#storytelling things

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

I do love me an unreliable narrator. No, let me second guess everything you think and say. Let me puzzle through your thoughts and actions to build a portrait you wouldn't in a million years claim as your own.

[evergreen-lyricist]

[image transcript: here's the thing. you have to ask yourself "would this be better if it made sense" and if the answer is 'no' then don't worry about it. end image transcript.]

filmmakers and audiences and critics alike all need to start suspending their disbelief again

[lynxgriffin]

I did a post asking about this ages ago, but now that there's polls, I'd like to do another round for this question, since it always has me curious:

Also, I am not including stuff like "I just stay up thinking about things that make me anxious", since this is specifically about things that help you sleep, not things that keep you up!

Just curious how widespread this practice is!

[catastrophicgay]

girls who are doomed by the narrative!! girls who have been dead since the beginning. girls who are dragged into death not kicking and screaming but clinging on to the brink until their fingers ache with the weight of the years they’ve stolen. girls who’s every last words are already etched on the stone of an open and waiting grave.

[hinamie]

congrats on your recovery n all yuuji but unfortunately for you I thought the scars were cool >:/

[scrolpencer]

Here's a little story...

@yaelokre

I don't know when I got obsessed with the silly little band of theater kids wearing masks- but the Storyteller just has one of the coolest designs that I HAD to draw it (despite the fact I haven't drawn an actual finished piece in months)

[abstractfrog]

THE GLORIA SCOTT - part 2, and a follow up to my comic for the first half of this scene! thanks sm to @crashingmeteorz for allowing me to source validation for my whimsical cosmic approach to this moment <3

[turtleblogatlast]

AU where Leo is trapped in the Prison Dimension for months instead of minutes and the only way he gets by with his sanity intact is through recording himself talking to his wrist comm.

When they finally manage to get Leo back and make him rest up to heal, Donnie can’t help but listen to the recordings left behind.

He’s not sure what exactly he’s expecting, only that his subconscious is screaming at him that it has to be heartbreaking, that it has to be torturous.

Instead, what Donnie is subject to is a full thousand hours’ worth of Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu crossover fanfiction. More than one part in the series. Spanning well over a million words.

(The worst part is that it’s actually good.)

[ganemouchie]

Shaking in my boots

Songs of Origin link

[shorthaltsjester]

watching the sdcc panel and i am just very :) about how sweet their answers to “what are some of the micro moments from the game that have stuck with you the most over the years?” are. taliesin saying what the fuck is up with that which was the first like The Party Gets To Know Each Other moments of c3. travis saying asking his wife if he could kiss her in campaign. marisha going way back to the cannonball competition in campaign one. ashley choosing the beauyasha date but also just the silly goat noise matt made. liam adding onto that to compliment matt roleplaying grass so well and then saying his favourite moment was writing a story for laura and reading it to her as caleb for jester. and then matt saying that was his answer, and that his favourite moments of the game are when they find ways to give gifts to each other whether tangible or not. and sam saying his favourite moments have less to do with the story and is more so when he can just. see his friends across the table from him. when marisha perches and when laura and ashley are (badly) drawing dicks and liam saying he loves when sam sneezes and ashley tells him to stop it and just. yeah. they Are an extremely popular online powerhouse, but i’m so happy that they’re also friends building a world together out of gifts to and love for one another.

like i Am so enamoured with the characters and the world of exandria but the moments when you can feel the love that those people have for each other reach out from behind the stained glass of their performances (to steal a metaphor from brennan lee mulligan) are so extremely special and i am endlessly grateful that they decided to share their silly little home game with the world.

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Fantasy Racism in DnD:

Cross-cultural bigotry is a common element in fantasy because of the genre's relationship with exploring real world social, historical, and political conflict through allegories. However, the depiction of fantasy racism can be insultingly colonialist (this is why decolonisation of literature is important) and real world racism is often written into fantasy worldbuilding. The Hag archetype being anti-semitic, for example, or having a dehumanised "evil" race. DnD racism is particularly messy because the bones of the worldbuilding was set in place decades ago.

Here are some thoughts on how the BG3 companion bigotry is handled:

Shadowheart is not a bigot. She's responding to the role the Githyanki play within DnD (also, she just stole from them and doesn't want Lae'zel to look closely at what she has). Which is to say, she's responding to a Fascist cult that frequently raids Faerun. The Githyanki being an autocratic culture AND inhuman former slave race is one of those baked-in things DnD has been trying to fix over time. As they have with the Drow, Half-Orcs, Goblins, Gnomes, and sentient Monsters. It would be more accurate to say Shadowheart is anti-Fascist. Which... I'd hope we all were?

Lae'zel is very bigoted, but it's a testament to the writing in how well the allegories work with her. She is part of the attempt at decolonising the writing. Her being a party member and slowly unpicking her conditioning shows that there's no such thing as an "evil-aligned race". Lae'zel is a 22-year-old former child soldier who has been aggressively brainwashed by Nationalism into unquestioningly following the orders of her goddess/ruler. It only takes one visit to Faerun for her to (very slowly) question what she's been taught. Lae'zel's mind must be a warring house of bees throughout the first two acts, how could anyone blame her for being cranky?

Astarion's bigotry is far more personal. He's an extremely damaged and vindictive fellow, so it makes sense he'd take vicious delight in hating the Gur for the role he sees them as having played in his death. This begs the question, though, what the hells did Gnomes ever do to earn his eternal ire? Anyway, his issues with and abuses against the Gur are what he needs to face. The outcome and journey depending on what instincts the player encourages him to embrace. (Though, I like to think he'd continue to grow further in a non-ascended route. He's got the capacity).

[ilions-end]

all these myths about what happens to odysseus after the events of the odyssey. i've been thinking about the one (referenced by pseudo-apollodorus and plutarch) where odysseus is locked in conflict with the families of the killed suitors (because the divinely decreed conciliation at the end of the odyssey just didn't stick, i guess). they agree to send for neoptolemus (of ALL PEOPLE) to arbitrate, but neoptolemus secretly wants odysseus' estates, so his ruling is that odysseus is banished from ithaca, cephallenia and zacynthus "because of the blood that he had shed there", and also the families must pay odysseus a yearly fee to pay off the damages caused by the suitors. now odysseus has to wander off and father too many sons so they can establish roman cities.

obviously i think this myth is a little silly (as a number of post-odyssey myths are) but i always try to give each variant due thought, because presumably for some ancient people this WAS part of the story of odysseus.

so imagine it as the result of what happens in sophocles' philoctetes: maybe odysseus suggests and lobbies for neoptolemus as arbitrator because he assumes neoptolemus will be deferential, he remembers neoptolemus as he was -- conscientious but realistic, or just plain morally ambiguous and easy to manipulate. maybe neoptolemus' ruling is the direct result of the lesson odysseus taught him on that first, fateful mission: if you want something bad enough, you can't let sentiment or honesty get in the way. maybe there IS some lingering sense of loyalty and respect there, so neoptolemus tells himself that securing odysseus a yearly income makes up for forcing him to flee his home.

remember when philoctetes accused odysseus of forever ruining neoptolemus' moral compass? i think about that a lot

[orionhong]

— the love was there. (it didn't change everything, but it changed me)

x. // erin slaughter // state of grace - taylor swift // x. // architecture - maisie peters // white ferrari - frank ocean // begin again - emma lord // x. // lunar years - maisie peters // king lear // hope ur ok - olivia rodrigo // cheryl strayed // 19 - xana // begin again - emma lord // the only exception - paramore // anne sexton // there it goes - maisie peters // road to hell (reprise) - hadestown // the things they carried - tim o'brien // in case you don't live forever - ben platt // molly templeton // for good - wicked // jeanette winterson

[thebylertheory]

"If you think El doesn't need to end the show in a relationship and she can be happy without one, then that goes for Will too" here's why you're wrong.

The reason why it's different for Will, whether you like it or not, IS because of his sexuality. Homophobia and Will's belief that he'll never find romantic love because of him being gay is a core part of his character. Romantic love, or the lack thereof, has been an important part of his story for at least the past two seasons. He already has an abundance of love from his friends and family. He's not lacking on that part. But he wants romantic love. That is what he desires. They have made that clear. And they have gone out of their way to show us that he wants that with MIKE. And they have even taken it a step further and shown us why Mike and Will would be good together. They bring out the best in each other and they make one another feel good about themselves. So, for them to do all of that and then end the show by reaffirming Will's belief that he was right and he's never going to find love because he's gay is a very cruel and pointless ending for his character. He has suffered enough. He should be allowed to end the show with the boy he loves and believing that he's worthy of that type of love. He deserves to have the relationship he's always wanted and thought he would never have.

Romantic love has never been an important part of El's story. Since season 1, she has been trying to find a family/home and she has been trying to find out who she is in a world she was isolated from since birth. That is the most important part of her story and character. Her relationship with Mike has never been the main focus. In fact, she does better and she thrives more and she sees the most development as a person when her and Mike are separated. They have shown us that their relationship holds her back and that they're not good for each other. They don't make each other feel loved or good about themselves. Now, that's not to say I don't think El should EVER be in a relationship. She can! But a romantic relationship, especially one with Mike, is not as important to her story as it is to Will's. In fact, a relationship with Mike has done more bad than good for her. She doesn't NEED romantic love or a relationship with Mike for her happy ending. Her happy ending can consist of her just being able to live comfortably with her family and knowing who she is and feeling confident in her identity. That ending is what will be the most fulfilling for her character.

[wifegideonnav]

so listen. we all know that if they ever made a tlt show it would be bad pretty much no matter what. so my pitch is let’s just give the project to steven moffat and see what he does with it. by the time he’s done we’ll have a show called “john” all about how tragically and manlily sad jod is and how you know what maybe imperialism is ok sometimes. tamsyn gets buckets of cash, some white guys get acting roles that they’ll regret the rest of their career, and i get a new hbomberguy video essay to rewatch every six months or so. someone call the fucking bbc ive solved this.

[mmmairon]

Home was the only place left.

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