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jonsa101 · 4 years ago

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Max Goodwin and Randall Pearson: The Well-Meaning, Incredibly Self-Centered Leading Men We’ve Grown to Love.

Hey fam! Like I said, I’ve been writing a ton of meta lately and this is another one that’s just been sitting in my drafts. It’s basically a This Is Us and a New Amsterdam meta which is something I haven’t done before but something I want do more of. In my Game of Thrones days I used to write a lot of meta about shows and characters that had similarities so this is fun for me. I hope y’all enjoy this. ALSO THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR BOTH SHOWS!!!!!!!

Without a doubt the two most popular shows on NBC is This is Us and New Amsterdam. And what’s not to love? They’re both emotionally driven, heartfelt, shows that focus on incredibly deep and complex topics. Though one show focuses on family dynamics and the other focuses on the healthcare system, these shows are very similar in more ways than one. Case in point, Max Goodwin and Randall Pearson. The more I watch these two shows, the more I realize how these two characters are so alike!!! These two men are kind-hearted, well intentioned, individuals who genuinely want to make some sort of positive difference. They are incredibly ambitious and always have “bright ideas” and “goals” they want to accomplish and somehow they’re able to meet those goals without ever having to sacrifice their wants and needs. By every definition these men are the “main characters” or the ultimate “protagonists.” These are the folks that we are supposed to root for. At the same time, though these men have many traits to be admired, when you truly look at it both of them can be incredibly self centered and selfish especially when it pertains to their romantic partners and love interests. No matter how appealing you make these characters out to be these men clearly fall under the Behind Every Great Man trope.

The Behind Every Great Man trope has been used countless of times throughout Cinema and TV History that I’m sure that I don’t even have to explain it to you but for the sake of this meta this is how it’s defined.

“Behind Every Great Man...stands an even greater woman! Or in about a hundred variations is a Stock Phrase referring to how people rarely achieve greatness without support structures that go generally unappreciated, and said support structure is a traditionally female role via being the wife, mother, or sometimes another relation. This trope is specifically about a man who is credited with something important, but owes much of his success to the woman in his life.”

This trope usually has a negative connotation (and rightfully so) because the man who often benefits from this is an asshole and unworthy of this type of support!

For example:

Oliva and Fitz

Cristina Yang and Burke

Cookie and Lucious

Ghost and Tasha

There are countless others but these are a few of the couples that come to mind for me. Randall and Max aren’t comparable to any of these men that are listed above but they are still operating under the same trope. It just looks nicer because Max and Randall are inherently good and inspirational. They are the heroes of the story. I would even argue and say that both men fall under the Chronic Hero Syndrome trope which is defined as

“Chronic Hero Syndrome is an "affliction" of cleaner heroes where for them, every wrong within earshot must be righted, and everyone in need must be helped, preferably by Our Hero themself. While certainly admirable, this may have a few negative side-effects on the hero and those around them. Such heroes could wear themselves out in their attempts to help everyone or become distraught and blame themselves for the one time that they're unable to save the day. Spending so much time and effort saving everyone else can also put a strain on the hero's personal or dating life.”

Just because Max and Randall have these incredibly inspiring aspirations, is it fair that their wives and love interests are always expected to rise to the occasion and support them. Is it ok for their partners to continuously sacrifice their wants and needs because they love these men?

Let’s dive into it.

Truth be told, Beth Pearson, Helen Sharpe and Georgia Goodwin had to endure a GREAT DEAL to emotionally support the dreams and aspirations of these men while sacrificing so much of themselves in the process. In media we often see women sacrificing so much of their wants and needs out of love for these male leads and rarely do men do the same thing for their romantic partners and love interests. All three of these women clearly fall under the Act of True Love trope defined as

“The Act of True Love proves beyond doubt that you are ready to put your loved one's interests before your own, that you are truly loyal and devoted to them. Usually this involves a sacrifice on your part, at the very least a considerable effort and/or a great risk. The action must be motivated, not by morals or principle or expectation of future reward, but by sheer personal affection.When your beloved is in dire need of your help, or in great danger, and you do something, at great expense to yourself, for the sake of their safety, their welfare, or their happiness, thus proving beyond any doubt that you put their interest ahead of yours.”

Over the past few seasons we have seen all three of these women truly live up to this trope without any true consequences or accountability from the men they’re making all these sacrifices for. For example, in Beth and Randall’s marriage, how many times did Randall spring an idea on Beth without truly talking to her or considering her wants first? Everyone thinks these two are an ideal couple but she has endured A LOT for Randall.

Randall has spontaneously quit his job, moved his dying biological dad into their home, bought his biological dad’s old apartment building, fostered and adopted a child and also ran for city councilman outside of his district. In all of these decisions, Randall “consulted” Beth about it but at the same time didn’t really consult her. In a way there has always been this expectation of Beth to just go along for the ride with what Randall wants. Is anyone else exhausted from reading that list?! That’s a lot for partner to endure and lovingly support. But Beth has endured and has been Randall’s rock through it all!!! What worries me is that the one time Beth spoke out about her wants and needs of pursuing dance again, he couldn’t match the same energy she was giving him and eventually it led to world war three between them. Though things are looking up in their relationship and he’s starting to support her more, has Randall nearly given to Beth as much as she’s given to him? Absolutely not!

Similar to Randall, Max also had a wife who was a dancer. in fact, she was a prima ballerina. Unlike Randall and Beth, Max relationship with Georgia was rocky from the start. When we were first introduced to them Max and Georgia were separated and rightfully so. Georgia was never Max’s first priority. The hospital always came first in their relationship. He couldn’t even dedicate a full night to her for their proposal. In order to “save” their marriage they decide to have a baby and they both committed to taking a step back in their careers in order to do so. The problem was Max didn’t keep his side of their commitment and took a job to become the medical director at the biggest public hospital in the U.S. She gave up her career to start a family and he totally and completely betrayed her trust. So throughout season one we see them trying to rebuild their marriage but even in the midst of trying to rebuild a marriage based on trust and mutual respect Max still keeps things from Georgia. For several episodes he didn’t tell her that he had advance stages of throat cancer. He only told her when Georgia asked him to move back home. That’s fucked up! Then throughout their pregnancy he was never fully there for Georgia because he was either to preoccupied with the hospital or himself. At the end of it all, Georgia died tragically at the beginning of season two and really had nothing to show for it in her relationship with Max other than her daughter Luna.

Now let’s bring Helen Sharpe into the fold. While all of this stuff was going on with Max and his wife in season one, Max was developing a deep friendship, borderline emotional affair with Helen. Their relationship started out with Helen being his oncologist. As the new Medical Director of New Amsterdam, he swore Helen to secrecy about his diagnosis so that he could still run the hospital. Through that secrecy they eventually formed a deep bond but as his cancer got worse his secret was let out of the bag. He realistically needed someone to step up and run the hospital when he was going through chemo and though Helen already had commitments she stepped up and became his deputy medical director. Somewhere along the lines Max and Helen started developing feelings for each other. As Helen becomes aware of those feelings, she made a choice and decides to remove herself as Max’s doctor. He BITCHES about it but eventually accepts the boundary she’s clearly trying to set. Mind you, as this is unfolding, like Max, Helen is also in a new relationship with her boyfriend Panthaki. As Max’s cancer seems to be getting worse with his new doctor, she goes back on her boundary and decides to be his doctor again. This pisses her boyfriend off because he could already peep the vibe between them and he breaks up with her. When we get into season two, Max’s wife died and Helen set him up in a clinical trail (with a doctor she previously fired) that’s helping his cancer. Unbeknownst to Max, this doctor ends up holding his life saving treatment plan over Helen’s head and in order for his treatment to continue she gives this doctor half of her department!

Helen has sacrificed a lot for Max and now in season three she’s finally prioritizing her current wants and needs first! Like Randall, Max is starting to turn a page and is starting to support Helen and truly listen to the wants and needs that she has. All of this is good but my question is did any of these women have to sacrifice so much for the men in their lives to get a clue?

Why is it that this is a trope we see in media time and time and time again? Even if these men are good, why don’t we still keep these male characters accountable when they put their significant others in these situations that are clearly not fair? I’ve watched countless tv shows and I’ve seen a lot of tv couples but I think I have only come across one couple where the male counterpart has selflessly loved his significant other and has always put her needs above his own.

That character my friend is none other than PACEY WITTER

I might be mistaken but I think Joey and Pacey are the most popular ship in tv history and honestly, rightfully so! This is only example I can think of where the male in the relationship so willingly puts the wants and needs of his partner first. It is a completely selfless and sacrificial love. He never wants to hold her back and he never asks her to compromise her wants or needs for him. That’s why I think so many women love Pacey because in a sea of TV relationships, Pacey Witter is a fucking unicorn.

So to wrap this up does this mean that I hate Randall Pearson or Max Goodwin? No! I adore them. I love both of their characters so much. I just think that when we see the media continuously play out the sacrificial wife/love interest for the sake of their male counterparts, it should be called out. I’m all about sacrificial and selfless love but it should come from both sides.❤️❤️❤️

Anyway I hope y’all enjoy this! As always my DMs are opening here or on Twitter @oyindaodewale

#new amsterdam #sharpwin #This Is US #max goodwin #helen sharpe #randall pearson #beth pearson #georgia goodwin #pacey witter #joey x pacey #new amsterdam meta

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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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I’m literally in love with the way you write Dick and Jason’s dynamic

Thanks, glad to hear that! Personal preferences aside, I honestly do think it just opens up SO many more potential stories if you go with the idea that they did have a brotherly relationship before Jason died, just they didnt get together around Bruce because Dick was still hoping Bruce would make the first move in reaching out to him. Rather than just stick with the usual assumption that because it wasn’t seen on the page, they had barely any interactions and both resented each other for various reasons.

But those reasons all trace back to Bruce, and if you look at them as two people who are united by the common experience of being fish out of water, adapting to the same environment after coming from DRAMATICALLY different origins, able to connect over that and understand each other in a way nobody else really can because nobody else has ever really had to straddle two worlds as definitively as Dick and Jason had to in their formative years....

Like, the big sticking point for me in the Dick vs Jason: The Grudge theory was just that....at the end of the day, these are two boys who grew up with very few loved ones to start with, or having had to deal with the loss of those loved ones.....

But one way or another......are these two specific characters really ones that make sense as wanting to reject the possibility of more family?

They’re connected through Bruce, like it or not, that was never going to change even from before they ever met......and the idea that Dick Grayson and Jason Todd would each be content to waste literal YEARS never even TRYING to connect with the person who was probably most like him and who by all accounts was already his brother in most ways just by way of Bruce...not even to see if maybe they COULD actually be brothers? To have family beyond just Bruce and Alfred?

Me @ every fic or headcanon that says Dick had Only Child Syndrome and resented Jason because of that: right because Dick Grayson of all people is anti-family. He’s full up with that one guy whose legal guardianship of him has been expired for a couple years and who he hasn’t spoken to since long before then.....nah, why would he want any more or any other family beyond that?

I mean, I absolutely believe that Dick was upset and hurt that Bruce adopted Jason while he’d never even offered to adopt Dick......but Dick has never been one to pass around blame instead of focusing it on its true point of origin. That’s his and Bruce’s issue. And honestly, there are TONS of reasons for Dick to be upset about that, without making it about Jason at all.

There’s literally no reason for Dick to take it out on Jason ever, if his biggest issue or grievance is that like....it feels like Bruce was just so done with Dick and considered him so out of his life, something like “just added a new kid to the family” didn’t seem like relevant information he should pass on to Dick despite the tenseness between them. When you have to find out from the NEWS that your old family unit just full on up and adopted this kid you’ve never heard of before now without even so much as a phone call.....there’s plenty of cause to feel like this is a message that you’re not really considered part of that family unit anymore, so why would you need to know?

Or like, the fact that Bruce didn’t consider hey I’m thinking of adding another kid to my family that consists of me and the kid I’m so afraid to tell I think of him as a son in case he doesn’t feel the same way, that I’ve sat back and let things get this bad between us and fester.....hey maybe before I issue adoption papers for a second kid, I should think about putting in an equivalent effort at fixing things with my first kid first?

Or why not write Bruce thinking: “Hey if I can’t even fix things with the kid I raised for almost a decade and think of as my own no matter how long its been since I talked to him.....what on Earth makes me think I’m qualified to take on a SECOND child?”

Like....Bruce was the one who held all the power and all the options, Dick had no other option but to go along with whatever Bruce decided Bruce was going to do, and neither did Jason really.....so there’s no real reason in my head that should be a point of contention between them or a reason to resent each other instead of just stressing to them the importance of having significant family ties beyond just Bruce because history clearly showed even at that point that best intentions aside, the man is fallible.

If anything, that should have been common ground!

I think there was like, an initial negative reaction of maybe one night, the first time they met and Dick even though he was prepared for it still had to adjust to the reality of actually seeing this stranger he was irrevocably connected to now by both his names, even if neither was technically his anymore....like to actually SEE him standing there in his old role....that’s gonna hit anybody hard.

But he also would have clearly been able to see that whatever else he may have been, this twelve year old Robin was still a kid, and one who hadn’t had a lot of time to ever be a kid in the first place.....which again, instant camaraderie, because boy could Dick relate.....remember, Dick may have had a happy childhood with his parents before they were murdered but it was also a childhood where he WORKED. He loves being an acrobat, he loved being in the show, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t WORK, that his childhood didn’t consist of training as long and as regularly as any adult acrobat while everyone else his age was running around playing outside and making friends. And after Bruce took Dick in, most of Dick’s free time was spent being Robin, training as Robin, etc?

Which IMO would have made him take one look at this kid in his old costume, literally standing where he had once stood, stepping into his old shoes.....and I think Dick’s real honest reaction once he brushed aside any kneejerk feeling of pain or bitterness the way he brushes aside all the physical pain he feels when out as Nightwing but refuses to let get in the way of him doing what he has to, doing what’s right....

Nah, Dick would have taken one look at this tiny kid full of fire and bravado but also so clearly eager to please, to be praised, to be told he was doing a good job and even without that he was worth something, his life had value, the world was better just because he existed......

And I think Dick’s bitterness about the situation would have crystallized into him resentfully thinking well B’s not exactly the best about dishing out affection or praise so I’m gonna make sure this little Mini-Me standing there in my old colors looking just as young and small as I must have looked then even if I didn’t realize it at the time....I’m gonna make sure I keep him supplied with a steady diet of “Nice Words and Gestures That Kids Should Grow Up Receiving Regularly.”

Dick has always been a firm believer that the best way to make sure something gets done is to do it yourself.

So yeah, I honestly do think that back during those days, Dick and Jason were thick as thieves when their schedules allowed for it, with it being simultaneously painful and unspoken that they had to like....work around Bruce’s presence so Dick could avoid him, but somewhat softened by the challenge and thrill of two brothers scheming to pull one over on the Big Bad Batdad every time the older brother wanted to take the little brother to go somewhere or do something, like, even just to spoil him rotten.

Cuz really....isn’t that a lot more interesting than ‘oh they barely ever even met back then and it wasn’t great, that’s it, the end’? There’s so much you could do with even just that, from them sneaking Jason out for a fun adventure that’s layered with just a hint of poignant angst because of the unspoken why of him needing to sneak out instead of them just saying hey Bruce, we need some bro time, Jason’s hanging with me this weekend? Or you dial up the angst and layer it with lightness or literally anything between those two points on a spectrum.

There’s so much Secret History potential buried back in those years....adventures they had together and never told anyone about, secrets shared between brothers they never shared elsewhere.....maybe Dick opening up to Jason more than he usually likes to, but here felt it might be the only way to get Jason to do the same, with Dick thus offering up some painful tidbit from his past that he never told even Bruce or Alfred for some reason, if he thinks Jason’s upset about something and needs to vent but will just keep insisting he’s fine unless Dick leads by example and goes first.

There’s so much potential for in-jokes that only the two of them know and everyone else is ENDLESSLY curious about, because everyone always forgets that those two have so much history because it was literally kept out of sight, out of mind, so they could keep it free of the friction that was bound to come of adding Bruce to the mix before their father cleared the air with his eldest first.

So its an easy thing to forget about or overlook, especially since it rarely comes up....but everytime it does rear its head via some private joke only they know or a reference to some event back then that everyone else is kept boxed out of having any context for....that’s the kind of stuff that would drive a family of detectives craszy, because they want to know! What’s the joke??

And yet its likely they’d never ask, because as curious as they are to hear about the mysterious missing years of the first two Wayne children, back when there was literally nobody else present to ask for details.....they never can figure out HOW to ask those questions, not when they’re equally aware of the swiftly hidden expressions of pain or bitterness that flash across the two eldests’ faces after each unearthing of some long-buried treasure they shared between them. Unable to ever escape the fact that each of those treasured moments would forever be followed with an inevitable reminder of why there were so few of those moments, in the end.

Why those years ended far earlier than they should have, and why their reunion upon Jason’s return was hindered and complicated by Dick’s obligation to other siblings Jason hurt while dealing with Pit after-effects and the lack of a strong support system while swayed to League sympathies...

And of course, ultimately there’s the reality that after the Adventures of Young Dick and Tiny Jason were cancelled far ahead of schedule, and that several year long intermission....by the time everything else was gotten out of the way, the stars of those earlier adventures were as long gone as the adventures themselves. Dick and Jason were both entirely different people by now.....still containing within each of them enough of who they were back then that those memories are kept carefully protected and hidden away, all the more valuable for how few and sparse they are, and how rarely they’re brought out to look at and enjoy.....

But with those vaults buried deeply enough within who Dick and Jason both are these days, that there’s a lot of blood and loss and pain you have to cut through just to reach that vault. There’s no retrieving anything from it without a cost. A cost worth paying, given that they can’t help themselves from calling back to it every now and then, even though they know the inevitable result is going to be end negative and not end positive. But still high enough to give them pause before actually doing so....holding back sometimes so the toll is doled out sparingly and over time. Getting greedy and trying to bring out/back/up too much too fast is far more daunting than either can afford to pay at the moment.

So that’s how I like to view the two of them and their dynamic back during and because of those early years before Jason’s death. Bittersweet and shaded by nostalgia.....temptation and warning both, in how much they want to revisit it but how much they fear ruining what they’ve managed to cobble together now by bringing the past too much into the light, comparing past and present too clearly and risking that being reminded too strongly of the brothers they were back then, will just make it impossible to ever be content with anything but that bond replicated in full and they’re not sure it can be, are both too afraid too much has happened since then and trying too hard, putting too much pressure on the dynamic they’ve built now could risk shattering the relative fragile bond completely.

Pretty much everything I write with the two of them, unless I specifically state otherwise via context, is generally written through that lens, with me viewing that as the backstory for their dynamic that I’m running with.

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yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy · 4 years ago

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Late-to-the-party disorganized reflection of Jessica Jones Season 1, sue me

One of the biggest things that bugs me about Jessica Jones Season 1 is... and this isn’t me attacking the writers.. but it’s the fact that Jessica is so dismissive of other peoples’ trauma at the hands of Kilgrave when she’s asked to include herself in the group therapy sessions. It’s a deep character flaw that I dislike but I’m still somewhat glad exists. It makes her more believable, but in exchange it makes me dislike her more than if she were to say nothing. She refers to them as “whiney”, which..no offense Jessica, but if what they’re doing is whining, then what are you doing when you bring up your trauma to Kilgrave?

To him, she’s whining just the same as them, only being far more unreasonable, and she uses that sentiment as an excuse to not go to the talks. She says to Malcolm at one point the equivalent of “Someone will always have it worse, so why should I air my dirty laundry out when I probably had it better than someone else”, as if it’s a suffering contest. The nature of victimization, the quality of it, the quantity of it, is what Kilgrave, and ultimately Jessica, are overly-fixated on.

For Kilgrave, the suffering of another person is fine by him because he doesn’t give a shit, but at the same time he thought he was being a great lover to Jessica by taking her all over the world and letting her wear fancy clothes and eating in the finest restaurants. What girl wouldn’t be happy about that? She’s just being ungrateful, she’s just being hysterical, he could have been so much worse to her. It’s a chilling thought process. “I COULD, but I won’t, and you should be thankful.” It’s the threat of a bad time that gives him power, and it is his frequent demonstration of how much of a bad time he could give someone that keeps him powerful.

The very character of Kilgrave is someone who is preoccupied with his wants and needs, like any psychopathic man-child who is desperate for a hit of serotonin that comes from having his whims met or doing what he feels like doing in the moment. His perception of things is the truth, his opinion of someone is how it actually is, and anything to the contrary is just a way for people to try to cage him in and control him. Everything is semantics, negligible, unimportant. The man can feel bad, but it’s self-pity or shallow concern. I think he does tiptoe close to feeling remorse for what he’s done to Jessica, but he stopped just at the ledge, looked down, saw the words “Accountability” and “Responsibility” emblazoned on the trampoline, and went “lol nope”. Because that would mean feeling bad, that would mean changing his self-serving behavior, and that shit is lame. Why would he make himself feel bad? He felt bad in the past, he felt tortured and traumatized by his parents (whether a psychopath or not, the experiments forced upon him would have made any child his age feel like a lab rat, I think, especially since they were so painful-looking..).

Where am I going with this...Kilgrave hits that sweet spot of 1% tragic villain and 99% horrible. He’s a nutter, he may have always been a nutter, or the experiments messed up his head. Whatever the case, his obsession with Jessica is the first time he’s ever felt infatuation for another person. He could list off all the things that fascinate him about her, and in the police station he tries to explain why he can’t stop thinking about her. She represents a challenge that half of him hopes to conquer, and the other half doesn’t. An eternal struggle between them to keep him entertained as he floats through life getting everything he wants. She can be his fiery woman, but she is his woman. She is a weapon he uses as he likes. And somewhere down the road he decided he was genuinely fond of her, but fondness does not translate to kindness and compassion when it comes to guys like Kilgrave, it just means you are too valuable to murder. Most of the time.

What strikes me the most though, is that I don’t know where the manipulation ends and where the self-delusion starts.

The manipulative explanation: Kilgrave is genre-savvy and knows what to say to make him out to be a psycho with a crush--i.e., oh he can’t comprehend what he’s doing is wrong! he didn’t choose to be crazy! He's only just now realized that this thing he feels is love and it may be the thing that he needs to help him become a better person! He wants to love someone and this is how he thinks he should go about it! Jessica, why would you give up on a chance on rehabilitating someone by teaching him the error of his ways? uwu. And he’ll pounce on those doubts and reel her in the first chance he gets. If he has to, he’ll use any innocent bystander as a way of getting her to go along with his bullshit. Maybe he’ll ease up on the criminal bullshit just to get her off his back, but...

The self-delusion explanation: He didn’t mean to hurt Jessica. Well, he did mean to hurt her on numerous occasions, but he didn’t want her to get mad or upset over it. He just wanted her to obey him and do what he said. Everything would be better if she just did what he wanted. Granted, he might have been a bit too harsh on her, but he never did it out of hatred! He has no concept of the depths of pain someone might feel; he’s quite skeptical of the idea that someone could be suffering so much under the surface while displaying the opposite sentiment on the outside. His psychopathy fuels, informs, and reinforces his powers, and vice versa. He doesn’t care about empathizing with others, so he will freely use his powers in a way that disregards them. He will go so far as to use his powers to make someone do something because he knows they don’t want to do it. With Jessica, I think he used his powers to force her to be someone he wanted her to be, but because the very nature of his powers are so pervasive, it truly is difficult for him to determine if someone is doing something against their will because he ordered them to, or if they are doing something because they were willing to do so anyway/agreed with him.

At some point Kilgrave, for whatever reason, came to believe Jessica was following his orders but had also internalized them. He probably thought Stockholm Syndrome had set in and she was happy. He saw what he wanted to see, because the alternative was ugly--someone he was really keen on didn’t truly like him back, and that revelation would’ve broken his underdeveloped heart. Yes, she was being controlled but she wanted to be controlled, she was fine with being compelled to do things because it was him giving the order. In his sad little head, he thought he had a chance to “Win” her back, and his efforts to not be a horrible human being in her presence for a day-and-a-half should have been enough for Jessica to realize he was serious. If anything else, he would try to ape the behavior of a “normal” human being for as long as he thought he would get rewarded for it in the end. He genuinely thought he was doing what she wanted while they were living in her house. He thought that he was truly on the path to redemption in her eyes, that his crimes could be forgiven or overwritten if he did enough good things (regardless if he did them for altruistic reasons). That was why he was so distraught and felt so betrayed. He didn’t understand that that is not how it works. Even if Jessica did forgive him, that still doesn’t change the fact that he hurt scores and scores of people throughout his life. The fact that he most certainly wouldn’t care says enough about how screwed up he is.

On a single, tissue-paper thin level I can empathize with Kilgrave when it comes to not understanding why people are making such a big deal about things like “peoples’ feelings”. When you are not in touch with your sense of compassion, or you do not know how to empathize with people, people berating you about your insensitivity and callous nature is like being berated in a foreign language. You hear the upset tone in their voice, but the points being made don’t make sense. While anyone who disregards someone’s bodily autonomy and displays a lack of remorse for their crimes (or fails to see why something is a crime) is repugnant, it’s a testament to the writers and David Tennant’s portrayal of Kilgrave that actually made me feel bad for the bastard for a few minutes. He’s so twisted, he’s done so much wrong, but he wouldn’t have done any of these things if he hadn’t been granted powers. He terrorized his parents until they abandoned him. If he had been a normal boy there might have been hope for putting him in an institution or something, but no, not with his powers of compulsion/persuasion. If you took either one of those features away--Psychopathy or Persuasion Virus--he would have not gone down the path he had. It was a perfect storm, it was inevitable he would have become a fully-fledged criminal after being abandoned by his parents before he even hit puberty. I truly believe that. You can pull up the “well not every psychopath is a criminal” but how many psychopaths have this sort of superpower IRL? I’m not talking the glib charm and persuasion, I mean forcing people to do things they don’t want to do as if they’re robots and he has a remote control.

His self-entitlement is off the charts, but it’s someone who didn’t choose to be crazy or choose his power but has come to be this way for whatever reason and I really, REALLY don’t want to use the word “gaslighting” because that word is overused to shit on the Internet to just mean “trying to lie your way out of a situation”, but I think that Kilgrave was trying to delude himself. He’s good at doing that, since it is impossible to talk to him without him being able to shut you up and make you cut your tongue out with scissors for angering him. Jessica was potentially the only person in the world who could maybe possibly get through to him, or at least deflate his bubble a bit. I know that Kilgrave would only allow it if he thought it would lead to Jessica giving him “another chance”, and when it didn’t happen he would accuse her of lying and trying to lead him on, as if she owed him forgiveness. That’s the kind of man he is. Quid pro quo and all that.

Going back to the very first paragraph, though...I don’t cite this writing as a mistake, but rather a deliberate effort to write her as someone whose response to trauma is not nearly as often seen in media. The pervasive image of a victim that has suffered what Jessica has suffered is someone blubbering in a corner and essentially wrecked, afraid of men, afraid of people, afraid of life in its entirety. ‘Someone who cries is exposing weakness.’ is the underlying message. Jessica nearly cries on many occasions after suffering a flashback or a nightmare, but she centers herself and shakes herself out of it because doing so comes more naturally to her than it may for others. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s not that people who “allow” their trauma to affect them are weak, but rather some people are able to mentally shake themselves out of its hold if given the proper tools to do so at a steadier clip than others. Predisposed skill level at processing trauma, and it’s a skill you learn and develop as time goes on, hopefully. Not all minds react to trauma the same way. Jessica fears Kilgrave, but she also hates him, she hates him in a way that translates to “I would lay my hands on you to remove you from my presence”, i.e. physical, verbal confrontation and rebuffs, whereas other forms of hatred that stem from trauma seem to be “I would do everything in my power to remove myself from your presence”, i.e. avoidance, hiding. Season 1 to me felt like a war between both instincts, and ultimately Jessica chose the former.

This isn’t to say that one must always choose to directly confront the source of their trauma and terminate it, since I think people can recover Jessica has shades of that, and it is a battle throughout the season of “Do I avoid him or do I confront him?”

She is a very shut-off person, really compartmentalizes everything while trying to make it seem like what happened to her doesn’t affect her, but only in front of strangers. When she is with Kilgrave she goes out of her way to remind him “Hey, you fucked me up, did you know that? YOUR CRIMES AGAINST MY PERSON FUCKED ME UP.” And he doesn’t know how to comprehend that. He expresses his disgust for the word “rape” because he believes the myth that rapists are the kind of people that hide in dark alleyways or skulk around skeevy dive bars. They’re cowardly, pathetic little men that resort to force because they can’t seduce a woman properly. But he! He is a suave well-dressed man with refined tastes! Women fall head over heels for him (until they realize he’s a horrible person, then they try to leave only to find they can’t). How many rapists attract the number of women he does? How many rapists are able to get a woman to say ‘yes’ without laying a hand on her? How many rapists shower their victims with expensive gifts and attention? How many rapists love their victims?

Zero! So that means he’s not a rapist, obviously! To be accused of rape is a big existential threat to him. It would mean challenging the nature of the relationship that he has created in his mind between him and Jessica. He came to think there was genuine love between them and he somehow lost her, or he failed to pick up on something and she ran away. He blames her for breaking his heart, but at the same time he comes close to admitting that maybe he did something wrong and it made her angry, so he should at least try to fix it to make her happy, as if she got fed up with him coming home late from the office one too many times. You know, something objectively minor but still considered important in her overdramatic female mind. I should note that Kilgrave does not come off as a man who thinks less of women for being women, but believes they are a bit different from men ala “Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars”. Women require different handling; they don’t always say what they want because they don’t want to admit that they want things. That ties into Jessica’s statement that she doesn’t flirt, she states what she wants. But Kilgrave demonstrates that even when a woman states in plain terms what she wants, men assume the woman is lying, in denial, means the opposite, or she can be persuaded...

It’s the discounting and downplaying of Jessica’s claims that really sell how far up his own ass Kilgrave really is.

So in short:

Psychopathy + male chauvinism + Unfettered infatuation + Persuasion virus = The Biggest Recipe for Disaster in the History of Gender Relations Ever

#this is basically just a bunch of thoughts written down with some coherency #these points have likely been touched on before but if I want to get this bastard out of my system I need to write them down #kilgrave #jessica jones #character analysis

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ofedwrds · 4 years ago

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CONOR EDWARDS + FAMILY // @gallaghertasks

MOTHER: sadhbh edwards neé grady , kate walsh

FATHER: robert edwards , tom hardy

OLDEST SON: donnacha robert edwards , max irons

SON: conor grady edwards , paul mescal

YOUNGER DAUGHTER: sinead ciara edwards , emilia jones

PET: finley , irish setter

ROBERT EDWARDS ⎯⎯ father.

robert was the older brother to henry edwards ( father to kassandra & valeria sutton ), and he was always one to feel like he needed to be the leader. robert was brilliant and calculating at all times, and even as a child, he had ambitious dreams. he wanted to work his way up the ranks in everything he did, always wanting to be in charge ( the only person being able to change his mind sometimes being sadhbh ). he had started working at the mi5 by being based in london, and his bosses had seen what a brilliant and calculating man he was, so they assigned him to some of the highest profile cases, and they often sought after him for his advice and potential solutions to the different problems they were facing. unfortunately, however, having such a high profile job was demanding, and robert was spending more time in london than back in cavan with the family.

robert’s absence had put a strain on sadhbh, especially because she had wanted to be in the field as well but was often having to stay home. and when she was away, the kids were being raised by nannies, something that didn’t sit right with sadhbh because they were they’re kids, they should be there for them. for years, sadhbh had been threatening robert with a separation if he didn’t get his stuff together at work and come home more often, and sometimes robert did show up and stay for a couple of months, but they were just infrequent.

when working, robert had stumbled across the brotherhood ( of cavan ironically enough ), and he had reached out to his younger brother. robert had thought it was a long shot, considering henry had two young girls he had to take care of, but when he had joined the brotherhood with him, the two felt unstoppable. that was until henry had passed away, leaving robert on his own. this had left robert saddened and more importantly, angry. after this was when he truly never came home, using the excuses of travelling and being stuck at work so he couldn’t board a plane and go back to ireland.

eventually, however, robert’s shady business caught up to him when all the members of the brotherhood were leaked. there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, and not even the best lawyers at his office could ( or would ) try to defend him. because of this, robert got a hefty sentence in london. he tries continuously to reach out to his family, and most of the time, sinead will write him back and he can get donnacha to pick up the phone every once in awhile, but sadhbh and conor have nothing to do with him.

SADHBH EDWARDS NEÉ GRADY ⎯⎯ mother.

sadhbh came from a long line of spies, most of them working in london and all over the world. because of this, she always knew that it would be a dream of hers to be a spy and working in the field. a powerful and headstrong woman, she never made any compromises, and that personality trait was evident in the family as well. robert liked to think he held most of the power in the family, everyone listening to him, but he never made a decision for the family that sadhbh didn’t agree with. and if he tried to, she never hesitated to voice her opinions. in recent years, the edwards’ kids have learned about their father’s shady business on the side, but it was still their mother’s stern voice yelling in irish they feared.

after finding out about her ex-husband’s business and involvement in the brotherhood, she had filed for an official divorce, transferred out of the uk and has been working in dublin at the directorate of military intelligence. it’s not as glamorous as working at mi5 was, but she gets to be closer to her daughter and work closer from home, so she’s been relatively content working there.

DONNACHA EDWARDS ⎯⎯ oldest son.

the first son born to sadhbh and robert, and it was obvious from the get go, robert had put donnacha on a pedestal. he had high expectations for his first born, and donnacha was determined to not let his father down. even if his father wasn’t around much, he was always doing things to make him proud. when his parents told him that he would be going off to spy prep school, donnacha instantly began packing his bags. and it was the same for when he went off to university.

donnacha was always too obsessed with his father’s approval to focus on his younger siblings. and when he did, it was in between school terms. he would teach conor the things he learned at school, fighting, knife throwing, cultural norms, and he would do the same for sinead when they were both old enough. ( it’s the one thing conor is grateful for from donnacha ). because he was the oldest, donnacha often acted like he knew everything, always offering advice when no one asked, and he was one of conor’s biggest critics. he never sugar coated anything about conor’s mistakes, and while sure, it helped him grow and become better, it also made conor hate donnacha.

after everything happened with his dad, it was hard to contact donnacha for a bit. he had been doing a job over in france, and for the longest time, not even sadhbh could get a hold of him. conor had thought about reaching out but decided against it. he had learned from an early age that when donnacha was brooding and miserable, it was best to leave him like that. eventually, donnacha had come around, and he sometimes comes back for holidays but is mostly just living in france working there currently.

CONOR EDWARDS ⎯⎯ second son.

the middle child born seven years after donnacha was born. for the first couple of years, conor and donnacha would get along well enough. but as the two grew older, they were drifting farther and farther apart. this was partially because of their somewhat large age gap and the other part because of their different personalities. donnacha took more after their father, and it was obvious that donnacha felt like he was the head of the children. with that and sinead being the youngest, for the longest time, conor was the poster child of the middle child syndrome. he sought out friends with anyone and everyone, wanting to include people as much as he could because he knew that feeling of being left out. even though he did just as well as both donnacha and sinead, he was often overlooked no matter what he did.

what changed his temperament was finding out about his father’s involvement in the brotherhood. he and his father had a strained relationship beforehand, but this was what sent him over the edge. up until a year ago, right after they found out, conor decided he didn’t really want to try to get his father’s approval as his career went down the drain. if anything, it was more of a reason to completely separate himself from his father.

conor still talks to his sister and mother on a daily basis usually, and donnacha and him only interact at holidays. his mother tells him about his father trying to get into contact with him, but the letters still remain unopened in his bedroom back in ireland.

SINEAD EDWARDS ⎯⎯ youngest daughter.

being the youngest of three and the only girl, sinead’s always gotten what she wanted, but in all honesty, she’s never asked for much besides time with her family. she’s honestly conor’s best friend on the planet, and if it wasn’t for her, he probably wouldn’t have a relationship with his family besides his mother. she was the one who suggested the three edwards’ kids get matching tattoos, and if it had been donnacha to suggest it, he simply would have laughed and walked away. but sinead knew that she could ask her older brothers to do anything and they’d do it in a heartbeat. sinead’s a bit softer than the rest of the edwards’ and conor supposes that’s the reason why he has to be the typical overprotective older brother. he doesn’t want anyone hurting his little sister and would probably fight for anyone for looking at her a different way.

FINLEY ⎯⎯ family pet.

in the summer where conor was sixteen, he stumbled upon finley in one of the fields where he would play rugby. covering the small puppy back home in his jacket, he had asked his mother to keep him, and sadhbh couldn’t say no to her boy’s baby blue eyes begging to keep him. she had told him yes but only if he was able to take care of him. so finley and conor became best friends quickly, and even though sinead’s the only one at home still, finley always knows when conor’s on the phone or facetime.

#* 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 / development.#* 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 / tasks.#tl;dr? basically the men in this family are dumbasses #stan finley and the edwards women #also sadhbh is said like sive i'm sorry #death mention tw #?? idk its very brief tho !#dont ask me about the math #just dont

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sadienita · 5 years ago

Text

My Friends as an Idol Group

So instead of writing real stuff I... did this. This is dumb and I’m gonna tag you all but like if this is boring don’t worry you don’t have to read it. I was bored at work and I started thinking about this and then it got really carried away. So anyway, this is 11 of my friends online here and what they would be like as an idol group I promise I am writing things I really am.

I’m just gonna put everything under the cut cuz this got way too long.

@shaylee-summerss-stuff

The oldest

Lead Dancer

Vocalist

Big sister of the group

Takes care of everyone

And they never stop teasing her

She can't catch a break

The curse of being the oldest

Also known for being cute

Fake maknae

Always has to do aegyo on variety shows and the rest of the group swoons

Even if it’s a little embarrassing

It’s absolutely precious

Has this quiet intellectual side that the fans don't always see

But when they do they really appreciate it

Very thoughtful

Very smart

Also so supportive

A lot of the members come to her when they need to talk

Everyone appreciates her so much

@cheesekimpup

Lead Vocalist

One of the group’s composers

As time goes on she has more and more composition and songwriting credits and her songs are b o p s

Grandpa of the group

I'm only half kidding

Cares about the rest of the members to death

Wants to take care of them

Also wants to sleep

Pls let her sleep

Definielty tells them the same story five times

Has said “back in my day” to the younger members

Makes stuff for the others

Gives them cute gifts

She made each of them a playlist and they all love their respective playlists

Has late night life chats with the members

So cuddly with them

A ray of sunshine

She cheers on everything that the members do and is always so happy for them

A pure cinnamon roll

@byeolbitsky

Lead rapper

Dancer

The wild child

So so chaotic

Literally so much fun on variety shows

A chaotic queen

Always so much fun to be around

Also talkative

She has so much to say and will speak her mind

Much to the company's chagrin

Doesn’t get embarrassed easily so is the most fun for challenges

She loves the others

But she will sell them all out for tasty snacks

Good food is a good motivator and hey it makes for a funnier show so it’s a win-win

Has a quiet side fans don't get to see much

But she is super caring

Her members are like family and she wants to take care of them

Will be blunt with them but always tries to be helpful

And they appreciate that she won’t sugar coat stuff too much

And will tell them what needs to be said

@gamerwoo

Lead vocalist

Sub-rapper

Songwriter

Always worried her songs won’t be any good

They are always fantastic

Lowkey queen of duality

Like when she's on stage her aura alone could kill you

And her gaze during photo shoots

She looks so intimidating when she’s intense

But she's actually the softest, shyest bean

Loves when the stylists put her in cozy sweaters

Just loves being cozy

Gets flustered easily

A lot of fun to watch in variety shows because she gets flustered and the others tease her

They make her do aegyo a lot and she dies a little on the inside every time

But everyone else loves it soooo

Can’t catch a break part 2

The others will tease and prank her just for the fun of it

She would stay made but she loves them

She really does have the biggest heart

@minghaoss

Main Rapper

Dancer

Songwriter

So sophisticated

And so intelligent

But also not afraid to speak her mind

Doesn’t let hateful comments get to her

Tells the fans to focus on being the best versions of themselves

And to be kind and open minded with each other

Man you really would be the Minghao of the group

Was the first to break out of the image the company told her to have

Knows what she’s interested in and cares about

And wants to express that

Even if it doesn’t fit her “image”

The fans love that they get to know who she really is

A little sassy

But also so loving

Will roast a member

And then immediately compliment them

So touched when the members or fans do stuff for her

She’s really soft from all the love she gets you guys

@thetypingpup

Leader

Main Dancer

Vocalist

Sub-rapper

Creates a large amount of the group’s choreo as well as participating in song writing

Killer stage presence

Very talented, hard working, and smart

Only her members truly understand how much she really does for the group

Not afraid to argue with the company and attends all the meeting about them

Her members and their well being comes first

Very outspoken and willing to speak her mind as well

She has a lot to say and a lot of interests and loves sitting and chatting with fans about them

Works herself too hard

Deserves a break

Also tries to take care of everyone

Has one of the biggest hearts ever

@bybangmin

Main Vocalist

Dancer

Songwriter and composer

The groups power vocals right here

Shocks everyone with such a deep voice coming from such a small bean

Also her d u a l i t y

Like a master of girl crush and badass

Everyone is whipped for her

But also so cute

Can easily make everyone’s heart flutter

They have made her do aegyo

She hates it and it’s embarrassing

But it’s also so so cute

Just reminds herself it’s for the fans

Can be quiet at times

But comes out of her shell more and more over time

She’s got some sass

Doesn’t want to sass anyone too much

But will roast the other members

Also a total sweetheart though

Cares about everyone

Always there to listen if you need help

Full of love

@bootyful-seventeen

Lead Vocalist

The grandma of the group

Makes people food

Takes care of them

Wants to rest but will listen to any of them talk about what they’re excited about

Also a whole meme

The one who texts the gc with memes at 3am

Has the most memey pictures of her floating around

Wants to tell dispatch fakes facts about herself just to mess with them

Sky thinks it’s a good idea

Self proclaimed bimbo

Which she brings up every time she doesn’t understand something for a game

Or breaks anything

The fans only call her that because she doesn’t it so much

But they’re so endeared to her

They love her to bits

She’s good to all of her members

Cares about them a lot and always brightens the mood

And if she can’t brighten it she’ll make it weird

Either way it always helps

@svt-mangos

Lead dancer

Has lots of choreo ideas

And slowly starts to help create group choreos more and more

And they’re bomb y’all

A mature bean even if they’re one of the youngest

Can keep a level head

And organize things well

Likes to watch the chaos

Sometimes joins in the chaos

It’s fun and when the others get up to hyjinx

How could you not join in?

Has a cool yet somfy style

But is soft

Loves the other with their whole heart

Thoughtful and creative

Lowkey good at aegyo

But gets really flustered doing it

They others keep saying how much the fans love aegyo until they give in an do it

The members will squeal and scream

The whole ordeal is worth it

Smart and excitable

Loves to share their interests

Loves to hear about other people’s interests

Basically pure sunshine

@curanonemu

Lead Rapper

Sub-vocalist

Songwriter

Gives off a really cool aura on stage

But don’t let it fool you

She’s soft on the inside

Denies it but it’s true

She’s actually precious and that’s a fact

The little shit of the group

The only reason this group doesn’t have a serious case of “maknae on top” syndrome

Loves to tease and prank the other members

Mostly Berry

A lot of the time

But is not above pranking the older members

Thinks it’s funny to tease the others

Won’t ever let them live stuff down

Will roast them

Will probably get roasted but doesn’t care it’s worth it

Very creative

Has lots of ideas about the music and the concepts

And loves getting to voice those ideas

Is thoughtful and can be level headed but can also be very excitable

Precious

@berrynx

Maknae

Lead Rapper

Dancer

Has a very cool style

Killer stage presence and tbh owns every era

Still can’t catch a break

Gets teased a lot

The others won’t let them live

They get flustered too easy

They get called cute and sweet a lot

Get babied by the whole group

Everyone loves to take care of them

The curse of having ten older siblings

Tbh everyone is actually around their finger

But they get teased too much to notice

Is made to do aegyo all the time

They’re too good at it not to make them do it

The others are lowkey protective of them

Especially the older members

They want to keep this lil bean safe

This is dumb but I need to get the thoughts out of my brain literally ignore this part if you want.

Group Name: Eclipse Fandom Name: Soleil Fandom Colours: Pantone 2627 C, Pantone 5395 C, Pantone 9101 C

Their concepts are mature, but not in the sexy sense, in the sound and overall style. Somewhat dark and mysterious. Their sound is whimsical and a little magical but dark and at times and hard hitting with meaningful lyrics.

The group is split into three subunits.

Umbra: Eros, Ellie, and Min. The more mature of the subunits. They have a dark, more badass concept, but done in a very stylized way. They tackle really difficult topics in their music and the sound is very unique and every evolving but it always retains something that sound like them

Prominence: Sammie, LJ, Rocket, and Pidge. They pull from the more whimsical but dark side of their music. Sometimes they go the direction of uplifting songs but often dip into the mystery as well. They have an overall dark style with their comebacks but it’s got an ethereal feel to it. Their music feels timeless.

Diamond Ring: Sky, Sam, Cura, and Berry. They have a very bright, fun sound. Their music is quick, upbeat, and catchy. Their songs often surround uplifting concepts and their stages are a lot of fun, with cute antics and quick lyrics that still dip into serious topics.

#i tried to put you in age order #but i dont know what year min and eros were born #so it might be off #im sorry this is so dumb #but it was also so much fun #uh i hope youre all okay with this #enjoy #or ignore lol #i just needed to create this #is this an elaborate way for me to say i stan you #yeah probably #anyways i love all of you #you brighten my life #i want the best for you all #<3 #thank you all for being my friend and being there for me #random #things i spent too long on

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dorizardthewizard · 5 years ago

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Misconception: Hal Jordan is an idiot

Okay this might be part of a series of Green Lantern posts I’ve been writing when bored, because hey you read some youtube comments and suddenly you’re an essay writer. It’s just gonna be me rambling about Hal’s character lol

So we’ve all made dumbass jokes, me included, but honestly? Hal’s not stupid, he can’t be. It takes a lot to be a test pilot, including a degree in the engineering/physics field, and most likely military service. He wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did if he wasn’t smart enough.

It might not always seem that way though, but that’s because he excels in thinking on the fly, which is so important when you’re dealing with intergalactic crises springing up every Tuesday. He’s the guy who will jump right into danger and trust that he can get himself out afterwards. We’ve seen him think his way out of tricky situations before, even if in his own crazy style like jumping out of a plane to recharge his ring from the head of a Manhunter. In some circles he’s kind of gotten the reputation of being the lame one in the Justice League, which can’t possibly be true when he has a ton of amazing feats to him like defeating Sinestro multiple times, killing Krona despite the fact that a GL ring shouldn’t be able to kill a Guardian, controlling the death entity Nekron to defeat the reality-bending First Lantern, making a ring out of his own willpower… etc.

So if he isn’t actually an idiot, where did this reputation come from? The ring chooses according to willpower and technically, not being bright shouldn’t make anyone less worthy, but this trait has kind of been blown up over the years to the point where some people are getting “dumbass energy” mixed with “actual dumbass”. Going back to the silver age, Hal definitely had a clumsy streak – we’ve all laughed at the panels like him slipping over in the shower and knocking himself out. It was pretty endearing though, watching this walking disaster still manage to save the day.

I feel like some of that was lost in later comics as he grew up, and when Johns brought him back even later, he was more like the cool, cocky pilot type (although still a disaster in other areas lol). The thing is, because of his nature of jumping into danger it sometimes seems like he really can’t think for himself, but that’s not the case. It’s just his style to go in guns blazing, shining bright and attracting all the attention away from whoever’s he’s saving and onto him. It’s true that it doesn’t always work out as well as he hopes, and that makes for some fun stories, but other times his quick instincts are lifesaving.

It wasn’t until the New 52 where this really got blown up though – while the GL comics continued mostly the same as before, other characters got rebooted so we got a whole new Justice League dynamic. A lot of people unfamiliar with GL know his New 52 version through the animated movies, and booooy…. this guy is basically Guy Gardner but less lovable, more insufferable and way less competent.

Of course this isn’t just limited to him, a lot of the Justice League members seem to be caricatures of themselves in this movie but I feel like he’s gotten it the worst. The Batman Syndrome doesn’t help either, where everyone’s dumbed down and nerfed to make him look like the biggest BAMF on the League. You have a guy who literally works with aliens everyday but of course only Batman’s tech can identify an alien device as a bomb! There’s also the ring-stealing gimmick, which is stupid because a Green Lantern is always bound to their ring through concentration – to remove it they literally have to disengage their minds from it first. I don’t know, maybe there’s a retcon or something but it’s still dumb. He even does this to John Stewart in JL Dark – that’s crossing the line :’P

Of course you could say JL War was early days and he hadn’t been a GL that long, but it doesn’t get much better in the other films and it’s no excuse for crossing into annoying asshole territory. It’s a difficult balance to strike and boy can you tell when a writer only has surface-level knowledge of his character...

Yikes. Sure he can be a cocky flirt – so was Han Solo – but he was actually likable!!

Sadly this trend of making Hal more and more of a comic relief man-child outside of comics continues, you’ve got kids watching him in DC Superhero Girls thinking that’s the definitive take on him, and we’re not getting a new GL movie any time soon to really delve into the character, whether animated or live action. Thankfully the animated series portrays him in a more positive light (although maybe they went a bit too far in flattening out his flaws, but that’s a post for another time) but that got cancelled so :/ Again I’m not well-versed in New 52 and Rebirth comics outside of GL yet but I have seen snippets of Justice League comics where it seems like he’s grown more into his old self, my favourite being his Darkseid War tie-in, which I really hope to see animated someday. Speaking of movies, the 2011 one certainly didn’t do him any favours – I actually think Reynolds did okay as Hal but when people look back on it, all they see is the Deadpool guy.

Anyway this is kind of going off on a tangent but still, it’s sad seeing so many comments joking about him being dumb and incompetent and that they should have used another lantern instead (I agree we need more of the other lanterns but not because Hal sucks), just because bad writing made him a caricature of his worst traits. When this happens to characters like Batman, tons of fans complain and come to his defence by calling out the writing, yet for Hal many just assume this is how he always is. In a world where Aquaman is actually getting some love, I really hope we can get a good adaptation for Hal soon.

TLDR;

Me: Oh Hal you dumbass

Someone: Ikr he’s such an idiot and a jerk I hate him

Me:

Me: What the fuck did you just say

#dc #green lantern #hal jordan #justice league #justice league war #dcau #dc comics #if anyone wants to add anything or whatever feel free!#always up for some gl discussion lol #my posts

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piduai · 6 years ago

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sansa and dany are two sides of the same coin, or rather, are cut from the same cloth - as not to imply that they are drastically different in a sense in which they complete each other, more like they’re each other’s foil in a much more subtler way than arya and sansa are.

they are both pre-teens that are introduced in the game as pawns who gradually gained knowledge and agency just enough to make them players. daenerys was a pawn to a whole bunch of people - to varys and illyrio for the biggest part as they both seem to harbor plans for her that i would not be surprised to learn are different at their core, and to doran martell. these three are high-ranking players, and dany was a tool for them. to viserys in a lesser extent, since he thought he was a player but has been a pawn all along, and died for it.

sansa initially wasn’t part of the game. ned going to the capital and joining the game automatically included her though, and again, unlike arya, who escaped and still managed to stay an ambivalent bystander, sansa had to partake in it. she was childish and she was naive and she immediately made herself one of cersei’s pawns, and with it subscribed to littlefinger’s agenda, who is a much bigger fish in the game than cersei herself. i wager that using sansa has been on littlefinger’s mind since day one, and seeing that he smashed the tyrell engagement plan and most probably was the one to plant the idea of marrying sansa off to tyrion in tywin’s head is foreshadowing to when he formally introduces sansa to the game and tries to feed her the illusion that, by including her, he decided to make her a player - which she doesn’t buy, but becomes one nevertheless.

anyway they both start off as clueless children, sansa aged 11 and dany aged 13. they were both born in nobility, though have drastically different fates; sansa has been pampered her entire life, living in comfort and love and safety, while daenerys spent all her life on the go. from her own words, she knew what it was like to be homeless, cold and hungry. however, they’re both idealists, but while for sansa this is a result of her soft and pandering childhood, for daenerys it’s an innate trait. they were both fed tales of high valor and lies.

viserys would tell daenerys exaggerated tales about the nobility of their deranged house, while sansa would read stories about knights and ladies. bottom point is that they both, being children, are introduced having inflicted ideals from the outside world, because they didn’t have the means to gain their own themselves (daenerys living in exile with only a delusional brother to teach her about the world, and sansa being highly sheltered). with time and with trauma sansa’s idealism weakens and she becomes more pragmatic, while dany’s idealism becomes stronger. this is where their paths, as children, divide. they mature in opposite ways, seeing that dany grows gaining her own agency and power and security, while sansa lives in perpetual abuse while being a hostage.

fast-forward to when they witness their first murder. daenerys, a child bride, sees a man being murdered at her wedding, and is genuinely horrified. sansa sees a man die during a tourney and thinks to herself how weird it is that she doesn’t care about his death at all. later on they’re both called soft, but they maintain the same attitude towards murder. none of them condone it, and neither of them are inherently cruel, and while they both pray for the death of their enemies, they’re accepting actual deaths differently.

while marching on meeren, dany sees a trail of corpses of child slaves, and upon establishing her rule, she avenges them - which we see she feels faulty about it; even if in her case murders were justified, she is still guilt-driven. sansa is devastated at ned’s death because it took her completely unawares, but for the rest she doesn’t care - joffrey, ser dontos, lysa tully, robert arryn (implied), as long as they’re murdered for her own sake and safety, she doesn’t feel guilt or grief over them.

she’s still not cruel, though. during the battle of the blackwater we have perhaps some of the most introspective sansa povs. “do you want to be loved, sansa?”, “everyone wants to be loved”.

then sansa gets forcibly married at age 12, a year younger than dany. unlike daenerys, who learnt to cope and developed stockholm syndrome towards her husband, she was utterly miserable in her marriage. eventually she fled, never thinking about her husband again, while daenerys thinks about drogo up to her last pov. however considering littlefinger’s plans for marrying sansa to harry, that would land them both with two political marriages neither of them wanted. “who would dare to love a dragon?”, dany wonders. “nobody will marry me for love”, sansa broods. they both share a fear of not being loved.

and they both want to give that love back. “if i’m ever queen, i’ll make them love me”, thinks sansa during the battle outside her walls, a girl who has NOT grown with the idea that one day she will be a queen (unlike cersei, for example), while in one of her povs daenerys thinks, “ i want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way viserys said they smiled for my father”. they both want to live in peace and prosperity, and this is where their idealistic sides show.

they both are also nothing short of dutiful. they yearn for home. “i don’t want to marry him, i want to go home”, daenerys tells her brother in her first pov. she is consumed with dreams about her house with the red door and the lemon tree under her window constantly. at the end of the day, she just wants to go somewhere where she knows she’s safe - a sentiment that sansa shares. at first she was thrilled to leave winterfell, but after everything she’s been through, she realizes that she’s the strongest within the walls of winterfell. home gives her solace, it gives her courage and a sense of safety. but alas, home is not a destiny for either of them. dany is loyal to her queenship, and always puts the needs of her people over her own desires: “it’s time to don my floppy ears”. sansa also has more tully in her than her looks alone, as she does everything required of her despite her personal wishes. they value their sense of duty over their sense of self.

they are both highly adaptable. dany had to quickly adapt to the rough dothraki lifestyle if she ever wanted to be accepted, and sansa had to adapt to the court rules of lies and conspiracies if she wanted to stay alive. they’re both quick learners who can use their head regarding their own survival. “i know that she’s strong. how not? dothraki despise weakness”, tyrion reflects about daenerys in one of his povs. but from their ability to adapt grows the sense of not belonging. daenerys never belonged anywhere she went; firstly within dothraki, then in quarth, then in meeren - she was always considered an outsider, and the house with the red door, she didn’t belong even there. sansa also doesn’t belong where she is. her position in king’s landing is forced, she thinks to herself “they made me a lannister” after being wed to tyrion, but she still didn’t belong there. and later, when she was at the eyerie, it’s brought up in the narrative: “ White towers and white snow and white statues, black shadows and black trees, the dark grey sky above. A pure world, Sansa thought. I do not belong here. Yet she stepped out all the same”.

they also both lost everyone they loved, at some point. “ If Lady was here, I would not be afraid. Lady was dead, though; Robb, Bran, Rickon, Arya, her father, her mother, even Septa Mordane. All of them are dead but me. She was alone in the world now” sansa thinks wistfully. “He’s gone, then. My father and my mother, my brothers, Ser Willem Darry, Drogo who was my sun-and-stars, his son who died inside me, and now Ser Jorah”, dany thinks upon jorah’s banishment. they are both alone in the world. the only difference is that sansa had lost lady forever - and considering that it is implied that the direwolves are literally part of the stark children, bound to them by fate - a piece of her soul with her. dany still has drogon by the end of book 5. otherwise they’re both surrendered by enemies.

i don’t watch the show and don’t care what they did to their characters in there. i’m sure they threw in more parallels and such but i don’t care about those. the only thing i’ve picked up is that they are at odds with each other, and this is what leaves me utterly baffled. they would work together fantastically, and would grow fond of each other, because they have more things in common than it should be allowed for two characters who live on opposite sides of the world.

i really wish they met in canon. i wonder how their relationship would be handled by their actual creator.

#sansa stark #daenerys targaryen #a song of ice and fire #daensa #asoiaf

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the-nysh · 5 years ago

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How would Garou react to bakugo?

GUAHAHA! Oh man, you guys are really going for the jugular now! X’D First it’s how Garou might react to Stain, now it’s pitting favs against each other?! Aaaauughgh welp! *cracks knuckles* I suppose I can take a bite at it. ;) Forewarned though, I’m speaking from the place of appreciating both characters (cause I’ve seen plenty of other posts in poor taste that end up trashing either one out of dislike + misinformation about them.) So what I’ll say is probably not gonna be that -obvious- take you might want me to cover. Because, first I’ll need to lay down some facts to clear up some common misconceptions:

Kacchan (current manga) is still a high school student (a kid), and an aspiring hero in training (not a professional one..yet). So already both of those points keep him off Garou’s radar. Kacchan, despite his ‘delinquent’ looks, is also a serious honor student a nerd who sticks as closely as he can to the rules, and is similarly a loner who, for the most part, keeps to himself. He does not go around purposely antagonizing other ‘extras’ for the lulz or caring one bit about their business (he actually tells them the opposite: stay back), unless they insist on getting in his way or catch his attention, personally offend him (or those he respects), or directly challenge his world view + perceptions on what it means to be weak and/or his goal to be the best. Which, coming from an upbringing that only praised him for his quirk + talents for greatness since he was 4 (which is extremely dehumanizing when it sidelines all other merits of his character) it’s left him with some crippling fatal flaws: gifted child syndrome, a terribly abrasive and explosive personality (matching his quirk) with a short temper, and an inferiority complex that may flare up if his self-worth is questioned or threatened. Which he’ll then implode and beat himself up for when he feels like utter shit: weak and powerless. All of this he’s slowly trying to unlearn (old habits die hard tho) and deal with during his serious hero training, while also gaining the more mature awareness to make up for his shortcomings. Because, it’s been made very clear to him that he can’t succeed as a hero if he does not. He knows this.

Kacchan’s goal is to be the best hero (just like, or in fact, even better than All Might by surpassing him) and he seriously puts his all (100% effort) into it. No matter what anyone says; he does not care what they think. So he cannot be swayed into the ‘dark side,’ and that is absolute (from Hori’s ‘word of god’). He has all the budding traits to be the perfect hero and make it work, but unfortunately his abrasive behavior, poor social tact, and anger at being underestimated + not being taken seriously so often misleads others into misjudging his intent. They think he’s more fit to be a villain and write off his potential, which actually leaves him to be quite unpopular in-universe. But to those who know him (like Deku: ‘he’s a jerk but he’s amazing’) his rough language and attitude may be an irritant and difficult to translate (also making him intimidating and often unapproachable to strangers), but because Kacchan proactively takes charge to confront and win against any problem (no matter what it takes, including if that means damaging himself, utilizing teamwork, or securing the safety of hostages/victims first before apprehending the aggressors), he actually rallies group morale and inspires others to follow him. Which is the mark of a good leader (and yes, he truly is amazing).

Now with all that said, I’m sure some traits and key words in there stick out as very familiar and similar to Garou, but also very different as well. But first, unless Kacchan gets the allowed clearance for it (again, rules) and proactively takes charge with the intent to take him down as a ‘villain’ (while calling himself a hero) and attacks him first, then otherwise Garou really doesn’t have a need to fight him (yet). But he will defend himself accordingly even if he’s attacked by a kid. And importantly, he’s not gonna judge him on who he used to be (nor would he even know or be aware of Kacchan’s past), but on who he presents himself now. If that ever happens and they do end up fighting, then Kacchan’s also the tenacious type who will not give up or concede defeat, doing everything it takes to win. Now that’s an interesting challenge! 8D Garou might even be impressed a kid has a similar amount of guts + grit as him, cause Kacchan will find a way to keep fighting even if he physically cannot stand up anymore. (Oho!!!)

As for what Garou thinks about him, Kacchan’s abrasive attitude + language (esp from someone who aims & presents himself as a hero) might really tick him off if that image contradicts Garou’s ideal of what it means to be a ‘true hero.’ But also because they’re both similar intelligent assholes + adaptive prodigies, I would…very much like to see a verbal battle of wits between them. (Just let them both go ham with the insults + hot takes and I’d totally grab popcorn for that! 8′D) Garou might assume and take some resentment from how Kacchan appears to be fighting from a position of privilege (good family status, strong quirk, popularity when in-universe he’s actually not, no impediments on his goal to become a hero, etc) because…that’s the opposite of what Garou ever believed he could have. The choice; that confidence. To full-heartedly be a hero despite what anyone else thinks or labels you. And that’s one of the biggest differences between them. Because Kacchan puts his all, with confidence, into being a hero. His best. No compromises or half-assing anything without properly following through to the end. :O (Actually this might really impress Garou too, as it consists of what he wants to see from the heroes he challenges, yet so many often disappoint him.)

But also, Kacchan’s smart, sharp, and observant too. He’d notice something’s off about this Garou guy who somehow calls himself a villain/monster. And since Kacchan efficiently attacks things at the source, he’d wonder, what the fuck is his problem?! But he’s not gonna be nice or soft about it either, heh. Oh man, now that would be fun if Kacchan could figure it out too. 8D I would like to see it!!! Cause they might actually get somewhere and realize/challenge things about the other that they haven’t yet fully grasped about themselves. (Or, worst-case scenario, a confrontation between them might turn out very messy and non-constructive if they can’t ever see where the other’s coming from. Garou’s got the compassion for it, but might also offend Kacchan too if he ‘holds back’ on him for being a kid.) So hmm! It’s a very interesting scenario to think about!

#Anonymous #replies #opm #garou #bnha #kacchan #meta #long post #guahaha! oh man this was fun X'D (though i really had to be in the mood for it)#it's been a while since i unloaded the kacchan meta~#(and lol it seems i get so many asks lately on psychoanalyzing everything about garou afkjhlgkhghghgh how did this happen)#so it's also amusing how this question hasn't come up sooner #but yeah i've recently seen some takes on the opm subreddit about -this- that i really disliked so here's MY take 8D

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choupichoups · 6 years ago

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Blue [1/2]

Prompt: soulmate au

Eliott’s world has always been black and white.

He’s not even being dramatic— he’s already seven years old, he’s too old to be dramatic.

“That’s not the green marker!” He hears the teacher hiss out, exchanging quick whispers with the poor assistant who’d come running inside the room only minutes earlier. Looking up at the commotion, Eliott stares at the assistant’s bewildered expression and immediately determines that the girl is one of the lucky ones with the syndrome.

The fancy adults call it the Soul Syndrome. Eliott likes to call it the Annoying Syndrome.

“Can I borrow your red?” One of the few students still remaining in school taps him on the shoulder and Eliott shrugs, pushing his bucket of paint tubes forward. He can’t tell which one’s red and he’s too lazy to read the labels.

You see, about forty percent of the world’s population are born with the Syndrome— the condition has them seeing in complete black and white until their one true love comes along, pokes them in the face, and suddenly the world bursts into colour. So basically Eliott has to put in the extra effort to make contact with everyone he meets just in case one of them happens to be his soulmate.

Eliott just wants to paint pretty pictures. It’s honestly very inconvenient.

And what if his soulmate doesn’t show up until he’s like, ninety years old? How is he supposed to differentiate between a broccoli and a cauliflower meanwhile, huh? It makes eating his mama’s disgusting vegetables all the more stressful than it already is.

He stands from his seat, looking out the window to check if his parents have already arrived, having to squint at the plate numbers on the parked cars because he obviously doesn’t know what colour their car is. He has to repeatedly memorize new plate numbers, especially when his dad is the weirdo with a strange obsession with exchanging cars every so often. Again, very stressful.

The after school program only runs until a certain time, because teachers apparently don’t live in their classrooms (they eat and live lives outside of torturing students with big numbers and words with too many letters) and Eliott always ends up being one of the last students left in school. His parents work for the same company very far away from where they live and Eliott understands that they try their best to come early but he gets really bored of staying in one place all the time.

No one can blame him for sneaking out of the classroom while the supervising teacher freaks out over her markers.

He takes his bucket of paint tubes and the half finished artwork with him so he can finish up without the distracting screeches from the adults. He’s peacefully walking along the quiet hallway when one of the classroom doors slams open and a small child rams right into Eliott, careless like a spooked puppy.

The impact has him losing grip of everything in his hold and Eliott falls on his bum on top of that. Honestly, can he just live one day without stress? The tubes are probably scattered all over the hallway and he can hear his bucket still clanging obnoxiously against the floor as it rolls and rolls and rolls.

Eliott huffs, opens his eyes-- and almost screams immediately after.

The wide eyed boy huddled in front of him is not in black and white.

In fact, nothing is in black and white.

Eliott doesn’t know exactly what he’s seeing, but he’s certain that this is what colour looks like.

The other boy’s eyes are swimming with tears but Eliott decides that no other colour can be as pretty as it is.

“That’s ugly,” the other boy says, sniffing into his sleeves, pretty eyes trained on Eliott’s unfinished painting.

Eliott looks down at it and, well, yes it’s a little ugly now but hey, it was really nice in black and white. He frowns, defensive over his ugly painting. “It’s called abstract.” He enunciates carefully, saying it exactly how his papa describes the other ugly paintings in their house. It’s the biggest word he knows so he’s hoping it might impress his soulmate.

His soulmate doesn’t look impressed.

“I don’t care, I don’t know what that means.”

Eliott pouts. Great, even his soulmate is stressful. The other boy looks around in wonder, eyes eventually catching and lingering on Eliott’s shoelaces. His mama’s the one who fixes his shoelaces for him, Eliott only now sees how very bright the colours on them are.

“What colour are those?” The little boy points at his shoes.

“I don’t know,” Eliott answers truthfully. “I just saw them now too.”

“Oh.”

The big double doors of the front entrance slides open and Eliott immediately recognizes his mama as one of the two adults approaching. The other lady has very long hair and eyes almost as pretty as his soulmate’s.

Eliott looks at the boy and asks frantically, “What’s your name?”

The boy blinks back at him. “Lucas.”

Eliott’s lips spread into a big, toothy smile, standing up and dusting off his hands to make sure they’re clean enough before taking Lucas’ hand to pull him off the floor as well. Now that they’re standing upright, Eliott notices how teeny tiny his soulmate actually is. He giggles in delight.

“Eliott!” His mama calls out, and Eliott gapes at the very bright colour tinting the bottom part of his mama’s hair. “What are you doing outside the classroom?”

“But mama—”

“Lucas, what’s wrong baby?” The other lady asks, kneeling down to coo at her son. Eliott looks over to see the tears back in Lucas’ eyes.

It’s official— seeing his soulmate cry is the worst thing in the world. Even worse than brussel sprouts.

“I was napping and then I woke up alone in the classroom!” Lucas blubbers out, sniffing as tears pour down his face. “I thought you forgot about me,” he finishes off, looking miserable.

Lucas’ mom reaches out but Eliott is closer so he takes it upon himself to wrap the smaller boy into his arms, copying the way his parents hug him every time he feels sad. It’s always the best feeling in the world so he wants to share it with his Lucas.

“Don’t cry, Lulu, even if they forget you, I won’t!”

“I don’t even know you,” Lucas muffles into his shoulder and goodness gracious it’s just Eliott’s luck to have a soulmate so rude. No manners, this one.

“I’m Eliott!” He pulls away to place a big kiss on Lucas’ forehead. “I’ll be here from now on, so don’t ever cry again, okay?”

Lucas just looks at him with his big, shiny eyes and slowly shuffles away, hiding behind his mother’s skirt. Eliott pouts.

His mama is laughing at him. Both of their mamas are laughing actually.

“Did you make a friend, Lucas?” Lucas’ mom asks, running a hand through her son’s hair.

“I’m not just his friend, he’s gonna marry me,” Eliott says as he walks around collecting all the paint back inside his bucket. He hears a strange sound behind him and sees the two women bent over in laughter. Adults are so weird. His eyes move down to Lucas but he can only see little hands gripping tightly onto the long haired lady’s skirt.

“Come on, Eliott, let’s go home.” His mama holds out a hand for him but Eliott frowns— he knows that voice. She doesn’t believe what he’s saying. Eliott will show them.

Peeking around the other lady’s skirt, Eliott mumbles a polite, “Excuse me,” as he goes to search for Lucas’ pretty eyes again. “I’ll give this to you,” he says, all firm and serious like his papa pretends to be during work parties.

Lucas looks down at the painting. “No, thank you.”

“What, why?”

“It’s still ugly.”

“I said it’s abstract.” Eliott stomps his foot. He hears a snort from above them but his eyes are glued on Lucas. He frowns, feeling himself tear up out of frustration— how does he convince Lucas to accept his token of love?

The painting gets taken from him so quickly that Eliott thinks he’s accidentally dropped it, but when he looks up, Lucas’s hugging it in his arms, eyebrows all scrunched up in concern.

“Don’t cry,” Lucas says. “It’s not that ugly, I guess.”

Aha. Eliott knew it. He’s going to be a world-renowned painter one day.

“Okay, Eliott, we really have to go, your dad’s waiting.” His mama takes the bucket of paint with one hand and drags Eliott away with the other.

“Wait!”

“You’ll see Lucas again on Monday.”

“Wait, I have to do something!” Eliott wiggles out of her hold and runs back to Lucas, who’s studying Eliott’s painting with his mama.

“Lucas!”

The little boy looks up, confused that Eliott’s back again. Eliott runs straight at him, knowing that his mama really wants to go home now so he’s got to hurry.

He stops in front of his soulmate, grinning big and bright, before leaning in to smack a quick kiss on his lips, just like he’s seen in those Disney movies.

Lucas promptly bursts out crying.

Eliott plays with his paintbrushes on the way home. They’re all dried now so it doesn’t stain when he runs his fingers over the bristles.

Noticing that one of them looks almost the same (not as bright, not as sparkly) as Lucas’ eyes, he bounces up in his seat to ask, “Mama, what colour is this?” He shoves the paintbrush in between the two front seats, wiggling the tinted brush around.

His papa takes a deep breath and his mama smiles. They do their weird eye contact juju where they don’t speak but somehow smile and nod at each other anyway. Adults are weird.

“That’s blue.”

“You like that colour, Eliott?” His papa asks, looking like he’s about to cry for some reason. Eliott hopes he’s not sad cause then Eliott will be sad and it just won’t be a fun Friday night for anyone.

“Yes!” He answers, giddy as he thinks about his cute soulmate. “It’s my favourite.”

“Do we have a name?” Papa whispers towards Mama.

“Lucas,” Mama responds and Eliott perks up at the mention of the name.

“I’m gonna marry him!” He declares to no one in particular, running his eyes over his paintbrush. Blue blue blue.

“When are you planning to do that?” Papa chuckles.

“On Monday.”

The chuckles turn to choking. Papa must have breathed wrong, it happens to Eliott sometimes too. “How ‘bout we slow down a bit, huh, little man?”

“But I already kissed him, we can marry now.”

“What?”

“Long story,” Mama says, rolling her eyes as she smiles. “Maybe wait a little before marrying him, hm baby?”

“Why?”

“Because he’s too young.”

“Why?”

“He’s not a big boy yet, not like you.”

“Oh, ok. I’ll just keep kissing him then!”

Papa makes a weird, squeaky noise. “Maybe wait for that too.”

“Why?”

“Remember, Eliott, too young.”

“When should I kiss him?”

There’s a short silence, with Eliott watching his parents make tight lips and wide eyes at each other, shaking their heads and nodding at odd intervals. He’d be concerned if this didn’t happen on a regular basis.

“Wait until he’s... fifteen.” Papa flounders. Mama rolls her eyes, knocking her head back into the seat while Papa shrugs helplessly.

Eliott frowns, that’s so long. But for Lucas, he’ll wait. He has manners and such.

Then maybe Lucas won’t cry next time since he’ll be a big boy like Eliott.

#skam france #elu #fictag #lol i introduce to u #elu fluff week #crawls on the ground laughing #this isn't the thing i was talking about either #that i was already planning to post #there's more #but i wanted to write kid elu #elu soulmate au

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rydertm · 5 years ago

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𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐞𝐫.

( wolfgang novogratz, cis male ) hey ! have you seen RYDER MONROE around ? HE works as a RENTALS TECHNICIAN at big bear resort, but they must be off their shift by now. well, if you do see them can you let me know ? they’re 22 years old & they’ve been working here for A FEW WEEKS. they tend to be CAREFREE & FUN-LOVING, but can also be IRRESPONSIBLE & EVASIVE. the other employees have labeled them THE PETER PAN. thanks a lot ! ( mismatched socks and old beat up converse, a mischievous dimpled smile, soft guitar strums at 3am, illegible scribbles in a worn out notebook, rowdy cheers heard overtop of loud party music ).

ya, idk man. i have no self-control & this is a long, rambley mess. soooo hERE is aylie’s older twin brother ( by five minutes ), ryder. gimme a like ig, but imma be hitting everyone up to plot anyways cuz i luv u all.

name : ryder austin monroe if u kno, u kno age : twenty-two gender : cis male sexuality : heterosexual hometown : london, england job : rentals technician ( subject to change )

born to a famous retired musician from london and a colorado native, ryder is the older twin of aylie ( by five minutes and he’ll never let her forget it ). they share an older brother, cole, making him the middle child.

middle child syndrome was very much so the case with ryder. between his siblings, he was always the troublemaker and it’s been this way since they were young. he could always be found up to no good ━ anything from hanging off the curtains to trying to ship himself off to egypt in a cardboard box.

his dad got him into music to teach him how to focus and as a means to keep him busy. ryder took to it like fish to water, and showed some promising talent in writing and playing music. he wrote his first song when he was five and although it was pretty much just nonsense about cheerios, he somehow managed to recycle some of the lyrics into a proper song years later.

as a kid, ryder was also put into different sports to channel all of his energy somewhere. football ( or soccer for the ‘muricans ) was the sport that he kept up with up until he finished school, and of course, snowboarding. he’s always been ridiculously competitive, especially with his siblings, and likes to tease aylie that he’s the superior snowboarder in the family.

he had just been accepted to berklee college in the US when his mom got into a car accident and passed away. her death really shook his family to the core, yet ryder had played it off like he was completely unaffected by it, even cracking jokes at the funeral.

that was just who ryder was. he never took anything seriously, even when he should, and life was just one big party. he always ran away at the first sign of a problem or responsibility, and that was exactly what he did after his mom’s funeral. he packed up what he could and left home that very night, only leaving his family a half-assed note on the back of the funeral program.

he spent the summer traveling on his own, working odd jobs and playing whatever gigs he could get. deferring his acceptance to berklee for a year, later turned into dropping out altogether when he decided to just focus on his music.

the whole music thing worked out for him after he put together a band while in amsterdam. they toured around different cities playing small gigs, and when he wasn’t touring, he was working with upcoming artists or traveling on his own. ryder was never in one place for long and his family never knew when he’d visit.

it was only a couple years ago that he began visiting big bear again, mostly to visit his sister and to snowboard. though he also picked up the odd job of working at the rentals shack, where he spends most of his shift messing around on his guitar.

ryder’s always been the biggest little shit around. he could be pretty rowdy and immature sometimes, but it’s all in the name of fun. very much an act before you think type and has landed himself in some hot water because of it. with absolutely zero impulse control, he’s a bit of a fighter and a lover ( will fight you, but then buy you a beer after ), but he’s got a good heart and tries to be cool with everyone.

FUN FACTS.

his music is a bit of a cross between rex orange county and lauv.

really bad with quotes. will quote ghandi even though 9.9/10 times, ghandi did not in fact say it.

obsessed with the fast and furious movies. frequently wishes he was brian o’connor. sometimes thinks he is brian o’connor. will absolutely be the first in line to watch the 24th movie and will also frequently quote the movies.

ironically enough, he’s a bad driver. like, really bad. took him nine tries to get his license. just picture cher horowitz’s driving tbh.

ryder’s instagram is private because of his ~* super famous celeb *~ dad, but he also lets just about anyone follow him so that... kind of defeats the purpose. he posts a lot of artsy ( in his opinion ) pics, but also random stuff like a zoomed in shot of grease on a pizza slice and cUtE candids, complete with quotes ( said by the wrong people ) as captions. #influencer

always down for a good prank war. famously known for being the guy that broke in and stole the jonas brothers’ wardrobe change right before they had to get back on stage.

loves a good romance or rom-com movie. can probably quote from the classics. he just quotes a lot of shit i guess?? also a big taylor swift stan. he said fuck your gender norms, bro!

WANTED CONNECTIONS. some generic wcs cuz i’m boring IDK. obvy, i’m always open to brainstorming other ideas too!

BROT3 ━ trio of your dreams bish. every bro needs his bros. his partners in crime, ride or dies, BFFLs, bro-mates, whatever you wanna call it. can either encourage or discourage ryder’s ~*~brilliant~*~ ideas, but either way, they’re always along for the ride. taken by leo takanashi & kieran rhodes

CHILDHOOD ( BEST ) FRIEND ━ grew up together and they’re basically each other’s number one since day one. probably vacationed together in big bear and that was how they met.

MOM FRIEND ━ because ryder is a dumb child and needs someone looking out for him, even if he only listens like 10% of the time. just a scary mama bear / boss bitch who he is maybe a lil scared of. taken by divine burakgazi

CONFIDANT ━ not saying ryder talks about his ~* feelings *~ often, but the odd chance that he does, it’s probably with y/m. they could just lend an ear, or be someone he turns to for advice too. taken by callie macdermot

GOOD INFLUENCE ━ the angel on ryder’s shoulder basically. the voice of reason who will talk him out of getting into dumb shenanigans where he’ll a) hurt himself, b) get into trouble, or c) all of the above.

BAD INFLUENCE ━ and ofc, the devil on ryder’s shoulder. the person who encourages all of his bad ideas. probably even contributes a fair share of them. taken by callie macdermot

( EX ) FLING / FWB / HOOK-UP ━ someone ( or multiple someones ) ryder often hooked up with whenever he’s in big bear. maybe he genuinely liked her ( and she liked him back? ), but he’s just too emotionally immature and flighty to be a good boyfriend.

EX-GF ━ dated for a few months before she dumped him because he was a crappy boyfriend. it could have ended on good, bad, awkward, whatever terms. taken by ingrid kelly

SOFT SPOT ━ maybe they dated, maybe they almost dated, maybe it was on/off. whatever the case, ryder just can’t seem to shake y/m. he cares a lot for her ( possibly some strong lovey feelings were involved ) and will always be there for her no matter what. y/m could feel the same way, or just be leading him on. think peter kavinsky & gen sdlkgjdkg don’t come at me. taken by divine burakgazi

FAVOURITE ANNOYANCE ━ ryder loves to annoy y/m and get on their nerves just for the hell of it ( maybe he has a tiny crush ). will do just about anything to get a rise out of y/m and to rile them up.

ENEMIES / RIVALS ━ for whatever reason, they just never clicked and/or rubbed each other the wrong way. every time they’re in the same room together, it’s big yikes and lots of tension.

#bigbearintro #intro. ( ryder monroe. )#death tw #car accident tw

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thewaitinggamesblog · 5 years ago

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Lets talk about 365DNI

So, I will preface by saying this a rant and a semi review, mostly a rant.

Also if you haven't watched it !SPOILERS!

Also, if you’re under the age of 18, or are uncomfortable with taking about sexual things, this is your opportunity to bump off, and don’t watch the movie.

Also an extra warning because i'll be talking about lack of consent in this movie and yeah!

This is my warning.

So, Let’s Talk about the main characters. We have Laura Biel, who is the movies protagonist. She is a victim of kidnapping and the “source” of Massimo Torricelli’s, the love interest and movies antagonist, affection. Laura, at the beginning of the movie, is made to seem like she has a loveless relationship and a job she absolutely hates, and in my opinion, sets up the frame that getting kidnapped by handsome mob man is a blessing, which some might argue in her case it was.Laura is immediately put in a terrible situation, she is uprooted from her friends, and taken to a place where 1)she knows absolutely no one and has to fend for herself and 2) she’s manipulated, from before she even gets kidnapped to time she “surrenders”. She’s fed this idea that she could leave the life she has behind to be on trial basis with a man who she doesn’t know, so that he can live out his fantasy of being in a relationship with her, which she does not fall for.

The movie spends so much time trying to put Laura in a box and make her conform to these rules and lifestyle that she didn’t agree to. Often times, when she is trying to liberate herself from these rules, and shit hits the fan, she is blamed for “acting out.” Thats victim blaming, and Its not her fault, she’s been kidnapped and thrown into situations that she didn’t ask for. And while yes, it's made clear in the movie that there are worse people who could have kidnapped her, it's still not an ideal situation for her.

Despite all of the turmoil she’s put through, ill say that Laura is not a weak character, She’s not silent, she stands up to Massimo to the best of her ability, but he controls all the pieces on the board, and she has no control over anything in her life other than ability to say no to him and that doesn’t even necessarily work sometimes.

An example of Massimo's extreme power control: At one point in the movie she attempts to run away from Massimo but she cant even get out of the city that they’re in because Massimo and his family have the city on their payroll, and everyone is so scared of him, running away for her becomes futile, because it will never work. She has to become complacent to survive.

Massimo Torricelli is our main antagonist and a major asshole, and not an asshole with a soft heart for Laura, he’s just a pure asshole. Its a common theme throughout the movie. The movie makes attempts to soften Massimo’s personality by trying to make him this guy with good morals, but despite having good morals and a traumatic backstory, you cant avoid the facts the he 1) drugged and kidnapped her and 2) he treated her poorly, up until she finally gave into him.

Now if you’ve seen the movie you may or may not agree with my any statements that I have said and thats fine, but we cant avoid the fact that Massimo is a smart person, he understands how to play the long game in this situation. By allowing her to have access to the things that she asked for (only after she begged for them) he is manipulating and finding ways to gain her trust. He’s not dumb he knows what he’s doing. Its like I said earlier, he controls all the pieces on the board, he knows what to do in order to win the game and he, in my opinion, would hold out for as long as it took to make her fall in “love” with him.

Lets talk about the plot. Laura is kidnapped on her birthday while she’s on vacation with her boyfriend and friends, by Mafia Boss Massimo, who has had an obsession with her for over five years and has on a whim, after one coincidental citing, devised a plan to make her and make her fall in love with him. The plan is is that he is giving her 365 days to fall for him and if she hasn’t fell for him by her next birthday, then he will let her go. Thats the plot.

Now you might ask, why am i I reiterating this again and again and again? Why are we talking about this? Why is this important?Well, the definition of Stockholm Syndrome as defined by Merriam Webster is: the psychological tendency of a hostage to bond with, identify with, or sympathize with his or her captor.

I have a very hard time believing as an audience member that Laura, without this certain set circumstances, would fall in love with Massimo, mostly because, he’s an asshole. Not because of his profession. Massimo in addition to being an asshole also disregards and disrespects Laura’s boundaries and often engages in sexual acts with her without her consent.

I as an audience member also have a hard time in believing that Massimo actually loves Laura. Throughout the movie its clear and stated the Massimo is a man who gets what he wants, he doesn’t chase after anything or anyone, Laura being the five year infatuation has peaked his interest, and the idea of finding her and being with her has floated around in his head for too long. I as an audience member, question would he still have interest in her if she caved in and gave into him from the very start. This would turn out to be a completely different movie.

This whole movie, is forwarded by the chase of her resisting him and he having to “compromise” his sense of self and security to be with her. (FYI:it's not a true compromise if one person still controls most of the pieces on the board by the end of the movie.) Yes, Laura turned his life upside down in some ways, but he also knew the potential risk he took when decided to go forward with his plan.

In my opinion, I think Massimo might care for her, but it's in a way that a child cares for a toy, or someone might care for a gun, a very much, you cant touch that, thats my property attitude. One of the biggest examples of this is Massimo’s “Babygirl.” This was a pet-name picked for Laura by Massimo before he even got to know her as a person. Every instance we see him interacting with her “Are you lost Babygirl?” is an example of him claiming some kind of ownership over her, prelude to what he can and eventually does, take her to be his own.

In the movie, Massimo, in my opinion, makes little to no attempts to get to know her as a person, they have no genuine interaction other than one scene that isn’t overtly sexual. Everything else in the movie relies on unhealthy sexual chemistry created to tell you that Massimo's plan is “working.”

Up until the time she give into him there are so many nonconsensual acts of sex, as an audience member, it was concerning. Often these acts would come after he said he was not going to push her boundaries. (FYI: cuffing someone to a bed and making them watch another woman give you a blowjob, without consent is crossing a boundary) and that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

So, let's briefly talk about Laura’s situation. She is trapped, and she has no one to trust. Massimo's men are loyal to him and not her. She cant tell them anything for fear of one of them telling Massimo, everything that she thinks, and feels she has to keep hidden, because its not safe for her, therefore she has to make nice with her captor or else, prompting some of the compromises on Lauras part in the movie. This is why I say their relationship is not a true compromise, Laura ends up compromising so much of herself by the end of the movie and Massimo in my opinion continues to live the same life that he’s used to living. point blank.

Lets talk about the turning point in the movie. AKA, when Laura first accepts Massimo. The acceptance happens when Massimo saves her from drowning after she goes overboard on his boat when they were arguing. Now how did we get to this point? For me, its understanding how the odds were stacked up immeasurably against her throughout the movie.

Here’s a few that stuck out to me:

1) Laura still had a considerable amount of time to be left in Massimo’s presence, I believe in the movie she had only been with him for two months.

2) Massimo killed a member of another mafia family, making everyones lives more complicated, and she finally comes to the realization that despite her rebellion, Massimo isn’t letting go of her anytime soon.

3) Massimo's right hand man/ Uncle was telling Massimo to cut his losses with Laura, so where does that leave her? Now that she’s been involved with all of this (against her will), will she still be a target?

4) Laura becomes a target to hurt Massimo, literally just by being with him as later shown by Massimo's jealous ex Anna, Laura will need his protection, whether she wants or not.

5) Laura was blamed, by Massimo and others, for the repercussions of what had happened the night before, which is why they were arguing, she cant defend herself when everyone is pointing the finger at her.

6) Massimo made himself the “Savior” by both risking and saving her life twice in less than 24 hours.

You might ask how did he risk her life the first time? Well, he took her to a club with questionable people and asked her to behave by rules that she did not agree to and when she was in trouble, because she has absolutely no idea who she’s dealing with, he comes in and saves her from said questionable people that she did not want to be around in the first place.

When Massimo saves her the second time, the movie, in my opinion, makes it out for Laura to be grateful that she is alive. Massimo could have just let her drown but he didn't, he was a good human being in that instant, and I guess that plus everything else she’s been through makes accepting him easier, because he saved her life, he must really love her right?right? This my attempt at rationalizing and digesting what had happened leading up to her affections for him. To me, she goes from absolutely hating him to showing him affection overnight, and there was no romantic build up of tension that would have prompted her to have sex with him. From my perspective, the tension went away when she went overboard on the boat.

Finally, when she consents to him they have lots of sex. Like lots and thats a prelude to her getting pregnant. (you know how I knew instantly that she was getting pregnant, because not a single thought of a rubber or birth control was given throughout the entire script.) be safe. use protection people!

Anyways, towards the end of the movie, Massimo sends her off to Poland, to be safe, while he does some really sketchy mafia things to whom we can assume is either his ex, who threatened to Kill Laura or the mafia family he has drama with now. She’s supposed to wait in Poland for him to finish whatever sketchy thing he’s doing, and yes, we know its sketchy because before her flight, Laura’s henchman that has been with her for the whole movie has to leave and strictly instructs her to wait in Poland, and thats what she does. Massimo sets her up with an apartment and expenses and she’s supposed to wait for him to i guess meet up with her. While in Poland, Laura visits her friend, Olga, who we can only assume she has had no contact with over the past couple of weeks.

What makes this movie so unrealistic, in my opinion, is the lack of realistic reactions to situations which should be taken more seriously. Lauras friend is pissed for all of five seconds, and she’s confused when Laura tells her what really happened to her, and her solution to all of it was lets go out and and get make overs and go clubbing and get your mind off of everything, which yes, is helpful to some, but also….. If I showed up randomly on my friends doorstep with the same tea Laura had to spill, my friends would do alot more than go out for makeovers and go clubbing, they’d probably call the cops, or my parents, or both, regardless of Massimo’s influence.

So, they end up going out and she runs into her ex at the club, which is already questionable as to how he even knew she was there? Like did the best friend call him? Anyways he’s determined to plead his case to her and literally follows her all night long even all the way to her apartment where Massimo is waiting for her to get home. Once her ex sees Massimo, he stands down, and skip to the next important part because it’s all just sex.

So Laura tells Massimo that she loves him and the next morning he asks her to marry him. Which prompts me to ask what would he have done if she said no?? Like honestly, would he have just let her say no or would he force her to say yes?

So……there’s a fashion montage to show that they’re like happy and in love and then they’re at a wedding with her family, who I think is her cousin and Massimo meets her family and he parents are just chill with the fact that after being gone for months that she all of a sudden has a new man in her life.....I’m just going to assume that she’s been in constant contact with her parents because some of that doesn’t make sense to me. I know that she called her mother when Massimo gave her her phone back, but thats the only time in the movie that I can remember her contacting her family.

So finally, let’s talk about the ending, and im not going to spoil it because, i don’t want to. So, the ending was the ending and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Im not going to spoil the ending because if you end up watching the film or take any context clues from what I've written, you will know that they don’t end up getting married! (oops… never said why they didn’t). I will say, the ending felt very rushed. It was all happening very fast. I believe from time that he proposed to her till the ending of the movie, they packed in weeks worth of story telling in fifteen to twenty minutes, and there were plenty of gaps, that I feel like, if they were filled, they would have made the ending of the movie make more sense.

So, on a lighter not, I want to talk about a very brief similarity in another movie that could technically be considered of the same plot. That movie is Beauty and the Beast. When I was watching this movie, Beauty and the Beast, was always in the back of my head, when i finished watching 365DNI, I compared the two movies. The stories are similar in the generalized sense, both men are beast who rely on women to humanize them, but are doing it under personalized circumstances in a certain amount of time. Just like the Beast, Massimo had a deadline he had to meet, Also Belle was a prisoner, her entire experience at the castle and in the Beast company was to make her fall in love with him.

In conclusion, Id give this movie a solid 5/10, because even though I don’t agree with the basis of the story, its fiction, and in my opinion, its okay to enjoy fantasized fiction, just as long as you’re not taking your fantasy out into the real world. I know its just a movie and I probably shouldn’t have gone this hard on it, but I just had thoughts. (These are my own thoughts and opinions on the movie, I'm not a professional critic, by any means, I just wanted to talk about it. If you have opinions on the movie, or if you’ve got any advice on how to write a personal review, let's talk! cause I definitely want to do more of these!)

-justbeinghonest

#365 dni #sorry not sorry #sorry for the rant #massimo torricelli #365 days #review #personal rant #365dni

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kalluun-patangaroa · 5 years ago

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Waking up to a new morning...

The Observer, Sunday 15 September 2002

Written by Amy Raphael

After the booze, coke, crack and smack, Suede's Brett Anderson is back in the land of the living with renewed optimism and a new album

Brett Anderson grew up hanging around car parks, drinking lukewarm cans of Special Brew and taking acid. Occasionally, he caught the train from Hayward's Heath to Brighton, less than half an hour away, but still a world away. He would buy punk records and, perhaps, a Nagasaki Nightmare patch to sew on to his red ski jacket.

His mother, who died in 1989, was an aspiring artist; his father was mostly unemployed and obsessed with classical music. He wanted his son to be a classical pianist, but Brett had other ideas. Lost in suburban adolescence, he was drawn to the Smiths, to Morrissey's melancholic lyrics, his eccentric persona. He wanted to be a pop star; he would be a pop star. He had no doubt.

Anderson moved to London in the late 1980s, living in a small flat in Notting Hill. He studied architecture at the London School of Economics, but only while he got a band together. Here he met Justine Frischmann and, with old school friend Mat Osman, formed Suede in the early Nineties as an antidote to grunge and anodyne pop.

Anderson borrowed Bowie's Seventies glamour and a little of his Anthony Newley-style vocals. He looked to the Walker Brothers's extravagant, string-laden productions and appropriated Mick Jagger's sexual flamboyance for his stage show. Yet Suede were totally original, unlike anything else at the time. Dressed in secondhand suits and with casually held cigarettes as a prop, Anderson wanted to write pop songs with an edge; sleazy, druggy, urban vignettes which would sit uncomfortably in the saccharine-tinged charts.

Like his lyrics, Anderson was brash, cocky, confident. He talked of being 'a bisexual man who's never had a homosexual experience', realising it was an interesting quote, even if he knew he would probably always lose his heart to the prettiest of girls.

When I first met him, in the spring of 1993, Suede were enjoying their second year of press hysteria, of being endlessly hailed as the best new band in Britain. Fiddling with his Bryan Ferry fringe, Anderson asserted: 'I am a ridiculous fan of Suede. I do sit at home and listen to us. I do enjoy our music.'

He talked about performing 'Metal Mickey', the band's second single, on Top of the Pops. 'When I was growing up, Top of the Pops was the greatest thing, after tea on a Thursday night... brilliant! You get a ridiculous sense of history doing it. It was a milestone in my life; it somehow validated my life, which is pathetic really.'

By rights, Suede should have been not only the best band in Britain but also the biggest. Yet it did not happen that way. During the recording of the second album, the brilliant Dog Man Star, guitarist Bernard Butler walked out. It was as though Johnny Marr had left the Smiths before completing Meat Is Murder. The band could have given up, but they did not; they went on to make Coming Up, which went straight to the top of the album charts. Then, three years ago, disaster struck during the recording of Suede's fourth album, Head Music. Anderson was in trouble: the pale adolescent who had swigged Special Brew in desolate car parks was now a pop star addicted to crack.

Brett Anderson sits in a battered leather Sixties chair in the living-room of his four- storey west London home sipping a mug of black coffee. He has lived here for three or four years, moving into the street just as Peter Mandelson was moving out. The living-room is immaculate: books, CDs and records are neatly stacked on shelves, probably in alphabetical order.

Anderson's 6ft frame is as angular as ever but more toned than before, the detail of his muscles showing through a tight black T-shirt. Gone is the jumble-sale chic of the early Nineties; he now pops into Harvey Nichols.

He appears to have lost none of his self-assurance but, a decade on from his bold entrance into the world of pop, Anderson has mellowed, grown-up. By his own admission, he is still highly strung and admits he is probably as skinny as a 17-year-old at almost 35 because of nervous energy. But he no longer refuses to listen to new bands in case they are better than Suede; he praises the Streets, the Vines and the Flaming Lips.

This healthy, relaxed person who enjoys the odd mug of strong black coffee is a recent incarnation. At some point in the late Nineties, Anderson lost himself. He became part of one his songs and ended up a drug addict.

He talks about his new regime: swimming, eating well, hardly touching alcohol. No drugs. Did he give everything up at once? 'It was kind of gradual... giving up drugs is a strange thing, because you can't just do it straight away. You stop for a bit then it bleeds into your life again. It takes great willpower to stop suddenly.'

He sighs and looks into the distance. 'I got sick of it really. I felt as though I'd outgrown it. It wasn't something I kept wanting to put myself through and I was turning into an absolute tit. Incapable of having a relationship, incapable of going out and behaving like a normal human being. Constantly paranoid...'

The drug odyssey started with cocaine, but soon it was not enough. 'Cocaine is child's play. After a while, it didn't give me enough of a buzz, so I got into crack. I was a crack addict for ages, I was a smack addict for ages...'

Another deep sigh. 'It's part of my past, really. I'm not far enough away to be talking about it. It's only recently I've been able to say the word "crack".'

When Head Music was being recorded, he says he wasn't really there. He would turn up but his mind was not focused. The album went to number one but it was not up to Suede's standards; as Anderson acknowledges, it was 'flashy, bombastic; an extreme version of the band'.

He laughs, happier to talk about the good times. 'Last year, when I decided not to destroy myself any more, I kind of disappeared off to the countryside with a huge amount of books, a guitar and a typewriter... and wondered what the outcome would be.'

He spent six months alone. It was a revelation to discover that he could spend time by himself. 'I think a lot of people are shit scared of being on their own. Me too. From the age of 14 to 30, I jumped from bed to bed in fear of being alone. Being in the cottage in the middle in Surrey, I learned that if one day everything fucks up, I could actually go and live on my own. It's a total option.'

For a long time, Anderson had avoided reading books, worried that his lyric writing would be affected by other people's use of language. Last year, he decided it was time to fill his head with some new information. Although he had been told for years that his imagery was reminiscent of J.G. Ballard, he read the author for the first time in the cottage - and was flattered. He read Ian McEwan's back catalogue and challenging books such as Michel Houellebecq's Atomised.

Despite his self-imposed exile, it still took Anderson a long time to perfect Suede's fifth album, the self-consciously celebratory A New Morning. The band tried to make an 'electronic folk' album by working with producer Tony Hoffer, who had impressed with his work on Beck's Midnight Vultures. However, unable to make an understated album, they eventually called in their old friend Stephen Street, the Smiths producer.

Yet more trouble was ahead. Anderson says Suede have faced many 'big dramas' over the past decade - Frischmann left the band early on to form Elastica and soon after ended her relationship with Anderson, moving in with Britpop's golden boy, Damon Albarn; Bernard Butler walked out with little warning; the drugs took control - but still the band were not prepared for keyboard player Neil Codling's exit. He was forced to leave in the middle of recording A New Morning suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.

Anderson says he was furious when Codling left.'He couldn't help it, I know, but I did feel aggrieved. I felt let down. But more at the universe than at Neil. I tend not to show how I feel about these things in public. It's like when Bernard first left, I was devastated. I felt as though that original line-up was really special. And we will never know what might have been.'

At times, Anderson sounds as though he has had an epiphany in the past year. He smiles. 'Well, you only need to listen to A New Morning to realise that. The title is very much a metaphor. It's a very optimistic record; the first single is called "Positivity", for God's sake. It's a talismanic song for the album. It's a good pop single, but we've haven't gone for a Disney kitsch, happy, clappy, neon thing.'

He looks serious for a moment. 'For me, the album is about the sense that you can only experience real happiness if you've experienced real sadness.'

Has he had therapy? His whole body shakes with a strange, high-pitched laughter. 'No! No! But I am happier now. I feel more comfortable with myself. I feel as though I'm due some happiness. I've just started going out with someone I really like. I've made an album which is intimate and warm. I don't any more have the need to be talked about constantly, that adolescent need for constant pampering...'

A swig of the lukewarm coffee and a wry smile. 'And, best of all, I don't feel like a troubled, paranoid tit any more.'

A New Morning is released on 30 September

#suede #brett anderson #press #interview #the observer #anm #2002

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gascon-en-exil · 5 years ago

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Joining the Game Late: S2E3 “What Is Dead May Never Die”

Synopsis

The cliffhanger is sorted out in two minutes. Bran continues to dream he’s a GoPro. Renly grew out his beard and also got a beard. Loras loses a fight to a woman and pouts through some tame gay foreplay. Yara really did want to screw with - but not screw - her brother. Shae is going stir-crazy, so Tyrion sets her up to work for Sansa who’s just going crazy. Tyrion pulls off a flawless triple bluff on the biggest schemers of King’s Landing. Margaery Tyrell knows how to be a beard. It’s a pirate’s life for Theon. Yoren and Arya bond over PTSD and revenge before he comes down with a sudden case of Dead Mentor Syndrome.

Commentary

I don’t know how the book is paced - I assume it jumps around a lot less - but the showrunners have got to be playing around with the speed with which they’re developing these storylines because it sometimes feels highly unbalanced. Last episode’s cliffhanger was just about pointless, amounting to nothing but a tense scene between Jon and Mormont confirming that the Night’s Watch knows that Craster is a terrible person and another one where Sam gets sentimental with a girl whose only prior sexual contact with a man has been with her own father. After that the Night’s Watch disappear for the rest of the episode, and neither Dany nor Robb appears at all. All to make room for, among other things, some meatier content with Bran and his foreshadowing-laden dreams, and the explanation he receives from his elderly attendant about how this is essentially a post-Tolkien world where everyone thinks the magic is gone but it really isn’t if you’re sufficiently Special.

But you know I’m in a rush to get to Renly and the Tyrells. There are two of those now, with Loras’s sister Margaery married to Renly in an arrangement that she understands full well to be purely political. There are two other women of note in these scenes - Catelyn, being a Northern killjoy and accusing Renly’s knights of only playing at war, and the new and extremely masculine knight Brienne - but Margaery is so excellent as a not!Frenchwoman behaving exactly as expected that I’ll have to table the rest for later. (Apart from complaining that the Loras/Renly foreplay scene was ridiculously tame compared to every other sex scene in this show, and that it’s followed by a scene between Renly and Margaery where she spends nearly the whole thing topless - so unfair.) Brienne reinforces the point I made last time about women having to dress and act like men to escape their societal limitations; Margaery defies that same point. She’s well aware that she’s married her brother’s lover, but that their marriage is politically significant and would be solidified by the birth of a child even if that’s the only reason she can convince Renly to try getting it up for her. That she’s not unnerved or upset by any of this is just what I wanted to see in a character contrasted against naïve ingénue Sansa and ruthless but unwillingly restrained Cersei, doubly so when Loras casually implies that she has or has had other dalliances on the side. It’ll be great to see her in the King’s Landing set later on, even though I think she only gets to be Renly’s cover for this one season.

(Side note, but I can’t forget that Loras is equally on board with pushing his lover to have sex with his sister. He knows the stakes and is willing to sacrifice a night in bed to make them happen.)

Ok, moving on. House Greyjoy’s family drama is actually pretty gripping at the moment and I feel a bit bad about giving it short shrift. Theon siding his family is set up to be simultaneously a betrayal and an affirmation of who is he (or rather wants to be), and it incorporates both significant letter-burning and a sort of baptism to yet another faith opposed to that of the Seven. Cersei shows off how much she enjoys screwing around with Sansa, and the following scene with Sansa and Shae is both a commentary on class differences (I too despise having to teach servants - domestic or commercial - how to do their jobs) and a reflection of how much Sansa is coming apart from her treatment at the Lannisters’ hands. Tyrion’s big bluff reveals Pycelle to have been Cersei’s most loyal informant, and both the bluff scene itself with the repeated cuts to different characters and the reveal where Tyrion confronts Pycelle about it are solid moments. Also, even though Varys and Littlefinger were just pawns in the deception they each get a good follow-up scene with Tyrion. The one with Littlefinger opens up future plot points, but Varys offers his addendum on power to the confrontation between Cersei and Littlefinger from this season’s first episode which functions well as a thesis statement on the show overall thus far. Power is an illusion, and only comes about from what people are willing to invest power in.

Finally, Arya caps off this episode, with a tense battle scene in which the Night’s Watch recruiter Yoren goes down fighting and the Gold Cloaks continue to be dicks but get thrown off Gendry’s trail by his helmet winding up in a convenient location. Quick thinking on Arya’s part, but I’m still not very invested in her character or this plot.

#Game of Thrones #GoT

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ckatmyla · 6 years ago

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Elsa’s Girlfriend and the Bottom Line [an essay]

It is safe to say that – even nearly six years on from its release – Frozen is still a phenomenon. Despite its over-saturation and the backlash it inevitably faced because of it, Frozen is still a strong film from Disney with great characters, beautiful songs, and a lovely core theme about the power of familial love.

(its only real stumbling block in this blogger's opinion would be its case of 'twist villain syndrome' but we'll just gloss over that for this post.)

Although it is certainly true that this is a film for every age group, it continues to strike a chord the most with kids. I work in a daycare with children ages three to five (most of whom were not even born yet when Frozen was released) and it is still one of the most requested movies for me to show them. They argue over who gets to play as Elsa and Anna during dress up time, and I have even encouraged some of the young boys that it is perfectly fine to like a 'girl movie' if you like the characters so much.

Even though both sisters in the movie are integral to the plot, and I tend to speak about them as a unit, for most of the kids in my class it's all about Elsa. Literally, they don't even call the movie Frozen, they just call it 'Elsa'.

It brings back memories of that Christmas season in 2013 when I went to the Disney store and all of the Elsa dolls were gone, leaving most of the Annas still on the shelf (which made me quite sad, since I tend to relate to Anna more myself).

It's not a stretch to say that Elsa is not only the breakout character of her movie, but a huge part of its crazy popularity. Everyone knows her, knows her powers, and knows her iconic song (whether or not they like it.)

She is an icon to so many people across the world, and as such thee are certain aspects of her future in the Frozen sequel that many people would like to have addressed. Will she continue to harness her powers or perhaps learn from where they came? Will she continue to break down the walls she built up around herself to let her sister closer to her? And possibly the biggest and most controversial question: will she ever find romantic love and if so, will it be with a man or a woman?

While there is something to be said about the fact that Elsa is a strong, independent queen who don't need no significant other of any sort (and as previously stated there are other aspects of her story that need to be addressed just as much if not more so than who she's courting), there is merit in the theory and/or hope a good portion of her fans have that she just might be into girls.

While researching for this post, I read two of the children/middle grade Frozen chapter books: A Frozen Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick and A Warm Welcome by Erica David.

In Frozen Heart, we follow both Anna's and Hans' perspectives during the events of the movie, and during one of the portions from Hans' point of view we learn that Elsa has not only done what we have seen her do (close the gates of the castle to her subjects and isolate herself as much as possible) but evidently turned away any potential suitors looking to court her.

And in Warm Welcome, Elsa an co. travel to the kingdom of Eldora where they meet the queen of that land named Marisol and we see from Elsa's point of view that she finds the queen's name beautiful. Now, one could take that however they wanted, but when I showed that part to my friend she said 'Wow Elsa, how very gay of you.”

Then of course there is the queer-coded subtext of Elsa's story. Being told that she should hide her powers and conceal her true self from the world until she is finally able to accept herself in the now forever-ingrained-in-our-brains earworm.

Now the production team of the movie could have spun her story another way to make the powers more explicitly nothing more with no perceived allegory other than 'being different is okay'. BUT one exchange Elsa has with Anna after they meet up again post-Let It Go makes one wonder. She explicitly says that she left Arendelle so that she could 'be who she is without hurting anybody'. That alone colors her powers in a different light, and makes them far much more than a simple magical ability and closer to the same type of vibe one gets from the subtext of the X-Men.

So, there is definitely some evidence to support the hypothesis that Elsa could be sub-textually queer, but this blog post is centered around the big question: Should it be overtly canon?

While this blogger would be perfectly happy to continue her headcanon that Elsa is asexual (possibly aromantic) and will make it through the entirety of Frozen 2 with no love interest whatsoever, I can also see the other side of the debate.

Most would agree that a female-led animated film hardly ever has a protagonist not fall in love by the end. And when they do they are usually children and so don't need a love interest (Moana and Coraline to name a couple), but they do happen occasionally. Elsa would still be an amazing paragon of female empowerment if she were to remain single, leaving the romantic love story to that of her sister and Kristoff.

BUT what is also abundantly clear is that we have yet to see a main character in an animated film fall in love with a person of the same gender. It would be a game-changer in the worlds of animation and family entertainment, for sure. And while some would say that that type of thing is unsuitable for children to see, most of those people are perfectly fine with the plethora of heteromantic pairs so abundant in animation. (If the argument is that kids shouldn't see romantic love between anyone that would be a different thing, but I have never heard any outcry about that.)

Were Disney even to approach it, there is also the question as to whether or not Elsa is the right character to make that particular story choice. Yes, she is a prime candidate, but as she is one of the most beloved Disney characters possibly ever, there would inevitably be some backlash to her and with that to the Frozen brand (because remember, Disney is foremost all about making money).

The other option some have some up with -to create an entirely new animated film where we star a same-sex couple – has merit as well. It could potentially introduce not one but two new princesses to the Disney Princess lineup and do all of the things that the LGBTQ community and its allies want out of Elsa while giving us a brand new, possibly totally original new story.

This blogger would be completely on board for that as well, but there is also in this idea the possibility of a backlash, or even a boycott. And if the first same-sex animated feature doesn't do well at the box office or in the merch sales, there might not be another one for a long time - if ever again.

Frozen 2 on the other hand – however the quality of the film ends up being – is almost a guaranteed hit before it even comes out. It is sure to rake in both ticket and merch sales by the boatload, even if they do decide to give Elsa a love interest of any gender.

So, the concluding statement should be in favor of giving Elsa a same-sex romantic plotline, right? If they're going to actually do it, doing it with this movie would pose the least risk to the bottom line.

There is one more thing to consider, however: The story.

One of Disney's adoptive child Pixar's founding rules is that 'story is king'. That means that whatever will make the story as a whole stronger and the best it can be is what should be done for any film.

(However you feel about Pixar's latest outings, that's still one of their philosophies).

So, the real final conclusion of this post/essay is that when it comes down to it, Elsa should have the storyline that best fits the overall plot and make Frozen 2 the strongest movie it can be. They could always just throw in a girlfriend for her with no real thought other than 'they want representation'. That is what inevitably failed the attempt of ABC show Once Upon A Time when they decided to introduce a same-sex romance.

If the very first female-female romance in an animated film is going to happen with Elsa, it needs to feel natural and integral to the story. It can't feel tacked-on just for the sake of having it.

The same could be said of giving her a male love interest, or allowing her to remain single. As long as it fits the story and Elsa remains the wonderful character that so many have fallen in love with, any outcome would be fine.

I'm all for Elsa opening up her heart to new experiences like romantic love, as a fan I want that for her. I want her to stay close to her sister and become more confident in her powers, and if the story supports it, find love with whomever her heart desires.

In this blogger's opinion though, anything other than a male love interest for her would be preferable. We already have so very many of those stories told already (even in the same franchise). Elsa deserves something different, something as groundbreaking as she is.

Whatever is in store for our Queen of Arendelle, I can tell you I will have my ticket to the first screening I can find of the sequel in order to find out.

#frozen #elsa #queen elsa #disney #disney animation #lgbtq #give elsa a gf #asexual #homosexual #gay representation #give elsa a girlfriend

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traincat · 6 years ago

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Okay, I would absolutely be so interested in hearing your rules for writing Peter Parker if you would be intrested in sharing! Happy almost Hannuka!

Happy Hanukkah! A while ago I wrote up some things I keep in mind when writing 616 Peter’s voice here. I also have a post about some common physical motions for him, too. (I don’t think I’ve written the chin touch thing he does yet. I’m working my way up to it. Baby steps.) I made the post about his physical demeanor because I think in addition to dialogue, how characters conduct themselves physically says a lot about their personality, and because being able to conduct himself as physically as he does inform a lot about who Peter Parker is in 616. He loves being able to do what he can do, and it fills him with a lot of joy -- he’s very acrobatic and physical in addition to being pretty touchy-feely with the people in his life. (He’s a jock. He’s a genius jock with nerdy interests, don’t get me wrong, but he’s a jock.) I stand by what I said in the voice tip post -- some of my biggest rules for myself when writing him is to put a lot of steel behind him, to let him be a jackass when the scene calls for it (and sometimes when it doesn’t, because he can just be rude sometimes), to remember that this is a character who has been able to dodge a bullet and throw a truck for his entire adult life (on top of having a mean case of Only Male Child Syndrome) and to think about the kind of confidence you gain when you can walk through average everyday life like that. I think a lot of people back down from the machismo of the character, and that can really effect how he comes off. I also dissected the specifics of his wisecracking in that post, because -- and this is something I’m very critical of in canon at the moment -- just because a character can be very funny doesn’t mean they’re constantly cracking jokes, or that every type of joke or style of humor is something they employ, or that they joke for no reason, which I’m seeing a lot of right now in comics. Peter isn’t a character who is constantly joking because he’s got a light personality -- on the contrary, I think he has an extremely serious one a great deal of the time -- and typically he has a reason behind his humor, either because he’s trying to put someone else at ease or because he’s trying keep them off their rhythm. A lot of what now gets referred to as his quipping is actually extremely sharp-tongued. Going mean can be your best bet at nailing his battle dialogue. I also don’t like to go “youthful” with him in terms of his personality; I once summed him up as having the soul of a 80yo man aggressively trying to return a single piece of fruit and I stand by that. On the coffee meme scale, he’s “one black coffee”, not “McDonalds!” He can be stodgy. With most strong emotions -- but I think especially love, particularly romantic but also familial and platonic, and rage -- don’t skimp. He feels deeply. You can turn the dial up to eleven and then break it off, emotionally. If you like writing romance, he’s great in that respect.

This is all just stuff I picked up reading lots and lots of his comics and then picking them apart, because that’s what I like to do. He is one of those characters that, because the body of his canon is so vast, I think is hard to completely conceptualize at first, so with 616 Peter a lot of what I employ as my own personal tips is just familiarity with the character. I think some kind of reference folder, just to save little bits of characterization you like, or that strikes you as important, is really helpful, because then you can go back and pull it up whenever you need instead of trying to hunt through a hundred different issues because you sort of remember it happening in the mid-80s but you have no idea if it was in Amazing Spider-Man or Web of Spider-Man. I used to just save panels I wanted to post, but now I save anything that strikes my fancy, like any time he does the lift hug or the chin touch I pointed out in the body language post, or if I stumble upon a line of dialogue I feel is very essentially him. (And that’s why there are 6000 images and counting in my Spider-Man refs folder.) I also lean very heavily into New Yorker whenever I’m writing him, the stronger, the better -- there are characters whose location isn’t really important to their personality, and then there’s Peter, who bleeds New York. It’s a huge part of his identity and the more that comes through, the better.

#peter parker #*replies #traincat talks comics #yellowwallsbluesky

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