#third culture chatacter

[3rdculturecharacter]

Hey people, it's been a minute.

Let's talk about one of my favourite third culture characters, Amethyst from Steven Universe.

I'm gonna preface this by saying she in one of my top kins and I am so excited to be talking about her.

So the thing about my girl Amethyst, her third cultureness is very... understated... In that isn't not a major plotpoint.

I'm pretty sure this is because Steven already comes with a fair bit of the usual third culture angst and structurally it wouldnt make sense for them to both have the exact same character arc, especially being so close.

And honestly I don't think it's nesserary a bad thing. As much as a third culture character like Spider from Avatar can complement and enrich the narrative by being third culture, a character like Amethyst can do some pretty tangible good by just existing as she is (wich makes sense cuz that's kinda touched on in her character arc)

Her third cultureness isn't egnored: she's unlike the other Cristal Gems in that she's picked up human habits like eating and sleeping, playing video games, watching TV, having human friends, being the first to use phones (as well as being much more culturally American in general).

Her non human side is shown pretty cleverly. She's a gem of course, does and knows alot of gem stuff, but in particular, because she's immortal and doesn't need basically anything to survive, she can be super disregarding of things humans need to make money and live off, or will take them time and energy they don't always have to fix (just like the other Cristal Gems)

Or

This totally feeds into her immaturity, since she didn't develop under the strict culture of Homeworld like all the other gems, but the chill, flowy environment that is beach city. Pair that with the fact of her having basically no physical chalanges while living on earth and you can see how she would develop an "the whole world is my playground" mentality.

Speaking of her development, let's talk about that!

*Proceeds to rant about character design for a while*

Ok so her shapeshisfting powers are super interesting, because as we can gleen from the movie, when she first emerges she copied and shapeshisfted into who or whatever she came across to get her bearings.

(I'm gonna say that's some developmental issue unique to her or maybe all overcooked gems, since we see other quartzes emerge and they don't do that, maybe that's coding for something, not sure).

Her copying is very in character for a third culture kid, and if you look at her formations in order it kinda seems like she's inadvertantly copying the developmental pattern of a human child? (over a much longer time ofc). Then she went through a long pase of partially covering her gem with her shirt and also after a while she gives herself bra straps wich (much like the extra cleavege rose gave herself) she absolutely couldn't have needed, probably copying humans.

Then in future her design speaks volumes! Her top and shoes are that gem-wear seran wrap stuff, ofc with that little unnecessary rip around her gem cuz she gotta. And then those cute frayed jorts with the stars on being so human and organic. It's all really saying, "I'm a bit of both worlds and we all cool with it."

More thoughts on the rip: it could be ripping the gem-wear to say I'm not JUST a gem, highlighting her human side, it could be there to reveal her gem/draw attention to it like "I'm Amethyst, loud and proud", it could be just cuz she really f***** loves ripped clothes. Idc wich any works good 4 her.

It really shows her full journey of self acceptance.

I feel like alot of the emotional pitfalls Amethyst runs into during her character arc are also very relatable to me at least as a third culture person, even if in her case they aren't directly realted.

Feelings of guilt for existing, feelings of not belonging, self isolation, feelings of not being good enough, comparing yourself to others and rebelliousness are all pretty common.

So it makes nothing but sence for her to be quietly third culture.

Also this:

Wich is the lerfect segway into:

My big PSA related rant

This... This will end me. Honestly I'm not even mad about the style rn.

REBECA you could have chosen ANY other Cristal Gem from this one.

The problem here is, I could see a bunch of humans discriminating against Amethyst for whatever reason actually having an impact on her. Amethyst is the ONLY cristal gem who could tangibly be vulnerable to any form of gem racism, garnet and pearl would just pick the haters up and put them back over the fence.

This whole thing is just highlighting how you didn't explore that angle. Not to mention that the whole show established her to be very close to humanity, and then she just turns to the camera and says "wtf, I'm actually nothing like people"? It just feels wrong.

Also you gave my girl the most handfisted one, idk why those two googly eyed toddlers having a detailed understanding of the neuances of racism seems somewhere between unrealistic and straight up bizarre.

(Ok I tell a lie, the guitar dad one was kinda a mess but nobody even remembers that one so whatever)

That aside, this one should have been on Garnet, she is the most detached from humans of the trio (except for pearl, but I think she's better in that classroom scenario), she should have been the one saying "yea, comparing us ist right" and it would have made sence because it's already evident in the show.

Amethyst should have been the one at the playground, she doesn't even have to drop out of the sky, its AMETHYST! she can totally just be hanging there.

They did her so dirty! At the end she even gets pissed off about having to stay longer to fix the thing SHE had a problem with.

Don't get me wrong, ist an invaluable message and Im totally on board but gurl what happened?

Hit the image limit... Gonna make a part 2 and get back on the original point oml

[redd956]

Highly specific tropes I love for no reason

Character A who was hiding their original gender for one reason or another (maybe is trans and unable to transition), and Chatacter B being supportive anyway after they find out

Characters dancing and when they split up they each up dancing with a respective enemy

Character A and Character B are from vastly different cultures, but they're stuck in a dangerous situation in a third culture neither know anything about

Character A is from a hot climate and Chatacter B is from a cold climate, Character C is just trying to touch the thermostat

Evil and deadly intimidating character who loves one type of pet a little too much

Character A is a member of a very fertile species, and is now lovingly introducing Character B to their family

Character A and Character B who just got done fighting each other and are now going out for ice cream

Villain who is smol

[thesharondefenseleague]

Anon from before Oh i know where you are coming from with Peggy Stans I definitely get I am very done with alot of Peggy Stans. But it feels hypocritical where in the post you say you don't hate Peggy you also say" she's a minor character anyway whats alot to love about her". Don't get me wrong I was never really on the Peggy was Steves one true love hype train and he's incapable of getting over a girl he never really dated. But it feels wrong to say theres not alot to like about her. Pt.1

Since shes just a minor character especially as someone who usually likes minor characters alot. It also reminds me of how people write off several female chatacters as not really having much to like about them when thats very much not the case. You don't have to have to only dislike characters that are badly written or have some moral or ethical reason to dislike them. I feel like tumblr culture sorta makes you feel that way and then people try to find characters "problematic". Pt2

And then you get bullshit like anti blog like its ok to not like a character the act of disliking doesnt make you automatically a bigot. Maybe they remind you of someone you disliked or maybe you just don't like that personality type. Its fine they don't have to be flawed for you to dislike them. Pt.3                 

Well I can admit that statement I made was a little rash,

however my feelings towards Peggy are still the same- her overall role does remain minor, her character moved from the big screen to television and two film cameos. Like I’m well aware she’s established more as a character with her show, but you sprinkle her into movies here and there and the audience isn’t going to give much care as to who she is because they’re not made to be familiar with her.

Peggy was a minor character in the Cap comics, I know that now, and if they wanted to really sell her to the audience then they should've tried harder with her like what was their reasoning to have her if they ended up not doing anything else with her aside from her show that couldn’t even entice enough people for a third season.

I can understand why what I said can come across as what you think it came off as, but in broader terms it reigns true.

-T

[3rdculturecharacter]

I want to talk some more about Spider and see what role he plays in the narrative of Way of Water.

I find that the main theme of Way of water was heratige. Broadly: the significance the past has to the present.

It's present throughout the movie as there are multiple scenes and events that deliberately mirror the first instalment,

or

aswell as the consistent use of objects like jewelry and weapons to symbolise connections to the past.

As such the filmmakers have great interest in exploring how different characters relate to the past (wether that be their OWN past, their heratige, memories, history repeating ect.) and using it as a dimension for character building and development.

So what is Spider's roll in al this?

His arc, thought not concluded, focuses on his relationship with Na'vi and Human culture. He struggles to accept his human side, body and heratige while also trying to connect with Na'vi tradition he is not physically able to fully connect with.

(ngl, I just included this one cuz cool pic of my boi)

He doesn't fully belong to either, and while he aligned more with the Na'vi, he is is therefore a unique lense established early in the movie through wich to view the event's unfold.

We follow his conflict around his fellow human colonizers and recombinants, we are able to see them through his eyes, adding depth and intrigue to what would otherwise be a pretty flat and underwhelming set of villains.

We get to see nuance in Quarich that we otherwise wouldn't (or at least wouldn't be able to appreciate as much) as he has warm interactions with his teammates/friends, finds himself deathly afraid of the person who killed a version of him and start bonding with his son figure.

All of these things could still have been covered by the movie, but as one of our main characters really considers and gets to know him, we allow ourselves to sympathize and relate to SOME aspect of his character and see him as a person as opposed to the previous version who was fun to watch, but was essentially just a big angry stand in for colonialism.

(It also makes me wonder about his past, as this is a capture of a younger Quarich, what character development did he undergo to arrive at the Quarich from the first movie? What was he like when he was much younger?)

In this way, Spider is a walking talking representation of the movie's central theme and a very good example of a third culture character being used to flesh out the world, other characters and enrich the narrative.