#so we how better with children

[thirddoctor]

Belinda's plotline is kind of a horror story, which would be very interesting if that's what they'd been going for.

She's kidnapped by a creepy guy who wants to marry her, and she's rescued by another guy who also comes off as kinda creepy to her, and she doesn't trust him or want to be with him, but conveniently he can't take her home so she has to stay with him for a while. And she's forced to start trusting him as they go on various adventures together, but then she sees him casually torture a guy and she has a moment where she doubts him again, but she's able to sort of brush it aside, and she even tells him how amazing he is.

And then she gets stuck in another creepy man's conservative utopia, where she's a housewife married to the man she's travelling with and they have a daughter together. And deep down she knows there's something wrong with this, and she even has a moment where she has to scream because this isn't her life, but she forces herself to keep on believing in the fake world and her daughter, and even when she gets her memories back her daughter is still there and she feels compelled to protect her. She shuts herself in a box, knowing she might be trapped there for eternity, because what else can she do? This is her daughter, right?

And then the girl fades out of existence and she forgets her, but the man she travelled with can't bear to let the girl go, so he rewrites the universe to save her... and rewrites Belinda's whole life in the process. Suddenly she's always been a mother. This has always been her daughter. Once again, she's had a new life imposed on her by some creepy guy, and she doesn't even know it's happened. He doesn't tell her, he just says goodbye and leaves her with the child she never used to have.

Will she ever feel the wrongness of her new reality? Will she ever have a nagging feeling that this isn't her life?

[theevilfishywizard]

Not to be that friend that too woke, but is anyone else annoyed at how mcd aphmaus whole thing was taking in the strays, being a mother to children with no home despite not sharing blood. Only for Alina to come along as aphs biological child, and suddenly she's the most specialist, most important kid of all of aphmaus children?

[asexualjedi]

We really mass hallucinated and almost made Codywan canon huh. I was here back when it was just a rare crack ship idk what happened but like it’s so crazy what almost happened in the obiwan show. How the fuck did we hallucinate that close to the sun god bless never let your dreams stay dreams.

[bethanydelleman]

Something I think about a lot is how in Frozen, Elsa and Anna's parents really wanted to do what was best for their daughters and they tried their hardest but they still got it terribly wrong. They tried to follow the expert advice and failed.

It makes me think of how all of our parents probably failed us in some way, more likely if you were neurodiverse or queer, and how I may be failing my own kids, but the intentions are entirely pure. The parents in Frozen wanted their kids to be safe and happy, they loved those girls to death, but they didn't know how to meet their needs effectively. The best advice at the time or maybe what they learned from their parents was dead wrong. And in Anna's case, it's more about how when one child takes up a lot of time and energy, another may be left neglected unintentionally. Parents with a high needs children and typical children cannot help this, a lot of them can't afford adequate help (in this case, they isolated Elsa for safety and Anne was forced to be isolated too).

The harm and pain matters, but I think the intention does too. If a parent did harm from a sincere wish to do good, it's very different from malicious abuse. Anna and Elsa's parents really wanted to do the right thing.

(I'm not saying anyone deserves to be forgiven, just that I feel a lot of pity for parents who try their very best but get it completely wrong. Also, that "wise" Troll gave super vague advice and I blame him primarily for how Elsa was raised)

[wolfwarrior142]

Callum has asked Rayla twice now to kill him if he's ever corrupted again. This time as like a barter. And this time, despite looking devastated, she finally (begrudgingly) agrees. And later this season, Callum is cleared of his dark magic corruption, but it also warned that if he does dark magic again it'll overwhelm him.

Man my dreams have already been haunted enough by death foreshadowing I can't take much more of it for these two.

[luneemeritus]

This video analysis is absolutely valid and I want to rant about it.

TW: child abuse, child exploitaton

This is the type of fictional trope I hate the most. Not because I think it should be "censured" or because people cannot enjoy this media, no, on the contrary, enjoy and consume the media you like, but also, be critical of it. In all of these "spooky little girls" (western*) movies, we're met with the same premise: these little girls may seem like victims, but they're actually spiteful little bitches and dangerous monsters that need to be punished. The abuse done against them is justified!

*I'm not entitled to speak about oriental movies because I'm not oriental nor am educated in oriental culture/pop culture, but I'd like to point how the original Japanese "Ringu" presents Sadako as victim, an intersex woman that suffered crimes, was abused and killed for being different, while her American version is an "evil little girl that not only deserved, but needed to be abused, isolated and killed." This is one of the many reasons that make the American version inferior.

Take Case 39 as an example (not mentioned in the video essay, but the finest example of this trope): Lilith's parents try to burn her alive in the start of the movie, and their action is not only justified, but also seen as necessary. Lilith is a demonic little girl that needs to be killed. The protagonist, Emily, is a social worker that wants to protect the little girl, but is later haunted by her, a karmic consequence for her compassion. Lilith has lines such as:

"We need to learn healthier ways of resolving conflict (...)" a mockery of non-abusive parents that don't punish nor hurt their child when they do something wrong. A parent communicating with their child? Admitting when the mistake is actually theirs? Not beating up their child? Actually explaining why X and Y is wrong and why A and B is right instead of yelling "obey me"? No, this is useless. The result of a non-abusive education is a demonic little kid.

"Most families don't even know they have a problem, until it's too late." The neglect of a child is actually the child's fault, not the parent's!

"I want what you wanted from your mother. I want you to love me." Ah yes, the old and good trauma cycle. Emily has her own trauma with her mother, she is depicted as the good victim while Lilith is the bad one. Often, abusive parents use their own trauma as an excuse to how they treat their child. "I was raised this way and I'm alive and good!", right? If you were abused in the past by your parents, it's okay to do the same with your child. You're alive, after all. It's ok to discount your own frustration on them.

"You have to do what I say. If I say I want to go to a group, you have to do it. If I say I want a new dress, you have to do it. If I say I want ice cream, you have to do it." So scary and demonic, a child demanding basic attention.

The whole point and plot-twist of Case 39 is that it was foolish of Emily to care for a child being abused and nearly killed. The 'child' is not even human, she is a demon that disobeys adults and cause harm. A karmic consequence. In the final scene where she finally kills Lilith, Emily mockingly asks "are you scared?". Killing the little girl that caused you trouble is funny. It should be mocked. Punishment against children is "right and necessary". It's funny to watch a child be punished for misbehaving. This is why child exploitation content on the internet is so popular.

Abusive parents aren't anything new, but the way abuse against children is being filmed and made public to the internet in recent years is not only disgusting but also worrying. I'm absolutely against exposing children (specially small children) on the internet for any reason, but SPECIALLY when abusing and humiliating them for hundreds and thousands of people to watch. People with the same abusive tendency that agree with the parents, mock the children and share their humiliation with friends, in their own social media, etc. The amount of "I hate kids" speech that it's getting popular in recent years is horrifying, especially when hidden with a "progressive" mask. Abusing children is not progressive. Humiliating children is not progressive, and hating this group of people that are treated as literal property is not progressive.

Brasil-related part of the most: I just watched a video narrating a horrific incident in Brazilian Tiktok media. An abusive, putrid "mother" forced her daughter to drink an unhealthy amount of juice until she cried and almost vomited, filmed the abuse, posted it on the internet, thousands of people watched her video and glorified her abuse. This disgusting human being was giving her child a "punishment", the reason: her daughter visited her aunt and said she wished her mom bought her juice. This is the reason. Her mother's ego was hurt because how dare my daughter want things, and abused her in front of a camera to gain money. This is what 's been posted online for years. This is being normalized. People online are glorifying, giving money to and supporting abusers. People online are mocking abused children. Children were always treated as property, and I doubt this is going to change any time soon. Anytime a responsible parent opens up about a positive, respectful, loving and humane way to raise their child, they're met with mockery. Anytime an isolated case where a child acts violently (for literally any reason), the same rhetoric is used as a "solution": "abusing children is right because it keeps them in line, and not abusing them will cause them to disobey you and turn evil".

This isn't just fiction. This is real life. Children should not be abused, even less exposed in social media. Abuse against children shouldn't be mocked, normalized or seeing as justifiable. Abused children can and most likely will lash out, but they are not responsible for being abused. The parents are. I'm not naive to think that "making fiction about abusive parents being held accountable instead of the abused children" will change society and free the oppressed youth, but I do think we must have this conversation more. Mainly, report and call out abusive parents, especially when they post their abuse in public online spaces. Because demonic, evil, super powerful little girls are not real, but abusive parents and abused children are.

[vulpine-gentleman]

so like. what's poor edward's problem.

[science-lings]

I have never felt cuteness aggression to the level I feel whenever I see Damian (WFA) Wayne. That is a tiny guy, that is a feral kitten, he fits the same amount of terrifying aura that batman has in his 6'4 creature of darkness body in a tiny baby form, he's still learning to be a child and not a weapon, he's kind of an asshole but in that kinda sad way when you remember that he's like 10 and has blood on his hands.

no talk him he angy

[fromtheseventhhell]

Zutaras are really the original self-insert, "we understand the story soooooo much better than everybody else" girlies and they just never moved on

[dandylovesturtles]

@theplacewhereidumpmyinterests I can't talk about most of them because they're part of an AU verse I want to keep secret until I have the first fic that's part of it written, and idk when that will be (by summer?? HOPEFULLY??), but I guess I can talk about the other one because idk if/when I will write a fic for him (I'd like to but like I am only human)

"more AUs Dandy?" LISTEN all I do is sit around and think about "what if"s, okay?

ok so this started as me being like, hm, we see Lou Jitsu with a rotating door of women, so many he doesn't seem to remember all their names, so it's not totally out there to think he might have gotten one of them pregnant, right?

and thus Marcus (middle name Kyle) was born! literally!

so the story for this is, Lou Jitsu had a fling with a woman in the early 90s, pre-Big Mama. they were both in agreement that the whole thing was casual and it didn't last very long, but oopsie-daisy about six weeks after their last night together she finds out she's pregnant.

she debates what to do for a bit, because, as established, Lou Jitsu is kinda a fuckboi and she doesn't really want a relationship with him. But once she decides she's definitely keeping the baby she feels like she can't just not tell him, right? so she tries!

...unfortunately he's dating Big Mama by that point and she interferes to make sure that Lou Jitsu never meets with the woman and never finds out, because she knows this would get in the way of her plans.

she takes never hearing back from LJ as a sign he just isn't interested in the kid and resolves to single-motherhood. which she is the best at, btw.

she's still considering trying to introduce Marcus to his dad at some point, but unfortunately her kid isn't even 5 before Lou Jitsu suddenly goes missing, with his teary fiancée telling a sob story to the cops. assuming, same as everyone else, that he's dead, she lets the whole thing go, though she does tell Marcus who his dad is once he's old enough to understand everything.

Marcus goes through periods of being obsessed with Lou Jitsu, watching all his movies and consuming every piece of media about him that he can find, and periods where he can't stand to even hear the name. it's up and down. from his perspective, LJ abandoned him and his mom, but he's also dead, so it's not like he can have closure on this ever, right? so it's just a thing he has to deal with on his own.

but he's fine! he's alright. he gets through high school, then college, then accepted into vet school just fine.

then... his mom gets sick and dies.

yeah, that's a hard blow.

but he's alright! he has a few buddies from college he still sees now and then, and he's started his zoo vet residency at the Bronx Zoo (with a particularly special interest in reptiles), so lots of new people to meet that way! he's doing great! he's not lonely at all!

(a few months ago, he was suddenly woken up by a surge of something, like dozens of voices were crying out to him for help, tugging him toward something, saying his family needs him...

yeah, no idea what that was about. he doesn't have any family anymore.)

then the sky opens up and aliens come out.

Marcus is at work, because of course aliens would attack at the beginning of his shift. he spends the day ushering survivors into safe zones within the zoo, using his medical knowledge to handle first aid, and just trying to stay sane as the whole world turns upside down.

and then just as suddenly as it all started... it stops.

in the aftermath, everyone around him is just trying to get home, desperately calling their loved ones and praying for the best. Marcus starts trying to figure out how he's going to get home, because the trains definitely aren't running, and as he looks as his phone for a spark of inspiration, he realizes... no one has tried to call him. his coworkers' phones have been going off all day, whenever they can get signal, as loved ones try to reach them, but... he doesn't have anyone trying to reach him. and as he sits there he realizes he doesn't know who he should be calling, either.

so. that's pretty depressing.

and as he's sitting there, thinking about his life and what led him here, in a now empty vet clinic outside the bronx zoo... he hears a noise. and then, voices.

ah great. looters.

at first, Marcus tries to call 911 - but obviously the call center is swamped. so he decides to take care of the problem himself, going to see who's there and get rid of them...

wait, who is he kidding? he's definitely not paid enough to confront potentially armed looters! he's going to get out of here.

but just as he starts to leave, he hears the voices again - coming from one of the surgery rooms this time. and they're talking about IVs... scalpels... anesthesia...

suddenly he realizes that these aren't looters - they're here to try and treat somebody.

and like hell is he going to let some idiot kill someone trying to do DIY surgery.

so he turns back around and bursts into the room... on two humans, a rat that counts as giant even for New York, and four very big, very injured turtles.

one of whom immediately points a gun in his face. to be fair, that's what he thought would happen.

"Donnie!" yells the biggest one, and, oh, they can talk. huh.

"Relax, it's just a tranquilizer!"

"Donatello!" that's the rat. there's a sound like a whip cracking and the one with the gun makes a startled noise and drops it.

now the rat is in front of him. he's looking up at Marcus imploringly. "Do you work here?" he asks.

"Y-yeah. I'm a vet."

the rat bows very politely. "my sons are seriously hurt, and I don't have the supplies to help them at home. I understand it is a lot to ask, but... we must use your supplies. please, if you could just look the other way."

Marcus looks around at the turtles, especially the one on the table, the one worst off. he looks mangled. he won't live long if he isn't properly treated.

a rat, two humans who look like teenagers, and the turtles. who the rat called "sons". now that he's noticing, they're all pretty short, other than the big one. are they also teenagers?

"...Are any of you doctors?" he asks. the littlest one starts to raise a hand, but the girl grabs it and forces it back down.

everyone else has left by now. he's the only doctor here.

alright. guess he's doing this.

"...okay, everyone make some room. let me get sterilized, and I'll see what we're working with here."

and that's how the son Lou Jitsu didn't know he had becomes primary care doctor to his teenage mutant ninja half-brothers. ^^

(and then a bunch of other stuff happens)

[lgbtlunaverse]

My baby sister has heard of bnha and apparently watched some clips but only some tidbits from the 6th season (mainly the fight with Nagant, who is her favorite) And she very confidently told me that she knows all about keigo, who is hawks. I asked if he knew who dabi has, and she rolled her eyes and told me that yes, she knows he's touya, and that he used to be friends with keigo as kids!

She was very confused when I told her that... no, they weren't. They didn't know each other until adulthood. She insisted that she'd seen a video of them as kids together. I told her it was probably a fan animation, because a lot of people thought Dabi and Hawks knew each other as kids, since Dabi was the only one who knew hawks' real name. But it turned out he just tracked his mom down in secret. She insists that this is stupid, once again confirming that the "dabihawks secret childhood friends/rivals" theory is the only time fanon has ever been better than canon.

[thenonbinarydetective]

Gotham War is shit and all, but I'm starting to get tired of people complaining that Bruce was OOC that was like literally one of the main points

complain about literally anyone else being OOC because they don't have an excuse

[quietwingsinthesky]

the last unicorn post from earlier has me thinking about the master. that yana is still in there, you know? is still someone he was, if even for a brief flash across the life of a time lord. there’s no way to unlive that life. there are ways to twist it later, sure, to make utopia into hell on earth. but the life was lived. in much the same way that the doctor can remember, can feel, the love he held onto as john smith even as that life is ripped out of his hands. the doctor choose denial and then grief and then to shutter it all away. and so john smith died, and so professor yana died, and the doctor and the master live on. the doctor has done this before, and he lives in orbit around humanity, trying to keep the best parts of them and hold them deep enough to take root (which he can pretend he gets to choose, as a time lord. as a human, it all floods in and can’t be dug back out.) but what about the master, right?

to borrow a turn of phrase: i think there are two time lords left in the universe, and they both learned how to regret.

[nullfier]

referring to people with mental illnesses as like “healed” in later life is not something i fw because it just sounds like thinly veiled ableism and a very big disconnect to understanding how people with mental illnesses function and can function later in life even if they have a difficulty doing so in earlier stages of life (:

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville's] piety as queen seems to have been broadly conventional for a fifteenth-century royal, encompassing pilgrimages, membership of various fraternities, a particular devotion to her name saint, notable generosity to the Carthusians, and the foundation of a chantry at Westminster after her son was born there. [...] On other occasions she supported planned religious foundations in London, […] made generous gifts to Eton College, and petitioned the pope to extend the circumstances in which indulgences could be acquired by observing the feast of the Visitation. [...] One possible indicator of a more personal, and more sophisticated, thread in her piety is a book of Hours of the Guardian Angel which Sutton and Visser-Fuchs have argued was commissioned for her, very possibly at her request."

— J.L. Laynesmith, "Elizabeth Woodville: The Knight's Widow", Later Plantagenet and Wars of the Roses Consorts: Power, Influence, Dynasty

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

I think I’ve finally put my finger on the reason why I (and people in general) love to watch “kids’ shows” when they are older teens and adults: because empathy and love, especially platonic love, are arguably humans’ most valuable trait and yet, in our society and in “realistic” media is treated as a weakness or at least at odds with being successful. Like, empathy isn’t even unique to humans, it’s found in and is integral to so many species of animals (and maybe even plants too!!), especially what we consider to be some of the most fearsome predators like lions and wolves. But humans have have “gone all in on” empathy and the capacity to form bonds with other humans, even outside familial circles, which is the reason we outlived the homo erectus which lived at the same time as humans since we were able to form larger communities. And all that’s to say that seeing shows where moral goodness is synonymous with empathy and friendship and wins the day is probably very satisfying for our brains since we don’t often see empathy treated as the essential part of us that it is.

That’s why shows like Hilda or Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts are my personal favorites because the main characters’ defining trait is being empathetic and is, at least in the beginning, their only way of avoiding trouble. And these shows in particular feature the main characters advancing the plot and achieving heroic feats through simply talking it out and generally being a kind and helpful person. When I first watched these shows I, admittedly, saw such events as cheesy, but when I took time to think about it, it not only makes sense why it worked, but was quite literally the best possible way to fix the problem at hand because empathy is a very natural thing for humans and is literally how we have become the apex species so of course it can work when someone gives it a chance.

It’s human nature to be kind and empathetic and is why it’s so satisfying to see it spotlit in kids shows.