#such good allegories

[the-monkey-ruler]

My theory is that Wukong was laying it on thick because he was guilty and ashamed of how his actions led to the death of so many of his monkeys and he knows fighting Erlang in revenge would be futile anyway. Make friends with Erlang to hopefully stay his hand in the future. I feel sorry for Wukong to be honest because I don’t think he killed anyone in Heaven unless I misremembered. Oh and I could see Erlang being the type whose a good son who is good to humans but he didn’t see the monkey demons as his equals which would’ve made it easier for him to enact the revenge.

I personally think something different.

First I'm like 90% sure that Wukong definitely killed celestial soldiers. We don't get any gory details unlike with the property he writes about killing demons but he was in war and did treat 100,000 more as canon fodder in his way rather than actual battles so that has to be taken to interpretation.

Erlang Shen is such a complex character with a varied past and history but when it comes to who he is as Yang Jian is fascinating how he could view himself or heaven. He was birthed to his mother, someone whose job was to help gods hone their emotions and fall in love with a mortal, thus having him and his siblings. He loses more than half of his family in a single day, his older brother, his father, and his mother, leaving both him and his sister to be on the run from heaven. And from there while a lot of stories show that he saved his mom he was still under heaven's rule as he and his sister take their right to heaven by force even if they are seen as lesser than.

Erlang is the one fighting heaven's rule and is still considered 'unruly' as he doesn't even live in heaven. He sees someone like himself, Sun Wukong fighting for his place in heaven and demanding to be recognized. But the difference is that while Erlang Shen can see similarities with Sun Wukong he also sees faults. He knows that Wukong isn't going to stop, even when he does get what he wants until he is putting all of heaven and earth in danger for the sake of his arrogance.

And I think there is this common theme of Erlang Shen seeing himself in his enemies and making them even MORE determined to break them. In Lotus Lantern he sees his sister doing the same act their mother did, and sees that she is risking everything putting his husband, herself, and now their newborn son in danger for what he considers a selfish act. He has been the hero in so many tales but it's only when it's personal does he stand as the villain, becoming the same thing that he once fought against because he thought THIS IS FOR THE BEST. That this is right and that Yang Chan should have learned from their mother better and that Liu Chenxiang needs to learn he isn't going to get his way.

And I think he feels similar to Wukong, seeing someone he relates to and feels responsible for being the one to shut them down. That the harsher the punishment the more likely that they will not get back up again. They will stay down and accept things how they are rather than asking for more.

I don't think Erlang Shen would look down on the monkey demons as he doesn't show he looks down on Wukong, at least for not being a Yao. Rather he thought that it was deserved for Wukong to learn, to lose his family just as he did if that meant Wukong would finally stop. It might not be said but I think Erlang was very emotional during the whole ordeal, enough to push him to these extremes.

That is were things get really interesting!

And Wukong, rather than holding a grudge, forgives Erlang. For whatever reasons he has I think that he never wanted it to come to that but he isn't willing to try to act for vengeance again. They have both fought heaven, they have both got titles they wanted but neither got what they really wanted. Erlang being his family back and Wukong being everything he thought he deserved. One accepted with what they got and they other kept pushing for more. But in the end, I think Wukong was the one to really understand what it means to let go and to grow as a person, not by rejecting past mistakes but by accepting them and living with them.

Wukong wouldn't call killing his family a great kindness and this is where the theory that Erlang Shen prologued the burning of Flower Fruit Mountain to give the remaining monkeys time to hide from the fire under the bridge. Some even said that Erlang Shen was the one to protect the monkey to a certain point until Wukong was released giving up his duties as the monkey said that only in the last two years when Wukong came back were they being hunted.

Nothing is really cut and dry and considering that this is a very old story may be subtle hints of what really transpired are overlooked or lost in translation but I do think that both Erlang Shen and Sun Wukong have a great amount of respect for one another and while they were so similar they were almost too alike in that they could see their own flaws on the other, making the rivalry even more intense and more dramatic.

[camofag]

the public reaction to i saw the tv glow is like a perfect case study into how cis people take up queer spaces and unknowingly mock and enjoy trans suffering. sitting in the theater, i had a pit in my stomach the entire time. so many times, i would tear up and then someone else in the theater would laugh. and i wouldn’t cry because how would they look at me when the lights came back on? because they don’t see it. they don’t see the pain. they think it’s funny. i left the theater completely silent, not saying a word to my boyfriend and he didn’t say a word to me until partway into the drive home. the people around us immediately got to picking it apart, explaining what it all meant to each other, dumbing it down, making theories. cis people see the the movie, just like transness, as something to debate. a conversation. something to dissect because it makes them uncomfortable if they don’t understand it in their easily digestible way.

[cryoverkiltmilk]

I gotta say, everything about Lycion from Dungeon Meshi is some kinda mood.

and can we talk about the arched back Fleki is doing once mounted up >_> ?

[spooky-dice]

okay not to over analyze a lighthearted piece of dialogue from freshman year but when gorgug dies and wilma&digby are upset because they don't know how to connect with him in that feeling, it makes me think abt transracial adoptee gorgug and the experience of white parents who fundamentally do not understand their child of colour and cannot bridge the gap to sympathizing with things they do not relate to. i know wilma&digby love him and i think they're good parents, but the stance in fandom that they're perfect parents is very strange to me tbh. their house is too little for their son to exist.

[excali8ur]

Weird dream.

[laikabu]

my controversial opinion is that i like that laios is bigger and more muscular than kabru because, as a poc, buff brown guy x scrawny white guy is so popular and tired, i like it whenever there’s a subversion of it from a work that’s well written. of course, not to mention that they have a very fun dynamic and the comic from the new official world guide spelling out for everyone that they do care about each other lol

i like that kabru does look feminine, especially when fandom makes the brown one always the bigger and masculine one in fanon and any instance of their delicate features is erased, even in yuri (looking at gwitch lol)

speaking of, i really like kikimari in that namari is portrayed as very masculine while kiki is feminine and elegant in fanwork

obviously, fandom isn’t activism duh, but i’m merely speaking from experience as someone who dabbles in both eastern and western fan spaces. i’ve seen it happen so many times that it’s become the staple so i love subversion that’s actually good

[piosplayhouse]

"Oh dear," the unicorn thought. "I must've really mucked up the story beyond compare! The Red Bull Luo Binghe is protecting the last unicorn scum?! Unconscionable! He should have driven me off the cliff by now!!"

[silver-peel]

Celebrating new year and ending of the quest:)🕯️🎄🪓

product of my recent green knight reread on holidays, save me erotic hunting scene...... Happy new year, hope everyone have a nice starting of the year!

for hardcore fans yes lady bertilak dress lowkey reference form manuscript (feat. burrito gawain)

[rabidfoxes]

im so normal about kevin day i swear to god. imagine your mom invents a sport, imagine you grow up with this sport being your entire life, you get abused and punished and shoved into the spotlight from a young age, all for this sport. you don't know anything else. it's all you've ever done and all you've ever been. you have to be the best at it. and one day you get punished for that too, and this sport you've poured everything into gets ripped right out of your hands by the boy you've grown up forced to consider your brother. you have to learn it from zero with your non dominant hand. you have, in an incredibly short span of time, to get as good at it as you were before the injury. of course you're fucking obsessed with it to the point of being unsympathetic sometimes, of course there's no other choice. the pressure is unimaginable. you cannot afford to be anything but the best. you cannot afford to relax and let go of it even for a second. you left the cave but the shadows are all you've ever known

[goldenasirpa]

Interesting to see people interpret Aziraphales stutter after the kiss to be almost saying "I love you". To me it's pretty clear he's mouthing "I cant-" which is way more compelling anyway. Cant what? Cant return the kiss? Can't accept it? Cant begin to pull back the pretending and subterfuge and excuses that make up your relationship in order to get to the bottom of it? Cant say how you feel because you've been denying yourself for so long?

Aziraphale cant "do" anything in that moment *except* forgive Crowley. Its all he knows on Angel Default, and cmon. He's trapped in a mental prison of his own making. Every miniscule thought of touching Crowley is followed by doom-shame and thoughts of being struck down by God.

You can blink and miss it, but (except in flashback) Aziraphale doesn't eat almost any food this season. Id bargain he is already feeling the waves of shame from his years in temptation way before Crowley kisses him. He can't.

[bugb1t35]

I watched "I saw the TV glow". It's not good but I needed to scribble something out before I actually exploded.

That movie made me feel so seen that after I finished watching it I say in the dark for 20 minutes just processing it. It felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest and I was being buried alive

[tomatoart]

Transgwender 🎉

TRANSGWENDER ‼️

[queenlucythevaliant]

Okay but I do get really tired when people rag on Narnia's Biblical parallels for being too overt. Like, yeah dude. It's written for kids. Most kids don't do subtlety. I knew my Bible better than probably 95% of third graders, and yet my parents still had to clue me in. I've talked to people who grew up secular and didn't realize Narnia was Christian until well into adulthood. The Christian parallels in Narnia are at a pretty perfect level for most kids, and the fact that we as adults continue to get new spiritual meaning from it as we grow is a real testament to the depth of Jack's writing.

[kakapim]

Shinichi angst is so damn good. He's in his own body but it doesn't feel like himself. His life is "dead" even though he's alive. When he comes back he will never go back to his old self. He can go back to his body but his life will never be quite the same (for better or worse)

He was just a 17 kid who had dreams ambitions friends he had to "abandon". Imagine putting up an act 24/7 and not being truly able to say the things you actually want to. And yet- this false identity of his started to blend in with his "authentic" self.

He will have to "kill" Conan like he did with himself eventually. Like I know this this is the whole point of his character but I feel like it's easy to forget due to everything going on, and every so often I'm reminded of this and go bonkers over it. Does anyone get me 😭

[starlesscitiess]

heyyyyy sooooo i just watched nimona and of course being me i have to get aro about it and i am Still Thinking about the moment where ballister says “she’s my friend” and ambrosius replies “aren’t i more than that” and the thing that’s great about it is that he’s in the wrong. yes the two do get back together romantically at the end but this line, its reception in context, and the subsequent emotional core of the movie reject a hierarchy with romance at the top. like. this is a line in a scene where ambrosius is explicitly antagonising our main character, being manipulated by the main villain, and himself using the relationship between himself and ballister in an emotionally manipulative way, whether deliberate or not. in this context, the romance is not the highest or purest form of love, it is not above criticism, and it is certainly not ranked above the friendship. the relationship at the centre of the film is that of ballister and nimona, the one that bal prioritises — both in this moment and throughout the film — is nimona. they are Friends and Family (and of course evil coworkers) and that is the most important thing in the whole entire world. i love to see it <3

[worldwright]

It's the "repeat after me" that always gets me.

The silent, invisible struggle is over. Jon has tried and failed to stop himself from speaking. He has turned the page and his voice is steady and expressive. His voice is Jonah's.

Was there ever a fight at all? Jon has always followed the path Jonah laid out for him. Or was that a lie Jonah told to make his victory seem unilateral? Regardless, the eye's weapon is information, and Jonah wields it with precision and uncompromising force. He always has. And now his favorite plaything is finally ready to serve its purpose.

In some ways, Jonah made a gamble by tossing his statement in the stack randomly. If Martin had seen it before Jon, then they would have known his plan and been much more wary of any future attempt he made. But his calculation was sound. Martin had no real reason to look over the statements, and Jonah knew that his Archivist liked to read them in private.

It's one thing for him to gloat. Villains like to have their little monologue, and an avatar of Beholding especially so. But dragging his confession out of the throat of the one he abused?

He chose Jon as Archivist. He made sure that he went far enough down the path that he wouldn't be able to stop. He made sure that every word out of Jon's mouth sounded uncannily like Jonah's own voice.

But even that wasn't enough. All he really had to do was put his little incantation on the second page and he would have won. But he wanted Jon to know what was happening, and why, and how. And that he never could have stopped it. And after all that:

"Repeat after me."

Jonah had never seen Jon as a person, that had been obvious for a long time. Even so, he had great affection for him. Enough to apply his twisted love to one final act of exquisite cruelty.