#there is no real character writing

[cto10121]

Me [sits up straight in a straitjacket]: You know what I just realized? That the verses in the original Les Rois du Monde match Romeo’s, Benvolio’s, and Mercutio’s personalities perfectly. Romeo’s verse is about the kings “living at the top” and having “the most beautiful view,” contrasting it with the true kings talking shit about them “below,” which is in-character for Romeo; even in the original Shakespeare his language vacillates between the ethereal and grounded and practical. So of course he would focus on that. By contrast, Benvolio’s verse focuses on how bored and alone the kings are compared to them. Sure enough, Benvolio is a party boy who loves “la danse” (hell, even in the Shakespeare he is the most gung-ho about going to the Capulet party). And of course, Benvolio ending up alone would be his own worst nightmare, which is what happens at the end of the musical (ouch, ouch, ouch). Mercutio’s verse, meanwhile, focuses on the kings’ fear and making “traps” that they would fall into one day. Mercutio comes from a ruling family, so of course his verse would be more political, and it’s in line with his cynicism (also, doing anything out of fear would be so damn stupid to Mercutio). Even the mention of the kings “protecting themselves from everything, even love” is in-character, because Mercutio himself doesn’t believe love is something to be guarded against. It’s something light and not very serious (see: his Shakespearean counterpart describing love as a “tender thing”). So when Romeo and Mercutio sing together, they continue the politically-tinged theme of the kings fighting amongst themselves (Mercutio) and the idiocy of that war (Romeo), with Benvolio echoing them as support. So I guess that’s why I prefer the Romeo-Benvolio-Mercutio verse order rather than the Mercutio-Benvolio-Romeo one in the Hungarian. It just makes it more about the three of them rather than it just being Mercutio talking shit (legit, though, lol), Benvolio being his wingman, and Romeo mostly vibing with (1) throwaway but insightful critique. Also, it just so happens to be the same order the three speak in the equivalent scene in the play, which is a plus. I don’t know, does this make sense?

Therapist: You are a sad, strange woman, and you have my pity

Me: But am I wrong

[rae-butter]

Honestly, I love it when characters relapse. When someone who’s gotten over their anger issues falls into a situation so out of their depth they fall back on their old habits. When someone who’s learned to open up becomes a recluse again in order to cope with something outside their control.

There’s just something so horrible, so toxic, about watching a character grow and then slip back into their old selves in order to cope, bc you know they still care, that they’re the same inside, but watching them hurt so hard they don’t know what else to do brings a sense of catharsis.

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

My favourite underrated thing about Louis de Point du Lac is that he truly is the least curious vampire to ever be made and he does not give fuck about vampires despite being one.

Its Claudia who goes to libraries, reads the folklore, tries to learn as much as she can and pushes Lestat for answers about who made him and where the others are. Claudia says Vampire Pride and Louis says hmmm Vampire Tolerance.

And Louis...truly does not care about vampire history,law, culture. He's never even thought to ask. There are vampire laws?...ok...Lestat never cared about them and he's not going to either, lol. He's broken a few and he will continue to do so. Oh you have a coven? he's not gonna join it, he's gonna do his own thing. but good for you good for you.

the 500+ year old Coven Leader, he's gonna call Louis, Maitre, actually.

He has fire powers? thats kinda cool. he'll learn that but only cause it lets him vent his feelings about Lestat.

Lestat and Armand say the name of the vampire queen in front of him and Lestat straight up says, "Louis has no idea who that is" and do you think Louis cares, outside of the fact that for some reason it means he can't kill Lestat? No! Do you think in the 77 years he's been with Armand he ever took 5 minutes to ask a follow up question? No!

Do you think he will care about Akasha in season 3? Doubt it! Outside of her obsession with Lestat, who is the only person left on the planet he seems to be able to filter Caring About This Shit through

He blatantly breaks the 3rd law and publishes a book about being a vampire and when the other vampires get pissed not only does he not apologise he literally sends them his location and says 'you wanna fight? lmao don't miss'

I love him. Daniel Molloy is gonna need to bring his A game because Louis will not be solving a single mystery next season, nor would it even occur to him to try.

[noknowshame]

always a fun time when real life people are doomed by their own narratives. like guys you know it doesn’t have to be like this right? this isn’t a stageplay the foreshadowing isn’t real until you make it real

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Not beating the allegations.

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[consultingfujoshi]

some thoughts wrt the two established "romances" in severance so far (burt/irving and helly/mark) inspired by @figmentof who pointed out how irving had to find out mark and helly kissed from the corporate video in s2 e1 and how he must have felt seeing his co-workers' love affair like portrayed like that, and how it ties into the queer narrative at play here which uses workplace dynamics and policies as very clear analogues for real-life prejudice against queer couples. I mean, just look at this:

it's not just documented, but celebrated. used as propaganda for how the conditions on the severance floor have improved. proof that the severed workers are happy. and how even though he is unaware of the sociopolitical meaning of all this, lumon is very not-subtly telling him that what he had with burt is inherently lower and less valuable than this.

irving doesn't even know homophobia exists and yet he is still affected by it, it still seeps into every corner of the way his and burt's romance progresses. burt is positioned as an unacceptable love interest from the jump. irv is actively discouraged at every turn from pursuing it. their friendship is viewed with disgust and apprehension from their coworkers. burt working in a different department that's hated by MDR. dylan himself not being homophobic in the sense he opposes their relationship because they're both men but his attempts to keep them apart still has a parallel sort of prejudice behind it and still ultimately has the same effect as if it WERE driven by homophobia. irving is made to feel perverse for wanting contact with burt. he's told this is for his own good.

and then, just as they manage to overcome that immediate resistance from their peers and escape to a place where they can explore this blossoming romance on their own terms, burt retires. for all it matters to irv, he's dead. and then irving is given the option to live the rest of his life with grief that will never heal, or kill himself too, because there is no reality where they get to be together. that's just the way things are. of course they wouldn't get to be together. he was unreasonable and childish for ever hoping that could happen. this is just the way it goes for innies. he's told to get ahold of himself and not make a scene.

but the thing is, the standards are not the same for all. a heterosexual romance gets upheld as the shining example of success and fulfilment for the severed employees, whilst a homosexual romance is ridiculed and invalidated, and written off as something that was simply never meant to be. and even more importantly to irving, a heterosexual romance is APPROVED OF by lumon, and by extension, by kier. irv held back from allowing himself to even call his and burt's relationship a romance, because his god had told him it was wrong, he followed the handbook, thinking this was what kier wanted, and then finding out after suffering the worst heartbreak imaginable because of it, that this WASN'T EVEN TRUE. it's simply just that someone like HIM doesn't get to have something like this. his love is not the kind of love god wants. he does not approve of irv's love. cynical and manipulative though that approval may be (even within the context of the corporate video, the helly/mark romance is only being celebrated to further the narrative that lumon care for their workers, but the point still remains that it was THEIR romance specifically used to suit this end), when your entire life has been in pursuit of that approval, it must be devastating to learn it was never on the cards for you.

he and burt even used the fact kier met and fell in love with his wife in the same circumstances as them to justify this to each other - and they were RIGHT, god does approve of falling in love with your coworkers - this simply just doesn't apply to them specifically. and if irving needed any more proof that he no longer has a place at lumon, that he's better off not existing at all than existing with this pain that cannot be remedied, pain that won't even be acknowledged for what it is, a symptom of a sickness which plagues the entire severance system, pain that he is simply expected to choke down and get over - this is that proof.

and that's the POINT. they're TELLING us that this is unjust, and there's a double standard. they're using the ways the innies experience romance and the difference in lumon's reaction (lumon being the collective of all the management we've seen, lumon as a singular entity) to burt/irving vs helly/mark to comment on how queer people are not afforded the same level of respect or validation IN REAL LIFE, for their attachments, their love, their pain, their suffering. it is NOT just incidental that irving's romance is with a man. it would not WORK if his love interest was a woman. the POINT is that they are both men and how that puts them at a disadvantage, even if they aren't aware of the prejudices of the outside world, even if they don't TECHNICALLY apply on the severance floor, there are very clear analogues which still end up oppressing them in equivalent ways that they would be suffering if this were a normal workplace in the outside world.

it genuinely sickens me to my stomach that even in a world so divorced from reality and the sensibilities of regular society, a queer couple is still made to suffer and feel inferior in a way that perfectly mirrors their real-life counterparts. how they will never, EVER be allowed to exist in a world where their love could thrive freely and uninhibited - they never get to taste the joy our world has to offer people like them, but they are still somehow subjected to all the pain it has to offer them regardless. it's such horrifically devastating writing. it makes my skin crawl. I can't stop thinking about it

[liketolaugh-writes]

Okay but like. Real talk. 'Their son died and they didn't even notice' sounds real bad, but can we like- Danny was still living with them. It is reasonable to assume that your kid that is still living with you is not dead. It is not like he just disappeared one day and they didn't notice.

'Their son died and they didn't notice' is a FANTASTIC line for characters to torment themselves and each other with. Danny can lay awake at night and think about it. Maddie can rip her hair out over it. Sam can throw it at them in a spiteful rage.

But like. It's definitely not an accurate summary of what happened there. And I think the author should maintain a careful awareness of that.

[benevolenterrancy]

Scholarly peak is catching up on recent literature

[loverofpiggies]

Hi folks! Sorry I've been a bit awol lately! Holidays and all that. Also I've been going through a bit of a digital detox and I've been feeling INCREDIBLE because of it. It's making me feel more free. Makes me want to step back from the internet even more. I've gotten much more physically active, I've been working out and reading books and learning to cook... developing my own novel that I've been wanting to do for years! MAN. It's been really nice.

I don't have any plans to just stop Something Wonderful and not continue it, but it might be a while before the next post!

[the-great-kraken]

if you see a male character kiss a male character, you assume they are gay.

if you see a female character kiss a female character, you assume they are a lesbian.

if you hear a character say they don't feel like their gender, you assume they are trans.

so why do a-spec characters have to jump through so many loops?

a character saying they've never had a crush or don't want a relationship or that they don't understand romantic love is so often ignored or used as fodder for other queer or autistic headcanons (reinforcing stereotypes that aroace people are secretly gay or always autistic)

why is it that our stories are always "up to interpretation"? why do we have to wait for the words aromantic or asexual to be said to be taken seriously? why is it that even when characters say they don't want relationships, fans will scream and cry about sex/romance favourable aspecs and qprs?

when it comes to gay and trans characters, even the likes of bisexual lighting is often treated as though it canonises their sexuality. for aroace characters, even the most explicit coding possible is swept under the rug in favour of other "interpretations"

i'm so tired of fighting for representation just to have it ignored and minimised by fans. let characters be aroace. please.

[marciaillust]

Asterism book cover

[stewykablooey]

succession operates on the complete opposite end of the 'nobody talks like that' spectrum in which they write dialogue that is full of words nobody has ever said but instead of uber polished therapy speak its some of the most insane sentences in the english language that comes full circle into being actually authentic

[ghouljams]

I think some of you faux-cest writers aren't going far enough. "Daddy" is overdone, doesn't have the raw gut-punch power of "Dad"

Because hearing John Price say "let Dad have a look" while bending you over and tugging your panties down???? Got me shaking in my boots.

[fryologyy]

wander over yonder sketchdump!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Have you seen my little lad?

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[max-nico]

I am obsessed with soulmate characters. There is no (light) without (dark) there is no (sun) without (rain) there is no (day) without (night) there is no (joy) without (anger) there is no (red) without (green) there is no (love) without (hate) there is no (defense) without (offense) there is no (tide) without (moon) and these characters can be love interests, best friends, enemies, rivals, I DON'T CARE, but they understand each other like no one else does and where one goes the other follows

And this isn't about just grumpy x sunshine this is about one existing without the other. Characters where if you take one away a part of them gets taken with the other, characters whose lives are significantly altered by the absence of the other, characters who literally already do find each other in different universes.