#tag essays

[strideofpride]

#i love her costuming in this#and how it says so much about her character#like in the flashbacks how she dresses like an athlete & a young person#and then everything about her wardrobe in the present day screams Rich Woman#it's still simple and functional because she's still got that athlete's brain of Function over all else#but it all is so expensive#luxury brands#and like. what an evolution from the middle class kid who became a juvenile tennis star#but not from boarding schools and country clubs because her family couldn't afford that#and now she lives in hotels#and wears chanel sandals#it's like she's asserting her own importance against the fear of her superfluousness#which is what she's done ever since she got hurt (via @terrainofheartfelt)

Tashi Duncan/Donaldson + Outfits in CHALLENGERS (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino

[carelesswhisper41]

Came in to work for a short day for the pleasure of listening to my coworker complain nonstop....

[throesofincreasingwonder]

"A story doesn't need a theme in order to be good" I'm only saying this once but a theme isn't some secret coded message an author weaves into a piece so that your English teacher can talk about Death or Family. A theme is a summary of an idea in the work. If the story is "Susan went grocery shopping and saw a weird bird" then it might have themes like 'birds don't belong in grocery stores' or 'nature is interesting and worth paying attention to' or 'small things can be worth hearing about.' Those could be the themes of the work. It doesn't matter if the author intended them or not, because reading is collaborative and the text gets its meaning from the reader (this is what "death of the author" means).

Every work has themes in it, and not just the ones your teachers made you read in high school. Stories that are bad or clearly not intended to have deep messages still have themes. It is inherent in being a story. All stories have themes, even if those themes are shallow, because stories are sentences connected together for the purpose of expressing ideas, and ideas are all that themes are.

[misscammiedawn]

Just read The Strange Case of Harley and Harleen and my god I needed a little bit of positive plurality in my life this week.

The way Pam and Harl's relationship adapts to accept the Harley/Harleen split makes my heart swell.

The way Pam sees the difference between her girlfriends.

And assures her that she accepts and loves all sides of her.

And does what she can to accommodate Harleen's memory holes.

The core relationship of this book is just so sweet and positive in accepting things as they are without judgment or pushing. Just acceptance and love.

And after finding that in our own life, I know what a powerfully positive thing it can be.

But the Harley/Harleen relationship is well handled too. There's friction and denial at the start but the two develop and trust one another by the end and Harley takes a seat as my favorite kind of character, the morally ambiguous protector.

I love the way Harley's protectiveness of Harleen is depicted and how she tries so hard to keep her from interacting with the criminal underworld of Gotham.

It's just saccharine and kind.

Highly recommend the book to anyone who just wants soft and kind plurality vibes. Heaven knows the majority of the fiction involving split personalities are flooded with angst and darkness and though this book contains a few dark plot beats like DV it never feels painful or sorrow inducing.

I'm so happy I read it.

[thefantastician]

is this relatable to everyone or just me

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.

it's not even just because i ship these two together but like ?? the fact that pomni's most likely thinking of ragatha while hearing those words . the fact that she's the first person pomni went to . the fact you can Tell by ragatha's reaction that she did Not expect to hear those words ( since she went on about how pomni probably doesn't like her last episode ) . and she most likely don't hear them from other people a Lot so it's like

red alert the ragdoll has been given words of affirmation red alert

[cupozo]

Kim knew Harry had to figure it out himself. At least they had a nice moment between disasters.

[strideofpride]

#this is what I mean when I say you cannot pin any of rory's neurosis on a specific boy#she's just fundamentally self critical to the point of sabotage#her fatal flaw is her own success because it goes against her ingrained sense of disbelief in herself#it's why in the reunion I think her having a meltdown after her success on the obama campaign etc is so realistic#there's a lot to be said on whether she gets this from lorelai or christopher or just both-#how being the unexpected pregnancy that put such hardship on her parents means at her core that she has to make sure she's worth it (via @blairwaldcrf)

I am sick, I’m ill, I’m cracked. This is not who I am. If I were to write this down in my diary and I would read it, I would be like, Who is this freak? This isn’t me.

[joicecubes]

the implications of ford pulling this photo out of his trenchcoat in the last episode you guys… THE IMPLICATIONS.

look at the state of this thing!! look at its rips! the stain in the bottom right corner! it’s dog-eared, the color is faded, the paper has browned… he’s kept this photo of them since they were kids. through all the years he stubbornly swore to hold a grudge, all the years he and stan never spoke, he kept this photo.

and we can assume he probably didn’t have it dimension-hopping, since i find it hard to believe he would’ve had it on him when he initially got sucked in, but ford pulling it out of his trenchcoat here!! implies!! that he had been CARRYING IT AROUND WITH HIM for some time after he got back!

imagine if he found it in some of his old stuff the night he returned, after punching and yelling at stan, after being sure to keep as much emotional distance between them as possible, and he finds this photo. would he have stared down at it? for a little while? smoothed the creases out on his desk? thumbed the torn, loved edges while he mourned a simpler time? then pocketed the thing to always have it with him?

i dunno. maybe i’m looking too far into it. but i can’t help but wonder if ford kept it because, against all his big dreams and ambitions, deep down he always wondered what his life might have been like if he sailed away with his brother when they were teenagers. never able to throw it away because doing so would symbolically destroy the last remnants of a childhood fantasy, the last piece of him that remains young and hopeful of a future at his brother’s side.

[gerrykeay]

im not putting this post into words. beams into your mind The Parallels

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[ot3]

i do get why people are going so hard in on reminding each other that depicting something bad in fiction isn't the same as endorsing that thing. but also i feel like that's a talking point that cedes a lot of ground i'm not willing to cede re: the right to engage with works that do endorse a bunch of bigoted or harmful shit. interacting with a work of fiction that wholeheartedly espouses a worldview you do not agree with isn't a trojan horse that injects hitler particles into your bloodstream or something. like sometimes you read a book and your main takeaway is 'wow this author thinks women are cattle' or something along those lines and nothing about the process of having read that book has in any way damaged your moral integrity. it's fine! it's fine. you can learn a lot about yourself by reading shit that's hostile to your worldview.

[strideofpride]

#gabbing about this because the edible is Hitting but like one of my fave things about dan#as a romance jester & a fic writer#is that post-just-kissed daze he's got going on#like he's still in the moment and it takes him a beat to catch up#i think it's endearing/hawt (via @terrainofheartfelt)

[dekariosclan]

[aceissomunster]

discowing + jaybin ! press for quality

txtless + ref under the cut

ignore my horrible art please i drew this on ibis paint x with my finger and the soft felt tip pen brush. and my crappy penmanship.

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

ok, once and for all: is it rude to add things to people's posts? no nuance; none of us can know how op or anyone else will see our contribution. or 'contribution'.

[strideofpride]

#something something so often his goodness is taken for granted by other people#and he's done some fucking up#so he hasn't heard that's he is good in a while. and maybe he's never really believed he is#and then she calls him WONDERFUL (via @terrainofheartfelt)

BLAIR & DAN Crazy Cupid Love