#the most noble of people

[helenofnowhere]

Muslim chroniclers, and historians writing about al-Andalus, generally identify five main social groups in Andalusī society under the Umayyads: (1) Arab Muslims, who occupied the highest social rank and included the Umayyads and their Arab allies and their clients or mawālī (singular “mawlā”); the Arabic term for this elite group as a whole was “al-khāṣṣah,” the special ones. (2) Muslims of Iberian or Berber origin who had become honorary Arabs and part of the khāṣṣah through the study and acquisition of Arabic language and Arab culture. (3) Muwallads, which is a catch-all term for Muslims who were descendants of Iberian converts […] Muslims fell into this category if they had not broken into the “Arab” elite through ties of clientage or by being recognized as distinguished in their education and knowledge of Arabic. (4) Muslims of Berber origin, most of whose families came from North Africa in the 700s. They, like Iberian Muslims, could gain elite status, but most did not. (5) Dhimmīs, that is, Christians and Jews living under Islamic rule.

(…) The sources apply the above categories almost exclusively to men. Of course there were women who were non-Arab Muslims, or who were Jews or Christians living under Muslim rule, but their status had more to do with the identity of the men in their family than with their own attributes.

The Most Noble of People: Religious, Ethnic, and Gender Identity In Muslim Spain (2017) by Jessica A. Coope, Introduction, pages 7–8

[elodieunderglass]

changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.

I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.

Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.

No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.

But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?

[justabiteofspite]

"Astarion doesn't do big romantic gestures."

My Durge still trying to get graveyard dirt out of her ass crack after being lovingly pounded into it by Astarion who wanted to share with her this deeply joyful and meaningful reclamation of himself after sharing a vulnerable declaration of his love, at this place he hasn't shown anyone else but her: "Then what the actual fuck was that???"

[a-great-tragedy]

The thing about the Black brothers is that they both want the same things in a way. Sirius wants to be accepted by the order. He wants them to see that he’s not like the rest of his family, that he’s a good person, who’s capable of doing good things.

Regulus wants to be accepted by his family. He wants them to be proud of him. To prove that he won’t be a disappointment like his brother. That’s why he does everything they say, following along blindly (until it’s too late).

They both want so badly to be loved, they do everything to appeal to others. And what do they get in return? Nothing. Sirius gets thrown into Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit, making him seem like just another member of the Black family. Regulus finally realizes his family will never love him and tries to make things right, resulting in his death. They’re two sides of the same coin.

[mwagneto]

ruby and 15 finding the same guy hot and having a joke catfight about it vs donna and 14 finding the same guy hot and just agreeing and moving on. this is coz the former are young & sexy and the latter are geriatric

[aeteut]

‘The only thing that could tear down the House of Black was itself.’

By likeafunerall, and reposted with permission.

[aromanthur-lester]

Hi I’m gonna be sooo normal tomorrow

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you. I'm sorry.

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[elialys]

TV Appreciation Week 2024

Day 5: Favourite season of a tv show ↳ Fringe - Season 2

[archiveoftragedies]

In mdzs, when the public opinion started shifting and everyone turned on jgy it made me feel vindicated. Finally they're siding with me against the guy that keeps pissing me off. But that only lasted an instant. Slowly, progressively, I started going wait. Wait no hold on. Go back. I didn't mean it that way go back. Because they were saying about jgy the exact same bullshit they had been saying about wwx the entire novel. And suddenly it felt really off.

Then, during the flashbacks leading up to Nightless City, I kept thinking back on that thing wwx tells nhs in volume one, when nhs explains his family's solution to their haunted saber problem. "Well, that's hitting a bit close to the demonic cultivation path". Doesn't nhs refuse to swordfight as well? Is he even carrying a sword? How come he can get away with this (and wwx can't)?

Wwx and jgy have similar origins but were raised in different environments. They learned similar survival methods and tried to play by the rules up until they couldn't anymore. They had the two more prominent roles in winning the sunshot campaign, and yet everyone forgot about that the second they decided they were irredeemable. They met similar ends, fighting and protecting people they loved.

Nhs became the kind of person his brother would despise in trying to avenge him. He became like his brother's murderer. His survival method is also trying to make himself seem harmless, not with polite smiles or clever distractions but with tears. The only reason he didn't meet the same end as the other two is that he managed to stay out of the public's eye, and because his reputation was unstained from the beginning. Although I should note that he is Nie Mingjue's half-brother, which might hint at a more complicated heritage, more similar to that of the other two, than one would suspect at first glance. But whether that's the case or not, the point is that nobody would call nhs a bastard, and that means that people will overlook certain things he does that have condemned the other two to death.

That's what makes them such great narrative foils. In the end all three of them are cheating, but nhs had better cards to begin with.

[beneath-themilkytwilight]

"something so scary the tardis ran away 😨😨💀" babe this is nothing new name one episode where the tardis doesn't vibe w the energy and just fucks off to who knows where until the conflict is resolved,, bye guys I'll catch you at the end of the episode

[the-sun-is-also-a-star]

kinned sirius black too hard and now my mother is trying to convince me its a good idea to marry my cousin

[sadlynotthevoid]

Crack idea here: LCF modern AU with magic where og!Cale accidentally gains a swordmaster aura after way too many hours of playing beat saber.

Cale: *intensely playing the same game for 74th time this (new) year*

Cale's body: *starts exuding glowing mist*

Cale:

Hans, who just opened the door: Excuse me, young mas— Hhh...

Hans: Madam Violan!!!

[bg3heart]

I've noticed people saying things like how Gortash tries really hard to seem like a noble and not like the commoner he grew up as

(and of course everyone is free to headcanon what they like)

but I thought it was clear he hated nobility and saw himself above them

I think the best examples of this are the busts in his office, specifically Carric and Dame

*Carric started from nothing, built a financial empire and founded the Counting House. He refused to mingle with the other patriars, saying, "They didn't want me when I was an urchin, and now they can't have me."*

*Dame Amafrey, the Orphans' Friend, founded several orphanages in the Outer City, as the Lower City was no place for children (and the Upper City declined to sponsor an orphanage).*

The narrator gets passive aggressive when reading about the upper city declining to sponsor, and the line about being an urchin feels very directed

So yeah I think at best he thinks lowly of them, at worst he hates these fuckers

[euphorial-docx]

the black family is so pretty because they have aquiline noses, curly hair, and a whole lot of eyebrows. any other interpretation is wrong.

[reineyday]

the way both touya and enji have moments in canon where they say "look at me" but it's like,

touya who gets neglected and burns alive bc he wants his father's love and ackmowledgement and he has to fight for every little scrap of attention until the very end where he's in a glass tube getting gawked at by his entire family like the narrative is doing malicious compliance to him, desperate for attention to the point that he was intent on burning himself to death again just to get some

versus

enji who just gets given all the attention easily both in-universe and from the narrative as the todofam story slowly just becomes about his atonement, even tho he was ruining his family bc of that greed and jealousy, and other characters look at him to the point that it feels like they've strayed from their own characters in order to lift up endeavor's (i'm thinking about hawks, inasa and natsuo to a lesser extent)

--this parallel will always make me ill. 🙃