#or weren’t about sexist racist things

[anxiously-kk]

i’m really sorry but i’ll never be convinced that matt is more personable or likeable than cory. i feel like the fact that so many people truly believe that is some sort of pretty person bias or something

[captainjonnitkessler]

The thing is - in order for me to trust you as a religious person, I need to know that you support apostates of your faith. ALL apostates of your faith.

The ones who left because they faced spiritual abuse, the ones who left because they didn’t think the religion was true, and the ones who left because they simply didn’t like it. The ones who are open and angry about their religious abuse. The ones who still participate in cultural events and the ones who completely cut contact with the faith. The ones who left because their community was sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic. The ones who converted to a different religion and the ones who decided they would just rather assimilate and the ones who don’t give you a reason.

And when your reaction to an apostate, ESPECIALLY ones who left because of abuse and conservative communities, is stuff like “well, the people who hurt you weren’t REAL [X]s”, or “well, actually if you interpret this religion the RIGHT way (by joining MY community) then it’s totally not bigoted at all -” or “well you can’t let your bad experience taint a whole religion” or “you shouldn’t talk about your bad experience because it gives the rest of us a bad name” or “then I guess you never REALLY had faith” or “the idea that you can leave a faith in a meaningful way is a Western colonialist ideal” or “if you leave this faith then you are committing voluntary cultural genocide” - the last two of which are real things I saw real people say recently - then it’s very obvious you care more about protecting your religion and its power over its adherents than about caring for the individual people within it.

Nobody owes it to you to stay in your religion. And if you can’t 100%, wholeheartedly respect that, then I'm not going to trust you or your opinions about religion.

[dramavixen]

Love and Redemption: A Fantasy Epic About How Prejudice Destroys Worlds, and How Love Pieces Them Back Together

**major spoilers for: Love and Redemption

After wrapping up a watch-through of Mysterious Lotus Casebook, my mom had the brilliant idea that we should rewatch the work that launched Cheng Yi to fame (or at the very least solidified him as the man to hire if you need someone to spit blood): Love and Redemption. 

I’m certain she only found this idea appealing because she doesn’t remember a TV show after it’s over. Credits rolling? Aight, time for the woman to clear up space on her brain’s memory drive. Meanwhile, my life flashed before my eyes as I recalled the anguish that’s synonymous with the show’s plot. But you know how things go when your mom wants something. If she says you're sitting through 44 hours of emotional torture with her, then you plant yourself on that couch until it’s over.

Ironically, Love and Redemption fares even better on rewatch. Though other xianxias have come close to its place in my heart, I’m now concerned that my palate won’t be so easily satiated again. It’s got your conventional reincarnation, warring realms, and a star-crossed romance while throwing curveball after curveball to shatter your expectations. Complex characters, too? An endgame villain who will haunt you in your sleep? You can’t ask for more. 

Just because you didn’t ask, doesn’t mean that the show won’t deliver something extra. I like to think that nothing reflects a society’s unsightly reality like a well-done fantasy, and this one hits closer to home the more time that passes. A thinly veiled commentary on human flaws and how difficult it is to be a good person, Love and Redemption is a drama for the ages.

This is going to get lengthy, so to prepare you, here’s how I’m divvying up this piece:

Part I: All of Them Are Classist

Part II: All of Them Are Sexist

Part III: All of Them Are Racist

Part IV: Love Wins All

---

Part I: All of Them Are Classist

It’s not my intention to disgust anyone right out of the gate, but we need to talk about Wu Tong. Do you hear what I hear? Yes, it’s the distant echo of Wu Tong’s nefarious laughter, resounding between the walls of my skull.

Quite simply, Wu Tong is the worst. (Or at least he would be, if it weren’t for that other fellow named Bai Lin. That dude will get a glaring spotlight later in this essay, trust me.) But it’s not for no reason.

Coming from a background of poverty, Wu Tong spends most of his young life trying to prove himself to upper class cultivators who don’t have any interest in who he is, only in what he has to offer them. He earns his place in his sect through relentless hard work. He utilizes unsportsmanlike methods in his attempts to win the battle tournament in opening episodes. It's not just a competition to him—he's directly told that if he gets anything other than first place, he can forget about keeping his place in his sect.

When he and the protagonists first meet, his prideful personality results from his inferiority complex. There’s no doubt that he’s a powerful cultivator, but the issue is how he finds that to be his only real value. He doesn't bother to be likable, because what's the point in doing that? Being likable doesn't fill an empty stomach. But the more he disrespects others in an effort to make himself appear important, the more others look down on him, and the more he overcompensates by fighting back even more. It’s a vicious cycle—one that never ends because no one involved wants to take the first step back.

Knowing what type of person he becomes, it’s hard to pity him in any capacity. However, it would still be unfair to ignore how others mistreat him before he even turns into a true enemy.

One scene that sticks out to me happens early on, where Wu Tong nearly injures Xuanji during a 1v1 battle against Minyan. The protagonist crew insists on getting payback. Okay, I’m with it. You can’t let such reckless violence slide. I guess they’ll get their revenge in a later stage of the tournament by beating him into the ground? 

Nah. That would be too reasonable. What they actually opt for is tricking him to fall into a trap by putting up a “have you seen my lost snake?” poster with a financial reward, knowing that he’ll be fooled because…he’s poor.

Sifeng: I asked around. Wu Tong was born to a family of lower status. He lives frugally. The reason he trains so hard is because he hopes to become someone powerful one day. […] Now he needs the money urgently to buy medicine and recuperate his inner strength before his next battle. Minyan: When you put it that way, doesn’t that mean he has no choice but to come for the ten night pearls?

Sifeng…oh no. Not you too.

The way Wu Tong behaves doesn’t warrant anyone being amicable toward him. I, too, have a nonexistent tolerance for obnoxious, violent egoists. But if later episodes are any evidence, this scene foreshadows that two wrongs won’t make a right. If they want to teach him a lesson, they shouldn’t stoop so low as to take advantage of his poverty. His family background is the one thing about him that isn’t his fault, yet it’s the one thing they choose to use against him. That’s what I call “going too far.”

Now that he's been hit where it hurts, Wu Tong feels justified in going too far himself. In a fit of desperation and contempt prompted by his master abandoning him, he stabs Xuanji. Not great. Things get extremely not great when you remember that Xuanji is the daughter of a sect leader. That quickly transforms Wu Tong’s attempted murder/almost manslaughter into the evilest act known to mankind. All five sects turn against him to hunt him down and kill him. I’m no law or philosophy expert, but I’m pretty sure the punishment for almost manslaughter is not the death penalty. 

The five sects can treat him as their prey because he doesn’t have a support system to counter them. If he were the son of another sect leader, the thought of killing him would never even have entered their minds. Targeting him so relentlessly has less to do with justice and more to do with exerting power over a lower-class young man who hurt someone infinitely more “important” than him. 

That imbalance between crime and punishment is what pushes Wu Tong over the edge. He goes on the run for several years before officially succumbing to the call of evil, after which he becomes truly irredeemable. Still, you’re occasionally reminded of his struggle—is he destined to be a villain? Or is throwing aside his remaining morality just his best chance at survival? 

Do you have any idea how I survived these past several years, when you were all trying to kill me? What did I do back then that was so unforgivable? Did your sister die? Was it warranted for all five sects to team up against me, an average disciple? Was it warranted to back me into a corner over and over again, to force me to claw out of hell? Open your eyes and look at me! These past four years, I’ve already died countless times. Every time, I clawed my way back out of hell. Five hundred taels? You want to take my life with a measly five hundred taels? Don’t look down on me. Touch here. I have a fake leg. That’s what your five sects have left me with. What’s that look of yours? Guilt? Pity? I’m not telling you this for you to pity me. I, Wu Tong, survived this far because I must have my revenge.

Something my mom likes to say is if you find yourself going against someone—but especially a dangerous person—you must leave a path for their survival. It’s less for their sake than it is for yours. Should you eliminate all their options, they’ll have no choice but to bite. And they’ll make sure it hurts like hell. 

As an impetuous teenager, Wu Tong is in the wrong. He needs to be taught that his actions are unacceptable. But that can’t be accomplished by putting a bounty on his head and demanding that he be murdered. That’s how you turn a scoundrel into a monster.

Minyan, Wu Tong’s foil, similarly doesn’t come from an optimal background. An orphan, he was taken in by the Shaoyang Sect without the obvious pressure that Wu Tong suffers. Even so, he can’t escape the innate inequality that seems to exist between him and his fellow disciples. It especially affects him because he’s in love with Linglong, Xuanji’s sister but more importantly…also the daughter of the sect leader! Poor guy.

When I was little, kids in the village would surround me every day and call me a bastard child with no parents. I could only pretend that I didn’t hear them. Because if I took it to heart, they would only ridicule me more. We can’t shut the mouths of people who want to slander us. But we can choose not to listen.

He may think that he’s past it, but later episodes see Minyan being manipulated using that exact insecurity. It’s easy to impersonate his master and nudge him to become a “spy” in the enemy base because he’s compelled to prove himself worthy of the sect and worthy of Linglong. Fake Sect Leader Chu Lei tells him:

When I first met you, you were only eight years old. You were homeless on the streets, starving and shivering. Still, you clung to your family dagger and refused to pawn it. In that moment, I knew that you were a child with an iron will. That’s why I’m here to find you today.

I can agree that Minyan is really stupid to immediately believe that his master, a guy well-known for pretending to do important things more than he actually does them, would tell him to do something as reckless as invade enemy territory. However, he also heeds the impostor’s instructions because realistically, his master asking him to prove himself is something that could happen. Any good disciple would naturally want to repay their masters for their favor, let alone a disciple who would otherwise have nowhere else to go.

The contrast between Minyan and Wu Tong shoves itself in your face as you watch, primarily through their respective relationships with Linglong (well, one of them has a relationship. The other is a creep. Can you guess who’s who?). Without family backing, the two men both struggle to find their place in the world, but they’re complete opposites purely because of their upbringing. Thankfully for Minyan, he found a family amongst people who don’t treat him as “another,” even if he may think of himself as such.

Wu Tong isn’t so fortunate. You can say it’s his own doing, a result of his terrible personality, but he certainly wasn’t born like that. And now someone will pay for it.

---

Part II: All of Them Are Sexist

As a caveat, I’ll mention that the main cast really could have used a woman who isn’t some combination of foolish, lovestruck, and/or loud. But I’m willing to overlook it just this once because the writers excel in highlighting both the ladies' flaws and how we as an audience exaggerate those flaws through our own preconceptions. 

Working backwards in terms of plot importance, we can start with Xiao Yinhua. Sifeng’s snake familiar in a human form, Xiao Yinhua is like most female leads from the turn of the millennium in that her only real strength is throwing temper tantrums. She’s also like most second female leads from the turn of the millennium in that she constantly prefers using underhanded tactics and harming others to achieve her goals—in other words, a snake. Oh. I guess that makes sense.

Her affections toward Sifeng cloud her already nonexistent judgment and prompt her to make some of the worst decisions made by anyone, ever. At first, I thought I was being unfair toward her because of my own internalized misogyny. But no. I can say with absolute confidence that I would abhor this character no matter what gender or creature or object she may be. She has no redeeming qualities aside from teaching us that someone foolish, lovestruck, and loud is doomed to self-sabotage. From that perspective, she’s still a valuable character to have because now we know that before we act, we should think: would Xiao Yinhua do that thing? If she would, do not do that thing. 

If Xiao Yinhua were willing to grow up, she could become more similar to Zi Hu. Zi Hu almost acts as a parallel to Sifeng—hopelessly in love with someone who doesn’t return the affection for a literal thousand years. Also, both are very pretty. Ahem.

Zi Hu’s thousand years’ worth of experience gives her the skills to back up her unrelenting feelings for Wu Zhiqi. She’s a rarity in that her driving force is a man—a motivation that's typically a reputation ruiner for female characters—but you find her lovable instead of thinking that she lacks self-respect. The key is that her love isn’t blind and rash like Xiao Yinhua’s. Zi Hu has a plan to save Wu Zhiqi from his prison and she carries it out with intention. In other words, it’s okay to focus on love, but only if you can take responsibility for your feelings. 

Ting Nu: Why go so far? When did Wu Zhiqi ever tell you that he loved you? Your affections are merely one-sided. Zi Hu: When did he tell me he didn’t love me? Look, once I rescue him, he’ll have to be with me to thank me. 

Because Zi Hu is a literal fox, people suspect her both for being a demon and for being the demon notorious for seducing men to consume their souls. The latter is quickly debunked and becomes less of an issue than her just being a plain demon. I nonetheless find it hilarious how everyone balks when she shows them her harem of men gleefully living in her backyard. Yep, she’s a cunning vixen. You can just keep wishing you could join that harem.

Zi Hu: You're trying to shoo me away. You think I’ll storm out because of your petty tricks? You’re underestimating me. I’ve already decided, starting today, I’m going to follow you everywhere. Even if you don’t want me to, I’m going to cling to you. This old spirit isn’t going to let those thousand years of waiting be in vain. Wherever you go, I’m going with. If you dare sneak peeks at other pretty women, I’ll dig out your monkey eyes. All in all, if I’m around, no pretty woman can enter your vision. As if you could bear to leave me behind if I hang around for another thousand years!

Xiao Yinhua and Zi Hu aren’t overly victimized based on their gender within the show itself. For the better too, because whoever dares to do so would probably end up dead by a fox's claws and a snake's teeth. These two characters' existences test your innate view of female characters instead. What is it that matters to you in a female character? What standards do you hold against them?

(**Content warning for the below segment until the next purple break: brief mentions of sexual assault and suicide.)

And that's where we come to Linglong. Linglong is a loudmouthed spoiled brat. She's overbearing, and while she wants to protect Xuanji, her method of doing it is by crying crocodile tears and throwing temper tantrums in front of their father. No wonder she and Xiao Yinhua clash—two childish people who both have a compulsion to win arguments? Forget it.

A bulk of the drama sees Linglong’s primordial spirit being taken and held captive by Wu Tong. Wu Tong puts half of her primordial spirit into the body of a flower demon, whom he also forces to take on Linglong’s physical appearance. No other reason, he just wants to have his way with someone who looks and acts like Linglong, the person who jeered at him all those years ago. By the time the real Linglong recovers her primordial spirit, Wu Tong has done enough damage that she’s haunted by nightmares and memories of someone who assaulted her when she couldn't even fight back.

The lead-up to this arc is incredibly disturbing and takes root in the very first episode. On my first watch-through, I thought their relationship would take a classic enemies-to-lovers path. The directors and writers pull you in this direction with no subtlety, showing a smitten Wu Tong when he first lays eyes on Linglong. They then keep the scam going by having him act out in awful ways as he attempts to gain her attention. That’s right, it’s the brainwashing girls receive when they’re on the playground: “he pulls your hair because he likes you."

During their first meeting, Linglong is surrounded by a halo filter from Wu Tong’s perspective. Knowing what he’ll later do to her makes the seeming innocuousness of this scene revolting, but it's necessary. It's the first of many steps to prove that someone’s “affections” can’t be used as an excuse for harming whomever’s on the receiving end of them. 

Linglong can be an extremely annoying person. Her outspokenness and difficult temper shape her into an unlikable character, which then ensures that by the time Wu Tong captures her, the audience almost instinctively wants to say that it’s her fault. We all know the talk track: “he liked her, so why couldn’t she just have been nicer to him? She asked for it by being mean to him.”

When Linglong first offends Wu Tong, it isn’t for no reason: she’s angry because he endangers her sister’s life over and over again. Admittedly, she goes overboard in her retaliation against him. So what? Linglong being mean to Wu Tong and Wu Tong later targeting her are indeed connected events, but the former doesn't justify the latter. If we say that the five sects hunting Wu Tong down isn’t a fair punishment, then isn’t it also unfair for him to turn the tables on her in such a way? 

Essentially, Linglong isn’t the “ideal” victim. That’s what makes her arc all the more heartbreaking. To this day, society wants to find any excuses for the assailant. Any mistake, any flaw of the victim's will be used against her. As humans, maybe it’s instinct for us to hope that bad things only happen to bad people, and victim-blaming is our twisted way of making that an impossible reality. 

Overcome with depression and trauma, Linglong is unable to come to terms with what Wu Tong did to her. Men gossip about her and her “relationship” with the enemy, sometimes harassing her straight to her face. Wu Tong himself finds great delight in taunting her about her “sharing his bed,” not only relishing the memories but also enjoying how much it torments her.

Linglong: It was my fault that I was captured by Wu Tong, wasn’t it? [...] Everyone thinks so. I didn’t want to be captured by Wu Tong. But after Wu Tong said all those things, everyone thinks so. Minyan: Linglong, why care about what everyone else thinks? Just pretend that you didn’t hear any of it. Linglong: But I did hear them. Why do I need to pretend I didn’t? It’s something that actually happened, so why do I need to play dumb and trick myself into thinking it didn’t? Are you going to be like them too, and mock me?

All the accusations brainwash her into thinking everything is her fault. To Wu Tong and all the people judging her, she’s nothing but a pawn to be used for their own entertainment. And once she and Minyan leave the protection of the sect, everyone finds her an easy target to push around. Hoping that her death will mean freedom for both herself and her loved ones, she attempts to drown herself before being yanked back to life and reality by Minyan.

Linglong’s struggle is many women’s worst nightmare. It’s also a diligent representation of PTSD, something that I normally wouldn’t expect from a xianxia drama. Even after she's rescued and everyone tells her that her suffering is over, it never feels over for her. At night, Lingling is awoken by harrowing dreams of Wu Tong returning to kidnap her once again:

Nightmare!Wu Tong: You’ll always belong to me. You can’t escape.

The conclusion to her arc being Wu Tong’s death and his literal letting go of her may be quite idealistic. But I prefer to think that giving Linglong her happy ending is the writers’ way of trying to assuage our fears, of showing us that there will always be another sunrise regardless of what happens.

(**Content warning end.)

Linglong becomes the drama’s strongest woman-centric plot, and I really love that the writers did it with a character whose personality isn't the most appealing. She's the imperfect woman we can find in every corner of the world, a representation of women overall instead of the minority who are considered "deserving" of justice.

Next to her, Xuanji also gets a short end of the stick. She's constantly being pushed to marry Hao Chen. Every excuse in the book is used against her: they're a fated couple, he's the only one that can take care of her, doesn't she agree that this is a part of her duty? No matter how logically she objects to it, no one really cares what she thinks. If she objects, she’s being headstrong, and that’s the end of it. (More on Xuanji to come in Part IV of this essay.)

And aside from Bai Lin’s more obvious transgressions (we're getting to those), what really irked me is just how twisted he makes the God of War’s rebellion appear in others’ eyes. The logic turns quickly from “Bai Lin must have done something wrong” into “the God of War must have been in love with Bai Lin and grew resentful that he rejected her.” I guess it’s very believable that the God of War would want to destroy the entire universe because some guy wouldn’t date her? That’s right, you can be the most accomplished woman in your field and someone will still want to attribute everything you do to being motivated by romance.

Naturally, the next question is—why is Bai Lin such a weirdo? Why does he insist on turning his friend Luohou Jidu, a man, into a woman when creating the God of War? Hmm. I smell a waft of homophobia...

---

Part III: All of Them Are Racist

And except for a small minority, I really mean "all of them" this time. Humans and celestial beings are racist toward demons. Demons are racist back toward humans and celestial beings. If you asked both sides who started it, they'd point at the other without hesitation. "They started it. By existing."

I don’t even know where to start with this topic. Part of me believes this entire section of analysis could be extraneous—do I really need to do a deep dive when you could just click a random timestamp of a random episode and have a 50% chance of finding a character saying something incredibly racist? No case studies necessary. The drama is the case study.

Obviously, while I may say that all the different races are racist toward one another, some are notably more egregious in their discrimination than others. The five sects, being in power, are the worst offenders. Every other second, someone is reminding another that they need to wipe out demons. Just the utterance of the word “demon” makes them froth at the mouth. In their possession, they have treasure troves of weapons and magical devices whose collective main purpose is to identify and kill demons. Perhaps you know someone in real life who thinks that hating something is a personality trait—that’s the five sects in a nutshell.

Zi Hu and Ting Nu are continuously snubbed for not being human even after they’ve long proven that they’re more help than harm. Ting Nu is a doctor, but even saving Hao Chen doesn’t make them think of him as anything but a demon who is evil in his very bones. Demons can do everything right, but the high and mighty humans are too pure and innocent to associate with them…aside from killing and torturing them, of course.

Highlighted Exhibit A: Sifeng almost being tortured and whipped to death based on the mere suspicion that he’s a demon. The fact that he is one doesn’t matter. His assailants operate on the doctrine that they’d rather kill an innocent person than let a demon roam free. Every action to rid the world of a demon is a virtuous one. It's a reenactment of the Monty Python witch trial but they're being completely serious. 

Highlighted Exhibit B: the other sects band together to wipe out Lize Palace without solid confirmation as to whether they’re all demons. They’re operating on the same principle as in Exhibit A, so at least you can praise them for being consistent.

Highlighted Exhibit C: before Sifeng is revealed to be a pretty bird, Xuanji’s repeated defense of him consists of "Sifeng isn’t a demon." The main purpose of these lines is to instill further fear into Sifeng and give him more reason to keep lying to her, all while Xuanji's trust in him deepens. But is it also some of her lingering innate judgment seeping through? A subconscious understanding that her family and sect will never accept a demon as her boyfriend? Well, joke’s on them because he’s one hot bird.

So how are you supposed to survive as a demon? Lize Palace results from the humans’ desire to eradicate an entire race of demons. Just as Wu Tong is driven only by revenge, the demons of Lize Palace just need to survive for long enough to one day remove their masks and live as themselves. Humans’ endless thirst for blood does nothing but fuel demons’ fire of rebellion and keep the wheel of tragedy turning.

As for the “bad guys” of Tianxu Hall? At least when they commit the same acts of evil as the other five sects, they’re willing to admit that being evil isn’t beyond them.

Yuan Lang is an extremely successful villain for this very reason. All of us love Yuan Lang, so much that we start grinning whenever he comes on-screen with his fan and sarcastic mouth. So much that when it's revealed he's been consuming people's souls, all my mom had to say about it was: “Oh. That's mean of him.”

He plots and he lies and he murders, but he doesn’t put up a facade of holding himself to a lofty moral standard. It’s also quite telling that while Yuan Lang machinates behind the scenes, 90% of his time is spent standing by and calling others out on their bullshit. Everyone around him creates their own downfall. He just happens to benefit from their stupidity.

Man with a fan and a plan. I like. 

Even so, Yuan Lang isn’t invulnerable to emotion. One of my absolute favorite scenes is where Di Lang sacrifices himself so Yuan Lang can make a getaway. It’s the only instance of Yuan Lang being subject to the pain of caring about someone else. Those short moments contrast so starkly against the sects’ inhumanity that suddenly, a revolution doesn’t seem all that bad.

Behind the bulky mask, his despair is apparent. Man. This actor’s come a long way since his F4—I mean, H4 days. If you've never watched Let's Go Watch Meteor Shower Together, don't.

Finally, we arrive on the topic of Bai Lin. Oh, boy. I still haven’t watched Blood of Youth because seeing the actor’s face triggers my fight-or-flight response. And it’s been years.

Bai Lin, the one racist to rule them all. The guy must have a handbook on “How to Be Racist” or something—how else could the contempt that spews from his mouth, the spark of repugnance in his eyes, and the brazen obstinacy in his opinions be so immaculate?

The entire drama consists of setting the stage for the full reveal of Bai Lin turning Luohou Jidu into a weapon of war to be used against his own people. By the time all the pieces fall into place, you’ve already witnessed the tragedy created by discriminatory practices between mortals. You've seen how Sifeng is targeted and Xuanji forced to move her hand against him. You've seen how the sects use their power to harm instead of help. You've seen how demons plot their revenge for centuries. Once Bai Lin is confirmed to be the genesis of all that, there’s nothing left for you to feel but utter revulsion.

Bai Lin: Celestial beings and demons cannot coexist. How could my Heavenly Realm possibly hold a marriage with the Devil Tribe? Luohou Jidu: Celestial beings and demons cannot coexist...Then why do you drink with me today? Why are you friends with me? Bai Lin: Naturally, Brother Jidu, you’re different from other demons and devils. Out of all the demons and devils in this world, Brother Jidu is my only friend.

Can’t believe he even pulls the "you’re one of the good ones" card.

Bai Lin, practitioner of unethical tactics: his ultimate decision to trick and use Luohou Jidu results from racism-induced paranoia. He simply can’t believe that his friend will remain his friend, not unless he becomes "one of us." He thinks the God of War should appreciate that he's given her power and invested his time and energy in her tenth reincarnation, going so far as fool her into thinking that they loved each other once upon a time. Once Xuanji shows herself capable of independent thought, he doesn’t hesitate in turning against her and manipulating her to destroy her own self. He eventually sacrifices the entire world for the Heavenly Realm's survival. After all, what's the value of an entire planet's human and demon population in the face of his power?

He's the representation of what happens when those in power, those who have the best chance of righting wrongs and preventing more from happening, decide to perpetuate the problem. At the same time, he presents the predicament that those we rely on to give us justice are also victims of their own emotions and fears.

I venture to say that Bai Lin is the best-written antagonist in modern xianxia. He’s ruthless but has a moral compass, albeit one that only points in one direction—toward himself. His hubris aside, you have to admit that he genuinely believes he's acting for the greater good. The ends justify the means because he thinks he’s bettering the world.

Bai Lin makes awful decisions that involve genocide and cruelty because he operates on a strict utilitarian philosophy. "I do what I think will bring the best results, even if it means sacrificing something huge in the process." He’s the most dangerous character and the person we should also fear in real life because he’ll stop at nothing to create his definition of a paradise.

It would be easy to dismiss him as simply being a bad person. However, this show draws from reality in that every person exists in a gray area between good and bad. You can lean one way or the other, but you don’t fall completely into either. And that’s the foundation of the show's conflicts. Everyone's so busy trying to define what’s right and wrong that they’ve lost sight of basic compassion.

When he’s finally faced with the consequences of his actions, Bai Lin is driven to despair. He feels true remorse over what he’s done, but only because he’s fortunate enough to actually witness how the thousand-year conflict wouldn't have existed without him. We as people aren’t so lucky—those “what if”s will forever remain in the shrouded realm of impossibility.

Heavenly Emperor: You always thought that evil had sparked in the hearts of the God of War and Luohou Jidu. But the one in whom evil truly sparked was you. All things and happenings in this world are originally empty. From emptiness comes meaning. Yin and yang reverse; they support and restrain one another. The Heavenly Realm was originally empty. The Asura, too, was empty. If all is empty, then how could the Heavenly Realm be superior; and the Mortal Realm, Demon Realm, and Devil Realm be inferior? Your excessive concern for the safety of the Heavenly Realm prompted evil to take root in your heart, unable to be undone.

Seeing him in such despair almost makes me feel bad for him. Maybe I do have too much sympathy.

At this point, it's already too late to repair the damage he's caused, a realization that causes him further anguish. He rids himself of his divinity to show his remorse and accepts death. But he's already caused so much pain to everyone else. Who can put back together the world that he's destroyed?

---

Part IV: Love Wins All

(We love IU for her perfect song that also gave me the best possible final section title.)

As I seek to be conscious of my own biases, I once wondered: why is it that shaking my head at a female character for being dedicated to a man comes so naturally to me, but I can’t be more gleeful to see Sifeng put his heart out on a platter for Xuanji? Perhaps I’m also sexist. Perhaps I have double standards.

Then I thought about it some more and realized everyone loves Sifeng because he’s so blatantly unrealistic that you’re immediately able to sink yourself into his fictional beauty. He transcends gender norms because there is no person of any gender who would go to the extent that he does for Xuanji, nor is there anyone who could remain as levelheaded when faced with some of the most shameless people known to mankind. Forget all the people flying on swords and uttering magic spells. The biggest absurdity in Love and Redemption is its male lead. Yes, I'm a skeptic. But we're so lucky to have him.

Sifeng grew up in a bizarrely backwards environment where—instead of girls needing to cover up to not attract men’s attention—all men need to protect themselves by wearing masks and not associating with the opposite sex. Brainwashed for years to believe that Lize Palace is the only safe space for golden fire birds like himself, he keeps cautious around people while still harboring a subconscious longing for their warmth.

In my entire life, I never knew what a "friend" is. I finally understand now, the meaning of "fervent friendship."

Sifeng is established as the loyal lover extremely quickly. He's whipped—figuratively and literally—for Xuanji, his sheltered childhood leaving him defenseless against her unintentionally flirtatious mannerisms. He teaches her about her lost senses without judgment, nurtures limitless patience with her and others by proxy, and isn't afraid to question the status quo.

We love Sifeng for his wisdom and levelheadedness. He sees things for what they are and is commonly the voice of empathy and reason within a world of selfishness. The entire show is Sifeng going, "I might as well do it myself" in every situation because no one else cares, is capable enough, or both. He's the guy in group projects who quietly does everything and doesn't even get mad that you're the most useless team member ever. What a saint.

In the xianxia universe, he's distinct husband material (which isn’t saying much since the bar there is so low that you'd need to dig yourself a grave to reach it—which is also great because then you already have a place to go once your xianxia spouse gets you killed. I digress). His loyalty to not only others, but also who he is and what he wants, leaves him able to counter the complacency with hatred and evil permeating the world around him.

With his endless empathy, he's able to understand Luohou Jidu. While Sifeng's earliest motivation in facing the greatest devil is only to save Xuanji, he later views Luohou Jidu as an individual with his own sufferings. He's the only one to truly view Luohou Jidu as himself, not someone to eliminate, not just an extension of Xuanji. To Sifeng, everyone deserves a chance to be heard before a verdict is passed over them.

Not to mention, these two’s interactions are absolutely hilarious. I wish I could've seen the extensive conversations that must’ve went on in the censorship agency over them. 

Fellas, is it gay to clasp a guy’s hands within your own and stare deeply into his eyes while reminiscing about your loving relationship if he’s technically got a woman captive in his brain? 

But perhaps what shines the brightest about Sifeng is how he suffers. He's so pretty when he suffers. Wait. That's not my point.

When his Lovers’ Curse triggers for the first time, Xiao Yinhua speaks the gospel that a lot of the audience probably has in mind: "you did so much for her, you were so good to her, but she doesn’t love you back." And it sounds kind of right? But also kind of not? Then Sifeng opens his mouth and you think, "oh, crap, I've been brainwashed by misogyny yet again."

She never asked me to like her. If someone wants to kill another just because she doesn’t reciprocate their feelings, then that person will never be loved. They also don’t deserve to love another.

Again and again, Sifeng puts himself in harm's way to keep loving Xuanji. Sure, he wants her to love him back, but that's secondary to his desire to be honest with his own feelings.

With the bright beacon of light that is Sifeng’s blinding love, I feel most viewers overlook Xuanji’s capabilities as a female lead. Her comparative passiveness in the relationship makes it seem as if she doesn’t love him enough. I attribute this to the same reason as our previous conclusions, that female characters in romance dramas have a harder time garnering the audience’s approval than their male counterparts. Are we innately more judgmental toward women, or is the standard for men still so low that we’re already impressed when a guy surpasses the bare minimum? Probably both.

It's easy to forget that Xuanji is the one who's nice to Sifeng first. When they first meet, Xuanji literally falls into his arms. Then he just…drops her. (And they say chivalry is dead.) But Xuanji doesn’t care.

The rules of his sect push Sifeng into being a bit of a porcupine in his demeanor. He puts up a wall against everyone, but especially Xuanji. After all, as an innocent boy, Sifeng needs to protect himself from evil women. Or something.

Xuanji is the one who can't take the hint tries to befriend him and tears down his wall with the gentle, graceful nature of a sledgehammer. She insists that she'll retrieve his lost mask because she knows it's important to him. When she discovers that Sifeng is punished over it, Xuanji is the one to point out how unfair it is. Her straightforwardness and sense of principle are the reason Sifeng begins to open up at all.

Xuanji: I’m the one who took off his mask. If you want to hit someone, hit me. [...] Not to mention, he almost died trying to get his mask back. So I'd like to ask you, Palace Leader, is Sifeng's life more important, or is that mask more important?

She knows no fear, so she doesn't consider emotionless rules to be worth anything if they cause pain for the people she cares about. In many ways, Xuanji is the one who teaches Sifeng to stand up for what he believes in.

That Xuanji lacks her six senses makes her the least susceptible to the prejudicial habits of her surroundings. She accepts what they believe, that demons are bad, but only because that's all she knows. Whereas most of her peers are content remaining in their ignorance, this supposedly heartless gal is curious about the world. She can easily abandon her preconceptions in favor of what she witnesses the world to be.

It takes constant practice and tests for Xuanji to completely shed her old beliefs. The introduction of Zi Hu marks the beginning of her growth. Xuanji, concerned and angry that Zi Hu is holding her friends captive, fully intends on killing the fox until Ting Nu reasons with her:

Ting Nu: Zi Hu isn’t a malicious demon. You shouldn’t threaten her life. Xuanji: But she kidnapped my friends. How can I spare her? [...] No. She did bad things, so I have to kill her. Ting Nu: [...] Zi Hu has never actually harmed anybody. She’s simply misguided by her anxieties. You should spare her life. […] If you discover that she’s actually committing malicious acts, you could kill her then, no?

If it were Minyan or Linglong in her position, you could bet that they'd ignore Ting Nu. For one, he's a merman, so of course he'd protect another demon. To Xuanji's credit, she really does give Zi Hu—and Ting Nu—the benefit of the doubt. Does she have to? No. But she does anyway.

If Sifeng’s love comes naturally, then Xuanji’s comes through determination. Who's to say that one is inherently better than the other? It takes ten lifetimes for her to understand a semblance of love. She wants dearly to understand what it means to "like" someone, even though she's already the least unafraid to show how much she cares about others.

After she successfully grows the heart light for Sifeng, I don't think anyone is more excited than Xuanji herself. Look how proud she is. Obviously, she's happy she can use it to protect him, but I imagine that she also views it as the clearest proof that she’s as human as anybody else and as capable of loving as anyone else. Sifeng may be stunned when the heart light disappears, but Xuanji falls despondent—she really wants Sifeng to be someone important to her.

People sometimes struggle to see past Xuanji’s initial naivety. They're especially harsh toward her for not seeing what Sifeng has sacrificed for her until it’s almost too late. It's true, the drama primarily favors Sifeng's perspective, so it's easy to only see what he’s done and ignore Xuanji’s efforts.

In spite of warnings from Sifeng himself to not do so, Xuanji emerges to save him from the third lash of the demon whip. You go, girl.

Love isn’t a competition. But for the sake of the discussion, let's say proof is needed that Xuanji’s effort in the relationship matches Sifeng’s. In that case, the important part is looking at what they sacrifice in a relative scope instead of an absolute one.

The things that Sifeng sacrifices are astronomical. He climbs a tower blustering with an eternal blizzard and puts on the Lovers' Curse mask. He stands right in the middle of the conflict between humans and demons even though there’s no way humans will spare him. He gets stabbed…a lot. But everything he does is a result of his own will and careful calculations—they’re all things he knows he can take responsibility for.

Sifeng's major flaw is that he's a massive liar. He's not right to lie, but he's also right to be scared about what would happen if he doesn't. As a demon, he knows what happens to anyone who isn't distinctly human. That's why he conceals his identity from Xuanji.

Then, once he discovers that Xuanji is also the reincarnation of the Star of Mosha, his fear is ignited again for her sake. Xuanji has almost always been defined by what she is, not who. She's berated for being useless when she doesn’t have her six senses. The moment she’s revealed to have the God of War's power, suddenly everyone finds her more than useful. If she's publicly revealed to be the Star of Mosha, then she'd be killed without question, and the person that is “Xuanji” will also cease to exist. Just as he doesn’t want Xuanji to view him and as anything other than himself, Sifeng doesn't want anyone else to view Xuanji as anyone other than herself. That's also why out of everyone, the one person he must keep the Star of Mosha secret from is Xuanji herself.

When Sifeng's lies begin to unfold, Xuanji is left to handle the mess he's inadvertently created. Suddenly discovering that he's a demon and also protective of the demon that possibly murdered her mother, Xuanji is torn. Her wavering faith in him isn't because of his identity, but because he lied to her.

Zi Hu: Do you dislike it that much, that [Sifeng] is a demon? Xuanji: Should I not? Zi Hu: Well, you healed my wounds. And you’re friends with me and Ting Nu, a merman. As for little Sifeng, he’s not a malicious demon who harms people. I don’t think he was aware of what went on with Tianxu Hall and Lize Palace. Xuanji: That’s different! He shouldn’t have lied to me. He’s the person I trust the most. But he even kept from me who he is. Then, all the things he told me and did with me in the past…what part of it all was real and what was fake? Zi Hu: What’s real and what’s fake? Can’t you just drag him over here and ask him? If he’s a scumbag, just kill him. But if there’s any misunderstandings, the two of you should clear them up. Resolve them and see what solutions there are. When two people are together, the scariest thing is misunderstanding one another for no reason. If you lose each other, that might be the end, forever. You’d regret that. 

And then she eventually does try to kill him. Good going, Zi Hu.

Xuanji's main conflict in the latter half of the drama is that she wants to find a solution that satisfies everyone, an impossible dilemma. Everyone starts pressuring her to lead the charge against the demons. It's her duty as the God of War, isn't it? Oh, but if she doesn't want to, it's because she's in love with the enemy. But she can't be in love with the enemy. She's the God of War, after all.

That’s the duplicitous world that Xuanji lives in. Yet, without knowing why he's been dishonest or what else he could be lying about, she still chooses to believe in Sifeng—even if it means being treated as a traitor herself and being further guilt-tripped. She's bound to her duty, family, and the expectations that come along with that. Going against them in any capacity is a challenge to her entire livelihood and the moral standards imposed on her. If you take that into account, suddenly the things that she risks don’t pale in comparison what Sifeng does for her.

As an omniscient audience, it's easy for us to say that she doesn't do enough, that she should know better. It's an interesting thought experiment to wonder what else she could do in such a situation. Her boyfriend lies to her. She believes he has a reason, believes in him when he tells her to trust him. She defends him repeatedly to people who don't even care to listen unless it's to interrupt and call her crazy. She lies to her father that she'll devote herself to killing demons like Sifeng so they'll stop calling her crazy and threatening her. Then, when she goes to rescue Sifeng from Mingxia Cave, he's suddenly getting passive-aggressive with her: “oh, what does the mighty God of War need from a lowly demon like me that she deigns to talk to me?” Bro…if I were her, I might just ditch him in a fit of rage. That's how you want to play? Have fun turning into frozen poultry in this cave, then.

Obviously, more is going on behind the scenes that Xuanji is completely unaware of. Sifeng almost dies from her fire magic that Hao Chen stole. The broken hairpin. And okay, I'll admit that her saying that she'll kill him while he's eavesdropping outside is not a great look. But come on, Sifeng. Where have your critical thinking skills gone? If you can lie, don’t you think Xuanji can too? And after all that, she still instinctively shields him from her father’s sword.

Sifeng. In this case, I do have to criticize you in a serious manner. Do you have any idea how hard it was for Xuanji to finally try to get herself stabbed for you, only for you to go “no, me” and get stabbed again? Do you have a sword-magnet in your chest?

Then Sifeng tells her that he’s never loved her and was only using her because he’s Luohou Jidu, the world's biggest villain. And she still can't bear to hurt him. When Xuanji discovers that Hao Chen has tricked her into using a so-called “Purifying Vase” to doom Sifeng to a painful death, she's furious:

Xuanji: For my own good? You want me to practice the Method of Love, but you also want me to be heartless. I can’t be so contradictory. Hao Chen: I told you to practice the Method of Love through feelings between you and me, not for you to continuously absorb yourself in your fixation on Sifeng! Xuanji, don’t forget. Our marriage is one determined by the heavens. It’s destiny. Xuanji: The heavens determine nothing. If they do, then why did they make Sifeng and I meet in our past nine lives? What a joke of the heavens. Hao Chen: So, you’d rather resign yourself to your doomed fate with that demon than stay properly by my side? Xuanji: Fate isn’t split into a virtuous or doomed one. I hate myself for loving Sifeng before, and we won’t ever be together again. But since I already gave him my love, I won’t take it back.

But of course, Hao Chen has more tricks up his Mary Poppins sleeves. He pulls out all the stops and uses his last breath to manipulate her into stabbing Sifeng. Oh my god. Look at all these trust issues, just making themselves readily available.

Her stabbing him is, how do you say, very bad. But let’s be honest, she’s seen him survive worse. I don't have a nifty conclusion is here, but basically, she subconsciously knows he'll get over it (physically, at least).

Of course, Sifeng is heartbroken. It's intensified by the tragic fate of his father. His father’s goal was always to protect Sifeng from the dangers posed by the racist five sects, led primarily by fabricated memories that his lover Hao Feng was driven to suicide by her own family. When Yuan Lang reveals the truth, that Hao Feng's fear of demons trumped her love for her husband, it’s intense foreshadowing of Sifeng and Xuanji’s relationship. Maybe Xuanji isn't like Hao Feng and she can cross the rift between humans and demons, meeting Sifeng in the middle. But finally, she still retreats, away from him. Her betrayal, now the tenth in all their lifetimes, leads Sifeng to leave behind some of the most truthful but hurtful words for Xuanji to deal with:

I finally understand why my fate turned out as it did in all my past nine lives. From beginning to end, you have always been a heartless person.

It’s not fair to ask Sifeng to keep considering Xuanji’s feelings under the brunt of her violent wrath. But just as she has no idea what he’s been doing to protect her, he has no idea what she’s been doing to protect him. Zi Hu is right again: nothing poses a greater danger to a couple than misunderstandings. And racism.

The ultimate resolution only occurs once Xuanji recovers the memories of their past lives. Congratulations, Sifeng. After a millennium of pining, your love has finally touched the heart of your beloved. Indeed, it might take a long time getting there, but love will find a way.

I love the short scenes that show the God of War and Xi Xuan's quiet but gentle relationship. Xi Xuan is the only one who cares that the God of War wants her own identity, then gives her a moment in which she doesn't have to wear her armor, just as Sifeng does everything in his power to let Xuanji be "Xuanji." Through all their lives, Sifeng is the one who recognizes her for who she is and wants to make her happy, even if she doesn't have a heart.

Activate: Xuanji, shameless mode. After Xuanji tracks down Sifeng in his solitude, they return to their days as teenagers. Xuanji acts like a fool in front of him, demanding his attention, and Sifeng only wants to get her the hell out of his house. It's not only a reminder of the times when things were a lot simpler, but also of how far they've come.

She intends on marrying Sifeng. Even if her father doesn't approve, she no longer cares. There's not enough time left in the world to hesitate about the people you love to satiate someone who can't be satisfied. Just as Sifeng upends his whole life for her, she's willing to do the same.

And as Sifeng is dying, Xuanji makes the ultimate decision to become the Star of Mosha. This isn't a reckless move done just to save him. Rather, her faith in Sifeng has strengthened into steel after all they've been through. Even if the world ends, she knows that a little bird with unshakable resolve will come get her. For two people who have spent most of their time as a pair of parallel lines, never to coincide, this is their point of intersection—a challenge that they'll face together, even if they're apart.

Sifeng: Xuanji, stop! I'd rather die than watch you become a devil for me! Xuanji: Sifeng, I can't consider all that now. I have to save you! Whether I be the Star of Mosha or the God of War, I don't care. I just need you to be okay. Sifeng. If I become Luohou Jidu, you absolutely can't forget me. Remember to bring me back! I cry during this scene. Then I immediately start laughing at Sifeng's gobsmacked expression once Luohou Jidu shows up. It just reads "but...my girlfriend..."

And Xuanji's right. Sifeng is the solution. No one else can save Luohou Jidu, the God of War, and the world by extension. Luohou Jidu's pain results from being betrayed purely because of his identity as a devil, but Sifeng becomes the confidante that Bai Lin pretended to be. The God of War's pain comes from having no self-identity, but Xi Xuan gives her the ability to seek one and accompanies her for a thousand years to help her find it. The suffering that Bai Lin set into motion would lead to a ceaseless cycle of revenge and a destruction of the world’s good due to its sins, but Sifeng alone convinces Luohou Jidu and the God of War that there's something in life worth keeping. But you have to fight for it, and persistently, because good things only come to those who are willing to chase after them.

Xuanji to Bai Lin: I won’t mess with someone else’s life so simply due to my own matters, even if that person is someone as despicable as you. Sifeng once said that using hate to obtain vengeance is an endless cycle. In this life, I already have something that matters more to me than that. I have no space to keep my hatred.

I know it can sound cheesy to say that the best revenge is living a happy life. But Love and Redemption can convert even the most insistent of cynics—me, for example. People will practice evil whether or not there’s a reason for it and whether or not those consequences will ripple out into a tsunami that will engulf the world. Only true, honest love can hope to settle the uneasy sea. It’s why Zi Hu gives Wu Zhiqi something to live for other than war. It’s why Linglong and Minyan have a reason to persist alongside one another. It's why Luohou Jidu gives his heart and life to Sifeng. It’s why Sifeng is able to save Xuanji. It's why the three realms are blessed with the chance to keep finding a reason to persist.

Sifeng and Xuanji’s story is a journey of overcoming all odds; of learning to love someone unconditionally not because it’s easy, but because you want to; of letting that love grow into a ray of hope in the world. Yes, if we let it, love wins all.

Sifeng: Your heart has become one of flesh and blood. It couldn’t bear to destroy the three realms. Because…it’s a heart that I held and warmed in my hands, bit by bit.

[trashogram]

Even I’m getting tired of my hypercritical ass, but I just wanna get one more thing out there about the third short for Helluva Boss bc it’s stuck in my brain:

Does anyone else get the “lol Mary sues are the worst thing to ever exist in fandom” vibe from it? That used to be a very popular sentiment, and honestly still is in many circles, so people felt not only safe — but also entitled — to shit on people that would make OCs/self-inserts that were emphatically perfect with no flaws and beloved by nearly all the canon characters from whatever movie or show or book the fic was written for.

Usually the ones that created these fics were pretty young and were more typically girls expressing themselves via writing. No they weren’t really high quality and yes they were a little embarrassing to outsiders but only as embarrassing as anything else adolescents do. But people would really go to task mocking and shaming these kinds of fics and art.

And then there was a big shift rather recently where people were defending Mary Sue projects because a collective understanding that what young girls liked and indulged in — romantic comedies, harlequin romance novels, boy bands, Twilight, etc. — often got vitriolic shame for no actual reason.

But the Emberlynn short feels kind of like a regression of this to me? Shaming girls for being “embarrassingly hormonal and melodramatic” and for enjoying supernatural romance/smut that they can project onto and feel like they’re part of it?

Idk, I understand that this might be gymnastic level reaching or seeing more to something than there really is, but I feel like Vivziepop and a good portion of her collaborators did grow up and partake in fandom around the time where shaming the Mary Sue concept was all the rage. And I don’t think Viv grew out of that mindset, or there’s a strong possibility that she still thinks that way and hasn’t grown past it given other things she does that reek of misogyny and 2012 trolling.

(Please also note that I’m not saying some of the things that are made fun of don’t deserve criticism — the My Immortal HP fanfic and Twilight have racist and sexist connotations that deserved rightful drawback. I’m more talking about the general disgust toward women and young girls being fans of something that specifically appeals to them like the romance and sexy stuff.)

[ohmygodtheywereparabatai]

i wanted to invite a conversation about this because it’s genuinely been bothering me for a long time. and i in fact wasn’t immune to it either and am just now realizing this is the power of cinematic brainwashing.

but like, tgm is so many bad things. sexist, racist, ageist, to scratch the tip of the iceberg. token characters that meet the bare minimum for diversity, and sidelined women - i’d even say exploited women. a narrative that is so egocentric that it’s miraculous that some characters manage to hold their own instead of being swept under the charismatic magnetism of the reckless bad boy character who can get away with murder because deep down, he’s regretful, and he has a good heart.

what a shallow representation of the military, and what a disservice to those who were inspired to join because they thought the real life experience would mirror even a fraction of what is presented on screen. the reality is that there was never a competition to win a top gun trophy, and in fact today you have to pay 5$ at the top gun school if you even mention the film. that speaks for itself.

tom cruise being a huge part of the production process has made it impossible for me not to hold him responsible for the choices that have been made. to even subtitle the sequel movie with “Maverick”, the same protagonist as in the first one, comes across as insanely egotistical - and honestly a testament to how mav’s story manages to drown out the autonomy and validity of other characters. i’ll explain this terms of ice, penny, carole, and charlie. you’ll notice how i’m gonna be bringing up three women.

ice-

i don’t care that val kilmer gave the okay on using his cancer as a plot point. i care that cancer was not only used as a plot point, but treated like this ^

“i’m dying. you have bigger problems.”

the original script seems to peel back the layers of tgm’s intended messaging, so i’m using several examples. this is what is being communicated. i honestly don’t know what else to add. in or out of context, this is incredibly disturbing - and that it’s played as a self-aware quip from ice, even more so. the bond of wingmen goes both ways, and i just didn’t see that… if anything, that aspect leaned so heavily on the first film (the photo of them smiling at each other) that it just proves my point. it took ice’s death for mav to get up off his ass and do something to keep his career afloat besides get a cop-out from the compacflt. ice in the first movie was a compelling antagonist and voice of reason - now he’s mostly relegated to the role of babysitter, denying mav’s character the growth of accountability by simply erasing his poor choices with a phone call.

it’s why the darkstar scene pisses me off. to stop at mach 10 would have been fine, but to push it just for the sake of it is ridiculous. the fact that earlier mav states “i know what happens to everyone else if i don’t” in regards to his decision only makes this screw-up more laughable, because to me it’s the very contradiction of maverick: his intentions do not balance with his actions. costing the military millions of dollars in a few seconds somehow balances with his heartfelt desire to protect the interests of its workforce.

penny-

shortly before, during, and after this screenshot, i counted a total of 6 times that penny made it clear she would not appreciate mav’s advances. regardless, mav goes on to say “you look good”. this flirtation happens before mav is even aware of her marital status, as he asks amelia “where’s your dad?” in a later scene… which… dear god.

penny also says “it always ends the same with us, so let’s not start this time”, indicating this is a repeated pattern in which her boundaries weren’t respected and moreover, the relationship ended up failing. yet this is framed as the main romance of tgm, a wonderful and nostalgic callback to the original that ends as stereotypically as possible.

i love penny. she’s witty, caring, independent, and of course stunning. so i find her treatment in tgm a disservice to what started out as a rich and compelling character. she later ends up mav’s shoulder to cry on, more or less, comforting him after losing his wingman and his position as instructor. the song “hold my hand” is thematically suited for penny, playing in the background at the bar and in the notes of the score during her scenes - even musically, she is turned into a source of consolation first, and her own woman second. she’s his prize at the end of the film, falling for the promise “i’m never gonna leave you again”, which i don’t buy for a second. they fly into the sunset, presumably signifying a new horizon for their relationship - but i feel so dissatisfied with this arc for her and think she deserved much better.

that mav gets away with this behavior is something i’d like to see more people reflect on. it seems to be a pattern with male protagonists, in which case the function of male and protagonist in hollywood cinema needs an examination.

carole-

top gun (1986):

this is an especially crude exploitation to me. not only is carole the one consoling a young maverick (if a full-fledged 24 year old can be called young, in light of the tendency people have to dismiss his choices in ‘86) after his mistake costs her own husband his life… but her stance, even following a tragedy of that magnitude, didn’t change. goose would have flown anyway, and she knows that well enough - on top of that, it’s easy to see she would have supported him.

it came as a surprise to me that she wouldn’t in turn support her own son, who is clearly committed to a career as a pilot. in the end, i see a cheap narrative device that contradicts carole’s character, undermines her strength as a wife and mother, both in order to serve the interests of the plot. maverick in tgm needs a viable reason to hide a secret, to be tortured by his own consequences, to put further strain on his tension with bradley. there were plenty of other ways to do it, but the fact that it was this leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

charlie-

it’s my understanding that tom cruise’s personal reason (his excuse) for not bringing back charlie was that he didn’t like how their relationship ended. if there’s any source confirming or denying this, i’d appreciate a link.

anyways. yeah. this is… a huge problem with hollywood at large, which kelly mcgillis understands, but i’ll break it down. there’s a simpler reason this pisses me off more than anything. tgm’s entire subject matter is about repairing relationships. penny benjamin was dredged out of obscurity to do it. maverick and rooster’s grudge of 30+ years was used to do it. iceman’s character, as warped as he feels, is another way the film made this its theme. but charlie is out of the question?

that val kilmer could be asked to return, and make an insane amount of money for each second he’s on screen, but such an opportunity is never given to kelly mcgillis, who herself centers on the 1986 poster, speaks volumes to me. tom cruise even planted his foot when it came to reprising iceman, saying he wouldn’t do this movie without val in it.

it’s worth mentioning that viper and slider were also present at ice’s funeral, but this scene was cut out. for a film that’s quite heavy-handed with its nostalgic callbacks, this was an odd decision. until realizing, as my friend put it, that even ice’s death couldn’t be about him, whether it had brought in his own teacher or his rio - his goose. it had to revolve around mav, to catalyze a turning point for him in the plot.

also… a shoutout to the erasure of sarah kazansky, pretty much everywhere. that also tells me a lot.

…

this was just a dissection of the various character portrayals (or absences) in tgm that have bothered me since forever. this isn’t even going into how tgm accomplishes everything that propaganda sets out to do. combinations of stunning visuals, soaring music composed by masters like hans zimmer, the charismatic power of a cast packed with stars… all play a role in the blinding awesomeness of tgm, which has taken me this long to break away from.

consider the white/poc duos in the film: maverick and hondo, hangman and coyote, cyclone and warlock. who has more lines? who plays a greater role? why is that?

i don’t see this as real diversity. it masquerades as inclusion, which i find worse. and to cast an actor of asian descent, and give him the callsign yale? … wow.

framing is powerful. its influence in cinematography is unmatched. a story is being constructed and told not only through dialogue, but sound, visuals, editing… really, nothing can be dismissed as insignificant. i’m not asking for a scholarly interrogation of all media you consume, though, that would be so excellent, and so healthy… but i am trying to raise these questions in the community, of what gets lost when a main character is so overwhelmingly main. when someone like tc has so much control over the decision-making process, since it’s sort of a running joke that maverick is a tc self-insert. my focus isn’t the inclusions, but the exclusions.

and finally, since i’ve unfortunately spent a lot of life writing this post… it’s interesting to me that many viewers in hindsight seem to see top gun 1986 so differently. as kids, they sided with mav over the antagonist. an older audience returning to the first film now seem to side with iceman, seeing him as the rational one attempting to raise important points. i wonder if this will be the case with top gun: maverick in the future. in which case, i’m excited to see more cyclone fans. he’s my favorite character… unsurprisingly.

oh. one last thing.

“the man, the myth, the legend” … the word myth has two meanings:

…

happy reading.

[thingstrumperssay]

I just finish this three part video series about what TERFs say when they think that nobody “on the outside” is looking.

It’s over five hours long if you don’t speed the videos up so I’ll just highlight the most important parts- It turns out that TERFs are not only transphobic, but also racist, homophobic, sexist and ableist and encourages child abuse! Who could’ve seen that coming besides maybe everybody who isn’t a bigot, especially considering that Posie Parker was part of one of the groups.

“Carol Marinara” was able to get into these groups by pretending to be a mother with a son who’s saying that they’re non-binary just “looking for help” and they would say things like “isolate him” by taking them out of school and drilling that “trans is bad” into them everyday until “he finally gets it.” And if they kill themselves, “don’t worry. That’s not your fault.”

They also said that a lesbian wasn’t raped by her girlfriend unless “she’s actually a man, because rape requires a penis” and throws the r-word around. A lot.

And when somebody who’s named themselves Marinara for this came out to say that they weren’t one of them all along they started freaking out and one of them said “we talk in these groups because we can’t say this stuff anywhere else!”

I’d highly recommend the series... If you have five hours to spare And can stomach blatant homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, sexism, mentions of child abuse, and mentions of rape..

There’s a lot of trigger warnings but they go over them before those parts of the video.

[13thdoctorposts]

has anyone else noticed how reactions and consensus on 13 has been RETROACTIVELY negative? I know there's been an intensely misogynistic hate campaign since Jodie was announced but I also noticed that when you look at old posts from when s11 especially was freshly aired, there was a lot more good faith engagement with the show and genuine excitement in fandom. It seems like covid gave the bad faith actors the opportunity to take over fandom and force their narratives on everyone.

Yeah a really great example of this is if you look back to tweets from the night Rosa aired the praise was very very high, now if you bring it up in the fandom you would think it was terrible and racist.

On YouTube I was told the writers, both of them Chibs and Malorie Blackman were incompetent because they doesn’t show how bad the racism really was, yet the episode starts with one of our companions being physically assaulted and told to be careful so not to end up like Emmett Till, some one who had just been murdered acting as if the show was sugar coating what life was like back then. Oh and of course with the Chibs slander that he’s racist because he may have hired a woman of colour to write the script, but she is English not American and he should have made sure it was an American or not done the episode at all

Malorie Blackman is an award winning author claiming she’s an incompetent writer is pretty incredible accusation.

Here’s some of the tweets from articles praising the episode.

I think 2 things hurt 13 era who and they weren’t Chibs and Jodie. It was the unhinged toxicity the fandom constantly spewed and then even after things got praised as you said people would go back and nitpick to a level they never ever do with any other era and 2nd not having a big enough marketing budget and brand manger series 12 and 13 suffered most from this because the BBC did put the marketing money into series 11 even if they didn’t have a brand manager, and Chibs mentions this in the Radio Free Skaro podcast from last year that the BBC put a huge marking budget into series 11 but series 12 and 13 basically the budget was… you can only advertise on the BBC because there’s no money for anything else.

Rosa is just one example but there was a lot of praise for the work at the time of release and it’s quite possible general public viewers may have just stoped engaging on social after series 11 because they would then be piled on, and people in the online fandom knew they couldn’t go to social saying they loved an episode so they started picking it apart before putting their thoughts out there so they could be on trend with the haters who were gonna pile on if they didn’t fall in line.

Seriously if there’s ever a down fall to doctor who the ‘fans’ will be it because they would rather hate on the thing they supposedly love than love it. And ever era has its super questionable moments but if you bring them up for any other era you just being petty, or it isn’t that big of a deal, or ‘it’s of the time’ it’s just excuse after excuse.

I’ve seen people upset about the fact that RTD dead named Rose in the star beast, something very legitimate because now all the right wing idiots of the fandom use that name and the people who were upset get piled on if they say anything because they should be happy that RTD is trying to give them representation… but these same people when Chibs tried to give rep though a female doctor, or an episode like Rosa or Ryans disability, say Chibs is a right wing capitalist, sexist, racist, ablest, you don’t hear them saying hey he was really trying by getting people of colour to write their stories, by getting directors with the same heritage to direct episodes, he work with a dyspraxia organisation to help write Ryan, brought in the first 2 female Doctors and the 1st Doctor of colour who was also a woman, the 1st master of colour, the first Doctor who admitted to having feeling for a companion of the same sex and the episode where the doctor admits those feeling is co written with a queer woman, oh no Chibs gets no grace for tryi neg he did everything wrong but RTD everyone should be thankful for.

I don’t understand the level of hate. Not liking something is one thing but a part of this fandom has made 13 era who seem like the anti christ of Doctor Who, when really it tried a lot harder to involve more people in it then ever before.

[avengerscompound]

The Interview - Chapter 22

The Interview - A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Rating:  E

Warnings: smut (MF, vaginal sex)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Melody Danes

Word Count: 2904

Summary:  Melody Danes gets the break of a lifetime when as a lowly intern, she’s assigned to write a profile piece on Captain America.  Steve Rogers is a hard man not to fall for and as she and Melody get closer and Melody’s career takes off, jealousy leads to sabotage, and the potential to bring her whole world crashing down.

Chapter 22

Melody had gone to work the following day feeling more focused and a little more in control.  Steve’s fans were relentless and awful.  Melody wanted to lock her social media down but she needed it for work.  So instead she ignored it, letting the rabble call her every name in the book, both sexist and racist, and all completely delusional, and she focused on making her workplace safer.

Tony met her at the office by mid-morning and when he declared that there was no malware or noticeable hacks, he upgraded the security and added a fingerprint and facial recognition login to stop anyone getting into her computer.

“You really didn’t have to go all out like this,” she said, as Tony packed up his things.

“It’s nothing,” he replied, waving her off.  “Besides, we can’t have Cap’s personal business splashed around the internet.  It makes the rest of us look like complete deviates in comparison.”

“You mean you’re not?” she teased.

“Of course I am,” he said, winking at her.  “But I could do without the comparison.”

He gathered up his stuff and Melody walked him to the exit.  “Have fun on your trip.  I said Cap could take the jet. I’m staying in town so someone might as well.  But in exchange, we get him for Christmas.”

“That is a more than fair trade.  I don’t actually like going home that much,” she replied.

She stopped at the elevator with him and put her hand on his arm. “Thank you, Tony.  For everything.” 

He gave her a half hug, kissing her cheek. “You got it,” he said.  “Let us know if anything else happens.  If Cap’s got a stalker, it really is Avengers business.”

“Will do,” she agreed.

After Tony left she called a staff meeting, explaining what had happened regarding the email to Jameson.

“Look,” she said, leaning back in her chair and looking around at her team.  “I really love this team.  I trust all of you, but someone was listening in while I made private plans with my boyfriend.  I don’t want to believe it was any of you, but if I find out it is, it’ll be immediate termination.  That is a vile invasion of privacy.  I shouldn’t have to worry about coming to work and someone here stalking me around the city.  I had a rule when I brought you all one.  No assholes.  Please don’t be an asshole.  And if you hear about anyone alerting the paps about where I’m going to be with Steve, then let me know.  Please.”  She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I’d put my money on it being Norah.  She doesn’t like me.  That’s no secret.  And she’s always sniffing about.  But I want to make it clear where my line sits.”

The rest of the day she spent making sure all the content was ready and queued to post while she was away and that all the projects that weren’t done yet had been delegated to other people.  She and Steve were planning to leave for Oregon straight from work and as it got close to the time, she was due to be picked up, she was glad for the fact the jet would wait for them.

By the time she was running out the front door of the building she was fifteen minutes late, frantic, and panicking that she’d forgotten something.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said to the driver as he held the door open for her.  She repeated it again as she slid into the backseat of the car with Steve.

“It’s fine, sweetheart,” Steve assured her.  “The jet will wait for us.”

“Yeah, but you were waiting in traffic,” she argued.

He laughed and put his hand on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “It’s fine.  Relax.”

She didn’t really know how she could.  With what had happened at work, now she was flying home for the first time in over two years to spend a week with a family she was still angry with, and to introduce them to her new boyfriend.  There was too much to just relax about.  “Easy for you to say,” she grumbled, teasing despite the truth to it.

“Oh yes,” he said. “Very easy.  I’m about to meet my girlfriend’s parents.  Parents who rejected her best friend, a child who they thought of as family too, came out as trans.  Oh, and at a time when my fans are relentlessly attacking her online calling her names, I wouldn’t dare repeat.  It’s very easy for me to relax.”

She scrunched her nose and leaned in, kissing his plump lips softly.  “You’re not responsible for your fans.  Especially not fans that don’t actually seem to be able to interpret the message you’re putting out there correctly, because if they were real fans they wouldn’t be sending me the kinds of things they’re sending me.  And as for my parents, I’m mad at them and I’ll continue being mad even when they do realize that they chose the wrong side.  And I do truly think they will come around, because they raised me to be loving and opening and accepting.  Mom’s best friend rejected their child when they couldn’t accept they were a daughter and not a son and mom didn’t want to lose her friend by offering her a home.  When I walked out too, she put her back up, the way people do.  In any case, they will love you.  So you don’t need to worry about them.  And maybe you can help them see how they were so wrong.”

He caressed her cheek and stole another kiss.  “So what you’re saying is; we both need to relax.”

She laughed.  “Something like that.”

The drive out to the airport where Tony’s private hanger was kept was uneventful but when the car pulled onto the runway rather than going through security, Melody couldn’t help but look out the window in awe.  It drove right up to Tony Stark’s Boeing 737 and stopped by the stairs where a flight attendant was waiting.  She greeted them both as they got out and airport staff grabbed their bags from the trunk and carried them onboard.  Steve and Melody followed along as the flight attendant told them about their travel time and expected time of arrival.  The plane was far grander than I’d imagined.

Melody had never been on a private jet before, but in her head they were little planes with just a couple of fancy seats in it that rich people took so they didn’t have to huddle down with the masses.  This jet was large.  The kind people typically took for domestic flights between major cities, with the business class section of columns of two seats, and then two columns of three for economy.  Only instead of rows and rows of seating, there was a collection of four large swivel seats just inside the door to the cabin, followed by couches by a large screen and a bar, and then more further down that was walled off from view.  It was spacious and opulent, and her whole apartment probably could have been sliced up and fit inside.

The flight attendant led them to the seats just inside the cabin and gestured for them to sit.  “We’ll be taking off shortly.  You’ll need to stay buckled up for take off but then you have free reign of the plane until we land.  We will be serving a meal about three hours in.  Can I get either of you something now?  A drink?  Something to eat?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Steve said as he buckled himself in.  Melody shook her head and echoed Steve’s words and the flight attendant began walking down the cabin doing the takeoff checks.

“This is so fancy,” Melody said. “I mean - I expected it to be fancy, but this is fancy-fancy.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot. It’s very Tony though, and it’s really nice of him to have offered it.  I always feel so cramped up in economy,” he said.  “There’s a queen-sized bed back there.”  He gestured behind himself with his thumb.

She peered past him, looking down the length of the cabin down the hall.  “Seriously?  What the hell?” Her eyes flicked back to him. “You would have flown economy with me?”

He smiled and tilted his head.  “Of course, I would have.”

Melody hated the gap between them.  She really wanted to unbuckle the seatbelt, straddle his lap, and kiss him until they landed in Oregon.  Instead, she poked out her foot and tapped him on the shin.  “You keep that up and you’re totally joining the mile-high club today.”

“Keep what up?” Steve chuckled.  “Telling you cheaper modes of transport I’d take for you?  Oh, Mel, I’d totally hire an economy-sized car for you.  One of those ones that only have two doors and a hatchback.”

“Oh baby,” Melody laughed.

“You like that do you?” Steve teased.  “Then you’ll love this.  I’d catch a bus for you, Melody Danes.”

Melody’s hands went to her crotch and she flicked her fingers out.  “Sploosh,” she teased.  “My panties, Steve.”

He lost it laughing.  “I’d do Uber ride share for you, honey.”

They both broke down in peels of laughter.  The plane had begun to taxi out to the runway and as they settled back down again and when they were given the all-clear, Melody unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up. “I want to go look at the rest of the plane,” she said.

Steve stood and gestured to the back of the plane.  “After you.”

It was only a few steps down to the entertainment area with its bar, couches, and big screen.  “If you want we can watch a movie during the flight,” he said.  “And I’m sure Tony won’t mind if you want a drink.  Rhodey tells me there are stripper poles that come out from the ground somewhere here, but I don’t know if that’s true or how to get them to come out to see either way.”

“Oh man, Tony’s a card,” Melody said as she looked around.  “I wonder how many in-air strip shows have happened up here.”

“I’m too scared to ask,” he said.

There were two doors to the right as they walked down a corridor toward the back of the plane.  “This is a bedroom,” Steve said, opening one of the doors.  It was small and simple inside, just a full bed and barely enough room to move around it.  It was still impressive given it was on a plane.  He didn’t open the next door, but he rapped the back of his knuckles on it as he passed. “That’s Tony’s workshop.”

“He has a workshop?  On his jet?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Sometimes he needs last-minute repairs or additions to the suit.  It’s probably the most practical thing on here.”

They reached a door, and Steve opened it and stepped into the room beyond.  Melody stopped dead with her mouth hanging open.  It was clearly the main bedroom and was more opulent than she could have ever imagined.  The queen-sized bed sat to the right of the door and was decorated in rich golds and reds.  Opposite was a screen for watching television or movies, and to the right was a wardrobe.  “Holy hell,” she said.  “This is nicer than my room.”

“I don’t know about that,” Steve said, going to open the door at the very end.  “Bathroom.”

Melody closed the door behind her before she approached Steve and poked her head into the bathroom.  She stood with her mouth hanging open as she looked into it.  It was black and gold with enough space to move around and even had a shower that would easily fit both of them.  There was an alcove with fluffy robes and towels hanging in it, and an assortment of shampoos, soaps, and lotions on the sink.  “Well, this is definitely nicer than my bathroom.”

Steve laughed and nodded.  “I’ll agree to that.”

She turned and stood up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around Steve’s neck.  “How much sex do you think that bed has seen?”

Steve laughed and leaned into her, ghosting his lips over hers.  “That is a question I never want the answer to, but I’d say more than I’ve ever had.”

She laughed with him and captured his lips.  He kissed her back, slowly and deeply, his lips parting when her tongue coaxed them open.  His hands ran down her back and settled on her ass.  His fingers tightened and he lifted her, just enough that her feet were off the floor, but her toes grazed the carpet, and he carried her over to the bed.  Melody’s hands went to his cheeks and she held his face in place as she kissed along his jaw. “Is this really happening?”

He chuckled and set her on the bed, guiding her back as she crawled up between her legs.  “You said I could join the mile-high club if I kept telling you what kind of transportation I’d take for you.”

“Oh right, of course,” she said, holding his cheeks and looking into his eyes.  “How could I forget?”

She pulled him down into another deep kiss and they began to strip.  First kicking off their shoes and letting them clatter to the floor, and then breaking their kiss just long enough to pull off their shirts.  As they kissed frantically and passionately they worked down each other’s pants.  Steve’s hands deftly unfastening Melody’s fly, as Melody fumbled with his.  He managed to get hers down first and she kicked them aside and then together they worked his off.

By the time they were both completely naked, she was wet and aching for him.  She wrapped her hand around his cock, pumping it as she slid the head up and down her slit.  “Mmm - fuck, Steve,” she hummed as she tapped the head on her clit.  “I want you so badly.”

“So what are you waiting for, honey?” Steve teased.

She pressed his cock to her entrance, but held him there, not letting him push in at all.  He pulled back and looked down at her.  “What are we waiting for?” he asked.

She bit her bottom lip.  “You to beg.”

Steve rolled you both over, so she was straddling him.  He looked up at her, his blue eyes darkened with lust and he arched his back.  “Please, Melody.  Please.  I need to be inside you so badly.”

She pushed herself up on her knees and held herself over his cock.  “Good boy,” she praised and lowered herself down.

They moaned in unison, Steve raising his hips as Melody leaned forward and braced her hand on his shoulders.  She began to ride him, slowly moving up and down on his cock.  Every time she pushed herself up, she squeezed her walls around his thick shaft, and when she dropped back down again she stopped just before he hit her cervix.

He reached up to touch her and she grabbed his hands and pushed them above his head. “God, Steve,” she moaned.  “You fill me so good.”

“That’s right, honey,” he growled.  “You take me so well.”

“Made for you, Steve,” she moaned.

He twisted his wrists, grabbing hers and pinning her hands behind her back and he leaned up and kissed her as he snapped his hips up into her.  She mewled into his lips, a soft high feeling setting over her.  She rolled her hips as he thrusting up into her and they kissed deeply and passionately.

Pleasure coiled through her like a snake, winding its way around each of her muscles and then tightening at once as her orgasm tore through her.  She cried out loudly as her orgasm tore through her.  Steve groaned, his hips bucking up wildly as her walls squeezed and milked his cock.  His balls tightened and he threw his head back, moaning loudly as he came inside her.

“Fuck, Steve,” she sighed, cradling his jaw and looking down into her eyes.  “That was amazing.  What a way to join the mile-high club.” 

She kissed him deeply and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as close as he could as they kissed.  Slowly she pulled back, sucking on his bottom lip as she did.

“We should probably take a quick shower and head back out there,” he said.

“Yeah, they did say they were bringing us food,” she said.

He laughed. “Don’t want them bringing it in here when we’re like this,” he chuckled.

She laughed with him, pecking her lips and getting off his lap.  “I think we need to fly economy next time.  I could too easily get used to this,” she said.

He followed after her, squeezing her butt.  “Trying to get all turned on again as I list all the transport I will take for you?” he asked.

She giggled and turned around, grabbing his hands and backing into the bathroom. “Mile-high shower sex club,” she joked. “What do you say?”

Steve leaned down, hovering his lips over hers.  “I say I lead the way,” he said.  He captured her lips, kissing her deeply.  Melody kissed back passionately. It was nice, with all this mess around them, they could find these moments where nothing could touch them.

// NEXT

[theotherbuckley]

Re: your post about Buck having to deal w/Gerrard. I've seen a lot of people not into the possibility of Buck potentially taking the brunt of Gerrard's shit (in comparison to the poc 118 members). While Gerrard is the ugly trifecta of racist, sexist, and homophobic, is it possible he's more outwardly homophobic than anything? (tbh though, I haven't watched Gerrard's S2 scenes in a few years, so I might be forgetting something that contradicts that).

I would think Hen would suffer Gerrard's shit more than anyone, but I think for storyline balancing, they'll focus her time (and maybe Chim's too?) on the still open storyline happening with Mara and Ortiz. But the Ortiz thing will no doubt become entangled with Gerrard at some point. Idk, I do anticipate Gerrard being awful to everyone while he's around, unless it's someone who can serve some sort of purpose for his own gain (Ortiz). And I know this is story is 'old news' from the fandom perspective, but there's a small part of me that wonders if Gerrard wouldn't also have a unique distaste for a firefighter with a history of suing the LAFD.

I think Gerrard is definitely incredibly racist and sexist which we saw in the glimpses of him in the past. He’s homophobic too just clearly an overall asshole. I don’t necessarily think Buck will face it the worst. I think all of the POCs and Hen as a woman too will definitely face the worst of it. I just think Buck won’t know how to deal with it because he’s never had to before.

For Buck there’s no such thing as a work/life balance — work is life itself family. Everyone else has has times where they had to separate that — Hen and Chim both experienced lots of different captains including Gerrard and Eddie was a soldier with a family back home and I’m sure that wasn’t easy.

Point is they will feel shit but they also have separate work and personal lives and currently those personal lives are going a little bit to shit — so they have other things to care about more than just work. I think they know how to compartmentalise and deal with that even though they will definitely struggle.

Buck doesn’t. Buck doesn’t know how to separate the two, that’s been a theme from the beginning where everyone told him that there’s a reason they wear a uniform — so they can take it off at the end of the day. Except when Bobby said they weren’t a family Buck proved him wrong. He made it a family and instead of listening to them about taking his uniform off Buck was always the same Buck with or without it.

I think it will be interesting to see how he behaves when he can’t treat work and home the same. I wonder how that might go into his personal life at home with Tommy too, who’s also gone through Gerrard. Buck’s a white (thought he was cishet) man but now for the first time he’ll face what it means not to be.

Anyways, I think it’s going to be very interesting to see. Also I think the article was only listing bad things and currently Buck and Tommy are happy so like they wouldn’t mention that on the article and they have to mention something 😅

And regarding what you said about the lawsuit — honestly 911 as a show doesn’t often come back to storylines 😅 once they’re done they’re done. But maybe an off handed comment about it sure but honestly I kinda doubt it. Anyway thanks for the ask it’s always really interesting to see other peoples takes.

[theraddestfemalive]

Y’know what? Fuck it. I’m going to say this

I don’t think any non-gc or tra lib gives a fuck about what im about to say, even considering that im going to tag the cr fandom.

I’m only adding one radfem tag because this post is centered around another topic.

i feel like ever since the trans population has tripled, it hasn’t been the same. Before any of you cucks think im talking about the idea of being trans, im also talking about the community behind it. Their ideas within the concept of it.

the concept of being ‘transgender’ was built on the foundation of sexist stereotypes; although the origins had a different purpose in ancient societies (varying ofcourse), it was ultimately used as a weapon to oppress women in the modern times, the goal was to make a person ‘feel’ like a male or female and now trillions of micro labels and gender identities are used to describe people who feel slightly above the normal and they’re treated as if they’re some kind of clothes that you put on instead of an identity.

Because of this, most people don’t even know what a woman or a lesbian is. They try to replace the definition of something that was exclusive to one sex to cater to the whims of men.

Ever since last year, most my friends that weren’t into that shit now identify as trans and I saw a dramatic shift in their personality. Most if not all of them were autistic women that did not conform of societal standards of what a ‘woman’ is. Some people may argue it’s because of how lightly a transgender identity is perceived. But on my end, I think it also has to do with the lack of representation of quirky female characters in media.

likely I would’ve fit into one of those micro labels or some shit like that but I was lucky enough to discover characters and things that I aligned with so I didn’t have to deal with shitty gender dysphoria (alongside with my very obvious mental issues and me being neurodivergent myself)

When I look at the older cookie run art (2016-2021), or even from eastern countries (eastern countries aren’t really politically correct) I could truly see the characters in the scene. There is passion behind it. The artists are either older or they know what they’re doing. And it doesn’t seem like an overload

when I see newer cookie run ‘fanart’ esp when there’s a lot of people within the western community, I don’t see a lot of what the characters truly are. All I see is their interpretation of what their character would look like if it was an unoriginal copy of a 14 year old gendie’s oc. Alongside with that, they add a thousand headcanons and sexualities, making the character unrecognizable. And if that wasn’t the cherry on top, they’re so obsessed with lgbtq and race stuff (no im not a bigot, don’t even try to fucking label me as one im a bisexual woc ) that’s all what they talk about besides stupid discourse topics. Oh, and also changing a dough color is ‘racist’ (they’re fucking COOKIES. Their dough color was based off of their ingredients and complimentary colors, even the devs had to explain and yet the western community still bitches about it like whiny 5 year olds. They come in all colors, not just fucking skintones.)

I think the characters and ships of the community would be much more likable for me if it wasn’t infiltrated by the discourse gang.

I think instead of giving drugs and cosmetic surgery to children, we should get deeper into the psychology of why there’s a lot of trans people on the rise. Don’t you think it’s weird that it has to be an ‘urgency’ to get surgery or children will kts? Maybe instead of thinking it as a life or death situation, think of how most of these people are mentally ill compared to the other lgbtq demographics.

I probably sound like a fucking dick here and im going to get a lot of hateful notes and messages, but honestly.. idgaf

Before you water this down to ‘trans people bad’ im just highlighting the problems of their community and its immense effect on teens my age (13-15 age range im not telling you) before dickriding the movement, I think *again* we should get deeper into the psychology of these people, thank you for reading.

maybe one or two people know who i am because of the image i will show below, who cares lol

i will block if I receive any threats :)))

[stardustizuku]

We need to talk about Villainess Stories

Or, how all girls dream of Cinderella

During the pandemic I felt awful. I remember watching my life lose meaning, as both fear and apathy chewed away what little there was left of my mental health.

I was scared, I was angry, and worst of all - I was burn out. I spent the first few months pouring away all my pain in badly written fanfiction and art, to the point that I couldn’t muster the strength to pick of a pen anymore.

And yet, I still felt. I felt so much and in such a numbing way, that all I wanted was to consume a story.

Books weren’t doing the trick anymore. I ran out of mangas to read, all feeling like a chore to even start. And even Fanfiction wasnt hitting hard enough.

I felt like a drug addict, getting used to pain medication and trying to get her hands on something - anything - to make her /feel/ again.

And. I found it.

I remember the exact title that made me start to go down a rabbit hole that would ultimately change my entire world view.

It isn’t even a good one, which is the worst part.

“The Queen’s Law of Survival”

Don’t try to search for it, it’s not that good. It’s basically - a girl gets transmigrated into a cursed princess and tries to gain her father’s love to avoid getting killed

It’s one of the thousands “suddenly I became a princess” rip-offs. Not worth your time

But why then, if it’s not good, did it suck me in enough to make me want to read more of it? And want read story similar to it?

We can attribute a good chunk of it to my daddy issues - but I don’t think that’s the full story.

Because as I read more and more - got sucked into all types of Manhua, manhwas and webnovels (Korean Chinese and even Japanese) I began to realize a quite interesting and depressing truth that made me want to reevaluate my life

I was becoming my mother.

Not in a a bad way. And not literally “my” mother. But I have this memory of her reading crappy porn books like Fifty Shades of Grey, with a fervent obsession. Books of romance of devoid of plot or an actual meaning that my teenage self could only wonder, “why do you even read that?”.

She answered me, god bless her heart, with a simple analogy. “It’s like Cinderella; all girls dream of Cinderella”.

And she was right. All girls dream of Cinderella.

But the more I enjoyed them, the more I realized that I was also noticing things that…weren’t sitting well with me. They were fun, don’t get me wrong, they were the most fun I had in years. Yet, when I finished them, I couldn’t help but feel like I had indulged in a sin, akin to gluttony. Why? It’s not like they were blatantly racist, sexist or ableist, were they? It was a simple story. It was just Cinderella.

So, why then, had I this feeling that I was overindulging in something I shouldn’t?

Well, I wrote this essay to answer that question. Why do we like this stories, why are they so addicting, and is there anything wrong with enjoying them? Or finding joy in them?

MASTERLIST >> NEXT

[midnight-in-eden]

This is what I meant in this post about being an angry atheist. I was taught to think anger was bad. I was taught to place moral value judgments on emotions. And anger like angry atheists have was especially bad, because it was linked with pride.

And you know what? It’s true!! My anger is my pride saying I should never have been treated like this. My anger is my self worth saying I am worth more than this, and not because of my Father, because of me. My anger is my protectiveness for myself and people like me saying The abuse and trauma have gone on too long.

For my ancestors who left their homes and walked on bloody blistered feet for a lie. For the girls in my family tree who were treated like cattle, collected in a herd for their husband. For the people of color denied access to exaltation and eternal families through the priesthood and temple ban, for the queer people who are still denied those things. For boys at BYU who underwent electroshock and induced vomiting “therapy” for the crime of being gay. For every child abused by a bishop or other leader. For every woman who wanted a career and gave it up because she was told her only priority was having and raising children. For every young man who felt pressured to go on a mission or face rejection and soft shunning from his community. For children who were denied baptism because their parents were gay. For everyone who was ever traumatized by a violent and invasive temple ceremony they weren’t warned about ahead of time. For all the people in poverty who faithfully gave their mite even when it was the only money they had. For every non-believing kid who’s sat through self righteous lectures from emotionally abusive parents. For every person who was ever coerced to sit in a closed office with an adult man and confess masturbation or anything else sexual, especially the children who were made to give these “confessions.” For every girl who grew up feeling like her body and sexuality were a dirty and shameful thing because of all the modesty culture and law of chastity lessons. For all the kids who grew up scared by the story of Abraham and Isaac, for all the kids who felt like their faith wasn’t good enough because they knew they couldn’t do what Nephi did to Laban.

I’m angry about historians who were excommunicated for telling the truth. I’m angry about people excusing racist and sexist scriptures. I’m angry about men telling me they’ve read about polygamy and came to terms with it, so I should too. I’m angry about queer people being called enemies of the family and signs of Satan’s increasing power. I’m angry about being manipulated. I’m angry about the abusive relationship I was taught to have with God, how I was told I would never make it without him, that I shouldn’t trust my own understanding but only what God (and his prophets) said, that I should be grateful he gave me this opportunity to have trials, to suffer, because it would turn me into someone better, someone he could accept living with him. I’m even angry for the girls who sadly took out their second pair of earrings based on the whim of an old man.

Yes, I’m angry! Aren’t you? Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it such a relief, such a gasp of fresh air straight into your lungs, to allow yourself to be angry about things you know are wrong?

[kizzyking]

I've been forcing myself to read a terrible book, with the help of a friend, because I spent to much on it not to read it. I've been reading it aloud to my friend and we've been discussing all of the things we hate about it, one of which is that the author named a group of people 'shamanfolk' and their magic users 'shaman' then made them violent extremist outsiders experiencing genocide. I need to share a conversation we just had about it. The conversation turned to Avatar the last Airbender because the book was advertised as "a fantasy book for people who like zuko/katara vibes, written in a brandonesque way"

Here is the Convo;

(me) I found good words for why the use of 'shaman' in this book upsets me, beyond the way it uses an existing word with cultural ties extremely inappropriately

(me) This part of a post is from Tumblr explains it; If you want to make a metaphor for racism, you have to remember that racism is literally based on nothing. Africans weren’t enslaved en masse because the Robo-Musa threatened to destroy the world, they were enslaved because it was economically rewarding and politically convenient. If at any point your allegory for racism includes “so <oppressed group> did this major catastrophe and” then you have not only missed the point but you are literally reinforcing the ideas that racism have let racism self-perpetuate (that e.g. black people are naturally dangerous and violent and must be contained or begrudgingly accepted by the Nice White People)

(Friend) But its not even used only as an insult Its literally the only word used for them

(me) I might have phrased poorly, I mean that I felt my issue with using shaman to label a group of people went beyond just the insensitivity of using a real word that isn't his and using it incorrectly. I've now realized that it made it hard for me to get distracted from the racist undertones through the book

(Friend) Ah yes I understand, Its the white "romanticism" of it

(me) Yeah exactly, leaning way to heavy on the perspective some people have of zuko being kataras oppressor

In my opinion

I don't think he has the skills to back up what he's planning, like having an engaging romance and working to improve the society

(Friend) Kataras "oppressors" is the entire watertribe as a whole. What do they mean its Zuko?

(me) Do you mean fire nation? And the men in their society in general perpetuating misogyny but the ones actually killing them are zukos people. But not zuko himself!(unlike migo) the main pushback I see against zutara online is from people of color who feel that katara would never fall for a fire kingdom prince of she respects herself and that anyone who thinks she would has drank too much white savior koolaid

(Friend) Did you forget how sexist Soka was in the beginning? He didn't think Katara could do anything or be a good bender because she was a girl. And did you forget how when they went to the Northern Watertribe, she was completely barred from learning fighting?

(me) You're right that there are many forms of oppression throughout the show, from all sides really. I just meant to clarify that 'opressor' is referring to the fire nation specifically within the specific complaints people make against zutara.

(me) Also I'd say personally, I believe that word refers to the ruling class subjugating a people, not every ism within intersectional bias

(Friend) I honestly don't have the energy to debate over a kids show

That's where the conversation ended but I am still very frustrated by it the next day and if anyone has an opinion I'd love to hear it. I felt like my friend riled me up and then cut it off when I didn't agree with them and left me with so many questions

[anthonybialy]

Kamala Needs Your Vote, Eventually

Vote as you’re told for democracy.  Enduring a Kamala Harris presidency is off to an appropriate start.  The party deeply committed to countering fascism is full of surprises.  They appointed their choice by removing that very thing.

Kamala tells the inspirational story of someone who didn’t even need to get a vote to become a finalist.  The 25th Amendment comes with an asterisk, but at least it’s not the only part of the Constitution Democrats violate.

It’ll be racist and sexist to not vote for the vice president selected based on race and sex.  Kamala used multiple definitions of the latter.  Accessing power through a reciprocal trade will be billed as judgmentally icky close-mindedness.  There was no sleeping to the top: who slept?

Kamala’s hagiography will make the media’s treatment of Obama look like how they portrayed Mitt Romney.  The eternally fair press will have to try even harder to make her seem like a kindly savior factoring how she herself contributes precisely no persuasion abilities.  Democratic policy is based in forcing you to buy a timeshare.  The charisma it takes to sucker marks is a recessive gene for her.

Liberalism’s embodiment thinks she’s being complimented.  An ideology that spreads misery and poverty as it claims to respectively create love and wealth would be funnier if we weren’t enduring it.  The ethos remains amazing in the minds of adherents, who are far more dedicated to a faith that never pays off than the religious people at which they scoff.  That reality part is the sole problem.  Just like how printing money made everyone poor, Kamala is an inspirational visionary until she speaks.

Identity politics are especially appalling for someone without one.  Substituting superficial qualities for an appealing personality is how to flaunt progress.  Harris is trying to take her status as the prototypical DEI politician to the next level.  Someone else will still have the opportunity to be the first good female minority president, so it’s nice of her to selflessly leave that opportunity.

It beats Trump if she beats Trump.  Republicans would finally have to nominate a competent adult following such a shameful adult.  Dreamers might even hope things could get fixed.  Not wanting to binge a repulsive series we already hate watched is trying to justify what would be a slightly more obnoxious version of the Biden presidency.  An obviously awful opportunity with zero changes from the wretched notions of her ostensible boss means doubling the rottenness that’s already happened.  The only equally nauseating notion is the doing the same with an intermission.

It takes childish delusion to think one of these parties nominating an adult one of these elections.  The legal right to vote as a result of being born at least 18 years ago doesn’t affect the poetic sense of maturity.  

Republicans can finally learn not to attach themselves to a mouthy showman who spends like he’s still a Democrat.  The same professional shyster who repulsed voters so much that they chose the present technical incumbent over him keeps the election competitive, and nobody wants some boring predictable race. 

Anyone who thinks a quintessential dunce shouldn’t get promoted will hate politics.  Democrats hate corporations because they presume they’re run the same way.  Their quite taxing philosophy is most valuable for learning a lesson about why idolizing a preposterously warped perception of an inspiring savior who’ll usher in a new era of communal bliss might make life tougher.  My historical research indicated Bill Clinton may have been a bit insincere about all that hope jazz, too.

If we’re replacing candidates, text Ron DeSantis.  Kamala’s greatest strength is not being Trump.  An era of politicians infiltrating life features the last humans you’d want doing so.  This would’ve been the best time to not bring back a mouthy conman who sure wallows in misery or someone whose shtick is based on his wholesale success.  The slightest bit of positivity would bury a mere landslide.  Instead, try your hardest to enjoy another election where two energy vampires drain the joy out of life and the country.

Elections keep providing examples of why to minimize them, which voters keep disregarding.  You’re right to feel tired of placing faith in preserving the nation on the willingness of Supreme Court justices who both have read and respect the Constitution.  Pondering the steps that got us to this rather untenable point might just be worthwhile.  

It’s the obligation of liberals to not think ahead.  We try to get them to envision about what happens next, but they worry that foresight would alter who they are.  Why bother to plot when you can scheme?  Just force through the latest daft plot to seize money and rights before proclaiming nobody has to pay.  That’s why everyone’s rich.

The charming refusal to realize there will be a tomorrow is how they ended up with the most dreadful contender today.  The emblematically empty-headed present competitor replaced the nasty geezer who screwed up the nation after the loudmouth who was the less worse option triumphed against the shrill schemer who followed up the all-star charlatan.  There’s your brief recent political history.

Anyone enjoying this environment is bound to be excited by a potential Kamala term.  Decent humans by contrast should start considering what curse led us here.  Voting like this led to a pending nomination coronation for the least worthy queen.  Kamala’s so awesome that there’s no need to confirm it with some runoff.

[gynoids-over-androids]

I also used to watch rpdr as a teenager and it made me have low self worth. I was maybe 15 and these men on tv were doing extremely exaggerated insta baddie makeup and wearing gowns and fashionable or fun clothes, and they were using padding and such to have the illusion of the trendy female body in pop culture, and they were competing based on who embodied these things the most. Or at least the episodes that were mostly about humour and personality, each episode still ended with a runway to assess who had the prettiest makeup and clothes, and had made themselves the “best” illusion of a pinup doll. I was a teen girl and I felt so ugly because I figured if these men can look like that then surely I must be a failed woman that I can’t make myself look like that “properly”, and I would spend so much time on my makeup and fashion to look like a man mimicking a Hollywood starlet. And I also felt like I had “failed” womanhood because these men were so feminine but I was just natural so why couldn’t I be as feminine as those men. Initially I started watching it cause I liked competition shows and would watch them with friends like master chef and project runway and such, and what kept me there I think was partially that I could relate to it when they told their “tragic gay stories” to the camera and it felt heartwarming to me that they had found their “found family” + I liked the fashion and makeup and such, but in reality when I got on social media I saw that those “bad” moments they had on the show weren’t just bad moments to further their plot but literally how they were in real life, and every sexist and racist thing they said tongue in cheek or under the guise of “gay culture” on the show came from a real place. On top of that so many of them were just as toxic and problematic or whatever as your average male celeb even if they were gay and feminine. I remember once I was really taken out of the show because one of them was saying “as a black woman” and I remember thinking “but you aren’t actually a woman?”. Rpdr is very weird because it’s both a “watered down” and “family friendly” show yet it has so many references to sex and sexual content, and contestants saying horrible things as if it’s nothing

Thank you for your insight anon, very good points. I'm sorry you felt this way :'( and it's interesting and very telling because 2010s style makeup and MUA culture in general were very influenced by drag - stuff like contouring, redrawing your brows very big, big lips eyebrows cheekbones etc.

I find rpdr and similar local TV shows a very good example that drag is NOT subversive anymore, no matter how some "leftists" pretend otherwise. Was it subversive in 80-90s as a part of gay culture? Maybe. But not when you have multimillion shows know internationally about it. As you say it's watered down and family friendly but very bigoted at the same time. Maybe because males are allowed to get away with this because "they're just joking"?

It definitely played a role in "normalizing" (making more common? ) male gender conformity on a very superficial level - especially through the makeup industry like I mentioned. Makeup with 100089 steps, shapewear, giant heels, exaggerated body shapes, crazy hair etc are all 2010s trends I contribute at least partially to drag.

[Interestingly we'll see in this decade how the society is already abandoning these trends in favor of the underweight and magically unblemished clean girl/brandy melville girl look. I think it's a reaction to the 2010s highly artificial look.]

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