#starling talks

[solelystarling]

The way i really really wanna make a wrong place (kevjean) wrong time (jeanee) art and i am going insane

[starling-ghoul]

This silly guy needs a name !!

[doodles-bi-tea]

claim your “I was a Lewis Pullman fan before Thunderbolts” ticket here! (in case he blows up in popularity any more than he might have after things like TGM and Lessons in Chemistry…)

[cringeworms]

I'm writing an analysis of gender performativity in The Silence of the Lambs for my gender and sexuality class and in the course of my research I have encountered so many bad takes!! I can't not say anything so I've come to Tumblr to rant.

The most common criticism I see is that the ending of "Hannibal" discredits, undoes, or diminishes Clarice's feminism, autonomy, or power, or that it ruins the message of SOTL. That indicates a complete misunderstanding of Clarice and the point of the books! The point of "Hannibal" is to show that it does not matter how amazing, powerful, or how much of a feminist you are: if you are a woman in a career, especially a federal career, the system is designed to put you down and keep you quiet. I think there is nothing more she could have done and nothing she could have done differently to prevent her disgrace. When the system is set up to put men in power and keep them in power, your talent and integrity do not matter if they decide they don't want/need you anymore. There is nothing she can do to prevent the label of "female officer" from haunting her credibility. Even Crawford, who respects her and fights for her, sees her with the caveat of "woman." The one man who does not consider her gender any sort of detriment or a reason to treat her differently is Hannibal Lecter. They have genuine mutual respect. When she chose to be with him, she chose respect, love, and comfort over a life of fighting to be recognized, respected, or listened to. Just as much as it is respectable for women to fight for their right to be recognized in their careers, we must also recognize that that fight should not need to exist in the first place. So, why should there be any shame about choosing not to fight that fight anymore? She spent years in an uphill battle, and she probably never would have escaped it (to no fault of her own!). The ending of "Hannibal" is Clarice raising a middle finger to the system, the FBI, misogyny, and the patriarchy by recognizing that she deserves unconditional love and respect and that the system she fought so hard for was, in fact, completely undeserving of her talent or presence. Her decision is powerful and empowered!

"She was brainwashed!" she literally wasn't. Hannibal tried that (I believe because he was so unfamiliar with the idea of love or family that he didn't know how to understand Clarice outside of the lens of Mischa) but he was unsuccessful. If she was able to resist his efforts of brainwashing while in an altered state she certainly had the strength of mind to make her own decisions. Her decision was not impulsive. Also, I think it serves as a testament to her influence and power over him. She gained control of the situation and he didn't resist that. Ultimately, Clarice chose to spend the rest of her life with the one man who ever truly saw her as more than just a woman, who admired her intellect, and who respected her enough to challenge her. That is not weak, submissive, or misogynistic. Quite the opposite. She chose to leave behind the life she put years of effort into building (because she knew it would be fruitless) in favor of being finally honored and appreciated. That takes courage! She knew her worth, and she knew the FBI didn't deserve her.

Also, anyone who paid any attention to the books saw the romantic tension throughout the story. It didn't come out of nowhere. She really just needed an opportunity or an excuse to be with him, and she was finally presented with it.

I think reading the ending to "Hannibal" as anything other than empowering is a mischaracterization of both Clarice and Hannibal and shows a lack of understanding of the message of the books. I think it reflects a shallow understanding of not only the books, but of how feminism operates IRL (especially during the 80s/90s).

I also must give the disclaimer that I do not think these books are epitomes of feminism or representation. The transmisogyny, racism, queerphobia, etc., are obviously inexcusable. Just because I interpret their message as a story of caution about how misogyny operates, and how it is respectable to choose a path that does not work within that system, does not mean I agree with everything presented in them or any of their harmful rhetorics or stereotypes. I have a STRONG love/hate relationship with these stories and I don't ever mean to undersell the "hate" part of that lol.

[indomitable-mrs-barkley]

Fuck "enemies to lovers". It's "enemies to forced allies to annoyed friends to reluctant lovers to eventual soulmates" FOR ME 💅💅💅

THE TENDERNESS 😭😭

[twasmayfield]

how dare he look so fucking good while he plays an absolute monster of a man

[varpusvaras]

Are you for real about writing an AU where Nocturna adopts Jason first?? Because I would read the HELL out of that. 😍

Yes! Time's a little tight right now, so no idea when I'll get to a full fic of it, but I'm planning posting snippets and ficlets!

[solelystarling]

Here is the fic my work is based on

Send in the Raven (of Feathers and Bone)

Rating: Explicit Archive Warnings:  - graphic descriptions of violence  - rape/noncon  Other warnings: nonconsensual tattooing, attempted suicide Categories: m/m Relationships: Jeremy/Jean, Riko/Jean, Implied Riko/Kevin

Characters: Jean Moreau, Jeremy Knox, Riko Moriyama, Tetsuji Moriyama, Original Ravens Player Characters, Kevin Day, Mentioned David Wymack, Mentioned Betsy Dobson, Laila Dermott, Sarah Alvarez, additional background characters

Additional tags: Dead dove don't eat, as in it is what it says on the tin this story is dark as hell sorry, Angst, Hurt/comfort, Angst with a happy ending, Jean's POV, sharing a room (but bad), Jeremy Knox is a Good Boyfriend, canon compliant, Friends to lovers, leaving bad situations, canonical levels of violence, panic attacks, nightmares, ptsd, abuse, sex, healing sex, we love to see reclamation of your body through love, implied attempted suicide

Summary: Every time Jean sees Jeremy Knox, it's always from the other side of a barrier. A TV screen, a jersey, an entire country, or the hand of Riko that holds Jean's leash close. The light Jeremy Knox exudes pulls Jean towards him like a planet in a gravitational pull. He knows he has to break the chains he has tying him to the Ravens if he ever wants to reach Jeremy's light with his own fingers. As Jean grows up, he watches Jeremy grow right alongside him, but only from the other side of a barrier. A pre-canon + post-canon study of Jean's life before and after the Ravens. Hey everyone! Super honored to be able to participate in the @aftgbigbang this year! I may have crawled over the finish line but in true fox fashion I suppose I kept crawling. This is supposed to be read in Full Work mode, not chapter by chapter mode, however you may do as you please? I’m not the boss of you but idk there’s my recommendation. Thank you so so much to my artists this year, Kiz and Starling! You can find @solelystarling 's wonderful art in the End Notes :) The way this is laid out is in 3 chapters: Chapter 1 is the ravens, chapter 2 is a short intermission (go get a coffee, go pee, I love you this fic is long), and chapter 3 is the trojans. It is told in a series of drabbles. Hope you enjoy!

[artemis-the-starling]

Bird Community: oh yeah birds quiet down during their molts

Me: challenge accepted

[iloveplayrehersal]

Today my therapy appointment mostly consisted of us talking about Hannibal Lecter...it was fun lol

[auspiciouscat]

Favorite type of woman in media tbh

[solelystarling]

I'm back on that short haired Jean agenda.

I love to see all the fluffy haired Jeans coursing around, but for me he just doesn't look like that. He's had his hair yanked out in clumps, has been probaly held down by it, yanked around by it. So, I think one of the ways he gains a bit of control over himself and his body is by keeping his hair short enough so nobody can properly hold onto it, let alone pull it hard enough that chunks get torn out.

He says he is vain enough that the bald patches it left behind bother him, but i don't think he would go see a hair dresser about it, because letting a stranger touch a part of your body that is connected to a lot of trauma? I don't think he would let that happen.

Cat even pointed out that Jean's hair looks uneven, and she assumes it is like that because he cut it himself. I think he let the patches grow and tried to cut the rest down to the same length, so it doesn't look as obvious as just leaving the rest longer. So I think his hair is quite short, around the lenght hair takes to grow when it regrows for like 2-3 months and the rest of his hair is cut accordingly.

So, besides having short hair being a bit of a self-protective thing, I think, it's also just something that makes sense, because otherwise it would just be SO patchy?

[starling-ghoul]

I have so many ideas but idk how to write them out coherently which is making me feel like this right now

[jodians]

the idea of the silence of the lambs and the x-files coexisting with each other in the same universe is so funny to me lmfao

like mulder, scully, and clarice would unironically be the most chaotic, and hilarious, trio in the fbi

[nefertitisfjordd]

Hey y’all. I need to know who out there is a Clannibal stan because I need to discuss, sorry, ~enter Into dialogue~ with those who are fixated on Hannibal and Clarice. I’ve been entrammelled for months. Help!

[peculiarbob]

Today I finally watched The Silence of the Lambs. I knew the plot, I knew who Hannibal Lecter was, and I knew about all of the twists because my mom loves this movie and she’d talk about throughout my childhood. But only now that I’ve seen it I can fully appreciate it. I think one of the things that surprised me was the feminist themes throughout the movie. Clarice was a strong and well written character. She was a young, pretty, and feminine woman trying her best to succeed in a field dominated by men. Crawford was kind to her but still treated her differently because she was a woman. The only person who treated her as a complete equal was Hannibal. He was kind to her. It wasn’t a gender thing, he gave her his respect because she treated him respectfully. Which leads into the second thing that caught me off guard, Hannibal Lecter was charming (in a way). He’s very obviously intelligent in every way. The way he spoke was very intentional and it made you listen to every single word he said. There’s something so interesting, and a bit endearing, about him. He’s so insane that he’s sane. I’d love to watch the rest of the movies and read the book one day.