#the definition of meta has changed in the last decade
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I want to get into old movies (say 1930s to maybe 1980s) because I watched Casablanca and it was really good, so I followed it up with Sunset Boulevard (1950) which was also really good. Then a friend recommended Night of the Comet (1984) which was very different but really good too. I think the old movies which survived this long were better written then most of the stuff that comes out now.
Sooo... do you have any favorite old movies? Or just general recommendations (would also be interested in Muffin's recs if she's got any)
This is my third time typing this out for you... browser keeps reloading.
I do love older movies, you have come to the right place, @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin loves older movies too (I'm saying "older", not "old", since 1980's movies aren't old and I refuse to believe they are).
I'll give you my recs by genre, not decade.
And this list is really a list of the movies that came to mind as I sat down to type this, so please, please come back with a more specific request as 1930's-1980's really covers... most of the movies that have been made.
Action
Jaws Very famous movie, this is Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People but with sharks.
Terminator What do you do if you lose the war, but you have a time machine? Travel back in time to kill your enemy's mother before she can birth him. Meanwhile in the 1980's Sarah Connor is having a very bad day.
Epics, romance, biographical and historical (yes, I'm lumping these together)
Amadeus About a man who is not Mozart, and upset about the fact.
Bridge on the River Kwai One of my all-time favorite movies: man is torn between loyalty to his country, and building a great bridge (this is a misleading summary: he's not torn at all, bridge wins hands down). The ending is parodied in Tropic Thunder, if you've seen that movie.
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) Sexy French aristocrats conspire to ruin each other's lives with sex.
Doctor Zhivago By my favorite director, this is a love story that really feels like Lawrence of Arabia if Lawrence was a woman and they were in Russia.
Godfather I and II Not overrated.
Lawrence of Arabia Man keeps trying to quit his job because sometimes all desert and no break from desert makes Lawrence a homicidal boy. Allenby says "Nonsenese, chap, you're doing wonderfully!" Cinematic history is made.
Horror and thrillers
The Exorcist I sometimes wonder if this movie should not have been made, because lesser movies have tried to recreate what Exorcist managed so well for decades, and all they've done is make bad movies that make me wish I was watching the Exorcist.
Nosferatu The year was 1922, no real precedent for copyright infringement had been had, and the producers of this movie which is definitely not Dracula by Bram Stocker were shocked and appalled they were... sued?? For theft of intellectual property? No!!! Coincidentally the most faithful adaptation of Dracula by Bram Stoker in existence. And free literally everywhere since it's 102 years old, you can watch this movie on its wikipedia page.
Sunset Boulevard While it's a well-known fact that a lot of silent movie actors and actresses were unable to adjust to the change when "talkies" were introduced, and they subsequently lost their careers, the window for casting one such washed up actress has long since closed. Sunset Boulevard, released in 1950, was able to do this however which makes it all the more meta and delightful.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? The only two people who hate each other more than the sisters this movie is about, were the actresses who played them. To the point of Joan Crawford sabotaging the movie's chances with the Oscars, because she hated Betty Davies that much (Betty Davies called her a stupid idiot for doing this).
Musicals
Fiddler on the Roof Just watch it.
My Fair Lady "The rain in Spain falls mainly on Henry Higgins because he's stupid."
Westerns
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidd Fun romp about two charming criminals, and how good things don't always last.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly I frankly forget what the plot was for this one, I just remember having a great time watching it.
Foreign section
Det syvende innseglet (The Seventh Seal) A knight plays a game of chess with Death.
Jean de Florette + Manon des Sources French accountant moves to the countryside to farm rabbits, this does not go well for him. In the sequel, his daughter has gotten interesting.
La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful) When we watched this in Italian class I had to leave during the first half to go the school nurse, came back during the second half. Greatest whiplash of my life.
Ladri di bicicletta (Bicycle Thieves) Some poor fool looked at Italy after WWII and thought "I bet people want a depressing movie about poverty". The movie bombed, but it's very good and I recommend it.
Ran King Lear, but in Japan.
Veiviseren (Pathfinder) First ever Saami movie, based on an old legend. Strongly recommend.
Bonus: TV shows
Columbo (first two seasons only) Sometimes you're the cleverest little criminal in the world :) but there's a stupid man in a stupid coat who won't stop asking you stupid questions about things he shouldn't be so obsessed about because it's making you look guilty (which you are but he's being rude!)
I, Claudius Fantastic about the imperial Roman family in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. And available for free on youtube!
The Prisoner Unnamed man tries unsuccessfully to leave a beautiful village. You can watch the episodes in any order you like, doesn't matter, he's not getting out of that village.
Bonus: 90's movies
Goodfellas Hilarious, horrible, and so entertaining. A mafia movie about horrible people who like money.
Se7en One of the only noir movies I've liked, this is something of a comfort movie for me. This and Silence of the Lambs are mandatory yearly watches for me. Watch this and you'll finally get all those "WHAT'S IN THE BOX??" jokes.
Silence of the Lambs Possibly my favorite feminist movie, to the point where I sincerely believed this was appropriately described as a chick flic. It's the film where Clarice Starling discovers the only person who'll treat her like an equal is the serial killer cannibal.
The Usual Suspects Your parents have seen this movie, and it was huge for them.
Total Recall Just a great adaptation of one of my favorite short stories.
Unforgiven THE Western movie, what you should do is watch a bunch of Clint Eastwood Westerns and then wrap it up with this one because it's a sequel to all of them.
Bonus: directors to look for
Ingmar Bergman (watch his movies and discover a lot of the films you like are just remakes of his things)
Clint Eastwood (a lot of his movies are newer, but he's so good. You should watch his things, I promise you will find one you like.)
Blake Edwards (fantastic comedic director, same sense of humor as Muffin and myself if that tells you anything)
Alfred Hitchock (he's not in fact overrated)
David Lean (god of directors)
Pier Paolo Pasolini (huge name in Italian cinema)
Steven Spielberg (also not overrated)
Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, among others. Hilarious director)
Please. Give me a more specific genre.
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hi kris!!!! as a longtime Jelsa shipper, have you noticed a shift in the random over the past 10+ years? esp as a writer? has the fandom lessened? is Jelsa still as popular?
HI NONNY, THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTION.
long story, short: yes and no! i could honestly write a whole essay on this. 🤣 perhaps one day i will come back and reblog this and add some more definitive thoughts when i have the time 💕💕💕💕💕
for now, i can say that (1) while there are definitely ebbs and flows to any fandom/any ship, and although ship wars/fandom!in-fighting/policing definitely fluctuate and change shape but typically persevere in one form or another... (2) at the end of the day, you can always find at least one peaceful, positive corner of the internet for pretty much any community 💕✨
i don't have any concrete metrics or data re: jelsa fandom stats (e.g., "activity" in terms of the number of fics/fanart/posts/metas/commentaries/headcanons/theories/etc., "population" lol however defined) that we might try to use to operationally define how "active/big" a fandom might be at any given time, but based on nothing but pure personal, anecdotal experience: although activity fluctuates, inevitably, jelsa has been a pretty steady ship! off the top of my head, i can think of a few key "boosts" in which activity really ramped up... for example, we saw a boost in activity during the frozen ii release, unsurprisingly lol, and certainly, another boost now with @callimara's ✨unhinged✨ video, resulting in our #kriscallicollab madness, more than you know, which has been SO AMAZING and inspiring and exciting and HEART-SQUEEZING to witness and to be a part of. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🙏🙏🙏💕 overall, there's always new jelsa community activity each year! and remember, i also took a 3-ish-year on-again-off-again break from tumblr during the pandemic and the start of my ph.d. program and Life Activity, so i also missed out on a pretty active jelsa-tumblr time period too! like, nowadays, there are plenty of times i see a jelsa art or graphic on my dash made from 2019/2020/2021 that i've never seen before and it's like a special surprise treat 😂😂💕
it's also been very cool to see so many members of our OG community still enjoying life in the jelsa tag, or replying/commenting/liking posts and leaving comments on fics, or creating new art and fic, after so many years 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 so many beautiful, lifelong friendships have been forged through this ship! likewise, there are so many newcomers or lurkers-turned-active-members and new community members that we've been able to meet in just the last few months alone, which is so exciting and really inspiring 💕💕💕 there's just a lot of respect—regardless of newness-or-OGness, generations (e.g., the Elder Millennials and Gen X-ers and Gen Z-ers)—going in a lot of different directions, and that, luckily, is something that has stayed pretty consistent in the jelsa fandom for over a decade 🥹🥹🥹💕💕💕✨✨
not sure how "popular" it is compare to other ships, though, i've never thought about it! 😂 that bit doesn't matter 💕 just happy to still be here and enjoying our hobbies and creation and community, as ever 💕💕💕💕💕
THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTION NONNY, HAVE AN AMAZING DAY ✨
#jelsa#therentyoupay ask#therentyoupay anon#THANK YOU NONNY FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL ASK 💕💕💕💕 perhaps one day i will be able to write a proper essay but#i hope you enjoy these little ponderings for now hahahaha 💕💕💕💕#therentyuopay on jelsa#threntyoupay on fandom
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What We do in the Shadows is going to break the fourth wall in a major way in S6. Here’s why.
I know I’ve been super annoying about this, but I’m literally convinced a real world episode is going to happen in season 6 of WWDITS.
Commonly referred to as “The French Mistake” Episode in reference to Supernatural’s The French Mistake which was itself a reference to Blazing Saddles which broke the fourth wall and (decades old spoiler alert) was discovered to be filmed on a film set.
The real-world episode is a trope in television where a character or characters discover for some reason that they are on a film set (either being transported by magic or maybe in a dream).
Sitcom Growing Pains (1985-1992) and sci-fi show Eerie, Indiana (1991-1992) are two of these early examples of where characters enter a tv set version of their lives, for different reasons.
Growing Pains, in sitcom fashion, was to teach a moral lesson.
Eerie, for its spooky episodes, was to showcase how supernatural and mysterious the town was.
And of course, Supernatural, known for its specific monster-of-the week style episodes, does so for its meta-commentary on the show.
Now why would WWDITS do one of these style episodes?
Well, it’s a comedy for one. Putting your characters in situations that are “out of the norm” helps make the conflicts more hilarious. It’s a fish-out-of-water situation.
The show is also meta as fuck. Maybe not in the same way as Supernatural did, but there are fourth wall breaking moments. Especially related to the documentary itself.
Unlike those other shows, WWDITS characters are meant to be on camera. This show is aware of its cameras at all times. The characters are constantly filmed and understand they are being filmed.
And my last reason, which I believe is the biggest reason, is for Guillermo’s character development.
Since they are constantly filmed, a lot of Nandor and Guillermo’s relationship has not been able to progress as much as it can. Nandor, like the other vampires, obviously doesn’t care about the cameras. Nudity and sex on camera doesn’t bother them. They arn’t holding much back. (Although you could argue Nandor might be holding back some feelings, as well).
Guillermo is definitely holding back. The most private character in front of the cameras. He is the most aware. And because he is aware, he never lets all of himself be revealed.
This is something that would help him if he wasn’t being filmed anymore. Taking the documentary element away and confronting the actors, producers, and potentially even Paul Simms himself, could change Guillermo at his core.
This would make himself more comfortable being his true self in front of the cameras, especially when it comes to his feelings about Nandor which he has consistently denied to the audience and other characters, even when it’s pretty obvious.
Now, could the other characters benefit from meeting the other actors and film crew? Yes. Nandor would certainly be a good character for this. Meeting Harvey could potentially break Nandor’s brain. Something I would love to see.
And Colin would be downright hilarious in this setting.
But, tbh, I think this episode would have Nandor and Guillermo confront their feelings, as we (the audience)would then see the motivations behind the characters. The notes in the script that we don’t get to see. Paul Simms referencing Nandermo ala Supernatural’s Fan Fiction.
It’s the perfect setting for a one-off comedy episode but also great for fan service…and the perfect set up for Nandermo to begin.
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And now, some meta about the witches of Umora
I’m mulling over how the witches’ mission statement is to serve as mediator between powerful entities with conflicting needs to prevent disaster.
Right now, the powerful entities in questions are exclusively identified as Spirits. But by definition, mediation is not one sided — in fact, the witches are called in to mediate because the mortals in Umora are a significant power unto themselves.
This skillset is not limited to working with Spirits with a capital “S”. In fact, the witches are well equipped to take up mediation between powerful entities beyond the world of spirits at all.
Consider:
On the scale of unfathomable power, destructiveness and exquisite grace, the Citadel might as well be a Great Spirit of Umora - perhaps a vassal of a greater entity in the Empire, perhaps its own independent creature.How about the others? We haven’t seen much of Ruhv or Gaothmai yet, but we know they’re powerful - powerful enough that the war has lasted decades.
Moreover: the entity of a state lives on even as individual members of it dies. They don’t live forever but they have the capacity to live for a long ass time- so too with spirits. And it goes without saying that the firepower controlled by just one of these factions outstrips the power a single mortal commands by unfathomable orders of magnitude.
So: the Citadel drops bombs and commits genocide because it values power above human life. Orima stands poised to destroy an entire city (an entire region) in revenge of her husband. I don’t think those motivations are equivalent, BUT both entities prioritize what THEY want over the wellbeing of the communities they act upon. Worth noting that there are spirits who act by nature in ways that are extremely evil by our value system, far less justified than Orima— let us not forget that Pomeroy is not the only one of his kind, and certainly not the most powerful.
So, independent of my personal beliefs about the empire (death first to tyrants and imperialists), the witches BY THEIR STATED ROLE must find balance between hostile parties and not to pick one side to fight for over the other. The most important lesson Grandmother Wren taught Ame is that witches must not force people to change just because you don’t like how they act.
Right now: we don’t know precisely what the other witches want. But if they join the war on the side of any faction? They’re hypocrites.
Witches are so quick to pass judgement on the arrogance of wizards. It bothers me.
More to follow, but that’s something I’m thinking about right now.
#worlds beyond number#wbn spoilers#wbn meta#the coven of elders#tales of Umora#Ame the witch#the wizard the witch and the wild one#the wizard steel#the wizard sky#The Kehmsarazan Empire
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@ the nonny with the two-part ask (which I'm not adding here bc of the references):
The thing is, that the perception of the show characters clashes for some with the more than established (as in 50 years established) version.
The show added an astonishing meta level and social commentary, and if fanfiction does not add that - or does not add it to the satisfaction of some - then that is sometimes seen as an affront.
Now, I do not know the fic you were talking about, and I did not go to check. I am mostly staying in canon myself, because as said before, I waited over 3 decades for my vampires, and I have no need to go AU on them, not when THIS canon exists^^.
However, that is just me.
Given the fact Anne herself wrote a lot of fanfiction (let's be real, the Jesus books? For example? Also I'd invite you to read what Neil Gaiman says about his own writing there, for example....) - it's only logical that people would go and write whatever they wanted with her characters now as well.
There is no "one" lens through which this show and the books can be seen. There's millions. Because every one of us sees it all differently, shaped by life, circumstance and experience.
And if you want to write something that changes stuff in an AU setting - then that should obviously be fine. It's fanfiction.
The ultimate fix-it. The ultimate "I-want-this-to-be-different-so-I-add-to-it-or-change-it".
In the last years the "don't like don't read" has taken a serious dip though, there is a lot of people engaging with media because they hate it, and they feel welcome in groups that share this stance. There is also an uptick of puritanical need to censor.
And that reflects on Ao3 (or other fanfiction sites as well), as well as fandom spaces.
The absolutely correct need to point out fandom racism is conflated with missing knowledge of the source material and what the 50 year old canon actually provides (and maybe especially the newer books). I've been called things, because people just do not know what happens in "Merrick", for example. Or in the last trilogy. They don't know, and they jump to the one explanation that makes sense... to them.
So that is something that one needs to be aware of, I think.
There is a big mix of knowledge right now - and it clashes in a definitely not comfortable way.
And, last but maybe not least - a fanfic is no meta.
It's a fic. A story. A tale. Its own thing. A different thing, too.
It should be treated as such. Imho.
#asks#ask nalyra#amc iwtv#iwtv#amc interview with the vampire#interview with the vampire amc#iwtv amc#iwtv 2022#interview with the vampire#fanfiction#vc#the vampire chronicles
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Only Friends and the communication pay off that I desperately need to scream about. (Plus a little bit of meta about themes of acceptance)
Back after Ep ah 3? 4? what is time anyway, I wrote a post about:
I love how Only Friends is exploring and portraying communication
I have been continuing to enjoy this central theme of communication and honesty being portrayed. And me and the watchbuddies have been fascinated by the way forced honesty, rather than honesty by choice, has been flowing through the last couple eps and wrecking the relationships.
But this ep? Oh. My God.
The Pay off
THE PAY OFF
Lets start with the quite little victory laps me, @shouldiusemyname and @plantsarepeopletoo were doing through nearly every convo of this episode...
Ray Mew:
Kind of hard to read in tiny but we got it completely, Ray and Mew went to progress things physically, it got stopped, Ray got angry and then lo and behold we got that final (Beautiful) Ray Mew convo about how they were both basically using the other... Also Orya calling the survival of the Friendship as well 10/10
Also Paprika gets all the credit for the Honesty Theme
Also Sand Ray...
FINALLY COMMUNICATED SOBER (and then they kept doing it we got, what, 4 talking scenes??)
But then This Ep was all...you want honest communication huh?
HOLD. MY. BEER.
Sand Ray communication (plus more there was so much this ep, their journey of communication was so goooooood)
Ray Mew Communication (x2)
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Boston Nick communication - or well Nick to Boston, but we got to leave something for the rest of the series
Nick Sand communication, not that they needed it but again oh my god, honesty leading to continued/further closeness.
Only Friends is really hammering home the point
And the point, in this ep, was about Honesty, Communication and ACCEPTANCE
Top voiced acceptance for Mew's needs in that moment, even as it wasn't what he wanted.
Nick accepts Boston's choice in that moment, even though it wasn't what he wanted.
Sand accepts Ray's conflicted feelings in that moment, even though it wasn't what he wanted. And in this case, also clearly conveyed that he wouldn't be waiting around if he got a better offer, while Ray figured himself out. and Ray had to accept that.
Even Cheum and Mew got a bonding moment over honesty and acceptance
...
There's so many things I could say with all the themes and connections whirling through the show.
The way honesty and surviellance are intertwined with forced honesty causing breakdown and Top's choice not to force Ray and Mew into that, even after he'd been forced, lead to him unknowlingly regaining some of Mew's trust.
Further links into discussions on the generational divide and the juxtoposition of presenting a queer community so reminiscent of the decades before technology permeated through our society and yet dogged by technology at every moment (@shouldiusemyname and I have been talking about this one a lot - how the present and the past are colliding in this show to show how things have and haven't changed from before the turn of the millenia)
The way hope continues to permeate through because being in your 20s is messy, and it's supposed to be, but that doesn't make anyone to broken to be loved.
More pain shall definitely come
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/244657bb4d91ec0eb7d40139366f48fa/b833b7f42ad0ab18-5d/s540x810/72dee8a883e5da14d9d54ac135fe3e0afd2cf42b.jpg)
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Because a moment of honesty does not lead to perfection, and these characters still have a lot of growing to do...
But I am continuing to adore the honesty of the show
it's characters
it's themes
it's relationships
it's emotions
I'm adoring the heart of Only Friends
and I can't wait to see what's next
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6bf833dcf95d30049dfa89c97f287059/b833b7f42ad0ab18-26/s540x810/5761b132bf5bcc242de9bc8032d212bb690ad508.jpg)
#ofts#only friends the series#only friends#onlyft#only friends meta#roc goes haywire over only friends#rturts is wondering
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Hey hi! I read your Helena Wells meta earlier, from ten years ago, and I found it so interesting and spot on, and at the end you were so sad that you felt like you didn't have a good grasp on the character - do you feel that has changed, since then? And if so, how? Or, what do you think of Helena these days?
(the meta you posted and linked here: https://www.tumblr.com/purlturtle/736985181321314304/your-helena-tangent-got-me-thinking-and-yes-this )
Oooo fun and deep questions! :D Thank you!!
Obviously, that was 2.5 high schools ago so I had to reread my original meta to refresh my memory. My first thought is: OMFG LEARN PARAGRAPH BREAKS!! O_O But then, as I kept reading and saw how many spaces were missing after periods and how the sentences after the missing space read like a new paragraph -- my second thought is, I think Tumblr did me dirty at some point in the last 10 years of formatting changes and I actually did use appropriate paragraph breaks originally. Rude. -_-
But on the point of your actual questions! lol
I don't remember writing that exact post, but being nervous and uncertain about my Helena characterization does ring a bell. I was DEFINITELY more confident in analyzing/meta-ing Myka or Pete (if it was in relation to Myka). HG made me nervous and that was only like 10% because she's British and I'm American.
Some of my uncertainty probably came from my lack of historical knowledge (which has not improved. Fun fact: this is why I nearly never invented an artifact for fic). A not-insignificant portion of my uncertainty probably also came from how confident the rest of the fandom spoke about Helena. It seemed like she was meta-ed more often and by more people than Myka was. (Which makes sense as -- in general -- Helena was/probably still is the more popular character in the B&W ship.) I don't remember ever feeling like someone was way off base or out of character with Helena, but I do remember reading meta/fic sometimes and struggling to decide if I disagreed with a character trait/action that the person assigned her or if it was an accurate aspect of Helena's character that I hadn't internalized yet.
Basically I had Opinions about how Myka (and Pete for that matter) should be written and definitely noticed when a fic disagreed with me. But figuring out HG was like the wild west to me and I could never pin her down with firm barriers on who her character is and isn't.
I am very, very rusty on my Warehouse 13 knowledge because it's been nearly a decade since I was deep in my analyzation of the show. So, I wouldn't say I have a better grasp on Helena's characterization today than I did in 2014. But there are some aspects I feel like I could understand better if I took the time to rewatch and meta.
Loss of a child -- look I don't have children, but I do have niblings now that I adore. I'm also raising a dog who taught me I do not have the energy or anxiety coping mechanisms to raise a human child, because worrying about her almost does me in on its own. And I'm in my mid-30's now and seem to have a better understanding of parent-child relationships (or I'm at least way more interested in exploring them now, both from the view of the child and the view of the parent). So, exploring Christina's death and just how much that affected Helena would absolutely be on my list of deep-dives. I never ignored this before, but I'm certain I could pull more out of this backstory today than I could've in 2014.
Helena's guilt -- I started rambling at the end of that post about which things Helena felt guilty about and whether she felt guilty at all. As far as I remember, I usually wrote her as feeling some measure of guilt for her past actions. (Although I was also usually writing full AU settings so it was a moot point.) But I also wasn't wrong when I pointed out how she didn't show any obvious signs of regret over her S2 actions, unless it was something that had hurt Myka. If I was going to go back and meta WH13, I would explore this topic deeper for sure.
Interestingly, it's not something I could've explored deeper prior to 2022-ish. But now I've watched the series Lucifer which deals entirely with guilt and has a protagonist with shut down emotions who doesn't regret things and then, through incremental changes over 6 seasons, opens up, learns to feel every emotion again, unpacks a lot of shit etc. And I have been FASCINATED by how the writers pulled that off, because on the surface it is not a show (or a protagonist) that I should care about. (And if I had watched it from ep 1.01 instead of completely ass backwards, I wouldn't have cared about him.) BUT I DO CARE! And I want to know how they pulled off Lucifer's character arc. And then I want to use some of the techniques they used to explore guilt and pain and apply them to Helena to see what emerges in her character. Because I think it would be really interesting.
And then finally, I'm not sure I have anything new to bring to the conversation around what Helena's future with the warehouse and/or happy ending looks like. But I could also never make up my mind on what would work best for her. Does she return as an agent? Does she become a regent? (Probably not, but you never know.) Does she just become the live-in inventor who doesn't venture into the field unless absolutely necessary? I have absolutely no idea what her future with the warehouse would look like if a romantic relationship with Myka is her happy ending. (Which is my personal goal obviously lol).
Because -- and this is where my Opinions on Myka come into play -- our girl Myka Bering is not leaving that warehouse. Ever. She is the new Artie. She will take over as the lead agent when he retires/partially retires. And then she will die there. In South Dakota of old age (because I refuse to let her die on a mission). Pete? Oh, my boy Pete will meet an awesome lady and retire to be a stay at home dad. He'll walk away one day. Myka? Absolutely never. You're burying her at the warehouse. Which means Helena will have to have some kind of relationship with it again, and I would have to figure out what that looks like because both today and in 2014, I can't decide what option fits her best.
I hope this answers your question! It was so deep and I love it :D I just don't have new thoughts on WH13 yet because I haven't looped back around to a full blown obsession with it yet. (It will happen. Round 2 of BERING AND WELLS ARE THE BEST THING EVER will absolutely happen at some point in my life because that's how I roll and they are.) So this is less meta about how my thoughts on Helena have changed, and more about how my approach to her character would change given the experience I've gained in the last ten years.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK!
#Helena Wells#Warehouse 13#my meta#ask#purlturtle#yes I've started measuring time in the unit of measure 'high schools' (aka 4 years like American high schools)#because time lost meaning somewhere around 2013 when I got fully settled into my adult job
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Thank you for an amazing 2023!
About metas, fics and sparkly things…
This won’t be short, but you wouldn’t expect that from me, would you? 🤣
I’ve been on Tumblr for just a bit over a year because I needed to get off my family’s back after my three decades long Sandman brain-rot got worse again due to the Netflix series. I hovered around a handful of followers for months until things exploded (I still don’t know why tbh, I think it was one particular meta that kicked things off a bit), and I somehow ended up with hundreds of followers, which might not be much to some, but it’s a lot for me.
So to all of you I’d like to say: Thank you for being here. I don’t always manage to stay on top of things because my notifs are a mess and I lose track, plus I have a rather busy life and can often only write in batches and then queue, but each of you is appreciated, even if I accidentally forget to get back to you or if we aren’t mutuals.
I’ve made such lovely connections over the last year—my interest in The Sandman definitely does not align with the main focus that shan’t be named, and I’m glad that you folks are out there. You probably know who you are.
Now to the obligatory “your posts wrapped” thing—and I’m only doing it because I need to make a point (of course I do 🤣).
News and art
My by far most successful posts have been casting/shooting news and pretty pictures (two examples are linked). And I’m grateful for all the reblogs and likes of those, but apart from curating them, they’re not really me. They’re someone else’s work.
Meta analysis
Then you have my metas, which make up the bulk of the other posts that are doing quite well (you can find all of them in my pinned post).
Even if it wasn’t my most “successful” one (what does that even mean?), this one meant the most to me:
I love writing metas, whether they cover literary concepts, psychology, music or art because I’m a permanently brain-frazzled multi-hyphenate who has to talk about everything that won’t leave her alone.
I also love when you’re sending me asks btw. For the latter, I hope they pick up again in 2024 because they really nosedived since I switched off anonymous asks (which I won’t change, soz) after some people just thought it’s good sport to be an arse about my not being here to pray at the altar of the ship. I guess we have briefly covered the ugly side of Tumblr, too, then.
Writing
But what I'm most proud of when I think of all the things I've done in 2023 is my fiction and poetry. And that's both a happy and slightly sad thing to address.
My 31 Haikus for Sandtober started as a bit of fun, but they’ve developed a life of their own, and people seemingly liked them. The post also contains a bit of my fan-art:
I still intend to turn them into a hardcover at some point, but I won’t be able to create all the artwork myself, so if you’re a fan-artist and want to know what I’m thinking of, please get in touch (I’ll still talk about this in more detail at some point though).
The other thing I’m incredibly proud of is “The Light of Stars”.
I started it as a NaNoWriMo project in 2022 (I always use NaNo to do something that is less stressful than my professional writing projects), wrote it in a bit more than a month—and then did nothing with near 80,000 words until June 2023.
And then I thought “Fuck it,” and published it on Ao3. It’s a canon x OC fic, and this is where it gets a bit sad. Because for most of us writers, these are never the posts that get most engagement (the ratio is really something like 100 : 1 — 500 for a shitpost, 5 for an average writing post).
On Ao3, it gradually picked up because I published chapter after chapter, and I think I can say that it’s done fairly well over there in terms of engagement for an OC fic, and above all how people engage with it. Because it’s a bit deeper despite being romance, it deals with heavy topics like grief, and I’m so glad to have touched a few people’s hearts with it, and that it was meaningful to them. So much so that you all convinced me to write a sequel.
But here’s the thing: The general engagement with writing, especially non-explicit, non-ship, non-readerY/N on Tumblr is very, very low.
Writers who write canon x OC are still struggling to be heard through the noise (it’s not just me, I’ve had many conversations about this, so I’ll just say: I’ll speak for many of us). There are basically hardly any events for us to participate in (most of us only ever do so if we shift to canon one-shots, poetry or metas. If we don’t: Again, no one cares), and fandom often actively chooses to ignore us because “all OCs are self-inserts, ew.” Which is patently not true, and I could go on a long rant now why many canon x canon fics are very obvious self-inserts, which I won’t.
But even if all OCs were self-inserts, even if all characters were—so what? All writing is to a degree based on self-insertion because it comes from our brains—it’s not a bad thing. But apparently, it becomes a bad thing if the character is an OC, heaven knows why.
So if I had one wish (I’m allowed one, right?) for 2024, it would be that people engage more with OC fics and include them more in community events. That fandom, which prides itself in community, includes writers who don’t write for (the main) ship/s a bit more, especially if they don’t write smut (which I personally even do professionally, but I don’t want to have to do it in fanfic just to get engagement). I’m not holding my breath because I know that’s not where fandom’s oft single-minded focus lies, but a girl can dream, right?
And with that, I want to get to my proudest accomplishments of them all:
Being the curator queen of the sparkle realms:
Being one (arguably the main) instigator of the maddest crack ship that has ever graced (?) the face of the earth, spawned the most unhinged discussion (much truth in it though 🤣) and even NSFW fanart. I promise I’ll write that fic about Murphy and his Cool Hat:
Have a lovely 2024!
#2023 wrapped#the sandman#sandman#sandman meta#sandman fanfiction#sandman fanart#sparkle content#sparklecontent#murphy and his cool hat
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I, of course, was orphaned after leaving the SPN fandom, and got into Teen Wolf because of the gifsets. Teen Wolf was on it's second season by then, so I had to binge season 1 to catch up.
It was so much fun!! It was really the last time I felt connected to a big fandom! We would all liveblog the episodes (RIP to my SPN followers who were annoyed with me for not tagging it), we'd argue about whether or not Allison should apologise, we'd yell about the treatment of black and brown characters, and then the Scott vs Derek war happened and we all yelled at each for MONTHS.
I think THAT is when the phrase "Defense Squad" started. I never saw it in use in the fandom before then, but we were definitely splintered off into camps at that point.
I remember the beginnings of Failwolf Friday. Pink Undies Sunday. Who first wrote the phrase "Derek lets his eyes bleed red" to indicate that Derek's eyes changed colour? I don't know but that pioneer lives on in every Sterek fic (because we all stole that phrase immediately).
Also we had knotting BEFORE omegaverse became a thing, and without any of the weird gender rules.
lol i was on ontd_spn too and followed the mass fandom migration to tumblr.
teen wolf fandom is important to the history of fandom culture on this god forsaken webbed site in large because it was a fandom that took off after the large livejournal migrations and the end of the closed fan forum. we had no where else to go to interact and twitter always has and will always suck at being a place for fandom.
i also started watching in s2. i binge watched all of s1 in a night at my then job and was right on time to join fandom right when abomination aired.
i loved supernatural but i cannot emphasize how hard it was to break into that fandom. one thing about livejournal i never cared for was how easy it was for cliques to form and if you didn't befriend the right person your meta, your fics or your discussion thoughts went into a black fucking hole.
at least on tumblr there was a higher chance of engagement. your posts would be in the main tag and if you by chance got reblogged by someone with a higher follower count you would then get more followers. meta would be passed around and developed with additions and commentary by others. it was so much fun.
gif sets were a new method of communication of ideas. we could easily do parallels, create visual au's and just generally engage in a new but fun and interesting way.
tumblr leveled the playing field in a lot of ways for smaller creators.
of course the old fandom ways of shipping wars and rivalries happened too and even now a decade later there's still division in the teen wolf fandom but sometimes i got to like the subreddit and i'm like "bro we had this discussion in 2013. this is a settled matter!"
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Hi the first lines of this meta really bothers me . As a new member in this fandom I really don't know who to believe so can u share ur thoughts on this ,thanks https://www.tumblr.com/bonearenaofmyskull/130488866068/okay-but-do-you-think-wills-actions-were-at-all?source=share
Hello again! This show is definitely complex enough to generate multiple interpretations. Personally, I disagree with the post you linked (in short, with the idea that a part of Will embraced Hannibal at the cliff because he knew it would overwhelm him and he needed this effect to push him off without Hannibal suspecting what's coming).
I don't believe that there was any manipulation on Will's part then. In fact, I don't think he knew he was going to push them off until the very last seconds - this is typical Will and we have numerous precedents where he decides something quite literally at the last moment. Also, usually, it's possible to know when Will is doing any manipulations. His demeanor changes: he moves, sounds, and looks differently. I don't see anything but honesty from him at the cliff.
Finally, I think the idea of him having ulterior motives takes away from the point of this scene: Will has finally accepted who he is. He accepted his Becoming, his feelings for Hannibal, the inevitable outcome of his decades-long fight with himself. He's the most genuine and honest here than we've ever seen him before - he's no longer lying to anyone, including himself. So I think he's living in the moment, saying and doing what he means, with no room for manipulation, lies or double meanings.
If Will wanted to definitely kill Hannibal, enough to worry about him fighting back, there were many surer ways of doing it. He chose the one that doesn't guarantee death, and based on everything, I think he spontaneously decided to give fate the last chance to stop them both.
Will himself looks so overwhelmed by everything that has just taken place, I think he realizes where they are consciously only after laying his head on Hannibal's chest.
This is how I read this scene!
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Flash Thoughts 9x06
Can’t wait to hear people complaining about the lack of Barry in this episode
They always do
Already saw a Pagey video title saying The Flash “wasted” an episode
Even though these Barry-lite episodes were literally introduced last season so Grant Gustin can get some much-deserved breaks now and then
After a decade of being in almost every single scene of every single episode for 23 episode seasons
ugh
Anyways, ignoring the frustrating factors of Arrowverse discourse, the episode itself was pretty charming. I’m glad they dealt with the status quo change and didn’t treat Joe and Jenna moving away like it would have no emotional impact. That easily could have happened.
I still think the resolution was a little flawed, but this episode had a lot of heart and a lot of charm.
Basically the main flaw is that i think there wasn’t really a proper reconciling with the fact that Cecile missed something so important to both her and Jenna. There’s no doubt what she’s doing is worthwhile, and I’m glad Allegra was able to help her see that she was catastrophizing about Jenna’s response, but i think the fact that she missed this tradition should still have been taken seriously, especially on Jenna’s end. This kind of thing is something kids are very sensitive to, and there was a lot of focus on Cecile’s fears not being founded without any real focus on Jenna’s actual feelings. Feels a little extra weird after Cecile talks to a heartbroken Jenna. The execution just makes it feel more like rationalizing than i really would have liked, even if the broad strokes make sense.
Becky’s a lot of fun. Kinda a bit vapid, but not without substance or pathos. Very charming performance. She’s definitely a fan favorite for a reason. And we got some interesting metahuman stuff, with that power reverser tech. Neat idea! Especially fun for a luck-based power set. I actually guessed in advance that the thing messing her up was her wedding ring but...married fem folks, can you confirm for me whether you NEVER take your wedding ring off? That seems like it is probably a myth of some kind. But, tell me if I’m wrong.
The “villain” wasn’t anything special, but i did enjoy his smarmy, smug performance, and seeing him tumble down the stairs and lose all his winnings was pretty satisfying.
the stuff with Khione is definitely intriguing
Obviously Mark wanted to believe that some part of frost still lived on, and my mixed feelings on Mark as a character aside, i think the acting for him has been quite solid this season. I really like how Khione reframed things for him, about how more of Frost lives on in him than her. That’s really lovely. And some people might be getting fed up with her nature metaphors, but I think it’s a cool way to show her grappling with the complexities of the world using something she understands.
And the idea that she’s neither meta nor human is very interesting.
Oh yeah and Chuck and Allegra are very cute
And next week, DREAMER!!
See you then!
#flash thoughts#the flash#the flash season 9#flash spoilers#khione#cecile horton#lady luck#hazard#metahuman#chillblaine#arrowverse#arrowverse positivity#Review
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for the WIP game, weigh your shadow is intriguing me!
AH! This is a long running Naruto work -- and the third in a series called 'Six for Hell' that I have yet to complete, but basically it follows a version of Uchiha Tajima (very background character in the Warring Clans Era of Naruto) up until his death.
Six for Hell is an exploratory Naruto fic series that's also set in an early 20th Century China AU and follows the parallels between the Warring Clans Era/early Village Founding of Naruto and the chaos of the decades following the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Warlord Era, the (brief) Republican Era and the Chinese Civil War.
This is what I wrote about the series as a whole when I started it in 2021:
So this fic series is a bit more experimental in nature than I had first set out to do, but “all this scarcity promotes” is the first of a series of six rather small fics, embodying six different povs over the span of roughly 42 years (from 1907 to 1949). The early half of the 20th century was one of great upheaval and change in China, featuring the collapse of the last imperial dynasty, the rise of local warlordism, steady invasion from Japan and the West, conflicting centers of political thought, a bloody civil war, huge changes in art, literature, technology, and social structure, and vast, vast wealth and technological disparities between regions, people, and movements. I am definitely no expert on the time period or what its impacts and reach has wrought on our current modernity, but it seems only fair to acknowledge that this fic series takes a lot of inspiration from the social and political changes that influenced the era, and that I see a lot of parallels between it and the canonical Warring Clans Era. What little we do see of that time period shows huge changes in social structure, political thought, and eventually, structure of government. Which is all to say that this might be a bit too meta and too serious for what amounts to be, in the end, a Naruto fanfic, but hey, I thought it would be fun to mention if any readers ever wonder “from where has the author gotten all of these plot/setting details and or themes??” In any case, welcome aboard. This is the world of “Six” — one filled with magical ninjas, societal collapse, invasion, battery powered flashlights, and an angry young man with his accidentally adopted weird kid.
:D thanks for the ask!
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Sweet Pie And By
Unexpected guests these days is probably a rarity, thanks to our always-on communication channels. It’s easy to let folks know in advance. But trust me, in ye olden days it was a very real possibility that your long lost cousins might just wind up on your front porch unannounced. Worse yet, it was dinner time, and you had only baked one pie.
Being the nice person you are, you welcomed them inside with open arms, and set out a few more plates. But what to do about that pie? You had planned on it being enough for your family, not anyone else, and there isn’t time to bake another.So you do what you have to do: slice it into smaller pieces.
The pie metaphor is a perfect one for when it comes to displaying information, whether it is sales, demographics, budgets, or whatever. And ever since digital marketing became a thing in the last 30 years, it applied even more so. You see, back when I took my first marketing course at university, that topic had not really been considered, and all that marketers had to consider were print, broadcast, and outdoor. When digital arrived, it meant there were unexpected guests at the table.
As I explain to my students, the advertising pie did not get bigger just because there were more places to spend it. No, it meant that the slices got smaller. Now that we have had quite a few years of juggling both traditional and digital marketing, we can see trends at work, because unlike when serving food to yourself and guests, there is no reason to expect that both traditional and digital will be treated as equals.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/69cdc5811796bf040563def46b2b8aed/98f1166b1618f3dd-38/s540x810/16fc331c83b196a585b23107357d0478967d0ddd.jpg)
And the trend is definitely pointing toward digital these days, with digital growing 8.7% in 2Q, and traditional shrinking 4.1%.
That’s not to say that traditional will go away any time soon, although I suspect it will continue to decline in allocations. After all, Baby Boomers will be fading into the sunset, replaced by tech-savvy Gen-Zers who tilt toward digital. Still, there will likely always be a place for traditional media to some extent.
We may stream most or all of our content these days, but unless you opt for the premium package, you’re still going to be seeing ads. Outdoor still works, and is far safer than the driver playing with his phone. While newspapers are in steep decline, magazines are holding their own.
Digital’s hunger, though, is allowing it to get more of the pie, and that hunger is turned into eyeballs who might just reach for their wallet. It’s all about spending your money wisely, not equally.
In fact, digital will account for 68% of ad spending this year, with Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon accounting for 59% of all ad spending. Think about that. These three companies—social, search, and stuff—are really just giant ad agencies masquerading as household words.
Naturally, ad budgets will ebb and flow from year to year, based on corporate needs, the state of the economy, and so forth. It’s just that now, still a mere three decades since the current era began, the paradigm shift keeps shifting. When two out of three ad dollars are spent on platforms that did not exist until recently, you can begin to appreciate just how much of a tidal shift there has been.
Now you know why traditional media—God love ‘em—are nervous. If a traditional media outlet has not yet found a way to offer digital options, they may be out of business soon. Clinging only to the old school is a recipe for short-term demise. Sure, there will be people who read a newspaper and watch linear broadcast television until their dying day, but the number of those people is dwindling fast. Remember, they are being replaced by Gen-Zers, who have no attachments to ink smudges on their fingers or having to watch a show when it airs.
And me, I just love having a ring side seat to it all. I have loved being in the middle of all this change, from my very first course in 1977, to teaching it starting in 1983, all the way to the present. Let the evolution—of marketing, of me, of you—continue. And when the next unexpected guest shows up, because you know that something new will come along in this field, then welcome it inside and set another place at the table.
Dr “Slice It Thinner” Gerlich
Audio Blog
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the big issue is that meta wise the gods kind of HAVE to leave. they are a part of DND IP, unlike every other part of exandria. CR has been steadily trying to move all their pieces into their own IP for a while now, with daggerheart and everything. the most likely plan is for campaign 4 to be using the daggerheart system in the changed exandrian world, minus the gods that arent matts to own
Thank you for bringing up the point. I had thought of it last night, but honestly, it made me feel more icky.
Logic part of my brain knows this is probably likely a good chunk of it and definitely why Matt has been minimizing what effects the gods have had on the world and humanity between campaign 1 and now. I also would not ask of Matt to give up Exandria when he has worked so hard for over a decade to create it because it is his baby and he is absolutely allowed to move in any direction with the world or the story as he sees fit. Still makes me feel real icky inside even if logic part of my brain might understand that part of it. It is valid and makes sense on so many levels. But the emotion driven, nonsensical part of me still feels icky about it all and I wish I didn't.
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Blog Post 9 - Is VR The Future of The Gaming Industry?
Virtual reality has the power to completely change the way we make and play games. It creates a completely immersive gaming experience that has continued to advance over the last three decades. As the technology develops many people have asked the same question; can VR change the way we play games forever?
When looking at VR, the main argument in favour of its use in games is the fact that it has the ability to immerse a player into the game more than any other platform. Unlike regular console or PC gaming where a player is interacting with a screen, VR makes the player feel like they’ve actually been brought into the game environment in a 3D space, which allows them to interact with their surroundings in a way they never could with traditional gaming. This level of immersion created a better connection to the digital world, which increases the player engagement and overall gaming experience.
Additionally, the technology for VR has developed rapidly especially over the last five years, which makes it more accessible and affordable in some cases. Initially VR had a very limited audience because of the technology needed to make it work needed to be powerful and therefore expensive. With the introduction of VR headsets that don’t need a second platform, such as the Meta Quest, the price point is more accessible to a wider audience and are more convenient for the average gamer. With headsets like the Meta Quest, there has been an increase of VR games made or content that is compatible with VR. Interactive games like Beat Saber (2019) show how much VR has had an impact on the games market. Having made $225 million in sales since 2019 (Hayden, 2023), it’s considered one of the best VR games on the market, and in my opinion it’s by far one of the most immersive and interactive I’ve ever played. It creates a new level of interactivity and physicality that can’t be experienced in a traditional game, matching your movements to control a sword and hit different coloured cubes in an immersive dance game.
However, no matter how good and accessible VR gets, I think that expanding it on a mass scale will be challenging. A big concern for myself and many others when it comes to VR is the comfort aspect. Like many others, I suffer with motion sickness, and have found that no matter how far they’ve developed the technology it’s still a huge problem when playing for extended periods of time. This is something that needs to be looked into to make it more widely accessible, as there is an audience that won’t be able to play full games in VR without discomfort, and therefore probably wouldn’t invest in it just yet. I also find that with some games the quality of the visuals in the environment just isn’t quite there yet, which definitely has an impact on the immersion of the game. The gaming market is currently focused on consoles and PCs that already have a massive library of established games. Trying to convince an already established market to change to a completely different platform that currently isn’t designed to move all of these games onto requires some seriously good content, which we’re starting to see but I do think it will be a while longer before it’s really established as a platform.
In conclusion, while VR has made some serious development over the last few decades and definitely shows potential for the future, it isn’t guaranteed that it will become a widespread investment for the majority of players. Addressing user concerns and technological advancement is important to whether or not it will dominate the market in the same way as certain consoles and PCs have, and creating stronger content will be a key factor in showing this. I believe that the potential VR shows with the immersion of games will play a role how it will impact the games industry in the future.
Bibliography
Hayden, S., 2023. ‘Beat Saber’ Reportedly Generated Over a Quarter Billion Dollars in Lifetime Sales. [Online] Available at: https://www.roadtovr.com/report-beat-saber-unit-sales-meta-quest-2/#:~:text=Beat%20Games%2C%20Meta-,'Beat%20Saber'%20Reportedly%20Generated%20Over%20a%20Quarter,Billion%20Dollars%20in%20Lifetime%20Sales&text=Beat%20Saber%20(2018)%2C%20the,over%20a%20quart [Accessed 30 December 2023].
Michaud, A., 2023. The Future of VR Gaming: Trends, Innovations, and Predictions. [Online] Available at: https://medium.com/antaeus-ar/the-future-of-vr-gaming-trends-innovations-and-predictions-359f83b44093 [Accessed 30 December 2023].
OCCULUS DEVELOPMENT TEAM. (2019) Beat Saber [DIGITAL DOWNLOAD]. PlayStation 4. United States: Reality Labs.
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Y'know actually while I'm here I want to add, y'all need to get comfortable being wrong. Because I think that's the main issue here? It sucks to be wrong about something, especially something you love, and it definitely feels better to shove that feeling off onto some amorphous distant creator rather than accept that someone you like misled you as to what is and isn't canon, you missed or misunderstood something, or that your interpretation of a character or storyline that you really love isn't actually accurate at all. It probably feels better go to "Well the writing is bad so it's unclear, which makes me right because I'm improving on bad writing."
You need to be okay being wrong about things. You need to be okay with the things you "know" about a work of fiction not being accurate to that work of fiction.
So you like the fanon interpretation better than the dramatically different canon—who cares? It's not how I work, but there's nothing morally wrong with that mindset at all. So you never got a chance to watch or play or read the work in question, because you didn't have access or it wasn't accessible to you or you tried and just didn't enjoy it—I ask again, who cares?
So you missed something, or you straight up didn't understand something, or you don't have the knowledge base to grasp a key element of the story in the way the creator intended—that's...fine? That means you can come back to it later and experience it all over again, and maybe your interpretation will change, and maybe you'll decide you actually still prefer the idea you had when you misunderstood what was happening, or maybe you still won't get it. That's fine. You are allowed to feel that way. There is nothing wrong with feeling that way or behaving that way.
So you have a very personally important concept of a given aspect of that work of fiction, and that concept is entirely contradicted by what actually happened in-canon—this is literally what alternate universes are for! Ask yourself "Okay, but what if he didn't do that?" and run with it! There's nothing wrong with that!
The fact is that the way you engage with a piece of fiction has nothing to do with whether or not you are morally correct, only with whether or not you are lore compliant. And a lot of people have a huge problem with the idea of not being lore compliant, so they declare the writing is just so bad that their interpretation is objectively correct anyway.
And that is where folks need to learn to let themselves be wrong.
I'm saying this as someone who found out this year that a decades-old assumption about when a given event took place, which I helped to proliferate through my main fandom, was off by over 15 years in-universe. I'm saying this as someone who found out last month that the color palette of a specific character, of which I was the first English-speaking fan to post art online 20 years ago, was completely different from what I'd thought.
This isn't something that was contradicted between titles, mind you. This isn't something that has been talked about in official meta in a way that outright contradicts the actual source material, this isn't something that is disproven by the source material's own lore, which cannot be true based on decades of in-universe information. In cases like that, by all means dig in your heels and say "I understand the meta says both X and Z, but the actual series says Y, and it says Y repeatedly, and the only way the source material actually works is if the canon is Y, so I'm sticking with Y." That's bad writing! That's where you go "nah, not doing that."
But the vast majority of the time, that isn't what's happening. The lore is clear, or recently clarified, and it's not retconned or contradicted or even particularly vague—but it doesn't cater to the preference or understanding of a given fan or a group of fans, so they declare that the writing itself is to blame and they're actually still correct.
In my case, as in most cases, it's not the source material's fault that I misunderstood the cues I was given and reached an incorrect conclusion. It's not because the art was bad or the writing was weak, it's because I didn't have access to the sources necessary to keep me from making these incorrect assumptions and continuing to adhere to them for more than half my current life.
And I was wrong. I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again, I'm okay with that. I think fandom as a whole would be a much more comfortable place if more people learned to be okay with that.
I mean this in the kindest, gentlest way possible, but y'all need to stop saying things are "bad writing" when the real issue is:
You never actually engaged directly with the source material, only with fandom,
You didn't understand the source material when you did engage with it, either because you didn't experience it in full or because you expect to be spoonfed every major story beat in the simplest and plainest way possible, and/or
The source material doesn't match your personal concept for a given character, plotline or event.
Just because it goes against what fandom told you doesn't make it bad writing. Just because you didn't understand it, whatever the reason, doesn't make it bad writing. Just because it doesn't match with the vision you have in your head of what something that you did not create "should" be doesn't make it bad writing.
Sometimes it is bad writing! That happens all the time! But I'm seeing the "bad writing" excuse thrown about with increasing frequency, most often by people who never actually directly engaged with the source material they're critiquing, people who didn't understand a bit of symbolism or literally misunderstood a line of dialogue, people who insist that a character behaving differently from the way they want them to behave is inherently wrong.
None of those things are bad writing.
Your interpretations are your own, but don't blame the creators of something you claim to love for your inability and/or refusal to engage with that thing in good faith. By all means, reject their reality and substitute your own—but don't assert that you did it because it's bad writing when the real issue is that you just didn't know, didn't understand, or didn't like it.
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