#to be clear i dont think this is incestuous. i think its more about using romantic elements to emphasize the depth and importance-

[beansoup3000]

Thinking about how Fleabag says that Claire stays with Martin because he makes her laugh like no one else. And then the very next episode Fleabag makes Claire laugh so hard she disrupts the whole room. At a silent retreat. CLAIRE breaks the RULES to LAUGH at FLEABAG'S JOKE!!!

And in that episode Fleabag also says she and Claire would make a cute couple,,,, it's about setting fleabag and Martin up as oppositional forces in Claire's life who ultimately fulfill the same need, and Fleabag does it better! Fleabag makes Claire laugh. Fleabag supports Claire personally and professionally. She even provides Claire with sexual pleasure when she gives her the vibrator for her birthday (after confirmation that Claire and Martin are Not Fucking). And ultimately, Fleabag is the only person Claire would run through an airport for!! They aren't friends they're sisters!!!

[t4tails]

i know its an older post but irt that incest post sometimes i feel like ppl just dont and cannot get it until it happens to them. i couldnt even comprehend it as a possibility until i was 14 staying at my uncles house for a while and i still cant comprehend it as a thing that happened to me sometimes. i think its bc ppl feel security with their families in that sense— even if theyre abused in other ways, its like, “well, i know them and they’d still never do THAT.”

perhaps its bc we are still not educated about the dangers of incest as children. ever. we are taught stranger danger. we’re taught what inappropriate touch is. and when we’re a little older we’re taught to recognize grooming behaviors, but we’re never taught about what its like when it comes from family members— and what’s more we’re taught to assume the best from family members, to think of them as the exception to inappropriate touch or behaviors, when they DO make us uncomfortable instead of recognizing those behaviors as red flags. then one day it becomes too late, like it did with me. and maybe that contributes to the idea that its a non-possibility in some people, that it only happens in fiction.

the most i’ve ever seen presented to children as a red flag irt incest is the idea of a mother’s boyfriend or a stepparent acting inappropriately, but that still comes from the angle of “you havent known them for as long so this means they could also be a predator.”

we still don’t fully address what the commonly cited statistic “most sexual abuse comes from someone the survivor knows” MEANS. its not just friends. not just partners. its your family, too. its people you’ve known all your life.

but ultimately— i’m finally making my point i promise— the reason we dont address those things is because the idea that children should be able to turn to their community when their family fails them is too controversial, and not just among families that support incestuous abuse. “if my child knows they can confide in a teacher/neighbor about anything, they might become rebellious. god forbid somebody other than me contributes to my child’s development!”

people prefer the heightened possibility of their child being subjected to incestuous abuse over their child having any semblance of autonomy.

sorry for the long ask i’d usually post this to my blog but this is not something i’d be okay publicly speaking about.

hi sorry this took a bit to answer that post IS from a while ago and i wasnt sure how to respond, because i have fortunately never experienced that type of abuse myself and dont have much to add beyond agreement. i didnt want to just leave this in my inbox though since its clear you put a lot of thought into it.

i think a lot of the opportunities for incestuous abuse stem from the traditional family structure not actually prioritizing protection or comfort, but control that feels threatened every time somebody tries to bring it up. nobody wants to actually prevent it because that would mean acknowledging family as a potential threat, as well as breaking down the ways the controlling of sex and ownership by said family is already normalized in culture (ex. fathers vigorously defending their daughters virginity, etc). this is all why imo discussions on this should go hand in hand with childrens rights and body autonomy, but even in these discussions its rare to see it actually brought up

its really something that needs to be talked about more, but people struggle to see past "alabama" jokes and fauxcest porn

[victeazer-archive]

Alright. Lets put this kitten to bed shall we?

I am alerted to uppastthejelliclemoon's precense after she posts some shit about that racist misogynistic homophobe we all know and love for writing alpha male munkustrap fanfiction and how shit has been taken too far over some shitpost blah blah blah idk. I scroll thru her blog being like what kind of person posts this? Seriously? And i stumble upon this au she had been indulging in which is terrible and you can look it up for yourselves. Apparently this was the second time this kind of thing has happened as well (being that she writes disgusting shit and gets called out for it) so let's keep that in mind.

Anyway im discussing this with my friend as we are both disgusted by this and he messages uppastthejelliclemoon directly asking for clarification. She doesnt respond. I get impatient and point out the fact that this shit exists on my own blog and tag her so she can have an oppurtunity to explain herself. She doesnt respond.

My friend replies to my post with his own commentary and additional screenshots.

People see it and respond appropriately in disgust as it is disgusting.

Uppastthejellicle moon decides to do a non apology in which shes basically like well I didnt INTEND to and im only being positive and also guys why did you tell everyone about this thing they could find on their own and not talk to me. Directly.

Except then she only got anonymous messages?

But then, when she is in dms with my friend, no one spoke to her? But then only anons did. BUT THEN SHE DID RECEIVE A MESSAGE FROM HIM EXACTLY. Funny that.

Weird how the story changes like that and ours doesnt. Hm.

Weird thing you'll notice is her claiming that well this shit she posted was a while ago and why didnt we address it then and im like. Hm. Weird you think we know every post you have ever made and know exactly when and where. Sounds a little like you think everyone MUST know everything about you at all times because youre so important. So important that you decide that the homophobic racist misogynist gets the clear over a shitpost and we are bullies as your friends call us despite everything showing clearly otherwise?

Anyway.

To the people reading this im sure youve realized im not a pleasant speaker when i know im right and am speaking to people who will die on a hill of nasty shit of their own making.

My friend, however, as you can tell from just the excerpt of their conversation is very respectable. He's gentle and factual and calm as he explains himself. He would ask me and his other friends if what he wrote was too harsh or innacurate before sending them for you see, he has a stress condition. Its very clearly stated on his blog that im sure uppastthejelliclemoon and friends have seen as they are able to message him.

See, I think my friend here did a great job handling this situation considering his stress condition, and i do not think that him having a stress condition exempts him from speaking his mind and defending himself. (Which jelliclemoon's friend ruvyr will later say the opposite of in the screenshots that follow, which is ableist, by the way, but lets keep going).

However, when you are discussing an issue with someone you know has a stress condition and you start to dogpile onto him with your other friend who has nothing but insults and a way of twisting their words to suit your narrative?

Maybe dont do that. Because now my friend had to vomit due to this outright gaslighting.

See, i have received zero messages from these people directly because they know that I wont be nice. They pick on someone weaker, my aforementiond friend, who did exactly as uppastthejelliclemoon had asked in the first place.

So.

Uppastthejelliclemoon gets a callout post for their horrible shit.

Uppastthejelliclemoon, whitmerule, ruvyru and probably more then decide to knowingly dogpile on the weaker of the two that made the callout post to the point of him physically vomiting.

* i wont be specifying who gave me this screenshot, but i believe it is a reliable source, heres the full one unedited:

Here it all is. The whole picture for you.

I suggest you block

@uppastthejelliclemoon

As they clearly do not take criticism well and as I have said, repeated the same actions that have been called out for previously.

@whitmerule

Who has a history of writing incestuous fics and frowns down upon "antis" (aka normal people) that speak up against this nasty shit weve mentioned today, and also participates in this blatant attack on my friend who did nothing wrong.

@ruvyru

For associating with them in the first place and just being a straight up bully as you can see in the dms they requested be posted publically

@statisticalcats

Who is literally into incest and uses terms like "purity culture" unironically to describe me saying hey, maybe racist, sexist, ableist, and just nasty shit like that, being bad!

@fiercejellicle

Well you know why. If not, look up purplezprout on my blog.

And just avoid these people in future.

Me and my friend @zitface are done with this drama, specifically. I applaud them for handling this situation well, but like i have said before, I will point out shit I find gross in the future. I dont give a shit.

Feel free to reblog, and reply with your favorite love song! Im working on a not disgusting fanfiction and need inspiration. Hope you all have a good day.

[21ate]

i just finished trial 3 and god damn i have no idea how to feel about korekiyo.......

huge trigger warning: incest, sexual abuse, grooming. everything will be under the cut as this is a long post about disturbing subjects

lemme say right off the bat that the sister thing is, well, fucked up - and regardless of what im about to say here, its not meant to defend or excuse kiyo’s actions

but...theres a couple of things about his character and behavior that makes me feel like its not as straightforward as the��“forbidden yet pure love” he makes his relationship out to be after the verdict, and i think in order for me to settle my own feelings on him i should discuss it at length

(i dont think im the first to talk about this though of course, but since im goin thru the effort to sort of live blog my experience with this game, i might as well make my own contribution to this particular topic too.)

so first is the fact that kiyo is the younger of the two siblings, not older. i guess it doesnt necessarily matter that much if it were the case of simply a pure, though incestuous, relationship...however, an age gap like that could lend to the idea of grooming - in this case, the older sister grooming the younger brother, kiyo

this can be especially seen when considering how kiyo talks about his sister and the explicit sexual nature of it (which ill explain how so later). he is full of adoration for her. so adoring he is, in fact, that he is willing to kill for her. of course, the killing didnt come until after she had passed away...but why was he so attached to her to such an extreme in the first place? to the point where he became deluded into believing her soul was within him after her death and believing he must provide her with friends in the afterlife?

grooming is accomplished through exploiting the victims vulnerabilities to form an emotional bond, with the objective being to ensure the relationship is concealed and to entrap the victim into being co-dependent, cooperating participant (again to reduce the likelihood of the abuse being found out, as well as to manipulate the victim into coming back to their abuser again and again)

while its unclear to me whether kiyo’s parents were ever in the picture, it certainly would be a contributing factor in making kiyo more vulnerable to abuse if they were not around (be it dead or just neglectful). however, even without knowing the parental situation, the state of his sisters physical health would also suffice as a contributing factor to kiyo’s vulnerability. being in and out of hospitals often would easily worry anyone’s loved ones, and its that worry that can also be exploited just as easily

the way in which kiyo portrays his sister when acting as her spirit is also telling of grooming i think. when he first begins to panic, his “sister” comes forth and rattles off instructions (starting with telling him to calm down, to which he obeys, and several other instructions). i believe this to be revealing of the fact that his sister was the controller in this relationship with kiyo...which is exactly how perpetrators of grooming behave. and as i said, the goal is to keep the victim close and to conceal the abuse. kiyo obeys her commands without question - his loyalty to her is undeniable

grooming is also pretty much tied to sexual abuse too. and what demonstrates this clearly? simple: the sequence depicting kiyo and his sister holding each other while naked. why else would they be shown in such a way if not to make it clear that their relationship was sexual in nature? you could argue that being naked isnt inherently a sexual thing...but in this case, it doesnt make sense to me to see it as anything besides such. from kiyos words about wanting to be enveloped in his sisters warmth, to the fact that kiyo is the younger sibling...and not only that, but hes also still underage...the choice to have the two naked would certainly be confusing if it was meant to be seen as innocent and nothing else. theres simply too many other things wrong about the situation to believe their love was “healthy” and “pure” (in quotes cause obvs there would still be the incest thing)

finally, the end of kiyo’s execution again alludes to the sister having sinister intentions when pursuing her brother. when kiyo dies and his soul ascends to the skies, kiyo’s sister and monokuma throw salt on him to destroy his spirit entirely (as salt is used to ward off ghosts). even if its not exactly the most direct or trustworthy evidence, the fact that it was written this way can still serve as providing further depth to kiyo’s characterization and showing us, the audience, that his sister may not be as kind as kiyo thinks she is

with all this in mind, heres what i think happened:

kiyo was groomed and sexually abused by his older sister. the sister exploited kiyo’s vulnerabilities: he was the younger sibling which gave him a reason to look up to her, the sister was also very sickly, and their parents/other adults may not have been around enough (if at all) to notice the abuse. as a result, she was able to keep kiyo close to her and abuse him under the guise of forbidden love. she convinced him that their relationship was pure and that the opinions of others did not matter. kiyo became attached to the point of obsession, obeying his sisters every command. 

when his sister passed away due to her illness, it broke kiyo down - he had just lost the only person he loved and only one who loved him, so he wouldve been led to believe anyways. after her death, kiyo became deluded into thinking his sisters soul returned to him during a seance he was a part of (perhaps done in an effort to contact her - given how distraught he was after her death, this seems likely). he wanted his older sister and abuser back - because without her, he had no one else to guide him (i.e. groom) and no idea what to do with himself

it eventually escalates into him believing his sister’s soul to be lonely, which may have been him projecting his own loneliness onto her. and thus, his solution was obvious: to provide the soul of his sister with friends to cure her loneliness, he must kill people so that their souls may join her in the afterlife as well. and kill he did...

korekiyo has done terrible things, undeniably - but its also quite tragic how he came to be in such a position. i dont hate him, but i cant like him either. its just not quite that simple. i guess in the end, thats how i really feel about him

[wellward-a]

anyway i dont know hwo coherent this will be but i don’t want to lose these thoughts, so.

imo s1 of the show unquestionably portrays lilith as predatory/grooming toward sabrina, it’s not even subtle. i’m thinking of incidents like:

- lilith trailing her hand along sabrina’s shoulders and sabrina looking visibly disturbed - lilith licking her finger and wiping a nonexistent speck from sabrina’s cheek, causing sabrina to run away from her - lilith hiding in bathrooms to spy on sabrina or wait for the right moment to prey on her - lilith being in sabrina’s bedroom, gasping with delight, caressing her pillow, and enchanting the mirror to let her spy on sabrina as a female cover of “black magic woman” plays - more tangentially, lilith using stolas to spy on teenage girls in the shower at the academy (ostensibly trying to spy on sabrina)

all of this is evidently part of her plan to guide sabrina toward her dark baptism and her ownership by satan; in essence, she is a sexual predator by proxy for the dark lord, whose incestuous and pedophilic intentions toward sabrina become explicit in s2.

all that being said... none of this is necessary for lilith to accomplish her goal. indeed, emulating the real mary wardwell more closely by acting as a benign mentor, rather than threatening and sexually suggestive corruptor, would probably have gotten sabrina where she wanted her faster. there’s imo no inherent story logic to lilith appearing to groom sabrina sexually.

what’s the goal of sexualizing her this way? why portray her as flirtatious with other women, sexually predatory toward sabrina, and overtly loathing toward men? it’s all a part of her aura as a sinister villain—it’s how the show chose to accomplish its goal of making her seem threatening and dangerous to sabrina. certainly she’s campy while she does it, but she is an active threat to sabrina’s well-being. and the show makes that clear by depicting her, subtextually, as a pedophile and lesbian sexual predator.

thus, in season 2, when it wants to initiate her redemption arc, caos pivots. lilith isn’t interested in sabrina at all, it insists—she complains during the christmas special and at the beginning of this season about being stuck, frustrated, and tired of dealing with sabrina. and her emotional arc centers around the abrupt introduction of a male love interest—the fiance of mary wardwell (who shows up quite conviently, given that mary is explicitly described as being ‘alone’ at the beginning of the show).

centering lilith’s story this season around her experiences with adam—who has no personality, and is more or less a pull-string doll whose only spoken phrase is “i love you, mary!”—massively shifts focus from her relationship w sabrina; indeed, while i haven’t quantified this, it seems to me they’ve shared much less screen time this season than last season. her sexual interest is redirected onto an appropriate object in time for it to teach her a lesson about her abusive relationship with the dark lord and decide to overthrow him, leading, ultimately, to her redemption upon helping to save sabrina and crowning herself queen of hell.

don’t get me wrong, i’m not complaining about the fact that she stops preying on sabrina. what i’m pointing out here is that, while she was a villain, lilith was arbitrarily portrayed as a homophobic stereotype—the predatory teacher who grooms her vulnerable female students. when the writers decided they wanted her to be a hero, they backpedaled from that choice, rehabilitating her by centering her emotional focus and drive around her experiences with a randomly introduced male character, who otherwise contributed nothing to the story.

what does it mean that lilith is portrayed this way? im tired and open tomorrow, so i might have to get back to you on a firm conclusion. but for me, it suggests a few things: DEFINITE buried homophobia/lesbophobia on the part of the writers—given the depiction of ambrose and luke in the show? ya. doesn’t shock me that the writers would also lean on sexual stereotypes about lesbians here. perhaps a continuation of the tradition of portraying lesbian killers in media? or perpetuating the “bisexual sociopath” stereotype most recently invoked by a simple favor, using sapphic sexuality to imply a character’s “cr*ziness” while finally emphasizing that their ultimate desire will always be for men?

i think it certainly expresses the writers’ carelessness about the way they portray their characters and the falseness of their apparent feminist intent. anyway idk. that’s about it

[missjackil]

SPN Did Something Pretty Amazing

One thing I have always liked about Supenatural, is that theyre willing to try things no other shows have done. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesnt, but theyre not affraid to think outside the box. Things like having a cross-over with Scooby Doo, or episodes like The French Mistake, or Fan Fiction, are great, though theyre doable only because of the premise of the show. In the supernatural world, nothing is impossible. The heros die and come back a lot, old characters come back in various ways, in dreams, time travel, or even as the same character, and this is ok because again, in the supernatural world nothing is impossible. However, this newest amazing thing, at its core, didnt come to pass because of supenatural influence, but because of human actions, and viewer acceptance.  Two brothers and their Angel buddy, adopt an adult orphan son.  Think about that. What show has ever done such a thing? None. In similar cases, like 3 Men and a Baby, Full House, Two and a half Men, there is one defined Father, and then the other men are uncles or support for the one father. But not on SPN, all 3 have been defined as this kid’s father, even though none of them are biologically his father. Even before Luficer died, we saw this beginning. And even stranger still, there were always strong efforts to keep Jack away from his biological father, which is also not a common practice. When dealing with an older child, theres always a “let them chose” clause. But thats never really been the case on SPN, it was always “Keep Lucifer away from this kid” and justifiably so, I might add, but its still strange for TV isnt it? Yet, somehow this all worked. Now, this isnt a debate on who deserves to be Jacks main father, which would obviously be Sam but to just talk about how the show managed to make this happen and be completely accepted by the viewers. 

I work with several SPN fans, though Im the only one who wouldnt really be considered a casual viewer, meaning Im the only obssessed one LOL but the others arent involved in SPN SM on tumblr or twitter, they dont go to conventions and none of them are into shipping. (thats right, it seems most casual viewers dont ship the characters) yet all of them think its cool that Sam, Dean and Cas are Jack’s fathers, none of them think its creepy, incestuous, or gay. One did joke that it sounded like the synopsis of a very bad porno, (2 brothers, and their buddy take in a young adult orphan as their own) but then said that its a very cool concept.  What I think made it work, is everything thats gone down in the last 13 years. I dont care if youre a wincest shipper or not, but theres no closer relationship on the show than Sam and Dean. We know now they are “stuck” with each other, they wont be finding a significant other and building their own family, and even in the end, they’ll be together. Be it on Earth, in Heaven, Hell or the Empty. Also, they have no closer companion than Cas. Whether or not you like the character, canonically, Cas is their best friend that they love as a brother.  Since the show revolves around family dynamics, good ones and bad ones, we’ve seen Sam and Dean in every position. As brothers, sons, cousins, friends, and even as husbands breifly to Lisa and Amelia. we never really got to see them as fathers. The show could have remedied this by having one of their ex girlfriends show up with a kid “Surprize!!” but Im glad they didnt. This would automatically put one brother in the position of Dad, and the other as Uncle and Cas is just that buddy in the trench coat. The way it was done, put all 3 men in a fatherly position that developed over different time lines and circumstances.  Im going to try to break this down in an unbias manner. We can all feel free to disagree with the outcome, but its how the show itself unfolded this little highly unorthodox family. Cas was the one appointed to be Jack’s father. Kelly gave this duty to him when she decided to allow herself to die to let her son be born, and Cas accepted. So it looked as though Cas would be this boy’s father, but as it was, Cas was dead when Jack was born.  Sam came to the plate next. His relationship developed organically with Jack. Some may not have seen it coming, but Sam was determined long before Jack was born, to NOT kill him, but to try to let him be born without the worry that he would be evil. When it was apparent they couldnt take his grace and make him human, Sam knew it didnt mean Jack HAD to be evil. Sam took the role as mentor right away. Caring for Jack and having genuine compassion for him. We were given the hint Sam felt fatherly when they showed him reading a parenting book. (my god that was the cutest thing) So the writers flipped the script and gave Sam a head start in the father field. Also, with Sam being first, it added this layer of beauty, because Sam fell in paternal love with the son of his torturer. He wasnt enlisted, or pushed, it just happened, and thats beautiful. Dean came last, and as a story teller, I can see why they chose this route. It had been established since S1 that Dean is good with kids and naturally paternal. To have him be the first “father” would leave Cas and Sam on unlevel ground through lack of experience. For Dean to follow up second from Cas, would make it too shippy, and Sam would probably never make it out from under the  “uncle” title. and wouldnt we always wonder if Sam held a little resentment inside? Jack being the son of Lucifer for starters, and Dean taking him in as a son? Over the seasons, Sam has made it very clear, he never wants to be #2 in Dean’s eyes, and this could bring around some bad brother drama.  Dean starts off hating Jack. Indeed he was way too nasty to him in the beginning. Not even gonna debate that, but for Sam, Dean gives the kid a shot. He discovers that yes, Jack is a good kid and now Deans natural paternal side clicks on. And keep in mind he didnt try to step onSam and take over. Yes they showed Dean and Jack bonding more than they did Sam, but he didnt take over. He made sure taking Jack out was ok with Sam, so did Cas. They both respected that Sam has been Jacks primary care giver since day 1, and Sam isnt selfish or possessive (over anyone/anything else besides Dean) so Sam is happy to share Jack so he can have as much positive influence as he can.  So I give TPTB credit for coming up with this formula, my only complaint being that they didnt need to make Dean as hateful as he was, they could have just made him hessitant and standoffish at first and that would have been enough but it is what it is, and that part is over thank Chuck. Now, most of us knew the “3 dads” thing was coming because the cast talked about it a lot, but those of us who dont follow the cons and interviews, still were pleasently surprised that this came about. I havent heard anyone complain that its creepy, even though if you tell someone whos never seen the show “On my show, the 2 brothers and their friend adopted an 18 yr old kid” they’d look at you funny.  We complain about the writers all the time because they do screw up a lot, but I like to give them credit when I can. This is one of those situations. They made something that seems creepy on the outside, not only acceptable, but wonderful, simply by how it was written. I feel the same way about how they handled the return of Mary. It didnt pan out as well as it could have, and thats really a whole other meta, but Im glad they didnt take an easy route with her making her a zombie, or Super Mom and put her in a really human position of a mother meeting her adult sons for the first time, but Ill save that for another post :)

[alexfridayfesten]

Precise notes given to me whilst playing the character of Helena.

After our first full run through, our Director Scot Williams gave us notes on how we can improve our characters performance, below I have included the original notes given to me whilst I am playing the role of Helena, and how I have digested them, along with how I  will adapting them to my performance in our second full run through of Festen.

ACT 1, SCENE 1:Scot gave me the note of working on a particular line I say in the opening scene of the play,” you haven't been drinking again have you.” Within this scene you see the two siblings christian and Helena meeting for the first time after the death of their sister, Helena is in high spirits, completely over excited by seeing christian and is complimenting him etc, Scot advised me to say this line out of context to the praising I am giving christian, so whilst I am delivering this line, its important to make it known the emphasis of what happens when my brother drinks, to emphasise Helena’s  worry behind her brother drinking. I will do this by changing my tone of voice whilst delivering the line, whilst thinking of a substitution of someone in my own personal life whom i haven't wanted to see drunk as it has a bad effect, this will allow me to show the real worry of Christians drinking, whilst enticing the audience in to thinking what the reason is he drinks and why the character of Helena is so worried.

ACT 1 , SCENE 1 : Another line I was given by my director is were Michael enters the scene, unknown to Helena. This is the first time she sees her brother in a long time, after him not attending his sisters funeral, Helena is very upset by this, so begins to argue with him. The line I have been told to alter the way I say is were Helena says to her brother “ I dont mind what you do, but what i mind is what you dont do.” Here helena begins to reel of a list of things her brother docent do such as “ you dont call me on my birthday, you dont bother to give me the money you owe me”. Here Scot suggested that when delivering this line I make more emphasis of the list of reasons why i am unhappy with Michael, by delivering them slower as if I have only just thought of them. I will do this by showing my initial thoughts of the reasons Michael doesn't bother with Helena, almost like showing the mechanisms behind a clock. Scot discussed the importance of showing the audience your thoughts. This makes Helena’s list of reasons more interesting as they are coming from a deeper,more thoughtful place.

ACT 1,SCENE 3: BEDROOM.

After deciding to split these 3 scenes into individual scenes, this has allowed us to concentrate on our own scenes in more detail. In this scene Helena enters her sisters room for the first time after her death, with butler Lars. She desperately wants company in the room as she is so scared to be alone, one of the Illness Helena shows this is by saying to Lars “christian and Linda were twins” she says this in order to make Lars stay with her, almost a way for him to feel sorry for the absence of her sister dying, this is a note I was given by Scot. Helena’s character in the play is very manic and is overly excited majority of the time whilst being flirtatious, Scot directed me to show Helena’s manic side, when she begs Lars to stay by repeatedly pleading him. This is the same when Helena says to Lars she thinks her sister is “in the bathroom” were Helena is showing the audience the true effect of drugs and alcohol and hallucinations she has, and her mental stability, it is important for me to completely believe myself when delivering this line as if I believe in myself the audience will too. This is similar when Helena finds arrows left behind by her sister on the walls, this needs to be internal when i begin to find clues (arrows drawn on the ceiling) it needs to be clear I am only just realising my sister has left me clues for a reason, which i mentioned similarly in Act one  scene one, the audience need to see the mechanisms behind the clock working.

It is crucial i show a painful side to Helena, the fact she is still grieving for her sisters loss, and that is magnified when she finds a suicide note left behind by her, especially now that her late sisters deepest secrets have been revealed. A note I was given Is to protect Helena's privacy, and her ability to cover up her families incestuous behaviour from being exposed. This is seen by the way she talks to Lars to try and dismiss any possible chance of the truth being exploited by not worrying him. Helena shows an example of this by attempting to laugh off any uneasy feelings Lars may have of the supernatural feeling in Linda's bedroom “There have always been ghosts in this house.” This line is projected by laughing, and attempting to convince Lars there is nothing to worry about, however whilst I say this line Scot advised me the importance of showing the secrets and the pain behind what exactly those secrets are.

Scot has also encouraged me to make more of a point of getting Lars to leave Linda's bedroom, and covering up any evidence of what has just been discovered. I will be working on this by concentrating on my beats and actions within the scene, and re-visiting the section that covers this in “Power of the Actor.”

ACT 2,SCENE 1:

This scene is the first encounter we have of all characters on stage for the first of many dinner party courses. Helena has very quick and sharp lines within the first scene of act two, so it is important to show how quick and on the ball Helena is, after pushing her discovery of her letter to the back of her mind in order to protect her family's secrets. In this scene we see the first of Christians speeches were he reveals how his father sexually abused his children, this is the first time after the finding of the letter we see Helena become extremely nervous and distressed by her brothers words, so much so she knocks over her glass of wine as she is so distressed.

Within all scenes of the production it is imperative to show Helena and Michael’s cognitive dissonance, as they are two siblings who are both in complete denial,and will stretch to any extremities to protect there family.

In act two you see Helena run after her brother Christian’s first speech, as she wants to protect him. It is then were she makes eye contact with her father whom gives a clear instruction for her to follow christian by making a speech of her own, Scot advised me that I should wait for the initial glare of Helge before attempting to cover up Christians reveal with a speech. It is important i show the disgust on my face of what my father is asking of me, yet showing my fear of my father and what may happen to me if i dont protect the family's name and initially lying for him. Its important to show the narcissistic power Helge over his children, just like he did when they were infants, and how he will take advantage of their fear. Helena making a speech is still supportive of her overall objective which is to be free,as her scene objective is to protect her family, as she wants to do the easiest thing in order to leave the party so she can finally be free.

FREEMASONRY SONG: 

This song should be sung as if it is being song within a cult, very serious just like the Klu Klux Klan may off. Regardless of Helena being such a free spirit a “revolutionist” and  “socialist” she joins in singing these insulting songs alongside her family, despite her disagreeing with the values her masonic family may stand for, she does this only to maintain civil and peaceful with her family, as this is something her upbringing consisted off, as it was within her wealthy culture, Helena goes along with it all for the benefit of her family, which again is promoting her overall objective of being free, as the easier she gets on with her family, the easier it will be for her to leave once the dinner party is over without any complications.

ACT 2,SCENE 2: 

Before Poul attempts to distract the dinner party with attempting to sing a song to break the tension, Helena enters the stage anxious and stressed worried about Christian’s next move, here we can see how scared Helena still is of her father before saying to christian “are you completely fucking insane” which in other words is her way of saying “ do you know what he will do to you” this is showing the impact of fear Helge places on his children. She is telling christian here how it is not the time and place to be revealing their families secrets, she is aware of what her father is capable off and is so scared for her brother, it is vital i show this when delivering these lines to my fellow actor josh, as i have to be taken on an emotional journey before reaching this point. At this point we can clearly see the start of Helena's breakdown.

SUBSTITUTIONS & INNER OBJECTIVES:

When working on becoming close to our fellow actors it is important that we work closely on our beats and actions and our inner objects. Scot told us the importance of getting close with our peers whom we are close with on stage. To make sure i achieve this i will working closely with my classmates Josh who plays christian, Liam who plays Michael alongside my relationship with Chloe who plays my partner in the show.

When discussing inner objectives it is important to make the writers words ( my lines) my own, in order to make more sense of it. I will be recapping my knowledge of inner objectives by reading “Power of the actor” again. Throughout the play we want the audience to be left with a mixture of emotions, sad, happy conflicted and outraged.

ACT 3, KAI & HELENA SCENES: 

Crucial things to remember whilst working on a transgender topic being displayed by me and my class mate Chloe whom are both female, with Chloe acting as a male.

We need to look like lovers, importance to embrace for longer on our first meeting, we will achieve this by holding a kiss for longer than a few seconds.

 Discussing what music Helena may listen to, talking about what gets her in the mood through sound. I feel like Helena would listen to the Beatles as they are a band that not only stood for the same values as someone like Helena, but a band I can personally relate too as I share a love for them also this way I can put an element of myself in the character.