#that's why i primary stick with analysis because if i just start expressing what i think about one thing or another. oh boy

[tackykachowch]

I want to be mean with my opinions so bad you have no idea

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

soo hi everyone!! i'm back on my bully essay/meta/something writing!! sort of. i did this.

anyways anyone who's been on this page for some time know how from time to time i have insistently mentioned the parallels between lola and peanut, right?

welp! that was a joke but the time has finally come!! a super-pretentious essay just for the fun of it!! (and also bc i haven't been writing actually argumentative texts in like months perhaps a year, so. yikes, i really need to practice again)

word count: 2.2k WOAH. IM SORRY

i, in my corner, with my monstrous needs. — susan sontag, as consciousness is harnessed to flesh

take this quote both as a title and an anticipation of what is to come. the essay will be distributed analyzing first the dependence of each of them on johnny, to then draw comparisons. i'll make sure to steer as away from headcanons as possible, sticking closely to the source text. obviously, some things' interpretation might be ambiguous, but, you know. your usual occupation hazard.

also, a disclaimer before we start: while they are psychologically complex and there is always a mimetic intention in developing them, these are fictional characters, and, as such, their primary function is to be vessels for different themes, questions and so forth. therefore, i will prioritize meaning and themes over moral implications and similar elements.

i. peanut

for how much i can adore talking about him, the way peanut depends on johnny is very much on the nose; worn on his sleeve, even. in 11:11 minutes of voice lines, he mentions johnny 30 times.

many interpret this as the caricature of a boy crush, but i have reasons to believe it is much less cute than that.

the problem is that, really, more than trying to identify specific situations... peanut seems to rely on johnny for a significant part of what he does. when he does good at dodgeball:

Look at me, Johnny, look at me!

almost like a child calling for his parent's attention to be praised. he calls johnny's name when he's going through hardships, when he's scared or when he's sad.

more than someone he just loves, johnny is a point of reference. whenever there's something going on, whenever he does or has to do something, his first thought goes to johnny; vice versa, what johnny asks of him is his priority.

I gotta tell Johnny! No time. I gotta see Johnny now. Gotta help Johnny. What can I do next to please Johnny? I mean Lola! I mean…

(this also goes in a "negative" direction, envy being the other side of the medal to adoration. especially because, in some way, this reliance on johnny might be felt by him as emasculating, and, being johnny his model of masculinity, adding it to the napoleon complex thing, it's not hard to guess why it can be so unpleasant. we can see this manifest through some of the things he expresses in regards to lola- not as much an interest he has towards her, but the interest he wishes to have from her- which are a bit more different than it might seem at a first glance. but this is a mouseketool we'll need later. still:

Last time I saw her, Lola made eyes at me, not Johnny!

do we really need this part? heh. i'm not sure, but it's always good to point out)

(also, just because, for the purpose of this analysis, it might be useful to specify: while these sentiments are very much implied in peanut's canon quotes, we have no evidence in canon in what measure they are reciprocated by johnny. the fandom has universally agreed that johnny also views peanut as his Best Friend In The World; while in some measure, they must be at least a bit close, i think it is even safe to say, given the caricaturist nature of bully's characterizations, that johnny holds peanut in less consideration that peanut deludes himself into believing. quoting another post of mine, the kids who show some level of obsession towards their leader mention him on average ten or less times (gord mentions derby eight times, parker six times, kirby mentions ted five times). the leaders don't usually make names at all, that much is true; however, peanut mentions johnny 30 times, and, even in front of this proportion, johnny mentions peanut 0 times. just to make that clear)

overall, what undeniably shines through his voice lines is a feeling of general inadequacy, whether about his height, or his strength in front of a bigger adversary. the audios in which he tries to show off range from being disingenuous, to straight up improbable.

crossing what we have until now said, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that he really tries to make up, to fill this empty feeling of inadequacy by taking pride in his role as johnny's second in command.

while i am a big fan of bully's characteristic of having left much content out of the main game, leaving the gamers to dig it up for themselves, i do believe that scrapping some of the stuff that was prepared for peanut is a loss. we have a number of voice lines coming from chapter 3, in which it was heavily implied how important peanut's role as johnny's right hand man was.

for example, much like... all other seconds in command, really, he was to be followed and then fought in the rumble, before you could get to johnny, with the specific duty to cover his back. even his very first scene, the opening cutscene of chapter 3, i believe, is not to be underestimated. most of the other people, as far as i recall, call you when they need it in person; johnny, however, sends peanut. making him, de facto, an extension of himself, almost.

again, you choose the motivation. what is important, from a narrative point of view, is that peanut clings to johnny through these acts of service, almost making it the foundation of his personhood.

basically, he makes it so that, if he can't be of help to johnny, his whole self is fundamentally annihilated, giving himself completely to johnny.

ii. lola

with lola, reading between the lines gets a bit more difficult; first of all, because lola is much less transparent than peanut, her insincerity being a supporting beam of the whole chapter 3. secondly, whether she was done dirty by the creators or not, it is undoubted that being the perspective that of a teenage boy (namely, jimmy, but we certainly, as viewers, are brought to sympathize more with johnny than with lola) with all the prejudices it can bring with itself.

however, it doesn't mean that there isn't anything to work with- quite the contrary, actually. the issue with lola is that there is a certain amount of layers to get through before gaining a satisfying perception of her as a character. still, we're here to try our best, aren't we!

even behind the muddiness of her intentions and the manipulation she shows herself a master at, it is clear from the second we first meet her that what she does is in function of johnny.

to get through this mess with order, we'll start from an easy, measurable numeric information: lola mentions johnny in her audio files 19 times. which, we're assessed, IS a considerable amount.

we have extensively talked about the way her cheating patterns are a strategy not to succumb to the passive role of the girl in the heteronormative, patriarchal prototypical couple (there's a post here breaking down a lot of this stuff, if any of you is interested!!), so, instead of this, i want to focus on what lies beneath that behavior.

ultimately, the whole point is that lola expects and wants johnny to fight for her. whether is it because she feels taken for granted, or just because he can't perceive it if not through grandiose gestures like the rumble- your interpretation will work; she wants to see johnny fighting nail and teeth not to lose her, she wants him to show her that he wants her.

she's all about that attention, and she knows exactly what and how to do to get it. and i think this is especially clear when you compare the moments in which she knows there's no advantage she could go for; when she has understood that jimmy won't fall for her manipulation, when algie and chad leave her unsatisfied, when norton openly accuses her and antagonizes her - she loses her temper, lets go of that sweetened and/or flirtatious voice tone, abandons that specific kind of gesturing. she doesn't care anymore about obtaining something. she was actually angry, and she was actually upset that johnny had disappeared.

in some of her audios, she references johnny with some amount of fondness, as well:

Johnny and I were on the best date ever.

(there is also a voice line in which she says "He told me he likes me because of my personality. Isn't that sweet?"; due to it being a general chatter and not exclusive to one chapter, i assume it is relatively safe to assume she is quoting johnny. however, as i said at the beginning, we're trying to stay as close to canon material as possible, so, do your thing- and i'm open to arguments!!)

a considerable amount of audio files, however (which will lead us to our final point) is about her... calling for help for johnny, or stating, confidently, that he will come save her, or avenge her later.

Someone get Johnny! Johnny's gonna get you for this. Johnny is gonna kill you!

but wait... i have some sense of déjà vu...

You're gonna be sorry when Johnny finds out!

iii. two faces of the same medal

if i had to pick an effective image for a metaphor, i'd say that the thing about lola and peanut is that they are both dogs looking for someone to take their leash; we’re talking here about an exclusive relationship with someone they can rely totally on, someone we’ll call the Other (with a capital o, distinguished from just other. yes it is unnecessarily complicated i’m sorry).

for what my professor would call accidents of history, it happened that both of them found that Other in johnny.

each of them attempts at creating an exclusive relationship with the Other, one foolproof and fundamentally… perfect. perfect in the way that everything works like oiled gears, in the way that every next move is predictable, in the way that any accident will not break the created equilibrium. (even if, in the general sense of the term, lola and johnny's relationship is everything but perfect, it is in the connotation that we have established here. lola is aware that, no matter what she does, johnny will come back around. hell, the very thing that she does is aimed at keeping that balance; specifically, keeping him a bit on the edge, pushing him into a corner where he has to actively make an effort to keep her close.)

they both hide something they are ashamed of, regulating not only their actions and reactions but their very way of existing in the world, in order to keep that gear working, in order to remain in johnny's hand. lola hides that craving for a genuine and stable affection, dissimulating it with the cheating and the fatuous physical demonstrations of closeness; peanut hides his sense of inadequacy and complex of inferiority, by being the tough and reliable second in command.

basically, what they mean to achieve is a sense of security, the safety of not really being the one to lead but, at the same time, finding a purpose, other than a shield from the outside world that they are not willing to concede themselves to. like a... symbiotic relationship?? i was going to say parasitic, but, yknow. the Other does get some advantages, which are, respectively, peanut's acts of service and lola's capacity to boost johnny's pride.

now, of course, johnny is not aware of either of their play. which makes it even better, since, as we already said, both of their approach to the relationship needs some degree of insincerity.

like, i don't deny that johnny might be a good friend, or a loyal one. but he is an oblivious, prideful fuck who can't see past his own nose; he's got a tendency to make it all about himself - which of course goes perfectly with what we said about both peanut and lola making the Other their center, taking up, in a certain way, a passive role in the relationship.

this way, both of them aim at creating with johnny a relationship that is, in a way, codependant and conditional, in which the do ut des (their respective "service" ↔ johnny's guarantee of stability) creates the foundation of the very relationship.

this, of course, brings up the problem of exclusivity; on which, however, i prefer not to delve into too much, as this would bring us to the topic of their antagonism which... isn't really what i wanted to go for, at least not here. (it would risk bringing us a bit too close to my subjective interpretation and too far away from the canon, which i PROMISED i wouldn't do. however, someday i might elaborate on that??? idk , please do lmk if someone's interested around here)

i will, however, show you a diagram (it looks like a triangle- i guess it is, but it is VERY important that it is a pyramid, with a top and a larger foundation) and a quote, to wrap this up bc i think it is already WAY too long and ramble-y lmao. let me know what you think anyway, my ask box is always open <3

it almost feels like a joke to play out a part when you are not the starring role in someone else's heart you know i'd rather walk alone (i'd rather walk alone) than play a supporting role if i can't get the starring role -- starring role, marina and the diamonds

[fatalism-and-villainy]

God, yeah, this is why the "you guys CLAIM to want complex and flawed female characters but you couldn't even handle [woman OP personally feels defensive of]" genre of post rankles me so much. As if the excessive and disproportionate sexist vitriol is obviously and indisputably coming from exactly the same people who are invested in criticism of gender in media.

In general, I'm deeply, deeply frustrated by the trend of people being reactive towards any kind of critique of how women in media are written and narratively positioned. I've speculated before that I think the "it's just an excuse not to focus on them!" response to that stems from a fandom culture that is very focused on fanfic as something that is, or should be, the primary mode of interaction with a piece of media - and as such, any kind of critical analysis about the shortcomings of a particular female character's writing gets interpreted as weaseling out of writing fanfic, rather than an important and intellectually stimulating end in and of itself. And as someone who's just as much, and often more, of an analysis person than a fic person, I find the "that's just an excuse! get out a shovel and start digging!" line of argument profoundly obnoxious.

(Is some critique of female characters' writing based in misreading or flawed pattern matching that reveals its own sexist bias? Yes, of course, but that's just an inevitable consequence of the project of criticism. That fact that analysis is fallible doesn't undermine the value of analysis.)

And while yes, gendered bias does impact how we respond to certain characters... I think there's something stifling and Othering about parsing female characters through this totalizing Gender First lens, and all too often I see well-intentioned, progressive-leaning fandom falling into that trap. There's a sense I get that women characters are often not parsed as individuals, with their own personalities and narrative positioning and idiosyncrasies, but as Representation Trophies (I'm thinking of "the ladies of [canon]" type posting). I often feel there's subtle pressure in progressive fandom spaces to emit a sort of hollow positivity about female characters' mere existence - something that doesn't make room for ambivalence, strong-but-conflicted feelings, or real, deep adulation.

The bit about weakness and vulnerability has also been a particular sticking point for me recently. One of my big frustrations with how women characters are often received by fandom is a tendency to completely excise their vulnerability, their neuroses, their internal conflicts and uncertainties, and, yes, their flaws. Because those things are often what draw me to those characters, just as they do with male characters! I don't mean this in some goofy "we need to show more ~soft femininity~" way, just in the sense that if you're only showing me glossy badassery without any human qualities underneath that - strength without any indication of the internal costliness of maintaining that strength - then I'm going to be put off.

And this gets at something else that I know we're discussed over discord before, which is how this dovetails with kink. People have complained on here about the fact that male characters get unhinged posting about people wanting to put them through the ringer, while female characters get shallow exultation of their badassery, and honestly? I think that reflects the fact that a lot of people's preferred form of engagement with their favourite characters is whump and hurt/comfort scenarios. And my intuitive sense is that it is pretty taboo to express the desire to put female characters in those scenarios.

Like, can you imagine talking about wanting to inflict violence and distress on a fictional woman the way people casually do all the time in their male blorbo posting? It'd make you sound like some kind of misogynist or domestic abuser. And I find that pretty restrictive, personally, as someone who does sometimes want to see women get whumped, and who is generally lukewarm on femdom. It's telling to me that so often the prevalent, memetic express of desire towards fictional women in fandom is "I want her to step on me" and variations. There's a degree of subcultural acceptability to eroticizing weakness and vulnerability in men, because men are instinctively parsed as strong and sturdy; eroticizing weakness and vulnerability in women is verboten, because women are instinctively parsed as fragile and delicate. I think it's naïve to act as if an aversion to "weak women" as a course-corrective to gender stereotypes doesn't inform how women are written in media and interpreted/rewritten by fandom.

I'll note that my perspective here is based on my participation in slash-oriented fandoms, and I do think these dynamics vary considerably depending on which fandom you're talking about, and the gender makeup of its cast. But a lot of the critiques I've seen and that this post brings to mind for me have also been directed at those fandoms, so I think it's fair to use those as a vantage point for analysis.

actually i do think it's weird that “complex woman” gets framed as this monolithic idea where anyone who wants a complex female character is obligated to be happy with whatever they get as though people cannot and should not have tastes and preferences wrt female blorbos just as much as they do for male blorbos. 1. not all “complex” female characters are going to appeal equally to everyone who wants them 2. people deserve a variety of complications in a female character that would beget emotional investment because again not everyone is drawn to the same things 3. “complicated,” colloquially has a much tighter definition for female characters than for male characters, where a male character gets to be complicated in a range of ways (by expressing remorse or the lack thereof, weakness as well as strength, pain as well as anger as well as resignation) but female characters have to pull against the cultural weight of misogyny and therefore cannot be frail, hurting, helpless, or resigned without being called stereotypical rather than that being an actual viable characterization. and some people are going to prefer their female blorbos angry and unhinged and others want them repressed and guilty, so all of those characters are not going to appeal in the same way to all people. and maybe, again, there should be enough complex female characters to choose from that people's tastes don't have to be flattened in order to accommodate the menu. am i making any sense

[prince-of-elsinore]

Sam and Dean: psychological analysis and headcanons

In response to this anon ask from the 66 SPN Questions:

6. Do you have any psychological headcanons (or canon interpretations) of the characters?

Anon, this is probably not what you asked for. But I started writing, and kept finding more I wanted to say, until I thought--why not just say it all? And by all, I  don't actually mean all--this is by no means exhaustive. But it was a wonderful, self-indulgent opportunity to organize my thoughts on Sam and Dean's psychologies, and even find some new ideas as I was writing, and to put them out there so others can read and discuss. (Always happy to discuss any of this! Inbox is open.)

As a disclaimer, I know most of these thoughts are probably not original and may be retreads of many things fandom has been discussing for years. I'm not claiming to be breaking new ground here. Also, I sorta float backwards and forwards chronologically in my discussion--some parts pertain more to them when they're young, some to when they're older, and I don't always clarify which. Also, these are generalizations! I point out patterns I notice; that doesn't make them all hard and fast rules, because Sam and Dean are each human and complex!

Here's what you'll find below:

1. Core motivations 2. Happiness 3. Approval and secrets 4. Approval from authority figures 5. Need and attachment re: others 6. Sympathy and empathy 7. Walls—hiding vs. performing 8. Need and attachment re: each other 9. Ambitions and goals 10. Normality and monstrosity 11. Guilt and self-loathing 12. Autonomy and sacrifice 13. Personal identity 14. Concluding observation

1. Core motivations: Dean’s purpose is to protect Sam, obviously. Sam’s purpose, though a little less clear, is to save Dean. Sometimes it’s explicit, as in s3 and s9-10. But I think Sam also wants to save Dean, in general, from himself and from the life. It’s why he pushes against Dean’s obedience to their father. It’s why he tells him to get out and go to Lisa after he jumps in the Cage. At a certain point, I think Sam accepts he can’t “save” Dean without changing who he is, so he chooses to stick by him—because at least then he can make Dean happy.

2. Happiness: Dean’s happiness—or perhaps contentment is a better word—is knowing that Sam is safe and alive. Sam’s happiness is Dean being happy. In Sam’s world, things are good when Dean’s good. I think that, conversely, Dean wants Sam to be happy, and Sam wants Dean to be safe, but they both know and to an extent accept that those things are not within their control, so they focus on what they feel they can control.

3. Approval and secrets: They are each other’s north stars, guiding principles, in different ways. For Dean it’s “look out for Sammy,” for Sam it’s “what would my big brother think/do.” Dean doesn’t need Sam’s approval. Sure, he loves it when Sam admires him, but if he feels he needs to do something against Sam’s approval, he doubles down because approval from Sam is not the top priority. He’ll do what he thinks is right, especially to keep Sam safe, no matter what Sam thinks about it. Sam, on the other hand, does crave Dean’s approval and cares very much about his opinion. It doesn’t mean he won’t go against Dean (all the conflict of s1-5!), but it affects him differently. This leads to different kinds of secret-keeping: Sam goes behind Dean’s back to avoid his disapproval; Dean goes behind Sam’s back so that Sam doesn’t interfere with what he thinks needs to be done.

4. Approval from authority figures: Dean does crave approval from others—specifically, respected authority figures. The big one is obviously John. I think in a way it’s Mary, too, when she comes back. But it only applies as long as the person has his respect. Sam doesn’t crave approval from other authorities in the same way, perhaps because his primary authority figure growing up was Dean.

5. Need and attachment re: others: Sam is the only person Dean cannot live without, but he also makes outside connections of a friendly nature fairly easily. He’s the more socially outgoing brother who latches onto people like Gordon, gets friendly with Ash, and forges connections with Jo and Charlie, just to name a few (and Castiel at times—though their relationship is so inconsistent and often convenience-based I hesitate to include it in this category). Though Sam is Dean’s core need, I do think Dean thrives with other friendships. I’m not talking about found family, though I’m well aware of Dean’s tendency to call people “family” quite readily. Honestly, I think this is a manifestation of his craving for connection with others. Dean has an affectionate and playful nature, and let’s face it, Sam isn’t always super receptive to that—so naturally, Dean seeks out people who are. (I think this is also, in some cases, related to Dean’s craving for approval from others). Of course, none of those other relationships come close to the depth of his relationship with Sam, and when his relationship with Sam is at its best, I don’t think Dean really needs anything else to sustain him. But in reality, it can’t always be at its best.

Sam, on the other hand, doesn’t forge outside connections easily—but when he does, they tend to be deeper than Dean’s easy casual associations (even when Dean has real affection for someone, he tends to keep the tone of the relationship light). It’s pretty clear Sam was a loner kid, and I imagine it took him a while to find friends at Stanford, and even though he loved Jessica he still clearly kept many secrets. That’s the thing with Sam—he’s got walls. Dean’s got his own walls, but they’re different. Sam can seem emotionally open, but he protects his innermost self very carefully and rarely puts his emotions out there in a truly open way—even less than Dean does. I think this is a consistent personality trait for Sam, not one born of trauma (though perhaps exacerbated by it at times). In fact, it’s in later seasons that I see Sam finally, in rare moments, let down those walls, with Rowena and Jack. When he’s young, I think this was partially a coping mechanism he developed for hiding his desires/feelings, even from himself, because he was so unhappy with his life. It means that even though he’s an introspective guy, he’s not as self-aware as he thinks he is until he’s older and more mature. He’s very good at self-deception when he’s young, because as a thinker, he can convince himself of just about anything.

To circle back to attachment, what this means to me is that Sam, while he certainly appreciates close friendships and has a lot to offer those he cares about, doesn’t crave friends in the way that Dean does. I think he desires to be understood (this is a natural human need) but he’s much more comfortable with himself than Dean is, and is somewhat of a loner by nature. This means he’s also not (usually) going to be too affected by the status of his relationships with others. Dean is much more volatile and easily hurt by others (this is where Castiel is a great example).

6. Sympathy and empathy: On the surface, Sam appears to be the caring, sensitive brother, while Dean is brash and insensitive. This is a very incomplete picture, however. It mostly comes down to the difference between sympathy and empathy. Empathy is an involuntary response, whereas sympathy is something that a person chooses to express, though that doesn’t make it necessarily superficial—it also comes from an emotional place. Dean tends to be more empathetic, and Sam more sympathetic. Dean, despite his performative walls, is more easily affected on a visceral level by others’ emotions. He is more sensitive, more easily hurt or swayed to anger, and also more easily experiences empathy. This has nothing to do with what Dean thinks is right—it’s another involuntary emotion. He is sometimes moved to express this feeling, but he’s not generally concerned about appearing sympathetic. Sam, with his careful emotional walls, isn’t generally so viscerally affected by others, but he is kind. This is expressed as sympathy, because he cares about others’ feelings, and he wants to be good/morally right. On the one hand, it comes from an intellectual place—“it’s socially acceptable/morally right to express care for this person” (which Dean is less likely to care about)—and on the other, it is an emotional response—“I know what that feels like”—but a more regulated one than empathy, where one almost directly experiences another’s emotions.

7. Walls—hiding vs. performing: It’s interesting that both brothers have their own walls, which they construct as a form of self-preservation, but they have different levels of effectiveness in protecting themselves from outside influence. One difference might lie in what the walls were built in reaction to. Sam built his walls at a young age to separate himself from the outside world because, ironically, it was precisely what he desired, but was not allowed to have. He therefore consciously distanced himself from it, to dull the pain of not having it. The goal of those walls was to have something to hide behind, where he could remain generally unnoticed, so he could conceal his pain from outsiders and even from his family.

Dean took a little longer to build his walls—or at least to consciously do so. He already no doubt fashioned himself after his dad as a kid, and often put on a brave face—for Sam, for his father—when he was not feeling brave. He therefore became accustomed to performing at a young age, and performed many roles for both Sam’s and John’s benefit. He was unconsciously building walls with these performances, concealing his true feelings and desires. Later, I think this started to become more intentional, especially in relations with women/sex partners and especially after the Stanford split, as Dean realized how vulnerable to hurt his sensitive nature made him. It was much safer to perform all the time, and never let his real feelings show. For Dean, even more than Sam, I think he often lost sight of what those real feelings were behind the walls as he tried his best to be the performance he was putting on.

For a visual metaphor, I think of it this way: Sam is a boy at the center of a self-constructed labyrinth. He is almost always able to maintain control over how close people get (except when a few slip past his defenses, at which point he may be susceptible to manipulation). Despite all those elaborate passageways, though, there’s still Sam at the center. It’s lonely there, but he knows himself pretty well at least. Dean is a man in a mask who wants the mask to be his real face. He does everything he can to fuse himself and the mask together. They probably are fused at this point, so it would hurt to take the mask off. His memory of the face under the mask is hazy. He’s afraid, if he looks under the mask, he’ll hate what he sees. He’s lonely because no matter how close others get—and he lets them in close, can surround himself with people—none of them will ever see his true face. But he’s convinced himself it’s better this way, because if anyone saw his face, they’d hate it.

8. Need and attachment re: each other: Clearly, both brothers need each other. Sam’s need for Dean is different than Dean’s need for Sam, though. The way I see it, Dean’s need is one that requires reassurance. Perhaps it traces back to the concern about Sam instilled into him at a young age. I think it was strongly exacerbated by the Stanford split, when Dean realized his and Sam’s desires didn’t align. In Dean’s mind, Sam left once and can do it again—he’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sam, on the other hand, has always been able to rely on Dean as a rock, a constant in his life—to the point that, in a way, he takes it for granted when he’s younger. Not in a spoilt, ungrateful way, but in that way that we, as children, might take our parents for granted—they’re always going to be there, right? That’s why, on the few occasions where suddenly, Sam isn’t sure of Dean’s devotion, the rug is ripped out from under him and he’s completely adrift and distraught—seasons 4 and 8 come to mind. Sam needs to be the center of Dean’s universe. When he fears that that’s shifted, that Dean hates him or has chosen someone else over him, it turns Sam’s whole world upside down. For Dean, the fear is that Sam will leave, but it’s a constant, background worry. For Sam, the fear is that Dean will hate him, but since he can usually count on Dean to be obsessed with him, it only comes up now and again. Only Dean can truly hurt Sam, while Dean is vulnerable to hurt from others—though, as always, the deepest hurt can only come from Sam.

9. Ambitions and goals: Sam is the one with greater needs and ambitions outside the scope of their relationship. For Dean, if he’s got Sam and he’s got hunting, he’s content. His greatest accomplishments are taking care of Sam and saving people, and that’s all he needs. I see Sam as craving other sources of fulfillment, though—academic/lore study for its own sake (the pursuit of knowledge), and a leadership/mentorship role. I thought it was very fitting that Sam finds these in late seasons, with leading hunters against the BMOL, then leading the apocalypse AU hunters, then mentoring/nurturing Jack. Dean has always had (and needed) a mentor/leadership/nurturing role with Sam, but Sam also thrives when he’s able to step into that role for others.

10. Normality and monstrosity: I’m just going to link to this post rather than repeat myself.

11. Guilt and self-loathing: This is something they both struggle with and at times, are defined by, but it manifests differently. I think their Hell traumas exemplify their different brands of guilt: for Dean, it’s perpetrator’s guilt. He knows he did something terrible and feels he can never atone for his past actions. For Sam, it’s victim’s/survivor’s guilt. He may not have done anything wrong, but there’s a certain amount of self-blame, especially for perceived weakness. This is another theme for Sam; one of the main faults he sees in himself is weakness—too weak to save Dean from Hell for instance—and as a result tries to shoulder things alone (killing Lilith, Hallucifer, etc). Sam has a need to fix things, to prove to others and himself that he is capable. Dean, I think, sees his main fault as neediness, but really, it’s a deeply buried sense of innate worthlessness. He was taught from a young age that his brother’s life—not his own—was of the utmost value. He internalized that his life was only worthwhile if he could save others, and has trouble with the idea that he, himself, has value beyond what he can do for others.

12. Autonomy and sacrifice: The above leads Dean to have a very constrained sense of his own autonomy. In general, he values duty/loyalty to others over autonomy (although when it comes to cosmic beings, he’s all about free will—see this post if you want more thoughts on that, and Sam’s autonomy). Often, his desire to control others comes from a place of frustration when Dean feels they are neglecting duty/being selfish. I think partially duty towards others is really a deeply ingrained value for him, but there may also be some buried jealousy at play, in that Dean wishes he could act with more freedom, put himself first every once in a while, but doesn’t know how to. Sam tends to value autonomy over duty (this doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe in any sort of responsibility—he’s willing to sacrifice for the greater good, after all).  This means he also tends to respect others’ autonomy, though we all know he can get plenty unhinged where his brother’s safety is concerned. The theme of Sam and autonomy has been talked to death so I’ll stop there, but you can click the link above if you want more.

13. Personal identity: One of Dean’s biggest struggles is with how much of his personal identity is received rather than self-determined. He is tasked with taking care of Sam and he is trained to be a hunter; these become the foundations of his identity. He says it himself: taking care of Sam is not just what he does but who he is. Then in season 3, his own subconscious mocks him for his lack of originality, styling himself and all he loves after his father, showing that this is a source of deep insecurity. This discomfort with himself contributes to his fear of being abandoned and left alone with himself. He doesn’t know who he is without Sam—or rather, is convinced he is nothing without Sam, which is why he fights so hard to keep him by his side. It also contributes to his general desire for friends, or better, family: people who won’t abandon him.

Later in the series, I think Dean has come to embrace his genuine self more. He’s nerdy and excitable and playful—and I don’t see this is as regression, but rather a healthy embracing of what makes him happy—not tastes inherited from his father. If it seems juvenile, it’s because it’s the first time in his life he’s allowed himself to express and explore these things. I think his relationship with hunting is also healthier; it’s no longer something he does because it’s the only thing that can give him worth. He does it because he believes it’s right and genuinely wants to help people. He has a more complete sense of self, and while it’s still totally tied up in Sam, he has gained some self-worth.

[I should note that basically everything I’ve written about Dean supports the headcanon that Dean has BPD—a headcanon I accepted after I realized this. For some more great writing on Dean and BPD, see this post by @venhedish.]

Sam has always known what he wanted for himself and rejected what was given to/allowed him. Wanting what he couldn’t have, from a young age, helped him develop an individual sense of self, not defined by others. I think it’s this difference in their sense of individual identity that leads some viewers to think that Dean loves Sam more than Sam loves Dean. He doesn’t, and losing Dean is just as huge a loss and a grief for Sam as losing Sam was for Dean. Dean is central to Sam’s life, and he can’t feel complete without him; however, his identity and every desire has never revolved as entirely around Dean as Dean’s has around him, so Sam has a foundational sense of self that even losing Dean can’t completely destroy. It’s what allows him to rebuild in grief and carry on (whereas I have no doubt Jensen’s right and Dean would waste away in the back of a pool hall without Sam). Dean’s central role in Sam’s life never disappears, though, and it is, in fact, what allows Sam to carry on; an effort to honor his brother’s memory, living in a way that would make him proud. There’s continuity in that for Sam; the craving for his brother’s approval and happiness never disappears. Seeking those things is what makes Sam happy, both in their domestic years together before Dean’s death and in the years after. They are both, after all, co-dependent!

14: Concluding observation: Sam and Dean have many similar issues, desires, and insecurities: the desire for a normal life, the fear of their own monstrosity, the desire for love and friendship, their need and love for each other, their desire for approval/to be admired, resentment at their childhood, the feeling of being impure and unworthy, the desire for freedom, issues with bodily autonomy. Sometimes these are seen as the purview of one brother or the other exclusively, but that’s almost never true when you consider canon as a whole. The difference is in how these things are internalized, sublimated, reflected, and expressed for each of them. It makes sense they would struggle with so many of the same things, because their lives are deeply intertwined and they are in the same boat most of the time.

[grayyxv]

A Comprehensive Analysis of Eustass 'Captain' Kid

I've been wanting to write this for awhile now as Kid is undoubtedly one of my favourite characters in One Piece. Also, I'm majoring in Psychology so I can't help but think about why I love his character so much.

Disclaimer: As we all know, Kid doesn't have much screentime so it's quite difficult to understand his character completely. So, whatever you read will be my own intepretation of his character (based on the little amount of scenes that he has). Of course, you don't have to agree with it but it might give you a bit of a different perspective!

So, withour further ado, let's begin!

*P.s I'll try to make it flow in but it might end up really messy so I apologize for that*

Note: NOT SPOILER FREE!!!

1. Assumptions

I guess I'll begin with some of the common assumptions of his character based on posts/videos I've seen about his character. They frequently refer to Kid as 'cruel' or 'heartless'. Basically, there are many negative remarks about his character that makes him seem like a total psychopath.

Their reasoning for this would be because:

- He mentioned that he would kill anyone would mocked him

- His high bounty = He's notorious & violent

- The way he acts makes him come off as a bloodthirsty pirate

From another standpoint, I can see why people might think that way about him. The way he speaks and acts does make him look villainous. In addition, his primary role in One Piece is to be Luffy's rival. (I'll expand on this point later.) So, one might think that his morals would contrast Luffy. Whereas Luffy is the kind and benevolent pirate, Kid is the 'bad guy' who is cruel and heartless. The question is, though Kid is rival character, why does that necessarily mean that he would be a bad guy? I strongly disagree that Kid is a psychopath and that he is heartless. Firstly, the term 'psychopath' shouldn't be used so loosely. A true psychopath would have no regard for other's feelings which is not true of Kid because he cares very much for his crew. On the other hand, Doflamingo would be a good example of a psychopath. Next, even if Kid WERE a psychopath, not all psychopaths are violent. So it'd be nice if people stopped misrepresenting psychopaths.

Now, if there is one thing I learned in psychology, is that people tend to make assumptions about a person's actions as part of their personal dispositions rather than because of situation. This would be the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). What do I mean by this? Let's take a look at Kid's scenario. He mentioned killing people who mocked his dream. Killing people would make people automatically assume that Kid is 'violent'. But here is a different perspective, what if 'mocking him' had meant that they tried to start a fight with him? Provoking other people repeatedly would cause anybody to get angry. There are many other characters who acts this way as well. Sure, Luffy doesn't go as far as to kill them but I'm sure that many other characters do because they are PIRATES.

In contrast, I think of this situation as Kid standing up for himself. He believes in himself and he would beat anyone up who tells him otherwise. If you think about it, Luffy is kind of similar because he ends up fighting anyone who tries to stop him from attaining his goal.

That is pretty much all the assumptions that people make about his character. It's sad how they don't delve deeper but fret not!! I still have more to say.

2. Pre-Timeskip vs Timeskip Changes/Growth as a character

During Pre-timeskip, Kid is seen as overconfident. I actually agree with this statement quite a lot. His high bounty was a result of his reckless behaviour. He could easily triumph over anyone before the timeskip. That was when he started to become a little too full of himself. Consequently, he suffered heavy losses. His arm was taken by Shanks, his crew was utterly defeated by Kaido (curse you Apoo) and his reputation as the top supernova was instantly lost to Luffy. His true character development was in the Wano arc where we see how he starts to take a step back and re-evaluate his situation. The most obvious evidence for this was when he got captured in Udon. He was quiet (before Luffy's arrival) and deep in thought. So many things had happened to him, you could even argue that he was feeling slightly lost and helpless (not depressed) because he was utterly defeated. The motivation and drive he had in pre-timeskip was shattered- Until Luffy arrived of course. When Luffy arrived, he was battered and bruised but he was still ready to fight. Kid, who saw how Luffy still had his fighting spirit, was somehow inspired to keep on fighting. It's almost as if Luffy is Kid's drive to be stronger.

So, what does this all say about Kid?

I think that this makes his character believable as it can represent real life. There are some points in our lives where we could be the greatest but, sometimes, life can be pretty cruel too. If you get too cocky or overconfident, the world will punish you. I saw a comment that says Kid is Luffy but without the plot armour. That is very true. Kid isn't perfect. He made tons of crappy decisions and dealt which the consequences. I'd say he's as reckless as Luffy, perhaps LESS reckless than Luffy but he suffers more than Luffy does. While Luffy could bask in glory, all Kid got was the short end of the stick. I think that is the reason why I find Kid such an appealing character- because its an accurate representation of real life. Sometimes you can try as hard as someone else but you won't always get the spolight.

The other appealing aspect is his persistence. He made mistakes and bad decisions but he knows that he can't undo them and has to move on. Kid isn't as lucky as Luffy because he didn't have someone like Rayleigh to train him so, he had to put in more effort somehow. The main point is, he had to learn everything the hard way. Yet, he still strives to be the best which is very befitting of a rival character.

3. interactions & Personality

Another thing I frequently see when people Kid and Luffy is that: People say that while Kid makes enemies, Luffy makes allies which is why he has so much support from others around him. I was thinking about this a lot and I can't help but disgaree. I saw another post where they mentioned Kid's MBTI personality is INFJ which made me think even more about that statement. From here on, I will include several headcanons about his character as well.

Let me offer you a different perspective. Perhaps Kid isn't good at expressing his feelings. The way he speaks may come off as cold which makes other people dislike him because they think he is rude whereas he simply doesn't know how to communicate with others very well. Luffy is no doubt an extrovert, seeing how he is easily able to interact with others. Kid on the other hand, if he is an introvert, it could be an explaination to why he doesn't have many interactions with others. I don't see him as someone who's very 'sociable'. So he could experience some difficulty when communicating his feelings. He's shown to be closer to his crew more than anyone else. He is deeply respected by his crewmates because he is sensitive to their needs as well. He isn't the tyrant that everyone paints him to be, he earned that respect by first respecting his crewmates. Also, he would essentially DIE for any of his crewmates. This part is quite self explainatory if you've read the chapter where they revealed what happened to Kid and Killer in Wano.

I just want to add that while Killer suffered so much in Wano, imagine how much it hurt Kid to see his first mate suffer and how he couldn't do anything about it. The expression on his face is perfectly the anger he had towards Kaido, Apoo and more importantly, HIMSELF for not being strong enough. Yet, people call him heartless though he would literally die for Killer.

But anyways, Kid is an excellent listener and he cares very deeply for people he is close to. I just think he's bad at communicating. Look at the way he talks to Luffy. In Wano, you can see how Kid actually does LIKE Luffy as a rival. He just has trouble expressing himself. Anyways, this is just a headcanon but I think that he's rather sensitive to other's feelings- Especially when it comes to his crew. I really like the idea that he's an INFJ because he seems more like the 'advocate' type of character. I still think he makes a very good leader but his approach would contrast Luffy's.

4. Intelligence

I could probaly go on forever about why I love Kid but this is another thing that I see about Kid and kind of annoys me. I'm not sure why everyone seems to think he's a dumbass. Like REALLY. I think he's pretty intelligent. He even kept tabs on the whole SMILE situation and Doflamingo and planned the alliance. He IS intelligent but his recklessness just makes him seem like an idiot.

Kid isn't perfect, he is flawed just like a real human being would be. By no means is he a GOOD person but I don't think he is as 'cruel' or 'bad' as people paint him to be. He cares a lot for his crew. He is very driven by his own personal values and he wouldn't 'change' for anyone. He believes in himself and if anyone tells him otherwise, he would simply beat them up. He isn't happy go lucky like Luffy, he is much deeper than that. He would consider his options and plan- to a certain extent because he is also quite idealistic. Hence, the reason why I feel like his character is such an interesting one is because there is a lot of opportunity for him to grow and stray away from stereotypical anime character traits. His character is believable because his personality is realistic, it could reflect a real human being.

TLDR: Stop sleeping on Kid.

With that, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Anyways, that's it for now! I'll make a part 2 if I feel like I want to add something. If people like this, I'll consider making another analysis for other characters. Currently I have Law, Ace and Sabo planned in mind but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading!

[heroes-trash]

personality + powers (theory)

far as i know / have heard, there are 4 possible explanations as to why a person has the power that they have.

the first two are almost the same, really: random chance and genetic inheritance. why they’re the same? because the chance of inheriting (not to mention, expressing!) the exact same traits one of your parents had is pretty low irl as well. much higher is the chance to have something similar, but not rarely are children rather different from both of their parents.

the other two are the ones the show propagates, and while they’re not at all alike, they’re still intertwined: convenience and personality.

the convenience theory is brought up by Daphne in the scene where she, Matt and Ando debate what’ll happen if Ando receives the serum - Daphne is convinced it’ll give him something he needs, citing it’s what happened to her and claiming it also describes Matt’s situation. but the way she says it... it could also make a rather good case for a personality-based theory, and that’s also the one i see most often in fandom.

which is why under the cut, i will go through every single powered character on the show (who we know a reasonable much about) and do a quick analysis of how well each of the latter theories fits them ^^

credited-as main characters:

Peter: personality-based seems more likely, as he is a very giving/empathetic person, and he wants to be extraordinary

Claire: if her ability had activated in Meredith’s burning home, i’d have argued for convenience, but a simple cut in her palm (however deep).... nah. neither seems to apply much here in fact

Hiro: personality-based maybe, because of all his heroic dreams

Matt: Daphne claimed he’d ‘always’ worried was others thought of him, so you can kind of argue personality... but mostly i suppose convenience, in his job as well as possibly generally because of his dyslexia (although he was adamant about not using it to his advantage that way)

Mohinder: one could argue convenience if you consider the fact that some guys tried to rob him when he was still dozing after the injection, and the first thing he did was defend himself against them... but you can defend yourself with many abilities. i once read that his ability amplified him because he’d always ‘had more in him’, and while cheesy, maybe that’s true? so personality-based for him i’d wager

Nathan: his ‘high ambitions’ are basically a running gag at this point, and the comics never fail to overstate how much he’d always loved flying - hell, even the show hints at it. so personality-based for him for sure

Sylar: while we can’t be certain when exactly he activated (at the latest eclipse, or even in his early childhood?), it’s undeniable he is fascinated with complex things. personality-based again

Angela: her powers have often been convenient, but also pretty hit-and-miss; especially at the start, fatally so. and unless you make the stretch to her taking responsibility (= being farsighted) young, i don’t really see personality-based either, so neither seems to really apply

Micah: we first see him use his power to help his family, but he surely had it before - he seemed confident with it already at that point. he’s smart, and very interested in electronics; though we can’t know for sure which came first (see Sylar), personality-based is likely here too

D.L.: arguably a good example for convenience, as he (according to some deleted scenes, anyway) first manifested when he was desperate to get out of prison 

Isaac: as apparently you don’t need to be able to paint to be a precog painter (see Peter’s stick figures), i don’t see how either much applies here...

Elle: again neither looks very likely, unless you stretch personality-based to electrifying-slash-prickly (and she activated at nine so ,,,)

Monica: she’s ambitious and wants to be more successful than her family before her, and support them and herself - so is that convenience or personality, now? i’d argue convenience, because nothing in her suggests she specifically wants to copy other people

Samuel: frankly we don’t know enough of him to argue for either, but it’s definitely not convenience-based because he literally activated before he was born (much like Nathan and Malina), sooo

Ando: funnily enough, although Daphne argued so hard for convenience, i’d say it’s a personality-based case for him - he is the devoted friend, the designated sidekick in the best way. or is that convenience again after all... bit of both maybe

Niki: i’m not quite sure about convenience here honestly, as we don’t really see her first first time of using her ability (Jessica threatening her (their?) father was an early one, but the first?? no, how would she even know?) - and it’s even kinda implied in the comics that the triplets all started expressing theirs as teenagers or even younger - but the strength of an abuse survivor....... yeah i’d go with personality-based

Maya: she’s a bit whiny and occasionally bitter sure, but there’s nothing in her personality to suggest she wants to commit mass murder every time she’s upset. it’s not even convenient, really [well it was in Exodus but ,,,] so [for the timeline we wound up getting] i’d argue neither

Adam: what i couldn’t claim for Claire, absolutely applies to him - his ability literally saved his life upon first manifesting, so convenience here for sure. (although he’s pretty persevering, in a very weasle-y way...)

Tracy: again with the comics implying the triplets activated as teens / even kids!!! but discounting that.... personality-based, i guess? what with her ice-cold career-orientated attitude... sure there’s some convenience in the mix, but there are a lot more convenient ways of getting rid of a journalist than killing him, so :’D

other relevant characters, introduced in S1:

René: convenience is straight out of the window here, considering his primary ability activating got his people killed/abused, and his secondary ability activating killed those oppressors (which only on first glance sounds good) - but personality-based? i’m not sure either... he’s an unsuspecting little fellow, but that’s not quite enough... and he uses his ability to fight against ability abuse he experienced as a kid, but i’m still not sure. thoughts? i’ll tentatively say neither...

Molly: neither really fits, far as we know

Charlie: she has a strong interest in learning and we can at least assume that didn’t just start when she discovered she was good at it - so i’d say personality-based

Claude: i’d tentatively argue for convenience, as he isn’t exactly the most subtle fellow... and has been obscuring his identity even before he started working for the Company (!!), so he’s likely running from smth, for which his ability is definitely very useful

Sanjog: we absolutely don’t know enough about him to argue for either, although he does seem to embrace his ability, so maybe he wanted something like this....?? really all speculation though

Charles: he seems like an empathetic, kind man - so telepathy isn’t the biggest stretch for personality-based. it is however some stretch, so how about convenience? well; we do see him using it to stop (well...pause) racist regulations and police brutality......

Linderman: very classic case of convenience-based, as the first time he activated, he healed his dying mother

Ted: neither in my opinion - his ability isn’t even slightly convenient for him, and he is stubborn not unstable far as we at all know

Hana: possibly neither, possibly a bit of both, as she is a descendant of fighters and a spy herself - but then that’s too wide a field, a lot of abilities could help with that... i say neither

Eden: convenience, as she first used it to escape her oppressive home

Paulette: we don’t really know enough about her to argue for either

Meredith: neither seems quite likely - her ability hasn’t exactly brought her much luck, and she has a strong character but not exactly fiery enough to quite play into that cliché, either

Kaito: very likely personality-based, as his ability plays right into his career ambitions (in fact pretty much was what made him so successful so fast)

Candice: something both, something in-between, maybe? she dreamed herself away, and dreamt of punishing her bullies, and she could do both with this ability

other relevant characters, introduced in later seasons:

West: he enjoys being special, but apart from that, there is no real evidence that can be used to argue for either

Alejandro: [if you even assume he has an ability, i personally have some Doubts] probably personality-based, as he is Maya’s other half one way or another

Bob: his ability is objectively convenient, but i’m still not sure an argument can be made for either, as too little (= nothing) is known about his childhood, and neither about his character except ambitious/controlling and kind of a loser when it comes to relationships (divorced and often the fifth (or seventh) wheel when younger)

Maury: another case of too little information for either - he seems to submit to strength/authority rather easily, and only ever committed petty crime, so one can’t argue for criminal mastermind either

Doyle: i don’t think there’s been any information on how he activated (correct me if i’m wrong), and while he does use his ability to compensate for being unsuccessful in forming,, Any kinds of relationships, i still wouldn’t say it’s necessarily personality-based (and something this broad definitely doesn’t qualify as convenience)

Alice: her ability isn’t exactly what you’d call convenient :’D and personality-based would probably be something more fairytale-esque for her, so that’s out as well

Alex: he’s a swimmer, so a bit in-between i suppose (we once more don’t know enough to argue semantics)

Samson: we definitely don’t know enough about him or what he was like before activating (is this ‘putting animals/people to sleep’ thing even part of his primary ability, or does is that just his preferred hunting tool like telekinesis is for his son?)

Luke: we don’t know how he first activated, but maybe personality-based works if you stretch it to ‘destructive teen’...?

'Baron Samedi’: both seem plausible if he’s always dreamed of ‘making it big’ (in his way), which i think we can safely assume, but once more we don’t know nearly enough about his childhood, and technically there’s a lot of ability that are good for demonstrating strenght... maybe he first activated in a firefight (with the Tonton Macoute?).........?? but that’s pure speculation

Arthur: he has always been ruthless and controlling, and never for a minute believed that people with abilities should stick together by default - being able to take them away from others to strengthen himself fully plays into his personality imo

Ishi: apart from apparently being a nurturing, sweet mother, we know little of her... i’d tentatively argue for personality-based, but who knows how she activated?? too little information, again

Daphne: convenience for sure, there’s a reasons she made a case for that

Knox: general question - is ‘circumstances X grew up in’ still convenience or personality already?

Jesse: same as Knox pretty much, we can’t know

Flint: i’d carefully say unstable temperament -> personality

Scott: again a bit of a what-came-first question: he wanted to be ‘’better’’, but did he always want that or did that only come from past failures and the resulting fear for the future? we don’t know because we barely know him

James Martin: i’ll stick my neck out for personality-based, that he’d longed to be somebody else, somebody significant for a while even before activating (i mean - why else impersonate others instead of just improving himself?)

Emma: mostly convenience-based, but as she has a general affinity for music and soft things... in-between, maybe?

Edgar: IF he was indeed the commitment-averse guy Lydia described, i’d say personality-based, but i’m honestly torn about that and don’t have any other significant things, so i won’t speak a final verdict

Rebecca: convenience for sure, for hiding and revenge

Lydia: assuming here she indeed activated young, this is another difficult one - maybe she was always empathetic, maybe not??

Joseph: his ability sure is convenient, but it’s absolutely unclear whether other people perceived him as pleasant/trustworthy because he made them feel that way (literally) or whether that links back to his true character. he seems like a responsible guy overall, but that doesn’t get you to either side of the coin, only an in-between

now i left out some of the most obviously inherited ones / ones that at least have a heritable component. those are, in short: Peter(-Arthur), Matt(-Maury), Sylar(-Samson), (Maya-Alejandro?), Ted(-Mindy), Meredith(-Flint), and the Bowman family

and i also left out Reborn, which works a lot more with heritable abilities, but this post is really long enough already :’D

so, final summary (regarding convenience vs personality):

convenience-based: 11

personality-based: 15

both/in-between: 4

neither: 12

too little information: 14

which makes for a pretty even split that lets one argue for whatever they prefer, honestly XD still hope this was enlightening/interesting to read, and looking forward to all of your opinions!!

[beatlejuice64]

Destiel: Season 8 - A catalog of Supernatural episodes

A catalog of each episode in Supernatural that features scenes related to Destiel. This includes scenes between Dean and Castiel, scenes with other characters that address their relationship with each other, and scenes that allude to Dean’s bisexuality. 

Season 8 Summary Analysis

Cas does whatever he can to keep Dean safe while in Purgatory. Dean is determined to rescue Cas from Purgatory and blames himself for failing to do so. Dean suffers intense survivor’s guilt at losing Cas there, and he’s thrilled when Cas returns. When Cas reveals that he didn’t want to be saved and won’t go back to heaven because of the shame he feels, Dean makes space for his vulnerability. Cas grows more distant as he is brainwashed by Naomi, but Dean’s profession of love for Cas helps him resist her command to kill Dean. Dean is hurt when Cas leaves with the angel tablet, and Cas desperately tries to make things right by working with Metatron.

My interpretation: Cas and Dean grow closer during the time that Dean and Sam spend apart. Dean represses his love for Cas for most of the season, but he starts to grow more comfortable with his bisexuality over time, particularly through Charlie’s influence. When Cas disappears for a while mid-season, Dean realizes just how much he needs Cas and misses him. Dean was able to let go of his friendship with Benny, but he realizes that he can’t make the same choice with Cas. Dean finally voices his feelings for Cas in episode 17 (the line “We’re family” was originally written to be “I love you” Source: https://fandomdebunker.tumblr.com/post/64507789422/the-rumor-that-jensen-confirmed-the-i-love-you). Naomi recognizes that Castiel’s primary source of rebelliousness comes from his feelings for Dean, and she thinks that training him to kill Dean will stamp out his love for humanity and free will. When Cas breaks free of Noami’s mind control, his desperation to make things right with Dean leads him to be taken advantage of by Metatron.

8.01 We Need to Talk about Kevin

Cas leaves Dean when they first get to Purgatory to protect him from Leviathan that are hunting him.

When Benny approaches Dean with an offer to escape Purgatory, Dean insists that they find Cas first.

8.02 What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?

Dean is relieved to find Cas in Purgatory. He gives him a big hug and compliments him on the beard he has grown: “Nice peach fuzz.”

Cas is not exactly happy to see Dean, and he explains that he left Dean on purpose when they first got to Purgatory. Dean says he prayed to Cas every night after he left and is upset to find out that Cas heard him and chose not to respond. Cas explains that he’s been keeping his distance from Dean to keep the Leviathan away from him: “I have a price on my head, and I’ve been trying to stay one step ahead of them, to keep them away from you.”

Dean tries to convince Cas to go with him to escape Purgatory: “Cas, buddy, I need you.” “Let me bottom-line it for you—I’m not leaving here without you. Understand?”

Cas is concerned for Dean’s safety, but agrees to go with him and Benny.

8.05 Blood Brother

Cas repeatedly expresses concern that the doorway out of Purgatory will not work for him, and Benny complains that Castiel’s presence is going to get them killed because he draws the monsters to them. Dean remains stubborn that Cas should stay with them and that he will find a way to get Cas out.

8.07 A Little Slice of Kevin

In Purgatory, Cas appreciates Dean‘s efforts to save him: “I’m just saying, if it doesn’t work, thank you for everything.”

Dean starts seeing Cas in random places intermittently—on the side of the road, out the window. Sam tries to console Dean, who is still dwelling on losing Cas in Purgatory: “You know, I could’ve pulled him out. I just don’t understand why he didn’t try harder.” “Dean, you did everything you could.” “Yeah, but why do I feel like crap?” “Survivor’s guilt? If you let it, this is gonna keep messing with you. You gotta walk past it.”

Dean is happy but incredulous when Cas shows up for real.

When Cas comes out of the bathroom after getting cleaned up, the camera pans up on him slowly, and Dean shifts in his chair. When Cas asks, “Better?” Sam looks over to Dean, who nods awkwardly.

Cas is pained to learn that Dean blames himself for not saving him: “It’s like you just gave up. It’s like you didn’t believe we could do it. I mean you kept saying that you didn’t think it would work. Did you not trust me? I did everything I could to get you out—everything! I did not leave you.” “So you think this is your fault?”

When going to save Kevin, Dean shows concern for Castiel’s safety since his powers haven’t fully returned: “That was a bonehead move back there. You could’ve gotten yourself killed. Why didn’t you wait for me?” “Well, I didn’t get killed, and it worked.” “And if it didn’t?” “It would’ve been my problem.” “Well, that’s not that way I see it.”

Cas tries to help Dean understand that he shouldn’t feel responsible for everyone around him: “Hey, everything isn’t your responsibility. Getting me out of Purgatory wasn’t your responsibility.” “You didn’t get out, so whose fault was it?” “It’s not about fault. It’s about will. ... You remembered it the way you needed to.” “Look, I don’t need to feel like hell for failing you, okay? For failing you like I’ve failed every other godforsaken thing that I care about. I don’t need it!”

When Cas explains that he wanted to punish himself, Dean is visibly concerned: “See, it wasn’t that I was weak. I was stronger than you. I pulled away. Nothing you could have done would have saved me, because I didn’t want to be saved.” “What the hell are you talkin’ about?” “It’s where I belonged. I needed to do penance. After the things I did on earth and in heaven, I didn’t deserve to be out, and I saw that clearly when I was there. I planned to stay all along. I just didn’t know how to tell you. You can’t save everyone, my friend, though you try.”

8.08 Hunter Heroici

While talking to Cas, Dean makes a reference to Vermont, one of the few states that has legalized gay marriage (the first state to do it through legislation): “So what now? Move to Vermont, open up a charming B&B?”

Cas says he wants to become a hunter and be Sam and Dean’s “third wheel.”

Dean teases Cas when Sam outsmarts him with his superior detective skills: “Strike one, Sherlock.”

Cas learns more about humanity and social interaction from working the case with Dean and Sam.

When Cas starts rifling through Dean’s toiletry bag and says he’ll stay in their hotel room, it makes Dean uncomfortable: “Cas, you gonna book a room or what?” “No, I’ll stay here.” “Oh, okay. Yeah, we’ll have a slumber party, braid Sam’s hair. Where are you gonna sleep?” “I don’t sleep.” “Okay, well, I need my four hours, so...” “I’ll watch over you.” “That’s not gonna happen.”

Cas is annoyed when Dean asks him to lift a heavy anvil—he wants to prove that he’s worth more than just his supernatural powers.

As Cas is looking though John’s journal, Dean asks him how he’s doing and shows genuine concern for his well-being. When Cas gets defensive, Dean makes space for Castiel’s feelings of vulnerability: “How you feeling, Cas?” “I’m fine.” “Well, I just... I know that when I got puked out of Purgatory, it took me a few weeks to find my sea legs.” “I’m fine.” “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you’re back. I’m freakin’ thrilled. It’s just this whole mysterious resurrection thing, always has one mother of a downside.” “So what do you want me to do?” “Maybe take a trip upstairs.” “To heaven?” “Yeah, poke around, see if the God squad can’t tell us how you got out.” “No.” “Look, man, I hate those flyin’ ass monkeys just as much as you do, but...” “Dean! I said no!” “Talk to me.” “Dean, I... when I was bad, and I had those things, the leviathans, writhing inside me, I caused a lot of suffering on Earth, but I devastated heaven. I vaporized thousands of my own kind, and I... I can’t go back.” “‘Cause if you do, the angels will kill you.” “Because if I see what heaven’s become, what I made of it, I’m afraid I might kill myself.”

When an old woman flirts with Cas, he is visibly uncomfortable, but Dean is amused by it.

Dean compliments Cas and appreciates his help on the case: “Cas, you get to ride shotgun. You done good.”

Dean is disappointed when Cas says he won’t be sticking around with him and Sam.

8.10 Torn and Frayed

Naomi sends Cas to rescue Samandriel, and he seeks out Dean’s help. He shows up while Dean is sleeping and watches him for a while. When Dean wakes up to see Cas standing over him, he’s startled: “Damn it, Cas. How many times I gotta tell you, it’s just creepy!” (Apparently, this has happened many times before.)

Dean tries to hide his porn from Cas when he opens his laptop (note: he never tries to hide his porn from Sam). Cas reacts awkwardly, almost as if he’s curious to see it, but he looks away to protect Dean’s privacy.

With Sam gone, Dean and Cas investigate on their own. Their interactions indicate a high level of closeness: “That’s his serious face, yes.”

Cas helps bring Dean and Sam back together. He recognizes that they need each other, even if they won’t admit it: “We need everything, Dean. And I need both of you, as you say, to stow your crap. Can you do that?”

When Castiel’s eye starts bleeding from Naomi’s mind control, Dean expresses concern for his well-being. He also picks up on the fact that Cas has been acting strangely.

8.11 LARP and the Real Girl

When Dean talks about letting go of relationships, Charlie thinks he’s referring to a break-up of his own: “Trust me, this life, you can’t afford attachments. You just gotta let go.” “Are we still talking about Sam, or did you break up with someone, too?” (Dean could be referencing either Benny or Cas here.)

8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler

When Aaron flirts with Dean at a bar, Dean gets flustered and acts super awkward about it. Dean tries to make the excuse that he’s on an FBI case and cannot fraternize, but he stumbles over a chair on his way out: “I’m sorry, man. I hope I didn’t freak you out or anything.” “No! No. I’m not freaked out. It’s just a, you know, a federal thing.” (In previous years, Dean might have told the guy that he isn’t interested because he doesn’t swing that way, but in this instance, he doesn’t reject the idea outright.)

When speaking to Sam, Dean refers to the bar interaction as “a gay thing.” When he finds out that Aaron was just tailing him, he takes it in stride: “That was really good. You really had me there. That’s very smooth.”

8.16 Remember the Titans

Dean hasn’t heard from Cas in a long time, so he prays to him for help with Sam, exhibiting the implicit trust he has for Cas: “Cas, you got your ears on? Listen, you know I am not one for prayin’, ‘cause in my book, it’s the same as beggin’. But this is about Sam, so I need you to hear me. We are going into this deal blind, and I don’t know what’s ahead, or what it’s gonna bring for Sam. Now, he’s covering pretty good, but I know that he is hurting, and this one was supposed to be on me. So for all that we’ve been through, I’m asking you... you keep a lookout for my little brother, okay?”

Dean has grown accustomed to Cas always being there for him, and he’s disappointed and downhearted when Cas doesn’t respond to his prayer: “Where the hell are you, man?”

8.17 Goodbye Stranger

We find out that Naomi has been training the brainwashed Cas to kill Dean.

Naomi wants Cas to continue lying to Dean and Sam, but he tries (and fails) to convince her that they would be more helpful if they knew the truth about his search for the angel tablet.

Dean is pissed off that Cas is behaving standoffish with him and recognizes that something isn’t right: “Well, he puts the ‘ass’ in ‘Cas,’ huh?” “He’s definitely off.” “Off? He hasn’t been right since he got back from Purgatory. We still don’t know how he got out of there.” “I don’t know, Dean. If he’s so sketchy, then why were you praying to him?”

When Sam and Dean find out Cas had lied to them, Dean takes it personally, but Sam doesn’t.

Meg flirts with Cas as he treats her wounds, and he doesn’t deny that he has a fondness for her. He even admits to enjoying the kiss they shared the previous season, and he seems to express interest in further sexual experiences: “These wounds have festered.” “You really do know how to make a girl’s nethers quiver, don’t you?” “I am aware of how to do that, although it doesn’t usually involve cleaning wounds.” “Why are you so sweet on me, Clarence?” “I don’t know, and I still don’t know who Clarence is.” “Would it kill you to watch a movie, read a book?” “A movie, no. But a book? With the proper spells, yeah, it could theoretically kill me.” “You know, you’re much cuter when you’re shutting up. So which Cas are you now? Original make and model or crazy town?” “I’m just me.” “So your noodle’s back in order?” “Yeah, my noodle remembers everything. I think it’s a pretty good noodle.” “Really. You remember everything?” “If you’re referring to the pizza man, yes, I remember the pizza man. And it’s a good memory.”

When Dean refuses to give the angel tablet to Cas, Naomi orders Cas to kill him. Cas tries (and fails) to convince her to let him reason with Dean instead: “I can reason with Dean. He’s a good man.”

Cas tries to resist Naomi’s mind control: “This isn’t right.” “Do you realize what that tablet can do for us? For heaven?” “I won’t hurt Dean.” “Yes, you will. You ARE.” “What have you done to me?”

Even as Cas is attacking him, Dean still believes that Cas would not hurt him on purpose: “Cas, fight this! This is not you! Fight it!”

Cas nearly kills Dean, but he stops at the last second after Dean professes his love for him. Cas chooses Dean over heaven (again): “Cas, I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. Cas, it’s me. We’re family. We need you. I need you.”

After the tablet breaks Cas free from Naomi, he heals Dean by cupping his face in his hand (as opposed to touching his forehead as he’s done before). He is appalled at what he’s done to Dean.

Dean is pissed off when Cas leaves with the tablet.

8.18 Freaks and Geeks

Sam asks Dean if he’s okay after getting pummeled by Cas, recognizing that it was probably an emotionally traumatizing experience. Dean brushes him off with humor to avoid talking about it: “Cas dinged you up pretty good.” “And?” “And I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” “What, like my feelings?” “If that’s what you want to talk about, sure.” “K, I’ll tell you what? Why don’t I go get some, uh, herbal tea, and you can find some cowboy junkies on the dial, and you know what? We’ll just talk it out.”

8.19 Taxi Driver

Naomi tries to convince Dean that she is trustworthy and that Cas was misguided, but Dean defends Cas and chooses to believe his side of the story: “Now Castiel is in the wind with a Hydrogen bomb in his pocket, and I’m scared for all of us.” “Save it. See, I don’t trust angels, which means I don’t trust you.” “And yet you haven’t warded this place against us. I know, you’re hoping Castiel will return to you. I admire your loyalty. I only wish he felt the same way. I know you don’t wanna believe it, Dean, but we’re on the same side—shutting the gates of hell, bringing Castiel in from the cold. Take a moment. Think about what I’ve said.”

8.20 Pac-Man Fever

While talking with Dean, Charlie refers to Cas as “dreamy.” (This is most likely for Dean’s benefit since we know from previous episodes that Charlie is only romantically interested in women.)

After sharing a traumatic emotional experience together, Charlie and Dean grow closer. Charlie’s influence helps Dean accept his feelings of vulnerability, which leads him to show affection for Sam and stop coddling him out of fear of losing him. Dean develops a deep respect for Charlie, and her example of self-acceptance also leads Dean to be more accepting of his own emotions.

8.21 The Great Escapist

Cas quotes Dean in defiance against Naomi: “In the words of a good friend, ‘Bite me!’”

8.22 Clip Show

When Cas returns, he apologizes to Dean, but Dean is angry at him. Dean is still hurt that Cas didn’t trust him with the angel tablet: “Dean, I’m sorry.” “For what?” “For everything.” “Everything. Like, uh, like ignoring us?” “Yes.” “Or like bolting off with the angel tablet, then losing it ‘cause you didn’t trust me? You didn’t trust ME.” “Yes.” “Yeah. Nah, that’s not gonna cut it. Not this time. So you can take your little apology and you cram it up your ass.” “Dean, I thought I was doing the right thing.” “Yeah, you always do.”

Sam tries to convince Dean to let up on Cas, but Dean is having trouble letting go of his hurt: “Dude, go easy on Cas, okay? He’s one of the good guys.” “Look, if anybody else, I mean anybody, pulled that kind of crap, I would stab ‘em in their neck on principle. Why should I give him a free pass.” “Because it’s Cas.”

After watching the exorcism video, Dean continues to be standoffish with Cas, who is frustrated that Dean won’t seem to give him a chance: “Dean, I just wanna help.” “We don’t need your help! Just stay here, and... get better.”

In an effort to ingratiate himself with Dean, Cas goes to a convenience store to pick up supplies, including jerky, Busty Asian Beauties, beer, and pie. When the clerk says they’re out of pie, Cas grabs him insistently: “You don’t understand. I NEED pie.”

Out of a desperate desire to make things right with heaven and with Dean, Cas unwittingly agrees to help Metatron, who takes advantage of his emotional vulnerability.

8.23 Sacrifice

When Cas comes to Dean for help to save Metatron from the other angels, he agrees to do it, despite the tension between them.

While waiting for a cupid to show up, Dean and Cas reconcile at the bar because they think this might be the last time they get to see each other: “Talk to me. You sure about this? I mean, it’s one thing, me and Sammy slamming the gates to the pit, but you, you’re boarding up heaven, and you’re lockin’ the door behind you.” “Yeah, I know.” “You did a lot of damage up there, man. You think they’re just gonna let that slide?” “Do you mean do I think they’ll kill me? Yeah, they might.” “So this is it. E.T. Goes home.”

When Dean realizes the cupid set up two men to fall in love, he’s awkwardly dumbfounded. (Dean’s deeply ingrained heteronormative worldview continues to trip him up, but this instance helps chip away at his social conditioning.)

When Sam collapses after stopping the third trial, Dean calls out to Cas for help.

[thecoroutfitters]

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[theoriesontheory]

Hear this and know I am sad

“D Minor, which I find is the saddest of keys… It makes people weep instantly” – Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap.

When thinking about emotion in music, it is my observation that there are two primary foundations that stick out as far as being fertile ground for song writing. Infatuation, see love songs, songs about being in a group and songs to bump and grind to. And sadness, see break up songs, songs about being alone and songs about being different. This observation is based primarily on my own listening habits which is very much framed around western popular music, even looking at my top songs on Spotify from this year all of them can fit into one of the categories laid out above.

In taking a closer look at aesthetics and affect in my practice, that is my practice as something that creates an emotional experience in an audience, (Taylor, 2021) I have chosen to look at sadness as the exemplar emotion, both because I listen to a lot of music that could be considered ‘sad’ as well as sadness being an emotion I draw on, particularly in my work as Sal Viejo.   Looking at the definition of sadness from the atlas of emotions (atlasofemotions, n.d.) Sadness is a response to loss, and feeling sad allows us to take a timeout and show others that we need support. In looking at the different types of sadness on the same chart the range of sadness is defined as going from disappointment to anguish. Often framed around loss or not having something or not having achieved something. The responses can range from feeling ashamed or withdrawing, mourning, protesting, ruminating, and seeking comfort. As a creative practitioner I have found myself in all those response states and found myself creating from that space. But knowing what sadness is and being able to express that in song form is a nuanced art. The quote from This Is Spinal Tap at the open of this post is there to be funny but also demonstrates a point, minor is considered a ‘sad’ tonality for music. In seeking to understand why I was presented with a litany of answers ranging from highly scientific explanations of the harmonic series and how a major third and sixth is more ‘natural’ and therefore happy than their minor counterparts, to observations of the way that musicians physically approach notes differently on instruments, suggesting that on most common western instruments moving to a minor interval is a softer motion, suggesting sadness. It is my belief that contemporary listeners associate minor tonalities with sadness, based on the establishment of ‘rules or common features of music that was presented as sad, going all the way back to Chopin’s Funeral March, pointed out in NME’s blog “The Science of Music – Why Do Songs in a Minor Key Sound Sad?” that goes through a lot of the historical use of minor tonalities, also showing where they have been used in happy songs and is a great read if you are looking for more. (2013) So, if just being in a minor isn’t all there is to creating a heartbreaking number one, what else is there? According to a reader poll in Rolling Stone, Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven is the saddest song of all time (2013). 

Listening to the song and finding some scores I can tell that the song is in F# minor but it is more than the chords that makes this song so heartbreaking. Listening to the lyrical content and knowing the story behind the song, I recognise this as an emotion heavy song, sung by a man whose child died in a tragic accident, an accident he feels responsible for, is coming to terms with and has to live with every day. So, the question stands, not knowing that, if the melody was played by a piano or some other melodic instrument would the song have the same impact? Going back to a musical analysis, we can also see that the song is recorded and performed at around 80bpm, it features acoustic instruments, the voice is sung in a natural sounding almost spoken register, the instrumentation and arrangement is sparse, focusing on the vocal. Moore describes all these traits as working toward the ‘persona’ in a song. (2012) The Persona is defined as how we interact with the song, how it makes itself known to us and how the singer presents themselves directly to us. Using Moore’s model here we see that all of the musical choices Clapton made in the composition of Tears in Heaven lead to the construction of a persona that is considered genuine and makes listeners feel sympathetic, we hear the story not only in the lyrics but in the music and we understand. Again, the question is raised, would this be a universal experience? I don’t think so but for western audiences and readers of Rolling Stone, it worked.

Looking now at my own practice, it has always been important to me that my persona was not only perceived as genuine, but that it was genuine, especially in my work as Sal Viejo. When I started Sal Viejo, it was very much with the desire to tell my stories and share my experiences, the good the bad and the ugly. I was inspired to do this by other musicians that I was seeing at shows and making friends within Wollongong and Sydney, often at very informal shows in someone’s living room or a public park. I was drawn to these spaces and these performers because they all felt so real and genuine, and I resonated with the stories they were telling. However, now that I understand some theory behind aesthetics and emotion in composition, does my expression become less genuine if I compose with these features in mind? I think this question is an important one to consider, and one I think about when I do my work. The way I have always composed and produced as Sal Viejo has just been starting with me, my guitar, and my sad stories, from there I only add something if I feel like expresses the story in the way I’m trying to tell it. In doing this, I am using my formal music training, my academic research knowledge, including my understanding of Moore and aesthetics, but this is always tempered by what I hear, my instinct and reaction and me making decisions based on what I think the song needs.

References:

atlasofemotions. (n.d.) Sadness http://atlasofemotions.org/#states/sadness

Moore, A. F. (2012). Song means : Analysing and interpreting recorded popular song : analysing and interpreting recorded popular song. ProQuest Ebook Central

NME Blogs. (2013. Febuary 14). The Science of Music – Why Do Dongs In A Minor Key Sound Sad? NME. https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-science-of-music-why-do-songs-in-a-minor-key-sound-sad-760215

Rolling Stone. (2013. October 2). Reader’s Poll: The 10 Saddest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-saddest-songs-of-all-time-10875/

Taylor, J. (2021). Aesthetic Experience and Affective Media  [Google Slides] SAE Campus online https://campusonline.gscm.sae.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=108496

[the-cryptographer]

I was reading the questions that batty sent and I was wondering, what are your thoughts on Jounouchi's relationship with his dad? (Sorry if you've answered this before but I couldn't find it!)

Sorry it’s been 500 years, but I thought I’d answer. Under the cut is context and me being very shamelessly over-invested in headcanon. Thanks for giving me this opportunity to ramble.

I wrote a bit of analysis on Jou’s relationship with his dad here. This ask itself was in response to the following answer for this ship meme, I believe:

Which one gets in to a fight with the other’s parents.

You’d think it’d be Kaiba given his own parents are too DEADfor Jounouchi to fight with. But, yeah, I can’t really see Kaiba doing it. Hemanages some passive aggressive snark when Shizuka forces Jounouchi and himinto the presence of Jou’s mom, but he’s trying to be nice and also not tryingto pick fights with nobodies, so hekeeps himself contained for the most part. He also tries to be passiveaggressively snarky with Jou’s dad, but Jou’s ready to kick anyone who is meanto his dad straight out the door, so Kaiba also contains himself there too.Anyhow, it’d totally be Jounouchi if Kaiba’s parents or Gouzaburou were stillalive. Jounouchi might be intimidated by Gouzaburou at first, but eventuallyGouzaburou would cross some line in Jounouchi’s presence and from then onJounouchi would be ready to fight him ALL THE TIME, 24/7, NO BREAKS. Ugly, uglystuff :v

Yeah, this isolated answer might give the wrong impression of how exactly I see their relationship, lol. I’ll just say generally though that I think being mean to his dad is a privilege that Jou considers his, and his alone. He might rationalise that Shizuka also has that right to be critical of their dad. But if Shizuka ever actually took it upon herself to tear into him, I suspect Jou would feel kind of conflicted about it and annoyed with her, even if he wouldn’t admit to it. Anyhow, it’s certainly not a right he sees extending to his mom, or to Honda or Yuugi or Anzu or Mai, let alone to Kaiba or anyone further outside his circle. I think Jou has a pretty high sense of group loyalty in spite of everything - insult his family and you’re insulting him. And beyond that, based on what we see in canon, he loves his dad and wants to get along with him. It’s not to say I think that their relationship isn’t completely toxic and he and his dad don’t need to stay the hell away from each other though.

In terms of the abuse itself, I think Jounouchi’s dad has been physically abusive at times, prone to outbursts of violent rage (not entirely unlike Jounouchi himself). I think once (maybe twice) Jou suffered a broken bone because of his dad, and his dad took it as a sign he’d gone to far and scaled back future attempts to exert control with violence. Most of Jou’s injuries have been more in the realm of bruises and the occasional cut from a thrown object, rather than anything nearing what would constitute the need for a hospital visit, let alone brush into near fatality the way his canon fights with Hirutani go. (Jou’s dad relies on Jou for both fiscal and emotional support in his life, and maybe even loves him depending on your definition of such, and a hospital visit and prodding questions from doctors would put them at risk for being separated.) And Jounouchi himself doesn’t really react fearfully to expressions of physical violence upon him - he treats it as mundane and expected - so it’s not a very good avenue for attempting to control him, compared to some other things.So I think the primary function of abuse in their relationship is one of neglect and exploitation. I think from canon it’s pretty obvious Jounouchi’s dad has failed to provide him with adequate housing, safety, and food. Jounouchi’s part time jobs serve the function of providing basic necessities rather than extra spending money. And I believe its said somewhere that Jounouchi puts at least some of his own money towards paying off the loan sharks. As Jounouchi gets older and more able to pull his weight to pay household expenses, I don’t really see any reason his dad wouldn’t start counting on that even more - Jounouchi has proven time and time again that his dad can get away with drinking and gambling and exploiting his son for cash without receiving any significant backlash, so why not take advantage of that. That Jounouchi is neglected and ignored in an emotional sense is the other flipside of this. Jounouchi’s loud and clownish behaviour in canon, his willingness to intentionally provoke hostile reactions from Kaiba and other mooks of the day, the way he is absolutely incensed by Rishid giving him the silent treatment, and the way he is so deeply effected by Yuugi’s and his friend’s (and originally Hirutani’s) validation of him - these all look to me like the behaviour of somebody who has been neglected, and has been trained to jump through hoops to receive attention. I do think Jounouchi’s dad can be very affectionate and loving but, in the aftermath of his marital problems he might not have had the energy to be there for Jounouchi the way he needed to be, which I think led to something much more insidious. He learned that by withholding affection, he could play Jounouchi the way one might play a horse by dangling a carrot on a stick.

As for the temperament of Jounouchi’s dad himself - I tend to think he’s a lot like Jou. Gregarious, personable, clever and resourceful, sensual and physical, freely emotional and temperamental, thinks himself a bit of a tough-guy, drawn to the friendships he’s built and wanting very much to be loved and accepted by his peers. There are a couple of differences between them in my head - Jounouchi’s more responsible oc, and his dad has an affinity for logical abstraction and languages that Jounouchi doesn’t possess. But I can’t say I’ve really been focusing enough on Jounouchi’s dad to pick out many more differences. It’s maybe kind of a cheat to make them so similar but, otoh, I feel like it makes sense. This is who taught Jounouchi how to behave in-large.

If it’s how Jounouchi actually sees his relationship with his dad though. I think he’s frustrated. Exasperated. In a kind of throw your arms in the air ‘what can you do’ kind of way that completely minimises how truly unacceptable everything is, lol. He sometimes can’t deal with how unacceptable everything is and lashes out at his dad, in a similar kind of way that his dad lashes out at him, although oftentimes in a far more bitter and passive aggressive and less savvy way that leaves people around him thinking he’s simply a moody, disrespectful teenager. There’s a kind of dissonance there. The majority of the time they’re together they’re kind of buddy-buddy with each other though. They joke with each other, and laugh and smile, and there are sharp edges in their words sometimes that both of them ignore for the sake of pleasantness. Jounouchi doesn’t consider himself an abused kid, probably won’t for a long time. Although he’s kind of adamant that parents aren’t supposed to hit their kids like his dad has hit him, he stops himself before actually making the connection.

At the heart of things, Jou remembers that his dad is the one that wanted him. His mom abandoned him, while his father struggled to keep him. He’s able to forgive all the rest if it means he’s wanted. I can only hope he’ll realise someday that just being wanted in of itself is so, sooo substandard.

[goodguyjean]

Oh wow. You are the perfect person to answer this question for me and I don't know why I didn't think to ask you till now. Just how good of friends do you think Jean was with Marco? Because if you look at the manga alone, they seem to be no closer to each other than the rest of the top 10. However if you look at the anime, smart pass content, spin offs, the wings of freedom game, the guidebook, all things isayama apparently had his hand in.. They do. What do you think their canon friendship was?

Hiya anon!

By my definition of canon for thepurposes of meta-analysis—i.e. something that appears explicitly within themain series of manga—I think that Marco and Jean are actually not particularlyclose; rather, I think there’s a hint at their potential for a good friendship,and part of what Jean mourns at the mass funeral is that potential. Incontrast, the anime sets them up as friends from their trainee days, makingMarco’s loss a more personal experience for Jean, one which can potentiallyinstill a desire for revenge in him. Therefore, I think the Smart Pass AUinterview and the extra content in the guidebook are, depending on Isayama’sactual level of involvement with them, retcons to align the manga’spresentation of Jean and Marco’s relationship more closely with the anime’s.

I got out pictures again, so furtherexplanation is under the cut!

My approach to canon is admittedly differentthan Isayama’s, and so may require some explanation. Isayama seems to operateas if all things set in the Attack onTitan universe are canon, that the anime can “fix” things he didn’t likeabout the manga, and that when something changes in the anime he needs to makethat adjustment in the manga as well (see, for instance, the fate of Armin’sfamily or the change to Ymir’s teeth when she was a mindless titan). As such,even though Jean never discusses Marco after the Female Titan arc in the manga,I believe that (assuming Isayama does really oversee these extras to a certaindegree) he considers the changes the anime makes to Jean and Marco’s relationshipcanon. However, for better or for worse, I tend to read series as “enclosed”:my rationale is that there’s a coherent story in the manga that stands alone,regardless of what the author says outside of the text or what others add ontoit. In this case, the canon of the manga does not present Marco and Jean asespecially close, to my mind.

All that being said, I think it’s totallypossible to look at the exact same scenes in canon and come to a differentconclusion than I have; I just wanted to specify my parameters. For the intentsand purposes of this discussion, even if Isayama changed the nature of Marcoand Jean’s relationship outside of the manga, it doesn’t automatically have abearing on what is actually shown to us in the text.

And what’s in the text makes me thinkthat Marco may tolerate Jean better than most of the other cadets (the majorityof whom really don’t seem to like him) and vice versa, but there doesn’t seemto be much evidence of a friendship that rivals the bond between EMA or Reinerand Bertolt, for instance. In canon, I think the real shock Jean experiences atMarco’s death is, to borrow Jean’s own words, that Marco was a “goody-goody.” 

Chapter 3.

InAmerica we might jokingly term him an “Eagle Scout”, someone who always has the“right” answers, who gets the grades, and who is generally considered to be apillar of the community. To Jean’s mind, Marco was this kind of person, and yethe still died. If Marco, whom Jean clearly thought of as a leader-type in spiteof his suspicion of authority, couldn’t stand against the titans, anyone couldbe next. It’s a startling moment for Jean because he’s been claiming that he’sa realist who expects the titans to eventually destroy all humans, that it’s betterto just look after yourself because no one else was going to do it, and yetsome part of him still wants to believe in someone more community-minded likeMarco. His decision to join the Survey Corps is predicated on the idea that noone is safe until the titan threat is eliminated, not even someone like Marco,and therefore Jean needs to work with the Corps if he wants to help hiscomrades.

… comrades he might be more attachedto than he previously realized, before Marco’s death.

I think what fandom projects from theanime into the manga is the idea that Jean joins the Survey Corps out of asense of highly personalized loss, but I can’t quite justify that readingbecause Isayama does very little in the manga to establish Jean and Marco’slink as unique and precious to both of them. Jean and Marco only have twoscenes together over the entire course of the manga (the flashback to Marco’s discussion of leadership and the graduation party), and Jean is neverotherwise seen hanging out with Marco during the training sequences (althoughthere are a few flashback panels scattered throughout the later chapters whereJean and Marco will be standing next to each other in group shots; since theycome later in the manga, this looks like more retconning—hard to say!). Instead, his primary companion pre-Trost appears to be this guy:

Chapter 3.

Chapter 17.

Chapter 17. 

We never get a name for Mr. Long-HairedDude, and he only has one line of dialogue. He never appears outside of thesesequences as far as I can remember, and Jean never goes looking for him afterthe events of Trost. Their “friendship” has no bearing on the story, other thanthat it doesn’t appear to be significantly meaningful for either of them,indicating that Jean isn’t really invested in making real friends initially—he thinkshe can do pretty much everything all by himself. It’s a flimsy relationship, lacking in the kind of meaning that will later be teased with Marco and fulfilled with Armin, Eren, and the others. The function this nameless young man serves is to show that Jean is avoiding real connection with his fellows, preferring something shallow and convenient over something more challenging but ultimately more rewarding like a friendship with Marco or one of the others.

The anime replaces thismystery cadet with Marco, adding a closer friendship between Marco and Jeaninto the story, which it then uses to heighten the emotions around Marco’sdeath. From a practical perspective, I understand this move on the anime’spart. Drawing an extra character who doesn’t really do anything is a hassle, and you want to maximize a character’s impact on a story wherever possible. However, this deviation changes the meaning of Marco’s death from what I laid out above,making it more personal. Whereas in the manga the shock is that someone asuniversally beloved and upstanding as Marco dies while someone as “weak” asJean survives, the anime turns it into the death of a particular friend.

Jean expresses surprise that someone like Marco could die, chapter 18.

This move, in turn, brings Jean’smotivations for joining the Survey Corps closer to Eren’s: the anime suggeststhat Jean is interested in seeking revenge for Marco. Although I can understandthat Long-Haired Dude is essentially deadweight, I was also a little annoyed atJean’s story aligning so closely with Eren’s—in the manga, Jean is not lookingto settle a score, but to prevent further death if at all possible. He issurprised at Marco’s death, and then surprised at being surprised: Jean is notthe cynical pessimist he thought he was. He has this more idealistic andhopeful side to him, and this is part of what prompts him to do something “irrational”and community-minded like joining the Survey Corps. In the anime, he startsdown the same slippery slope as Eren, as we can see in the scene where he attacksAnnie’s crystal.

Episode 25, Jean yelling at Annie’s crystal.

As to their actual relationship incanon, I think Jean respects Marco more than a lot of the other cadets(although we learn later that he greatly respects Reiner, Armin, Mikasa, andeven—although he doesn’t want to admit it—Eren) while Marco can sense Jean’sidealistic side and therefore can tolerate Jean better. Consequently, Marco’suntimely death is particularly sad because there is a potential for friendship there that Jean never really acts upon,sticking instead to the company of a guy who appears a little sycophantic (atleast, he listens to Jean’s bragging with a smile), but who doesn’t formulate areal friendship with Jean based on mutual respect. Marco, unlike the othercadets, saw some of the idealism that was actually the core of Jean’s cynicism(he’s trying not to care because he does actually care), and once he’s goneJean perhaps realizes that he doesn’t want to miss out on such an opportunityfor friendship again.

Jean respects Marco, chapter 18.

Marco being kind to Jean, chapter 18.

Jean realizes he’s connected to his fellow comrades, that doesn’t want to lose anymore potential friends, chapter 18.

So, to conclude, if I was going to takea stab at Jean’s cryptic line about burned bones in chapter twenty-three (whichis really confusing because of all the different and, quite frankly, vaguetranslations), I might suggest putting the emphasis on the idea of “identification.”I think Marco’s death makes Jean realize that he doesn’t want to live his lifewithout human connection, to the point where no one would mourn if he died. Alternatively,he could also be suggesting that he sees value in forming relationships andventuring outside the wall with his comrades at his own personal risk, becausethen at least he won’t, in theory, have to mourn them at a mass grave without knowingwho they were or what exactly happened to them. Although Jean retains hiscynicism and suspicion of authority, his prickly personality and his commitmentto being honest, Marco’s death does change him: he realizes that he doesn’twant to live his life without real friends, that looking out for number onedoesn’t necessarily protect him from the pain of loss—he’ll just mourn missedopportunities and “what ifs”, even if he is spared deep personal pain.

“'Tis better to have loved and lost/ Thannever to have loved at all.”- Canto 27, “In Memoriam,” A.H.H, Alfred Tennyson.

Thanks for the note anon! Sorry if my response a bit garbled, I’m still recovering a bit from my quals (… that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it xD). 

Edit: @julystorms has a good answer to this question (though maybe you are the same anon lol), you can find it here :) We agree that Jean is mourning a potential friendship more than an actual one.

[lizthefangirl]

Danny Rand: An opinion.

Disclaimer: I did not watch The Iron Fist, nor do I know of his lore beyond what is presented in The Defenders; so mind my ignorance on that front. I wanted to go in seeing him somewhat developed and as part of a unit. The following input is simply my expression of what I gathered from my viewing of Defenders, in hopes to contribute to a larger discussion—it’s just discourse about a fictional character in a fictional show on my blog. Genuinely not a huge deal. Please be respectful in response. Spoilers for The Defenders, ahoy! (Highly recommend it, by the way).

When the first Iron Fist reviews started hitting the web, it was so disappointing. I fully intended to see the origins of the final member of the team seamlessly slide into place, and like a lot of people, was confounded at how Marvel could only execute 3/4 of the protagonists to such a high standard—and fall flat on the one who turns out to be particularly integral to The Defenders’ plot.

First and foremost: Finn Jones is not the issue. I don’t think he’s ever been the principal issue when issues were present. He is a very talented actor; he was excellent on Game of Thrones (which is so unerringly good that I consider it to be one of the ultimate tests of a performer), and plays a similarly caddish character here—though that’s where the resemblance ends. So Finn Jones is fine. Solid American accent, great stunt work; anyone who has to train to play a superhuman is already pretty cool. He can’t help defective writing and politics, poor guy. I don’t blame him for any former shortcomings (including his original haircut).

Now for an analysis of Danny Rand, as played in The Defenders:

. . . I gather that he’s had a rough time. I also suspect that he has evolved in a dramatic way; I saw someone say he was ‘100x more likable in this series’ and found myself baffled at how he might have been portrayed in his own to earn that statement. I think that his primary saving grace in both Iron Fist and Defenders is Colleen Wing, plain and simple. I’m not the first person to say that, but it’s a fact. She fought and vouched for him when I didn’t immediately, and it made me look him closer and ask, What else is here?

I think there are a lot of positive aspects of his character—in this new environment, at least. Like most, I do think his treatment by the others is particularly funny, just because they have no idea how to handle this person and his weird stories, combined with his flippant attitude and high profile. I love that the writers allowed Luke to address Danny’s privilege outright (in addition to showing them both in the odd position of getting their behinds kicked by one another). I like that he’s portrayed as having PTSD early on and that you can see tears in his eyes on multiple occasions; emotional vulnerability in “strong” male characters is something I have longed to see more of in film. He also does end up having some good conversations, especially with Luke and Matt, that really do challenge him.

I also like that he initiated the “team” mindset; he doesn’t see an issue with it at all. It’s like a group project for him; he hasn’t always simmered in solidarity quite like most of the others have. And despite how irking his blind confidence can be at moments, I think it’s kind of great that he just walked into that boardroom and went all “I am the special immortal metal hand” on those folks, and expected to just kind of. . . deal with it. Like that’s cute, sweetie. Good for you, honey.

Here is why I respect him more than I thought I would: He really does try, in the end—and not just for himself and Colleen. You get the sense in his conversation with Elektra (or I did) that at one point in time, he would have 110% given in and opened that door, based on verbal persuasion alone. You also see Guo trying to twist him around, and he tells her she cannot manipulate him anymore. That’s solid development. Also, he offers to use his resources to help the others, and seems almost sheepish about his status. It’s endearing. 

Within their debut seasons, his teammates all managed to: a) come to terms with their abilities, b) defeat at least one [branch] of a big bad, and c) ultimately come out as more of a victor than the opposite—despite losing people they cared about (or in Jessica’s case, really kind of losing all sense of self, security, or control, which is just as awful).

I don’t think Danny completed this arc, though. He lost. Like he straight up did not win his first boss battle. We picked up with him following a vague lead on the Hand (because Bakuto got away). A whole city that he was meant to command died on his watch (which we learn was Elektra’s doing, a person who he couldn’t consider killing because of Matt). He never seemed to find real closure about his parents (Guo slipped out of his reach at the last moment). And above all? We hear frequently that he is nowhere near his full potential mentally or physically. So here’s my big question that I am grappling with, as a writer and a fan: Why should this be such a problem for me? 

I have always believed that characters should be allowed to screw up and be messy—to fail. I find that manner of explicit humanity far more interesting. . . and yet I approached this series discrediting this character. He really is not in the same boat as the rest of them; he has been directly handed (no pun intended) a legacy, a duty, a title. He had an ancient army at his feet. He was trained his whole life to be more than human.

Look at the others: Matt is the most similar (by a long shot); though his abilities were the result of the chemicals that blinded him, he received formal training via Stick. We know little of Jessica’s past besides her accident and corresponding PTSD; she had no training of her powers. If anything, she does her best to mar them. Luke grew up in a city where violence and injustice were prevalent, given his abilities deliberately and without his consent during his adult life. Again, no formal training, just brute strength and a good heart. Now here comes Danny Rand! Twenty-something Caucasian bajillionaire! Batman-like fortune and parental demises! He’s homeless with a side of memory-loss (cough Oliver Queen cough)! Who is he! Teach him kung fu with a pretty, determined Asian lady! He is still rich! Have some Asian culture! A blatant chest tattoo! A glowing fist he can only summon in very selective circumstances! . . . It’s easy to mock, in context.

It’s different, because it’s a riches to rags story. And now more than ever, that’s not a conventional formula people seem interested in, especially with a white guy at the helm (and directly following not only the 2016 presidential election, but progressive stories like Jessica Jones and especially Luke Cage). A lot of people didn’t want to like him. I didn’t think I would like him.

Look. What ends up redeeming this dude for me is the fact that he is still actively developing after nearly twenty episodes he’s been featured in—all within a five month window. Matt is the only one who has had subsequent seasons released yet! Danny’s unusually compact timeframe is the reason I am okay with his sluggish development—because I’m starting to suspect it is at least partially intentional; the pace of his progression is to counteract the abrupt amount of his story unveiled. 

Here is my verdict on Danny Rand and his arc within this new installment: I am tentatively leaning in, reluctantly intrigued. Kind of like Luke prior to his rescue (“I owe him that much”). I almost—almost—empathized with him in his final scene, when he said he felt like he had found a home. . . Then again, Colleen was there, too  I’m mostly kidding.

I can’t say for certain if I’ll go back and watch season one of Iron Fist. I almost like it better having him introduced now—as if this was his pilot. Either way, I hope by the time the second chapter of Defenders debuts (probably around 2045), I’ll actually watch for his individual arc, too, rather than tagging along with his story to see how the others’ got on.

P. S. – The shot when he legit throws thirty people meters away with a punch and triggers one of the coolest fight sequences I’ve ever seen. . . Points for that.

[ncmagroup]

Einstein

21 Behaviors That Will Make You Brilliant at Creativity & Relationships

Benjamin Hardy, PhD

When you see things from multiple perspectives, you realize you can achieve almost anything you want in far less time than you imagined.

Yet most people have fixed and limited views about themselves and what they can accomplish.

They have fixed and limited views about the resources available to them.

They have fixed and limited views about time, and how long things must take to accomplish.

In this article, I squash all of those limiting perspectives and provide concrete strategies you can use to achieve your goals. There are no fixed limits.

Here’s how it works:

Core Principles

1. Set absurdly ambitious goals

“When 10x is your measuring stick, you immediately see how you can bypass what everyone else is doing.” — Dan Sullivan

Goals are most likely to be accomplished when:

They are intrinsically motivating. As Napoleon Hill explained in Think and Grow Rich, “Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.”

They must be difficult, or else they won’t be motivating.

They must be time-bound, to create a sense of urgency. Shorter timelines are one way to go 10x since they force you to shed artificial constraints and think more creatively. As billionaire Peter Thiel is known to ask: “How can you achieve your ten-year plan in the next six months?”

As with all things in life, you get what you want. If you prefer to make excuses and justifications for a lack of progress, then just admit you prefer your current station in life. Self-acceptance can be a beautiful thing.

However, once you desire progress more than convenience, obstacles no longer stop but propel you. As the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius is famous for saying, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

2. Reframe subconscious patterns and get bold insights via auto-suggestion

“What is impressed in the subconscious is expressed.” — Dr. Joseph Murphy in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

While awake, your conscious and subconscious mind is often at odds with each other. For example, you’re trying to be positive, but your subconscious patterns simply won’t let you.

Yet, while transitioning from being awake to being asleep, your brain waves move from the active Beta state into Alpha and then Theta before eventually dropping into Delta as we sleep. It is during the Theta window that your mind is most receptive to reshaping your subconscious patterns. Hence, Thomas Edison is known for having said, “Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.”

As a result, just before you fall asleep, it is key to visualize and even vocally state what you are trying to accomplish. When you repeatedly state a desired goal, visualization is key because you want to have as emotional an experience as possible. You need to feel what it would be like to have what you seek.

You can absolutely trust that by planting these subconscious seeds, thoughts will pop up at you, often at random intervals. You need to record these thoughts throughout your day. The bigger the goal, the bolder will be the required action to attain it. The clearer your why the more inspired will be your how.

If you’re serious, you’ll need to act immediately upon the impressions your subconscious is transmitting to your conscious mind. If you brush off these insights, you’ll get less and less of them. You’ll demonstrate to yourself and the source of your inspiration that you don’t really want the changes you claim to desire.

3. Learn and work in counterintuitive environments

1905 was Albert Einstein’s breakthrough year where he published four research articles, known as the Annus Mirabilis papers, which went on to substantially alter the foundation of modern physics and changed views on space, time, and matter.

Interestingly, when Einstein published these papers, he was not working in an academic setting, but rather at the Swiss Patent Office. His work in this counterintuitive work environment allowed him different reflective angles and questions than a typical physics lab.

As Elon Musk’s wife, Justine, has said:

“Choose one thing and become a master of it. Choose a second thing and become a master of that. When you become a master of two worlds (say, engineering and business), you can bring them together in a way that will a) introduce hot ideas to each other, so they can have idea sex and make idea babies that no one has seen before and b) create a competitive advantage because you can move between worlds, speak both languages, connect the tribes, mash the elements to spark fresh creative insight until you wake up with the epiphany that changes your life.”

When you work in a different context from the majority of people in your field, you can make distinct and unique connections. You can integrate and cross-pollinate different ideas. You can avoid dogmatic thinking and expectations. You can learn to integrate ideas from seemingly dissimilar fields.

4. Learn from counterintuitive resources

“What does following in the footsteps of everyone else get you? It gets you to exactly the same conclusions as everyone else.” — Ryan Holiday

As Holiday explains, if you read what everyone else is reading, you’ll think like everyone else thinks. If you think like everyone else thinks, you won’t be able to come up with anything unique.

Follow your curiosity. Chase down obscure leads. Find stuff that no one else has found. In this way, your work will be truly valuable to others.

5. Focus on the process (not results) of those who are succeeding big

“Success leaves clues.” — Jim Rohn

Focusing exclusively on results is one of the primary reasons the current academic system is broken. Kids are being taught to train for the test, rather than seeking novel and unique ways of doing things. No two kids are wired the same, nor should their contribution, creativity, and talent be viewed from the same standard.

When you want to develop expertise at something, rather than focusing on the results of those at the top of your field, study and emulate their process.

What are they doing?

Once you get process-oriented, as opposed to results-oriented, you realize you too can achieve amazing results. The process, or your behavior, is completely within your control. Conversely, when you focus solely on other people’s results, you can quickly become overwhelmed and give up.

6. Ignore what almost everyone else is doing

In the book Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, Tim Grover explains that the world’s elite doesn’t compete with other people. Rather, they make others compete with them. They set the tone and make others react to their environment.

Most people are competing with other people. They continuously check-in to see what others in their space (their “competition”) are doing. As a result, they mimic and copy what’s “working.”

Rather than worrying about what others are doing, live your values. Put first things first. Spend more time with your loved ones and away from work. While working, follow your own curiosity, not what others are doing.

7. 80/20 Analysis of highest leverage activities

“Today everyone is a generalist, a deliberate move on the part of most as a reaction to the economic times.” — Leonard Smith

When studying the process of those you seek to emulate, don’t try to do it all. Everyone has their own strategy. Even those at the top of your field have imperfect strategies.

Find the patterns. What are the key things you must master? Master those.

Then innovate beyond those patterns when you’re ready, so your process comes to exceed the process of those you admire. Eventually, your results will exceed theirs as well.

8. Over-learn high leverage activities

Learning something new is all about memory and how you use it. At first, your prefrontal cortex — which stores your working (or short-term) memory — is really busy figuring out how the task is done.

But once you’re proficient, the prefrontal cortex gets a break. In fact, it’s freed up by as much as 90%. Once this happens, you can perform that skill automatically, leaving your conscious mind to focus on other things.

This level of performance is called automaticity, and reaching it depends on what psychologists call over-learning or over-training.

For example, if you want to quickly learn how to write viral articles, study several hundred headlines of viral articles. If you want to write a book, study just the table of contents of hundreds of books. These are your lay-ups.

Start with small sets of information, then expand from there. By over-learning a particular category of learning, you’ll be able to better understand how it relates to the whole. You’ll also quickly be able to apply what you learn. You’ll quickly see the patterns others miss. Time will slow down for you as your cognition expands.

9. Learn to apply, not to procrastinate “the work”

“The key secret to success is not excessive expertise, but the ability to use it. Knowledge is worthless unless it is applied.” — Max Lukominskyi

Learning is best done while you’re doing the activity. Public education has taught people they must first master theory, then attempt to transfer that theory into the real world. In a similar way, people’s love for information via the internet has led them to use “learning” as a form of procrastination.

A better approach is “context-based learning,” where you learn while doing. The key principles of context-based learning include:

Learn a concept in its simplest form.

Put your rudimentary knowledge to practice in a real-world scenario.

Get coaching and feedback (feedback often comes in the form of “failure”).

Apply the feedback through repetitious practice.

Get coaching and feedback.

Repeat until proficient (see #8 just above).

Interestingly, researchers examined the effects of role-playing on the self-concept of shy adolescents. One group of adolescents got traditional discussion-based training while another did role-play based training. The group that did role-plays experienced a significant positive change in their self-concept, which has a significant impact on their behaviors.

In our digital world, simulation training — based on role-playing real-world scenarios — is becoming increasingly popular.

Additionally, research has found that getting consistent feedback is essential to effective learning. You can use this. By making your work public, you get immediate feedback.

Getting immediate feedback has been found to be a flow trigger. It heightens performance. Especially when the feedback is the real world, and there are real consequences for success and failure.

10. Focus on quantity in the beginning

“Plant a lot, harvest a few.” — Seth Godin

In the book Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant explains that “originals” (i.e., people who create innovative work) are not reliable. In other words, not everything they produce is extraordinary.

For example, among the 50 greatest pieces of music ever created, six belong to Mozart, five are Beethoven’s, and three Bach’s. But in order to create those, Mozart wrote over 600 compositions, Beethoven 650, and Bach over 1,000.

Similarly, Picasso created thousands of pieces of art, and few are considered to be his “great works.” Edison had 1,900 patents, and only a handful we would recognize. Albert Einstein published 248 scientific articles, only a few of which are what got him on the map for his theory of relativity.

Quantity is the most likely path to quality. The more you produce, the more ideas you will have — some of which will be innovative and original. And you never know which ones will click. You just keep creating.

11. Track only a few things (ignore everything else)

“If you have more than three priorities, then you don’t have any.” — Jim Collins in Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t

If you want to improve at something, you need to quantify it. If you don’t quantify it, you don’t really know what’s happening. As Thomas Monson explains, “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

I can personally attest to this principle. When I started measuring a few metrics, such as each set in the gym, my income, and how much time I spend in “flow” while working, I dramatically improved in these areas. The reason is simple: tracking helped me become aware and objective about my weaknesses. Thus, I knew exactly where I should focus and could do it systematically.

12. Heighten expectation for what you can accomplish

“I think the ability of the average man could be doubled if it were demanded, if the situation demanded.” — William Durant

I started working out with my current workout partner about two months ago. He’s nearly 20 years older than me and can lift substantially more weight than me.

One of the first things he told me was, “Most people never get stronger simply because they don’t put themselves under the weight.” As a result, our first several workouts involved me being heavily spotted while benching and squatting way more than I ever had before. The purpose was to feel the weight.

It hasn’t taken long at all to increase my strength while working out with my new partner. He’s raised my expectations. Yet I don’t let his expectations dictate what I can do. As will be shown in the following section on mentorships, the expectations of those around you create the context for your growth and potential.

But you don’t need to be bound by those expectations. For instance, just because many of my favorite writers publish twice per week, I decided to hold myself to a different standard when I started writing. In large measure, you get what you expect you will. According to Expectancy Theory, one of the core theories of motivation, motivation involves three components:

the value you place on your goal

your belief that specific behaviors will actually facilitate the outcomes you desire

your belief in your own ability to successfully execute the behaviors requisite to achieving your goals

Learn from the best. But don’t be bound by their standards. Run at your own pace, even if that pace is faster than those you aspire to be like.

Mentorships

13. Surround yourself with people with higher expectations than you have

According to what psychologists call “The Pygmalion Effect,” other people’s expectations of you heavily influence how well you do.

When you’re a child, the expectations of your parents “set the bar.” Interestingly, these expectations form an invisible barrier from which it becomes very difficult to exceed.

For instance, scientific experiments have been done on fleas, wherein they’ve been put in a glass jar. Without the lid on the jar, the fleas can easily jump out. However, the fleas can be trained to stay in the jar by putting a lid on it. After only three days, the lid can be removed and the fleas will be constrained by an invisible mental barrier.

Not surprisingly, the “next generation” of fleas is also constrained by this new and invisible barrier. The Pygmalion effect explains why: the next generation develops the same expectations for themselves as their parents have for them.

If, however, you were to take one of those fleas out of that jar and place them in a bigger jar, surrounded by fleas jumping much higher, mirror neurons would fire and that flea would soon be able to jump higher. Mental barriers would shatter, soon to be replaced by the mental barriers of those in the new jar.

When seeking mentorships, it’s important to realize that the expectations of your mentor reflect the flea’s jar, and invisible barrier, as opposed to your inherent ability. There is no fixed ability. Nothing and nobody has an “absolute” value. Everything is contextual.

Even still, by jumping into a much bigger jar, you’ll quickly grow. Actually, you may learn to jump much higher than you ever imaged with the help of a caring mentor. Thus, it is extremely important for you to surround yourself with those who have high expectations for you. It may be difficult, frustrating, and humbling to develop and grow. But if you stick to it, you’ll eventually reach a new invisible cap.

14. Expect to expand and adapt

Human beings are highly adaptive. For instance, Viktor Frankl reflected on his experience as a Nazi concentration camp victim and sleeping comfortably next to nine other people on small beds. Said Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning, “Yes a person can get used to anything, just don’t ask us how.” Indeed, this was one of the most surprising aspects of living in a concentration camp, the rapidity at which the shock and horror became apathy and “normal.”

No matter how far-reaching and discontinuous the jump from one environment to the next, a person can and will adapt, whether that means going from zero kids to three (trust me), or from completely inactive to exercising with professional bodybuilders.

Take, for example, Collin Clark, a 20-year-old who lost 64 pounds and 30 percent body fat in six months. The process was simple; he went to the gym and began to emulate the bodybuilders who were there. Eventually, one particular bodybuilder took an interest in Collin and became his mentor. By working out daily with a bodybuilder, Collin transformed. The example of Collin Clark is particularly notable, as he has down syndrome.

When you first enter a new and larger jar, you’ll feel excited and perhaps even intimidated by all the jumping room. However, like gas which spreads to fill the space, it’s been given, you too will adapt. Thus, you won’t want to overstay your welcome. Remember, the jar is a reflection of other people’s expectations.

Hence, the next point:

15. Don’t get stuck with one mentor

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear.” — Lao Tzu

High-quality friendships should last forever. High-quality mentorships, on the other hand, should not last forever.

One mentor can only take you so far; they can only give you one “jar.” If you want to evolve beyond that jar, you’ll need a new mentor. And this is exactly what any true mentor would want for you as well. It’s not about “them.” They are investing in you. It is through your best work that they can live on forever.

16. The mentor sets the expectations, but the mentee sets the tone

Although the mentor’s expectations and abilities reflect the size of the jar, it is the mentee that sets the tone for the relationship and how well it will go.

I’ve been in mentoring relationships where I’ve been a good mentee and a bad mentee. In each case, it was not the mentor, but me, who determined how well the relationship went. No one cares more about your success than you do. It is up to you how far you go in life.

Darren Hardy, the author of The Compound Effect, has said, “Never take advice from someone you wouldn’t trade places with.” Thus, you should be highly selective about the mentors you seek. If you aren’t intrinsically motivated to “set the tone” with your mentor, ask yourself: Do I really want to be like this person? If the answer is no, then they are the wrong mentor.

When you have the right mentor, you’ll know, because you’ll feel extremely lucky to have even a few moments of their time. You’ll do all you can to deepen the relationship, provide value, and learn. You’ll be willing to bend over backward to help them. You’ll take on greater responsibility. You’ll make their life easier. You’ll make them look good.

17. Give credit where credit is due

Although you are responsible for your own success, you are not the sole cause of that success. Far from it. You are not independent of all the help you’ve received. More accurately, you are the product of all the help you’ve received.

You are standing on the shoulders of giants. Acknowledge them for that. And never forget where you came from. Also, never speak poorly about your mentors or those who have helped you along your journey. This does nothing for you. I’ve made this mistake and destroyed important relationships with people I deeply admire — people who invested lots of time and energy into me.

As Ryan Holiday explains in his book, Ego is the Enemy, always be a student. Remain humble. Don’t let ego take over, or it will lead to your inevitable demise.

Mental Models

In this final section, I will detail the beliefs required for rapid growth.

18. Think astronomically

“You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.” — Robin Williams

There is some brilliant new research on the concept of Awe, which has been defined as a feeling that arises when you encounter something so strikingly vast (in time, scope, complexity, ability, or power) it provokes a need to update your mental schemas.

Awe, or having a peak experience, can happen during an optimal sports performance or even a deep spiritual experience. When you become mindful, you can experience awe even during mundane moments.

Research has found that experiencing awe can expand your perception of time, alter your decision-making abilities, and enhance your well-being.

I can personally attest to these findings. I’ve experienced awe several times. I strive to experience it as often as possible, which for me provides a much richer and deeper perspective of life.

Awe alters your experience with time because it helps you see things more astronomically. From the perspective of light, for example, time stands still. Thus, this moment, from the perspective of light, is both an instant and an eternity. Time fades into the background of infinite possibility. Nothing becomes impossible. No distance too far.

Awe alters your ability to make decisions because you no longer fear trivial things such as other people’s perceptions, failure, or even death.

Lastly, awe alters your well-being because the mind and body are one. When you improve one aspect of your life, all others organically improve as well. Thus, when you experience a deeper connection with yourself and the universe, you live differently. You see yourself differently, and that perception has the power to alter your biology. Your emotional state also matures and becomes more healthy as well.

19. Think laterally

“Lateral thinking doesn’t replace hard work; it eliminates unnecessary cycles.” — Shane Snow in Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

Most of the United States presidents spent less time in politics than the average congressman. Moreover, the best, and most popular presidents, generally spent the least amount of time in politics. Rather than spending decades climbing the tedious ladder with glass ceilings, they simply jumped laterally from a different, non-political ladder.

Ronald Reagan was an actor. Dwight Eisenhower laterally shifted from the military. Woodrow Wilson bounced over from academia. These men spent considerably little time in politics and became fabulous presidents. They reached the top by skipping the unnecessary “dues-paying” steps. Insanely productive people think the same way. Rather than climbing up ladders the traditional ways, they think of alternative routes. They skip unnecessary steps by pivoting and shifting.

Shane Snow himself used this tactic to get published on some of the biggest media outlets in the world within six months of blogging. How did he do it? He started by pitching articles to low-level blogs with basically no bar of entry. After getting a few articles published on those, he leveraged his new position and pitched to slightly higher level blogs.

He did this by sending editors of the slightly “better” blogs an email reading something like Hello, I’ve written at these blogs which reach similar audiences as your blog. Here’s an article I think would be a great fit for your audience.

Because the editors of those blogs knew about the blogs Snow had been published on, he was able to be published on theirs as well. He followed this pattern over and over until, within six months, his work was published at Fast Company, WIRED, and others.

20. Think more flexibly about “limits” on resources

One of the faultiest and most crippling mindsets people have is over-categorizing things, and then being bound by those categories. Psychologists call this having a “pre-mature cognitive commitment.”

When you see things from only a singular perspective, you’ll assume there is a limited supply of that thing.

Money, from most people’s perspective, is a limited resource. However, research has found that after basic needs are met, what people really want is a state of mind. Yet, that state of mind doesn’t have to be tightly bound within the cognitive category of money.

Consequently, from a mindful perspective, you can look at certain things, like money or even yourself, from multiple viewpoints. You don’t have to get stuck with fixed and rigid definitions. In nearly any case, you come to realize that what you want is always available to you, if you’ll simply alter your viewpoint. As Ellen Langer, Harvard psychologist has said, “If we examine what is behind our desires, we can usually get what we want without compromising.”

The most detrimental thing we can view from a limited standpoint is ourselves. Don’t let your own assumptions and categories determine what you are. You have no clue who you are or what you can become. Different angles and more flexible definitions allow for limitless possibilities.

21. Think more flexibly about “limits” on time

“It is utterly beyond our power to measure the changes of things by time.” — Ernst Mach in The Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Account of Its Development

Time is an abstraction, which we conceive by the change of other things. For example, the changing of the seasons, or the aging of a child.

Many people have rigid notions, for example, about how long certain things must take.

You can’t finish high school until you’re 18 years old.

You can’t be successful until after you’ve paid your dues.

If you break your leg, it must take a few months to heal.

These fixed notions about time are constraining and limiting. Change can occur at different magnitudes and qualities depending on the context. For example, there is a concept called, “Spontaneous Remission,” wherein an illness or disease surprisingly and immediately changes.

When I started my writing career, I was told it would take me at least three to five years to get the amount of subscribers needed to get a literary agent and subsequent book contract. I was told this by a highly credible source, actually a literary agent herself. However, that was based on her assumptions of time and resources, which resources also included my abilities and motivations.

She had no clue of my context, desires, and abilities. Thus, her assumptions about how long it would take me were absurd. Yet, she was just going off what she had seen, which caused her to be mindless about the situation. Within months of the conversation with that literary agent, I was in the position she said would take several years.

Takeaway: Let go of your beliefs about fixed limits of time. Time is a unique concept, which few of us understand. It need not be linear nor lead to entropy. Again, many scholars are seeing that these are nothing more than assumptions, or fixed mindsets about how things work.

Conclusion

Achieving your goals is very doable. It need not take as long as you may have previously assumed.

There is no fixed limit on how much you can learn and grow. There is no fixed amount of time it must take.

What are you going to do?

Go to our website:   www.ncmalliance.com

21 Behaviors That Will Make You Brilliant at Creativity & Relationships Einstein 21 Behaviors That Will Make You Brilliant at Creativity & Relationships Benjamin Hardy, PhD When you see things from multiple perspectives, you realize you can achieve almost anything you want in far less time than you imagined.

[tylermorris7-blog1]

Stop Losing Clients - Who Wants To Hear The Truth - M2 Digital Media Group

As the primary “weapon” to convert prospects into customers, words are incredibly important to salespeople. How you deliver your message and converse with contacts can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of a conversation which is why all salespeople should become (what I call) “word nerds”. Here’s a list of 13 words that can help you close more deals and earn your prospects’ trust in the process. Words that Sell – Keep in mind, there is no such thing as “One Size Fits All” 1) You Selling is about your prospects, not about your company. A simple way to make this clear is by using the word “you” as much as possible. Think back to your childhood — did your parents ever tell you it was impolite to talk about yourself? Apply that rule here. Every time you might be tempted to phrase a sentence from the perspective of your company, find a way to rework it to make your prospect the subject. 2) Value “Customers don’t care about features and benefits,” Colleen Francis, owner of Engage Selling Solutions, writes in her book Non-stop Sales Boom. “They only care about value and achieving their objectives.” Again, it’s about them, not you. Skip over all the amazing features your product or service contains and instead make it clear how your offering will create value for your prospect’s business. 3) And This is a clever replacement for “but” when dealing with criticisms or objections. The word “but” signals to the prospect that you are about to utter a statement that runs counter to what they’d like to hear. “And” by its very nature is inclusive — you seem to agree even when you’re disagreeing. Consider these two examples from Sales Coach Seamus Brown: “I see that you only have a budget of $50,000, but let me tell you why our system costs $100,000.” “I see that you only have a budget of $50,000, and let me tell you why our system costs $100,000.” Brown points out that the second sentence acknowledges the prospect’s budget, while the first steamrolls over the problem and makes the buyer feel ignored. What a difference one word can make. 4) Do Many sales experts recommend using “do” instead of “try.” For instance, instead of “I’d like to try … ” say, “What I’ll do is … ” This makes the seller seem competent and trustworthy, and boosts the prospect’s confidence in them. 5) Or If you present a single proposal to a client, you only give them the option of accepting or rejecting. But if you present them with two or three different variations on your proposal, suddenly you’ve doubled or tripled your odds of receiving some form of a “yes.” So in negotiations don’t just ask if they’d like to sign the contract, ask if version A or version B or version C is preferable. 6) Should we … ? Most people balk at being told what to do — especially when the person dishing out orders is not a member of their organization. With this in mind, the phrase “you should” can come off as arrogant and presumptive. Reformulating suggestions as questions helps the prospect keep an open mind and diminishes the potential for the conversation to take a nasty turn. 7) Consensus According to The Challenger Sale, “Widespread support for a supplier across their team is the number one thing senior decision makers look for in making a purchase decision.” So words that express agreement among stakeholders — such as “support” or “consensus” — could have a significant impact on your primary buyer’s mindset. If you have backing from the entire team, play it up as much as possible. If you don’t, stress how you’re going to attain it. 8) Imagine Stories stick in people’s mind more readily than straight sales messaging. So the best reps don’t only use stories in their speech, they also make sure prospects see themselves as the protagonists. The word “imagine” can be helpful in this aim. Suddenly, the prospect isn’t just hearing about a better future enabled through a new product or service — they’re actually picturing themselves living it. And now the vision isn’t just in the salesperson’s mind; it’s a shared vision. 9) See; Show; Hear; Tackle Okay, so this isn’t one word, but they’re all part of one family. Each of these words evokes a sense, and sensory language grabs people’s attention. Think about how the words you use relate to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic triggers. 10) Their Name Just like “you,” using your prospect’s name makes them feel like they’re the focus of your attention, and your presentation is customized just for them. People also naturally pay attention better when their name is sprinkled throughout a speech. 11) Power Words The English language is filled with words that provoke strong feelings — fear, joy, discomfort, safety. A good sales presentation will summon all of these feelings and more at the right times. To hit all the appropriate high and low notes, incorporate power words into your speech. Jon Morrow’s list of 317 words that pack a punch is a good place to start. 12) Because Ellen Langer, a social psychologist and professor at Harvard University, conducted a study where she tested the impact of phrasing on people’s willingness to let someone cut them in line. Here are the variations she used: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” While only 70% agreed to let her cut in line when she used the first question, upwards of 90% let her skip when she used either the second and third phrasings. The takeaway? When asking people to do something, always include a reason. Don’t just request that your prospect introduce you to another stakeholder or fill out a survey — explain why you’d like them to take these actions. 13) Opportunity Problems are bound to crop up in the sales process, but that doesn’t mean you should acknowledge them as such. The word “problem” has a negative connotation, and can make the prospect feel as if the process is difficult and unpleasant. With this in mind, replace it with more positive words. Instead of saying “no problem,” for example, say, “it’s my pleasure.” “I understand the problem” can become “I see an opportunity to make this run more smoothly.” Remember, if you have questions (or need some help), JUST ASK!! We would be happy to help! Contact us today to receive your FREE Digital Footprint Analysis Report – 800-234-1522 or support@m2dmg.com Until next time…

[workreveal-blog]

Google announces new captcha system to identify robots

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/google-announces-new-captcha-system-to-identify-robots/

Google announces new captcha system to identify robots

Political advertising on-line desires transparency and expertise

Political advertising online has unexpectedly turn out to be a complicated industry. The fact that most of the people get their facts from only some platforms and the increasing sophistication of algorithms drawing upon rich pools of personal statistics imply that political campaigns are now constructing individual adverts centred immediately at customers. One supply shows that inside the 2016 US election, as many as 50,000 variations of advertisements were being served each single day on Facebook, a close to not possible state of affairs to monitor. And there are recommendations that a few political adverts – within the US and around the arena – are being used in unethical methods – to point citizens to faux news websites, as an instance, or to maintain others far away from the polls. Centred marketing allows a campaign to mention distinctive, probably conflicting things to different agencies. Is that democratic?

Those are complicated troubles, and the solutions will no longer be simple. However, a few great paths to development are already clean. We must work together with net corporations to strike a balance that puts a fair degree of information manipulate back into the hands of people, along with the development of latest technology including private “statistics pods” if needed and exploring alternative sales fashions together with subscriptions and micropayments. We need to fight in opposition to government overreach in legal surveillance guidelines, inclusive of via the courts if important. We must ward off against incorrect information by encouraging gatekeepers which include Google and Facebook to retain their efforts to combat the hassle while averting the introduction of any valuable our bodies to decide what’s “true” or not. We need more algorithmic transparency to recognise how important decisions that have an effect on our lives are being made, and possibly a set of conventional ideas to be accompanied. We urgently want to shut the “internet blind spot” in the regulation of political campaigning.

Our group on the web Basis can be operating on many of These problems as part of our new five-year strategy – getting to know the issues in an extra element, developing with proactive coverage answers and bringing coalitions collectively to force progress toward the web that gives same energy and opportunity to all.

I may also have invented the net. However, all of you have got helped to create what it’s far today. All of the blogs, posts, tweets, images, films, programs, internet pages and more constitute the contributions of millions of you around the arena building our on-line network. All sorts of people have helped, from politicians preventing to keep the internet open, standards organisations like W3C improving the electricity, accessibility and security of the technology, and individuals who have protested in the streets. Within the beyond 12 months, we have seen Nigerians rise to a social media bill that could have hampered free expression on-line, widespread outcry and protests at regional internet shutdowns in Cameroon and excellent public guide for internet neutrality in each India and the European Union.

It has taken all and sundry to construct the web we have, and now it’s far as much as anybody to build the net we want – for anybody.

The revel in of squinting at distorted text, involved over small photographs, or maybe inevitably clicking on a checkbox to show you aren’t a robotic ought to quickly be over if a brand new Google service takes to the air.

The organisation has found out the modern day evolution of the Captcha

captcha

(short, sort of, for completely Computerized Public Turing take a look at to inform Computers and Human beings Aside), which goals to do away with any interruption at all: the new, “invisible reCaptcha” goals to tell whether or not a given traveler is a robot or now not purely by using analysing their browsing behaviour. Barring a quick wait while the machine does its job, a typical human traveller shouldn’t do anything else to show they’re no longer a robot.

It’s a protracted manner from the first Captchas, brought to stop Automatic applications signing up for services like email addresses and social media accounts. The idea is straightforward: pick out an undertaking that a human can do easily, and a machine unearths very hard, and require that venture be finished before the manner can be persisted. Google ‘s captcha basically tells if you’re a robot or not.

The first captchas frequently trusted obfuscated textual content: some letters and numbers, blurred, distorted, or in any other case rendered desperate to parse with traditional character recognition software. Even then, they had been nevertheless bypassed fairly frequently. The confined number of characters available in the Latin alphabet supposed that the software could quick enhance to a passable level of accuracy, even as obfuscating the letters any further ought to lead to real Humans – especially people with bad eyesight – being locked out.

And that changed into handiest while the device wasn’t installation badly in other ways. For instance, one ticket tout within the mid-00s, faced with a Captcha at Ticketmaster, located that the whole device becomes pre-generated: the ticketing website had simplest loaded about 30,000 captchas into its database. The tout’s group, in reality, downloaded every Captcha picture they might, then stayed up all night time manually fixing them. From then on, the boat may want to buy tickets routinely without trouble.

However, the first large breakthrough in Captchas to hit the net had nothing to do with making it harder for robots to pass them. Rather, it was an insight that all the attempt human beings had been putting into gazing squiggly text will be ways higher carried out.

prove you’re not a robot

Dubbed reCaptcha, the concept came from Luis von Ahn in 2008, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has because co-founded language studying startup Duolingo. Von Ahn realised that if People have been doing something that Computers found difficult – analysing distorted text – they have to as a minimum be examining text this is useful.

ReCaptcha replaced the autogenerated textual content in preceding Captchas with words drawn from scanned textual content which includes newspapers, books and magazines: textual content that needed to become a PC-readable type. It still distorted the images, to be able to preserve Computers out. However, the real words typed in have been fed back to the database to enhance the original information.

That added a second hassle, even though: if a computer can’t examine the phrase presented, how does the machine realise whether the person got it right or incorrect? Von Ahn’s answer turned into to offer pairs of words, one already solved and one unknown word. If the respond in the primary one fits that given previously, then the user might be a human – and so the second one answer also receives delivered to the database, and finally presented to a brand new person.

The idea turned into compelling, mainly to one net titan: in September 2009, Google offered reCaptcha. The acquisition made feel. The organisation now not handiest had a large wide variety of account creation requests, way to spammers seeking to create Gmail debts en masse, it also had a vast corpus of text to digitise, the result of its controversial plan to scan in hundreds of thousands of books and newspapers. The one’s incentives also intended Google should make reCaptcha unfastened for different groups to apply, with the server fees being recouped by using the treasured data.

But even though reCaptcha made proving you’re a human useful, it couldn’t beat the development of automatic textual content recognition. As early as 2008, the Captcha concept becomes already beginning to fall at the back of. Not simplest were robots getting higher at analysing even distorted text; However spammers had been starting to use reCaptcha’s concept against it: if Humans can do paintings greater than robots, why no longer get them to do the paintings? Via supplying up something without spending a dime (this being the net, it’s usually porn), a spammer may want to persuade humans often to remedy another website online’s Captchas for them, using just copying the picture over.

Captchas have advanced in response, with Google introducing an increasing number of diffused technological tricks to attempt to inform whether or not a consumer is or isn’t a human. That culminated in 2014 when it brought the “No Captcha reCaptcha”. The shape seems like a simple container: stick it to verify which you aren’t a robotic. Not like textual content-based totally Captchas, the mechanisms via which Google tells whether or not it’s handling a robotic were intentionally obscured. The organization stated it employed “superior risk analysis” software program, which video display units things like how the user types, where they flow their mouse, wherein they click on and how long it takes them to test a page, all with the aim of running out which behaviours are human-like and that are too robot.

That’s probably how the new Invisible reCaptcha works, despite the fact that the agency is even more silent almost about that. In response to a request for elaboration, Google handiest related to a promotional video.

However, the No Captcha reCaptcha didn’t imply the death of beneficial Captchas. Instead, they’ve developed too, moving beyond text to assist Google’s other massive records tasks.

google

If Google decides you aren’t human with its strange voodoo, it’ll now show you a group of pix and ask you to unwittingly teach its system getting to know systems in numerous approaches. Some customers is probably proven a grid complete of animal pix and be requested to pick out each cat (beneficial education for Google snapshots’ capability to search thru you photos for keywords you provide); others might be shown a photograph taken from an Avenue View vehicle and asked for kind of the door numbers of houses (beneficial for improving the accuracy of the corporation’s maps) or choose every a part of the photograph that incorporates street signs (helpful for training the company’s self-driving automobiles). Nonetheless, others might be shown an image of an army helicopter and asked to pick All the squares that incorporate a helicopter (beneficial schooling for … well, probably for image recognition, However maybe for Google’s plan to take over the arena with AI).

In the long run, even though, Google’s plan to do away with the burden of a reCaptchas altogether method that it’s going to get less and much less of this information from end customers. But given the company’s scale, even the individuals who fail the invisible reCaptcha might nicely offer sufficient extra facts to offer Google’s AI plans but more of a boost against the opposition. Who knows, maybe the Invisible Captcha is also schooling an AI a way to act like a human online?