#ranting about a movie only I seem to like because it is problematic but also a lot of fun and well made | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

julietasgf · 10 months ago

Note

Juli

I'M BACK (I never left, it just took me a while to respond because I need to think about my answers otherwise I'll ramble on ad infinitum and college beats me eh). I love talking to you so I hope it's not a problem I'll keep asking you stuff about these fascinating characters (The Plinth) and any other topics because I love your ideas and your takes.

About your reply on AO3, I can promise that I will start doing my own HCs on Strabo and Ma and you will be the first person I will show it to when I have written it. I must also say that I agree with you: while ships and romantic relationships are amazing to explore, platonic and familial relationships are just as interesting and deserve to have their fics and hc and analysis within the fandom. (Can we talk about the potential of Lysistrata as a possible friend of Sejanus in canon?)

Before I start with my rant of the movie (it's finally here, another day we will continue with the many other things like the war in Two, First Quarter Quell, etc jsjsjfjs) I come to pass you the link of the fic I mentioned and also to recommend you a new series of fics that recently appeared centered on Baby Sejanus during the war (please tell me what do you think!!!)

1. Bullets Over Two

It is being update I must warn but what is there is for now, is very good!

2. All I Long for is Home (Little Sejanus series)

I really thought it was magical when they sent the link on discord for this series. It has everything we love: Baby Sejanus, studied the dynamics of the Plinth and their experiences during the war!

Speaking of the Plinth. I think its function is both ways: they are clearly the immigrant experience and the difficulties of forced assimilation of coming from another country as identity crises but also USA is a very large nation and as you say, the culture shock within its own territory is enormous and continues to reproduce these dynamics of discrimination.

Ah yes I send you a big hug for the mockery. People really can be cruel. I don't get it, to me it seems like such a nice way to call mothers. 🥺

In my case I'm from the capital but my father is not, he came from a state and has told me a couple of truly traumatic experiences about the problem of fitting in. Ah

But well. The time has come for the rant.

First I would like to clarify that I loved the movie. Great cast, great direction, costumes and cinematography. The soundtrack is a fucking work of art. Iconic enough that I will forgive them for not adapting the snowjanus song from the book. I also think Coriolanus and Lucy Gray had more than satisfying and well done arcs.

In fact there were some changes to the story they made in the movie that seem to me to be great additions or reinterpretations of the text (Example. making Felix the president's son, killing him and having Dr. Gaul use his death to interrupt Reaper's act of direct rebellion -another change that as you can see I am into it-, Tigris serving with that line "You look like your father, Coriolanus", etc).

I don't have a problem with any of that. My big conflict comes down to their portrayal of the Plinth and the Academy students (I'm mostly talking about Clemensia but I didn't limit myself to her). As I said before the absence of the Plinth (Ma and Strabo) seems problematic to me, because they will be the worst crime of Coriolanus. They are the proof of how many limits he is willing to cross to get to power while being the force that is able to allow him to fulfill those ambitions. It's fucked up and very necessary to show in order to understand Snow.

I understand that the time was probably here what contributed to the fact that we only got to see them in a small cameo but gosh I think one scene. One little scene they could have given us. Besides it wouldn't have been a waste, because a lot of information about the Snow's we found out in relation to the Plinth.

What can I say?, I just feel sad every day that we don't have the scene of Coriolanus and Strabo talking in the movie. It's such a short but intense conversation.

With Sejanus my biggest complaint is that because the involvement of his family and family history is almost nonexistent, viewers of the film alone don't know a lot of much needed facts about who he is to see his nuances and there were changes that worked against reflecting his character as well as his situation.

The most extreme example that we have discussed before is the Sandwiches scene. In the movie, the credit is taken away from Sejanus, who was the only one to be concerned about the welfare of the tributes in the book. He was the first to try to approach them not to put on a show like Coriolanus but to try to offer them dignified treatment.

That Sejanus brought so much food. That he did not give up even though at the beginning no tribute wanted to approach and in the end his thing with Marcus will not be settled are actions that speak a lot about who he is. Since such actions don't take place in the film, it leaves an incomplete understanding of the character (which leads people in tiktok to have the worst takes on him in the world).

But this doesn't just happen with poorly executed scenes, it's present even in well done scenes like Sejanus responding to Arachne's bad comments. While it's a scene I adored and establishes well that Sejanus and his fellow academy members live in very different worlds, I don't think it quite captures Sejanus' situation well.

Although inferred, in reality outside of disagreements of opinion there is little in the film that if you don't know the context of the book, tells you very clearly that Sejanus has been harassed and bullied by his classmates for over a decade and the true extent of the hostility of the environment to him.

Which in part doesn't quite capture the reason for his desperation. Equally influential is that Sejanus begins with a higher pitch of protest in the films rather than the escalating spiral he faces in the book.

Now about the Sandwiches scene, I think we can all agree that it is made to make Coriolanus look much better than he acted in that particular situation and ultimately impacts along with other subtle changes in his behavior to make the character a more gentle and selfless version than his book counterpart.

And as you rightly said Juli, Sejanus is not the only character who is prevented from showing his virtues to 100, to favor the image of Coriolanus. This happens in fact with all the students of the academy. Especially with Clemensia.

I wanted to talk about Lysistrata but I feel the same problem with her as with the Plinth: they are practically nonexistent, and it is striking that the other character who genuinely showed concern for her tribute, sought to give him a humane treatment and was not particularly in favor of the games, was almost eliminated.

But I'll go with Festus. Who like other characters in TBOSAS - THG is a greyscale. He'll say wild and clearly poorly thought out things like suggesting the use of capital punishment and brute force to get more people to watch the games but he's also a kid who mourns the death of Arachne, the twins, eats at all hours, is funny, and told Clemensia she was cruel for not wanting to send food to her tribute. And he had a kind of connection with Coral.

According to Coriolanus he was also one of the few people who liked Sejanus more than the average student at the academy. Which says something about his persona, but more importantly in Coryo's own words.

Festus was his best friend and I was quite surprised at the kind of focus they gave him in the movie because not only is there more focus on his flaws but his moments with Coriolanus are more sparse. You wouldn't think they were friends. Again I'm not 100% complaining about that alteration and I can understand where it comes from (it was to give more focus on snowjanus "friendship") but here we have a character who to a lesser extent is reduced to being a mentor who doesn't treat his tribute with gentleness unlike Coriolanus and who seems to not be his friend. Just his classmate.

Which brings us to Clemensia. Who I think is worthy of a place in the "I was close to Coriolanus Snow and he ruined my life" club. I think people underestimate the weight of Coriolanus' actions when he decides to put himself first. When he decides to put her aside to ensure his own survival.

Clemmie is one of Snow's closest friends. And their relationship is the least complex compared to other important relationships in Coryo's life. Which I think is something that promotes the strength of their bond, as Dovecote is genuinely just a friend that Coriolanus spends time with.

It's not as wearing and multi-layered as his love hate Sejanus. Like the conflicts Lucy Gray stirs up and it's nowhere near as torturous as his relationship with Tigris. Coriolanus genuinely cares for her and they seem to understand each other well but this is what I think makes her the first victim.

I can't really say that Coriolanus will act badly in the whole situation. It was Gaul at the end of the day who did most of the damage; demanding that rehearsal from them even when Arachne died, lying to Clemensia to send a message to Snow.... But it is the turning point. Because Coriolanus is faced with a crossroads, what happens with Clemensia forces him to acknowledge what he has always known.

The Capitol does not care about protecting its people. The Capitol is cruel and oppressive. The Capitol subjugates them. He can't rely on institutions or adults to protect him.

And I can't blame him for his reaction, but it is his reaction that makes him complicit. He decides not to protest, not to argue, not to tell and not even to try to take care or to know about Clemensia once she disappears. He does it to ensure his own survival. To take care of his family in theory and other things but it is that point of fall where the debate opens up within him as to why his actions and what he is willing to leave behind in order to survive.

He runs away from her, unable to face the horror of his own inability to act or do anything else for Clemensia and while he awkwardly apologizes, for leaving his friend behind, it was this event that marks this point of who else he is capable of leaving alone as soon as they "become a threat" to his interests.

So I don't understand for the life, why they didn't shoot the scene of her in the hospital with snake scales? Clemensia and Coriolanus' arc IS VITAL. And removing it was a huge mistake, not only that, but changing Clemmie's attitude to make it look like she "deserved" what dr. Gaul did. It was honestly the worst decision. It just doesn't make sense. And I mean that in all seriousness. They didn't even complete her story *scream*.

But well, who I am to complain... On a happier note our beautiful LATAM AU. 🤭 Of course, Sejanus is the one who fights with Strabo every time there is a family reunion. His cousins try to eat at the speed of light before Sejanus starts saying things against the pigs politics who exploit people and Strabo tells him he's a dumb anarchist and stop questioning everything and then they start yelling at each other and have to take the kids somewhere else 😭😭😭

By the way it would be funny if Sejanus, is disinherits by his dad every christmas and he's like "I don't even care about your dirty money" but Coriolanus DOES CARE so he scolds him every time he says that and tries to talk some sense into him although the odds are also very high that he tried to convince Strabo to make him his heir instesd of Sejanus by chatting with him in the yard JAJSJSJSJSIS

Arg Coryo is good because Tigris has an album and a copy of that album with pictures of him dressed as a chick for a dance and other horrors. AND SIIII YOU UNDERSTAND VESTA IS THAT MOTHER WHO CAN DANCE EVERYTHING.

Rip Coryo and his two left feet. He let himself be led but was a very embarrassing companion for someone like Vesta who moves with grace. Sejanus offers to give him lessons so he doesn't make a fool of himself again at parties jsjsjshs

GOD IS CANON. LGB WOULD DEFINITELY GIVE HIM A NASTY POLITICAL CAMPAIGN SHIRT to (make fun of him). Also she has permanently threatened Coriolanus that if he is ever an unacceptable jerk again, she will funar him on social media 💀

STRABO IS THAT KIND OF DAD JSJSJS HE LOVES TELENOVELAS HE JUST REFUSES TO ADMIT IT BUT IT'S SO OBVIOUS. Imagine Sejanus and Coryo discussing telenovela villains and someone gets a fact wrong and Strabo is like "but this actually happened..." and saying he knows because Vesta told him but everyone knows that in his office he watches telenovelas in secret LMAO

About the daddy issues. This the scene

This is getting long already but I think daily about Coriolanus and Strabo's talk and then that time Coriolanus realizes he's acting like Strabo with Sejanus. Damn. I just know that if we would have had a snowjanus + strabo encounter. THAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED I SWEAR JSKSLS

😭😭

Coryo: Don't yell Mr. Plinth at Sejanus he is just trying to help...

5 minutes later:

Strabo: But don't give him the order yelling,young Snow, you should know Sejanus is sensible...

3 minutes later:

*both of them yell at Sejanus*

Sejanus: This is normal yes :)

Oh. I forgot my song.

1. New song sejarcus certified and yes it's an accurate portrayal of Strabo's father. Its crazy.

2. European Mexican warning: but I need you to see the video of Rosalia - millionaria + Dio$ nos libre del dinero. It's two songs that share one video and there's something there about Coriolanus and Sejanus and their relationship with money. Ehh

Now I will shut up for the moment.

HIII!!! I absolutely understand and 0 judgements bc I'll spend hours just writing a single answer bc time is needed (specially bc I'm a tad bit slow thinking in english 😭) also, good luck with college!! and aaaaaa I love talking to you, this is really sweet, feel free to ask or say anything, I'll be more than happy 🥹

YESSSSS PLS I'm now anxious to hear your thoughts, can't wait for them!!! I stand by the fact that ships are lovely, but there's a big lack of exploration for platonic dynamics and it's painful (and I say that as a platonic bairdplinth truther, snow can go to hell, let these two bond and be such an iconic duo). and yessssss I love lysistrata sm :( every single time her character appeared, all I could think was "omg why couldn't sejanus get closer to her instead of getting close to coriolanus?". there's just so much POTENTIAL here

YESSSS HERE COMES THE (DESERVED) RANT!! but about the fics: thank you sooooo much for sending the links!!! I bookmarked the first to read later, but the second, I've read the first work of the series when it was posted and it's SO GOOD <333 it's genuinely one of my favorite works that I've read recently, and I love how the author wrote bby sejanus' perspective regarding the war

yessss!! I'm not an usa expert (bc, well, I never lived there), but I've seen some interesting takes from people who are from there, but more specifically, are from the appalachian region; and these people were talking about how there's this whole view of people from that region being "uneducated" and other things (and how important it is that D12 is located in this region; I'm not sure if in the movie lucy gray have an appalachian accent because I SUCK at recognizing accents in english except for the texan one, but I know that when suzanne collins read a passage of the book out loud, someone pointed out that she gave lucy gray an appalachian accent).

(this also hits harder when there's a passage in the book where sejanus says him and lucy gray are very alike regarding this, not being able to fit in anywhere, except she had talent 💔)

thank you, this is really kind 🫶 some people will just be ignorant for no reason, just for the joy of being ignorant. and I'm sorry about the things your father went through :(

but okay, let's go to talk about the movie:

absolutely agree!! the movie is GOOD. straight up good. and as an adaptation, there are a few things I think they actually did better than the book:

the whole game, in general. I think the rythm got much more dynamic than it is in the book. I understand the book's purpose, but as a reader, it's slow. the changes made it more interesting and it worked in movie-form a lot.

the whole scene with reaper and the panem flag not only is gorgeous and strong and impactful, but it's so well-adapted, I just- I was really at a loss of words, because it IS much better than the book, imo.

wovey dying from the snakes instead of lucy gray poisoning her. it was an impactful scene that made me feel hopeless and horrible watching. even though the book is brutal, this death specifically made the movie much more brutal to me. that was a child begging to go home.

as you said, making felix being the one who got killed during the bombs. it just made more sense and it was gaul's perfect excuse. and it also makes us question more things: is it one child's life worth the life of 24 children?

but when it comes to coriolanus... oh boi. I have thoughts.

(before we get into it, it's worth saying tom blyth did an amazing job with the text he got; the forest scene was TERRIFYING, it made me genuinely scared and tense when watching it at the theater. plus, he has this constant look that just unsettles you. it makes you sense that there's something wrong with this boy, even though you can't really put your finger on what exactly. if there's such a thing as a perfect actor for coriolanus, that's tom blyth, no doubt.)

now, this is a feeling I personally have: the movie is an action dystopian movie. it would obviously want to appeal to this public, including people who never read the book in first place. so, to appeal more to the general hollywood public, they adapter coriolanus' character to be more of an underdog who goes through some sort of corruption arc. he's not an indocrinated, bigoted boy who thinks himself to be superior, who grows more and more power hungry, and this leads him to do things that are more and more horrible. in the movie, he's an ambitious boy, yes, but who goes through traumatic things and famine, and who, in the end, chooses himself in order to survive.

now, let's say the writers want to change this character to make him more appealing to the big public; after all, who would like watching someone like coriolanus thinking the things he think, specially about district people? and the way they seemed to do it was by not changing the core story, but omitting and toning down elements that make coriolanus seem much worse.

the plinths are definitely the most problematic of these characters who got omitted or toned down. the end in the film is not near as impactful as in the book. he killed their child. their only son. and then he comes back and acts as if he did nothing. he knew how much sejanus' mom loved him, then he kills her son and proceeds to call that boy's mom MA. he was SO sick for that. stealing someone's life is already bad, but there's so many layers that the more you look into it, the worst it gets. it's essential to understand that atp of the story, there's no turning back, because he isn't able to feel remorse anymore. he just doesn't care, and this is extremely important to know that THIS is the snow we know in the future. this is the snow that do horrible things to children, that mercilessly kills his opponents. that's how far he's willing to go.

I agree with you regarding the time, specially because the movie was already very long, but they could've given us one scene. at least one. if they inserted, for example, ma plinth going to talk to coriolanus abt sejanus being missing, I think it would already add a great impact (of course the scene of sejanus' death screaming for his ma is heartbreaking by itself, but when you know the context, when you see how close they were in the book, it's just MUCH WORSE, MY GOD). or in the end, a little scene with coriolanus and strabo talking abt coriolanus being their heir would already do a lot for the storytelling (I also think that was left a bit ambiguous in the movie).

(I also adore that scene of strabo and coriolanus, it gives us a lot of insight and I would've adored to have it adapted 💔)

sejanus in the book is a complex character that has a lot of nuances, and that's why I like him so much. when you look through coriolanus' lens, you won't really understand how depressing his situation is. coriolanus just looks to the fact that sejanus have money and is financially privileged, but mostly ignores the fact that the capitol is hostile to the plinths (coriolanus himself is hostile to the plinths! he doesn't say it aloud bc, well, he's coriolanus, but it's still there in his narration, and the way he talks about them), and sejanus was relentlessly bullied through his whole childhood growing up. he had no friend and not really a support network besides his ma. he was utterly alone in an environment that hated him, hated where he came from, hated his family. and he still turned out kind. and we see this in details through the book; the sandwich scene is the most significant, as you said, and it PAINS me that they cut it out, bc reading it, it was when it was clear to me that what coriolanus says about sejanus is not really reliable. sejanus brought food not only to marcus, he brought food to ALL the tributes. he wanted ALL of them to have something to eat. and he really didn't need to do it.

another thing that was poorly executed was that they basically got rid of the fact that he was suicidal. in the movie, it seemed like a naive kid thinking dying on that arena would be a good act of protest (which wouldn't be at all, as we all know it wouldn't be broadcasted). in the book, the whole thing regarding it being a form of protest is more secondary, because that boy was straight up trying to kill himself, and if it actually ended as some sort of protest, then it would be just a side thing. sejanus was in so much pain that he really thought that the only way he could make up to marcus was by dying, and then, after this whole thing, (if I remember right, but I may be remembering wrong) he had to be on sedatives because of how stressful and traumatic the situation was. and sejanus says AGAIN later in the book that he was planning to kill himself. it makes the whole rebel plan have much more sense, because OF COURSE sejanus wouldn't care it's dangerous, he doesn't seem to care about his life at all, he would know the risks and do it anyway, while in the movie it just seemed impulsive and (again) naive. and talking about the rebel plan, this is such a tiny details but it drives me insane how they changed the fact that in the book, he KNEW about the guns and he GOT THEM PURPOSELY, and this actually changes a lot how the public can view his character.

and as you said, all these changes lead to people on tiktok having the WORST takes on him, and I can't even judge them 100%, bc in the movie (imo) they DID make him much more spoiled and naive than he is in the book 😭

to wrap up my thoughts regarding sejanus because I talk too much: sejanus' arc is not one easy to the general estadounidense audience relate to unless you went through some similar experience, but when you did go through some similar experience, it hits HARD. and the book worked this very well, where in the movie, I swear some people I know that never read the book didn't even remember that he was district. it was very poorly worked, they toned down his character a lot, and it just doesn't sit right with me.

but now, let's talk about the academy students:

one thing that I find interesting in tbosas is that even though coriolanus is the worse, we can't really blame it on being from the capitol, because we DO see characters from the capitol who have the ability of being selfless and have empathy. and that makes you realize that, yeah, even though coriolanus is a product of his environment... it's still not justifiable, because we see good kids at the academy who aren't bigoted like him.

lysistrata is the BIGGEST of these examples. even though we see coriolanus being nice to lucy gray, we also read his thoughts and he mostly sees her as a possession, a thing to be possessed, not a human being. he barely sees her as equal. and we have lysistrata, who forms a genuine bond with jessup. there's a scene that I find really remarkable in the book. one of the academy students (I'm not really sure who, but I think it was hilarius) comments, in response to lysistrata saying jessup is a protector, that jessup is almost like "a loyal dog". and lysistrata immediately says that no, not like a dog. like a human being. like a protector. and lysistrata was born and raised in the capitol, she probably never got any contact with the districts, her family for sure have a lot of money for her to study in the academy... and she sees jessup as human. not as a possession, but as human. and they got almost completely rid of her character, and it really did make it seem like coriolanus was the only capitol-born kid who wasn't particularly cruel or xenophobic (when it's quite the contrary lol).

we barely see festus in the movie, and when we see, it's just him being kind of a prick (and I don't really understand why focusing on him being a prick specifically; there were other academy characters who would've served this purpose well; why, of all the academy students, pick right the one that was not hostile to sejanus? it genuinely got me confused, like, why, leave him alone 😭). I can absolutely see why they didn't focus on festus and coriolanus' screentime, and I'm also okay with it, but what bothers me is that changing him into just another academy student who's pretty much cold to his tribute removes the nuance of the story (in the book, we see plenty of academy students bonding with their tributes and feeling bad when they die, we see they are indocrinated privileged kids but who can still learn to be better and do better and unlearn all their bigotry; while in the movie, it sounds more like, academy students = bad, coriolanus = good).

clemensia DOES deserve her own small seat at the "coriolanus snow ruined my life" table alongside with sejanus, lucy gray and tigris 😭 I think she's very much forgotten when we talk about the people coriolanus hurt

coriolanus did clemensia so wrong.... of course it's not as bad or complex as he did to lucy gray, but as the book progresses, coriolanus goes down a spiral where the stuff he does to people around him get more and more and more cruel and more nasty and more unjustifiable. clemensia was when that spiral started. he calls her by a nickname, they pretty much grew up together and saw each other around a lot. she probably trusted him. she's a friend, just a friend, not a possession or someone he's straight up jealous of; as you say, it's not as important as the other 3 most important relationships we see in the book (coriolanus and lgb, sejanus and tigris), but it's still a relationship, and if anything, the most innocent and pure one. and also, clemensia DOES have her moments of goodness!!! unlike coriolanus, she's against betting on tributes, and she thinks watching the games is gruesome. of course, compared to all of his victims, clemensia isn't the worst; after all, if anything, dr. gaul is the one to have more guilt here. but he was still wrong for how he reacted to it (she was his friend!!! and he didn't say a thing!!! he puts his survival first and the person he cared about in second), and each victim he makes, the reasons and the motives get less and less justifiable. but overall, I can't really add more thoughts regarding clemensia, because you were pretty much on point, and I agree with EVERYTHING. everything, really.

and also, talking about the movie and how they made her arc incomplete: it really annoys me how they make it implied that she died ("caught a flu" and stuff), but we don't see a funeral, we don't see her friends grieving, we don't see nothing. I don't remember if we even saw her during the games, srsly; I genuinely can't remember, and if she wasn't there, who the hell mentored reaper? they just left him without a mentor and that's it? I can't really remember a case like that in the book, as all the mentors that died also had their tributes dying, so... yeah, clemensia deserved much better, they did her so wrong by making it seem like she deserved it and took profit from coriolanus' work (when in the book, she was actually mad that he wrote the essay because arachne JUST DIED and he's there writing an essay). again, small details, small things, minor characters that are really important to understand how FUCKED UP coriolanus is even to the capitol standards, and they got completely toned down or just changed to make him better and more of an antihero ig.

(in general, loved your thoughts, they were very well put and I basically agree with everything, it should be kind of a requirement to read the book before watching the movie because I can't stand some takes I see on twitter and on tiktok, specially regarding lgb and sejanus; LEAVE THEM ALONEEEEE)

LATAM AU my beloved <33 STRABO CALLING SEJANUS AN ANARCHIST, I'M SCREAMING because this is actually so on character 😭 the plinth family having to start the christmas dinner much before midnight because if they wait for it, they KNOW there'll be no vibe for it because sejanus and strabo are already at each other's throats. ma tried to ban alcohol once, because she thought that if strabo was sober then he would be more mature and not yell with sejanus, but it's no use because sober or not, him and sejanus WILL fight over politics (and it's even worse when it's election year, poor ma is so tired, SHE JUST WANTS A FUN NIGHT not a civil war inside her own house)

PLSSSSSSS every single year strabo going "I'm NOT going to leave my money to you, I don't know who I'm going to leave it, BUT IT'S NOT YOU", and when sejanus talks back, coriolanus is there next to him "babe <3 don't do that <3 I wanna be rich <3 if you don't, that's up to you <3 but I want that good life <3" but the thought of coriolanus trying to convince strabo to make him his heir is also too funny 😭 because strabo would be there slandering sejanus, but when coriolanus tries to slander sejanus too, strabo immediately glares at him and is like "who said you can talk about my son like that? 🤨"

coriolanus being so embarassed because vesta knows how to dance tango while he does not 😭 and imagine it being like on a party, it was the first time sejanus was introducing him to his parents, and coriolanus wanted so bad to make a good impression, just to make a fool of himself in the worst way possible. sejanus thinks it's cute tho when coriolanus goes to him having to put his pride aside to ask sejanus to teach him how to dance (because sejanus is vesta's son, he KNOWS how to dance too, I just know it).

lucy gray having a whole album on her phone just of pics to post online and expose coriolanus if he dares to be a prick again, I know that's right, if he doesn't want to behave by his will, then it'll be by force ☝️ and plus she's supported by tigris

HIM TRYING TO HIDE IT BUT ATP EVERYONE KNOWS IT 😭 and when he talks to sejanus and coriolanus abt it, the conversation lasts long, and he knows a lot of tiny details (because that man is an insane observer, he'll catch the tiniest details and actually guess the finale much before), and then coriolanus stops and goes... "wait, mr. plinth, how do you know all of these stuff?" and he tries to justify it and say that vesta told him, but these are TOO SPECIFIC details, vesta didn't tell him that

okay, so, I watched the scene, and I'M CACKLINGKSKSKSDKKSDKSDKDS I just KNOW that if we got a scene of these three characters together, it would go pretty much like that 😭 it's even more funnier if this is an au (a modern setting), and sejanus takes coriolanus to meet his father, and just then when he puts coriolanus and strabo side to side he realizes that these two are actually TOO alike and he starts to reconsider most of his life choices

EUROPEAN MEXICAN TRIGGER WARNING (I'll never NOT laugh at it, that's historical reparation 😭) but I watched the clip, and YESSSSS you're so right!!!! and again, coriolanus and sejanus serving as a foil to each other and being on opposite ends (specially because in sejanus' case, that money comes from selling guns that kills people and children, that's blood money, and the lyrics just fit him so well)

but anyway, it was amazing hearing your thoughts, hope to see you soon buddie <3 take care!!

#tbosas #tbosas movie #coriolanus snow #president snow #sejanus plinth #clemensia dovecote #lysistrata vickers #ask #my silly little thoughts #this was long welp

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hopeymchope · 2 years ago

Note

I’m talking about it being considered “problematic” Sense people already seem so be shitting on it on Twitter.

Note: This is a follow-up to this ask.

Oh. I never paid much attention to that.

The main reason people seem to think it's "problematic" is usually because of Chihiro not being canonically and undeniably trans... which is so fundamentally misguided and dumb to me that it feels like a misinformation campaign. It's the Fox News of bad takes.

Although I don't begrudge anyone their right to support/boycott media of their choosing, I also find the entire notion of "not supporting anything problematic" to be both exhausting and impossible.

Rant Time:

See, a few years back I watched this long documentary about how some popular movies were made in a way that was very bad for the local actors' union. It was enlightening and disheartening, of course, but it had a bigger point: It ended with the thesis that once you become an adult, you have the responsibility to be mindful about the media you consume, always researching them so that you never support any immoral decisions, damaging content, or bad people.

To which I say: Fuck. That.

Every major piece of media requires massive corporations to produce. Every movie or video game or TV show takes hundreds, sometimes even a THOUSAND people or more to create. And I'm supposed to be held responsible for supporting or not supporting every decision, every aspect of the content, every person involved? I'm supposed to only buy a ticket to a movie if I want to support some mega-conglomerate? (Spoiler: I will *never* want that.) This notion is not only literally impossible, it's also a guarantee that I should never watch or play or read ANYTHING EVER. You are probably supporting a bad thing if you consume ANYTHING, because so many people are involved and so many choices are made along the way there.

Like... there was probably a violent criminal who worked on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood for a while. It ran long enough and saw enough rotation of side staff that it's statistically likely to be true. It's damn near certain. But I'm not gonna be held responsible for whether some loathesome bit-part actor on that show gets a residual handed to his family in the form of pennies years later. The overall vibe/message you're supporting is obviously NOT one of such negativity, so there's no foul to me there. You get what I'm saying?

I believe we should take joy and immersion where we find it, and if I'm being real, a huge chunk of what I enjoy in media is likely "problematic" to others. I tend to enjoy being challenged in very specific ways that would probably be uncomfortable for other people. They don't need to consume what I do anymore than I need to stop doing so for their sake. To each their own!

And yeah, maybe sometimes there's a larger force at play. Maybe sometimes you feel compelled to take a big, symbolic stand because the cause at the heart of that stand - the "problematic" thing perpetrated by the content in question - is just too great, or PERCEIVED to be too great. And that's your right -- I always encourage people to do what seems like the right thing to them, sure. Boycott anything branded with the Wizarding World if you want - that makes sense, I get what you're saying!

But for me? I prefer to focus on the BIG stuff. The stuff that is obviously rooted in and doing nothing but pushing horrible causes. For example: I would never want someone to support Matt Walsh's bullshit "documentary" about how trans people are fake because he's a horrible human being who makes money off horrible human beings by creating horribly wrong, hateful things. That's an EASY decision. I would never watch or want to hang with someone who watches Newsmax, because they are liars who are attempting to engender hatred and fear to divide us. EASY decision. Some stuff, you can tell from 10 miles away that it's just there to spread and support hate. It serves no other purpose. That's the shit you can and should very easily avoid giving a dime to.

But like, if you watch horror movies, are you supporting the idea that violence/murder is entertaining? Sounds problematic! NAH. I don't buy that. Miss me with that shit.

#asks #anon #rambling #personal morality #danganronpa

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brittanagirlcrush · 1 year ago

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I need to rant

So, feel free to totally ignore this but if I don't get this out I will continue obsessing and that's not getting me anywhere.

I'm a writer. Whether I'm good or not is up for debate - I think I am. I write stories I like to read and my grammar/spelling/mechanics are usually pretty good. I've had (mostly) positive feedback on my stories.

I have absolutely ZERO problem if you have a piece of constructive criticism for me. Something doesn't make sense? Something is problematic? I screwed up on the timeline? Cool, let me know. You have suggestions on what I could have done differently? Cool. I'm not saying I'll take these suggestions but I am 100% okay hearing them.

I end up ranting about non-constructive criticism. People who guest comment stuff that doesn't contribute to my growth as a writer or my understanding of a mistake I may have made.

Case in point:

Recently, someone commented about my handling of Santana's ED. Now, I left all of that intentionally vague (like, so vague I probably could have gotten away with not putting a TW for ED but I did so "just in case") for several reasons:

1) I'm not 100% behind the idea that Santana had an ED. I know that's not the prevailing opinion of the fandom but I am more of the opinion that Santana was body conscious (or self-conscious) but not to the point of an ED. I think, and this is simply my opinion, that the fandom locked onto Naya's ED and took whatever was in canon to bolster the opinion that Santana also had one. Yes, there is canonical evidence that Santana had an ED but there is also canonical evidence that she didn't.

B) I have some of my own issues with food and weight so I really didn't want to research and delve into ED. It was one (rather short) scene and I will never mention it again in any of my fics.

HOWEVER,

The person who commented was polite and articulate and I appreciated their criticism.

My only intent was Santana going from too thin/scrawny from poor diet and too much/the wrong kind of exercise to being healthy from eating a healthier diet and exercising more moderately. Thus, the change in her appearance. Working with a counselor was her way of working through all of Sue's brainwashing.

I just felt that Santana would have been self-conscious about gaining weight, not necessarily because of an ED, simply because of who she is and how she was raised.

So, if that commenter is reading this, thank you.

Now, onto the reason for this rant.

If you don't like a song, cool, I get that. Not everyone is going to like every song. Telling me it's a terrible song and seems like my song choices were self-indulgent; not helpful.

Also, Santana sang "She's Mine" ... a country song from 1987 ... I don't think "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" ...

a number one hit for Bryan Adams (for 16 weeks) in 1991, was featured in the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,

Oh, wait ... it was also released by Brandy in 1998 on her album Never Say Never (which also featured The Boy Is Mine with Monica - you remember that song, right? Santana and Mercedes sang it together in Season 1) ...

is really that much of a stretch to think Santana MAY know that song.

Whether it's a terrible song or not is debatable.

For the record; most of my song choices end up being totally random.

Saying my writing is "ableist" ... not helpful. I had to look up ableist. Then I had to re-read my fic. And I still have no idea what that comment meant. How was it ableist?

Onto the comment that kind of made me scratch my head:

"The dialog (especially from brittany) reads like a tumblr rant and not at all like natural human speech"

It was a review for The Spaces In Between. I re-read my fic and, I am unsure if the person meant ALL of the dialogue or just Brittany's rant in the last chapter. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I get the voices wrong. But I thought I did okay with TSIB.

If it's just Brittany's rant in the last chapter, then it was exactly what I wanted it to be. A rant. A word vomiting rant of epic proportions. Because Brittany was pissed. Look at her face in IKAG. She was angry and Brittany (oddly, much like myself) doesn't get angry. She gets annoyed or irritated, vents it quickly ("I do love you. Obviously you don't love you as much as I do or you would put on this shirt and dance with me!") and lets it go.

However, long fuses can still be lit. Brittany spent a good portion of Season 3 not talking to anyone but Santana (she even mentions it in Promasaurus). She was pissed and she bottled it up. For Santana. Because Santana needed her. But when those long fuses get lit they will, at some point, explode. The wrong thing, said by the wrong person, at the exact wrong moment and BOOM.

It's not supposed to be coherent and "natural human speech". It's not something Brittany does - Santana does insulting rants - Brittany doesn't. So, when it happens, it's not "natural"; it's angry and messy and very un-Brittany-like. (People are always surprised when I "go off" IRL because "that's just not like you").

Oddly, this "rant" isn't angry. It's annoyed. If you don't like my writing, don't read it. I (mostly) write for me but I know there are seven or ten people out there who enjoy my stuff so I write for them as well. If you have something constructive to say, I'm glad to hear it. If your only goal is to tear me (or, really, any fic writer) down for the sole purpose of upsetting me - I gotta wonder - who hurt you?

Ok. Now that I've vented my spleen about this nonsense, I can get back to my "real" writing.

Chasing the Dream isn't going to write itself (sadly).

#writing #personal rant #i'm over it

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getsillyyyy · 7 months ago

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Redoing this because I don't like my first one

Hello! You can call me pinkz, pinky, or Benny! My favorite activities are drawing, listening to music, roleplaying, and staring at my wall(/j)

I absolutely LOVE talking about my ocs because they are just so silly! My favorite ocs right ATM probably has to be Randy and or noodles!

I love when people info dump on their ocs and let me info dump about mine! It makes me SO happy and I will be kicking my feet and giggling the entire time

If someone's oc is rotting in my brain for long enough I'll draw them 🥱

I'm a yapper if you couldn't tell ‼️ I won't shut up about something unless I run out of things to say to it (which is why I over explain things) I also have ADD/ADHD

I'm always up for anything unless it's actually fucking weird- you know what I'm talking about!

Favorite movies:

House of 1000 corpses

The fnaf movie(it's fnaf)

Shows:

Rick and morty

American dad

Super jail

Occasionally Steven Universe

Games:

Fnaf

Minecraft

Roblox

Animal jam

Fandoms:

Creepy pasta (I've been in this one the longest and I don't plan to leave any time soon! Most of my ocs are based on here but they do hop fandoms. After some stuff happened none of them are considered creepy pastas)

Slender verse(my favorite is everymanhybrid‼️I need to finish it, I'm only in like 9 (?) episodes- idk I need to go look)

Super jail(my favorite character has to be Alice! I don't mention this one a lot 🥱)

Sally face(this is a fandom I keep getting pulled back into. I've had more.. Questionable experiences in this one back in 2021-2022

Bands I enjoy listening to that I can remember by name is ICP and Slipknot! Other than that it's pretty scattered. I'll listen to anything that isn't jazz/classical music or sad music (only one song but it's because in my eyes it's good and doesn't seem that sad)

DNI LIST ‼️

people who infantilize characters. (Seriously, you're annoying if you do this. One of my ocs were infantilized A lot by other people because they had arm sleeves and couldn't talk properly. There's no reason to do this to people with disabilities man. He was raised by an animal cult, HE'S NOT GOING TO SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH AND BE A FUNCTIONAL MEMBER IN SOCIETY. It's gotten so bad I made it cannon he's babied and she HATES it. I'm ranting 😭 mb, (summary) It's just really annoying and makes me want to pull my hair out)

Zionist

Ablest

People scared of women with body hair, emos, or scene (I'm not changing my characters because you don't like it :3 I didn't ask for your advice so respectively keep it to yourself)

Homophobes

Transphobes

pedos(blocked.)

Zoophiles(BLOCKED)

people into Alfred's play house. (I heard it's a bad fandom with a lot of romanticized SA, I don't want those type of people interacting with me or my content.)

Ect!

That should be all for my little introduction post. Bye bye!!

Anyone else who is problematic!

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kwop-kilawtley · 2 years ago

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This is COMPLETELY spot on. I agree 10000% and I have seen the saga this way the first time I read it at age 12. THANK YOUUUU. The Team Jacobs of the twilight fandom get shit on. They drove me off the Reddit & people are generally really fucking mean about it. You know it’s so fucked up tho cause I see the other books they read or movies they watch & they stan characters who have done MUCH worse than Jacob Black. It really blows my mind. For example, I was chatting w someone who happened to be a Stan of the Shatter Me series. Everyone obsesses over the book boyfriend Aaron Warner. I only read the first book & He’s a rich white dude who literally abused the character. I like this series of books too btw but it’s just FUNNY.. she then immediately went on a rant about Jacob when I mentioned I’m into Twilight. Like what’s that? Seems like racism to me. I really can’t think of what else it could be. Jacob is not a monster or a villain or an insufferable character. Jacob is over 100 years younger than Edward & literally has more common sense. He is the most real character & most enjoyable to read about in the entire series. He is the obvious better choice for Bella. He GETS HER!! In my opinion I guess lol.

I’m honestly kind of sick of having to constantly explain myself why I’m team Jacob to people just in real life or online. It’s like.. but no one questions other characters. Kind of bizarre. I think it’s easy for a lot of people to just go with the narrative.. to be brainwashed just like Bella is. I considered myself Team Switzerland for a while bc honestly it kind of sucks being part of the fandom that people just shit on & just call you a “SA apologist” for. Yet no one is saying shit to Team Edward people as much at all. I also like the idea of vampire/human romance & can appreciate B&E for nostalgia reasons but like at the core of it, they are a TOXIC relationship & Twilight is inherently a TRAGEDY, not a romance. It just is.

Edward IS the villain. He’s also the least likable character after New Moon. Boring, pretentious, old asf. Sure he has charm… but most abusers do. He is the epitome of grooming, stalking abuser. But he doesn’t hit bella or talk down on her looks so it’s not seen as typical abuse. They are trauma bonded. They are in love solely because of magic which is CANON. She’d be with Jake if vampires didn’t exist.

The point that you made about the fact that Jacob simply just wants Bella to get out of this shit alive is something I do not see brought up enough. I don’t think a lot of people see this or understand his perspective. Even SMEYER wrote a New Moon summary in his POV for people to understand his side better. Edward is like a drug to Bella & readers. So they can’t see that Jacob is a fucking teenage boy who’s life is completely uprooted because of his ENEMY. His body, his life, his future will never be the same because the colonizer cullens. if that isn’t enough, the love of his life who he was basically putting back together from being suicidal is being GROOMED by one of them. Like could you imagine that tho? The thing is, people say all this shit about how Jacob tries to make decisions for her. It’s because she is literally delusional and addicted. Her addiction leading to her DEATH.

I think all the shit Edward has done is worse than Jacob kissing her. People aren’t gonna like that statement but it’s true. I do not like that he did that and it was wrong. It’s just that people really like to act like he did much worse. But it’s like they’re blinded by the shit Edward did and only start caring about problematic shit when it comes to Jacob. They call Edward king of consent & boundaries.. yet I guess they forgot this mfer broke into her house every night and WATCHED HER, A MINOR, SLEEP. Very similar behavior to Joe Goldberg in “You.” Having read “You” & “Midnight Sun,” I could not help but see the parallels. But Joe is a just a pathetic human so everyone sees he’s a creep.. but their sparkling vampire could do no wrong! It’s kind of laughable. People love to say “well he isn’t actually 100 years old, he’s forever 17.” Sorry, age is defined by how many years you’re living in the world. Sure the vampires are “dead” but still alive and learning. Edward is 117 years old pursuing someone under the age of 18. In the books, he refers to her friends of the same age as “children” multiple times. You cannot make this shit up. If he wasn’t perfect or handsome or dazzling then guess what…. He’d be in jail! ON MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS! “It ain’t that deep tho it’s just a fantasy book.” So they only like to point out problematic shit when it doesn’t involve vampires cause they’re excused. It’s a fantasy novel in all of those conversations with excuses but nope not with Jacob! Now suddenly it’s a very serious book and Jacob is a very bad person and if you like him then SO ARE YOU! when you bring up Jacob they then seem to suddenly care about Bella being abused.

Ok that was a rant and a half but that’s what I do on here. LMAO.

Perhaps it’s because I dissect this saga & see all of Meyer’s HORRID choices, but I legitimately do not understand people can be so pro edward & anti Jacob. I also do not understand how it’s the majority of the fandom. Like, DID WE READ THE SAME BOOKS????

#twilight #team jacob #jacob black #that was like a mess of a text post lmfao #irs like 2am and I’m falling asleep #pls excuse me #still facts tho #LMAO like the team Jacob v edward debate still LIVING ON

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yesimwriting · 3 years ago

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hiii, this might seem weird but do u have any head cannons for when the reader is pregnant and how the Darkling would react?

a/n love this concept,, it's not weird at all!! i feel like there's so much here!! also i leave for college this month and im lowkey starting to freak out so ive been watching star wars movies for comfort 😭and now i have half a mind to write for them, especially the prequels (cough, cough,, anakin) 😭 😭 that should tell you where i am mentally

anyways lets get into the headcanons:))

- okay so like most of my headcanons, this is probably going to be all over the place bc i feel like so many different things could change how he would react. Like if the darkling x reader have been trying to get pregnant, or an unplanned pregnancy with someone he really likes, i also think whether or not the reader is a grisha affects his reaction too

- in general though, i think he'd lowkey have a breeding kink he'd def find something about the thought of you having his child really attractive bc for one thing, he wouldn't have to worry about being left alone and now he has an excuse to be a real 'protector'.

- also if youve read my other headcanons i am 100000% convinced that he has this thing where if he really likes someone he needs them to need him (let's all remember the whole 'i will strip you of everything you know and love speech until I'm your only shelter' speech he gave to Alina)

- also i kinda want to write a fic or blurb series or something that's just the darkling being super toxic in super thoughtful ways LMAO if that makes sense, like he's being super sweet but it's to make sure the reader is dependent on him

- and he def wants to be the protector to give himself some sense of assurance bc he's so desperate to not be alone anymore and bc the reader is the only person he has/loves, he wants to feel in control and like he's the less attached one

- okay,, let's get back to the pregnancy thing, anyways, your pregnancy is most definitely activating all of those senses and this was meant to be a sub plot but it kind of became it's own thing lol

- so lets get to the actual pregnancy reaction

if you two have been trying to get pregnant:

- when you tell him, he kind of like, pauses bc it's not every day that he gets surprised so it takes him a moment to register that he's experiencing shock lol, so he tenses and goes islent

- and then after he realizes that he's surprised and that it's bc of a good thing, he manages to relax

- meanwhile you're kind of freaking out bc he got so quiet?? you start to wonder if he's regretting ever wanting a child with you? and you're like two seconds away from a downspiral and then he...

- he touches your cheek and looks at you in a way you've never seen him look at anyone,, not even you

- the look is so warm and strong and full of fierce admiration that you feel foolish for ever thinking he didn't want this. And then he says something about how you're carrying his child and how he didn't realize he could adore you more and then he kisses you and it's all :)) warm:)

- he doesn't want anyone to know that he's expecting a child as long as possible bc of how many enemies he has and how he has to worry about you enough when people just know that you're his 'lover' (a title you never really liked, but one he tells you is necessary to make sure no one realizes the extent of his attachment)

- if you really want to tell your mother or someone of that relation, he won't be mad about it, but he just needs to know

- Genya is the only exception bc the darkling basically instructs her to look out for you,, but when you tell her she's like oh?? you guys just found out?

- miss girl most definitely noticed like a day and a half ago after you cried bc she couldn't find you ice cream the other night 😭and she just assumed you knew but weren't ready to tell anyone

- okay so this what i think is his most problematic expecting father trait would be. So i just ranted about how important secrecy would be to him but he's also the most overprotective person in the entire world,, like he was bad before but once he knows your with child?? yeah, if a man asks you about the weather, he's done for

- he's next to you in a second, ordering either you or the man to do some asinine task

- if you get mad about this (rightfully so) or even just point out how nothing is wrong and you having a casual conversation with a man who isn't even looking at you sexually won't hurt you or the baby, he'll lose rationality

- it depends on how much you push, but it'd be super easy to make him super possessive bc like i said, being bonded by a child has made him so much more intense (and he was pretty intense before)

- and if you push too much he'll lowkey forget about how cautious he's trying to be with you and pin you against the nearest wall and say something along the lines of 'are you already forgetting you're mine? that i own you, body and soul--is my child growing in you not enough of a reminder? because i'll give you another one if you need it.' (AH--i want to write a whole fic based on this line)

- also if the reader is grisha, especially if she's a sun summoner/special grisha like him, he def talks about the power that they've created and how proud he already is and how he can't wait to train together and be the most powerful family in the world

- not everything is perfectly happy though, bc now he feels more pressure to complete his plan and establish the world he wants his child to be born into

- so sometimes when he's working extra hard or is extra aggressive for no reason, you have to work at calming him down and reminding him that the best thing he can do for his child is be there for them (and the child's mother,, lol)

- sometimes he'll respond by actually listening to you and trying to make up for his absence or his aggression by being extra soft until you finally forgive him

- you never last that long, it's hard to be mad at him when he's coddling you and whispering such sweet things about he's so happy to have you and your future child

- overall, his first reaction is to swell with emotion, which he isn't used to, and so he becomes super protective but also extra lovey and you know that his overreactions are just him trying to show that he cares about you and your future child more than anything

If the pregnancy was unplanned:

- the initial reaction is pretty similar, only his state of shock lasts longer

- like i said at the beginning, he's not used to being surprised and an accidental pregnancy is so much more surprising than a planned pregnancy

- this really sucks for you bc he's not exactly known for his patience so you just kinda sit there and genuinely wonder if you're going to be a single mom or if you're going to want to deletus the fetus or something

- but then he takes a step towards you and you see how he's looking at you and you just know that that fierceness has to mean something good

- and at this point you're scared and nervous and feel so alone so tears are pricking at your eyes,, so he wipes his thumb across your cheek to wipe away tears you won't let spill

- he then whispers something really sweet about how you two are now together forever, as you should be

- it's really relieving bc you felt so alone and uncertain and he's such a smooth speaker that by the end of the night, you feel like this is a good thing

- if youre still hesitant/weighing your options, he's not above trying to (gently) manipulate you into thinking that what he wants may be the only way

- by that,, i don't mean outright tricking you bc he means everything he says, but he def is pushing the keeping the baby agenda,, especially if you're a grisha,, and even more so if you're a grisha with similar power levels to him

- he won't get angry at first bc he's not so out of touch that he's unaware of how shocking a pregnancy is to a woman who wasn't planning one,, but his patience is limited and if you fight it too much he will get mad and yell

- but unless you really don't want to have a child, it won't get to that bc he makes the idea of having a baby with him sound so perfect?? like you genuinely don't understand how he did that

- he chases away all of your worries and assures you that youre not alone and that even though it isn't planned he wouldn't rather anyone else carry his child

- the initial conversation would probably end in you two sleeping together again bc he finds the fact that you're carrying his child so attractive and bc being aware of the pregnancy makes him more possessive

- it's also a good way to fight any of your doubts

- speaking of being possessive though,, i feel like he could be a little more possessive/protective of a reader who didn't plan on getting pregnant bc your relationship has been less established

- no one sees you as anything to him and he doesn't want to start rumors now bc it's important to him that his enemies don't find out about you or his future child so he doesn't want that to change

- but he almost forgets about all of those reasons each time he sees a man get a little too close,, especially if that guy is flirty

- it takes all of his will power to not just go 'she's mine and if i wasn't worried about the stress that witnessing something violent would cause our unborn child, you'd be dead already, but if you're not gone by the time i turn around, i'll forget about caution'

- lots of close calls ngl!! at one point youre like 'if it bothers you so much, maybe you should tell someone??' and he's like 'no,, maybe,, shut up' and then you raise one eyebrow and he just closes his mouth and is like 'i mean,, i'll kiss you to shut you up, haha--dont be mad'

- youre the one that's pregnant but sometimes you think he might be the one experiencing the mood swings i swear 😭

- so your little theory gets tested,, he's not the type to gossip with his besties and be like 'guess who's officially my girlfriend, i knocked her up but it's not like it sounds--'

- so he's like ig you can tell genya

- once again genya is like ?? yall thought you were keeping that secret? couldn't be me

- but having it a little out in the open helps ease him just enough that youre actually capable of consoling him when he becomes jealous

- still though,, he's quick to go into possessive/pregnancy kink sex

- youre most def not mad about it,, unless pregnancy has you particularly sore

- he's normally pretty understanding about that and def doesn't mind pulling his weight in the bedroom when he needs

- honestly he'd be really good at being a source of calmness at the beginning, but as time goes on he becomes more and more worried about finishing his plans bc he didn't expect to have a child right now

- so he'd be more adamant about working/becoming more tense and would be more difficult to console if it was an accidental pregnancy

- when you call him out on it--or on anything while your pregnant--it's frustrating for you both bc the number one thing everyone knows is stress is bad for baby, so he's trying to keep you calm without backing down

- these argument always end with one of you clinging to the other,, and then the more angrier of the two just like shuts up, rolls their eyes, and lets go of the argument...at least for now

- the main difference between an accidental and intentional pregnancy would probably be how you perceive him,, bc an intentional pregnancy means youve talked about things but since you havent talked about anything your shocked about how soft he becomes ??

#headcanons #headcanon #darkling x reader #the darkling x reader #the darking x you #aleksander morozova x reader #general kirigan x you #general kirigan imagine #grishaverse imagine #grishaverse #shadow and bone #shadow and bone x reader #aleksander morovoza x reader #aleksander morozova imagine

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qqueenofhades · 4 years ago

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Hi. I’m curious. What did you mean by “women who read fiction might get Bad Ideas!!!” has just reached its latest and stupidest form via tumblr purity culture.? I haven’t seen any of this but I’m new to tumblr.

Oh man. You really want to get me into trouble on, like, my first day back, don’t you?

Pretty much all of this has been explained elsewhere by people much smarter than me, so this isn’t necessarily going to say anything new, but I’ll do my best to synthesize and summarize it. As ever, it comes with the caveat that it is my personal interpretation, and is not intended as the be-all, end-all. You’ll definitely run across it if you spend any time on Tumblr (or social media in general, including Twitter, and any other fandom-related spaces). This will get long.

In short: in the nineteenth century, when Gothic/romantic literature became popular and women were increasingly able to read these kinds of novels for fun, there was an attendant moral panic over whether they, with their weak female brains, would be able to distinguish fiction from reality, and that they might start making immoral or inappropriate choices in their real life as a result. Obviously, there was a huge sexist and misogynistic component to this, and it would be nice to write it off entirely as just hysterical Victorian pearl-clutching, but that feeds into the “lol people in the past were all much stupider than we are today” kind of historical fallacy that I often and vigorously shut down. (Honestly, I’m not sure how anyone can ever write the “omg medieval people believed such weird things about medicine!” nonsense again after what we’ve gone through with COVID, but that is a whole other rant.) The thinking ran that women shouldn’t read novels for fear of corrupting their impressionable brains, or if they had to read novels at all, they should only be the Right Ones: i.e., those that came with a side of heavy-handed and explicit moralizing so that they wouldn’t be tempted to transgress. Of course, books trying to hammer their readers over the head with their Moral Point aren’t often much fun to read, and that’s not the point of fiction anyway. Or at least, it shouldn’t be.

Fast-forward to today, and the entire generation of young, otherwise well-meaning people who have come to believe that being a moral person involves only consuming the “right” kind of fictional content, and being outrageously mean to strangers on the internet who do not agree with that choice. There are a lot of factors contributing to this. First, the advent of social media and being subject to the judgment of people across the world at all times has made it imperative that you demonstrate the “right” opinions to fit in with your peer-group, and on fandom websites, that often falls into a twisted, hyper-critical, so-called “progressivism” that diligently knows all the social justice buzzwords, but has trouble applying them in nuance, context, and complicated real life. To some extent, this obviously is not a bad thing. People need to be critical of the media they engage with, to know what narratives the creator(s) are promoting, the tropes they are using, the conclusions that they are supporting, and to be able to recognize and push back against genuinely harmful content when it is produced – and this distinction is critical – by professional mainstream creators. Amateur, individual fan content is another kettle of fish. There is a difference between critiquing a professional creator (though social media has also made it incredibly easy to atrociously abuse them) and attacking your fellow fan and peer, who is on the exact same footing as you as a consumer of that content.

Obviously, again, this doesn’t mean that you can’t call out people who are engaging in actually toxic or abusive behavior, fans or otherwise. But certain segments of Tumblr culture have drained both those words (along with “gaslighting”) of almost all critical meaning, until they’re applied indiscriminately to “any fictional content that I don’t like, don’t agree with, or which doesn’t seem to model healthy behavior in real life” and “anyone who likes or engages with this content.” Somewhere along the line, a reactionary mindset has been formed in which the only fictional narratives or relationships are those which would be “acceptable” in real life, to which I say…. what? If I only wanted real life, I would watch the news and only read non-fiction. Once again, the underlying fear, even if it’s framed in different terms, is that the people (often women) enjoying this content can’t be trusted to tell the difference between fiction and reality, and if they like “problematic” fictional content, they will proceed to seek it out in their real life and personal relationships. And this is just… not true.

As I said above, critical media studies and thoughtful consumption of entertainment are both great things! There have been some great metas written on, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how it is increasingly relying on villains who have outwardly admirable motives (see: the Flag Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) who are then stigmatized by their anti-social, violent behavior and attacks on innocent people, which is bad even as the heroes also rely on violence to achieve their ends. This is a clever way to acknowledge social anxieties – to say that people who identify with the Flag Smashers are right, to an extent, but then the instant they cross the line into violence, they’re upsetting the status quo and need to be put down by the heroes. I watched TFATWS and obviously enjoyed it. I have gone on a Marvel re-watching binge recently as well. I like the MCU! I like the characters and the madcap sci-fi adventures! But I can also recognize it as a flawed piece of media that I don’t have to accept whole-cloth, and to be able to criticize some of the ancillary messages that come with it. It doesn’t have to be black and white.

When it comes to shipping, moreover, the toxic culture of “my ship is better than your ship because it’s Better in Real Life” ™ is both well-known and in my opinion, exhausting and pointless. As also noted, the whole point of fiction is that it allows us to create and experience realities that we don’t always want in real life. I certainly enjoy plenty of things in fiction that I would definitely not want in reality: apocalyptic space operas, violent adventures, and yes, garbage men. A large number of my ships over the years have been labeled “unhealthy” for one reason or another, presumably because they don’t adhere to the stereotype of the coffee-shop AU where there’s no tension and nobody ever makes mistakes or is allowed to have serious flaws. And I’m not even bagging on coffee-shop AUs! Some people want to remove characters from a violent situation and give them that fluff and release from the nonstop trauma that TV writers merrily inflict on them without ever thinking about the consequences. Fanfiction often focuses on the psychology and healing of characters who have been through too much, and since that’s something we can all relate to right now, it’s a very powerful exercise. As a transformative and interpretive tool, fanfic is pretty awesome.

The problem, again, comes when people think that fic/fandom can only be used in this way, and that going the other direction, and exploring darker or complicated or messy dynamics and relationships, is morally bad. As has been said before: shipping is not activism. You don’t get brownie points for only having “healthy” ships (and just my personal opinion as a queer person, these often tend to be heterosexual white ships engaging in notably heteronormative behavior) and only supporting behavior in fiction that you think is acceptable in real life. As we’ve said, there is a systematic problem in identifying what that is. Ironically, for people worried about Women Getting Ideas by confusing fiction and reality, they’re doing the same thing, and treating fiction like reality. Fiction is fiction. Nobody actually dies. Nobody actually gets hurt. These people are not real. We need to normalize the idea of characters as figments of a creator’s imagination, not actual people with their own agency. They exist as they are written, and by the choice of people whose motives can be scrutinized and questioned, but they themselves are not real. Nor do characters reflect the author’s personal views. Period.

This feeds into the fact that the internet, and fandom culture, is not intended as a “safe space” in the sense that no questionable or triggering content can ever be posted. Archive of Our Own, with its reams of scrupulous tagging and requests for you to explicitly click and confirm that you are of age to see M or E-rated content, is a constant target of the purity cultists for hosting fictional material that they see as “immoral.” But it repeatedly, unmistakably, directly asks you for your consent to see this material, and if you then act unfairly victimized, well… that’s on you. You agreed to look at this, and there are very few cases where you didn’t know what it entailed. Fandom involves adults creating contents for adults, and while teenagers and younger people can and do participate, they need to understand this fact, rather than expecting everything to be a PG Disney movie.

When I do write my “dark” ships with garbage men, moreover, they always involve a lot of the man being an idiot, being bluntly called out for an idiot, and learning healthier patterns of behavior, which is one of the fundamental patterns of romance novels. But they also involve an element of the woman realizing that societal standards are, in fact, bullshit, and she can go feral every so often, as a treat. But even if I wrote them another way, that would still be okay! There are plenty of ships and dynamics that I don’t care for and don’t express in my fic and fandom writing, but that doesn’t mean I seek out the people who do like them and reprimand them for it. I know plenty of people who use fiction, including dark fiction, in a cathartic way to process real-life trauma, and that’s exactly the role – one of them, at least – that fiction needs to be able to fulfill. It would be terribly boring and limited if we were only ever allowed to write about Real Life and nothing else. It needs to be complicated, dark, escapist, unreal, twisted, and whatever else. This means absolutely zilch about what the consumers of this fiction believe, act, or do in their real lives.

Once more, I do note the misogyny underlying this. Nobody, after all, seems to care what kind of books or fictional narratives men read, and there’s no reflection on whether this is teaching them unhealthy patterns of behavior, or whether it predicts how they’ll act in real life. (There was some of that with the “do video games cause mass shootings?”, but it was a straw man to distract from the actual issues of toxic masculinity and gun culture.) Certain kinds of fiction, especially historical fiction, romance novels, and fanfic, are intensely gendered and viewed as being “women’s fiction” and therefore hyper-criticized, while nobody’s asking if all the macho-man potboiler military-intrigue tough-guy stereotypical “men’s fiction” is teaching them bad things. So the panic about whether your average woman on the internet is reading dark fanfic with an Unhealthy Ship (zomgz) is, in my opinion, misguided at best, and actively destructive at worst.

#long post #anonymous #ask

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insanely-lovely-and-random · 3 years ago

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So this is my rant about Shallow Hal, I recently rewatched it because the song "Love Grows" is on the radio again (which also yay) and I've always loved the movie and I didn't even realise people found the movie problematic.

Ya know what I get that people find issues with things that came out years ago and some are valid but when people try to tell me I'm literally wrong for liking something, THAT I have a problem with.

Fats suits and fat jokes are a problem and the early 2000s were full of those jokes but honestly I have a much greater issue when I see them in current media than old because yeah they probably should know better now but I don't really want to talk about its problems I want to say why I love it.

The fact that Jack Black was a leading man on a romcom is fantastic, he's a very attractive man but lets not lie hes not Hollywood's version of one and I LOVE that they made a movie like that. I also like the fact that he starts off like the name says shallow, he's a dick at first and he goes through actual growth which is honestly amazing because usually when the main characters not conventionally attractive they make the character too nice and honestly boring this movie feels honest with his flaws.

Yes Gwyneth Paltrow is wearing a fatsuit and most of the movie she's just herself but this was 2001 how many movies since have actually had an overweight woman as the love interest? I mean actually overweight and not Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones? Cause I could count em on one hand.

The fact that it ended the way it did I honestly think it was ahead of it's time. This and Shrek came out the same year and both have very touching endings with Shrek loving Fiona even with her being an Ogre and in this movie he comes to love Rosemary for the person she is and appearances really don't matter to him anymore. He loves an overweight woman and neither of them change to become more attractive by societies standards , that's fricking cool as hell!!! I don't know how many other movies I know that do that even today and let me say the fact that HE IS A MAN.

Before anyone gets angry at me what I mean is just think about how many movies have a woman loving a man who starts as a monster or scarred or considered ugly by the movies world. There's hundreds, recently we had Shape of Water where as nice twist yes the man remains a fish man and she loves him anyways. But movies where the man loves a woman who's considered unattractive? Far fewer and of those movies 9 outta 10 the womans just tall, clumsy, not a size 6 or something else completely ridiculous. She's almost never scarred or a frightening creature or genuinely over weight.

Beauty and the Beast has always confused me because the Beast is bad and can't see past an outer appearance but the solution isn't to have him fall for a woman with an ugly outer appearance it's to give him one and have a woman have to fall for him despite it.... but why?? Why should a woman have to learn to love him when it should clearly be him who has to learn that, I never got it but Shallow Hal did. Shallow Hal a movie from over two decades ago did that. It had a man learn that he is cruel, obnoxious and shallow and only by growing as person and saying a big old Fuck you to society's standards could he become incredibly happy with the woman he loves. Because Hal isn't the only bad guy in the movie, the whole world is. As shown by how embarrassed his friend is when he finds out Hals with Rosemary, so self concious just because of what other people would think?!

Hal changed by the end of the movie but people haven't changed a goddamn bit and that's sad. People seem to fat shame and look down on others more than ever and yes it has problems and it's just a goofy romcom from two decades ago but I swear to God I was genuinely changed by seeing it when I was 10. I felt empathy and shame for how I'd looked at other people who were bigger than me and it was thanks to this movie and so I still love it. Peace out ✌✌

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opinated-user · 2 years ago

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I started to doubt LO and her criticism when she released the video denouncing the word Queer as a slur. Not only did that seem like a bad take, but she then proceeded to call The Rocky Horror Picture Show "Trans Blackface". I mean, it's one thing to not like the movie, but I don't think she understood the cultural significance of that movie at all. Midnight showings of Rocky Horror are where a LOT of LGBTQ+ teens/young adults (especially in small towns) could hang out safely ever since the movie came out. I'm not sure if I was the only person that felt that way when LO shit all over it.

i remember that right after that LO had a thing for insisting that all activist of the past were idiots for calling themselves queer and nobody owed them any respect because they were all problematic. i won't deny that the queer people of the past were far from perfect. but not because they embraced the queer identity on a time where they were actually getting killed or abused by authorities for being themselves. the community as a whole was (and in many ways still is) deeply racist, classist and pushed for "respectability politics" for way too long to the point that they end up putting on the side the most vulnerable people, all the POC, sex workers, poor and trans people who only had themselves to stand on, only for their labor to later be actively erased or forgotten.

ironically enough, with her "queer is a slur and anyone who reclaims it is a idiot making it harder for normal people like me to get the things we need!" she's actually the modern representation of those people of the past who would have told Marsha P. Johnson to step down from the stage because she made them look bad. not helped by the fact that Marsha was an active member of the drag community and LO also ranted about how considering drag as part of the LBGT+ community was offensive.

i guess at this point it shouldn't be surprising that LO's ignorance extends even to her own community and the people responsible for her being able to marry her wife. i had forgotten about "trans blackface", something that feels like something that is particularly not black would come up with. the thing that stayed with me all this time was she comparing queer people proudly existing as themselves with a nazi yelling a racial slur on a public space... all of that was so utterly wrong on all the ways anything can be wrong.

#lily orchard

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raeynbowboi · 5 years ago

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How Kipo Makes Great Villains

I stayed up all night binging the second season of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and I’ll admit. Going into it, my expectations were a bit low. Season One had such a self-contained objective, I didn’t know what the show was going to do with itself with a second season. But the second season of Kipo blew me out of the water. So, now I’m going to rant about why Scarlemagne and Jamack are fantastic villains for Kipo to confront, and what Kipo teaches us about writing antagonists. Obviously, spoilers ahead, but if you’re caught up, prepare to gush over great villains. If you’re not, do yourself a favor and go away, experience the second season for yourself, and then come back and fangasm over how great it was.

JAMACK

Kipo’s first antagonist is a perfect character foil. That is to say, Jamack is the exact opposite of Kipo. When Jamack meets Kipo, they are in exact opposite situations. He’s in a group while she’s alone. Later, when Kipo finds friends and is no longer alone, Jamack is kicked out of his group, forcing him to survive on his own. Jamack is very focused on self-interest and self-preservation, belittling his underlings for minor mistakes. His outlook is cold, cynical, and jaded. On top of that, Jamack grew up in this crazy world where only the strong survive. He’s also a part of the Mob Frogs, which seem to be the only mute culture with internal hierarchy. Other groups have a leader, but only the Mob Frogs seem to have levels of rank within the organization, causing the Mob Frogs to be competitive, even among themselves. So it makes perfect sense why Jamack will stoop to pretty much anything to get what he wants. Because that’s the mentality that allows for upward mobility in Las Vista. Thus, when Kipo arrives and upends the status quo and proves Jamack’s way of living wrong, he lashes out. Initially seeing it as her stealing his life from him, Jamack begins to gradually change. Jamack is on a similar and reflected hero’s journey to Kipo, and as she grows, so too will he. It’s no surprise that Jamack will eventually become a genuine ally of Kipo, even if he’s still hiding behind a Tsundere mask.

SCARLEMAGNE

My god is this a fantastic villain. In the first season, he was genuinely creepy and intimidating, but in season 2, Hugo became incredibly sympathetic. As season 2 went on, I kept debating to myself who is more of the Zuko of this show: Jamack or Hugo. Scarlemagne serves the same narrative purpose as the Diamonds in Steven Universe, about how words and kindness can work through problems. But I think it’s done a little better here, since Hugo isn’t a world-destroying dictator. He’s done some damage, but nothing that was really lasting. His pheremones can wear off. The humans he’s enslaved can regain their freedom. So, Hugo’s actual damage as a villain is much smaller and thus much more forgivable than immortal galactic conquerors. Hugo shows this deeply in that he genuinely seems like he wants to make Kipo happy, but he’s been hurt for so long that he doesn’t understand how to. And this genuine care seems to come a lot more from his core personality, and not just Kipo making friendship speeches. Even Steven didn’t really change the minds of the Diamonds. He just kind of proved he was their sister/nephew, and they suddenly cared about what he had to say. With Hugo, it’s much easier to see that he’s not a monster, just a scared and confused man lashing out to maintain control in a barbaric world. It makes him a character who you don’t want to see succeed in his evil plans, but you don’t want to watch him fail and lose everything he's worked for. You simultaneously want to hug him, and also punch him. It’s that perfect balance that makes Scarlemagne so well-written. He’s officially on my list of top 10 tv cartoon villains. Also, it’s hysterical that Hugo is voiced by the live action Beast, and the second half of this season was honestly a better Beauty and the Beast story than the live action movie. Am I the only one who hears Dr. Animo from Ben 10 when Scarlemagne speaks though?

DR. EMILIA

Talk about bait and switch. I don’t know if it was their intention, but I assumed the woman in the bird mask was Song, Kipo’s mother. It was clear that she and her goons were wearing burrow jumpsuits, and as it seemed more and more like her mother wasn’t dead, so I assumed this had to be her. This was such a great misdirection. Assuming she’s the hero because of our opinions of Scarlemagne, it’s what gives this show such amazing rewatch potential as now you can go back and pay attention to her words and actions and realize what she’s genuinely like. But even on a character level, she’s a fantastic villain. Kipo is a master of Talk no Jutsu, a fan term from the Naruto fandom, as he had a knack for talking literally anyone into becoming his friend, even the ones actively trying to kill him. Steven Universe and Kipo seem to be the other two masters of this technique. But Dr. Emilia will likely be immune to this. She doesn’t strike me as the sit and talk things out type. Because there are times when words won’t stop people, but action will. Dr. Emilia is a villain Kipo can’t reason with, someone she can’t befriend with a good speech. But even on a philosophical level, Dr. Emilia is fantastic because while she’s clearly a villain, her goal isn’t inherently evil. She sees mutation as a bad thing and wants to restore mute DNA to their normal animal forms. Which is a large part of why humans need to live in burrows. She wants humans to not live in fear, and to restore animals to their genetic origins. At least in theory, it’s a benign enough goal. The problem comes when you consider that animal mutes have sentience. they can speak and express desires. Robbing them of that is akin to purposefully mentally disabling a group in order to be dominant over them, which adds to the great themes here because there’s a loose veil of animals as an enslaved species. Kept in cages or as pets, ruled over or hunted by man who views itself as the superior race, the same sort of thinking that white slave-owners used to rationalize their prejudice. Thus it’s also a loose allegory for Dr. Emilia wanting to return emancipated slaves back to their chains. This is why she’s such a good villain. At face value, her goal sounds sort of reasonable, but when you examine what she’s really doing, it’s incredibly dark and cruel. That level of detail and writing is amazing. Talk about a well-written villain. I’m sorry, I can’t stop gushing.

Kipo demonstrates three equally compelling types of villains, and handles all of them amazingly. Jamack is the hero’s villainous foil, on his own mirrored hero’s journey as hers. His situation is always an exact opposite of hers, as was his life experiences, which led to such a stark difference of ideas. Thus, why it takes her utterly alien character traits to kick start his character arc. Hugo is a beautifully flawed and tragic villain whose goal of bringing the mutes together under a single ruler is genuinely compelling, but you still don’t want him to succeed the wrong way. Yet, if he could achieve his goal in a less hostile and evil way, I doubt fans would be upset with him achieving this goal otherwise. It’s just his approach that’s problematic. Dr. Emilia seems reasonable enough on paper, but once you unpack what she’s really doing, you can read a really deep allegory for slavery and racial superiority into her character that really complicates the otherwise black-and-white opinion of her character. Each of these villains shows ways you can make a compelling antagonist, and if you read this without watching Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeats despite my spoiler warnings, do yourself a favor and watch it. You will not be disappointed.

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the-resurrection-3d · 3 years ago

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Alright anon, I think the best way for me to kinda organize my thoughts is to go through your message block-by-block because my brain hasn’t recovered enough from this semester to handle writing proper introductions (lol). Onto your ask:

I’m sorry I am vent-dumping this on you, but I need to rant and need a proper receptive audience:

I am so pissed by all the idiots who happen to develop an ignorant opinion and then push it on to others because they think they are moral af.

There is literally only one definition of p3d0ph1lia, concocted by years of research by the World Health Organization experts under the ICD-10 diagnosis F65.4: being sexually attracted to children if you’re over 16yr old and the age difference is more than 5 years (like a 17yo hitting on an 11yo). Are you not sexually attracted to children? Congrats, you are not a p3d0. Claiming so is libel. Yes, different countries may have different laws regarding this, but medically, psychologically and scientifically it is WHO’s opinion that counts.

Fun fact about this: I’ve seen people get called pedos and pedo apologists simply for pointing out (with sources!) this medical definition, as well as providing sources for how most child molesters are technically not pedophiles but opportunists. So we’ve got to keep in mind that we’re dealing with people who think that merely pointing out reality is the same as supporting kiddie diddling. Frankly, with the amount of pedophiles antis believe are out there, it’s a miracle any child manages to make it out unmolested.

But the fact of the matter is that antis, as a collective, don’t care about protecting children or supporting survivors. They’ve demonstrated this numerous times, be it by harassing survivors, claiming pro-ship survivors must have liked being raped, protecting actual sex offenders solely for being antis, et cetera et cetera ad eternum. I’m sure as soon as I said that you thought of some examples—anyone who truly pays attention to this discourse can list off like, five, without even needing to think about it. I’ve experienced it myself directly! And their behavior only gets more and more horrifying: just recently, antis on TikTok were caught “jokingly” bragging about having someone’s CSEM (that would’ve depicted them getting raped at age three) and threatening to spread it solely because the victim was pro-ship. (I can go find the screenshots if anyone wants, but I’m not going to do it right now because…yeah.) Obviously I know not every anti is aware of nor would condone that behavior, but funnily enough, it only ever seems to be the pro-shippers who actually say anything about it.

I know I’ve explained my own problems with the pro-ship community before, but come the fuck on.

Also, if characters aging and having relationships is problematic, then Harry Potter having a child is problematic, as is any piece of fiction that follows a character from childhood to adulthood. But yeah, we never hear about this as long as the characters in question aren’t queer, right? Because most of these arguments are just stupid thinly-veiled homophobia. Because homophobia is great. Institute homophobic legislation, and all the human rights advocates bound by morals who might dare to criticize your government for corruption and shit suddenly march together, identify themselves and you can oppress them better…

Anyway, I am going on on a tangent… Just let me finish by saying that I am all for freedom of speech, but that also gives me freedom to say some opinions are worth less than others, simply by the virtue of the lack of thinking that went into them.

Shoutout to when someone I follow was called a pedophile for shipping two characters who canonically meet as adults solely because the protagonist was sixteen in the first movie. (Also the post-SU movie discourse where Spinel is both too old for Steven but also child-coded, therefore you’re a predator no matter what you do with her. That one was a meme and a half.)

I will concede that I do see this happening with M/F ships, usually with age-gap ships, but even then, they often infantilize the female character and fail to take into account the actual context of the ship (which is how you get people claiming a ship like Fluttercord—where Fluttershy has her own home, her own job, and unquestionably the greater amount of emotional intelligence—is problematic because Discord is older than her). I get the whole “normalization” argument, really, I do, but as I’ve discussed before re: Nick, condemning any even slightly nuanced or positive depiction of something as promoting abuse only makes it harder to recognize abuse IRL.

But your final remark is correct: A lot of shipping discourse is predicated on “disgust=morally wrong” without thinking through why something’s wrong. Honestly, I want to go off on my own tangent about how no one understands why incest is wrong—and I do mean no one, because nothing demonstrates how badly the pro-ship community’s lost the fucking plot like seeing an open shotacon get accused of “acting like an anti” for being vocally against adoptive/step-incest—but it’s not even 7am, and this is already a long enough post, lol.

#rape mention #csa mention #incest mention #long post

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kingk8art · 4 years ago

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hetalia rant

pls ignore how I won't use any proper punctuation or capitalization because my arms and fingers all hurt from volleyball :( Edit: My arm’s are better now so I’m actually using proper capitalization and punctuation (special thanks to my friends for proofreading and also Google autocorrect.) Special thanks to my friend for helping me out with writing this.

so i'm one of those people who joined the hetalia fandom like REALLY late, having first watched the anime in like 2017 or 18. Nevertheless, when I heard about how the anime was coming back in 2021 I was really excited!! I’ve been reading world stars lately but there’s just something in the hetalia anime that made me love it so much. the voice acting and how it’s animated and everything, it really brings the characters to life! out of curiosity I searched up hetalia on twitter. keep in mind that i’m pretty new to the fandom so i never really got to see the shipping wars, or really any toxic part of the fandom, since i wasn’t there when hetalia was at its peak.

What i saw was really different from what i expected to see. I kinda expected twitter threads hyping up the new season, or things like that but most of ones I found in the top section were hate comments about hetalia, and things about why it shouldn’t come back. I was reading these and I was like, wait why? Some of them actually made sense, and the others had flawed logic. Here are my rants on why hetalia ISN’T anti-Semitic or problematic (as of now).

Misconceptions About Hetalia

1. Hetalia is About Nazi Germany or the Holocaust

If you’ve actually watched the show/read the manga, it’s quite obvious that although some of the events take place during WW2, it never mentions Hitler, Nazis, the Holocaust, or anything like that. and there’s a good reason for it. In the first place, hetalia isn’t meant to be a serious comic. The manga only focuses on subjects like funny things that happened to historical figures/occurrences during a war, weird inventions; generally those kinds of things. It focuses on the cultural differences between countries, or wholesome moments in history (such as when two enemies stopped fighting on Christmas day to play soccer.) Hetalia itself is antiwar. Consider the main character himself: he absolutely hates fighting. I don’t see how hetalia can be anti-Semitic or pro-war at all. But what I will say is fucked up are those certain cosplayers that did the Nazi salute, posed in front of a Holocaust memorial, etc. But I can still guarantee that the MAJORITY of the fandom is not like this. Every single fandom has its bad apples, some more than others. It’s not right to generalize the entire fandom as anti-Semitic, racist, disrespectful shits.

Do people realize that Germany’s character in Hetalia isn’t Nazi Germany? In the first place the Holocaust wouldn’t be Germany’s responsibility — the depictions of these characters are meant to portray the people as a whole, not their systems of law or government. It’s stated in the series that nations MUST obey orders from their “boss” (which probably refers to the country’s ruler, president, prime minister, or other leaders at the time. Nations can’t choose what their superiors do, or what those under that control do. Saying Germany is humanized Nazi Germany is like putting that label on all German people without considering factors like time period or representation. Hetalia characters are a mere representation of each country’s people, nothing else.

How does mentioning WW2 in a comedy make it offensive? There are PLENTY of movies, novels, and other kinds of media that take place in WW2 and yet are in the comedy genre. Ever watched Jojo Rabbit? If you thought Hetalia was offensive, have you ever watched South Park or looked at CountryHumans? I do get why some people dislike Hetalia, but why does it receive so much hate for something that was never in the series (or generally speaking, for the wrong reasons)? It may have flaws, but there’s a strong definition to what those flaws actually are. It doesn’t revolve around antisemitism or Nazism.

2. Hetalia is Racist and Stereotypes People

Now this is a pretty controversial topic. Being a comedy about personified countries, stereotypes are really something that HAS to be used at some point to make the characters funny. But does that automatically make it racist? No. I saw this on a YouTube video comment section somewhere, but stereotyping (generalizing) that all stereotypes are ‘bad’ (or have negative connotations/associations) is literally stereotyping. Not all of the stereotypes are bad. Like the way Britain acts like a gentleman or likes drinking tea, which in a way, is a British stereotype. That’s not a bad thing, just funny to see in the show — played for comedy purposes, and not necessarily offensive.

Although Hetalia characters are sometimes influenced by stereotypes that revolve around the actual countries and represent the people in general, they DO NOT always represent what those country’s people are actually like. Also, I’m pretty sure the point of comedy about personified countries is to use some of those generalizations. Specifically, stereotypes that the Japanese have about foreigners. France is portrayed as a flirty man because in Japan France is known for being a “romantic country.” But that doesn’t mean that they think all French people are like that — it’s just a lighthearted joke. And now, Hetalia characters have grown to be more of their own character rather than simply a humanized country at its base. Despite being a personification, they’re like their own person, not just used to depict stereotypes. Just because a character has a certain personality trait doesn’t mean Hima believes that everyone from that country has the same trait. It’s not meant to be racist, and isn’t.

What I Think Was/Is Problematic

As much as I love this show, there were DEFINITELY some problematic things that people tend to ignore.

1. Korea Controversy

As a Korean American, I have to say that I was quite disappointed when I learned about how Hima portrayed Korea in the manga. I won’t go that deep into this one since it’s not that relevant to what I'm talking about now, but it was definitely a HUGE problem and I’m glad that he was removed from the series.

2. Iron Cross on Germany

The iron cross that Germany wears in Hetalia (in every time period) is a military decoration that was used since the King of Prussia until the time period of Nazi Germany in WW2. Today, it’s considered a hate symbol, similar to and alongside the swastika. To be fair, it wasn’t just a decoration used purely for the Nazis, unlike several other examples of Nazi symbols and memorabilia, so I suppose it could be up to each person to judge whether it should pass or not, despite the surrounding circumstances — it isn’t up to me as part of the fanbase. But personally, I think it should have been removed/not used in the first place. I mean, it wasn’t that necessary, seeing all of the military uniforms drawn in Hetalia were simplified anyways. Perhaps it would be much less problematic if Hima didn’t draw the iron cross, and the same goes for the other presented issues.

3. Japanese Imperialism

The way Hima portrays Japanese Imperialism was pretty offensive in my opinion. An instance is the presentation of the Japanese invasion of Korea. It wasn’t just like how the colonies were under Great Britain’s rule. It limited much more of Koreans’ rights and was much more gruesome. I don’t know about anyone else and can’t speak for each individual, but as a Korean, portraying all of this as Japan merely patting Korea on the head is fucked up. This ties to the controversy of Korea’s character. From what I’ve seen, Hetalia is pretty close to a rightist (in Japan, not the US) series. I won’t dive too deep into that, but rightist — or in Korean, 우익 — animes are animes that glorify their country’s past/country, or use content to make fun of or criticize other nations. Actually, it’s probably much more complicated than that, but as of now I don’t know much about it. It mostly ties to the tension between Koreans and the Japanese, so if you’re not either, there’s not really much to worry about. But (maybe because I’m Korean) I found it weird that the manga seems to give every single character a bad/negative characteristic except Japan. I guess it’s only natural, since the creator is Japanese. But then again, France was basically drawn as a rapist/pedophile, but I have never seen a French person complain about it. Or maybe they just completely avoid Hetalia? If anyone knows about it, I would be glad to listen. Perhaps it’s just a bias that I have as a Korean. It could also be a cultural difference too, since we tend to be very patriotic.

4. The Title: Axis Powers

Although the main character is Italy, and the story revolved (emphasis on the past tense) around the 3 countries that were part of the Axis, Hima should have been more considerate with the title of the show, thinking about what the Axis Powers actually did during WW2. Just “Hetalia” would have been fine. But it also should be considered that when Hima started drawing the manga, he did not expect it to become a long-term thing or for it to blow up so much. Thankfully, only the first two seasons of the anime were titled as Hetalia: Axis Powers, and later seasons were titled more acceptable things, like World Stars (manga) or The Beautiful World.

5. Seychelles

Personally I don’t find a problem with there not being that many African/South American countries in the show. Africa’s country borders (and all of that related material) were very different from what they are today, and it would be really fucking hard for Hima to keep track of all of those while still writing good characters. And unlike Europe, Africa’s history was not transcribed much, and is a lot less-known. The problem with Seychelles was her skin color, which wasn’t accurate. But that’s since been fixed.

Is Hetalia Really Problematic?

My most straightforward answer for this question would be no, it is not problematic as of now. Something I realized while listing all of the aspects of Hetalia that I personally thought were wrong to put in was that most of them don’t exist anymore. Besides Germany’s iron cross, all of them were removed from the show. Korea was banned from the anime, and he no longer appears in any of the manga strips. The manga strays further and further away from topics like Japanese Imperialism or WW2. Most of the time in the manga, countries do not wear their military uniforms anymore, but stick to more casual clothes. The characters stray further away from stereotypes that Hima used to use as a comedic effect when he first started drawing. My point is: Hima learned his mistakes. Which only makes sense, considering all of the criticism he probably received when the series first started. I think that’s a good thing. Now back to what I was ranting about earlier. I don’t get why people are saying Hetalia shouldn’t come back! The new season is most likely going to be based off the most recent Hetalia manga series, which is Hetalia World Stars. If you’ve ACTUALLY READ THE MANGA AND DIDN’T JUDGE THE ENTIRETY OF HETALIA BASED ON ITS FIRST FEW SEASONS, you would know what World Stars is about. It’s about all sorts of things. My personal favorite strips are the ones about ancient Rome! It’s not just drawn to give readers a laugh but it actually teaches you some history. Other than Rome, the manga is also about the trends of clothes in certain countries/time periods, industrial revolutions, or just the interactions between the characters in general. I really don’t see how animating these would be harmful at all. The subjects don’t revolve around what a lot of opposers say/negatively connotate the series with. If you think bringing Hetalia back is a terrible thing to do because the fandom would return and start doing toxic/weird things, I really don’t know how to respond to that. The fandom already died out around the time the last season was released. Now newer fans will come around, and the former fans would return (hopefully) matured up. It's already been 5 years since the last Hetalia season aired, after all. And like I said earlier, toxic fans never represent the entire fandom. If you really hate the fandom that much, I recommend not getting involved at all.

#hetalia #rant #hetalia 2021

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