#when people show themselves to you believe them

[buddhistmusings]

Why do you care so much?

I've been asked this question a few times in the past year - why I spend so much time thinking, reading, and reflecting on antisemitism, especially because I am not Jewish myself. There are a few reasons, really. One of them is that I think antisemitism is a hatred that spawns other hatreds, but even if it did not, it would still be worth studying, because the fact that it is a hatred at all is enough. The fact that antisemitism impacts Jewish people is enough of a reason to oppose it.

It's also because it's important to oppose because of the way it damages the thinking habits of people who believe it. I saw somebody say, "Jew-Hate makes you dumb," once. And though I think it was probably an off the cuff statement for them, it stuck with me, and I think they're right. In my religion, we say hatred is one of the three poisons - it can seriously harm your mental well-being in a way that deepens your suffering in all aspects of life. Often, hatred can also be spread like a contagion. It's something that destroys social harmony and causes severe social dysfunction. And right now, I think antisemitism is the most contagious of hatreds - I've seen people in my life fall off the cliff, I've been able to talk some back from it, and I've seen how so many people wander towards it without any idea that that's what they're doing.

Part of the problem is that antisemites consider themselves righteous in a way I think most racists don't. Often, you'll see "I'm not racist but" I almost never see that with antisemitism. They don't add that qualifier. They just say it. Most racists I know will make a tacit acknowledgment of the racist implications of what they're about to say - antisemitic people don't. They often even engage in anti-Jewish racism while invoking anti-racism.

I don't really know any Jewish people in real life, perhaps only two. But I don't need to know them to know that hating them is wrong. I think I also have a debt of gratitude to many people in the Jewish community because of the advances in Buddhist Studies made by Jewish people, which sounds strange - but it's true that many leading voices and researchers, both in academia and within Buddhism itself happen to be Jewish. I'm not sure why this is, but it's absolutely true. The most prolific translator of Pali into English that I can think of is Jewish. The most impactful Vipassana instructor in America I can think of is Jewish. The most impactful voice in Deity Yoga, for Tibetan Buddhism, is Jewish. People who are Jewish, for some reason, contributed probably more than ex-Christian Americans or atheists combined to the proliferation of Buddhism in the United States.

Buddhists and Jewish people are known to have a close relationship. There are a lot of different reasons for this that I would suggest, but none that add up to explain the amazing contributions to Buddhism made by American Jews.

I think another reason I have for being so interested in antisemitism as a non-Jew is the kind of... political disillusionment I've been experiencing? It's been a disturbing few years, and I haven't seen many people elaborate very well on this feeling of abandonment and horror, witnessing people who you thought shared your values become hateful and deeply violent in their beliefs. The only people I've seen consistently speak about it happen to be Jewish.

I think all of this has helped contribute to a feeling of closeness to Jewish people as a group, despite that I don't really know Jewish people in my real life, and only have one or two Jewish friends online. This year has been a horror show of watching people's minds become twisted - it's so scary in a way I can't quite capture with words right now.

I also sometimes have a back and forth with myself about when and if to mention I'm not Jewish when I talk about antisemitism, because I do think it's totally necessary to explain the perspective from which I speak, but to be honest it feels kind of icky to be like "I'm not Jewish, but antisemitism is bad", because antisemitism is bad whether or not the person saying so isn't Jewish, and I think it might be a negative for people to think "not being Jewish" is something which makes it any less valuable to be against antisemitism, and talk about how against it you are. It's very real that people who talk about antisemitism are perceived to be Jewish, and obviously, it's important not to lead people into thinking you're Jewish when you're not, but adding an "I'm not Jewish" qualifier to statements about antisemitism I worry might contribute to the perception that those against antisemitism are Jewish.

Antisemitism is such an insidious ideology. And it's everywhere. I see it daily in so many different spaces. It has the largest impact on Jewish people, but it also impacts non-Jewish people at times. I distinctly remember being mocked throughout school for "looking Jewish." I think about that Greek restaurant which was attacked because they were thought to be Jewish. Or that man in the Amsterdam violence who tried to help and was then accused of being Jewish himself. It's so deluded, violent, and manages to consume people's thoughts like a parasitic worm in their brain.

Anyways, I planned for this post to be more organized. Oops.

[turbolezgooo]

Why ya'll hate on Cait and call her a dictator?

Well-written characters often have a story deeper than what you explicitly see them do or hear them say. Just because everything is set in a fantasy world, doesn't mean that characters are not affected by tragic events and the human condition.

First of all, Cait wasn't the one who made a police state. Ambessa and the council did that. Ambessa orchestrated the whole thing. Cait went along with it because she was turned around by grief. That shit messes with your judgment, but she was still trying to do what she and Vi agreed on. To focus on the real problem and prevent hurting innocent people.

Cait tried to control an unraveling situation AND literal warlord WHILE being inexperienced in how to deal with it, having a big ol' lesbian break up, AND dying inside.

You could see that when Cait argued to Ambessa that there are innocent people and there MUST be justifiable cause to arrest anyone. In Cait and Ambessa's interactions it's implied that Cait was getting in the way of Ambessa's agenda off-screen. She tried to keep something worse from happening because she does acknowledge the historical and current oppression of Zaunites.

This mirrors the way she offered Vi the badge to give her a voice in what happens to her sister if the enforcers caught her. The enforcers coming after Jinx was going to happen regardless of Cait. She took control by volunteering and taking precautions. See- While they did use gas, Vi would never agree to something that would permanently hurt the people of Zaun. The tactic gave them fewer chances of having to physically fight Zaunites who were just trying to defend themselves. Believe it or not, it was a controlled operation until grief got the better of Cait and things looked worse than it actually was.

The way that Cait deeply believes in equality in spite of a personal vendetta is why Ambessa sent Maddie to try and control her by 'filling' her hole (no pun intended). When Maddie attempted to have Cait stop the police state situation and withdraw, she did focus on Jinx at first but the second part of not wanting to make things worse was something she had a lot more to say about before Maddie interrupted. And Cait was right. What would have happened if she hadn't taken the role and played along? A puppet councillor or Ambessa herself would have been the figure head and do so much worse. Those people don't have the same perspective and understanding as Cait.

When Cait and Vi argue about listening to a war pig oink poison in her ear, she yells "I know!" as she throws a piece of war ship used in strategizing. You can tell her role was a strategic choice to have some control over the events that unfolded. That's why Vi didn't villinize her. Vi understood that Cait never really accepted anything Ambessa said. That's why she helped Vi at the commune. Cait was a double agent taking shit from all sides to stop worse things from happening.

She had grief and really crap options, but she always chose the lesser of the evils to try and stay true to who she really was. She even resigns in her argument with Vi, that she didn't put Jinx, her own mother's killer, in jail or punish her in any way. It's another example of her faltering in decision-making when overwhelming or unexpected things happen and it also tells us what she is. She's human. She doesn't make excuses for taking on an objectively bad role and making mistakes. When she said "We can't erase our mistakes.", she's also talking about herself. She takes responsibility and tries to do good. In the end, all she wanted was closure for her grief by having Jinx accept responsibility NOT by killing or abusing her or innocent Zaunites for that matter.

Imo there's a lot in Arcane that shows Cait as a flawed but inherently good person, and Vi absolutely knows it. They see each other warts and all. If you think CaitVi's lex scene was poorly written read this: https://www.tumblr.com/turbolezgooo/768190482340773888/bro-this-outrage-about-caitvi-relationship-in-s2?source=share

[hisbuni]

LOSER! RODRICK HEFFLEY * readers race is not mentioned, mwah! . ⟡

loser! rodrick barely has any friends but his band members. only wears his bands t-shirts and listens to music that hurts your ears. always in the garage practicing with his band, if not with his girlfriend. puppy dog eyes and longing stares. not-no-secret softie. wannabe rockstar. has a shoebox hidden under his bed full of ticket stubs from concerts, crumpled notes and photos of/from his girlfriend.

loser! rodrick can't wrap his head around how he even got her in the first and neither can his parents. ego boost after getting a girlfriend and no one knows how she even puts up with him. tries to impress her in anyway he can. mostly rolls her eyes at his stupidity but clearly finds him amusing and has a soft spot for his cluelessness.

loser! rodrick yearns for her kisses and chases her lips every time he gets a chance. smells of her almost always because he’s always around her and on her. gives the most softest kisses to the top of her ears. follows her anywhere with dreamy eyes. writes terrible songs for her but has never shared them with anyone. asks her to kiss his drummer sticks for good luck and of course she does after telling him how stupid it is.

loser! rodrick knows everything about his girlfriend. her favorite sweet treat, what makes her heart arch, the color she adores the most, what makes her laugh he most, what perfume she buys the most, her favorite show and genre, how she tastes (believes he’s been blessed by the gods themselves to even be able to get a hand on you).

୨ he's such a loser he moaned into your mouth the first time you kissed

୨ loser! rodrick following cool! reader around when she’s wearing a swimsuit

୨ cool! reader being everybody's favorite person in some way shape or form

୨ possessive! reader making out with loser! rodrick to show people he’s hers and him getting a hard-on

. . . more in drafts

© 2024 hisbuni, do not use my work for your own benefit.

[sourveggies]

Alrighty! Time for my yap session!

cracks brain open like an egg

🧠🥚

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷︶꒷꒥꒷˚꒷︶

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It’s really easy not being creepy. Like, really easy. In fact, it’s easy as pie; shouldn’t even have to try kind of easy. Immoral (pedo, incest, grooming, SA, etc.) fantasy addicts never fail to disappoint. It’s useless expecting the bare minimum from those who don’t even reach that low bar to begin with. It’s also insanely stupid when they argue that “antis are meanies!” (p.s. why is “anti” even a term? It’s called being a normal person with common sense and a working moral compass). And? You don’t think those with darkness inside their soul don’t have more to prove in their moral character by using “politeness”? Because bad people neeever use flattery, deflection and politeness as a front, totally.

“It’s not illegal!” Again: And? Legality doesn’t always = morality. I’m arguing that they’re gross people, not about the current legal system.

And yes, fiction does say, affect and indicate something about reality. Should’ve already been common sense in the first place, but if not, unsurprisingly, it’s literally been confirmed in my college Psychology classes. The brain doesn’t always have as strong differentiation as people think. You can get conditioned (and already are in many ways), you WILL have subconscious associations, etc.

I dare argue, it’s also an insult and plain false to fiction/fantasy to try to downplay its impact on people’s emotions and psychology. Why do we cry when our favorite character dies? Because in that moment, it’s real to us. With all the above being said, I’ve concluded that topics like these aren’t just “silly shipping discourse!”, “purity culture” and “moral brownie points”. I believe people who engage in this sort of behavior, does reflect something about themselves. Their ideal, fantasy escape world involves abuse, which truly shows who they are. Lastly, it doesn’t make them “good” because they don’t act on it. Does it make them better than the ones who do? Yes. Does it excuse their actions and take away from their immorality? No.

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷︶꒷꒥꒷˚꒷︶

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with all due respect for proshippers, which is none, you disgust me. you're so obsessed with shipping incest it's like you think the only thing that makes a good plot is siblings swapping spit. i wouldn't trust you with human decency. and let's talk about that teacher x student romance, that's just sad, bro. like, seriously, do you not know the difference between romance and actual fucked up shit? you're the kind of person who thinks a minor x adult relationship is just "forbidden love" when it's really just a predator grooming their victim. you actively sexualize things that have happened to real people, things that have traumatized people and things that have changed their lives. you actively justify sexualizing children, sexualizing rape, sexualizing non-con. you're disgusting and i would be disappointed if i could ever birth a child like you. go get a life that doesn't revolve around supporting abusive dynamics and predatory behavior. nobody wants to be associated with you. just remember, while you're out here being a proshipper, the rest of us are actually respecting people who know the meaning of consent and respect. it doesn't MATTER if you think fiction has no effect on real life. it's so horrible that you think your pedophilia fanfics and abusive ships have no impact on anyone. do you know how many people you will hurt by going out there, writing some fanfic that tells them that everything that happened to them was okay and right? that there's a group of people that think what happened to them was hot? that if they put their story out there, there's a chance that you may sexualize them or justify their abuser? that they should've enjoyed it? fuck you. fuck every proshipper that tries to justify themselves with 'whimsy' or 'just fun.' fuck you.

[monophobix]

Ekko and Mel......now that was personal. They really gave them the Magical Negro™ treatment and no time to explore it. And oh boy, am I tired of it. I hate the narrative of black characters having to self-sacrifice for people who would not do the same for them. Could you imagine being fucked with by something like the Arcane or LeBlanc for allegedly a year or so,just to immediately go to war the moment you're back in normal surroundings? Do they get a break at all? Like damn.

Neither of these characters nor their trauma was ever taken seriously. I haven't forgotten how this fandom acted towards Mel in season one because of her entanglement with Jayce and the blatant slut-shaming and misogynoir that came with it. Nor have I forgotten how Ekko and his dynamic with Jinx was hyped up for the past three years to market season 2, just to barely get screen time in said season (outside saving everyone's ass in the finale).

(Insert the Rose McGowan saying "Imagine how tired we are" meme.)

ok so there are some aspects of this that i agree and disagree with

- the self-sacrificing part i disagree with. yes both characters have miserable endings but other characters also sacrificed themselves for others i.e. jinx, viktor, jayce so i don’t think this specifically is just a mel and ekko thing. i also do believe that atleast ekko has characters who would 100% sacrifice themselves for him aka jinx, maybe vi. as for mel, she is very alone and it’s miserable but she’s also the character most likely to be in the show forwards (noxus seasons) so i doubt this is the end for her.

- i agree that we should’ve seen more consequences of what they went through. the black rose and mel and leblanc deffo should’ve had more emphasis and it’s really annoying we didn’t actually learn shit about that. again, hopefully the noxus show will elaborate. as for ekko, we did get an entire episode focused on him but i still agree that we should’ve seen more from when he got back. with the amount that timebomb was hyped up we absolutely should’ve seen more of it and the fact we didn’t was a massive shame and entirely netflix’s fault (the finale was supposed to be over an hour but was forced to be cut down). i rlly hope they release those scenes :((

- i agree that the fandom definitely needs to fix up on mel. i understand people disliking her when season 1 released because there were a lot of unknowns but anyone who hates on mel just to serve jayvik deserves to be shot maddie style. you don’t have to like a character but people also need to learn to not be a misogynistic twat too.

generally, i get where your coming from because things were really rushed and we didn’t get to see as much development as was actually written, but i don’t see it as a race issue since it’s not only mel and ekko who were done dirty like this but also many others (vi, jinx, isha, sevika) who didn’t get the on screen time they deserved. idk lol

[bisectionofthemind]

𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄;  PERCEPTION  OF  HIS  INDIVIDUAL  SELF  [  INNER  WORLD  AKA  '  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃'𝐒  𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌  '&&  ROLE  IN  '  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄  𝐒𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐌 '  .

If  you  were  to  ask  them  who  came  first  HARVEY  or  𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄  ,  HARVEY  would  state  himself  .  While  𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐒  would  insist  that  he  was  first  .  Seeing  how  𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄  &&  HARVEY  view  themselves  in  their  inner  world  (   '  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃'𝐒  𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌  '  )  we  see  that  HARVEY  appears  as  he  once  did  before  the  acid  attack  .  While  𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄  appears  to  be  more  raw  ,  a  being  made  up  entirely  of  scars  .  Even  this  was  a  slow  process  ,  once  he  may  have  been  a  shadow  in  the  shape  of  HARVEY  when  they  were  young  ,  every  traumatic  experience  causing  a  part  of  his  body  to  present  a  scar  as  he  would  eventually  shield  HARVEY  from  the  brunt  of  the  trauma  they  experienced  time  &&  time  again.  Most  notably  when  he  would  front  during  one  of  their  father's  twisted  games  that  would  always  result  in  a  rigged  coin-toss  &&  a  beating  .   He would go on to mirror what he experienced in a misguided attempt to protect , their father's growl in this moments would become the voice he uses to speak with it is also why he speaks with a accent just like their father . In many ways he reminds HARV of their father , which is the main basis for HARV'S preconceived fears of him .

𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒  that  cover  his  inner  world's  visage  are  not  just  reflective  of  all  their  trauma  but  also  representative  of  how  he  sees  himself  as  HARVEY'S  "  𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐇  "  his  blood  &&  guts  &&  everything  that  you  could  call  upon  for  survival  .  What  humans  are  before  they  become  people  &&  civilised  ,  before  they  could  forget  the  primal  need  to  just  𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄  .  So  in  that  he  doesn't  see  himself  as  '  human  '  more  an  embodiment  of  what  we  all  are  before  we  are  taught  to  sit  down  &&  behave  .  If  something  cannot  be  called  '  a  person  '  then  are  they  '  a  monster  ?  '  something  he  wonders  about  himself  truly  .

WITH  THIS  IN  MIND  it's  no  surprise  that  when  half  of  their  face  was  melted  by  acid  ,  revealing  underneath  the  skin  that  both  personalities  would  see  this  as  a  reveal  of  'the  face  inside'  ;  HARVEY'S  other  self  who  he  had  been  trying  to  repress  all  these  years  .

HIS  ROLE  IN  THE  SYSTEM  STARTED  OUT  AS  '  THE  PROTECTOR  '  but  the  misguided  words  of  judgement  passed  on  by  their  superstitious  father  that  HARVEY  was  possessed  by  a  demon  as  punishment  of  CHRISTOPHER  DENTS  '  SINS  '  began  to  lead  him  astray.  '  SINS  '  being  falling  for  &&  conceiving  a  child  out  of  wedlock  with  a  working  girl  .

HARVEY  as  he  grew  would  treat  𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄  very  much  the  same  as  their  father  had  .  Like  something  unwanted  ,  like  a  demonic  parasite  .  REPRESSING  HIM  .  LESLIE  THOMPKINS  .  A  therapist  who  also  became  a  maternal  surrogate  after  their  late  mother  would  insist  that  HARVEY  should  name  his  alter  .   Up  until  the  accident  in  the  courthouse  this  name  would  be  ‘  𝐁𝐈𝐆  𝐁𝐀𝐃  𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐕  ‘   a  name  understandable  for  a  child  to  choose  though  detrimental  to  the  way  his  alter  would  perceive  himself  .  He  was  ’  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐁𝐀𝐃  𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐘  ’.   Not  true  but  how  could  he  believe  anything  else  ?   If  one  personality  can  only  be  good  the  other  can  only  be  bad  .

𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄   would  be  denied  of  any  life  at  all  ,  treated  with  shame  &&  regret  when  he  did  show  himself  .𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃  inside  their  own  mind  .  It  left  him  bitter  .  &&  SOMEONE  WHO  WAS  ONCE  A  PROTECTOR  now  𝐀  𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐑  ,  estranged  from  his  previous  role  though  it  is  not  impossible  to  help  him  find  his  way  again  he  is  most  likely  afraid  that  letting  his  guard  down  for  even  a  second  would  be  HARVEY'S  chance  to  get  rid  of  him  for  good  .  THOUGH  helping  his  host  remember  that  he  has  always  been  there  for  him  ,  to  shield  him  from  harm  ,  keep  his  promises  &&  do  the  hard  thing  when  HARVEY  could  not  has  seemed  to  have  brought  the  two  to  more  of  an  understanding  of  one  another  that  I  should  hope  continues  .  It  is  still  a  long  journey  to  recovery  but  in  the  end  they  could  make  it  . 

The  two  have  similar  goals  just  with  vastly  different  means  to  achieve  it  ,  both  care  about  the  city  they  call  home  ,  both  care  about  keeping  the  promises  they  made  to  the  city  &&  loved  ones  .  &&  𝐓𝐖𝐎-𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄   despite  how  the  same  sentiment  is  not  returned  from  his  host  &&  all  his  postering  out  of  all  the  years  he  has  been  hurt  by  him  &&  his  disapproval  of  him  ;  CARES  ABOUT  HARVEY  MORE  THAN  ANYTHING  .    Roles  in  a  system  are  not  a  choice  but  he  plays  his  with  every  intention  of  fulfilling  it  even  if  he  is  lost  right  now  ,  blinded  by  anger  &&   pain   &&  needs  help  finding  his  way  again  .

IN REFERENCE TO ; DETECTIVE COMICS #1067 WITHIN ' GOTHAM NOCTURNE ' .

[coolcoelacanth]

I'm keeping myself up being sad about people again

[hbosscreations]

I've sat on this for several days, because your analysis makes me feel feelings as a theater gay, and I think that you touch on exactly why Ride the Cyclone gets to have this conversation and Spirit World (and other modern comics don't).

Marketability.

People like to act like musicals are 'super niche' and not something that the average person will engage with, but that's not really the issue here, the issue is money. Musicals can make bank if they take off. Anything that makes it to a major stage production can generally be assumed to be raking in enough cash to pay everyone back and then some, and musical theater people will promote and encourage people to see the show no matter the cost.

Theater people are drama llamas. We LIKE laughing, crying, and being made to think after a show. A theater person will talk about their favorite show for years. Will see it as many times as their wallets will allow, and there's money to be made in a big enough production.

Ride the Cyclone gets to talk about death and sex and teenage pain because musical theater is allowed to be a vehicle to tell meaningful stories. When you go see a show like Ride the Cyclone, you're there BECAUSE it's about a bunch of teenagers begging to be brought back to life.

It doesn't necessarily matter if the show makes millions of dollars either, because in this day and age small acting companies record things and put them on youtube and use things like patreon and kickstarter to fund passion projects. Starkid is my favorite example of this. The passion is a huge part of it, and marketing allows theaters to make their money back.

Comics in the two major companies DC and Marvel though, have an industry that has been poorly managed since at least the 90s. Can't speak for creators like Image or IDW or whatnot, but I can tell you that the balancing act for DC and Marvel to try and make money has been TERRIBLY run and managed for a long time. Margins are pretty thin on traditional comics.

Which means they need to sell lots of stuff, pay their employees less, and cash grab as much as possible. It's why event comics are so common, why tie-ins are so prevalent, and even why they don't bind all the tie-ins together a lot of the time when they put collections together.

DC wants to make maximum profit, and that means making their stuff as bland as they can to appeal to as many people as possible, not realizing they are shooting themselves in the foot.

John Constantine is a fantastic example of this problem. He's in every crossover they can stick him in, because he's a cool character and he's fun to play with, but he's never treated with the dignity and depth his early comics demand. Why? I think it's because most of DC's current audience is American and they are afraid of alienating anyone by choosing a side on anything, and therefore not getting their money.

God forbid the horror comic series about a queer, burned out punk, a man who fully believed in the principles he stood behind but never had the ability or drive to try and make them happen, be about politics and queer topics. We cannot stand for anything or we risk sales being bad. We can't talk about real world topics, people don't want to read that in their escapist fantasy, even though different people get different things out of the concept.

I actually think that's a big reason Dead in America is suffering. It's not ABOUT anything. We could have had a discussion about racism that the earlier issues so CLEARLY wanted to talk about, but we might risk upsetting someone who reads the comics, that's why we have so many 'rural' stories about bad white people in the run. 'Rural whites' don't read comic books, after all (It's bullshit, but their numbers will show this, because people like me who live in rural areas have to get comics from ebay or from a reseller website because we don't have local options). We could have talked about John's complicated feelings about fatherhood, but that might hurt someone's feelings. We could talk about queer topics, but...well, that I'll blame on Spurrier not knowing or caring about queer culture.

It's why the New 52 and Rebirth stories are...not great. They're the aesthetic of Hellblazer and John Constantine, but they don't have any of the bite that the original run has. I have read the OG Hellblazer twice now and there are comics I am HAUNTED by in the best way. I can't think of many stories that have come out in recent years that have done the same thing.

Xanthe, as you've mentioned in another post, is a very generic 'asian' character in design. I didn't realize this at the time, but once you pointed it out I couldn't not see it anymore. Their character isn't really risky at the time of publication. Their backstory seems made to make numbers on tumblr, the relationship with their family only exists for screenshots to get people talking and buying. I bought it for Constantine, but also because I was pulled in by the dinner scene and Xanthe seemed interesting from the few panels we got.

And this HURTS characters like Xanthe when it comes to future appearances. I remembered Spirit World fondly because it was bland and harmless, but I read it once when the trade came out and never read it again until your post about it because it was bland and not actually engaging. My memories were fond, but I didn't think about it. It had no longevity or real thought to the world-building it wanted to create. Pretty art, lots of action (too much action), no real substance.

This story should have been Xanthe's debut instead of a crossover/teamup, detailing their cast roster, setting up future antagonists and potential enemies to become allies. It should have been about a person trying to rationalize being alive and dead at the same time and what that means, it should have talked about what death meant culturally.

Being Asian-American and having that dynamic around death would be an interesting deep dive on its own that might have fueled more readership. Instead, it seems to have left the target demographic ambivalent at best and unwilling to engage further at worst.

Why was Cassandra Cain in the story? She's Asian. Why was John Constantine in the story? He's queer. Neither character felt well written on the second read through, and more to the point, they were superfluous (and frankly I find it a little insulting that someone at DC went, well, she's popular and Asian, throw her in there).

And you're right. Xanthe will show up in team books occasionally they were in an issue of Birds of Prey recentish, but they were also paired with Constantine again. They'll be background art, they might even die in an event if they get a decent fan following specifically so they can be brought back in a super special single edition, and then be forgotten for a while.

It's a shame, because if Spirit World had the love and care to the themes it claimed to the way Ride the Cyclone did, maybe Xanthe could have been the flagship character for a new generation of readers, but we'll never know now.

I don't think I've treaded any new territory here, everything I've said, you've said better and far more succinctly, but I definitely understand your perspective better now. Apologies for the long, long rant.

Spirit World, Ride the Cyclone and Death. A weird comparative analysis

Gonna combine my musical nerd and cape comics fixation together for a rambling meta thought. I've been reflecting on how taboo the topic of death is in media after getting into Ride The Cyclone (highly recommend watching the slime tutorial and Waiting in the Wings' documentary on it) but also contrasting that musical with how Spirit World handled similar topics.

Both stories cover characters whose lives were cut short from a tragic circumstance, but while Cyclone directly talks frankly about how each character uniquely grieves over their lost life (and eventually accepts death)- Spirit World uses death as largely an aesthetic to a generic fantasy superhero adventure.

[spoilers for Ride the Cyclone and Spirit World]

Spirit World is about non-binary, half dead half living Envoy Xanthe Zhou, as they go into the Spirit World with John Constantine to rescue Cassandra Cain Batgirl. They eventually go toe to toe with the spirit of a bitter dead poet.

Ride the Cyclone is about 6 choir teenagers who die in a roller coaster accident in their small town. In the afterlife, they are given the chance to vote which one of them they believe should be resurrected.

For Spirit World, do we even know how Xanthe feels about being "half dead"? What does that even mean? They died as (what looks like) a 3 year old, and have clearly aged 15 more years since then. So they can age? Do they need to eat or drink (they're seen with a drink in a Pride comic)? Xanthe keeps mentioning they're half dead and half living, but the comic doesn't seem to want to discuss what that means. How would Xanthe feel that they were essentially given a job as an Envoy the minute they died as a very young child? Was this even a choice?

We've already covered the numerous plot holes in Xanthe Zhou's poorly thought out backstory so I won't go over that again. But honestly apart from the thematically loose "the dead shouldn't be forgotten" moral, a lot of how death is presented in Spirit World feels so superficial. When Xanthe is formally introduced as this cool character with a giant sword hanging around a gravesite, fighting all these hopping vampire creatures... this scene would play out the same if you swapped the setting with a forest and zombies as bad guys.

The Spirit World is less an afterlife for the spirits to move onto and more an MMORPG setting for our superheroes to travel across and fight generic evil beings and encounter eviler, bigger, boss battles at the end. Then there's the poet clout villain whose problems are just easily solved by Xanthe promising to remember her. I've already covered what a lost opportunity thematically this character was in my last Xanthe essay, but this time I want to contrast her with Ride the Cyclone's Jane Doe. I also want to compare Xanthe with Noel Gruber afterwards.

Ride the Cyclone's musical numbers follow each character performing a song reflecting their wishes, and musings on life (this sounds depressing but the musical handles all this with comedy and wit), hoping to prove themselves as worthy of a second chance at life. Of the characters, Jane Doe is the mysterious odd one out. The accident decapitated her, leaving her to enter the after life with no memories and the people of the living unable to identify her.

You might see where I'm going with this. So in Spirit World, Wan Yujing was this famous poet mourned by an entire empire. She only goes monster mode when a handwave-y "time erodes all" happens in the Spirit World and she is eventually forgotten- so she becomes desperate to demand to be reincarnated by the Jade Court. Because her clout ran out. Again, I already made the critique in my previous essay that this villain would better link to our protagonist if she was a queer poet whose poetry was being purposefully straight washed as an act of queer historical erasure. But I want to bring up how truly unsympathetic this villain is. She gets Shakespeare levels of clout but still demands more because she isn't getting reincarnated fast enough. Xanthe promises that as an immortal "half dead half living" person that they will remember Wan Yujing, so she too can be immortal in some way.

I think about all the Jane Doe-s in the Spirit World who don't get to be famous poets that have Empires remembering who they were. People who died anonymously without a past. In Cyclone, the main character chooses Jane Doe as the person who should be brought back to life. Our cast of teens come to terms with the fact that while it's tragic that their lives ended shortly, they conclude "to say that if one dies young, they die needlessly... that is to discount the years we had. We had a life, she didn't. That's my vote." Since Jane Doe has no memory of who she is, it's only fair that she is given that second chance.

I get that Spirit World is choosing these "larger than life" characters as villains, but it's at the expense of their own supposed themes. Of all the people to die and face off our hero as the villain, a character who's essentially an influencer but somehow has an entire empire forget about her anyway feels thematically hollow.

Modern Superhero comics are suffering from a specific problem right now; they're not really about anything. Characters don't feel like people with interior lives informed by the context of who they are. Class, race and bigotry are only touched upon as lightly as possible. Queer characters are now Pride ads with no personhood or flaws. They punch gentrified crime and fight for no one in particular. Even recent adapted media such as My Adventures with Superman and Caped Crusader follow this. Superman fights white-washed xenophobia, while Batman fights gentrified, white-washed classicism. It's why comics like Superman Smashes the Klan, Catwoman Lonely City and Alan Scott Green Lantern stand out so much. It's been a while since these characters talked about anything that matters. Don't get me wrong, slop that's about nothing exists in every industry. But when these characters and worlds historically used to have more bite- it's especially obvious.

If I could be playfully conspiracy theory-like for a second; I believe Xanthe Zhou was pitched so that DC Comics can buff out their Pride Anthology or AAPI anthology with a new younger character. The company will give this character one limited series, but that's it. Xanthe will appear in the larger DC universe whenever big magic plots happen, but that's it. Maybe they'll get a YA graphic novel. I would love to be proven wrong, but the problems with Xanthe are baked in the dough.

Because they don't feel like a person, Xanthe feels more like an industry planted Pride ad. They're designed to be the most palatable and marketable image of Asian androgyny. They literally have no flaws to grow out of, and their backstory makes no sense. They weren't built to be a sustainable solo character.

So I want to contrast Xanthe Zhou against Noel Gruber from Ride the Cyclone. Because they're both queer characters whose lives were cut short at a young age.

In a dramatic lament, Noel Gruber expresses how if he had a chance to live, he'd want to live the horrible cinematic messy life of a French sex worker woman in post-war France. He struggled as the only gay boy in a small town and never got to kiss a boy before he died. It's a look into a queer life that could've been lived, one with all the messy texture and self destruction Noel couldn't have but desires. We get to see how death and queerness intersect into rich, unflattering, gender-messy themes. "I want to be that fucked up girl." Noel sings.

But what's Xanthe's deal? They died as a 3 year old, got brought back, avoided their family at all costs for 15 years, and then had a transphobic confrontation with their family when they're invited to dinner way later. If Xanthe grew up in a transphobic household, how did they ever figure out they were non-binary when they were 3? Could they even verbalize it? Or did they instead figure out their queerness after they died? But how is that possible when they already held a level of familiar resentment towards their family's transphobia as if they've had several fights about it? It's hard to picture a 3 year old having multiple heated debates about gender with their parents for this level of resentment to make any sense.

Details aside, how does Xanthe's queerness intersect with themes of death and grief? Well, it just doesn't. This scene ends with Xanthe's sister telling them that she bothered remembering them even though their parents moved on from their death (which makes no sense since the parents wanted to have dinner with a random 18 year old they correctly assumed was their long dead "daughter" but whatever). Honestly, the only reason queerness exists in this family drama is so that Xanthe has a tense relationship with their family. The story would be exactly the same if Xanthe was a troublemaker that brought shame to their family. Who they are isn't specific to whatever grief exists in the comic.

When people give the critique that modern Superhero comics aren't about anything anymore, we usually think of these comics as "lacking political bite and commentary". We don't often think of something like Death to be political. And even though it is in many ways, it's also a social taboo to talk about. Death is an uncomfortable thing to confront, even in the safety of fiction. It's what made Ride the Cyclone such a difficult stage musical to market.

So how does a modern mainstream comic like Spirit World fit into that? It just sits there in this non-committal way. Yes, this is a story about a trans teenager who died, but only in a cool Superhero Origin Way, not in any way that would make readers uncomfortable. Bury Your Gays is a stereotype after all, so we can't talk about how queer people feel about death. We don't get to know how Xanthe feels about death as a non-binary Asian American. Especially if it's messy. It's the reason why Wan Yujing's character can never commentate on themes of historical queer erasure. God forbid superhero comics be about something.

I think about how, in the original Hellblazer run from the 80s, John Constantine had an elderly gay friend who was diagnosed with AIDS but was killed by a homophobic hate group. The comic openly talks about the sheer amount of gay people dying of the epidemic, a looming threat that informs John's queer life. It's such a culture shock, to contrast these early comics with how John Constantine is written in Spirit World. A character stripped of his own queer history and is at the mercy of incessant slutty bi jokes. Where is the desire to talk about how death informs a queer person's life? The mourning of a lost generation to the AIDS crisis? Something John lived through?

How about how any of this intersects with being an Asian American queer person? Queer people of color are often erased or purposefully excluded from queer history and communities. As a Queer Asian American, what does it mean to have identities that are often perceived to be in conflict with each other? Would your queer Asian ancestors even be remembered? Cultural differences with how you'd mourn your communities? But answering any of these questions means an uncomfortable conversation for Spirit World. For Xanthe. It threatens to be about something.

Which makes it all the more silly that, of the two stories, a musical about teenagers dying from a rollercoaster malfunction is more willing to have that uncomfortable conversation. You should ride the Cyclone.

[art-is-kayos]

Sight of a Star - Blue-ish Star Ryōshū and Don Quixote

[hella1975]

would you like to talk about how bad the mha ending was hella

as much as i would love to give like. a comprehensive response i genuinely dont think i can get my words together just yet without it being a constant unintelligble stream of 'AND ANOTHER THING-' and bc it's become quite torn in the fandom on if the chapter was good or bad i want like. an actual coherent response here. so i will reblog this if/when i can word it but know IM NOT FUCKING HAPPY

[fujii-draws]

OKAY! Chatot rant in tags below! Read at your own discretion.

[firstkanaphansbitch]

I always find discussions surrounding power within bdsm so fun and interesting because I get to view other people's perspective on certain things. Just to add my 2 cents (that no one asked for)... also this is gonna be so all over the place because I'm writing as I'm thinking?

I think Bison being Kant's dom??? takes nothing away from the power Kant has. I feel like a lot of people read subs as powerless when, in MY OPINION, I would argue that they have the upperhand. The power a dom has is the power their sub willingly gives to them and I also feel like that's a power that can easily be taken away.

I think that's what make KantBison so fun to me because, like you said, we see Bison 'concede' and go on the bed almost seemingly taking a 'submissive' role which isn't true as we see as the scene continues. I hope when the bdsm-ness of it all starts being shown, we see Kant giving Bison that power.

I think both these characters love this push-and-pull power play thing they've got going on and while they believe they're playing each other, they're probably just playing themselves.

I'm honestly not even sure I worded my thoughts the way I thought them because sometimes words don't word butt🍑 whatever🤷🏾‍♀️. Either way I'm so excited for the show and hope you keep writing these analyses. I think they're making me enjoy the show more lol

alright i’ve mentioned i was gonna make a post about the sex scene, but honestly i think the establishment of their dynamic starts even sooner with their first conversation at the bowling alley.

like, it starts off with kant approaching under false pretenses - giving bison unsolicited advice about to get a strike - and then when he realizes that doesn’t work, he’s more straightforward about the fact that he just wants to talk to bison because he’s cute. he goes to walk away and then bison stops him and indulges him in the excuse he made the get close! sure, he questions how close kant does get, but he allows it once kant brings up his excuse for it. i again think this moment is meant to tell us that bison is capable of seeing right through kant but that he will gladly indulge him and play along if he can find fun in it, which is exactly what he’s doing with their whole courting ritual! bison is not at all naive to the fact that kant is trying to get close to him under false pretenses - he’s just finding the fun in playing along. i also think it establishes nicely this sort of push and pull dynamic they have where bison is very obviously the one in control. he can push kant away if he wants to and kant will be waiting there to be pulled back.

i also think the moment where they’re discussing where they should go in order to sleep together is interesting because it highlights the obstacles that are keeping them apart in their relationship as well. they can’t go to kant’s place because he lives with his little brother (babe is the reason that kant has to be an informant) and they can’t go to bison’s place because he lives with his older brother (fadel won’t allow kant to get close unless he’s distracted). so, they have to meet in the middle and go to a hotel, a very impersonal place.

and then we get to the actual scene in the hotel room and the moment they enter once again establishes this push and pull dynamic. and while the way it’s set up kind of reads like kant is the one is charge, it’s still all up to bison at the end of the day. because he is the one that chooses to sit on the chair first instead of the bed, he makes kant lure him over despite the fact that they both know exactly what they came there for. it sets up this idea that even in the moments where it seems like kant is in control, bison is really the one with all the power.

and that’s proven when not even a minute later kant tries to ask for his name and bison tells him they don’t need it. sure, he tries to say that’s perfect for him, but why ask in the first place if you didn’t care to know, kant?

and then it’s proven again when bison stops this time to make sure kant has a condom. i’ve already discussed the possible symbolism this could have, but to sort of recap, i find it interesting that the condom was highlighted when in many other jojo shows, they aren’t really brought up as a factor. so, i wonder if it’s meant to emphasize this layer that exists between them, even when they think they’re at their most bare - and how while it might seem like kant is the one putting that layer there, it’s actually bison (he’s the one that asks for it AND the one that opens the condom).

bison’s power in the situation is ONCE AGAIN emphasized when kant starts going to town and bison stops him because “you’re not doing this solo, you know?” and then he takes control. in less than two minutes we have FOUR instances where bison holds all the power, but for the most part he allows kant to think he does - it’s only until the last one that he makes kant acknowledge it.

kant has all this confidence and bravado, but the only semblance of power he actually has is what bison is willingly giving him - otherwise, he’s totally at bison’s mercy even if he doesn’t know it.

also, it’s interesting that while they show flashes of a couple positions (“several positions really”), one of them bison fully towering over kant - which as we know from joong was likely a little difficult of a shot to actually get since khaotung is so short, so i assume it was purposeful for him to be so much higher than kant in that position - power dynamic!

also! in the last shot before the morning, where bison once again establishes his control by leaving before kant wakes up, you see kant fully under the blanket while bison has one foot out. he has one foot out the door! not just in the sense of he was gonna ditch before kant woke up, but in the sense of him literally not being as involved in the relationship as he comes across! he is playing along.

[atopvisenyashill]

i love when people are like “oh i definitely think bloodraven’s methods are evil but i do think his goals are noble” no i’m saying i think his goal is evil he just doesn’t realize exactly how evil or he just doesn’t care. i think he’s bran’s evil mentor and the turning point in both of their stories will be whether bran ~accepts the pomegranate seeds~ or whether he rejects them. bran is fleeing that cave no matter what he chooses, but he will choose and brynden is gonna have an opinion on that choice!!

[brick-van-dyke]

TERFs 🤝 Zionists

Using the exact same talking points and rhetoric.

[smile-files]

this might be a hot take... but if you care about disavowing media made by bad people out of fear of looking like a bad person yourself more than you care about actually doing good things... you might have your priorities (and your morals) screwed up a bit :/

(see my tags for more of my thoughts on this topic! please try to avoid making make bad-faith assumptions about what i mean!)

[kuromi-hoemie]

last rb stressed me out lowkey akakska i had an ex like that and it became a self fulfilling prophecy kinda thing..