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moreespressoformydepresso · 8 months ago

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So to get to the soulmate identifying mark and the actual story/fix-it part of the my Treech x Gaius x Festus soulmate AU, it uhm… took me longer than expected to type this. I was a dumbass who decided it was bedtime and then completely forgot to keep working on this draft lmao. Whoopsies.

There are many soulmate identifiers that could work in this AU, but I tend to stick with marks because it gives Treech a good excuse to already be aware of the bond. It adds an extra layer of character that he’d know about it and actively choose not to share this information. Their mark has a floral pattern, symbolizing Festus and Gaius’s positive personality traits. The aspect of the mark that represents Treech is the fact that this floral pattern is actually a wood carving. The wood texture is easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it, but it’s there. It represents not only Treech’s passion for wood carving, but just his creative side in general. He's also not scared to speak his mind, and art is a form of self-expression. Treech is present in the core of the mark, under the surface but undeniably there. Kind of like their eventual dynamic, where Gaius and Festus have power but they’re so in love that Treech is the one calling the shots. Since Capitol elite is a whole lot of social climbing Treech is arguably the first person to ever show outright disdain for them, and even when he starts to like them he’s not afraid to speak his mind. And since he’s their soulmate, they actually care about his opinion.

Alright, with that ramble out of the way, lets get fixing:

So this AU starts on the first day, where Coryo brings Lucy Gray the rose and she mentions it reminds me of her soulmark (part of the mark is a guitar with a white rose motif). Then in the zoo she mentions playing the guitar and the gears start turning in Coryo’s head. After a brief stint of denial he realizes that Sejanus is also his soulmate and from the districts so really it’s not that impossible. One trip to the zoo later confirms that yes they’re a threesome. Coryo goes through his mental gymnastics of “well she’s Covey so it’s fine” until Sejanus smacks down his pitiful grasping at straws. After all, he considers himself district, so Coryo’s logic isn’t logicing very well. He brings it to Tigris, who helps him come to the correct conclusion that maybe the world isn’t black and white. Maybe judging people based on where they were born isn’t good, actually. And also Lucy Gray is gonna be sent into an arena to die soon so really regardless of whether she’s district or not the clock is fucking ticking so he better figure something out and get a move on. Which he does by talking to Gaul, who does not listen to a word he says hammers on about her stupid theory about humanity.

One talk with Sejanus helps Coryo realize that maybe Gaul’s world isn’t gospel and actually she’s kind of crazy? Sejanus, meanwhile, has the realization that his boyfriend isn’t exactly healthy minded and hasn’t been all that upfront with him about how close he is with Gaul. What nonsense she’s been feeding him and all that. So he starts digging, as he does, and over the course of this story he and Lucy Gray slowly help Coryo realize that Gaul is wrong and that while the loss of his parents is sad, the Capitol has done much worse than the districts ever did for far longer. Their treatment of the districts caused the rebellion, so if anyone’s to blame it’s the Capitol. But before they can bring systematic change they need to make sure Lucy Gray doesn’t die next week, and while Coryo is planning to stick with cheating his soulmates aren’t about that. The other tributes deserve to live as well, so hey why not shoot high and try to cancel the games entirely? But Gaul isn’t gonna stop and Highbottom has no say so what can they do?

Expose the bond. That’s what they can do. They get a news crew to the zoo and reveal their shared soulmarks on camera, live so no Capitol censorship can take it down. It causes quite the problem for Gaul, who tries to save her precious games and thus basically “disowns” Coryo as her apprentice. This is the final push that gets Coryo to choose being a good person. However, he has two soulmates that are considered district and the Snow family lost a lot of influence so Gaul is using that to argue that this bond doesn’t “count” as proof that the district people aren’t vile animals. This is where Treech and his bond comes in. Gaius and Festus have been pushed as a power couple for a long while so at some point Treech caught a glimpse of their soulmark and realized it’s his own. It’s in a pretty hidden spot (either on their sides or torsos) so he decides to keep this information to himself. Until he realizes the games may actually at least be postponed if he reveals it.

But he has no idea how to go about it until Gaul’s pushing causes the interviews to come around. It’s the day before the games and it’s not like there’s anything to lose so Treech decides it’s time for a hail mary pass. And on live TV, in front of a massive audience, he reveals the mark. Lucky asks him whether he knows his soulmate and whether they’re waiting for him, so Treech smiles and says he’s never talked to them but he knows who they are, and he’s not sure whether it’s a blessing or a curse. Then when asked what that means, he starts lifting/pulling aside his shirt to show the mark while saying:

“Well, one of them lives in luxury thanks to the pain that me and everyone I’ve ever known has been put through. The other one openly jokes about said pain and clearly thinks it’s funny. I’m not sure if I really want to get to know them.”

Cue gasps all around. Shocked whispers and murmurs floating through the air while Lucky tries to figure out how to salvage this situation before a whole brawl breaks out because guess what? Treech has just irrefutably debunked the only thing that kept the games from being cancelled. Lucy Gray’s bond wasn’t with true capitolites? Well Gaius and Festus have been pushed as the greatest example of a golden capitol bond and now this nobody from the lumber district turns out to be a part of it! There isn’t really any arguing against that. To rub further salt into the wound Treech continues.

“It’s okay, they probably wouldn’t want me anyways. Since they need me dead to win a cash prize and all that. As if they need more money when the shoes they’re wearing right now are already more expensive than my entire existence.” Treech smirks. “And if they do want me, then too bad. I don’t want anything to do with them.”

“Why not?”

“Well again, one of them is the son of the guy behind all of my suffering. The other one… he was mean to Panlo. How dare anyone be mean to Panlo?!”

That accidental display of humanity (dismissing someone entirely because “they were mean to my friend”) is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and finally there’s enough proof for those opposed to the games to grow in numbers and start mass-protesting the day of the games. Some gather in front of the president’s mansion while the rest groups in front of the arena to prevent the games from starting. And it works. I have several snippets of what happens after this but I’ll write those out later. And I’ll write a short post with all the quotes I’ve thought up for this AU. Eventually. For fun.

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juniperhillpatient · 7 months ago

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also. I am clearly in taylor swift mode right now & this week is going to be very much about finishing atla scream au while never getting a second off work ever in my life BUT I decided rather than write a Letterboxd review for American Mary I am going to write an essay I’ve been wanting to write for a very long time that the movie inspired me to really want to discuss this topic. I liked some parts & have criticisms of other parts & it plays into my feelings on horror & women in general.

I’d really like to in depth discuss feminism & misogyny in horror & slashers particularly through the years & how it’s changed for the better & worse & what I think about the sensationalizing & sexualizing of violence against women in media & how it plays into revenge films like this.

I think I’m truly the right person to do an essay on this topic because my thoughts are far more complicated than “movies with forbidden topics are evil & we should bring back the hayes code” or “if you ever imply media has real life impact or that certain types of media should be critiqued for having a harmful cultural impact I’m gonna call you a stupid sjw” & I’m sorry but most online arguments seem to boil down to these very over-simplified black & white viewpoints.

I really do have a lot of views on this topic as a woman who was a victim of assault as a teenager (I’m fine now I don’t care about sharing this except when people get weird about it so… don’t do that. It’s something I went through, it impacts my views. I’m a happy healthy adult with a great life now) AND a passionate horror fan & a huge advocate for anti-censorship who LOVES the violent & depraved.

So idk this post has no point except to say I think I’m gonna write this essay after atla Scream Au is written & really go in depth with sources & examples & exploration of different viewpoints on glorification & portrayal of dark topics. Just to let anyone who cares about this topic know idk lol

#this is such a rambly way of saying I want to discuss a topic lmao #rose.txt #anyway. I have wanted to discuss this topic in depth for so long & like. really unpack the nuance of it all #maybe I miss writing essays in college lol

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thedawningofthehour · 8 months ago

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I was raised Catholic too, Fai, you won't be able to use this one.

When Bambi was on the topic of whether the Yokai would allow more violence in children's content all I could think of was that here in Latin America many kids including me and my uncles grew up with this.

Back in the 80s the local TV stations needed content for kids, however American cartoon licenses were very expensive so they had to use anime, which was cheaper at that time. They did the dubbing with professional actors and censored almost nothing.

That also reminds me that when I was in catechism, once they played the Passion of the Christ, you know, the one that is rated R. We were in elementary school and I was the only one who was uncomfortable about it, and by uncomfortable I mean that I went to cry in a corner, which surprised no one because I was the crybaby of the class.

When I found out about all the changes they made in the English dubbing of several classic anime I immediately thought it was sacrilege and that American kids were pussies.

What, you guys never had assignments to invent new grotesque and detailed tortures to punish sinners in hell? You never had to write your own obituary detailing the saintly events of your life? Every Friday during Lent, you didn't listen to some tape of a woman reading off how Jesus's flesh was stripped off and going into detail about what happens to someone's lungs when they're crucified, while the teacher turned the lights off and made you all sit on the floor alone so you could 'reflect' better?

My elementary school actually didn't like The Passion of the Christ when it came out. Which is weird, considering it was weirdly fundamental for the area we live in. (my mom attended meetings where they discussed whether it was okay for the kids to read Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia and she thought it was the dumbest shit ever) The only thing I can think of that might explain that is that the Pope didn't like it. (You were kind of young when he died but people were like...obsessed with John Paul II)

Yeah, I grew up in a very liberal area and my parents weren't really religious so I'll think it didn't really affect me, but then I remember shit like that and go "what the fuck?"

I also remember crying after our principal (who was such a religious nut that even at my elementary school he was forced out of the position after a year) told my class that animals didn't have souls and would never get into heaven. I was upset not only because I didn't want to go to heaven without my pets, (I think this was after we got Angel, but I had another bird before him as well) but my grandfather was a notorious animal lover so I wanted to believe that he had all his pets and then some up there. This guy basically berated me in front of the class for being so childish and stupid to even want that, and told me that my birds didn't actually love me because they didn't have souls and therefore couldn't love. Which-what the fuck? Once I grew up and actually did my own reading I realized that I wasn't being childish at all, this is actually a point of contention with a lot of Christians-Roald Dahl famously became disillusioned with the church after he was told that his daughter Olivia, who died at seven from measles, would not be joined in heaven by her beloved dog. And you know, I still picture my grandpa up in heaven with his arms full of animals, taking care of the pets my family and my cousins' family have lost, fat and laughing in joy with his dozens of pets.

(man, this got off-track)

I mean, some of the censorship made sense. A major thing that was edited out in a lot of shows was guns, and that was because guns are tightly controlled in Japan and there's little chance of Japanese children getting their hands on any. American children, however, most likely have guns in their houses or knew someone who did. There's little risk of a Japanese kid getting their hands on a gun and acting out something they saw on TV, but that isn't true in the US.

It can end up kind of funny though. Like when the edited the guns out of people's hands in Yugioh but just...left them holding invisible guns.

But yeah, the editing out of violence and blood, that was some real 'the sound of children screaming has been removed' bullshit. And I know at least for Yugioh, they edited out a lot of 'occult' stuff to appeal to American Christian sensibilities.

Trust me, we thought it was bullshit too. There would be tons of playground rumors about what happened in the original Japanese cut.

And we all realized that the rice ball wasn't actually a jelly donut.

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bllsbailey · 2 months ago

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The Morning Briefing: Dems' Media Lapdogs Know They're Losing Their Grip on the Narrative

Top O' the Briefing

Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Perwisch experienced fresh waves of enlightenment whenever he spent the day breaking in new sandals at an arugula farm.

Let us briefly muse this morning about the ever-shifting American political media landscape. A lot has changed in the last four years, mostly for the better.

In the modern media era, the Democrats have always enjoyed the advantage of having the power players in the mainstream media running interference for them. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Big Three nightly news networks have been working in cahoots with the Democratic National Committee for a very long time to create fictions that benefit the latter.

For the longest time, that meant that the Dems had a stranglehold on the flow of information to the electorate.

Digital and social media have been slowly breaking that stranglehold. Things were slowed down, however, in 2020. The combination of irrational hatred for then-President Donald Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic made tyrannical censorship more popular than ever.

Sites like this one were financially throttled for reporting the truth about the pandemic, government responses to it, or Joe Biden.

Then Elon Musk got involved. Suddenly, the Democrats had lost control of the social media platform that had become a primary driver of news. The poor dears haven't been taking it well at all. Because they rely so much on false narratives and the suppression of information, the Democrats freak right out if they lose even the tiniest bit of control.

JD Vance continues to give the media propagandists fits because he won't roll over for them. My Townhall colleague Rebecca Downs writes that his debate performance on Tuesday night reduced the Dem cheerleaders at Politico to noting that "Walz's wide eyes showed his passion."

It's a tough gig making this Democratic ticket look good. Bless they're hearts, they keep trying though.

My good friend and partner in thought crime Stephen Green wrote something yesterday that shows just how rattled the Democrats' media pets get if they lose control over any part of the narrative machine:

X's freewheeling Grok AI is responsible for letting users create countless Commie Kamala memes, and they're proving effective enough that MSNBC and Democrats (but I repeat myself) are having hissy fits trying to force Grok to stop them and Harris to fight them. Is the urge to shut down and shut up all opposition just a sort of gag issue for the Left, or are they particularly hysterical this time around because the Commie Kamala memes are proving effective at defining the candidate who refuses to define herself? Yes.

Once again, a tip of the hat to Elon Musk.

The lefties who are caterwauling about the memes are trying to convince people that their angst is all about deepfakes and misinformation, but, as Stephen wrote, the only people "stupid enough" to be duped by such things are already in the bag for Harris-Walz.

Memes are entertainment, and that is a huge part of narrative creation. The Democrats still have the television and movie industries at their beck and call for propaganda, but they're losing it over having one AI generator slip through the cracks. Most of the other major AI image generators are firmly in the Democrats' camp. My Twitchy colleague Amy Curtis has the most recent example of that here.

These shifts aren't overnight gamechangers. However, the panicked reactions from the Left are proof that they're positive.

Baby steps forward are better than no steps at all.

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forgottenpercy · 1 month ago

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"You're not convinced?" Percy asked, patting his stomach -- which did little to help his argument. Neither did the widening of his eyes and the watering of his mouth when Saoirse emptied the contents of her basked before him.

"Just how many men are you planning to feed with all of this?" He teased.

He couldn't help but feel a wave of sadness when she suggested that he come home more. Malconaire would always be home to him, but there was also a wave of memories that flooded his mind whenever he walked those familiar paths amongst the village and wondered through the forests: memories of a family who had left him long ago.

Of course there were good memories, too, and they often prevailed -- especially when he was surrounded by his friends (his family now), but if he tarried there too long and he was left alone: it was in those quiet moments that the ghosts from his past haunted him.

His brothers should still be alive, he thought, bitterly. And not for the first time, he wondered what why he had been the only one spared.

For the moment, he pushed those thoughts aside, "But who should run this place, if I'm gone?" He raised an eyebrow, "Don't let my humble garb fool you, I'm very important."

The laughter didn't last long, for Percy felt his blood pressure rise when Saoirse began to recant her brother's latest scrapes. He had known about the incident with the prince -- and liked to try to forget about it -- but he had not know about his conversation with Aira.

"He what?" He ran a hand through his hair, "When was this? What else did he tell her?" Percy had not doubt that Aria would keep his secret, but the less people knew about it, the better. Not to mention Aria Stafford was watched at all times and he did not always trust Cillian to watch his tongue, even when there might be others watching. "He really never thinks does he?"

Another sigh at the thought that Cillian might have had something to do with the riots, "Gods, above. I never thought he would have done anything that stupid, but guardians know that he certainly could have lit that match to incite them all, even if he didn't know it." There was nothing so inspiring as Cillian Frost when he spoke both passionately and without censorship -- let alone when he was given encouragement. Unfortunately, he didn't always pick the most opportune moments for such displays.

"I may have to come home more often," He found himself saying, half-serious. "Someone needs to keep your infuriating brother in check."

Comfort Food | Percy & Saoirse

"You didn't need to do all of this," Saoirse had brought him a basket filled with cheese and bread and fruit -- and what smelled like a freshly baked pie. "They do feed us here at the palace, you know," He said, teasingly.

While that was true, the kitchens were only stocked with the ingredients that were required to make whatever foreign foods the Varmonts were accustomed to and the servants were left to eat whatever was left that was about to expire. It left him wanting for some freshly made Astairan food.

"Between you and Eithne, I'll soon be too fat to ride any of these horses and I'll loose my job. And you'll have no one to blame but yourselves," This had been a ritual that both girls had started after Percy lost his family. Percy had once tried to refuse -- food could be scarce both at Malconaire and Lorcan -- but they were insistent and if they were unsuccessful in their attempts, they'd only have Cillian sneak the food in when Percy wasn't looking.

Percy had long ago given up trying to voice any such protests.

Besides, the food was always good and always welcome. He'd make sure to share this basket with his fellow servants tonight. He knew that they could all use a taste of home. His eyes met Saoirse's. "Thank you." His teasing replaced now with sincerity.

#comment #comfort food #saoirse frost

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olderthannetfic · 3 years ago

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Hey friend. Well, an apparently a post I made has exploded. And a super friendly person has said that we're anti-ao3 and about censorship because the post was asking people to stop being cruel in bookmarks. I was pleasantly surprised, tbh, by the reception of the post. And then utterly shocked when it sped right past my usual ~50 note count to spread like fire. Right now it's at 14k notes, and while I'm really sad at how many people have said they have had cruel and hurtful comments- the overall reception has been good! A few people didn't know and adjusted their bookmarks. Many people just liked it. But about... 5? People doubled down insisting bookmarks are for readers and we shouldn't tell them how to use them. It's utterly baffling- the willful misunderstanding of the request. But this last one is accusing us of censorship and you know? I figured I'd reach out to accounts more used to handling this shit. So I'm talking to you, as you're quite level headed in the discourse I've read. Whether or not bookmarks are for readers... is really a moot point, isn't it? But asking them not to be cruel in their notes, as we are, is it truly so unreasonable? (Horribly optimistic, I know, but asking doesn't harm.)

Well... I think it's really a question of what "cruel" means to you, you know?

For me, direct insults to the author are too cruel. I'm talking stuff like "This stupid cunt can't write." Insult insults against their actual person, not just "I think this fic was poorly written". Threats are, of course, not acceptable.

I've been sent your post already, and I don't think I entirely agree with how you see bookmarks. Perhaps the tone of the pushback put your back up a bit, but underneath all that is a legitimate fundamental disagreement about what bookmarks are for and how much concrit or negativity should be visible publicly.

My view is that a very high level of concrit and even negative reviewing is fine in public... But not in the author's space.

The author's space is the comments on their fic, comments or reblogs on their posts, their email, etc. Basically, places you know will directly send the author notifications or emails to their inbox are places you post when you want to shove your comment in the author's eyeballs. I think unsolicited concrit and/or negative reviews are undesirable in such places.

Now, bookmarks on AO3, bookmarks on pinboard, recs posts on tumblr, recs communities on Dreamwidth, and the like are not the author's space. They're readers' spaces to discuss what they thought. It's true that sometimes what readers think hurts to hear. That's a good reason for authors to be careful about looking.

I do think that some AO3 users don't realize their bookmarks are public by default, and for them, a post like that is a good reminder.

But for others who are just using the bookmarks as fanfic Goodreads... that's what the bookmarking feature is for, and they're not doing anything incorrect.

So, again, does "cruel" mean insulting the author as a person, calling them rude words and slurs? Or does "cruel" mean bookmarking them with "1/5 stars, DNF, needs SPAG edit"?

AO3 has had an increased bullying problem in recent years, so I can well believe that people are getting bookmarks I too would consider cruel, full of personal attacks and anti bullshit. But I also see a lot of people calling "1/5 stars" cruel, and I'd consider that fair game and useful to other readers.

But as for the virality part, it will probably die down before too long. Most people won't remember that you're the OP of that post or have any particular association with your username from it. Anything that involves feedback for fic or AO3 itself tends to make the rounds like wildfire and people have a lot of passionate opinions.

I think the worst thing you can do is get defensive. If most of the replies are agreeing with you already, it's kind of petty to be really upset about the 5 that aren't. Being petty tends to attract more wank than just going "Whatever. I've thought through my philosophy, and I'm sticking to it."

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multimetaverse · 5 years ago

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DOAFP 1x09 Review

State of the Union was a great ep and Doafp continues to be unlike anything else on TV. Let’s dig in!

Very nice to see Camila trying to help Bobby, and I still can’t believe Fairy Gaymothers was said on Disney. She did try to help though in the end Danielle talking about Cami’s hesitance to come out to her parents as being part of Cami’s process was what did the trick for Bobby. It’s amazing that we get to see adult lgbtq characters interacting with and helping a young gay kid; really never thought I’d see this on Disney

Cami straight up says that she thinks Bobby likes Liam and that the fight was caused by misplaced passion; we’re well into textual territory. It’s interesting that they took the time to spell it out for the audience this ep. If Bobby ends up coming out to Liam or Sam or whoever by using the word gay rather than talking about his feelings for Liam then that would explain the writers having Cami spelling it out this ep but we’ll see soon enough

Glad that Bobby did the right thing and broke up with Monyca, she’s a sweet girl and by the end of the ep seems to get that Bobby likes Liam and not her. Seems like the mention of kissing in a closet at the new party is what finally tipped Bobby over which isn’t surprising given Bobby’s reaction to their first kiss

I’ll give the show credit for not having Bobby kiss Monyca again and for keeping their first kiss off screen. Realistically they’re going to have a very hard time getting Bobby kissing a boy on screen so limiting what they’ve shown when Bobby was with a girl will prove to be very wise should the show have further seasons. I don’t know how familiar the Doafp writers are with Andi Mack but they seem to be learning from its mistakes whether that’s deliberate or not. Cyrus’ story line was horribly censored and unequal when compared to all the straight characters but also compared to with what Cyrus was allowed to do when he was dating Iris, including kissing her twice

From a photo one of the writers, LaDarian Smith, posted ep 7 was already written by the end of May 2019 which suggests that all of the eps were at least in draft form before production started in summer 2019. It explains the coherence of the eps so far which seem to be well planned out. For Andi Mack S1 they only got final permission to have Cyrus come out just a few days before filming the lookback in 1x12 which shows in the writing since there wasn’t much set up for Cyrus’ crush on Jonah and until the lookback it really wasn’t anything that couldn’t be explained away by Cyrus just admiring Jonah. It’s clear that Doafp had permission either from the start or from very early on in the writing to go full steam ahead with Bobby’s story line which gives it a great sense of momentum

We once again get Gabi seemingly brushing off Cami’s concerns about her parents and implying that she should just come out to them already and we also saw that Danielle wants Cami to tell her parents about them. Cami would know her parents best and presumably her fears that they’re homophobic aren’t unfounded but Gabi and Danielle seem to think that nothing bad would happen if Cami’s parents found out. Certainly a story line where Cami’s parents are somewhat homophobic could lead to some very interesting things especially if it happens around when Bobby eventually comes out to Gabi. But if they aren’t allowed to tackle it or can’t pull it off then having Cami realize that her fears were unfounded is a good way to go. There’s no real precedent for homophobia being tackled on Disney; Andi Mack vaguely alluded to it and it did tremendous damage to the Tyrus story line because it was poorly written and not something that the show could ever have pulled off with the censorship they were under. I don’t think the Doafp writers are so stupid to introduce such a serious topic without planning it out but I hope they tread carefully

I would not have thought that it was Spring Break already, it was clear that the season started with the school year already in session but I’m surprised that we are this far along. If they do get a S2 then they’ll have little choice but to skip ahead to Elena’s 7th grade year and Bobby’s 9th grade year

Lot’s of great jokes this ep, Bobby thinking RuPaul’s Drag Race is a car racing show was my favourite with Palo Alto first base being a close second

I really liked the transitions this ep

Ah yes Escape (The Piña Colada Song), the best song ever written about a married couple trying to cheat on each other. I like these little glimpses of Robert’s personality that we get and I love the focus on Gabi and Elena’s relationship

Sam was barely in the ep, certainly the least we’ve seen a main character. This is common to shows like GMW and Andi Mack where main cast members have to be in pretty much every ep even when there’s no real plot for them

Elena finally apologizes to Sasha and we get the full version of the mall poem which is realistically awful

We see just how integrated Sam has become into the kids lives which is why Gabi was holding off on telling them the truth but also is exactly the reason why she needed to tell them the truth

Looking Ahead:

I’m not worried about Sabi longterm but if they’re having a clean break then why is Sam over at their house giving Bobby advice next ep? It’s a messy situation but if he and Gabi aren’t going to be in a relationship then there does need to be a discussion on what if any role he’ll still have in Bobby and Elena’s lives. I do wonder what the ultimate endgame is for Sabi. Weddings make for good series finales but unless there’s a major time skip I can’t see the show going on long enough to have that be a plausible ending for them. Maybe as the show draws to a close they move in with each other or get engaged?

We’ll see if the Elena, Sasha, and Jessica friendship can be repaired. I remember parties where only some people in a class or group were invited though those didn’t happen until I was in High School

We got Sam talking to Bobby earlier in the season and his advice made Bobby realize that he shouldn’t have pranked Liam. As nice as it would be to see Bobby come out to Sam I’m not sure that’s a good choice for the show as that would leave Sam keeping a secret from Gabi about her own son

I do think Bobby comes out to Liam in some fashion and that Bobby will be canonly gay after the finale which is exciting especially as his story line came out of nowhere

I remain skeptical that Cartero is mutual though Brandon Severs has still been hyping the ship up. If he’s telling the truth then we’re just days away from Disney’s first bisexual character which would be very exciting. If he’s not then he’ll have a lot to answer for. Either way he’s either spoiling the show or stringing people along and neither should be happening and I hope that someone gets him to cut back on his twitter messiness. Charlie Bushnell is now on twitter and he’s been much more circumspect and professional not getting too much into Cartero and focusing on tweets about Bobby’s sexuality and the show itself as well as the petitions and campaigns to save the show

On that note, I fear that the show is likely over for good after this Friday. It sucks that the diversity and inclusivity that makes the show so amazing is also why it’s in danger of not being renewed. The cast was due to have a Q&A at the Paley Centre in May before the coronavirus intervened which may be a hopeful sign as it would be pretty pointless to hype up a cancelled show. A part of me hopes that with Bobby being officially gay next after the finale that Disney + may be wary of outright cancelling it especially after the Love Victor debacle but I don’t have much faith in Disney. The series is co-produced by CBS studios and was originally envisioned as being a CW show which explains why it doesn’t feel like a Disney show but how comfortable Disney would be with all the boundary pushing the show has done and would continue to do in future seasons is an open question. Regardless, I’m excited for the finale and hope that it does justice for the truly wonderful season the show has had

#diary of a future president #doafp #Bobby Cañero-Reed #Elena Cañero-Reed #Gabi Cañero-Reed #Sam Faber #Camila #Danielle #doafp reviews

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funyasm · 4 years ago

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tagged by @teamsarawatshusband thank u hun ♥

• Your top five BLs (in no particular order)

Where your eyes linger

YYY

2gether

Theory of Love

Gameboys

(if ramking had its own drama, it would definitely be up there but as it is, i don’t care enough about the other pairings in My Engineer to do so)

• Favorite non-BL series

adapted from a BL novel but not technically a BL because of chinese censorship laws: The Untamed.

• Favorite OST

i usually love soundtracks but i can’t say that BLs have caught my attention on that front. some are even pretty kitsch (usually saxo themes make me lose it). i know i said it’s not a BL, but can i just answer The Untamed again?

• Favorite couple

hands down, Ramking from My Engineer

but i also have a soft spot for Teamwin from Until we meet again

• Your favorite ghostship

Earnpear from 2gether

• Favorite actor

Talay is a dumbass and i love him

• Favorite character

i kinda feel like we all need a king in our lives. i love how he managed to get close to ram despite how guarded, aloof and distant ram can seem (or maybe because of it) ; how he’s genuinely caring and attentive, respecting ram’s limits and apologizing when he did something wrong. he’s just really precious.

honourable mentions: pearl from Gameboys and two from Theory of love

• Actor you have a crush on

i don’t really have crushes on celebrities, but i’ll say this: perth nakhun is the softest boy, and watching his youtube videos always puts a stupid smile on my face.

• First BL

Tharntype. Kind of a miracle it wasn’t the last one too.

• An unpopular opinion of yours

i think we all know how problematic BLs can be... i try to keep in mind that it’s a different culture and it’s not my place to judge, but they’re clearly written by straight people for straight people, and despite the focus being on gay men it’s so often blatantly homophobic i’m sometimes not sure whether watching them is more comforting or more upsetting. that being said, i’m not a gay man, but as a lgbt person i take what i can get in terms of representation, and sometimes i just want a cheesy queer love story (i really hope we’ll get more wlw dramas too).

• A pet-peeve of yours

pft. i have too many to list them but here are a few:

- everything dubcon/noncon (in general, but in BLs it really contributes to that toxic stereotype that homosexuals are predators and can’t keep it in their pants)

- miscommunication and issues that could so easily be solved IF ONLY THEY TALKED SDFHDG

- incest

- girls being introduced only to cause trouble in a couple (love triangles, jealousy, basically being either a rival or just a bad bitch) - also, fujoshi characters objectifying gay men.

- gay relationships written in a very heteronormative way (the whole “husband/wife” and “top/bottom” thing, with the “wife/bottom” being the emotive, shy, fragile one and the “husband/top” the strong, protective, pushy one etc)

- toxic behaviours being romanticized

• Your favorite type of pairing

enemies to lovers is definitely a fav, but i also love ships where one is grumpy/distant and the other one is all sunshine and puppies

• Favorite declaration of love

so many were sweet and some very funny (i absolutely loved that Love Actually parody scene in Theory of Love) but i’m a sucker for a good “angst that culminates in a passionate kiss” scenes so yeah, Ramking owns my heart again.

• What you are currently watching

eh, too many things... Quaranthings, Love by chance 2, Still2gether, Oxygen, and i just finished Gameboys and The reason why he fell in love with me.

tagging @dreamboatsandtrenchcoats and anyone else who wants to do it ♥

#tag games

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pluviophile-bookworm · 5 years ago

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Thoughts/ reaction to AWAE 3x7

This cold open is… different. It has actual tension. Also, it ties directly to the end of last episode, and gods know I love that. And… it has actual speaking, too? Honestly, Anne is the typical teenager caught sneaking back in at night, while also being socially engaged. I mean, there’s nothing typical about her and the present mission of hers, but an untrained eye might have thought so.

I’m honestly afraid of people’s reaction to whatever Anne wrote in that paper. I have been since last week, and maybe not without good reason.

Have Diana’s parents learnt nothing? Not even from missing their chance with Mary? Apparently these people are immune to redemption. I hope I’m wrong about this.

Diana’s face after excusing Anne oh-so-smoothly is just like, “What has she done now?”, but she’s still not letting anything on. This is the friend we all dream of.

Poor Josie is getting those judging looks from everyone while Billy just sits there like he has nothing to do with it. In fact, he seems annoyed by the whole situation. Who gave you the right? How dare you sit there like you have no part in this? If I were Anne, I would definitely have done all she did and more. Heck, even if I were just me, I would have done something, and I’m so afraid of speaking up… Billy deserves the worst.

It seems to me that Josie’s father is no better than Billy. Blaming his own daughter and making her marry that little piece of *no swearing on main, but you’ll know what I mean* after what he did to her? Someone needs to teach those men a big lesson.

“Get him back”? Don’t you mean get back at him? Listen to your daughter, woman, why don’t you?

“How bad could it be?” Let’s just say you’re lucky not to know. I’m screaming right now, but we’ll have to live through this. No change comes without suffering.

Anne asking Marilla if she doesn’t deserve an opinion, and then bringing up Matthew’s blunder… hitting where it hurts the most, that’s what that was.

“All will sort itself out” Yeah it will, if Billy never so much as goes near another girl again. But we all know that’s not happening.

What? They’re looking for another girl? “More compatible with our interests”? What does that mean? Okay with being assaulted and treated like a piece of meat with no soul or opinion? No girl deserves the monstrosity that is Billy Andrews.

I knew Prissy would speak up. I hoped and prayed for at least one member of that family to have their mind and heart in the right place. The world needs more women like Prissy Andrews. At least two for every man like Billy Andrews. I still can’t wrap my mind around the two of them coming from the same genes. Biology and blood relations make no sense when it comes to what matters most, I guess.

Has Diana gone nuts? “Apologise to Josie”? For what? Trying to speak up for her when she herself wouldn’t dare to? Telling the honest truth to a town of people that are apparently too narrow-minded to see it? This isn’t the Diana that kissed Jerry at the fair last week. This isn’t the Diana that would fake an injury to experience freedom. I’m witnessing a full-speed slide down the metaphorical hill of character growth, back to square one. I’m disappointed in my girl.

“You’ve always been jealous of me”… for what? Being engaged to a piece of *see above* that assaulted you? Or for being too blinded by what society has taught you to believe - that you are lucky to be marrying him and are not the victim of what he did to you? Honestly, I feel bad for Anne in the present situation, but I feel even worse for Josie because, unlike Anne, she doesn’t seem to realise that she is the victim here and has rights to fight for. I hope this works out.

But honestly, does none of the girls remember about the Beltane? Does Diana not remember that Josie was in their circle and is therefore their sister now? Does Jane not remember what happened to her actual sister not so long ago - which said sister just reminded her of, in case she had forgotten? Josie is now her sister, too. Does that mean nothing? Is ostracising Anne and treating her like trash all over again going to benefit any of those girls? What is with everybody? Wake up, people!

Oh, shut up, Gilbert Blythe! Or whoever you are these days because I frankly don’t know you anymore. Do you still not realise what this is all about?

And Miss Stacy, too? You’d think she would have a thing or two to say about women’s rights. What is wrong with everybody?

Oh, so she agrees with Anne, but still won’t help her? I see where she’s coming from, but right now everything that goes against Anne even in the slightest is wrong in my eyes and ears. I’m looking at this too passionately. I might need to cool off.

All of a sudden I sympathise with Rachel Lynde. Who would have thought? But well, she just so happens to be the only woman in a council of men. Them trying to pass her opinion off as “hysterical” fits in perfectly with the theme of the episode about women’s voices and the right to equality.

Ok, so Diana might not be so lost, after all. I have to admit, I squeal in delight at the sight of her and Jerry. But… wait. What is going on just now? I’m not liking the sound of this. And why do I feel like his heart wasn’t in that kiss? Why are you doing this to me? I should be excited, nay, ecstatic, about Derry’s second kiss. Not hurt by the look on Jerry’s face. What did you do to my boy, Moira?

Miss Stacy seems to have finally come to her senses and is ranting about the stupid censorship that stupid men put on the newspaper instead of the “scandalous” actions that Anne took. And Anne having a full-on raging breakdown and taking it out on the remains of the writing club… “We rest in truth”… I feel for her.

Gilbert has finally come back. I have no idea where he was all this time, but he’s back and there’s at least one thing in this episode I’m glad about. It seems that suffering does bring about change, after all.

Anne coming back and being accepted with literal open arms… and then Gilbert’s face says it all. “I did what’s right. It was about time.”

“Anne’s farm boy is ever so tall…” First of all, yes he is, isn’t he? *heart eyes* Second of all. though, he has a name, and it’s Jerry. Third of all, he’s not Anne’s farm boy, he’s her brother. But at least we agree on something. Honestly, every now and then I feel that if I were to write a self-insert character for AWAE, I would end up with Ruby. She is just so much like me…

“Wonder if he has a farm girl…” Jerry’s just trying his best to hide at this point, and Diana looks like she would very much like to hide as well. But this is not hiding of the “secret forbidden romance” type. Why do I feel… embarrassment in her eyes? This is not my Diana.

“I’m certain Billy won’t understand any of it” - and that’s why the business should go to Prissy alone. Also because Billy deserves nothing, whether he understands the business or not.

What is wrong with Josie? The poor girl doesn’t even understand she’s perpetuating her own suffering. At least Anne tried. Multiple times. I’m afraid some victims deny themselves the chance to be saved…

“My girl”… oh sweet, gentle, wonderful Jerry… I fear she might not be very worthy of you right now… Also, it’s funny (read: cruel) what the fates do to us. I’ve wanted for Anne to know about Derry, but not in circumstances such as these…

“She seems to like the kissing part, but not the part where we talk”… this seems like a half-subtle parallel between their situation and what Billy did to Josie, and I’m not liking the implications this has about Diana. And it seems Anne has got the same impressions…

Poor, poor Jerry… I can barely see what I’m typing right now because I’m bawling my eyes out. I so wish I could be there to give him a hug and tell him just how much more he’s worth. Only, I couldn’t be much help because, as I said, I’m bawling my eyes out myself… That is NOT my Diana. Who’d have known the day I’d take Gilbert back in would be the day I’d lose Diana? But this is not about her. This is about how she made Jerry feel - wonderful, hard-working, smarter-than-he-is-given-credit-for Jerry who deserves absolutely no hurt. I knew the development of Derry was too good to last, but I did not expect the pain to come from within. I expected anything - society, their class difference, their families, even Diana’s higher education - to come between them, but never Diana’s behaviour to Jerry. Excuse me while I go throw pillows at my wall in rage and heartbreak.

“They can’t take your beauty away from you”… Umm, exuse me? All this happened because Josie was reduced to a “pretty face”. But you wouldn’t know. You weren’t there. She was, though, and she seems to finally realise just what was done to her. Please don’t let me be wrong in assuming that.

“I still like you”? Come again? What has happened that might reduce her likeability other than what you alone did to her? You’re an entitled effing brat, that’s what you are. And she owes you nothing. Good on Josie for finally realising her worth.

And you dare to just show up and act like nothing happened after what you did to Anne’s brother? If somebody treated my brother like this, I would make them pay. That much I know. I thought you would know better, Diana. “It doesn’t mean anything”… you better shut your mouth before you say anything else hurtful about the two people you’re alleged to love the most. walking on thin ice there, Miss Barry.

“Don’t you dare” No, don’t YOU dare! I was afraid Jerry would be just a temporary escape, a little adventure to Diana, but I shuddered to think it would be so anywhere beyond my anxiety-induced nightmares… and now there are some insulting words floating around in my head that I’m not directing at her just because I’m sure that, unlike Billy, she will redeem herself. I’m dying right here. I did not opt to miss my lectures to cry so much.

A real quote from my reaction to 3x5: “I live and would die for Anne and Diana’s friendship.” Well, now I feel like I AM dying - because this seems like the end of it. My brain knows it’s not, but my heart sides with Anne. And Jerry. I side with respect and equality. What side are you on, Diana?

“Just a suggestion. Not telling you what to do”… Gilbert seems genuinely a bit scared of her and I’m still dying - but now it’s of laughter. Gil has learnt his lesson and as of now deserves to be called Gil again… until further notice.

And the “rallying” that the episode description promised is in full force now. I’m finally smiling at this episode. It was high time.

Marilla stading up for Anne in front of the council and Matthew just smiling with pride is the golden content I had already lost all hope to see in this darkest of dark episodes… In Matthew We Trust!

In the name of all that is holy, I hope Moira’s deviations from the source material include the survival of both Matthew and Ruby. Seriously, source material, Matthew and Ruby? The biggest cinnamon rolls of them all? what’s next, Jerry? Delphine? No, forget I ever said that.

And now Josie joining in is just about the best thing I can hope to see before the hurricane of suffering this episode is comes to its end.

The “Not a Take Notice kind of guy” scene flashed through my mind when Gilbert said “Thanks for the suggestions”… this moment is so different, so much better… My Gil, Anne’s Gil, is back, and he’s making sure everyone knows it. You should see my face now.

The world needs more teachers - and women in general - like Miss Muriel Stacy.

Anne and Gil being aware of what exactly their relationship is like (Shouldn’t we be arguing about something…”) while not being sure what their relationship is like at all is… the most wonderful paradox I can think of right now. We’re getting a Shirbert kiss… in, like, season 6 or something, but it’s worth waiting for. Some slowburns should remain slowburns.

The spelling… oh gods, the spelling! #Shirbert

When Anne mentioned Winifred, I couldn’t help thinking of that time she mentioned Ruby… why do you do this to the guy, Anne? He’s trying to take a step forward, I can see that he really is.

Wait, what is happening? Why do they always make screens so dark, I can’t see what’s going on at all.

Oh no! When Miss Stacy mentioned the building spontaneously combusting, I didn’t think that was foreshadowing… but then, if I remember correctly, a fire was what made Anne and Ruby friends, so we never know - something good might come out of this. I hope so.

To sum up, in this episode we saw: Anne’s actions and their disastrous outcome; the town isn’t ready to accept the changes that are happening inevitably; Billy is an a**hole, Prissy is an icon - no surprises in either situation; Diana is not Diana; Josie doesn’t realise she’s a victim and has a voice; all the girls except Anne suffer from what we over at TV tropes call Aesop Amnesia about Beltane; Derry’s second kiss was nothing like the first one; Gilbert is BACK; Ruby is me; this is NOT MY DIANA; Anne finds out about Derry in the worst way imaginable; Jerry suffers and I want to kill someone because of it; the fall of Diana and what seems like, but is hopefully not, the death of Anne and Diana’s friendship; Josie realises her worth and puts Billy in his place; Gilbert is back like he’s never been gone; rallying and organised action at its best; In Matthew We Trust; Josie is back for the better; Shirbert knowing their relationship and not knowing it at the same time; Anne mentions another girl yet again - some people never learn; Miss Stacy unknowingly predicted the fire.

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6ad6ro · 6 years ago

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just a lil warning this post is a journey and gets a little dark. as in i will be making fun of some pathetic dude who wrote some rly offensive stuff. enjoy.

sooooo i recently was revisiting the dead or alive series. i played thru doa dimensions (it’s like a best-of abridged compilation of the first 4 games) and had a ton of fun. it’s been forever since i payed attention to doa, and i had forgotten how much i loved 2 and 3 way back when! i’m prob gonna get doa5lr next time im out, and 6 looks rly cool w all the changes! um i should prob say that i actually like the cute girls n char designs etc? but i could also care less that tittyanime element was (allegedly) toned down for 6 (it looks same to me lol). they went overboard w that kinda content in 5 so it’s a smart idea tbh. anyways it still looks v fun and this isn’t even the point of the post. see i was lookin up stuff about the content in 5 bc it has all these dif versions and it’s confusing? and suddenly i found this rly obnoxiously clickbaity title in one of the results. much like videos of people roadraging on youtube, i’m ashamed to say... cleeeek.

at first i was like “wait did they actually remove content”? i know 5 went way too far w that stuff lol but i didn’t know this kinda stuff went down? did sony ban costumes for bein too pervy like that’s crazy!

oh no no no nm. this was written by a liar and was titled specifically to trick ppl into thinking what i thought. in reality it was just some post whining about how a private tournament requested (not even forced) ppl to tone down on a few specific overly sexy costumes. so that ppl took it more seriously as a competitive fighter, rather than keeping the reputation as waifubuttonmasher. and most of the costumes were still fine to use too! like there’s... omg are there over 1,000 outfits in this?? what the heck... anyways pretty reasonable and nbd right? but err no bc this article was written by a dude who literally typed out “muh-soggy-knee istic”. like yes he actually wrote that out and emphasized it with italics like wow. i’m starting to get an idea of the type of person he is. and why something so minor as this would hurt his feelings so much.

oh my god is this a parody article? is this a joke?? i’m...

well tbh the sexy stuff def wasn’t the only appeal like it was just an aspect of an otherwi..................... HOLD THE FORT what the fuck did he just write!? wowww that’s like suuuuper offensive holy shit lol. no no fuck this dude. and oh god there’s one of the famous telling buzzwords too: “females”. christ.

listen. i’m a very devout pacifist. i’m passionately against violence. but i want to kick the shit outta this dude.

ahahah okay okay that made me laugh. i’m back. these fucking weirdo incel nazis are just so robotic? parodies of human beings with a four word vocabulary. u know the ones: CENSORSHIP! SJWS! FEMALES! ANITASARKEESIAN!

there he is! he looks sad tbh... i mean i don’t feel sorry for him bc he took all his his sadness and anger and... instead of seeing a therapist? he decided to be mortally afraid of women and “the gays” etc. and *laughing as i write this* become a serious video game journalist ehehe. great job, dude. seriously tho i hope u get actual help bc ur very confused about a lot of things... wait actually why the fuck is he talking about anita anyhow? err how old is this article? oh oops. stupid google. i rly need to start filtering stuff by date........ march 2015. god wasn’t that when the gamergaters were in full swing? and still pretending they cared about “journalistic integrity” rather than just openly hating any and all minorities? even so this article is pretty extreme for some poorly designed noname game website.

NEVERMIND! this whole site is a toilet. wow like this sucks. like suuuper ew. thanks google. like i’m sorry i’d better write a lil warning at the start of this post bc this shit is fucking gross........... annnnd done. apologies to anyone reading this. anyways THANKFULLY one of the top 5 posts ended up being a really really exciting and interesting one!

thank you jesus. um i didn’t want to look into this site anymore bc it was clear it was some long-dead edgelord clickbait dumpsterfire and there wouldn’t have been a point. also i didn’t wanna depress myself any more. so like the good smart person i am (def not dumb), i did exactly the opposite and started reading that goodbye article.

oh so you were “surprised” your “vision” didn’t go over well? maybe don’t make a hate site dipshit. maybe don’t exploit prejudice to make ur money. fucking imbecile. slug. and AHA see see i fucking knew it. gamergate. lol. god damnit...

...”masculine men” lol what the fuck OH WAIT OH NOOOOOO OH GOD it’s THIS fuckin dude? NOOOOO what the fuck this guy is like one of the biggest pieces of shit on the planet! i can’t believe i accidentally was on some site by the return of kings guy. oh goddamn... no fucking wonder. i have nothing else to say. this journey couldn’t have ended any worse lol. post is cancelled.

#dead or alive #this was actually rly fun to write #long #gaming #anikiii

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potteresque-ire · 5 years ago

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My Hottest Literary Take is… (Or, Reading as a Caring Observer)

My hottest literary take is…

Long-form investigative journalism now needs / deserves a place in a well-balanced literature diet.

Yes, by that I mean, I think in-depth journalistic reporting—the kind that creates detailed, pages-long articles on specific issues, articles that are well-written and reasoned and balanced with impeccably portrayed personalities—should be collected and published, and found themselves on the library shelves for “literature” nation (world) wide. They should be on summer reading lists, be the tools of torture in English classes. I think its exclusion for being non-fictional and “news”, together with the drastic change in our reading habits over the last decade, is at least partly responsible for the ongoing debate on what makes “problematic” media content (and whether censoring is the proper treatment for them).

First of all, here’s the definition of “literature”:

Merriam Webster:

1a(1): writings in prose or verse

especially: writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest

Oxford (Lexico):

Written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.

These definitions suggest that literature doesn’t need to be fictional. It just has to be writing. Social issues, which investigative journalism dives into, are definitely of permanent and universal interest. Artistic merit is relative, judged against our day-to-day reading material…

Which, these days, it’s social media. We also ingest news briefings online, most of which are indeed brief if they’ve got words at all. The common characteristics of the two is that both encourages quantity over quality; companies have little incentive to encourage their users to stop and digest each article / post / tweet before moving to the next as clicks equate profit. Social media also makes autobiographical writing much more prevalent, in which the poster isn’t expected to maintain an emotional distance to what they are saying. They’re not expected to step away, judge the experience from a distance, find voices contrary to their own.

What this signifies to me is … we rarely come to contact with material written from the perspective of a “caring observer” anymore. I use the term “caring observer” rather than “passerby”, because the latter, to me at least, has much less (if any) emotional investment in the matter being observed. A caring observer is not directly affected by the investigated subject, but they want to know more; and they will know more, they’ll take away something from the experience, but they can still maintain sufficient distance from the subject matter, present the merits and fallacies of the arguments and counterarguments and the people behind them, and invite the readers to make their own conclusions without asserting their own views upon them.

It’s a very unique, precise thing to hold, this Distance — I shall put this word in capital letters — between the investigative journalist and their subject. Stand too far, the investigative power of the work suffers. Stand too close, the balance of the piece may be gone, the scope narrows and loses its universal appeal.

The investigative journalist is a caring observer.

The caring observer can also describe aptly, I think, the relationship between readers of a fictional work and the fictional work itself. And so I believe, too, that an optimal Distance exists between readers of the classically-defined (fictional, aesthetically outstanding) literature and literature itself. It’s the distance that allows us to immerse in the content without drowning in the world—something young children often lack the skills to do; it’s the distance that allows us to walk in the same shoes as the characters while we read and switch back to our own trainers afterward, the distance that allows us to shed tears for the characters and then to say, “even though I’d never be in that situation in the first place” or “even though I disagree with everything that they did”. As I review my beloved media content, my thoughts are, in many ways, much like an investigative news article: that was the situation, the conflict, the people involved, the dilemma they had, why each side failed or succeeded in getting what they wanted. Why it took them so long, why it was such a difficult journey despite this and that…

Oh dear, my heart.

(Do people get emotional over investigative reporting? I do.)

On “problematic” literature. My knee-jerk reaction too, is that no fiction can be problematic enough to justify censorship. The argument is this: characters in fictional world cannot be hurt, and we, as readers, exit the world when we close the book. But when I think harder, some parts of this argument does feel a little shaky. We keep on reading a story because we care. We say we exit the fictional world when we put down the book….but at the same time, many of us read because certain elements of its world stay with us.

And we *want* those elements of its world to stay with us.

This is particularly true for fandomers, who have a tendency, a … passion to keep a shorter distance between us as consumers of a piece of media and the media itself. For better or for worse, we aren’t very good at this Distance thing, at least in the eyes of convention. This also means that as a group, we are perhaps, indeed, more prone to the influence of literature because we tend to invite more of the fictional world into our own. And if we are more prone, then subtle lessons of misogyny, racism, etc would have more potential to invade our RL perspectives. After I considered this, I’ve come to some understanding as to why the “problematic” debate has appeared to be most heated in fandoms, when my intuition had told me otherwise—why would media lovers want to censor media? Or prevent someone else from enjoying whatever media they want to enjoy?

And I’ve started to wonder if the debate these days, on problematic media content and their deserved treatment, really stems from the two sides perceiving very different Distances between themselves and the media they consume, and this Distance is so abstract that neither side can relay it in words. This divide as I’ve observed is somewhat generational, but only because, I’d postulate here, that the older generations may be much more accustomed to reading as a caring observer. This isn’t a question of intelligence, or that one side “can’t read” or the other side “are all pedophiles”. These allegations are tearing fandom apart, taking the joy out of it. It saddens me to see that.

I think, the progress of our world and our experience in it has simply shaped the two sides differently. I’m definitely from an older generation, and “caring-observer” style writing used to be all around me. As a child, I was already in touch with investigative reporting every day from the stacks of newspapers delivered to my home. The internet was around by the time I was in uni, but laptops were still too expensive to own and being an ultimate introvert who enjoyed reading far more than people, I used to collect the newspapers strewn about in the cafeteria (the school always leave one free copy of the prominent ones out there) and read them over meals. I got used to reading long articles from writers who described an initial stranger, an initial strange thing that’d been in no way connected to themselves before, in increasingly vivid, if painful details while withholding judgment—the judgment would be the work I’d have to put in myself. And there was no answer key; there was no one, no social media to assure me if my conclusion was valid or call me out if it was stupid or prejudiced. I made my many questionable conclusions over as many questionable salads; often I turned out to be very wrong. They never hurt me though. I moved on. I got better.

I didn’t know then, but I was learning to read as a caring observer, from something an expert caring observer had written and published.

Turn the clock years later, and our current reading material, including (and perhaps especially) our news, is no longer fertile ground for nurturing caring observers both in reading and writing. As I mentioned before, it emphasizes on almost the opposite: quantity, efficiency, and self-expression. My hypothesis is also this, then: that the internet-era generations are reading in a more “self-realizing” than a "caring-observer” manner, which also renders them more aware of representation issues and moralistic concerns, has not happened by preference, but because that reading material available to them is different. They’re used to reading in first person; they’re used to viewing the written word as an extension of self and writing, in general, as a tool for self-portrayal rather than prying into someone or something that isn’t previously understood.

In other words: for one side, reading and writing is about diving into the unknown; for the other side, it’s about expanding and consolidating the knowledge on what is known, including righting the wrongs of the previously assumed (and there are so many wrongs). If the former is about creating a new language, then the latter is about creating a dictionary for a spoken tongue. Both are valid; both can be equally valuable. The question is: how to get the two sides to not trample on what the other side desires.

This is, however, where my bias lies: I still think learning to be a caring observer is a good thing, especially when it comes to appreciating and enjoying literature. Reasons: 1) this has been said many times before and better—horrible things and people do run this world, and often with a carefully constructed facade; literature not only allows us to engage in these terrors in the safety of our world but also helps us build immunity against these facades; 2) very importantly, it builds confidence. Every time I made a correct call on the true colours of a character, it helps me feel more confident when an actual, suspicious RL person comes along and I have to make a quick character judgment. A major perk of being a caring observer is this: I feel I can care enough to learn about a person, then decide that they’re, after all, not worth knowing. I feel I can walk away without outside validation; I don’t need people to agree with me (which I think is the heart of censoring efforts) because my confidence comes from practice and not the approval of others. This comes partly with age, but more because, I think, I’m not only used to making calls, I’m also used to making mistakes. And I’ve realised that it’s all right. Changing one’s mind when one knows better doesn’t break people. It is far less embarrassing than not changing one’s mind just for the sake of consistency.

Being a caring observer is quite freeing, really.

So what are good learning tools for caring observers in training? Literary works (as classically defined) are candidates, but I feel they’re not always efficient—good learning tools must, first of all, be engaging, otherwise that distance issue is a non-issue to begin with; the reader simply doesn’t care, or they don’t care enough to try to override a pre-formed bias. Many books taught in school are ineffective that way. On the other hand, the material cannot be too engaging because … learning shouldn’t be torture (yes, contrary to what I said before); people should feel free to throw all Distance out the proverbial window for certain Loves of Life.

The reason I propose investigative reporting as “practice material” for readers who’d like to find their Distance, the reason I propose investigative reporting to be included in literary discussions inside and outside classrooms, is because I think they’re particularly suited for this age. I also wish there’ll be some concerted efforts by educators to make them more freely and readily available, since quality ones tend to be behind a paywall (for good reasons) and they tend to be dispersed among different media outlets. These reading material can fill a certain void that the age of fast news and social media has created. The younger generations are much more aware of and engaged in social issues; I think they’ll find passion in these writings. They’re also brilliant at finding information that they need, and so no difficult topic is out of their reach as long as they care. Neither of these can (sadly) be said for my generation. The writing in long investigative reports also tends to be logically clear and precisely worded, which are things often lacking in social media writing as well. More importantly, in contrast to fiction, journalism is about real people, often real people with problematic behaviour. It would help bridge feelings towards these real, problematic people and fictional, problematic people, sort out the feelings for the latter. Can one learn about problematic personalities—real or fictional— while keeping the Distance? Can one draw an intimate portrait of who they are without endorsing their behaviour? Can one enter their psyche and emerge unscathed, and with just a little more knowledge of the complicated nature of human beings? I think the answer is yes.

So here’s my hottest literature take: include investigative journalism in literary discussions. And finally, this may be a good time to confess this: I have neither a literature nor a journalism background, so my hottest take can only be considered lukewarm at best. 😛 My need to write something aside—I’ve neglected writing for too long—I just think… maybe, just maybe, I can offer just a little something for people to think about...

#Pie speaks

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cmbynreviews · 7 years ago

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"Call Me by Your Name" director Luca Guadagnino on Armie Hammer, sequels, and screen intimacy

The new film Call Me by Your Name is about a life-changing affair between young Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer), but what went on behind the scenes was just as significant. As Hammer told us recently, director Luca Guadagnino fostered an environment on set that both protected his actors and challenged them to be as honest as possible in their work. The result is an acclaimed film where the stars do the best work of their lives, but it also continues in the intense relationship between the stars and Guadagnino. The director has described it as “a very profound familial bond with the people I’m doing the movies with, where you literally and constantly fall in love with all of them,” and in the following interview, he expands on that notion, addresses some of the think pieces about the movie, and talks more about his hope of making sequels to it.

When did you entertain the idea of casting Armie as Oliver? Since I got to meet him in The Social Network, really. I was impressed by that film and there was a great generation of actors in it: Just think that Dakota Johnson was there, Rooney Mara was there, Andrew Garfield, Jesse Eisenberg. And then there were these two brothers, who I really thought were two brothers because I couldn’t believe someone could do that digitally. I thought, “no, nobody can act that way”, when in fact it was Armie, twice. So after [Guadagnino’s 2008 Tilda Swinton film] I Am Love came out, I had the privilege of meeting him. We generally spoke about life for two or three hours and I loved him. I had a sudden and immediate attraction to him.

What was your read of him in that meeting? I like the way he speaks, I like the words he uses, his buoyancy, his enthusiasm. But I also like that with him, suddenly he has a shift of humor. He can become kind of melancholic without even controlling it. He’s not someone who is in command of his own expression in an artificial way. And for me, fragilities are important when you work with someone. Of course you want someone who can give a performance, who is acting, but even more, I want someone who is able and eager to let the camera investigate him or her deeply. As you know, I wasn’t part of this movie as a director, for a long time. Originally, I was a producer.

James Ivory was supposed to direct, with Shia LaBeouf cast as Oliver, correct? Right, in the Ivory version. We tried to make the movie with Jim and we didn’t succeed. It’s one of the great regrets of my life, as an admirer of Jim’s work. I would have been happy not only to see a new movie by James Ivory, but also to be producing it. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen because the rules of the market – or, as Renoir would say, the rules of the game – are sometimes quite cruel. Despite the fact that ageism is a significant problem when it comes to cinema, I personally believe that one of the most exciting things for me as a cinephile is to witness a new movie from a very old director. James and Shia would have been another movie, and every avenue was tried, but the only way it could see the light was if I directed it for five weeks with no money.

So I thought of my passion for Armie and I sent him the script. After a week, I heard, “He wants to talk to you.” What I didn’t know is that he was going to pass. So he picks up the phone, “Hey, how are you,” and it becomes a long conversation. He goes, “I’m scared about this role.” Why? “I don’t know. I’m scared.” I told him, “If you’re scared, it might mean that you want something.” Which could sound like a sleazy way of approaching somebody, but the truth is that fear and desire are the polarizing elements of most of our actions. I think Armie wanted to have that fear and act it out.

What did you interpret his fear as? I don’t think it was, “Oh no, I don’t want to play a gay character,” because he had already done that twice.

In J. Edgar … … and in a film with Stanley Tucci, Final Portrait. Long story short, I think the complexity of the project from his standpoint was, “Will I be able to let myself be the medium through which a lot of complex, intimate emotions can be expressed?” But he is a mine of gold, and I am the digger.

I don’t think most directors had done much digging with him. Probably there is a sense that things have to fit the mold. Maybe they thought the mold of Armie belongs to a different era of filmmaking, but I think the mold of Armie is the mold of cinema, with a capital C. I do believe in that.

He talks about making the movie as though he were still in love with it. Wait til we do the sequels.

He said it’s really changed him. I’m happy. I like transformative things. I welcome transformation in my life and I like transformation in other people’s lives. I like to be the agent of it.

So how were you transformed by making this film? I simplified my approach. I have more trust in the power of the language of cinema without [additional] style. And to understand that I am capable of loving multiple times with multiple people, but also to be faithful in every sense of the word to the love of my life. Also, I aged making this movie.

What were you like when you were 17, Elio’s age? I was a very lonely, skinny, melancholic visionaire. I was in Palermo, and I was really invested in pushing the envelope. I remember at that age, I convinced the principal of my school to be the director of the play at the end of the year. I did Ionesco, and it was crazy. It was insane!

What did you do? The title of the piece was Excessive in Extremis. And it fortified me because it was a catastrophe of sorts. There was not much of an audience, and to make something so personal, motivated by the impulse of doing something strong no matter what, and then to get the reception we got …

What was that like? Oh, the fury of the principal when she saw the thing! You know, when I went to [the Venice Film Festival] years later with The Protagonists and there was booing in the movie theater, I thought, I don’t care. I already got my boos at 17. I trained myself for that, I would say.

Why were you lonely at 17? I was not like Elio. Elio jumps on the dance floor and is divine, but I wasn’t that kid. I was sitting in the corner, looking at people dancing. It was shyness, it was maybe embarrassment, but also I think it was the great position of control.

You were shy in your personal life, but bold in your art. Very much.

Had you been with men by the time you were 17? I desired them, but I wasn’t until I was 22.

Why not? Well, I was very picky, also! And I didn’t know anything about sex and love and interaction. Maybe I was too cerebral.

Were you with girls? No, I’ve never been with girls, honestly. I regret that. This is a very analytical conversation, but now that I’m talking to you, I made a difficult and stupid choice at that age of falling in love with my best friend, who was straight. Later, I met this guy when I was 22, and the second we had intercourse, I didn’t want to be with him anymore, and I left.

Why? You were afraid? I don’t know. I felt depressed. I like sharing things, I like a community, I like to be with my friends and get to know new people, but when you’re 22 in Palermo and you get this young man and you feel the emotion for the first time of this physical encounter, it excludes everything. You’re not so sure if you can go to your friends and say, “That’s the boy I’m dating.” People could not say that easily in 1988 in Palermo. I had to leave this encounter with him and only him. I had to learn in time to bridge my personal feelings and emotional encounters with my life as part of a community.

How did you bridge that? I completely dismissed the notion of self-censorship and being a prude.

How do you foster a safe place for people to do things on camera that they’ve never done before, that they might be hesitant to do? I have been with the makeup artist and editor for 25 years, have made three movies with the same DP. It’s family. It’s a nontoxic environment. I really invite the actors’ collaboration not just as performers, but to really participate in making the film 100 percent. Also, I’m very blunt. I don’t tell lies, not when I’m making a movie. It can be a beautiful thing to be direct, because people are rarely direct.

How does that collaboration work with the actor when you’re shooting something like the scene where Elio masturbates with a peach? That is the perfect example. I was struggling with the scene since I read it in the book. I thought it was a scene that can only play in a book, because you could go into your imagination. I also thought it was a metaphor for sexual impulses and energy. I didn’t believe in the actual physical possibilities of masturbating yourself with a peach. In translating this into a movie, I was both admiring Aciman’s work and dreading Aciman’s work, and I knew that scene was kind of infamous for readers of the book. I’ll tell you, Kyle, many times I said, “We have to remove this from the script.” I didn’t want something that could be exploitative, sensationalist, or even involuntarily ridiculous. So it was a process, a long process.

What convinced you it could work? One day I tried, physically, to masturbate myself with a peach because I was asking Timothée to do it as a character, and I wanted to prove to myself that it was not doable so we would not have to do it. And actually, when I got the fruit and put my finger in the fruit and started to debone it, already that act gave me a cinephile memory, reminding me of a great moment in this version of Madame Bovary [called Abraham’s Valley] by Manoel de Oliveira, the great Portuguese filmmaker. In it, the Bovary character is young and full of lust, she wants to fuck this guy. She sees a flower, she grabs this flower, and she puts her finger into the flower. It’s an incredible scene about the sensuality in all things. So I thought, “Finally, we have a lead here that can make this scene doable.” Then I tried to put the deboned peach on me and it actually worked, it wasn’t just a metaphor! So I threw the peach away, composed myself, and went to Timothée and told him, “Timmy, I tried the peach myself, and it works. We can film the scene.” And he goes, “Of course it works! I tried it myself as well.”

What did you shoot that you didn’t include? Much. There is a scene that happens under the lime tree where Elio and Oliver are teasing one another – this is before they kiss. It was a very well-acted scene, but we felt in a way that it was too precious, that it wasn’t necessary to delay the moment where they would confess to one another. Then there was a scene after they made love. In the movie, there is still a piece of it, where they’re kissing under the moonlight, and what I shot is that the scene happens at the same time as the father and mother are in their bedroom, hearing the muffled voices coming from the garden. The mother is putting creams on, the father is reading a book, and they are looking one another in the eye and smiling. She goes to the bed, he touches his wife, he smells the creams on her, and they start to make love. I’m sorry for cutting the scene because it’s quite beautiful, and it’s beautiful to see adults having their moment of sex. That, we will definitely put in the extras of the film [on home video].

Some writers have said the film is not explicit enough. It’s really something I don’t understand. It’s as if you said there are not enough shots of Shanghai. I don’t understand why there has to be Shanghai in this movie.

There is plenty of sex and foreplay and sensuality in it, though the complaint is that we don’t see Oliver and Elio engage in actual intercourse. Did you shoot anything like that? We shot some things, but one thing is important to say: We didn’t have any limitations. I also think it may be my unconscious knowledge that many gay films pride themselves on being explicit. It’s almost like a subgenre! Listen, there is a book by William Burroughs called Queer, which I wrote a script for when I was 20. I was completely naïve, although I would love to make that film. That is a movie where you need to see the actual sex because, as per Burroughs’s descriptions, it’s about the war that is excavated inside him: The character Lee is infatuated with Allerten and it devours him. You have to show how the sex and the impossibility of the relationship is informing their behavior, and I agree that a version of that film cannot be shy about the sex. But why this?

Do you think Call Me by Your Name is shy about sex? There is sperm on the torso [of Oliver], which he wipes off! I don’t know. It is cheap voyeurism, I would say. Because I am a voyeur myself, I pride myself on a more dignified and sophisticated sense of voyeurism than a need to stare at other people’s sexes.

It’s been interesting, too, to see how people have reacted to the notion of a sequel. Sequels. I want to make five movies.

Do you already have in mind what you would do? The second, I have very much in mind. I think I want to see them grow up. How great would it be to see those actors grow older, embodying those characters?

Is the whole notion of a sequel something that sprung up from the years-later epilogue of the book? It sprung out of my love for these characters and my desire to visit them again, and in doing so, to be with the same people I did this movie with.

At what point did you start mulling over this idea? Sundance. Because I didn’t completely realize until then that they were characters who could go beyond the boundaries of the film.

I think some people would prefer that the characters not go beyond the boundary of the film, because the ending with Elio is so powerful. It would not remove the power of the final shot of this film, because that is about him being 18. What we would see in the sequel is him being 25.

The film is also about the intensity of first love. By necessity, the second film would be and feel different. Maybe in the sequel, Elio and Oliver only meet after two hours of the movie. I want to follow them, Mr. Perlman, Marzia, all these people. Maybe the movie opens with how Mafalda the maid is living in the house, all alone! I definitely would buy myself the freedom of a movie that is not bound to a textbook of rules. Once, I dreamt of making a sequel to I Am Love, which was basically about Emma, Tilda’s character, living with no money on the periphery of Rome. It would be about her daily routine, like Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman. Five hours of watching Emma go to the supermarket where she’s a cashier, going home to cook a meal, eating her meal, and then one day she bumps into the daughter, who’s a big artist. I thought about doing that. The only problem for me is that for a director, time is very limited in general. You can do a certain amount of films and no more than that.

You know, I am 46. To make a movie is long. I have to learn how to discipline my ambitions.

KYLE BUCHANAN | VULTURE | 17 Nov 2017 | (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

#Call Me by Your Name #Guadagnino #timothee chalamet #armie hammer #andre aciman #james ivory #reviews #CMBYN #Elio #Oliver #Perlman #Chiamami col tuo nome

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theliterateape · 4 years ago

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The Demagogues Are Here (and They're Smarter Than Trump)

by Don Hall

As attempted coups go, that was a fucking mess.

Trump, like the anarchists and zealots he emboldened (on both sides of the horseshoe), had no other strategy than Burn it all down and see what happens. His M.O. was so incredibly transparent to anyone paying attention. First, distract and deflect from anything he couldn't lie about. Second, lie. BIG. A lot. The more truth obfuscated, the less centralized the potential for objectivity until all truth fits the postmodernist subjective reality mold. Third, use the passions and emotional immaturity of those most convinced by the lies to inflame the situation. Wind 'em up and let them go.

Granted, we have to give the man some credit. He introduced incredibly sticky terminology that will far outlast his four years in office. Fake News. "Every body knows" as a sign of evidence or proof. "Loser" has taken on an entirely enlarged importance due to Trump. While primarily the quintessential bullshit artist, the man knew exactly how to use social media in ways that have been constructive for everyone from middle school kids trying to out their classroom bullies to college students unhappy with their professors.

His use of Hitler's Big Lie technique is almost unparalleled.

So, if the man was so good at this despot thing why was his coup attempt so blatantly obvious and unsuccessful?

Ego. Trump is so in love with himself and the aura of invincibility he's created that he didn't care that it was in plain sight. He wanted it to be in plain sight so that he, and only he, would get the credit for it in the end. Hitler had a host of sidemen, each equally brilliant and despicable as he. Trump surrounded himself with sub-par bigots, industry insiders, and his moron children so that he was always the smartest person in the room.

His only real problem is that he is far from the smartest person in Washington, D.C.

The only action that will eliminate his threat to our country (or at least severely minimize it) is in the hands of the Gods of Social Media. Take away his bully pulpit and Don Jr. is the only one he reaches. Zuckerberg snapped his FB and Insta until after January 20 but he should consider it permanent if mitigating the TrumpFire is a goal. Twitter has closed him out temporarily -- should be permanent.

Yes, Trump will be a problem for us until the fatass finally clogs his heart-hole up with a Big Mac and he croaks on the shitter like Elvis but at this point, we have more insidious things to worry about.

The demagogues of 2021 have been watching. They've been fine-tuning their approach to power and are constructing their own Big Lies to spread. Unlike Trump, they aren't supposed captains of industry and have no designs on public office. They've seen the constraints of political power and know those obstacles are not the clear road to dominance.

Like Trump, they've seen the power of populism gone rogue and intend to use us against ourselves in exactly the same way. That's how Trump came to power. The Russian hackers didn't rig our election, change votes, or tamper with machinery. They hit us where we can't see it: social media propaganda. They ginned up our own hatred for one another and jacked us all up emotionally. They used our own blind faith in the authority of the internet to divide and conquer. It was nearly flawless and extremely effective.

It's easy to see the asshats who breached the Capitol as stupid morons, stealing lecterns and taking selfies but each one is you. Each one is a normal American who was victim of propaganda. Every QAnon believer has been messaged to over time until the conspiracy seems reasonable.

There has been plenty of handwringing think pieces written about the dangers of both social media and populism. Populism is not in and of itself a bad thing. It is, on its face, the ideal behind our democracy after all. Neither is social media. How could a technology that allows my mom to see pictures of my wife and I in Rhyolite, NV or David's parents see videos of his two year old son saying "Fuck" be evil? Nonetheless, the combination of the two elements create a potentially deadly mix.

As recently as this time last year when confronted with the idea that so-called hate speech should receive censorship my eyes would roll around like marbles in a coffee cup. The very concept of censorship in a marketplace of ideas is against everything I believe America to stand for yet, after watching anti-vaxxers, QAnoners, maskholes, and Donald Fucking Trump use the unlimited reach of the internet to poison that very marketplace, I have to re-examine my stance.

I have to imagine what the Third Reich would've been if Goebbels had had Faceborg and the thought is horrifying. If Hanoi Hannah had Twitter instead of the radio? Christ. These sorts of propagandists are not new. In a war, messaging to the enemy has been standard operating practice since Alexander the Great ("Great," see?) but the addition of the awesome reach of our modern-day soma is giving the Big Lies rocket fuel.

We have licenses to drive and speed limits because there are always going to be few who can't be trusted to drive responsibly. We have licenses for owning guns because a few are always going to use them criminally. Perhaps, in the argument to somehow regulate communication we require a license to Tweet? Yeah, I hear you. How dare we even consider something so legislative? The libertarians will go apeshit at the government overreach. Right now the internet is only regulated in any meaningful way by the providers. For a large enough fee, you can use it without limitation.

Perhaps the internet should be a public utility like water or electricity? Sure, you're still gonna punish black people in Flint, MI but at least there are legal remedies to that sort of bigoted grift. Whatever the answer, we need to be talking about this now. QAnon came to be via an unlicensed, anonymous jackass convincing otherwise reasonable people that there was a pedophile ring in the basement of pizza parlor in D.C. run by Hillary Clinton. That's the kind of spew one would hear from a raging lunatic digging into a trash can on a street corner wearing stuffed animals for shoes but somehow, on the internet, it suddenly seems more plausible to the gentle-minded few looking for answers to the question "What did Hillary do with those seven year olds who only wanted a slice?"

Expanding the definition of hate speech isn't going to help us. The further we go to muddy the waters of what is and is not hate speech has left us with the notion that everyone white is racist and that everyone Asian is also white. The expansion of hate speech has us somehow agreeing that a dirty joke in the wrong setting constitutes assault and that sort of thinking is just one virtue signal away from being Pizzagate.

No. The demagogues have been watching and waiting and Trump's yuge shadow merely kept the light of day off of them. He'll be out of the picture (at least as much as he'll accept it) soon enough and those Capitol-storming jack holes and Seattle-burning Antifa posers will find another power-thirsty grifter to follow like Moses did a shrub on fire.

You'll know them because their credo has no evidence for their conclusions, it centers on them as the experts, denies corroboration from science or credible expertise, and intentionally creates division and Otherism in order to maintain a foothold into the mania that is their Big Lie.

They are also smarter than Trump so their coup will be sneakier and far, far more effective.

#Trump #coup attempt #demagogues #propoganda #social media #license to internet

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harocat · 7 years ago

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ahhhh im not sure who else to talk to but lately i've been feeling really unhappy w/ yoi fandom and idk what to do. i guess it's because im seeing people from fandom all around the world and there's a lot of difference in culture, but some stuff i see just makes me want to never touch the show again. ik it's stupid that it's affecting my perception of yoi and the people working on it but i just can't disconnect it and it makes me question kubosayo's intentions as well. (1)

it's so stupid and i know i cant do anything about it bc ppl are entitled to do what they want and i cant force them to view yoi the same way i do but i just feel so lost bc this is the first time i’ve ever been in such a large fandom and i really enjoyed yoi but now im just sort of anxious and questioning fans of the show and the creators as well. im sorry for clogging up your inbox but i just want some advice. maybe i should just leave the fandom altogether? (2)

Have you considered just sort of disconnecting from the fandom a bit, trying to blank it out, and then rewatching the show on its own merits?

As far as fandom itself, just make sure you stick to following people whose opinions you’re comfortable with. Curate your experience. You can generally avoid the ugliest parts of fandom if you’re careful.

I think Kubo and Sayo’s intentions are very genuine. If I wasn’t sure about it before, seeing them in person at Anime Fest and seeing all the genuine passion and love and dedication to this project from them would have convinced me. Their intentions were to make a good show about something they loved, nothing less.

There is literally no doubt that Kubo and Sayo are forced to walk on eggshells when talking about this project in interviews and such. We KNOW this for a fact. It’s been made clear in things they’ve told interviewers, in bullshit like the ring censorship, in Sayo’s comments about having to force the kiss through, etc.

We already have people in the industry referring to YOI as ‘too much boy’s love’ despite the fact that they have worked their butts off to avoid it being pigeonholed in that genre, because they know it would be harmful to the show and the story they want to tell. There’s a precedent in blatantly romantic m/m content that isn’t ‘boy’s love’ having to be discussed this way. Hideaki Anno only acknowledged that Kaworu and Shinji’s relationship was romantic when he did an interview with an actual BL magazine. In other interviews, they were just forced to use super gay sounding words that if you’re that desperate and homophobic, you can still no homo.

It’s weird to say but Kubo and Sayo don’t actually have that much power. They made the actual show, to be sure, but creators and writers are considered replaceable in the anime industry and that Sayo especially has been as bold as she has been is impressive to say the least. Putting it in the series itself is one thing, blatantly acknowledging that (what very clearly happened on screen) is the intent? Is another. It sounds kind of stupid, but that’s the way it is.

I do not think MAPPA would ever dream of replacing Kubo and Sayo. They are behind them 100% of the way, and have been very much “we will let them do what they want!!” Otsuka, Mappa’s CEO, has openly talked about Victuuri being a romance, but he’s literally the CEO (and also a man), so he can get away with more. That being said, Mappa would never replace them, but YOI has to work with tens of companies through merchandising, marketing, broadcasting, etc Just because Mappa is open to things, doesn’t mean they are.

I can’t get into Sayo and Kubo’s heads, but I 100% believe in their intentions based on what they’ve said. Kubo, I think, was a little more unsure how to handle everything at first, but she’s improved a lot over time and she even acknowledged that she knows now fans are frustrated by vagueness.

#yoi text #anonymous #haro talks

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theantisocialcritic · 4 years ago

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Archive Project - March 28, 2014 - Noah Review

Go see it! Really! You should just go see it! More than just being a good movie, Noah is at the center of the cultural conversation right now and being able to talk about this movie appropriately is important! Its not really a religious film in the traditional sense so if you aren't interested in that don't worry! If you are religious i'd still suggest you go so you can be able to talk about it! Ok? ok! I'm going to break into mild spoilers for the movie, but it is the story of Noah's Arc so I don't imagine much of what i'm telling you will be too surprising. ————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————— Noah, 2014. Darren Aronofski 139 Minutes Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qmj5mhDwJQ ————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————— As I said, this movie is a huge part of the cultural conversation right now, and a controversial one at that. Taking the famed Biblical story of Noah and The Ark, stripping out it's spirituality and using it to tell a metaphorical story about family, survival and climate change. How is the movie? Well.. Its fantastic!! A genuinely great movie with a well realized world, beautiful special effects, great acting and an emotional, gripping story that manages to pull off moments of horror and sadness. Everybody knows the story of Noah and the Arc, hopefully. In the Bible, God looks down on his creation and sees the wickedness of man, and only one man amongst them who hasn't turned to wickedness. This man is named Noah. God tells this man that he plans to send a flood to the earth and destroy all of his creation so that he may start anew, and for Noah to build an enormous ship so that he might survive the flood. The elderly Noah does so and brings aboard his family and two of all the creatures of the earth so they may survive the flood. God sends a storm and after 40 days and 40 nights, all of creation but that upon Noah's arc had been destroyed. The arc eventually lands on dry land where it is greeted by a rainbow, signifying that God will never again destroy his creation in a flood. The movie Noah takes a very liberal approach to the story, stretching out the rather straightforward story with elements fantasy fiction. Methuselah at one point wields a flaming sword. Giant rock monsters called Watchers are depicted as fallen angels who tried to tried to assist humanity after the exile of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. God is only ever referenced as "The Creator". The whole production cuts the biblical meaning of the story in favor of using the movie as a cautionary tale relevant to modern day politics. Making a Noah movie like this is fairly controversial as it is considered offensive to fundamentalist Christians who take the stories in the Bible very seriously. Speaking as somebody who is fairly religious but has spent a great deal of his life outside of the church, and as someone who loves fantasy epics, I can pretty much understand where everybody is coming from with their issues in this movie. It walks the line for two hours of being epic fan fiction and horribly offensive blasphemy. Though considering the director i'm afraid it teeters over to the side of the latter for the most part. The symbolism is almost laughably simplistic. The beginning of the movie references the story of Cain and Abel (and apparently Seth!). The two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Seth both go on to create tribes of their own. Cain's tribe allied with the Watchers to produce an industrial society while Seth's descendants chose to be one with the land and essentially chose to become hippies. By the time the movie starts, Noah and his children are the last members of that tribe. Considering the traits of both these tribes, its blatantly obvious what the movie is trying to tell me: The descendants of Cain are all are carnivorous, violent, selfish people who kill, destroy nature and self people into slavery. The descendants of Seth all live one with the land, never kill animals or even pick flowers and only take what they need to survive. …. The on-the-nose symbolism is only lacking the righteous indignation to join Avatar, White House Down and Elysium in my list of Most Blunt Movies of All Time! I have to give credit where it is due though! As I said this movie is really good! The action scenes, especially a great action beat towards the end of the second act, are among the best i've seen all year! They harken back to great fantasy epics like The Lord of the Rings, with grand armies and giant monsters going head to head. Its truly a marvel of filmmaking! However it is after that act two action beat that the movie starts going off the rails a bit, introducing a much more morally grey plot line in which Noah is conflicted by his love for life, the action of mass murder he just committed and his confusion whether or not humanity deserves to survive the destruction it has conflicted upon the world. Some of the character actions during this portion of the movie might very well wreck the movie for you, as it almost did for me. The movie really does peak at the end of the second act. Though the images and story from this point in the movie is where the writing quality and imagery gets to it's most iconic, I didn't like it as much. The Controversy This movie is stirring a lot of attention and things aren't looking pretty… Christians are preemptively judging the movie as blasphemous before giving it a chance. Intellectual atheists like TV host, Bill Maher lashed out against the movie and called Christians dumb for believing in God, (http://www.christianpost.com/news/bill-maher-curses-god-bible-noah-story-and-stupid-americans-who-believe-calls-god-psychotic-mass-murderer-116276/cpf). Then Paramount tried to censor the movie during a bunch of early screenings for members of the Christian community which ticked off Aronofsky and anti-censorship purists. The movie has been banned in the middle east for it's depictions. Plus one of the digressions in the movie involves a skit of The Big Bang and Darwinian Evolution being played while a voiceover of Noah tells the story of the creation of man from Genesis. It's really a mess. The sad thing is most of the people who are fighting over this movie haven't seen it, aren't giving it a chance and are denying the possibility that it can be a good, influential movie despite either portraying Biblical material, and not doing it accurately. Hollywood used to do this all the time! Back in the day, Hollywood did TONS of liberal religious movies because it was a very simple way to get around censorship standards and allowed them to show all the gore, nudity and sexuality Hollywood wanted too, as long as they could claim it was "Biblical". In recent years though looser standards have allowed Hollywood to do those things anyway so the remaining Christian entertainment industry has transformed into it's logical extremes: super safe family entertainment like Veggie Tales, and bad crap crazy movies like Passion of the Christ. I'm not defending that this portrayal is at all "good", but honestly, give it a chance! Without the Biblical connection, this movie is a fantastic movie! Being at the center of the cultural conversation right now justifies seeing it just to know what everybody is complaining about! It aint a Christian movie, buts a dang good film! Go see it! Form your own opinion and join into the conversation! Noah receives a big recommendation from me! ————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————— Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

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