#sorry theres no easy “bad side” in that war ?? make the bad side the governments cuz thats what it was

[arospecsyourblockdudes]

more historical fiction needs to be set in ww1. bonus points if you fag it up

[clonehub]

i mean part of the reason why arcane is as good as it is, besides the stunning visuals, is because it was in development for 6 years. they had six years to go back and forth on the look, the style, the story the story the story. 6 fucking years. that requires patience. that requires cooperation from all writers and directors. that requires seeing the culture change and responding in kind to reflect what people would like to see.

you notice how there's so many female characters, and while even though some of them are on thin ice a little (jinx/powder being that mentally unstable wide-eyed violent young woman/girl who doesn't really wear a lot) they've got beautiful stories that connect deeply with one another's without being centered on a man at all. look at vi's body shape. look at the range of body shapes for female characters, the range of faces. even how they walk (I love Vi's walk). you have a the tale of two cities, political depth and manipulation, meaning displayed in the way character's dress, stand, walk, how they're designed, what their hobbies and interests are, etc. all these things that would take time to figure out. that's partly why arcane is so good. they had time.

anyone who's been following me for a while knows where this is going. im sorry but the reason so many star wars shows falls flat for me is because these stories do not have the time to develop. i see development in the singular. one year here. one year for another show. maybe the concept existed for a while (with DF and GL, it seems they always have concepts that exist for a long time) but because they're concepts and because they basically go in the freezer until they're needed again, they don't really have the time to develop both deliberately and organically. the misbalance of the book of boba fett. whatever is happening with the mandalorian. the general mess that is the bad batch.

arcane is fundamentally a show about politics. you can't have a council, and oppressed class, the rich/poor divide, and all the ways that the class divisions have affected people (vi's incareceration, silco's manipulations, the lack of children in the undercity, viktor's disability) and not have the show be about politics. the writers understood this.

in the bad batch, a show about that takes place during the post-war rise of a fascist regime that has just speedily and aggressively replaced not only an entire republic, but also succesfully committed genocide and now spreads its terror throughout an entire galaxy, hunter, a soldier, says he and his team never cared about politics.

and indeed, theres a clunky way that the bad batch handles the inherently political existence of the clones, the empire, etc. politics should be permeating the interactions that the batch has with greater galactic society, but instead they relegate political discussion to specific episodes or scenes, and then say "okay we'll focus on that later, let's get back to X and Y". the extrajudicial execution of civilians is a political act. running from the empire is a political act. joining the empire is political. having one episode and a handful of scenes dedicated to the political side of their lives doesn't cut it.

its probably because i majored in political science that this is bugging me as much as it is. i know ive moved very far away from the thesis of this post, but bear with me lol. figuring out the political structure of a world and how it affects the characters within that world is hard. like. its not easy. it's not as simple as making a government and slapping a few laws onto it (and notice how even in the well-done political fantasies, there rarely is a government structure that hasn't already been seen in the west specifically). arcane's works as seamlessly as it does because they took the time to figure that out WHILE being aware that there would be large swaths of the audience that know nothing about league of legends (me, all my friends, etc).

people who wanted to watch the bad batch asked if they needed to have seen tcw or any other part of star wars to watch it. most bad batch fans said no. ive seen the bad batch and even i would tentatively say no. but then you watch the series, and nearly every episode has a cameo that you can tell is significant story wise, but if you've never seen tcw and have no idea who anyone is, you'd be really confused as to why everything grinds to a halt to dramatically reveal a character you've never seen before. and then they take two episodes to focus on the development of a character from another series. anyone watching can tell that they're filling in gaps and closing arcs or opening stories for people you will never see again. the bad batch wasn't written with non-star wars fans in mind, as much as people would like to insist otherwise. the main characters want to be apolitical in a politically tumultuous time, while living politicized lives. the political world is not set up very well.

(although i dont know that the "Right" amount of development would have changed much. DF and GL seemed dead set on having their little Trope Troupe, so they may have been doomed from the beginning)

so i know ive contradicted myself in some ways. if the bad batch had time they'd be better but also they've existed for a while and they're still bad and also theyve been doomed from the start. i think all of these are true. conceptually, as characters, doomed from the start--but at least an inch of thought and consideration for the current sociopolitical climate would have undoomed them at least a little. worldbuilding, not doomed from the start but the writers definitely needed more time to consider all their options and write a clear beginning, middle, and end to bridge through, if That Interview with Rau and Corbett signifies anything.

its time and its intent, and arcane takes the cake

[starlightshore]

Aaa! I am sorry about that (this is anarchy anon!) I don't remembr exactly what I wrote in the first ask but my main problem with anarchy, though the idea seems to be the best ideal way for society to function is that it leaves a power vacuum, and that I am not sure how it would be be solved. There are always assholes in the world and thst can't be ignored and it won't be solved in an easy way. Everytime anarachy has occurdd it has usually made a way for another equal or worse government to (1)

/under read more since this is gonna be lengthy O: sorry mobile users!

(2/2) brought up. And ... also I am not sure people have the kindness to do things without some kind of programs. While many lives will be the same without an institution governmental programs will not be funded to help cities to help schools to help those who need the help in general. The system is craptastic now but... in an anarachy system I just can see it getting worse. It has bright sides but I can't see it working.////////////

oh defs fair points! all systems have flaws and need trial and error to fix unless its so broken from the ground up it needs to be replaced -and i do believe capitalism is that broken. we didn’t start out with empires or huge states of government, humanity lived under anarchism before these governments and we can live so again. the issue is that we haven’t had a large scale and successful anarchist country that hasn’t been squashed by the state. (tho, the history of anarchy is more of a blind spot of mine, i would recommend talking with other anarchists on this topic lmao)

again, so like. capitalism is new. Civilization did not always rule like it does now, capitalism and our current systems are built off Feudalism. we can all agree feudalism is bonkers and awful, yeah? why are we so faithful to a system built off it by people who owned slaves and were wealthy and powerful? why do we trust its for the benefit of the common people when the 1% of the 1% horde most of the wealth in the world and most people in the US if you accurately measured them would be in poverty or near poverty? half of the nation would be considered poor. (and near poverty is still very bad. you’re one bad medical bill or career issue away from poverty, that’s a problem)

(quote taken from the wikipedia, heres the source it mentions)

our planet is dying, we’re dying. the poor are poorer and we can not live like this anymore. we need change, and we have to quick or we will literally all die. we have to have a extreme solution or we will have an extreme end.

i’m not advocating for looting streets or murder by guillotine obvs, our society is too raised on capitalism and regression to think of revolution right now. (hell, most people have an incorrect definition of what anarcy is, how do i expect people to adopt it?) i know i will not live long enough to see a just anarchist world, even if i think we should strive to try, as mentioned, we don’t have a choice under capitalism as the planet is dying. i mean. most people think anarchy means “to live without reason or order” when it really means to dispose of police states and flawed governmental systems.

so yeah, i know theres challenges with getting anarchy to work, and while ideally think we need to act fast and make the changes happen now, i know this takes time and being progressive through socialism -from smaller to greater reform like free education, stopping corporations from monopolies and polluting, giving workers rights and better pay, giving more political power to the people ect. can be achieved through the current system but i honestly think thats just as fantastical as creating a completely new system that doesn’t rely on a military state.

the system was created by rich people for rich people. working within it is a uphill battle that could just as easily fall right back or get worse with each new election. the elections themselves are designed by the ground up to keep power to those in power, we need imminent change.

no police, no armies, no private prisons, no inequality. i can’t expect this to be done or solved easily or quickly, but it is still something i can strive for and wish for.

also like... having police and our armies aren’t effective. its just control over the people and colonialism. the war on drugs was not effective, it worsened conditions of those who are addicts and has let generations of people unjustly criminalized and imprisoned. (and, shocker, its racist. its mainly targeted towards marginalized people, specifically black the most.) addiction is a mental health issue, it shouldn’t be treated as a serious offense for decades in prison.

in addition, police are largely left unchecked with power and the whole police system is rigged to keep abusive and exploitative people with jobs and guns. 

so yeah power vacuums would be difficult, and we do need universal laws to protect people, but if we’re all working together to govern ourselves and create a society that helps the poor, those in any need, the world will be better. under capitalism, this can never be fully achieved.