets angry? Cries? Shows really any emotion at all? I've watched s1 multiple times and I don't remember one. He's so heavily medicated that he isn't feeling ANYTHING.

But then in 1x8, we finally get a glimpse of the real Hopper in glimpses of his backstory. A man laughing and playfully throwing around his daughter. We see a broken man crying in a hallway. We see a tender man reading to his daughter. This is the real Hopper who isn't just existing as Hopper is in S1, but living.

Hopper saving Will, this is the very beginning of his redemption. In that moment, he is able to bring Will back. Save him in a way he couldn't with his own daughter. That wall he’s built, quite artfully, is finally cracking.

So you see. S1 Hopper isn't what we want. S1 Hopper was in a deep dark cave. Sure, he was kind to Joyce. Helpful. He listened. He didn't lose his temper. But it's easy not to lose your temper when you're not feeling anything. It's easy to be calm and rational when you’re emotionally detached. But what kind of life is that?

Assertion 2:

In S2, Hopper is already different. In 2x1 our first introduction to Hopper is positioned similarly to S1. He pulls into the station in his police car. He's still grouchy, he's still joking around about dumb shit (dating Bob Derek) but we see a real smile from him. He goes with Joyce and Will to Will’s appointments at Hawkins Lab (we don't know how often but it's obviously frequent enough that Owens jokingly refers to Hopper as Will’s “Pop”). Hopper has a purpose again. To protect Will and Joyce, keep them safe. These are externalities.  And as someone as riddled with trauma as Hopper is, externalities make it easier to function.  Hyper-vigilance and overprotective/controlling behavior aren’t exactly admirable qualities, but they come in handy when the people close to you are threatened by inter-dimensional shadow monsters.

It’s at the end of 2x1 when we are introduced to the biggest change for Hopper: he has El. Someone to “feed, protect, teach.” And love. Turns out, love is a feeling.  And with one feeling comes many feelings.  She brought him out of that deep dark cave so now Hopper smiles. Laughs. Cries. Loses his temper. And with those feelings come all of his own insecurities, imperfections, fears.  He confides in El at the end of the season about some of these fears: he believes himself to be a black hole.  A black hole that took Sara.  Almost took Will. And could take El too and he is terrified that will happen. He apologizes for some of his bad behavior.  And we see El forgive him because she not only loves him, but recognizes that his anger and fear come from a different place than Brenner’s did.  Hopper isn’t exhibiting controlling behavior to manipulate her.  It’s because he loves her.

But here’s the thing. His apology and his and El’s recognition of his toxic behavior doesn’t make it okay, and it doesn’t magically make it disappear moving forward. 

The 2 year gap between S2 and S3, I think, gave us a lot of time as a fandom to create the Hopper we wanted in our minds.  A Hopper that moved past his trauma at the end of S2.  A Hopper that didn’t lose his temper anymore because he apologized to El. A temper he can shut off now because the Gate is closed. A Hopper who would patiently wait around for years until Joyce was ready for him and had moved on from Bob.  A Hopper who would be fine with sharing El with Mike because love conquers all. A Hopper viewed through rose-colored glasses.

But this isn’t realistic.  Trauma can often be complex and in Hopper’s case, compartmentalized, making it easy to burst forth at any given moment and often inappropriately so.  It can make you act badly, irrationally. It can be 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. And as an audience, I think a lot of us didn’t expect this to be a part of his storyline in S3.  The expectation was that there would be continuous upward growth from his arc in S2 and when that didn’t happen, it was the subverted expectations that led to the disappointment in how his arc was handled in S3.  But this disappointment doesn’t mean his arc didn’t make sense.

Assertion 3:

The Hopper we see at the end of S2 seems content.  He has El. He has Joyce’s friendship. Things are at peace, the gate is closed. All is well. Or so we think. The Hopper we see at the beginning of S3 is miserable, lonely, sad, fat, and angry. It’s kind of jarring. But so are the circumstances at the beginning of S3.  In S3, there is no longer an active threat. Everyone is starting to move on from the events of S1-S2.  Joyce and El don’t need his protection anymore because there is no active threat.  His hyper-vigilance leads him to almost shooting Betsy Payne’s dog, not shooting inter-dimensional demodogs.  His overprotective/ controlling instincts are no longer useful they’re annoying, over the top, and just plain toxic. 

In short, there are no longer externalities for Hopper to focus on, so all he has to focus on is himself.  And he is not good at doing that, because that means focusing on his fears, insecurities, and imperfections. And the circumstances at the beginning of s3 give him plenty to personally angst about The two major ones:

1) El is growing up. This is normal, of course.  Little girls become teenagers who become adults. But El isn’t a normal girl, and Hopper is not a normal Dad.  El has superpowers, and she is not a kid anymore.  She is a teenager with a boyfriend, she doesn’t need him the same way she used to, and Hopper cannot protect her the way he used to. Hopper lost his daughter when she was ~6 years old and he didn’t get to raise El for the first 12 years of her life. They’ve missed out on so much together.

And here’s the tragic thing: eventually, she will become an adult, and she will no longer need him at all, theoretically.  Hopper isn’t her biological father.  So what ties El to him, other than her need for him to protect her? In his mind, nothing.  In his mind, her growing up means turning 18 and leaving him.  Permanently.  He can’t lose another daughter. That would break him.  So what does he do?  “Try to stop the change.  Turn back the clock.  Make things go back to the way things were.” When she was his little girl he was not in danger of losing her. And because he has trauma, because he is unable to handle his emotions, he takes it out on Mike and Mike/El’s relationship. He takes it out on their closeness. This symbol of her becoming an adult.

2) Joyce is moving away.  Understandable, of course.  Her youngest son was snatched by the Demogorgon and she had to venture into another dimension to bring him back from near death, he was possessed in S2, and her boyfriend was brutally murdered in front of her. I would want out of there, too. But doing so means leaving Hopper behind.  Joyce, the one other constant in his life, who he can talk to about anything, who he relies on for parenting advice for El, who he can trust completely, who is always there for him, who he loves (who perhaps he’s always loved). And she’s leaving him behind.

So he thinks maybe, maybe, if he make her feel safe, if he gives her a reason to stay (him)...that she will.  But she stands him up and she doesn’t just stand him up, it turns out it’s because the threat was back and he not only didn’t realize it but wasn’t able to keep them all safe from it, despite that being his sole driving force.  He had one job.  And he failed.

So, you see, Hopper’s character arc in S3 is about him, and not the externalities in S1-S2.  He cannot hide behind the danger anymore.  He can’t hide behind “feeding, protecting, teaching.”  His flaws and imperfections are on full display and it’s more difficult for us, and Hopper, to sweep them under the rug. They’re amplified by the circumstances and his arc.

Assertion 4:

This is sort of an aside? But something I still wanted to address because I see it come up a lot.  Namely, that Hopper and Joyce’s dynamic in S3 didn’t make sense, was out of character, and/or that Hopper’s behavior was abusive.  I think that this particular point is important to review not only for Hopper but for Joyce as well, who is integral to Hopper’s character arc, and who I think the fandom often handles with kid gloves. Full disclosure, I AM a Jopper shipper, and have been since 1x1.  That being said, I was not bothered by their dynamic in S3 because I think it was an important bridge in the structure of the show as as well as their relationship.

We still at this point in time don’t know what Jopper’s backstory is, although I suspect we are going to finally get that in S4 based on some of the spoilers/casting calls we’ve gotten over the course of the last few months.  What we do know is at the beginning of S1 there is a familiarity between them (she calls him Hop), there are rumors around town that they fucked, and they seem to trust each other on a level that is not shared with other adult characters. 

I hear a lot of people say S2 was “peak Jopper.” Their relationship is pretty stable. They are friends, he goes with her to Hawkins Lab, she relies on him for safety and protection, they are gentle with each other.  It’s nice.  But it’s also not very personal.  Joyce is with Bob.  Hopper doesn’t tell Joyce that he’s been hiding El. They obviously care about each other (and it seems like Hopper has some feelings there) but they hold each other at arm’s length.

This isn’t the case anymore in S3.  In S3, there is no more arm’s length.  They’re co-parenting.  He shows up at Melvald’s at the beginning of 3x1 (reminiscent of Bob appearing at the beginning of 2x1) for advice, which it appears he’s been doing for months. They really have no one else but each other to confide in, which they clearly do a lot.  There are feelings there now on both sides (I don’t subscribe to the theory that Joyce doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, but that is a discussion for another thread.)

These new (old?) feelings interrupted the S2 relationship dynamic. They’re not just comfortable friends anymore reminiscing about high school. Hopper wants to be close to her, but doesn’t quite know how and blunders through attempt after attempt and the more she rejects him the more upset he gets and the worse he handles it.  Joyce is still struggling to move on from Bob and (imo) is confused about her feelings for Hopper because he is a little bit like Bob, a little bit like Lonnie (and yet nothing like either of them at the same time) and I don’t think she quite knows what to do with that except to fight her feelings and hold Hopper at arm’s length.  The end result is bickering and Hopper losing his temper, because neither of them are able to really discuss their feelings for various reasons.

Most significantly, when they’re bickering and when Hopper loses his temper, Joyce is not afraid of Hopper. She is never afraid of him. She holds her own, she argues back, she stands her ground. When he refuses to believe her about the magnets, she steamrolls him into following her to the Lab. When he shouts at her, she shouts back. When he digs at her, she digs back. The problem with characterizing Hopper’s behavior in S3 as abusive is it fails to grasp the intent behind the bickering.  They’re attempting to find a new normal, a new relationship dynamic.  The way people refer to them throughout the season is heavily coded in language that describes a “team” a “couple.” Because despite the bickering they do respect each other and care about each other and in 3x8 they start to come to that realization together.

(My other issue with calling Hopper abusive is that it makes Joyce a victim. And Joyce isn’t a victim.  She’s own her independent entity with needs and wants and desires. After 2 seasons of being “mom,” shoving her into another archetype reliant on another male character’s actions sorta sucks, doesn’t it? I really do not think this what the Duffers were going for here.)

Assertion 5:

Finally, I wanted to touch on the 3 biggest Hopper blunders in S3:

1) Constantly losing his temper. I italicized this further up because I wanted to emphasize the fact that this was not something new in S3.  It’s always been there. In S1 the benzo’s were masking it.  In S2, he was screaming at a 12 year old girl about how she cannot do anything right. It’s unacceptable behavior.  It got worse in S3 because it is also a symptom of a hurting man who is losing control of everything around him.  In S1-S2 attempting to control everything worked, in S3 it didn’t work anymore.

2) Breaking up Mike and El. After nearly a year of it just being El and Hopper, he has to share her with Mike.  Combine this with El growing up and Mike and El’s co-dependent behavior, it’s a recipe for disaster. He tries and fails at a heart to heart and starts shouting and carrying on instead. Slipping into cop mode is easier than Dad mode. It was also the wrong way to handle it.

3) Trying to push Joyce into a date before she was ready. I already touched a bit on this above in #3, but his eagerness to make her stay leads him to try to push her into something she is not ready for. The end result is more misery for him when she fails to show up, and him being a jerk about it for the duration of the season (”You know he reminds me a little bit of a Russian Scott Clarke.”)

Here’s the thing though, he makes these blunders because he’s flawed.  He’s always been flawed. And the combination of his prior trauma, the circumstances leading up to S3, the shift in relationship dynamics between him and Joyce, and the shift of the narrative from externalities to hhis internalities, make S3 very different than S1-S2. And it showed us that Hopper really is more of an anti-hero than a “good guy” and has been this entire time.

And if you wanted him to be the good guy because he had soft moments in S1-S2, S3 was just a set-up for a let-down because Hopper isn’t the good guy. He’s a jerk. And jerks don’t get the girl.  Jerks don’t get happy endings. Jerks die.  Unless they survive, and get a chance at redemption.

Being trapped in a frozen Russian gulag can kill you, or it can make you stronger.  It can make you re-evaluate what you took for granted, how you handled situations, how you interact with those you love, what really matters. And for someone like Hopper, who loves deeply despite his issues, this is the opportunity to turn all of that around and truly start over.  And if you are the Duffer brothers, you want to ying and yang that shit so the yang is that much more noticeable and emotional when it happens. This whole journey for Hopper is just as important as the outcome and as someone who loves his character, I want to be with him for that entire journey, not just the “good” parts.

So I guess, in sum, Hopper is a flawed jerk who loves El and Joyce. Who makes mistakes, but usually has good intentions. Who had a lot of bad shit happen to him. Who made a lot of missteps and mistakes, particularly in S3, but deserves empathy and a chance at redemption. Who should come back a changed man and get the girl and the happy ending. And I think S3 needs to be viewed through this vacuum in order to fully appreciate his character and the arc.

And if you read all the way through this, God Bless you.

[whumpbby]

1/2 I feel like a bad fan sometimes because I can't bring myself to like Stephanie. Even the tug war between cannon and fandom stuff can endear me to her. Canon wise she comes off as a shitty person, selfish and the way she treats the bats except for Cass sometimes it's some of the worse the only good thing I can say it's that it's realistic. Some people be like that (And I see a lot of my old self in her and I HAD to change so much to be better. Cuz it's not quirky being mean, it's just mean)

2/2 But then fandom has this pedestal to her, she does no wrong or it's always justify, she's perfect! And that makes me dislike her even more (It's movie!Hermione all over again). I read one fic where I liked her portrail, one fic where the author wasn't trying to make her more competent then everyone else (minus Cass I guess). Guess I don't get what is the big deal when batman has so many more interesting and dimensional characters, her and some of the latest Jokers just lack originality to me

***************************

Anon, on one hand I get you. I am a fan of some characters and not others. The issue you have with Stephanie, I have with Cass - can’t like her, see nothing there to interest me, every time I see her described as ‘virtually perfect’ I walk away.

I think that crux of the matter is that canon Steph isn’t a person. No character is a person in DC or Marvel or anything that have been running for so long. No one is a character or a person, there is just a compilation of traits that many different writers invented for their stories. At this point getting to know a character in that fandom is like basing your knowledge of a them on fanfic alone - which is pretty accurate, canon at this point is just fanfic that someone gets paid for. 

So, in that light, there’s no ‘real’ Steph you can like or dislike. There are iterations of her. And when the fans like a character, they pick the best iteration of them and run with it.

On another hand, anon, every character you like is only a perfect version of them that have been chosen and cultivated by you in the same way Steph’s fans cultivate her ‘perfect’ image. So are these perfect Cass’ iterations. So is the whole ‘Duke is flawless’. So are Tim’s stans. So are Dick’s stans. Barb’s stans. So am I, a Jason stan. 

I chose the best version of Jason I could build using the blocks that canon offered me, ignoring the ones that didn’t fit, and this is the version I will stick to. I don’t know all about Jason. I am not 100% critical of his character. I made him to respond to my needs entertainment-wise and I am closing my ears to all and any critique of him coming from people who find it annoying. I don’t care for another opinion, I am not here to have my likes questioned.

Steph, objectively, is not suffering from an unoriginal backstory or a lack of interesting plot potential. She has a splendid origin and more going on in personal life than, say, Tim ever had (calm down Tim stans, I am speaking of plot points to explore, not personal merit). That she’s badly written more often than not is an issue in her characterisation. 

That she is written as being ‘rude’ to the characters you personally may like is a bigger issue in your perception of her, because that’s what it usually comes down to. Personal bias.

For example, it took me personally a LONG time to warm up to Damian, because as much as his story was worth telling, he was written as caustic shit to characters I already liked and I had no patience for him because of that. Had he been a caustic shit to the ones I didn’t care about? He’d be fine. (’s like I only ever find Slade palatable when he’s away from the Batfam, when he deals with characters I have no emotional stock in).

Look, it took me retooling Damian in his entirety to write him with any amount of sympathy. The Damian in my stories? Has almost nothing in common with canon kid. My Jason? Again, a mirage I’ve created to suit my tastes. My Bruce? Barely reflecting his canon self.

And some people are here for these iterations I’ve made up - and I am following certain people for their iterations. And some of them I don’t like and won’t accept, and that’s fine. 

It doesn’t make you a bad fan to not like ALL OF CHARACTERS EQUALLY, it’s a ridiculous and unrealistic demand to be made of a fan of anything, really. You like what you like. It’s like the time I was accused of being anti-feminist because I personally can’t stomach Harley Quinn - a known abuse survivor, so of course my dislike had to be a mark of a bigger issue I had with women in general (I do have an issue with many female characters in general, but that’s another matter entirely lol) because a person can’t just dislike a character others like.  

Rest assured, no moral high-ground here, I am side-eyeing Jason-haters too;] Every time I hear someone praise Joker I have to stop myself from going ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?! and sometime it works, sometimes it doesn’t>> I am working on keeping my dislike to my personal blog. 

You are not a bad fan if you steer clear of a character that’s a firm no to you for whatever reason. A fan is only ever bad when they intentionally get into others’ faces with their issues and cause dissent, because they need to change their minds. 

But the ting to understand here is that rarely ever the fault lays in the character alone. Most of it lays on the shoulders of our personal biases and likes, so the opinion we are expressing should come with that caveat.

[jackoshadows]

Say what you will about Sansa in the show, even though I disagree and think she’s an awesome character and is one of my faves in the show. But what’s with the bashing of Sansa in the books? She’s also a great main character in them. She’s compassionate, intelligent and her inner strength after enduring horrible abuse for the past few years is admirable. I’m excited to see how her arc will go in Winterfell.

I mean, that’s my subjective opinion about a fictional character based on her relatability, characteristics and actions in the books. People are allowed to not like characters right? And IMO, my posts on book Sansa are not exactly ‘bashing’ - rather, its about the actual character in the books versus a fanon made up version of her that some of her fans keep stating as fact. If you think talking about GRRM’s Sansa is ‘bashing’ …. well then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The reason I end up writing so much about Sansa is because her fans keep insisting on shoving her into everything, making the story all about her, insert her into relationships where she does not belong, take away from other characters to give to her etc. This has had the unfortunate side effect of me writing quite a few Sansa posts, the irony of which has not been lost to me 😂

My rambling thoughts on book Sansa under the cut…

I don’t even really dislike Sansa in the books. I have quite a few mutuals and people I follow who love book Sansa and her story and that’s totally fine. Different tastes and all that. And while I loathe the badly written Mary Sue propped up by other characters on the show, I am indifferent to book Sansa. I found her annoying and unrealistically naive in the first book and boring in the later ones. Tbh, I could not care less about the Vale Lords or Sansa organizing feasts in the Vale. I don’t think she’s all that important in the books in the grand scheme of things and GRRM’s original outline only confirms that.

Basically, I don’t care all that much about the character.  And funnily enough, neither do many of her self-proclaimed super fans considering they keep attributing the qualities, characteristics, relationships, plots and themes of other characters to Sansa. My posts are mainly about addressing this disparity.

Number one Sansa fans David Benioff and Dan Weiss are prime examples of this. They give interviews talking about how great a character Sansa is compared to her supposedly ‘one-dimensional adventure seeking’ sister Arya… and then they pretty much give Show Sansa  Arya’s book plots, themes and narrative arcs. Show Sansa’s story arc is a patch-work of plots from book Jeyne Poole, Arya, Jon, Stannis, Theon, Bran etc.

For reference here is a recent post from @circe1fanatic,

https://circe1fanatic.tumblr.com/post/190902121511/ew-interview-whenever-i-read-posts-about-how-more#notes

https://ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-sansa-ramsay-interview/

where D&D admit that they find book Jeyne Poole’s story more entertaining than Sansa Stark’s. They think the story in the North is more important compared to what Sansa is doing in the Vale - and dumped their fave there to give her a more important role on the show.

Sansa does not stand out in any special way in the books. Your description of her here is a perfect example of that - ‘compassionate and intelligent’. There are several other main characters who have proved to be more compassionate than her. Even attempted child murderer Jaime Lannister has demonstrated compassion in the books. Intelligent? Book Sansa is still being manipulated and led around the nose by LF and made a correct guess that one time about Lyn Corbray being on LF’s payroll. Her peers in the meantime have become leaders, rulers, FM, greenseers and are actively changing and influencing the world around them. 

In a lot of ways she is superfluous in terms of skill sets. Jon, Bran, Dany, Arya, Tyrion all know politics as well. Unlike the show, the books don’t give only one specific skillset to one character. In the show, they designated Bran - warg, Arya - killer, Jon - military man, Sansa - politician. That’s not how it works in the books. Bran, Arya, Jon are all wargs. Jon is a savvy politician and diplomat. Arya has learned FM skills of manipulation and detecting emotions. Bran has ruled.  Arya has learned how the North works from Ned. Jon has played the game, outwitting the Karstarks.Sansa can learn at being underhanded from LF, I guess.

One reason for why Book Sansa is popular in fandom is because she is still in many ways a blank slate. While her peers are actively moving the plot forward, she stagnates as a prisoner and pawn, stuck with giving us descriptions of marriages, feasts and a view into other characters like the Tyrells. That’s why it’s easy to imprint on her the desires and expectations of the fandom and why she is the subject of a lot of fanfiction. 

This is why she is often seen as this great queen, great ruler, great player of the game, expert politician etc. - despite having done nothing at all and despite GRRM’s actual rulers being human beings who make mistakes and have flaws and can only learn to lead through doing and experience. It’s the same reason she’s the fandom bicycle when it comes to shipping - the character is traditionally beautiful and is into romance. It’s why nonsense like ‘Jonsa’ exists.

Book Sansa must indeed be appreciated for her inner strength to endure and withstand abuse - just like Arya, Dany and Jeyne Poole endured their abuse with great strength. Consider Jeyne Poole - got trapped in KL because Sansa tattled all her father’s plans to Cersei. Send to LF’s brothel since she was not a Stark like Sansa. Then send off to Ramsay Bolton to be raped and tortured. And still have the presence of mind to escape with Theon. I do indeed admire her strength. All their strengths.

Sansa was a vain, selfish, snobby brat with lofty ideals in book one and by tattling to the enemy - because she wanted to be queen - she loses her father, gets stuck in KL as a political prisoner and realizes the error of her ways. In later books, Sansa tries her best to help others including poor Dontos and that’s a compliment to her that she’s changing for the better and trying to help the little guy like Arya tried to help Mycah in book one.

She now understands that fairy tales are not real, there are no true knights in reality, beauty/appearances are not everything, appreciates her home and family more, and even finds herself attracted to the Hound. She’s lady like with courtly manners and after seeing her interact with KL nobles, Tyrion thinks that she would have done well as Joffrey’s queen.

Currently she is enmeshed in LF’s plots and learning from him in the Vale. She wants to go home, she wants to be loved for herself and not for her claim. Can she outwit LF at his own game and still be Sansa Stark. One cannot play the game by being honorable. Even Jon Snow was breaking his oaths playing the game at the Wall. Would Sansa go along with murdering her little cousin to gain power in the Vale? Would she go against her family in the North or support them? Sansa was originally created as a foil to Arya and as someone who causes conflict among the Starks. Is that where we are still headed or will her character head in a different direction in the books? The show depicts her as being self serving and LF like in the end. I am not sure if this is a reflection of the book character. We will have to wait for GRRM to write the books to find out.

But yeah. I got into this series as a fantasy fan and hence my investment is with the characters involved in the fantastical - Jon, Arya, Dany, Bran - and I don’t really care one way or another about Sansa.

[bookandcover]

[Another late-breaking update...] What a fun read! If you’re looking for a light-hearted and angsty romance, this novel has it all! I loved the pairing of a modern college kid with a stiff-upper-lipped British monarch. It feels like a lot of wish fulfillment is happening in this book, as these two young men navigate their steamy, secretive relationship with (unrealistic?) emotional maturity. But, if you’re allowing wish fulfillment, you’ve got to GO for it (and this novel certainly does!) 

Both Alex and Henry are designed to be romantic figures. Alex, as our protagonist, is grittier, easier to identify with. While smart and determined, he’s also unsure of his next steps (law school? a career in politics?) and waffles in the way someone who has often put others first does when they have to strike out on their own. He’s silly and loves to have fun, in the over-the-top way that only a self-indulgent young adult can, but his partying and his spitfire attitude is paired with the social awareness that seems to pervasively mark Gen Z teens who grew up on the internet. Alex faces a real identity crisis--figuring out that he’s bisexual, falling in love with someone he shouldn’t desire (not because he’s a man, but because he’s a closeted royal)--with a lot of grace and humor. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and yet he has the kind of unflappable confidence I associate with American boys who go to good colleges, study while avoiding the typecasting of “nerd,” and wear polo shirts. I liked Alex’s freshness as a protagonist in the romance genre. In many ways, he resembles the self-sufficient, bombshell (but business woman) heroines of heterosexual chick flicks, but his insecurities run deeper, his complex relationships with his parents and his strange dependency on Senator Rafael Luna, establish him as both more vulnerable and more genuinely rowdy than I’d expected. Alex’s sister June seems perhaps better suited to this archetypal “confident woman who just hasn’t met the perfect man for her” role. June was a character who I just never got onboard with in this book...Alex is surrounded by no-nonsense, powerful women, yet a lot of them remain two-dimensional (in my opinion, and really my only complaint), defined by their roles/surface-perceptions and not a lot of depth. Nora was definitely my favorite female character--with her critical role in revealing that hackers were hired by Richards to expose Alex and Henry’s relationship, and her willingness to retreat into full “nerd-dom” to do so. 

Henry--in contrast to Alex’s at times annoying, but very realistic, college kid with a chip-on-his-shoulder characterization--is the kind of romantic figure you’d expect to encounter in a heterosexual rom com. He’s the mysterious British Royal, formal and superior, that fangirls long to see break out of his shell. Alex’s masculine characterization--his initial competitiveness with Henry, his brusqueness against Henry’s unfailingly polite demeanor--makes the archetypal sophisticated, elitist hero work here. Because it made sense. I related to Alex more and more deeply as he fell further and further for Henry, when he reacted to that allure, but also to the true Henry underneath his polite mask--caring, warm, intelligent, and deeply romantic. Henry’s secret date for Alex--sneaking him into the Victoria and Albert Museum, for which he has his own key--is exactly the kind of classy, grand gesture date that earns him a place alongside quintessential leading men. Yes, Henry didn’t feel as fresh as Alex; he felt like an archetype (even further from reality than the smart and doesn’t-know-she’s-hot typical rom com leading lady), but it’s an archetype that’s used over and over again for good reason. So many of us love to love a man like Henry. And I’m glad that includes fiery, self-aware bisexuals like Alex. 

Against this backdrop of livery rom com energy that reads like a full-blown fan fiction at times, a more serious tone is struck through the politics and presidential campaigns that form the context of protagonist Alex’s life in the novel. Reading this novel during the Trump presidency, the alternate universe presented here is all the more alarmingly idealized. In this alternate universe, a woman--divorced, with a mixed race family--was elected to the U.S. presidency after Barack Obama. The stark contrast this First Family poses with Trump and his cohort makes this literary world even more obviously one that is hoped for, and longed for, but not the one in which we live. I was swept up in the romance--Alex and Henry’s certainly--but also the romantic vision of an America that chooses and supports this family in the White House. While being saddened by the vast difference between this alternate universe and our own, I liked both the author’s political idealism and the background that the world of political campaigning (a space inherently filled with secrets, alliances, and backstabbing) provides for the storyline. 

While politics doesn’t offer, necessarily, shades of realism, it does offer shades of seriousness. At times, the political situation of Alex’s family (can Alex’s mom be re-elected to a second term when her son has been exposed and dragged by the press for his illicit, international relationship?) poses real hurdles in Alex and Henry’s relationship, adding to the drama of the plot line and triggering the challenges that the characters have to face together. In general, I dislike the romantic comedy plot convention of characters creating unnecessary drama and misunderstanding through their inability to communicate or demonstrate emotional maturity. Jealousy, misunderstandings, and silly assumptions drive wedges between happily matched couples partway through far too many romantic comedies. When Alex and Henry settled their differences and fell into each others arms only halfway through this novel, I worried we’d be facing these kinds of trivial tropes that trip-up and delay the happily ever after. Instead, the challenges Henry and Alex face are external to their relationship. These challenges don’t divide Alex and Henry, although other characters, primarily Henry’s homophobic family, struggle to physically keep them apart. This was part of their surprising emotional maturity to me, but--in retrospect--this may not surprising at all. Instead, I’ve been conditioned by legions of romance novels and fan fictions to expect emotional crisis, flailing, and BAD AT FEELINGS the moment any opportunity for miscommunication presents itself. Alex and Henry do seem grown-up, though, for their young age, facing a lot of real challenges, and not just self-made drama, with grace and self-aware. Their maturity steers the novel into thornier (and therefore more realistic) territory. 

When Kim Namjoon got a mention partway through this novel, I felt even more certain that our author was an ARMY! The fan fiction overtones of this novel made it familiar, modern, and lively. My friend who recommended the book (also a BTS fan) explored Casey McQuiston’s twitter when I pointed out the Kim Namjoon reference, and found her posts from Metlife last year. We both got a kick out of confirming that she’s an Army and immediately wanted, even more so, to be her real-life friend. This was a very enjoyable book in part because of its wish fulfillment approach--drawing on the conventions and archetypes known and loved by rom com and fan fiction readers. Yet, at the same time, it had enough backbone and social/political commentary (I read an article just this week about whether Texas could “go blue” in the next election) to expand its impact beyond “light-hearted” and “fun” (although there’s nothing wrong with pure, sugary fluff and enjoyment, of course!) 

[reasonablespeculation]

submission re: EB & more anon reviews below

I thought maybe I can give my review of endings, beginnings that nobody asked for because well I'm seeing so many biased reviews on twitter of ppl who already decided they hated it before watching it.

Starting off, I would like to say that I expected it to be much more worse than it actually is based on all the exaggerated reactions to the clips and some of the shitty reviews.

Style - I have personally always liked drake's style. Dialogue playing over their body language enforces the idea that what they say is something and what they want to do is something else specially in the bar scene between Frank and daphne. I loved the colour palette used, although it's a bit too dark at times and I ended up watching my own reflection at the screen lmfao. I don't mind jump cuts but the jump cuts at the very beginning were too much.

Dialogue - I'm not a fan of completely improvised dialogues. I prefer a script to be pinned down and the actors are given the freedom to add or take from it. The dialogue is lacking for a movie! But if we compare it to real life it's very realistic and I assume this is what drake was aiming at yet this made the film lose its cinema charm.

Actors - I feel like everyone did absolutely great with what they were given. The process shailene described seems like hell for an actor, going into the scene and saying whatever and expecting the other to say whatever and you have to respond on the spot. Frank and Jack's characters were one dimensional because I assumed they are seen through daphne's eyes and she is not interested in them beyond what they can give her (one gives her security while the other gives her passion). Daphne's character is annoying yet you can clearly tell that was the purpose. She's messy, she makes dumb decisions, she craves to be wanted yet claims she wants to stay away from men, her self righteousness when she saw Frank doing coke shows utter contradictions with her own messiness. I felt like there are a lot of ppl who can resonate with her...she's not your typical heroin. Regarding frank, I felt like he was initially even more one dimensional than what was seen on the screen, but sebastian gave him more character. The last dialogue in the diner felt very real and it made me sad. His chemistry with daphne is one of the things I found to be very real too, when he stared at her during that game It felt so intimate that I wanted to look away and give them some privacy (a choice bart didn't have)

Sex scenes - fans have really exaggerated the sex scenes in the movie because in all honesty for a romantic drama 4 sex scenes is not much and they are not long either or too raunchy. You can tell frank and daphne are very attracted to each other which made the intimacy in the scenes super real and had the viewer squirm in their seat feeling weird for watching it. I'm used to sex scenes being very theatrical in American cinema and that often makes them lose the intimacy required for the scene to be considered "hot" much like fifty shades with it's cold approach to sex and nudity.

Ending - I liked how none of the men tried to chase her to the ends of the world, its realistic and if this was real life all of us would be saying they can do better. Drake didn't exaggerate the love stories and he kind of deployed these relationships as self exploration rather than love. What I hated is how she magically went through character development as she got pregnant (this is such a Male perspective that it made me annoyed) I get how he's trying to promote self love but it just didn't resonate with me because it was associated with pregnancy (yet another person to love and be loved by) her journey towards self love should have started solo and I found it incredibly unrealistic for her to not want to know who the father is and even more unrealistic that none of them demanded to know. No one can live their lives knowing their kid must be out there, even if they don't want kids. And it was so ooc of Jack to say "oh that's great" when she told him she's pregnant and he thought it's his because he clearly stated so many times he doesn't want kids.

Overall I liked the movie, its chill, its decent, and it's not cringey it just has a narrow view of what its trying to prove. It's not a movie you can't take your eyes off of when watching but it's one you are interested to know what happens at the end. Many seb fans expect too much after itonya that they are now criticising sebastian's filmography as if opportunities like itonya happen every day and are just waiting for him to hop on. It's much more complicated than that. Endingsbeginnings is a decent movie, we're just looking too much into it because seb is in it.

RS: I agree with you, great review.

anon1: I j watched eb and I still have no idea what happened to frank where did he go - ghosted, bb. went and had more wild adventures and totally ignored Daphne trying to get in touch.

anon2: I remember fans saying there's a sex scene that lasts 20 min in the movie and clearly there was not, which is one example of people exaggerating the hell out of everything about this movie including how bad it is. Shailene mentioned that they shot a 20 minutes long TAKE of the floor sex scene and drake ended up choosing the bits he wanted - yeah I’ve seen a few reviews from other people on tumblr and the reviews Drake is posting in his stories and nobody has any goddamn chill. it’s either the most heartbreaking movie they’ve ever seen (??????) and dug deep into their psyche and replaced the need for a therapist for the next ten years OR it literally came into their home and called their mom a wh*re and stole their cat and peed on their favourite pair of jeans. LIKE?

anon3: So, I still can’t figure out why Seb, Sha, and Jamie were like, kissing the ground Drake walks on because of how great a director he is. While I didn’t thing E,B was awful, nothing about the style or direction of this film makes me want to see any other of his work? I didn’t think it was that profound and found that his writing (especially Daphne’s character) wasn’t that great 🤷🏻‍♀️ maybe I’m just uncultured lmao - I feel like Drake had a big hit with Like Crazy and has been riding that reputation into the sunset

anon4: Watched the movie. Frank is a pathetic guy with no morals and a very low self-esteem. Shailene acting is painful to watch. The plot is prosaic and inane, the characters are unconvincing and the dialogues are dull.

anon5: I agree that the film didnt have a lot to say. Also i didnt hate Daphne like i thought i would and definitely related to her struggles & sadness. But really, apart from Seb the movie didnt make me feel anything much like you. Which is okay i guess if you're into that sorta thing. Also, did anybody else get the feeling she only really wanted Frank but was with Jack cos she didnt wanna be alone? - yeah for sure

anon6: I am somewhat confused about the film's premise. Was Daphne always so messy and the assault was just a catalyst for her or is she simply dealing with the trauma of being assaulted? The film does suggest the former with the mommy&Daphne cuts, but i am not entirely sold on that. And i fail to see how being *thatbigtwist* helps with her self-loathing? Whats happening there? - I agree with you that it seems like the former... but maybe with the assault kinda kicking off the latest round of messiness and exacerbating certain negative habits in she was dealing with people? Andddd idk... magical healing pregnancy trope?

[moviestorian]

Les Mis BBC final thoughts

Alright, on monday I finished the 6th and last episode of the most recent, mini-series adaptation of Les Misérables. I was slightly hesitant about posting my thoughts (mostly because of the tag being largely dominated by negativity; any effort to post anything else seemed kind of pointless to me), but I eventually decided to go for it. I still wanted the entire show to sit in for a while (I also want to do a rewatch, because I can't guarantee that my feelings remain the same; I might just as well change my opinions completely). But let's begin!

Tldr; Also, unpopular opinion alert: I actually enjoyed it. A lot. I genuinely liked the miniseries. Yes, there were some choices and things I wasn't exactly fond of, but I have the same thing about literally every single adaptation I have seen so far (mostly thinking of the stage musical and 2012 film). Cause you know, you can like something and still see its flaws, and the other way round - you can dislike it and yet admit it is not inherently bad.

Now, the longer "review" comes in. It's gonna be reaaaally long. Also: spoilers.

The negatives/things I'm indifferent about/what could have been better:

- I'm following the popular trend of disliking that font. I care a lot about cinematography and visual parts of films and shows, so I wasn't satisfied with this particular choice. They could do better, honestly.

- For most of the time, the music was a bit meh. Nothing really striking or to hate, but compared to the War&Peace 2016 soundtrack (which was amazing!), this one was very undermining. There were some individual songs I liked a lot, though.

- The overall cinematography was ok. Again, nothing super special, but there were some pretty nice shots, too. I had some minor objections about cgi in a few scenes, but let's that the 2012 film wasn't exactly flawless in this aspect, too... If not worse.

- Ok, confession time & another unpopular opinion alert: I genuinely think the script is not half as bad as some people on this site try to tell everyone and the majority of their issues is either exaggerated to an enormous extent or comes from a huge prejudice. Or a general but pretty clear misinterpretation of certain scenes. Having said that, I had issues with the script, too. Davies did a waaay better job with his W&P, really. Although I actually like some of his changes or narrative choices, there is one thing I can't exactly ignore: how certain scenes were pure exposition. I think it got better in the later episodes, but I spotted at least two(!) examples just in episode one alone. Davies, being the experienced author as he is, should really know that it's not a good way to write scenes, especially in the first episode (which is supposed to encourage the viewers to keep watching). There's nothing more annoying to me than being treated, as a viewer, as a person who needs a straight-in-your-face explaination of what’s happening on screen.

- Another fairly popular trend: the brothel & the wet dream sequences. Even though I expected both of these to be A LOT worse, given what the fandom was saying (exaggerating again), and I don't think they are "out of character" or unrealistic in terms of the setting, I tried to cut these out from the episode (in my head ofc). And I think we could do without them; the brothel scene could remain in the final cut, but I would make it way shorter.

- What I REALLY disliked: a minor thing, but it bugged me a lot. I mean the main dialogue being in English, and the background dialogue in French. Christ, how I hate when they do such stuff in the movies...(thankfully the main characters didn't try to pull off their fake French accent, that would be even worse) Either you do it in French, or in English. One has to be consistent.

- The pissing scene in ep1 was...weird.

- Valjean being mean to Gavroche.

- The timeline was sometimes a bit odd, if not crazy, but could’ve been way worse (nothing can surpass P0ldark and its weirdly ageing children and even more weirdly, or not at all ageing adults)

- Valjean firing Fantine left me with very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I think it makes sense narratively, in this particular adaptation, it’s also not the first one who makes Valjean responsible for Fantine’s misery (to a smaller or bigger extent). On the other one, it’s not a choice I’m super happy about so...

Now, let's move on to the positives!

- Excellent choice in casting. I think all of the actors did a solid job. Obviously they had some veteran, experienced or acclaimed actors like Bradley, Sumpter, Jacobi, Colman, West... You couldn't expect any less from them. BUT there were also some younger and fresh faces, who's interpretations of their characters I really loved - Lily Collins, Erin Kellyman, Reece Yates, Josh O'Connor. Liked Joseph Quinn and Ellie Bamber a lot, too, especially the former. Obviously, I cannot NOT mention David Oyelowo! He was particularly impressive in the last episode.

- You have no idea how grateful I am for the entire Pontmercy storyline, honestly. I have so many feelings about Georges Pontmercy it's not even funny. Also baby Marius!!! Huge props for the Marius/Guillenormand dynamics.

- Fantine's storyline. I love the focus on her in this adaptation, and instead of merely showing her "downfall", we got to see her entire background story and many faces of her character. From naivety and joyful innocent to her determination to survive, and, finally, her desperate attempts to feed her daughter. I love that we got to see a glimpse of her relationship with Cosette. I love that, heartbreaking as that scene was, we got to see the moment of her leaving her child with the Thénardiers. Loved that she was also outspoken at times. I really felt for her in this series. Naturally, I always do have tons of empathy for Fantine, she's one of my favourite characters in general, but I found Lily Collins' version to be particularly relatable.

- Btw: I disagree that Fantine and Cosette were overly "sexualized" or fetishized. And don't even get me started on the supposed "sexual undertones" between Cosette and Valjean, cause this is utter bullshit.

- I actually liked the relationship between Cosette and her Papa, especially when she was little!

- I loved Gavroche in this adaptation. I'm usually not a huge fan of his, but Reece was so charming and impossible to resist!

- All the side characters (good or bad) we finally got to see at least for a while! I already mentioned the Pontmercies, but I also mean: Petit Gervais, Tholomyès and his gang (+Favourite and Zephine), Azelma, Gavroche's little brothers, Mabeuf, even Victurnien. And Sister Simplice, I love that woman. And Rivette. 😁

- Huge thumbs up for portraying the Thénardiers as the evil/malicious people they were (but not one-dimensional, esp. Madame Th.) instead of as some comic relief only.

- Contrary to the popular opinion, I count Les Amis as the positives. I actually think that narrowing down the number of the students to focus on was a good choice (like, excuse me, but giving a few lines to a character in an ensemble song is not enough to give them personality. Even in the book some hardly had one). And guess what? I legit cared more about this Enjolras or this Courfeyrac than in other adaptations. I liked Quinn's version of Enjolras more than I like Hugo's original character. This is obviously a personal preference, but to me personally Quinn's slightly toned down version, sort of a hybrid of Enjolras and Combeferre was way more appealing (I also think Quinn had more innocence and wide-eyedness in his eyes and face than some most popular actors who have played the role. To me, the accurate hair colour is the least sygnificant thing, honestly. Especially that some of the fans' favourites hardly fit the book description in that aspect).

- The Enjolras/Grantaire execution scene.

- Small interactions between Enjolras and Courfeyrac. Especially the ones in the final moments of the resistance. Oh my...

- Overall, the barricade scenes were very good.

- I liked Marius a lot, which is quite a thing! I loved that we got the awkward, but still adorable side of his. I had seen Josh in The Riot Club and I remember him being good but not memorable; I was impressed with his performance in Les Mis, he was so different!

- Erin's Éponine broke my heart. Especially in episode 5, she was fantastic. So many expressions in her eyes; I loved her fidgety hand moves, too!

- I appreciate that they started the show with something other than the galleys/bishop Myriel. That was a nice and quite refreshing take.

What else do I like about this adaptation? That it revived my passion for Les Mis; that it made me want to reread the book (or certain chapters at least), rewatch the 2012 film, listen to songs from the musical, check out other adaptations. That it’s gonna bring new people to the fandom. And, whether you like it or not, it DOES offer new interpretations of the characters and actually does give a fresh take. Every adaptations gives us something new to discuss, this one included. I also don’t believe it’s the worst thing that ever happened to Les Mis or whatever; I happen to think it actually is a good adaptation overall. Is it flawless or 100% accurate in everything? No, because it’s impossible to turn such a huge and detailed book into a 100% faithful adaptation; also it’s really not what the adaptations are for. I too would have added/cut out some stuff from various versions of Les Mis, but this is because it’s my interpretation; the fact that we imagine some things differently does not mean that other people’s interpretations are bad.

Since films and tv shows belong to the visual media, I think that Les Mis BBC could have done better in that aspect - I wasn’t exactly satisfied with it, as I wasn’t exactly over the moon about some choices in the script. It’s not a masterpiece, but I never expected it to be one; neither it is a “piece of shit”. Despite its flaws, I still found the miniseries to be very enjoyable and I will gladly rewatch it in the near future. I feel that it might even become one of my favourite adaptations(I will decide once I’ve seen them all, or most of them!), save for the interpretation of JVJ, which could’ve been better tbh. For me, it’s a nice 7,5/10

[unproduciblesmackdown]

i keep forgetting to complain abt this so we’re doing this live...

i watched lady bird right, overall uh it was that rare movie that i think is good but didnt like, personally enjoy that much, & i suspect it wasnt helped by a couple of factors

while this didnt ruin it for me or anything i did really sour on a certain point ive complained abt before re media tropes.....i need cis ppl to find another device to symbolize “character accepts some aspect(s) of their identity thru accepting their given name”

its like unignorable to be watching this element throughout a movie & not have it feel vastly unpleasant... like its not like you can overlook it or just forget it or it just casually occurs to you that oh, lol, a trans teen might have this sort of experience, like...you have to be cis as hell & i guess have no non cis ppl within 50 miles of you to not have that occur to you even once

like, the awkwardness of trying to get people to use a name thats not on official forms & having to explain it on repeated occasions in non private settings & having people pause or raise eyebrows or roll eyes or question it or imply they find it ridiculous or whatever...thats like, some kind of dry humor if its applied to a cis person using a nickname i guess? but thats an experience for a lot of real people where it means a lot more than a preference and it can be received a lot worse & is gonna be a lot more high stakes for a lot of reasons

like i didnt mind it that much until retrospectively b/c i actually thought that for once they WEREN’T gonna do the thing where the character is like actually lol my birth name is fine, and spoilers, they do. like i was rooting for even a cis character trying to simply get people to use the name she liked best for herself. and now of course i resent that they put it in repeatedly throughout the movie. like it just annoys me at this point. the lack of respect for or existence of trans characters, yet theres all these subplots where cis characters press some Self-Determined Identity that they then let go of b/c its all denial of ur true self or whatever like. can you just stop

and anyways its like ive also said...even cis characters (and cis ppl irl) shouldnt be called by their birth name if they insist they dont like to be called that. even in those cases, to refuse to use the name they want to be called is a lack of basic respect, some rejection of their fundamental right & ability to define themselves & a dumbassed power move too. and its Really Not That Difficult.

its not like i think this plot device is inherently bad but its kind of evolved into some bs. like, the fact that almost exclusively especially in movies, a cis character having a Chosen Name will keep being pointed out as an awkward hassle & see how its different from their Real Name & most of all it keeps being revealed as Misguided in the end. meanwhile where are the trans people, in the movies as characters or behind the scenes as someone to be like, hey, this is annoying to see an ounce of something thats often a constant part of our lives & people are always trying to imply that we’re using Fake Names or lying about our identities by having “real” legal names and also in all ways

and also i can just testify that as someone who isnt cis and watched this movie it really stands out even trying to look back on the entirety of the film b/c im v bitter on this point & its not just a minor nitpick and sure doesnt feel like one either

also most scenes with her mom read really differently as someone w an abusive parent. not because i think the character was or was meant to be abusive, if nothing else in the way lady bird reacts to things as not at all the way someone who was abused would, but that kind of like “ooh rough patch in a parent-child relationship, friction so constant its expected at all times, overcritical behavior” is like, the normal interaction on a good day for abuse. i didnt read it as abuse in the movie and know that its not an actual factor but again, theres just no way for me to ignore it, thats just another way i couldnt really say i enjoyed it or would watch it again. thats how it be personally watching movies sometimes you know. you get scenes like that a bunch of times where it automatically evokes a different reaction than it would for most people & you’re aware of that & you can still interpret the interaction the way you know you’re Supposed to, but it doesnt stop you from feeling the way it makes you feel. it just altered the feel of this movie in particular coz it was like 2/3 of the movie. u also dont much get realistic invocation of Abuse / an abused character in movies or shows or books either so....(or when you sort of do in really subtle ways everyone interprets the character as a wimp or a jerk or whatever unless its some unrealistic, one dimensional, conveniently appealing and easy to deal with version of a character where they’re just kind of momentarily shy or sad but they warm up easily, or somewhat cold or cocky but really they just need to finally have a dramatic confession & then theyre all back to being a Regular Person left w no particular hindrances due to trauma that other ppl might find inconvenient or unsympathetic)

anyways

[jazzband22]

the silver mask review

NOTE: all spoilers will be under the cut, so if you havent read the book yet, i would suggest not opening it (unless you dont care about spoilers like me ^_^)

okay, so i know we all had low expectations for this book. i know we all knew it was gonna suck. despite this, i found myself feeling hope when i picked this book up off the shelf last night. maybe it will all have just been a big misunderstanding and the book is actually gonna be great!

well i was wrong. its bad. really bad.

honestly, as im typing this, i cant think of many things about this book i actually liked. i guess i liked that call had a lot of doubts about everything he was doing? he was constantly wondering if he was doing the right thing, which i can really relate to. im not an evil overlord, obviously, i just have anxiety. i also liked the banter between call and jasper and the development of their relationship. it was kinda nice to see them working together on something, and even helping each other.

now, for the things i didnt like.

this book was lightning-paced, and this did not work in the story’s favor. i read the whole book in one sitting, which im sure many of us will do, and i found myself wondering, “wait, we’re moving on already?” scenes are short and to the point which is a little disappointing. i expect more from this book, i know what it’s potential is. its sad seeing it coming so short.

another thing i didnt like was the dialogue and the characterization of some characters. the dialogue felt very unrealistic and stiff, like bad actors reading from a script. some of the characters were so one-dimensional, a great example being tamara. her development was completely destroyed in this book, which is crushing to read. alex felt very much like a cartoon villain, with a cheap motive and very little development of his relationship with master joseph, which definitely shows a more human side of him and could have made me sympathize with him more. call is super dumb in this book, and he hyper-focuses on things that have nothing to do with the story. for a good few chapters, his narration is so annoying because he only talks about one thing, which ill talk about under the cut.

this is the shortest book yet at 232 pages, and of course i am taking into account that this is technically intended for younger audiences, but ive read much longer, better paced, and more well-cared-for books intended for middle grade readers. this book feels like it was written in a few days, which really draws back to the fact that i think cassandra and holly have stopped caring about magisterium. a series with authors that dont care anymore is doomed to fail, and i believe that’s the direction magisterium is going.

that’s the end of the non-spoiler portion of my review. again, dont open the cut if you dont want to be spoiled!

(spoiler: this book is bad and you shouldnt spend money on it)

okay, so one thing that really pissed me off was how dumb call was acting about kissing tamara. he just didnt shut up about it, which was annoying to read since he was the narrator, and frustrating since hes supposed to be focusing on escaping or bringing back aaron! the callmara subplot was pointless and annoying. call and tamara didnt have nearly as much chemistry as call did with aaron, and im not a bitter calron stan talking here, im talking as a reader who wants to read a good book. callmara kind of ruined this book for me. there was no development, barely any discussion between the two, they kissed once and suddenly they were dating... it felt like they just threw it in because their plot map said they needed a romance. if it had more development other than anastasia telling call, “oh man, she has such a crush on you. its cute.” (which is pretty close to what she actually said) i would be less angry about it. plus, call obviously cares more about aaron than tamara, evident by him literally lying to her face about not wanting to bring him back, and once he does bring him back, his unwillingness to let aaron go like tamara asked him to multiple times. so i personally think calron would have been a better choice, except the fact that aaron is so magnificently fucked up after he gets resurrected.

which, by the way, can we talk about that?

you cant just bring a dead character back to life for 10 chapters only to KILL HIM AGAIN AT THE END OF THE BOOK. WHAT.

of course hes not actually gone, now hes a voice in calls head, which is worse than him being dead or reborn. we now have a bodiless aaron stewart floating around in calls soul. like. what the mega fuck. no one wanted this. no one.

i liked and also hated that aaron was different after his resurrection. i liked it from a plot standpoint, but as a reader who has had literal years to become invested in his character, i hate that he died in the first place. still searching for the plot reason he was killed off, by the way. i dont see any. ANY. viable reason for aaron to have died other than shock value. kill tamara! or jasper! fuck, kill celia! any of those people being killed would have the same bearing on the plot that killing aaron did. this is me being super satly right now, because aaron is my golden retriever puppy, but i mean come on. even if i didnt stan aaron i would still be SUPER pissed about his death.

tangent over. this didnt even happen in the book. who let me review books im so bad at this.

but yeah. aaron came back and then he died again. so. dont buy this book.

the ending was super weird? it felt like it was supposed to happen at the end of the series. it was very final. of course, they found a way to squeeze out one more book and take all of our money, because the rules are just being made up as we go.

thats another thing i didnt like! the rules of the whole chaos thing are super confusing and i feel like theyre just being made up for plot convenience? like alex being okay in the void? honestly i skimmed the epilogue (which isnt even an epilogue idk why they called it one) so i dont really know alexs whole void thing but hes not dead? hes in the void but hes gonna come back i guess because the plot says so.

okay. i could honestly go on for hours about this book but i only read through it once and im kind of afraid im gonna say something wrong in this review so im gonna end it here. in conclusion, i hated this book. a lot. will i still be buying the next one? of course i fucking will. will i hate myself for it? of course i fucking will!

dont spend money on this book. dont do it.

[clouds-of-wings]

So in conclusion after finishing SoD... I’m glad I played it but I’m also glad I only bought it when it was a lot cheaper than initially. It’s a good game, but also not really on the level of the original games.

Stuff I enjoyed: the tactical combat of BG is still and always great and the difficulty level of the battles was (on Core Rules difficulty) mostly reasonable, challenging but not impossible. I liked Corwin and Voghiln as characters, though not necessarily as people. It’s nice that they got the original voice actors back. The main storyline was interesting. I really liked the end of Caelar’s story. It completely turns her character on its head and seemed to surprise her herself.

Stuff I didn’t like so much:

The tone of the writing was just off oftentimes. I realise they were going for a more “modern” feel but the original games didn’t depend on 90s colloquialisms either. At least the SoD team didn’t go full valley girl but the way the characters spoke was often grating. They made some of the characters into caricatures. Although to be fair - if Edwin’s Nether scroll storyline had appeared in SoD, I would probably criticise it as “cheapening” the character too. And while I found Glint annoying, Jan Jansen is no less of a joke character (if anything he’s worse, at least Glint doesn’t burp at you every other time you click him), so maybe I shouldn’t idealise the original games.

I didn’t like the other new companions at all. They were annoying and tropey. After meeting them for the first time, I made it a point to kill Baeloth and Neera every time I met them because they’re just - so - annoying! Dorn and Rasaad I just found boring and one-dimensional.

But my biggest criticism is how illogical and unrealistic much of the writing was. There were a lot of plot holes and artificial constraints on how to play the game. It was often simply impossible to play the game in an “evil” way - or simply in another way than the writers intended. When I tried to do it anyway, the game offered some implausible reason why I couldn’t do the thing in question. For example: there is no way to complete the quest where two soldiers want you to assassinate that guy who keeps bothering one of the commanders in the way they tell you to do it. You can try to lure him into a quiet corner of the camp but no matter where you kill him, you will always be spotted. I looked it up in a games forum and found a post by someone who had tried for hours to complete the quest in an evil way. But you can only stupidly, illogically kill him in front of everyone. The game then punishes you heavily with a 3 point drop in reputation.

Another example: I was suspicious of Torsin all along. When he gave me the poison, I drank it to see if it was legit and it did nothing. It may not be realistic that a Bhaalspawn drinks poison, but an evil one could definitely force someone else to try it. When I tried to deposit the mighty badaboom or whatever it was called his associate gave me in the caves, the game pointed out that I could not see any obvious weakness in its structure. After both these events, I was convinced that Torsin was probably a traitor who had given me a useless poison to encourage a false sense of security in the army and had duped me into delivering a powerful bomb to Caelar. Yet I could not bring these suspicions up with anyone and as it turns out he wasn’t a traitor, you weren’t even supposed to suspect that.

Another example: Early in the game in Baldur’s Gate I was pretty sure everyone in the “get my money back” quest was lying to me because everything they said seemed like a flimsy excuse by someone who was taking advantage of my gullibility. So the guys who beat up the guy who carried my money around outside (for whatever reason, because we never get a real reason for that either) and who were now partying and drinking actually only took my money to help starving refugees? Yeah right! I killed them all and suddenly I was the bad guy? What, I was supposed to believe those flimsy stories?

And then there are the countless instances where you convince someone with one sentence to abandon their long-held beliefs. What, is everyone in the game an idiot who doesn’t think their life decisions through at all? Actual conversation I had, slightly paraphrased:

- I’m a devotee of Ilmater. I dedicated my life to him and immersed myself in his teachings, his philosophy of righteous suffering. I therefore choose to remain sick rather than get healthy because I believe that it serves the greater good. - Viconia: A follower of Shar knows that there’s no point in suffering needlessly. - Ok. I’m convinced. Please heal me. The words of a drow stranger who worships an evil goddess have immediately convinced me that my religious faith was wrong all along.

I had countless conversations like this. Between this and the dumb excuses other characters gave me for their actions that seemed like transparent lies but turned out to be the truth, it seems like pretty much everyone in the game is just stupid? Either that or the writers lack a sense of realism. Convincing people to change their beliefs should be hard. Real stories should be plausible or otherwise you should be allowed to doubt them without becoming the villain.

So in conclusion - the game was fun to play, the story was interesting but the writing was often just bad and full of plot holes and unrealistic outcomes, which became pretty frustrating after a while. Maybe the writers didn’t have a lot of feedback from people who were not directly involved with the project, because it seemed like a classic case of someone getting so caught up in their own head that they couldn’t see their work from the outside anymore. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the game itself (even though I often rolled my eyes) and will probably replay it at some point.

[thethoughteater-blog]

Dick Reviews Stuff: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

This post only covers the first season of the show. I’ll cover Sukeroku Futatabi-hen in it’s own post once all of it is out and I’ve seen it all.

Have you ever watched a show that’s filled with things you really like, but the show almost seems like it’s trying to keep you from enjoying them? This show is the most recent example of that for me.

It should be the perfect show for me. It’s a show about a young man who loves his craft and wants nothing more than to become great at it, despite his own belief that he’s not any good at it, all while he grows up around his best friend, who outstrips his ability in the craft in every way. Even if that wasn’t essentially a description of my life, stories about people who are truly passionate about something and dedicate themselves to it make up a sizable portion of my favorites. The narrative structure of this show keeps me from enjoying that as much as I should be able to.

The show begins with a double-length episode, where we’re introduced to an unnamed protagonist who has recently been released from prison, where he developed an infatuation with the storytelling art of Rakugo. He sets out to become the apprentice of the last remaining rakugo master, Yurakutei Yakumo. Yakumo doesn’t take him on at first, but he’s persistent, and Yakumo allows him to live in his house for a time. There, he meets Konatsu, a young woman who has been the ward of Yakumo since her father (another Rakugo performer, Sukeroku) died years ago. She shares his love for rakugo, performing it for the him and helping him to practice even though Yakumo won’t take him on. Eventually, in an impassioned plea, he convinces Yakumo to be his master, In that plea, however, he also says he thinks Konatsu wants to be an apprentice, too. This leads to a dramatic moment where Konatsu announces her hatred for Yakumo, and accuses him of having killed her father.

The show was off to a great start. There was an immediately relatable and likeable protagonist, and an interesting mystery- what happened with Yakumo and Konatsu’s father?

Then our hero (who has now been given the stage name of Yurakutei Yotaro)’s old boss shows up to Yakumo’s house. Yotaro wants nothing to do with crime anymore, he just wants to study rakugo. His boss ridicules him for this, thinking rakugo is a silly pursuit. He wants Yotaro to come back. Yakumo stands up for him, proving himself not merely the cold-hearted old man he me seem to be, and to prove the worth of rakugo, he invited the boss to watch Yotaro perform. He tries to refuse, but Yakumo pressures him into accepting.

Here we have a great scene. Yotaro performs a hilarious rakugo story about a bumbling thief. His boss starts out not reacting, but by the end he’s having a great time. He laughs, having seen Yotaro’s personality in the story, and shows himself as someone who legitimately cares about Yotaro, not just a one dimensional criminal. The show had sold me on every one of these characters, and maybe most importantly of all, it had sold me on rakugo.

Then we get to episode 2. We go back in time to when Yakumo was a child. I was interested, an episode or two of backstory to give the show more context seems like a cool idea. What it doesn't’ seem like, though, is the makings for the rest of a whole season. That’s what we got, though. We followed Yakumo as a child (Before taking that name, as rakugo performers pass on their names to apprentices, and the previous Yakumo is still alive at this point. He’s mostly called Bon at this point, but that’s not a name, it means “Young Master”). We see him become an apprentice to the current Yakumo, alongside another child (who would go on to be Sukeroku, Konatsu’s father). We see them grow up. They get their first stage names, becoming Kikuhiko and Hatsutaro, We follow both of them through the early parts of their careers.

Unlike Yotaro, Kikuhiko wasn’t immediately interesting to me as a protagonist. At first, he doesn’t even really have an interest in rakugo. The story of someone falling in love with a craft can be as great as the story of someone with a passion in a craft pursuing it’s perfection, and it was, here, but there was a lot of time between Kiku as a child being introduced and the moment he realizes he loves rakugo. It took until about there for my interest in the show to rekindle, after it snatched away the story I actually cared about.

Hatsutaro was a fun character, and his brotherly relationship with Kiku is endearing, but this area of the show is filled with annoying levels of repetition. There are only so many times you need to demonstrate to me that Hatsutaro is a lazy alcoholic and that Kiku doesn’t like that before I get it and you can just move on. There was an interesting aspect to their relationship, though. I touched on this at the beginning of the post. Kikuhiko idolizes Hatsutaro for his amazing Rakugo, even though he looks down on him for every other aspect of his personality, even though he thought so little of him when they first met for being a poor orphan. He idolizes it to the point his own rakugo suffers from his trying to emulate it instead of finding his own way of doing it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard the advice that you need to find your own voice (albeit it was in the context of writing, not rakugo), so seeing it used as a conflict in a narrative is pretty cool.

Another character is introduced, a geisha named Miyokichi. At first, I found little of interest in her, just thinking she was a love interest for Kiku, but later, when her desire to have a normal relationship starts to conflict with Kiku’s rakugo, she has a moment where she says something that gave me a lot to think about. Though it’s presented in kind of a bullshit patriarchal way, her goal to just sort of be a housewife is as legitimate a goal as becoming a master of rakugo, Had they parted on better terms, the two of them separating might have actually been a fairly healthy thing. As someone with creative goals, it can be really easy to think less of people who don’t- I’ve definitely done that before. It’s really not any different, though, It’s just trying doing the things that make you happy. That’s all there is to life,

So after they break up, Miyokichi rebounds with Hatsutaro and they move out to the country, while Kikuhiko continued with his rakugo career. At this point, Hatsutaro and Kikuhiko have pretty much ended their relationship as well. Time passes.

At this point in the show I wasn’t really feeling it anymore. Even though I managed to get attached to this new set of characters, I had to suffer through all of that repetition I mentioned. I was happy to see the plot moving forward at least. Then, in the preview for the next episode, I saw this face:

Finally I was going to see the story tie back in to what was going on in episode one, and it’s with Konatsu, who I’d say was the most interesting character from all the way back then. Even though I was starting to forget the details of what was even happening then at this point, I couldn’t help but be excited. It also helped that child Konatsu is adorable.

Kiku goes after Hatsutaro and Miyokichi and finding out she apparently stole money from the geisha house she worked at when they left. When looking for a rakugo theatre, he’s pointed toward a restaurant where rakugo is performed. There he enters in the middle of young Konatsu doing rakugo. Here, the show was finally great again- not only was it finally returning to the plot threads I was interested in, but the show was reminding me what’s so awesome about rakugo, what the point had been this whole time.

He talks to her, finding out that Miyokichi has left her and her father for someone else, and that Hatsutaro has no job, not even performing rakugo, with only Konatsu providing the money they need. She takes Kiku back to their house, and the reunion between Hatsutaro and him is actually heartwarming. Kiku hits him with his bag for being lazy, and he gets back up and hugs Kiku anyway. The strike was just proof nothing had really changed. It almost made up for the show beating their relationship into my head over and over again earlier on.

Kiku gets Hatsutaro to start doing rakugo again, and he starts doing it there as well, so they can save up money to all move back to tokyo together. Kikuhiko falls in love with performing in small theatres, all of the joy having been drained out of performing since breaking ties with Hatsutaro. At this point I was legitimately loving the show again.

Then Miyokichi comes back. She secretly watches one of Kiku’s performances, and comes to see him in his room at the inn they perform at that night.  Hatsutaro sees them and walks over to the balcony in the room where they’re sitting, and there’s a dramatic moment, and then the balcony starts to break. That’s right, the answer to “what happened with Yakumo and Konatsu’s father?” is “Gravity”. Sorry, I’m being glib. It’s more like “They were idiots, and so was Miyokichi, and no one in this show can just talk to each other.” Afterward, Konatsu hates Yakumo thinking she killed her dad, and seemingly he never tries to just explain it to her. Then, when she says she wants to be a Rakugo performer, he says she can’t, because she’s a girl, and he’s just a dick, I guess. There’s a parallel to earlier when the geishas told him as a child he couldn’t be one, but the show never actually draws it itself, and at no point are we shown him thinking they were right to tell him that. I don’t know if it was just unrealistic to think a girl could become a rakugo performer in that time period, I’m not expert, but it wasn’t justified narratively. After that, they go back to tokyo.

At that point, I was just deflated- but wait! We’re going back to the present!  However, we didn’t get to just go back to the present, the situation I was actually invested in, we had to skip forward a huge chunk of time. Konatsu is pregnant, Yotaro has been promoted and given Sukeroku name, and I had a third set of circumstances to get invested in. This show left me exhausted.

My hope for Sukeroku Futatabi-hen is essentially that unlike the first season, it decides to just be one show instead of 2, or 2 ½, or however I should put it. I’m excited to see Yotaro/Sukeroku again, but I have no idea where the show is going to go with Konatsu’s pregnancy or how that’s going to tie back in to rakugo.

I give this show a 7 out of 10. It’s got bits and pieces of good ideas, and I like every one of it’s characters to some degree, but it lacks focus, and it’s structure is too awkward for it to be great. I apologize if my writing came off as amateurish, this is my first review. I’m going to leave my ask box open for any and all feedback you have. Follow me if you want to see more reviews like this/ I’ll cover more anime in the future but I’ll review other media as well.

[destressjournal]

DCOM Rankings #74: Dadnapped

As I said in my previous review, I didn’t care so much for this movie. I thought the trailer was kinda dumb and a little too kiddie for me. (It was 2009 so I was 14). I was getting to the age where I was growing out of these movies. I think after 2011 I kinda stopped watching DCOMS altogether, but we’ll get there soon.

Anyway, after watching this movie, it was actually kind of cute! I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did, even though I kind of wanted to hate it.

So, flaws.

- ummm I guess the first half was really predictable and boring. I mean you KNOW the dad is going to stay for the convention even though Emily osmet’s character is like we gotta gooooo (by the way, I honestly forget all the character’s names....so I will refer to them as either another character or their real names) I mean nothing really happens until the dad gets taken.

- I feel like children’s novels wouldn’t be this popular among adults. Unless the writing was just THAT good. I get maybe kidnapping Stephanie Meyer during the Twilight series craze, but I don’t really know of any YA books that would be popular enough to create this kind of cult following. But hey, maybe I’m wrong. I guess captain underpants and diary of a wimpy kid were good enough to get big budget movies. Either way, in order to get me to believe any of this, I feel like there needs to be some realism grounding the story.

-All the “home alone” style pranks they pull on the bad guys. Seen it, been there, done that. I’m just not interested in the slapstick comedy throughout the whole thing. Funny enough I didn’t like all the scenes when the characters just get covered in all kinds of stuff (trash, toothpaste, bubble suds, cheese whiz, water balloons full of onion juice or something). And guess what specific scenes they chose to play in the end credits? All those scenes AGAIN. Sorry they all just gross me out and it’s not funny to me. Home alone is the ONLY movie in which I can tolerate those pranks.

-The characters are honestly pretty one dimensional. Maybe except the main character. But besides her, everyone else has like 1-2 personality traits. The dad is obvlivious, and forgetful. The three kids are the cute nerd, the funny nerd, and the commanding little brother. The bad guys are the funny one and the serious one. And the bad guy is just a guy with an evil plan and an evil laugh. Maybe it’s set up this way for a reason, cuz they want to to be like a “kid spy agent” type movie. But eh. It’s just not my taste. But like I said, it’s cute!

- speaking of the bad guys, the hotel manager’s motives were kind of out there and didn’t make a lot of sense. Kind of going back to the point about the author being THAT famous being a tad unrealistic. At least for me. Like, is his writing like the voice of God or something???Y’all need to get a grip.

-one last thing. There’s a scene in which Emily’s character says “wow I need to get a comb” referring to how messy her hair looks. IT LOOKS PERFECT ARE YOU KIDDING ME???. I WISH I could style my hair perfectly like that. (I know the there are stylists who do their hair tho) but yeah that literally had me pausing the movie and going wtf!

To sum, the over-the-top stylized gimmicky nature of the movie is cute but I don’t usually like those kinds of movies for myself because they seem too aged down.

Okay, the good things now!

-Emily osment’s character (I just looked it up, her name is Melissa, huh) Was actually a pretty good character. At the beginning she was a little bit annoying but like I can’t blame her because everyone around her was even MORE annoying. (This part got deleted and I’m so mad so I have to type it again). But throughout the film you really get to see how she grew as a character, using her imaginary Zoom friend as a guide. At first, he was just a manifestation of Melissa’s hate for her dad, and someone for her to talk to for the audience to understand what’s going on in her mind. But then as the movie went on, you can see how Melissa and Zoom think more and more alike and she embraces a side of her she didn’t know she had. And she liked it. And as it turns out, the Zoom character was based on Melissa all along. Even though you KNOW that Zoom isn’t real and it’s just Melissa talking to herself, this is still great character growth that’s happening internally. It’s her realizing that she has strengths and is smart all on her own. She is capable of doing great things and is a real person, aside from a character in a book. If only the dad told her this at the very beginning of the movie instead of the end but....then there would be no movie so...but anyway this is basically as deep as the movie gets.

-the acting was great all around! The story definitely flowed from one thing to the next. I actually did like how they did the twist villain, and while I had hints, I was not actively like “oh the hotel manager is the villain”. So that was surprising. But there were also 2 twists! One that was the kids just pulling a harmless prank and the other two older guys being the bad guys. And then the second twist villain.

-I did like the chemistry between David Henrie and Emily osmet. It’s not like omg amazing but I think it works, even if things did go a little quick. But I guess when it’s literally a kidnapping emergency you tend to get vulnerable and close really quickly. So I will forgive the movie for that. I honestly forgot how cute David henrie is. I wonder what he’s up to now....probably bored like the rest of us.

-I don’t think there’s a character that I absolutely hated. There are some weird ones that I didn’t really like, but I understood their place in the story, so I can’t 100% justify kicking them out of the movie. So I guess the movie did a good job with the characters.

- this movie was filled with action and a bit of suspense too. While the over-the-top gimmicky films are not my taste, drama, kidnapping, suspense, those are the parts of the movie that I like, and it definitely has that “home alone” feel that I mentioned earlier. Is it perfect? Hell no. But at least I’m not bored for most of the movie, so that earns this a point!

So in conclusion, this was better than I thought it would be. It’s not amazing and I don’t know if I will voluntarily click to watch this again, but I had a decent time with it. All in all, this is definitely a kids movie. There are movies like high school musical that both kids and adults can watch and it’s not totally weird. But this movie...if you’re an adult and love this, I’m not judging (like I said I liked it too) but this was 100% directed at kids. And that’s why it’s not going to be an A on my list. I think it’s going to be either a plain B or a B-. Most likely plain B for the character development alone.

So that’s that. The next movie is another favorite of mine. Cuz high school drama is what I live for. Let’s go!!