#which (perhaps on purpose) really reinforces the argument | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

queerprayers · 1 year ago

Note

any tips/advice for someone who is not catholic who wants to participate in lent? like how to choose what to give up etc?

Cheers to not letting Catholics have a monopoly on Lent, beloved! Last year I answered a similar ask that might be helpful. Here are the thoughts I have right now!

[CW: discussion of eating/fasting in italics] My most important note/disclaimer: Fasting is not for everyone. It is a beautiful tradition (for Catholics and non-Catholics) that can change people's lives, but if it's going to be a part of your practice, do it on purpose, knowing yourself. It inherently changes your relationship with food--and for people who have always had enough to eat, who have never struggled with disordered eating, who have never been seriously ill, there can be a solidarity and new perspective in fasting, in realizing how sensory experiences and comfort and mortality go together, how privileged you are to have the choice to go hungry. But for those who have struggled with food insecurity, or have lived through/live with eating disorders/disability/illness, or any other experience/relationship with food/the body that changes your perspective, fasting will often be a re-traumatizing or triggering practice that doesn't change your perspective so much as reinforce unhealthy ones. Something I think about: why fast if you cannot feast? Lenten fasting brings us to Easter feasting--if that's not accessible to you, if that wouldn't be joyful or affordable or healthy, fasting probably isn't either. Okay, all that said:

There is so much diversity in what a Lenten practice can look like, and I can't tell you what will be most meaningful for you, but I'll give you some ideas and some questions that have been helpful for me to ask myself! Lent existed way before the Catholic/Protestant divide, and exists among so many diverse communities, and there is a path here for you if you want one.

"Giving up something" is the most common language used for Lent--fasting technically refers to anything abstained from--and generally that's really useful! Jesus's forty days in the wilderness was time that he had nothing but God, and during Lent we can get closer to that experience. I give things up not as punishment or a test of self-control (those ideas trigger unhealthy behavior patterns for me), but as a letting go of something that is in my life but doesn't need to be, and may deserve reconsidering. Sometimes it's a bad habit, but sometimes it's just a conscious allowing of my life to grow simultaneously smaller and bigger. There is space for grief during Lent, but we're not just making ourselves feel bad--I've never found forced emotions to be spiritually helpful. Emotions come and go--we're doing this on purpose, and whatever we feel about it, we make space for that.

Ideas of things to give up:

eating out/getting coffee/buying drinks/little treats

impulse buying/nonessentials (you could pick a category, like clothes, or go all out)

alcohol/drugs/smoking (if this would be starting a recovery journey, I am not the person to ask for advice on that but please do seek help)

social media (you could choose one app to give up, or set time limits--it doesn't have to be all or nothing)

scrolling-on-your-phone time before bed/another time when you get sucked in

another form of casual entertainment (like TV/video games--again, you can limit this rather than cutting it out)

sexual activity (I talked about this here)

makeup/other appearance-related thing (I must confess I have considered doing this and always chickened out. I know that's because it would force me to rethink too many things, which is a probably a sign I should do it one of these years.)

a social habit, like gossiping or getting into arguments online

overscheduling/not having rest days (this is often unavoidable, but rest is necessary and holy, and perhaps this is the season for sacrifice in honor of rest)

single-use plastics/another environmental choice

Note: I don't think any of these things are inherently bad things. This is a list of things we can change/investigate our relationship with or have a season without them as a distraction, not things I think we shouldn't be doing or we should feel bad about.

One of the most important things I've realized is that so often I have given something up and not done anything about it. Like I didn't watch TV for forty days and was mad about it and then Lent was over and I watched TV again. Perhaps this strengthened my self-discipline, or made my life better in a way known only to God, but ultimately nothing happened. I didn't consciously do anything else, I didn't learn anything.

Now, when I give up something, I purposely do something with whatever space it leaves. If I'm not watching TV, what am I going to do when I would usually watch TV? Am I gonna pray? go to bed earlier? call my grandmother? Am I gonna cancel my Netflix subscription for a couple months and donate that saved money? Or maybe I'm gonna give up watching mindless TV, and find stories that resonate and make me think. Don't give things up to check a box, but to reexamine your relationship with them, make everyday things sacred, fill the space/time/money/energy you now have with God, and ultimately to set this time apart.

The other way of looking at Lent practices is things you can add. Often, as I mentioned, they go together--you can pair up something you're no longer buying with somewhere to donate to, or give up an activity and replace it with a new one. I always caution against Lent-as-self-improvement--obviously I can support improving our habits, but I've seen too many people use Lent to restart their new year's workout plans, and while exercise can be a way to care for ourselves, if new year's and Lent are treated the exact same way, what's different about this season? What makes this Lent?

One of the questions I've been asking myself recently is: What are you gonna do about it? When I'm investigating a belief, or learning something new, or reframing an old thought process, I ask myself: What am I gonna do about it? Lent is a path to Holy Week--something I and many others commemorate as the week when God was put on trial and literally killed. I genuinely believe God died and was resurrected--how does this affect my life? Believing something like that and not letting it change you is, to me, inauthentic. When I'm considering a belief, I think, if this were true, how would it change me? Would it lead me to Love? Lent (and Christianity itself) over and over asks us to do something about what we say we believe. Faith without works is dead--and faith is a work, something I do.

It's almost Lent, which is preparation for the Resurrection, which fundamentally changes our understanding of what it means to be alive--so what are you gonna do about it? Not because doing something will make God love you more or make you a "better person," or even because you'll succeed or change your life, but because how can we not? We are of course welcome at Easter having done nothing, but I can't imagine knowing what's coming and not letting it change me.

Ideas of things to add to our lives:

start a prayer/Bible routine--I can now wholeheartedly recommend (as a Protestant who connects with ancient traditions but not always Catholicism) Phyllis Tickle's Divine Hours books! For Bible study, I like The Bible Project's videos.

read a book--it can be anything that connects you with God! (I had a lovely experience with Lenten Lord of the Rings last year, and this year I'm properly going through the Quran)

pick a subject to research (theological or anything else)

start to attend worship services or commit to attending more--this could include going to several different places if you don't currently belong to a church

research places to volunteer for or donate to

do something politically active, like calling your representatives, researching the next local election, or attending a protest

donate to the next [insert number here] posts you see online requesting mutual aid

start a physical practice like taking a walk or stretching

write a letter or call someone regularly, especially with people you've been wanting to connect with more or have unresolved conflict with

start/commit to more regular therapy/other health treatment

ask for help--maybe you're the one who needs mutual aid, or reaching out to, or support cleaning your house or with your kids. there is no shame in this.

These are all obviously things we can be doing year round, and certainly we can use Lent as a season to start something we want to keep with us! I'd also encourage us to have something that's only present during Lent, or something that we do more or in a different way.

You asked how to choose, and I don't have a one sentence answer to that (...obviously), but perhaps in these days before Lent you can look at your routine/habits, the places where God is present, the things you do to distract yourself from life (not a crime--just something to be mindful of), and you can see where Lent might be able to come in and change you. The thing that's nagging at you that you know might be helpful, the thing you're not in control of and just do, the time you take up or the money you spend that might not be bad but also doesn't lead you anywhere. We can't expect every aspect of our lives to be purposeful and present, or to be continuously improving ourselves (in fact, that sounds terribly stressful and unsustainable)--but we can look around us. We can have a season that looks different because everyone I've ever known has a brain that craves ritual in some way--and either we do it on purpose, or we fall into it. Do something (or don't do something) a little more on purpose this season.

Another think to think about is what Sundays will look like for you--the "forty days" don't count them. There's no fasting on Sundays--my mom says every Sunday is a little Easter. "Sundays in Lent" is such an interesting concept because it's very much Lent, but the rhythm of our weeks breaks through. When I give up soda, I'll have one as a celebration on Sundays, but a prayer/reading practice I'll continue through. It's up to you and depends on what your rhythm/habits ask of you.

Ultimately, let God interrupt you. Let Them seep in the cracks of everything you do and let go of. To be loved is to be changed. Even the smallest thing--like wearing a cross necklace every day--can cause our lives to be filled with noticing God's presence. I keep saying to do this on purpose, but know that I find Them much more often by accident.

And an obligatory note: starting Lent late, stopping your practice halfway through, not meeting a goal, whatever comes up--Easter still comes for you. Lent is for paying attention, for making space, not for perfection.

I also want to add that while a lot of Lenten practices (including most I've mentioned here) tend to be personal, ultimately what is asked of us is interpersonal. We make space in our life and be more present in the name of Love--which we cannot do alone. If a practice is not specifically about other people (like volunteering/donating), ask yourself how it will serve the ways you love others? This isn't a trick question, just something to think about. Personally, my study of the Quran this season will connect me with my Muslim siblings through time and enable me to more fully love the Muslims around me, and my rhythm of the divine hours will connect me with the wider Christian community and center me as I go about my day, allowing me to be more present in my relationships.

Easter comes whether we're ready or not--and I don't think we can be ready. But we can look at the small parts of ourselves, set this time apart, see what we can change our relationship with, and perhaps when Easter comes, we will every year have come that much closer to understanding what it means to live out the resurrection by honoring the death that came first.

Wishing you a blessed almost-Lent, and praying for you and your practice (as well as all those reading this)!

<3 Johanna

#asks #lent

86 notes · View notes

inu-yasha · 6 months ago

Note

While I agree with you and your anons on Kagome’s horribleness, how do you justify the argument that Inuyasha started things with her first and gets jealous over Koga? InuKags claim he asked her out in the chapter after they first meet Naraku, now I’m not sure how true this is because shippers are always known to distort facts in order to support their OTP - but if this is true doesn’t this mean Inuyasha was in fact two-timing both Kikyo and Kagome all along? How much blame does he have in this?

You say Kagome had no right getting jealous over Kikyo , which is true if she wasn’t in a relationship with Inuyasha, but just the same didn’t Inuyasha not have a right to be jealous of Koga then?

Perhaps both Kagome and Inuyasha are terrible people in their own unique ways and actually deserve each other while Kikyo deserves better?

Hey @/Anon, how do you feel about this?

Because he knew that Kagome is her reincarnation and he knows that this way he can have Kikyou through Kagome and I never said she didn't have the right to be jealous of him. She had no right to demand an explanation from him about where he was and what he was doing with Kikyou, as if Kagome was his girlfriend and he was cheating on her.

I never said that Inuyasha is a terrible person and that only Kikyou deserves better. Kikyou and Inuyasha deserve better and kagome got what she wanted and yet she is still jealous of the dead woman she still unhappy knowing that Inuyasha loves the dead woman more than he ever loved her.

she even admitted it herself.

I have stated many times that if it weren't for Kikyou's soul in the body of that pathetic heroine, Inuyasha would never have looked at her.

And it really doesn't matter that later it dawned on Inuyasha that Kagome was Kagome, it doesn't change the fact that Inuyasha saw Kikyou in Kagome and that's why he developed feelings for her. Kikyou is the core of everything, even Inuyasha's feelings for Kagome

Mainly it's about the fact that Kagome is simply seen as a sentient 'holy thing', that her actions and actions aren't from bad, selfish motives, but from pure intentions, which is complete nonsense, because honestly, Higurashi Kagome is the second most selfish character in the manga right after Sakura Haruno, only Sakura doesn't hide her selfish thoughts Kagome is effectively able to mask herself only kagome's manipulation moves can be easily noticed and I can simply conclude even from her reactions, body language, that she is dishonest, and her greatest enemy is not Naraku, but Kikyou because she can't have who she wants.

Throughout the entire manga she literally acts like Inuyasha belongs to her and her fan club reinforces that.

Throughout the series she does horrible things like forgiving Kouga for his horrible actions because he was good to her not caring about the fact that the monster murdered the entire village and killed Rin. She used the feelings of that wolf idiot to make Inuyasha jealous. She did it on purpose, those stupid smiles of hers.

In Inuyasha's situation is different. Inuyasha wasn't using Kikyou for purposes of making Kagome jealous, he wasn't playing with her feelings to make a love interest jealous. Kikyou and INUYASHA had a relationship and despite the betrayal they still loved each other. Which can be seen in the scene where Inuyasha finds out that Kikyou is dead and tries to hit on Kagome knowing that Kagome is her reincarnation. He didn't see Kagome then, only KIKYO IN HER.

kagome was using Kouga's feelings without loving him, and he was simply a tool to make inuyasha jealous. She was using him, while Inuyasha really loves Kikyou and his death didn't kill his feelings. That's the fundamental difference Inuyasha wasn't two-timing.

I don't know about anon and opinion in this, but in my case it makes a difference when you love someone and have managed to develop feelings for their replacement, and a person who without feelings uses others to arouse jealousy and play with their feelings.

She used Hojo throughout the series. Literally the guy could have moved on with another girl much earlier than at the end of the series.

Inuyasha and using his 'two-timing' is pointless because it doesn't fit him and his situation is different. Conversely if kagome was in this situation like inuyasha, and inuyasha in kagome's place I would think the same.

I have the impression that many people equate the situations of Inuyasha and Kagome when their situations are different and can be looked at differently.

#anonymous #my answers

3 notes · View notes

kaceysreadingdiary · 5 days ago

Text

Title: Stories of Your Life and Others Author: Ted Chiang Date Finished: 5 April 2025 Rating: 5/5

I’d been thinking about starting to read short story collections, and Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others came up repeatedly as one of the best. I'm so glad I chose it as my first collection to dive into — wow! What an incredible set of stories.

Chiang clearly has a beautiful, imaginative, and intelligent mind. This collection has made me excited to continue reading his work — and to explore more short stories in general. He writes beautifully, explores fascinating topics and ideas, and brings a sense of wonder and awe to stories that could easily feel overly technical or high-tech in less capable hands.

The Tower of Babylon -4.5

A great introduction to the collection with a sense of ancient mythic grandeur. I was so intrigued by the journey, the alternate universe with its distinct physical principles, and the final revelation about the nature of the world and heaven.

Understand – 4/5

Conceptually, this reminded me a bit of the conceot of the film Limitness, But overall, it was an interesting story and makes you try and consider what you yourself might have done if you suddenly became hyperintelligent – but also captures I think the isolating nature of what many ‘gifted’ people may experience among the non-gifted. I thought it was interested that there were two hyperintelligent people with very different values and approached for how that intelligence can and should be used. In this way, it thinks about intelligence as a tool that can be used for various purposes.

Division by Zero – 3/5

This very short story did not quite capture me in the way all of the others did. Maybe I just didn’t ‘get it’.

Story of Your Life – 5/5

An amazing story — complex, mind-bending, and emotionally deep. I had seen the film Arrival before reading this (without knowing it was based on a short story), so I knew many key aspects, but it was still an extremely rewarding read. I loved the exploration of different perceptions of time — linear, cyclical, simultaneous — and the way linguistics was woven into the very experience of reality.

Seventy-Two Letters (4.5/5)

This steampunk-esque story confused me a little at first, particularly around the concept of golems and the magical properties of letters. But once I understood the mechanics, I really enjoyed it.

Beyond the fascinating worldbuilding, the story offers a strong commentary on automation and its impact on labor and society, which feels especially resonant today with current debates around AI. However, Chiang goes even deeper: the story explores how scientific advancements are not inherently good or evil, but are often politicised and weaponised by those in power.

The protagonist’s attempt to solve an existential threat becomes a tool for the elites to promote eugenicist ideologies and reinforce class hierarchies.

Thus, the story highlights not only human ingenuity, but also the corruption of systems that manipulate innovation to serve oppressive, exclusionary agendas. It isn’t magic or automation that is flawed — it’s how human structures of power twist them toward injustice.

Hell is the Absence of God (3.5/5)

An interesting story set in a world where God and angels are undoubtedly real but often destructive. It wrestles with many real-world doubts around religion — but raises the stakes by making them observable phenomena. Although it was a thought-provoking concept, it didn’t 'click' with me as strongly as some of the other stories.

Liking What You See (5/5)

I really loved this story, perhaps because the broader theme feels so personally resonant. As someone who has struggled with both internal (e.g., self-esteem, body image) and external (e.g., prejudice, bullying) experiences around appearance, the idea of eliminating visual beauty bias was deeply intriguing — and quietly appealing.

What I appreciated most was Chiang’s nuanced handling of the issue: he provides well-reasoned arguments on both sides of the debate, showing how deeply entrenched beauty standards are — not just socially, but politically and economically.

The story highlights how the system co-opts beauty as a tool for manipulation, persuasion, and marketing, and how even when the overt mechanisms of control are challenged, the system quickly adapts to preserve its influence. It made me reflect on how the concept of beauty itself has been politicised, commodified, and weaponised against people — and how resisting that manipulation is complex, not straightforward.

#reading diary #book diary #reading journal #book journal #book review #short stories #ted chiang

0 notes

nursingwriter · 1 month ago

Text

Ethical Issue in the Medical Field Nurse practitioners at just about all levels and fields of practice encounter a variety of ethical problems throughout the span of their daily operations. In the preceding 30 years there has surfaced a remarkable global grant on nursing ethics providing complete philosophic evaluations involving the types of problems nurse practitioners encounter and also the procedures that may be best utilized for coping with them. The amount to which nurse practitioners initiate ethical concerns within the place of work, how successfully they've been in a position to cope with them, and also the degree to which their professional training has equipped them to cope successfully with ethical as well as human rights problems experienced throughout the span of their efforts has not, still, been methodically investigated or listed. Within this paper, we emphasize the ethical arguments both for and against abortion which nurse practitioners need to bear in mind prior to choosing to proceed with the procedure or otherwise. Arguments utilized in favor of abortion Individuals who reinforce the wide accessibility to abortion contemplate that abortion isn't ina-ppropriate by itself and does not need to include unwanted effects. These justifications have a tendency to not identify baby legal rights or even to recognize the unborn infant to be an individual. Based on a few, abortion is really a case of a female's right to apply control over her personal body. Moralists who assess activities by their outcomes only might debate that abortion is the same as a planned failure to get pregnant with a baby and because birth control is extensively accessible, abortion ought to be as well. Some believe that even when the unborn infant is really an individual, its rights are extremely restricted and don't weigh considerably up against the interests of individuals who've previously been born, like parents or pre-existing kids associated with the family (DOH, 2004). The majority of people who reinforce this posture do this on the rationale that the overriding theory stands out as the female's legal right to decide on what goes on within her body. This particular usage involving the language of "preference" communicates approval irrespective of the kind of demands the person encounters as well as any restrictions on the freedom in making a real decision (BMA, 2005; 2007b). Arguments utilized in opposition to abortion Some individuals contemplate that abortion is actually inappropriate in almost any scenario simply because it does not acknowledge the rights involving the unborn infant or simply because it conflicts the idea involving the sanctity of each and every human life (BMA, 2007a). Some debate that enabling abortion decreases the regard society will feel for some other susceptible human beings, perhaps resulting in their unconscious euthanasia. Those that think about that the embryo, from the time of conceiving, is really a person with complete moral position, view abortion as destroying in the exact same meaning as the murder involving another individual. Individuals who choose this perspective are unable to realize that females ought to be permitted to acquire abortion devoid of legal consequences, however challenging the lives of the pregnant females or even their pre-existing family members are made consequently (BMA, 2007a). Such opinions might be according to religious or perhaps moral beliefs that every human life has unassailable innate significance, that is not reduced by any kind of disability or anguish that might be involved for the person actually living that life. Supporters additionally claim that pro-abortionists consider humans simply as being a simple tactic to achieve a purpose as abortion may be viewed as a removing of the unborn infant wherein the pregnant female will no longer have any consideration. A lot of people feel concerned that the accessibility to abortion on justification of baby abnormality promotes bias in the direction of any individual having a handicap as well as insidiously yields the perception that the only useful individuals are people who comply with some ill-defined label associated with "normality" (BMA, 2007a). Some individuals, who battle abortion generally, acknowledge that it might be sensible in extremely unique situations like where it is actually the outcome of sexual assault or the result of exploitation of a young child or perhaps an emotionally incompetent female. Danger towards the mother's existence might be an additional justifiable exclusion only where abortion may be the only choice. It could therefore not be viewed as justifiable to kill an unborn infant when the life of each unborn infant as well as mother might be preserved by another solution (BMA, 2007a). Arguments utilized to reinforce abortion in a few situations Numerous individuals debate that abortion might be validated within specific situations than those acknowledged by anti-abortionists however that it could be unfavorable to permit abortion at will. To achieve this may incur unfavorable results, like motivating irresponsible thought patterns to birth control. It might additionally result in a wear and tear involving the lives of practical fetuses as well as trivialize the possible mental issues of abortion on females and also on health experts (BMA, 2007). These kinds of argument tend to be based upon the idea that the embryo starts devoid of legal rights, even though possessing a unique position from conceiving because of its likelihood of growth, as well as that it receives rights and standing all through its growth. The idea of creating unborn baby legal rights and practical elements, like the feasible stress towards the pregnant female, nurse practitioners, physicians or any other children within the household, may point to the viewpoint that premature abortion is much more appropriate than a late one (BMA, 2007). Some individuals reinforce this position on practical grounds, assuming that abortions may usually be desired by females who happen to be needy and that it really is much better for modern society to offer abortion solutions that are secure and that might be supervised and controlled, as opposed to permit "back-street" activities (BMA, 2007). References British Medical Association (2005). Abortion time limits: a briefing paper from the British Medical Association. London: BMA. Available at British Medical Association (2007). The Mental capacity Act 2005 -- guidance for health professionals. London: BMA, Available at British Medical Association (2007a). Medical treatment for adults with incapacity: guidance on ethical and medico-legal issues in Scotland. London: BMA. Available at https://www.paperdue.com/customer/paper/ethical-issue-in-the-medical-field-125543#:~:text=Logout-,EthicalIssueintheMedicalField,-Length3pages British Medical Association. (2007b). The law and ethics of abortion. London: BMA,. Department of Health. (2004). Best practice guidance for doctors and other health professionals on the provision of advice and treatment to young people under 16 on contraception, sexual and reproductive health. London: DH. Read the full article

0 notes

intersexwiki · 2 months ago

Text

for archival purposes, copying everything under the cut

What we liked

This book had a bunch of things going for it.

The one thing this book did better than Swarr was its use of hauntology. Swarr invokes hauntology in her book, but not nearly as effectively as Orr does. Orr gets a lot of effective mileage out of how the spectre of intersex haunts people’s bodies. Not just intersex people’s bodies, but also the bodies of pregnant people who are called upon to exorcise the spectre of intersex through selective abortion should a foetus be identified as possibly intersex.

The haunting metaphor rung true for talking about how we intersex people are haunted by past surgeries, forced treatments, medical trauma, and so on. Even when we’re “done” with receiving gender-altering “treatments” we live with their ghosts every day.

We liked the explicit connections that Orr drew between intersex and disability studies. Elizabeth in particular was warmed by the shoutout to how Garland-Thompson explicitly includes intersex in her disability studies work. We felt that Orr perhaps underestimates how receptive many intersex people would be to their central argument - Orr takes on a tone of “hey bear with my crazy radical argument” that we weren’t sure was really necessary.

Orr is not the first to make the argument that intersex organizing and scholarship would benefit from more alignment with the disability world. This gets into criticisms, but Orr isn’t the first to make this argument yet seems unaware of how regularly the argument comes up. Indeed there’s a whole chapter in Critical Intersex (2009) arguing that intersex is better off allying with the disability community than the queer community. It’s not hard to find intersex people on this very website arguing similar things. Intersex-support even has a whole section on it in their FAQ, though it does cite Orr (lol). Orr does at least seem aware of Koyama’s work making this argument.

We appreciated Orr calling out ableism in a lot of intersex organizing. When intersex people and organizations insist that intersex is NOT a disorder or disability, they conflate disorder and disability. This is an ableist conflation: disability activism tends to start from a place of resistance to the medical model of disability, whether it be by the social model or more recent ones like the political/relational model.

Intersex activists insisting that intersex is “NOT a disability” reinforce the idea that disability is a negative, tragic thing. It’s the “I’m not like the other girls” rhetoric: putting down people who experience the same oppression you do in an effort to gain some credibility. It holds our movement back, because ableism is a very potent part of how we intersex people are oppressed. Orr does an effective job of laying this out, and we recommend reading the first chapter for this.

Orr coins a term, temporarily endosex, to talk about how people can learn at any age or time that they have had intersex traits all along. (Another way in which intersex can haunt!). For Elizabeth, the idea of temporarily perisex helped zer understand why perisex people can be *so* insistent in defining intersex as something visible at birth: because if intersex is something you can become at any age, this threatens perisex people with the possibility that they too could find themselves on the minority side of the tracks.

Other terms that Orr uses were big hits with the group. Elizabeth loved “curative violence” and ze expects to get future mileage out of the term. Ze also liked the framing of IGM as medical malpractice. Apollo praised “compulsory dyadism” as a concept. Remy shared that the cyborg stuff in the book gave them a lot to think about.

The book features a takedown of eugenicist rhetoric by a bioethicist by the name of Sparrow. We all agreed that Sparrow’s arguments sucked, were grossly eugenicist, and welcomed that Orr had put in the work to rebut his hateful messaging. Michelle praised how they invoked Sparrow’s lists of undesirables that Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis is supposed to prevent: for xem, it evoked monstrosity identification theory and ideas of the abject.

Elizabeth liked Orr’s argument that genital differences are a threat to the heterosexual (perisex) imagination: there’s so much porn out there that incorrectly presents intersex as “typical fully-developed penis plus typical fully-developed vagina” that really reflects how perisex people have a serious lack of imagination about genitals.

Fact Checking

There are a number of things that Orr says that we felt warrant an explicit fact check.

Orr presents the terms “perisex” and “endosex” as though they are contentious within the intersex community. They are not. The general consensus that one’s choice of perisex/endosex/dyadic is a question of personal preference and familiarity.

Orr clearly prefers the term dyadic, and makes a show of casting aspersions on “perisex” and “endosex”. They make it seem like their origins are disputed, and selectively cite Tumblr posts to make this argument. “Perisex” is actually the most common antonym to intersex on this very website, so it feels surreal that they're publishing the rare anti-“perisex” posts on this platform. Orr does correctly cite the Tumblr which coined “perisex”, the issue is they try to discredit it as a means to make it seem like this is not a term embraced by the intersex community.

Orr makes it seem like the origin of “endosex” is a suspicious mystery. It’s not. the term was first used in German in 2000 by Heike Bödeker. Bödeker is controversial for supporting autogynephilia 😬, but we've never seen anybody doubt Bödeker having mixed gonadal dysgenesis.

Orr clearly prefers the term “dyadic” and makes zero attempt to source the term, and the most minimal attempt at covering its controversy. This term actually does come from outside the intersex community! The term came from gender studies, popularized by 1970s radfem Shulamith Firestone. And it’s controversial for more than just being a laundering of “sex binary”.

Nobody calls it “ipso gender” anymore. It was coined as “ipso gender” but in actual usage has been “ipsogender” from basically as soon as the term was coined.

Orr uncritically repeats a quote which romanticizes home births in Black & Indigenous communities as that intersex-at-birth babies were accepted and cared for in a way that wouldn’t happen if the baby were born in hospital. This, sadly, is deserves scrutiny. We’re not saying it never happened: one can find stories supporting it. But the historical and sociological evidence show that infanticide of intersex infants has been widespread globally, and this includes traditional Black and Indigenous birth attendants. Collison (2018) as quoted in Swarr, reports that 88 of 90 traditional South African birth attendants they interviewed admitted to “getting rid” of a child if it was born intersex. That very story we just linked to about a Kenyan midwife saving intersex babies made the news because infanticide was the norm. In North America, some First Nations had similar traditions, e.g. the Navajo would leave intersex babies to die in arroyos, and the Halq’eméylem would leave them to die on a specific mountain. 😢

Michelle was visibly upset when talking about Orr’s repeated comments which insinuate that LGBT marriage equality was an attempt to fit in + liberalism + conformity. In Michelle’s words: “AIDS activists did not watch their lovers die for you to say that marriage equality is conformist bullshit. As a [polyamorous] person who is not legally married to xer spouses, I really felt that one, and I was intensely angry about how Orr was dismissing those activist efforts and the importance of them.”

The Voyeuristic Vibes

The consensus in the group was that Orr’s writing came off as voyeuristic of the intersex community. There were several points in the book where Orr seemed strangely disconnected from the intersex community. Sometimes it was small things, like spelling ipsogender as “ipso gender”, or favouring the term “interphobia” when “intersexism” is actually more popular in the community (it also avoids the potential casual ableism of framing bigots as clinically insane! Which you’d think a crip theorist would be sensitive to…. 👀)

Other times, it felt like a deeper, conceptual thing. For example, Orr’s top priority in future work was to apply their interpretation of intersex issues to critique how LGBT marriage equality was a homonormative, neoliberal, conformist movement. Not only was this viscerally upsetting to Michelle, for Elizabeth it was galling that this is what Orr seems to think intersex perspectives are good for: pushing down other queer groups. 😬 It added to the sense that Orr saw us as a nifty theoretical lens, and wasn’t particularly interested in advancing the intersex cause.

Another disconnection that was noted was in how Orr rebutted Sparrow’s claims that genital differences are disgusting and will not elicit sexual desire in others. Despite detailed rebuttals to other appalling comments from Sparrow, Orr does not bring up the intense fetishization of intersex genital differences which is uncomfortably familiar to all of us. Objectifying medical photography of intersex people with genital differences are shared widely and known to be used for sexual purposes.

Bnuuy was annoyed that Orr seemingly didn't try to talk to or otherwise get input/feedback from any disabled intersex people for their thesis, given that disabled intersex people are not actually that hard to find! (Indeed, four out of five of us are both intersex and disabled.) Given Orr’s emphasis on intersectionality, it’s notable that when they sought intersex texts to analyse, they focused on texts from nondisabled intersex folks.

Orr does not reveal if they are intersex nor if they are disabled. It sticks out. Whether they’re actually intersex or not isn't actually that important to us. We’ve previously read intersex studies works by perisex authors which we loved, and we believe strongly that it is possible for perisex authors to do right by the community if they take the time to engage WITH the community. (See Swarr as an exemplar!)

What we had major problem with is the faux “objective” tone that the book takes on. Orr seems to be trying to hide behind academic language, the “view from nowhere”, and an expensive paywall. This was noticeable to everybody. But Elizabeth, as the only academic in the call, came in with a lot more context as to why it felt gross.

The Misuse of Standpoint Theory

For Elizabeth, Orr's “view from nowhere” became egregious when Orr cites standpoint theorists like Donna Haraway, Nancy Hartstock, and Pat Hill Collins. In a surreal move, Orr explicitly points to Haraway’s famous paper “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective”. This paper is an evisceration of the “view from nowhere”, “objective” approach to academic knowledge production. Every view is a view from somewhere, and pretending otherwise feeds into the history of how science has been violently used to gaslight and oppress minority groups.

In short, Haraway says:

ALT

Elizabeth explains that as result, feminist methodologies accept subjectivity as part of the process: the researcher is expected to articulate their own standpoint, to be transparent about their subjectivity rather than to hide it behind a pretense of “objectivity”. There’s an emphasis on reflexivity, the fancy word for when scholars reflect on how their own social position affects how they do their research.

Feminist disability studies and crip theory both build on feminist standpoint theory, and Orr claims to be using both. Both frameworks understand disability as socially constructed, and that this social construction is entwined with other social forces such as capitalism, sexism, racism, and so on. Feminist disability studies scholars like Wendell (who Orr cites) clearly position themselves and how their disability (or lack thereof) affects their research.

Crip theory builds further on feminist disability studies, and acts to subvert ideas of ability. It began in the arts - cripping performance art by having wheelchair users perform as dancers, blind people doing photography, Deaf people making music, etc. It spread into other domains, such as crip technoscience. Crip theorists also inherit the tradition of reflexivity, whether it be Eli Claire writing about their personal experiences of disability or Sami Schalk talking about how being nondisabled affects her work as a disability studies scholar.

We provide all this exposition to emphasize how unusual it is that Orr provides absolutely zero information about their positionality nor their personal motivations to this research. 🧐 They provide zero reflexivity as to how their position may have affected their work. Yet their personal biases and subjectivity seemed obvious to us - we were all, in varying ways, set off by Orr trying to pass off subjective opinion as “correct”. As an example, we mentioned how Orr clearly prefers the term “dyadic” and manufactures controversy about the origins of “endosex” and “perisex”, while at the same time conveniently leaving out the unsavoury origins of the term “dyadic”.

Elizabeth pointed out that the ironic thing is Orr didn’t even need to invoke standpoint theory to make the argument that intersex studies would benefit from a disability studies lens. Plenty of intersex and disability studies is done using different frameworks.

Indeed, Elizabeth was surprised that this kind of error made it through a PhD thesis defense. In the department where ze teaches, if a student displays a major misunderstanding about their chosen theoretical framework, the student would be asked to redo the relevant thesis checkpoints (e.g. candidacy paper, thesis proposal/defense) until they get it right.

Some background on academia

Elizabeth brought up a structural problem with the book: it looks like it had zero intersex studies scholars review it prior to publication. 💀

This book originated as a PhD dissertation, which anybody can read for free here. A typical PhD programme is structured as a master-apprentice model of education, where a PhD student apprentices to one (sometimes two) professors. These are known as thesis advisors. The culmination of the PhD is a thesis (aka dissertation), which presents original research done by the student.

To graduate, the thesis needs to pass examination by a committee of professors. The committee acts as a secondary source of support to the student, providing guidance or perspectives to complement the advisors.

Elizabeth explained that when ze assembles a thesis committee for one of zer graduate students, the goal is to ensure any area that the student is venturing into has at least one committee member who is well versed in it. So, let’s say you propose you’re going to do a thesis on “intersex studies meets disability studies” but your thesis advisors are both gender studies people (as Orr’s were). Elizabeth would expect that Orr’s thesis committee would then include at least one disability studies scholar and at least one intersex studies scholar.

Instead, Orr’s thesis committee doesn’t have a single intersex studies scholar on it. Neither the book’s acknowledgements nor the thesis’ acknowledgments acknowledge any intersex studies scholars. Even though Orr is citing intersex studies scholars like Georgiann Davis, Morgan Holmes, and Cary Gabriel Costello, there's nothing to indicate that Orr has ever gotten feedback from any intersex people. This is HIGHLY unusual: normally, intersex studies books have acknowledgments which acknowledge several publicly intersex people, and often one or two intersex organizations.

Research is a highly social activity: researchers are expected to go to conferences, to be in conversation with people working on similar topics. And Orr is clearly social about their research, acknowledging the feminist/gender studies communities they have been a part of. It just seems like intersex studies scholars weren’t a priority for Orr’s academic socializing. 🙃

Orr’s acknowledgments doesn’t even contain the word intersex, which is unprecedented in our collective experience of intersex non-fiction. This is why Elizabeth says that ze was left with the impression that Orr doesn’t think intersex studies is a serious field of research. It appears that Orr views intersex literature as something to be consumed for their benefit, and not a community worthy of participation and a bi-directional relationship.

Early in the book, Orr points to Lennard Davis’ work with the Deaf community on reframing Deaf activism away from the “we’re not disabled we’re a linguistic minority” rhetoric. It’s a great example of disability studies scholars having an impact. Thing is: Davis openly talks about how he grew up in a Deaf family that was part of the Deaf Community. While Davis is not little-d deaf, he took on the project as a member of the capital-D Deaf community. His writing (including book acknowledgments) reflect this.

Elizabeth also pointed out that there are scripts and precedent in academia for how to handle positionality and reflexivity when you’re questioning or closeted. If Orr were closeted or questioning, they would have an excellent way to talk discreetly about it through their very own concept of “temporarily endosex”: Orr could write they don’t know they’re not perisex, frame it around how few perisex people actually know they’re perisex, and retain plausible deniability.

Other notes

Bnuuy was frustrated with the implication that disability studies is The Only Right Way to analyse intersex. It’s a useful lens for understanding intersex, but at times it felt like Orr was arguing it was the only appropriate lens rather than one of a collection of suitable lenses. Theories are analytic tools, and social phenomena are complex and fluid - it’s a matter of finding a suitable tool for a given research question, rather than there being One Correct Way to understand things.

Orr’s use of “bodymind” didn’t quite land. The term was created by Margaret Price to subvert the idea that body and mind are dichotomous: many disabilities cannot neatly fit into “mental” vs “physical”. It’s a term that’s had productive use in disability studies. But Orr’s use of it got a negative reaction. Remy pointed out it felt like it instead it actually reinforced the body-mind distinction. Intersex is, after all, a physical thing, and the idea of “brain intersex” is very poorly received by the intersex community - it’s seen as a way that perisex trans people appropriate intersex and/or live in denial about being perisex. It felt like Orr was using the word on autopilot rather than thinking about when and where it is actually subversive.

Bnuuy was concerned that Orr was reading OII Australia’s information on intersex in bad faith. Orr criticizes them for discursively distancing intersex from disability. Bnuuy points out that OII Australia is not writing for an academic (disability studies) scholarship. This is an advocacy organization speaking to a general audience that understands disability through the medical model. Bnuuy read the quotes from OII Australia as them just distancing themselves from a medicalized understanding of disability.

Elizabeth brought up that Orr’s manufactured controversy of “perisex” may have a classist element. While endo- does make sense as an antonym to inter- if one has formal science background, the term peri- is not conventionally an antonym to inter-. Elizabeth has personally noticed a resistance from zer fellow academics to perisex on the grounds that it’s “using scientific terminology incorrectly”, and thinks that’s a classist take.

Michelle brought up that “it also didn't sit great with me that they [Orr] were very condescending about Tumblr like, ‘aww, look at the baby activists trying to do a scholarship," whereas what I'd describe as ‘folk scholarship’ on Tumblr has been very valuable to me. It's not always correct and there can be misinformation, but it has worth.” Remy was unimpressed with how limited/selective Orr’s engagement seemed to be with intersex Tumblr, as well as Orr’s centrist take on “the future is female”.

Closing thoughts

This was a deeply imperfect piece of scholarship. Orr came across as disconnected from the intersex community, and uninterested in working with the community. The work still has some merits: Orr’s first chapter provides an incisive discussion of how ableism is detrimental to intersex advocacy and that trying to distance intersex from disability only adds to societal ableism. Ableism is a serious force in intersex discrimination and we’re stronger off understanding this and explicitly resisting it.

We hope that the stink of Orr’s voyeurism does not sully the important central message of their book. Work needs to be done to teach more intersex people about disability studies. Disability does not mean disorder. Disability does NOT mean medical problem. The disability rights and justice movements are FULL of disabled groups who, just like the intersex community, are actively seeking de-pathologization, bodily autonomy, patient-led care by respectful and well-informed physicians, and fighting neo-eugenics. We are in good company with groups like the Deaf, neurodiversity, and little people communities.

A lot of thoughts about Cripping Intersex

On 2024-09-29 we met to talk about Chapters 0 and 7-9 of the 2022 book Cripping Intersex by Celeste Orr. This was a book that numerous people had requested we read, and we wound up with deeply mixed feelings about it. 😬

Overall reactions:

Michelle: I found the concept of “hauntology” incredibly compelling. I’m here for some shitposting. 🍵

Apollo: I loved the concept of compulsory dyadism. I found the downplaying of “perisex” as a term to be weird, and the lack of divulging intersex/disability status was weird.

Elizabeth: the lack of diverging intersex/disability status wasn’t just weird, it was anathema to standpoint theory, and so every time Orr cited standpoint theorists, it made me seriously doubt Orr’s understanding of the theoretical basis that they actively chose to use 🧐. I was disappointed by this book. I agree with its central premise, so I should have been an easy sell. Instead I came out shaking, upset, feeling like Orr was a voyeur to our community, that Orr does not actually view intersex studies as a serious research area, that we’re just a theoretical fascination.

Remy: There were a lot of good points about how disability is socially constructed, but how Orr used “bodymind” detracted from their arguments for me. This book had a lot of uncomfortable conversations, some of them I was happy to read, some I need to come to terms with myself, while others I felt were treated a little too artificially equally such as the section with the phrase "the future is female" and the intersex community being involved in the queer community. 🤔

Bnuuy: it's really jarring how they approach the topic. There are a lot of pieces for a good theory here, but it’s kinda like Orr is just like the completely wrong person to go try to assemble them 🫤

As a collective, we generally were receptive (if not enthused!) about the central message that intersex benefits from disability studies/rights/justice perspectives, and that our community would benefit from more interaction with the disability studies/rights/justice communities! 💜

At the same time, we all agreed that Orr felt like a voyeur to our community. Rather than engaging with the intersex community, they seem to have a one-sided relationship where they read a bunch of things by intersex people but never actually conversed with intersex people. Whether Orr is intersex or not matters a whole lot less to us than whether Orr is actively participating in the community.

We made a lot of (unflattering) comparisons of Orr’s book to Envisioning African Intersex by Swarr, an intersex studies book by a perisex author. The latter is a great example of how a perisex scholar can do right by the intersex community: Swarr is clear about being perisex, clearly lays out her motivation for writing the book (she saw medical photography of intersex people, thought it was fucked up, later became friends with intersex activist Sally Gross, and then wanted to honour Gross’ memory after Gross died tragically.) Swarr was clearly connected to multiple African intersex organizations and made an explicit, deliberate choice to publish her book as open access so that the work could actually be read by the African activists she has been working with. Swarr’s perisex status matters a lot less than the fact that Swarr writes in a way that demonstrates personal investment in advancing intersex rights/justice.

Orr may or may nor be intersex. We don’t know. We don’t really care, because Orr doesn’t demonstrate personal investment in the intersex rights/justice/studies communities. That’s what actually matters to us, and it's what a lot of this post is going to talk about.

Underneath the cut we're going to go into a lot more detail about the book. There were things we liked about the book, and want to be fair in our assessment. Some of the complaints we had about the book hinge on an understanding of sociological theory and academic practices, so we'll give some context on those issues.

What we liked

This book had a bunch of things going for it.

Orr coins a term, temporary dyadism, to talk about how people can learn at any age or time that they have had intersex traits all along. (Another way in which intersex can haunt!). For Elizabeth, this helped zer understand why perisex people can be *so* insistent in defining intersex as something visible at birth: because if intersex is something you can become at any age, this threatens perisex people with the possibility that they too could find themselves on the minority side of the tracks.

Fact Checking

There are a number of things that Orr says that we felt warrant an explicit fact check.

Nobody calls it “ipso gender” anymore. It was coined as “ipso gender” but in actual usage has been “ipsogender” from basically as soon as the term was coined.

The Voyeuristic Vibes

The Misuse of Standpoint Theory

In short, Haraway says:

Some background on academia

Elizabeth brought up a structural problem with the book: it looks like it had zero intersex studies scholars review it prior to publication. 💀

Elizabeth also pointed out that there are scripts and precedent in academia for how to handle positionality and reflexivity when you’re questioning or closeted. If Orr were closeted or questioning, they would have an excellent way to talk discreetly about it through their very own concept of “temporary dyadism”: Orr could write they don’t know they’re not perisex, frame it around how few perisex people actually know they’re perisex, and retain plausible deniability.

Other notes

Closing thoughts

#perisex

70 notes · View notes

hawkinsschoolcounselor · 4 years ago

Text

El and Morality

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the latest teaser left me with a feeling of intense dread. We see these kids playing in a seemingly carefree manner, but then Brenner comes walking in. He greets them, and they obediently respond. They’re all very used to it by this point, and they all call him Papa. He claims to have something special for them, but then we cut over to El’s isolation room and hear Brenner asking her if she’s listening.

Why does this fill me with dread? Mainly because the previous teaser showed some similar images to what we see in this one. The 8-ball, for example, is shown on one of the monitors, only it is covered in blood. It leads me to believe that something terrible happened that day. With Brenner asking if El is ready, then the shot of who appears to be El opening her eyes as if from a nightmare, has me wondering if he used her for something that resulted in the deaths of the other kids.

It’s by no means the most likely scenario for this teaser, but it’s where my mind went. The eerie music, the heavy breathing (ostensibly El’s), the fear on El’s face, it sends an ominous message. Is El remembering something from long ago? Is this a new group of kids in Brenner’s new facility? Is it just a nightmare fed with fear and guilt since she couldn’t save anyone? I really don’t know, but the idea that El may have been used to test the “worth” of the other subjects led me down an interesting road. Whether it was a “training exercise” gone wrong or a deliberate “culling” of the weak, I can’t shake the feeling that El did something that she desperately doesn’t want to remember.

If Brenner intended to use these kids to his own ends, then they should hold no allegiance to anyone but him. Emotional attachments to anyone else would be a risk in his eyes. They would need to have total, unquestioning obedience regardless of what he may ask them to do. For El to be the tool he wishes her to be, she would need to not think twice about killing. Brenner would have instilled in her, and the others, a need to garner his approval. This is why he teaches them to see him as a paternal figure instead of a doctor or teacher. We’ve seen him try to get El to kill a cat, but she refused. This upset him. Yet, we also see her have little issue killing in other circumstances. She’s somehow developed a sense of morals despite being manipulated from birth.

Morals are an interesting phenomenon. The entire concept of right and wrong really is subjective when you think about it. It’s a very abstract concept, and the way we think about it changes as we mature. However, it is also heavily influenced by external sources. In this case, Brenner would seemingly have total control over how his ��children” learn to evaluate the morality of a given situation. I’ve previously spoken about El’s mental development, and how Brenner would have wanted to nurture certain intellectual domains, but restrict others. Here I want to discuss a similar process with the psychology of morality. Specifically, we will explore how El may have been manipulated into doing something that we, as viewers, would find horrific, yet come to develop a system of morals in spite, or perhaps because, of that.

Lawrence Kohlberg conceptualized the development of morality as coming in 3 levels (Pre-Conventional, Conventional, and Post-Conventional), broken down into 6 stages . These stages are more or less cumulative, as previous stages help pave the way for later ones. There’s no clear-cut ages for these stages, but level 1 generally encompasses early childhood, level 2 is later childhood and adolescence, and level 3 adulthood. The first level contains the more “primitive” or basic moral frameworks, obedience/punishment driven and self-interest driven. This is a level defined by a more egocentric understanding of the world, as it revolves around what’s “good” being what results in a positive consequence, and what’s bad being what results in a negative consequence. For children, this means learning what’s “good” as a result of an external reinforcer(i.e. “Papa) and then developing this into a sense that it can be used for a mutual benefit (”If I do what Papa says, he will be happy, and I will be rewarded.”). Since it’s still a stage defined by self-interest, there is no loyalty here, and such relationships will deteriorate once it is no longer beneficial.

This may have been Brenner’s fatal flaw. Most individuals wouldn’t move onto the Conventional level until adolescence. While these kids may have had some basic sense of loyalty to “Papa” since it’s possibly all they ever knew, it would still be easily shaken. If you offered these kids some candy, they’d probably do whatever you said unless there was enough fear preventing them from doing so. Fear, not loyalty. El was afraid of Brenner. She may have done his bidding for a long time, but it was because his approval meant better treatment, not because his approval was of value in and of itself.

Given El’s age when she escaped, she was on the cusp of adolescence. Thus, she may have been developing some early features of the 3rd stage, which we can call the “good boy/girl” stage. Here, a person would want to be considered “good” for its own sake, and would look to society for what that means. For our purposes here, Brenner and the lab could have been attempting to be the “society” that the kids would judge themselves with. They would evaluate the morality of an action based on how the others would judge them for it. This is possibly where Brenner wanted the kids to be, only with no concept of what good or bad is beyond what he instilled in them.

That may have been something of a clumsy explanation of the relevant stages of morality, but I didn’t want to get too technical. The important things to take away from this is that El’s sense of right and wrong would have largely have been defined by what resulted in her being happy and/or rewarded. She may have wanted Brenner’s approval, but only because it meant good treatment. The problem here is that El may have been getting her needs met elsewhere: the other kids. If we presume, for the sake of argument, that El developed friendships with the other kids, then we could say that these relationships interfered with the total control that Brenner would want. If she gets older and starts caring more about how they feel about her than how Brenner feels, then his power over her weakens. This is where things get potentially scary.

Let’s say Brenner noticed this happening. El is the most promising, and most dangerous, of his subjects. He must maintain total control over her. However, she is very friendly with the other kids, running the risk of developing attachments that would lead to a more conventional morality. So, Brenner sets up a scenario. He isolates El for an extended period of time, possibly even telling her that the other kids accused her of misbehavior. He tells her that they don’t care about her like he does. El, being in those early stages of moral development, starts to see them as bad since they result in her being hurt. In a real world situation, one kid would be able to do something nice for another in this situation to smooth things over, but this isn’t possible with El in isolation. Then comes the day when Brenner has “something special” in mind for the kids. He’ll see if they’re worth the time and effort, while also finding the extent of El’s obedience.

None of this means El is a bad person, as we will generally see kids acting with such selfishness. One kid gets mad at another for stealing their toy, but fifteen minutes later they’re playing together as if nothing happened. However, kids generally don’t have superpowers they can use instead of pushes and mean words. There’s also usually adults around to help mediate such issues, whereas Brenner would probably want to encourage it to ensure they wanted his approval and his alone.

It’s possible that whatever happened that day changed El and Brenner’s entire dynamic. Whether El was responsible for what (possibly) happened or was just made to witness it, it didn’t have the desired effect for Brenner. We later see El reluctant to kill unless it was to protect (or punish). It’s still unclear where that moral distinction came from, but it suggests that she no longer saw Brenner’s approval as beneficial.

What happened after Brenner walked into that room? Why did he ask if El was listening? Is a present day Brenner asking if present day El is listening while she was remembering/dreaming? Or is the voice a past Brenner asking if past El is listening to his instructions?

Now, this could all be nothing. A good teaser will try to get us hyped up without giving anything important away. The “are you listening” might not even be from that scene at all in reality, or it could just be for the teaser. Still, I thought it a good opportunity for an exploration of morality in someone raised from birth to be a tool or weapon.

Something happened somewhere to make El believe there were right and wrong times to hurt or kill someone, and I just think this may have been a pivotal moment. I think we first see her kill (or at least serious injure) when she breaks out of her isolation cell. That can be explained by her still largely being in the first level of morality. Being in that cell was not in her own best interest, and she reached a point where she didn’t see a way to improve her situation. She may not have intended to kill the orderlies, but it was also not of concern to her. However, we also see her be more deliberate with Troy. First, she merely makes him wet himself, which is a remarkably clever solution. Later, she breaks his arm, but it appeared to only be due to him holding a knife as she simply knocked James down. When it came to the agents or the demogorgon, though, she was prepared to kill again. When she went with Kali to find one of the Lab men, she was ostensibly prepared to kill him until she realized there were kids around. The only pattern I can really see is that she will kill monsters or adults, but she’s reluctant to harm (at least seriously harm) kids or leave them without a caregiver.

I feel like this shows her being caught in between Pre-Conventional and Conventional levels of morality. She’s still largely going off of her own self-interest, but she’s also starting to consider the thoughts and feelings of others, namely her newfound friends. El seems to really want to keep them safe to the point that she risks her own safety. One could say that their approval, particularly Mike’s, is of value to her. She wants them to see her as good, and she attempts to conceal anything that would make her seem “bad” in their eyes, such as the fact that she’s messing with the compass or the fact that she opened the Gate.

We don’t really know how much time would have occurred between the event I hypothesized from the trailer and when El breaks free of the Lab. It’s possible that something happened there to get El to see some sort of moral distinction. She will prank, or even disable, a kid, but she somehow sees serious harm or killing of them as wrong. This leads me to believe that she harbors some type of guilt from her time in the Lab. It could be survivor’s guilt, especially if Brenner made her bear witness to the other’s being hurt or killed. It could also be something far worse if Brenner compelled her to hurt or kill them herself. Regardless, something happened somewhere along the time to get her to no longer as seeing her life in the Lab as “good,” leading to her escaping.

I think this is another one of those posts that got away from me, but hopefully I got my point across. If I try to hard to edit this thing, it’ll never get posted. Again, I have no idea what the teasers are suppose to mean, but they got me started on this train of thought. If you made it this far, then I apologize for those minutes of your life that you’ll never get back.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #eleven #martin brenner

89 notes · View notes

slapdashboard · 10 months ago

Text

Yeah... as a recent history lesson to the teenagers on this website, the #YesAllWomen movement occurred in the same rough decade as the infamous #MeToo movement, specifically in response to the classic “not all men” argument whipped out every time another rape, kidnapping, trafficking case hit the news that (intentionally or not) silenced victims of sexual assault and other common aggressions under patriarchy. I strongly encourage you read into what these were and why they mattered so much if you consider yourself progressive, especially with misogyny rising back up in the left.

I know this very misogyny has made some of you shy away from feminism like it’s a bad word, but these movements (and achievements) in feminism brought hope to and helped improve the lives of perhaps the largest group of marginalized people in the world in the places where the movements made impact. It is a huge part of why we today call out and shun pedophiles, rapists, racists, Nazis, and so on in our culture when the law does not (which didn’t really happen before, unless someone from a privileged group was targeted). It also helped open the gate for the social acceptance and bolder emergence of the LGBTQIA+ community that we experience now (that was not the norm even 10 years ago, for those who take the outward pride we flourish in now for granted). Actual feminism helps so many groups of people.

But back to the old “not all men” response specifically. Making an act of oppression or hatred committed by a member of an oppressor group (men) about the image, reputation, or feelings of that oppressor group, instead of the repeated violation, feelings, and accounts of the oppressed group (women), is very poor form. It not only weakens and eventually re-silences the voices of the victims and the marginalized (while also demoralizing them emotionally and endangering them socially), it also reinforces the privilege and power of the oppressors and sends the message to society that there is nothing actually wrong with the status quo, these acts are just unpredictable outliers, rather than the normalized, allowed, repeated results of a deeper, cultivated problem. This happens in misogyny all the time, and it happens in other forms of discrimination and dehumanization too.

If you need a different set of people put in this scenario to better understand it, “not all men” is a very similar deflection/manipulation to the “all lives matter” response within racism (which was born as a status-quo-protecting reaction to #BlackLivesMatter, which you should also research if you don’t understand why “all lives matter” is poor form and not the point). Whether consciously intended or not, the “not all men” response protects rape culture, strengthens male privilege, puts women back in their place within the status quo by discrediting their voices, cuts off important conversation and call outs before they can take full flight, and perpetuates the ignorance and social inequality that is integral to keeping that oppression going, much like the “all lives matter” response does in racism. The only people who say either are the ignorant, the prejudiced/hateful, or those with an agenda they’re willing to throw a marginalized group they’re not empathetic to under the bus for.

Not everyone is misogynist on purpose, but once you’re informed enough to know something is wrong, you choose from then on whether you’re going to check yourself, proactively work on hidden discriminations, and listen to women’s voices, or continue to go on in willing ignorance and conscious misogyny.

I understand the current outpouring of vitriol and grief but be careful not to turn "I don't trust this man I used to trust" into "never trust any men ever"

There are good men, and men are capable of being good

#points

600 notes · View notes

infinite-xerath · 4 years ago

Text

Runeterra Retcons: Ruination Episode (Targon)

Targon Part I

You awaken the next morning to find everyone in somewhat dour spirits. Olaf looks to be training alone, Shen is meditating, Riven is idly inspecting her blade, Gwen and Vayne seem to be watching the waves outside, and Lucian and Senna look to be in the middle of a rather heated argument.

Senna: “How many times do I need to say it, Lucian? I’m not staying behind!”

Lucian: “You’ve seen what he can do, Senna! We’re not in any position to take him on!”

Senna: “I know that, Lucian, but that’s all the more reason why we all need to be out there.”

Lucian: “Damn it, Senna, he’s targeting you! You’ve got one of those soul fragments in you too, which means we need to keep you out of harm’s way.”

Senna: “Oh? And what about Gwen? She’s a fetter too, and you don’t seem to want her to stay behind.”

Lucian: “Gwen’s got the Hallowed Mist protecting her!”

Senna: “And I’ve got you protecting me, or do you not have my back?”

Lucian: “That’s… You know that ain’t fair!”

Senna: “Oh really? So it’s fair that I get to stay behind and worry about my husband while you go hunting all over the world for fetters? Lucian, we swore we would always have each other’s backs. You have to stop letting what happened with Thresh hold you back!”

“Who’s Thresh?”

“Uh, is that a bad time?”

Lucian response 1: “…Someone you should pray you never meet, Rookie.”

Lucian response 2: “…No, I’d say your timin’ is perfect, Rookie.”

Senna: “We were just getting ready to set out on our next mission.”

Suddenly, Riven approaches to join the conversation.

Riven: “So… Where are we going next?”

Shen: “Mount Targon.”

Riven: “Ah! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Shen: “Mount Targon is the gateway between the earth and the heavens; a bridge into the Third Realm, that of the Celestials. Their power is often revered as godlike, so acquiring their favor may be the key to tipping the scales.”

“Wait, so we’re going to try and recruit the gods?”

“Isn’t Mount Targon like, really high though?”

Senna: “I know it’s a longshot, but either way, the Black Mist is gathering around Targon as we speak.”

Olaf: “Hmm! The gods you say? Perhaps there is a worthy foe among them!”

Senna: “Everyone, gather round! Rookie, fire up the Wayfinder!”

You wait as everyone gathers to the map table, then unleash the Wayfinder’s light to carry you to your destination. You emerge in what looks to be not a Sentinel outpost, but some manner of temple filled with carvings of Celestial bodies.

“Uh, I think something went wrong.”

“Please don’t tell me this thing is on the fritz.”

???: “Halt, trespassers!”

You turn around to see figures in peculiar armor emerging from the shadows, wielding brandishing peculiar silver weapons at you.

Lunari Soldier A: “Who are you? How did you find our sacred ground?”

Lunari Soldier B: “They must be with the Solari! Capture them!”

Gwen: “Um, pardon me, I think there’s been a misunderstanding! We’re not-”

Lunari Soldier A: “Silence! We won’t be deceived by your lies! Lunari, ready your weapons!”

Vayne: “A fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Rookie…”

Targon Part II

The Sentinels fend off their Lunari attackers, the light of their weapons clashing against the silver light of moonsteel.

Shen: “We are not your adversaries! Please, stand aside!”

Lucian: “Damn, they ain’t listening! Looks like we’re just gonna have to blast our way through!”

Lunari Soldier A: “What is this? I have never seen Solari weapons like this before!”

???: “They are not Solari! Everyone, stand down!”

Suddenly, every Lunari soldier halts, turning their attention to the entrance of the temple. A woman with long, pale hair strides into the room, clutching a large curved blade.

“Who are you?”

“Reinforcements?”

Diana: “Forgive them, travelers. My name is Diana, chosen Aspect of the Moon.”

Riven: “Aspect? You don’t mean…”

“You’re a god!?”

“You lead the Lunari?”

Diana response 1: “In a sense… Though I am only a vessel for Her power.”

Diana response 2: “A leader? No, not quite… I only speak the moon’s will to Her people.”

Olaf: “Ha! The gods of the Freljord are said to be titans! Are all of Targon’s god so tiny?”

Gwen: “Olaf, manners!”

Diana: “The moon towers above even your gods, Freljordian! Do not speak ill of her so readily.”

Lunari soldier B: “My lady, these Solari agents-”

Diana: “They are not Solari. These travelers have come far to aid us in our current plight, is that not so?”

Senna: “Actually… You could say that we’re the ones looking for help. There’s a world-wide Harrowing going on, so we hoped you Aspects could lend us a hand in dealing with it.”

Diana: “I see… In the past, Aspects would stand together to fend off the forces of darkness that threatened this world, but now we stand divided. The sun’s faithful, the Solari, persecute the Lunari as heretics! Their Aspect is…”

Diana hesitates. For a moment.

Diana: “She is difficult to speak with. As for the others: War has been killed, Justice is fragmented, and Twilight is nowhere to be found. Only the Protector remains to guard Targon’s peak from the encroaching darkness.”

“Guess we can’t expect any help from the gods…”

“So basically, you’re saying the Aspects can’t help.”

Diana: “…Not quite. It was by the Moon’s will that I came here to greet you. I know what it is you seek, travelers, and I can guide you to it.”

Vayne: “Oh, now this is a familiar set-up. Sorry, but we’ve already fallen for that trap once. It’s not happening again.”

Shen: “It is no trap. She speaks the truth.”

Lucian: “And how the hell do you know that?”

Shen: “The Eye of Twilight is not so easily deceived.”

Diana: “Time is short, travelers. Even as we speak, the Mist scours the mountain, searching for the Ruined King’s prize.”

Senna: “Damn it… I guess we don’t have a choice.”

Vayne: “…Fine, but the moment I even suspect Moonbeams here is going to turn on us, I’m putting a bolt through that glowing forehead.”

Diana: “You have nothing to fear. Now, come with me!”

Targon Part III

You follow Diana out onto the slops of Targon. The skies above you shine with the cosmos, but the land below you is obscured by a thick blanket of Black Mist.

“I can’t even see the bottom…”

“Just how high up are we?”

Diana: “Mount Targon soars into the heavens. Most would perish in an effort to make it this high, but you are fortunate to have had a means to bypass much of that climb.”

Lucian: “Come to think of it, why DID the Wayfinder bring us into your temple, anyway?”

Diana: “That temple did indeed once serve another purpose, but it has since become yet another hiding place for the Lunari to flee persecution. Those accursed Solari… They will forsake any light that isn’t the sun, forcing others to live in shadow.”

Diana descends further toward the Black Mist, leading you all closer to the howls of wraiths.

Vayne: “Seems like the shadows are where we’re headed.”

Gwen: “Um, are we quite sure about this?”

Before anyone can respond, several wraiths leap out of the Mist, ascending the mountain toward your party. You tense up, preparing for another fight, but Diana moves with inhuman speed to block their path. With a single swing of her blade, she lets loose an arcing bolt of moonlight that tears through the wraiths.

Diana: “The Moon’s silver light cuts through even the blackest darkness. You are under my protection now, so you have nothing to fear.”

“That was impressive!”

“Maybe I could get behind this whole moon-worship thing.”

Diana ignores your comments as she leads you further into the mist, wrapping herself in a silver barrier. More wraiths come your way, but Diana makes short work of those that would impede your path. The Sentinels fend of what few manage to sneak by her.

Lucian: “Hot damn, this moon lady ain’t half-bad!”

Senna: “Oh? Taken an interest in the goddess, have we, Lucian?”

Lucian: “Uh, I mean…”

Olaf: “Wait! Look there!”

You look past Diana to see a figure cutting through the Black Mist, striking down wraiths left and wright. His spear and shield glisten with the light of the cosmos and his helmet burns with pure starfire.

???: “Back, foul beasts! Your grotesque forms dishonor the fallen!”

“Who is that?”

“Another Aspect!?”

Diana response 1: “Atreus, formerly the Aspect of War. He fights with the remnants of Pantheon’s power that still linger inside him.”

Diana response 2: “Once, he was Pantheon, the Aspect of War. Now, however, he wields only a fragment of the fallen god’s might.”

Atreus: “Indeed, I am no more than a man! And no less! Whatever remnants of the god may linger, my strength is my own!”

Olaf: “Hmm! You seem like a worthy foe! Perhaps you will be the one to grant me a glorious end in battle!”

Atreus: “Glory comes not from how we die, berserker, but how we live. Now, enough talk! We share a common enemy this day, do we not, Diana?”

Diana: “Yes. We go to the dead god’s temple to find the artifact hidden within. We must keep it from the Ruined King’s grasp.”

Atreus: “So be it! Charge ahead, travelers! I will be the shield and spear at your backs!”

Without another word, Atreus rushes past you, slamming his shield into a wall of wraiths to scatter them.

Gwen: “Oh my, I hope he’ll be alright by himself!”

Vayne: “If I were you, I’d be more worried about the wraiths… Not that I’d ever spare any sympathy for these monsters.”

Diana: “What we seek lies just ahead. Come, Sentinels! We must hurry to the temple!”

Targon Part IV

After a long and arduous trek through the Black Mist, Diana finally brings you to the doors of an ancient, dilapidated temple.

“Phew… What a workout!”

“I need… A minute…”

Lucian: “Shake it off, Rookie! Our job’s not done yet.”

Riven: “So the fetter is in there?”

Diana: “Yes, that is what the Moon tells me.”

Vayne: “Let’s hope the Moon is a reliable informant.”

The Sentinels push the doors open to find the interior of the temple utterly abandoned. Tattered banners hang from nearby pillars and a heavy layer of dust lingers in the air. In the center stands a grand statue of a helmeted warrior clutching a familiar spear and shield.

“I don’t get it, why would a fetter be in a place like this?”

“Somehow, this place is even creepier than the Mist outside.”

Diana response 1: “For centuries, warriors from across Runeterra have come to make offerings here. It must be fate that one such offering would house the remnants of the Lost Queen.”

Diana response 2: “A god never truly dies. Their presence lingers in those whose lives they have touched, and where their memories are preserved.”

Shen: “I sense a growing imbalance. We should not dwell here for long.”

At Shen’s urging, fan out and scour the temple. You find many old offerings on display: trophies plucked from battlefields all over the world across the span of centuries. At first, none of them seem particularly noteworthy, but then your eyes fall upon an old, faded crest resting on a pedestal. You feel compelled to take hold of it and examine it more closely.

???: “I’ll be taking that.”

Suddenly, a shadowy hand snatches the crest from your grasp. You wheel around to see a familiar yordle standing by one of the pillars, her shadow clutching the crest behind her.

“It’s you! Um… What was your name again?”

“What the- How did you get here!?”

Vex response 1: “I never told you my name, but because I know you’re going to keep asking: it’s Vex, got it? Try to remember it.”

Vex response 2: “Ugh, more questions. Look, I’ve got ways of getting around, in case you’d forgotten.”

Hearing the commotion, the other Sentinels race to your aid. As Gwen and Senna draw near, the crest starts to emit a familiar glow.

Senna: “She’s got the fetter!”

Lucian: “Take her down, Sentinels!”

Vex: “Uh oh! Time to bale!”

Vex narrowly evades the bursts of Sentinel light that come for her, using her shadow to dart between the pillars of the temple for cover.

Riven: “She’s making a run for it!”

Senna: “Cut her off!”

Vex’s shadow carries her swiftly toward the exit, but Diana closes the distance in an instant. A massive circle of pale light surrounds her and draws Vex back into the temple.

Vex: “What the!? Hey, no fair!”

Diana slashes at Vex’s shadow, knocking the fetter from its grasp. The crest skids across the floor, landing by your feet.

Lucian: “Rookie, grab it!”

You bend over to do as Lucian says, only to be interrupted by a massive boom from outside. The whole temple trembles and knocks you off your feet.

“What was that!?”

“It wasn’t me, I swear!”

Vex: “Hey, if you guys are gonna bring a god, then so can I!”

Suddenly, the ominous presence you felt in the temple before grows heavier. A familiar figure strides into the temple, his flesh and weapons warped by the Black Mist. A look of genuine fear washes over Diana’s face.

Diana: “It can’t be…”

“Atreus!?”

“Pantheon!?”

Pantheon response 1: “No. I have reclaimed what is rightfully mine! I am Pantheon, and you are intruders upon my temple.”

Pantheon response 2: “Indeed. I am war, I am change, and I am reborn!”

Vayne: “So the Black Mist can even turn a dead god undead…”

Shen: “The scales of tipped even further!”

Pantheon: “Come then, mortals! You will be the first to receive my judgement!”

Targon Part V

Pantheon rushes into the temple, engaging the Sentinels head-on. Diana moves to intercept him, but she is quickly thrown back by the force of his spear into the base of his statue. The entire monument shakes and crumbles, burying Diana under a pile of rubble.

Lucian: “Stand strong, Sentinels! We’ve got him outnumbered!”

Pantheon: “Fool! I am an army unto myself!”

You watch as Pantheon engages your allies, effortlessly deflecting their attacks with his weapons. Shen, Riven and Olaf engage him at close-range, while Senna, Lucian and Vayne support them from a distance. Gwen does her best to support the party with Hallowed Mist, though this proves little more than an annoyance to the war god.

Senna: “Rookie! Grab that fetter and fire up the Wayfinder! We need to get out of here!”

You look to the ground to see that the crest is long-gone, along with Vex and her shadow.

“Damn! She got away with the fetter, again!”

“So, uh, I can follow exactly half of that order!”

Pantheon: “Your fight ended long before it even began, Sentinels!”

With a single swing of his spear, Pantheon knocks all of your comrades to the ground, lashing out with an unholy mix of Ruined and Celestial power. Just as the situation beings to seem dire, however, the statue behind Pantheon explodes into a burst of pale light.

Diana bursts from the rubble, swinging her moonlight-empowered blade at the war god. He turns just in time to block her strike with his shield, though the impact still causes him to stumble a little.

Diana: “Your time has passed, Warrior! Return to your slumber!”

Pantheon: “War is eternal, as am I!”

The two Aspects clash in an inhuman Celestial might, their battle causing the very temple around to you tremble. You and your allies watch, transfixed, at this deadly dance between gods in human form. A silent understanding arrives that any attempt at intervention would only result in a swift and inglorious death caught in the crossfire.

Diana dashes around with inhuman speed while Pantheon pushes with back with titanic strength, though you can’t help that something seems off about the war god’s movements. It looks to you almost as though he’s struggling to raise his spear…

Senna: “Rookie! We gotta go! This isn’t a fight mortals can play any part in!”

You snap back to reality and rush to your allies, Wayfinder in hand. Everyone musters the strength to join you, though just before you can teleport back to headquarters, a scream cuts through the temple. You look back to the battle, horrified to see Pantheon’s spear impaled through Diana’s torso.

Pantheon: “Now, you too will know what I felt at the Darkin’s blade…”

Lucian: “Rookie, do it now!”

In spite of Lucian’s orders, though, you find yourself unable to summon the light of the Wayfinder. Pantheon pulls his spear from Diana and shoves her toward you before approaching.

Pantheon: “It does not matter where you flee to, Sentinels. There is nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide, from war. I shall storm your fortress and lay waste to your bastion, bringing a new era of war!”

“Atreus, wake up!”

“Is that really what you want, Atreus?”

Pantheon: “You speak again of my vessel, but he is back where he belongs: under my control.”

“You said that it doesn’t matter how we die, but how we live! Do you want to live as a slave in your own body, Atreus?”

“You’re wrong, Pantheon! You’re the one under Viego’s control, but Atreus wouldn’t submit so easily!”

Vayne: “Rookie, what are you-”

Pantheon: “Enough of this! I… I… Ugh!”

Suddenly, Pantheon’s form begins to flicker, the Black Mist ebbing flowing from his body to show the man underneath.

Atreus: “I am no slave, Pantheon! Not to you OR the Ruined King!”

Pantheon: “What!? You dare defy me, mortal!?”

You watch as Atreus and Pantheon wrestle for control as Black Mist floods into the temple behind you, carrying with it a swarm of wraiths. Suddenly, the Ruination gives way to Celestial light once more, but the Black Mist still clings stubbornly to Atreus’s body.

Atreus: “Go! I shall hold these abominations back, including the one within me!”

Senna: “You heard him, Rookie! Use that damn Wayfinder!”

This time, you do as you are told, calling forth the power of your Relic to carry you and your comrades back to safety. You reappear in Sentinel headquarters, far away from Mount Targon.

Lucian: “Rookie, I don’t know whether to be furious or impressed right now.”

“I know, I lost the fetter.”

“I know, I can’t believe I actually got through to him!”

Riven response 1: “Hey, it’s not your fault. We all know how slippery that yordle and her shadow can be.”

Riven response 2: “I just hope Pantheon doesn’t take control again. I really don’t want a rematch with a god.”

Gwen: “Um, speaking of whom…”

You all turn to see Diana struggling to her feet, clutching her side.

Diana: “Ngh…”

“Are you alright?”

“Hey, take it easy!”

Diana: “It was not I who suffered Pantheon’s spear, young one, but the Aspect of the Moon herself. I… Can scarcely feel Her now.”

Vayne: “So what, you’re telling us that undead god killed the moon?”

Diana: “No… She still lives, but her power is weakened. It will take many nights for her to recover.”

Lucian: “If things keep up like this, I don’t know how many more nights we have.”

Shen: “The balance grows more precarious still.”

Senna: “So much for divine intervention…”

Diana: “Ngh… Though my connection to the heavens is diminished, I can still feel Her will, however faintly. She… Wishes for me to accompany you, if you’ll have me.”

Riven: “You’re saying you want to join us?”

Diana: “I am saying that... I have little choice. I cannot return to the Lunari as I am now. I am the Moon’s voice, her vessel. Without her, I can do little for my people. All I can do is take up arms and aid you in your fight, in the hopes that doing so will drive the Black Mist from the slopes of Targon.”

Gwen: “Ooh, how marvelous! The moon lady is going to join us! Oh, follow me, and we’ll tend to your wounds as well as your wardrobe.”

Gwen leads Diana back into the Sentinel base. Though it takes slightly longer than normal thanks to Diana’s injuries, she soon emerges with the Lunari leader in tow.

Gwen: “Apologies for the wait, everyone! I now present to you all: Sentinel Diana!”

Diana: “May Mother Moon watch over us, and may we all fight our own path through the darkness.”

Lucian: “That’s… Not exactly the standard oath, but good enough, I guess.”

Senna: (Another new Sentinel, but we’re still no closer to turning things around…)

#Runeterra Retcons

9 notes · View notes

cant-blink · 4 years ago

Text

My Gigan’s Backstory

Gigan hardly knew his real parents. He still has memories of them, vague memories deep in his data banks. He knew enough to have imprinted on his own kind; he knows he’s a space-duck.

His Masters, the Nebulans, has taken him from his nest before he was even old enough to leave it. They took him in, fed him, raised him. They took lots of pictures of him, in all his babu floof glory, and made sure to save those photos for future use...

Gigan as a babu was damn near the cutest thing in existence, a cottonball with a face. He would instinctively seek cuddles for warmth and would waddle after anyone he laid eye on, chirping and peeping the entire time. He quickly won the hearts of every Nebulan that came in contact with him, and a great bond was formed between him and his adoptive ‘family’.

But good things don’t last long in my universe and when Gigan began approaching pubescence, he became increasingly more aggressive and violent. Tis a normal part of space-duck development, as the young start to learn how to hunt and fight amongst themselves.

For Gigan, though, this natural change would become anything BUT natural. His Masters not only placed him in complete isolation in a ready-made enclosure, but also placed a ‘mind-control’ chip in his brain. A weak one, just there to ensure he doesn’t turn that aggression towards them. They deprived him of physical company, but still spoke to him through the chip. Although obviously, the conversations were rather sparse and one-sided. Most of Gigan’s days were spent sleeping or restlessly pacing around the enclosure. His only source of entertainment was when the Nebulans would teach him how to ‘hunt’. Aka, to attack anything that went through The Door.

The Door was Gigan’s only contact with the outside world beyond his enclosure. The Nebulans would give him whatever he needed through The Door. Food, toys, or (his favorite) live prey to serve as both. He lived like this for many years, until he was a fully-grown adult. Then the Nebulans, his ‘parents’ that he came to look up to, told him that it was time for the Change. He didn’t know what this entailed, but he was excited and ready for this Initiation!

He was put under, and the modifications were made to his body, his senses, his brain. They took his natural weaponry and made them even more deadly by coating them in powerful alien alloys. They gave him power, in the form of lasers, fire, flight, teleportation, and a buzzsaw implanted into his chest. They gave him knowledge in his brain, able to access whatever information he could possibly desire (that they already had on record, of course). And most importantly....

... They downloaded his baby pictures into his memory bank. Just to humble him a bit, remind him of how cute he was.

Gigan was quite overwhelmed at first. His body stayed mostly the same in appearance, but the changes made took some getting used to. After giving him recovery time in his room, this overwhelmed feeling only increased as they FINALLY began letting Gigan out of his enclosure to practice in a training room.

This overwhelmed feeling quickly went out the window when he learned he was going to fly for the first time. He also began learning how to control his powers, and he took to the lessons pretty well. So many new ways to kill his prey, it’s great! He loved every moment of it!

Once he mastered his skills, he was finally allowed to venture into the real world to carry out missions. Much death and destruction was waged at his claws, all in the name of ‘peace’ as the Nebulans called it, and he loved every moment of it. After being confined to his room damn near his entire childhood, it was like he was able to release all that pent-up aggression on something other than his prey. And once it was all over, and his mission was a success, he would retire back in his enclosure and rest. Despite having been a prisoner in there for the longest time, he still took comfort in his nest.

He was content living with his Masters for a while; he had food and shelter, and a purpose in carrying out whatever missions the Nebulans sent him on.

But as time went on, he began to find that he wanted something more. He didn't know what he was missing, but something was wrong. There was a need in him, ever since he grew to adulthood, that he couldn't fulfill. It got so bad that just the sight of anything colored gold got him bothered and only agitated his aggression further.

Taking note of Gigan's increasing frustrations and unhappiness, the Nebulans came to the conclusion that he must have a mate. He deserved it and they pulled strings to obtain the finest specimen they could find, only the best for their pet space-duck! Importing the specimen, they let her into his room using The Door, and for the first time since being taken from his parents, Gigan saw another of his own kind. The Nebulans had their hopes up, for the interaction seemed peaceful as the two curiously met. All Gigan had to do was fluff out his feathers, fan his sails, and strut his stuff!

But that never happened. For this bioweapon did not court her and instead tried to force himself on her. It’s typical behavior for male space-ducks without a mate, but to not even try courtship? What's worse, when the female rejected his advances (who did this cyborg asshole think he is?!), Gigan only got increasingly more violent and with his enhanced strength and weaponry, it got real bloody really fast.

So fast, the Nebulans couldn’t even stop it from happening when Gigan killed his potential mate. It was horrified silence from the roaches, as their beloved pet finally found release on the corpse. He continued this until he tired himself out and turned to cannibalizing the remains.

Now that... was not normal.

But maybe the Nebulans did something wrong? Perhaps using The Door triggered Gigan to view her as a toy, as live prey? They tried again, and again, with different locations but with the same results. If anything, Gigan only learned how to keep his toy alive for longer. Kept in isolation most of his life, and trained to choose violence at every opportunity, Gigan had no real social skills among his own kind. His instincts to court and breed like a normal space-duck was severely stunted and the Nebulan’s repeated efforts only really reinforced in Gigan’s psychopathic mind that other creatures existed for his own personal pleasures.

They did come to accept that trying to breed their prized weapon was a lost cause. If anything, they’ll reward him with an opportunity to mate if he does a good job at his missions. Whatever makes him happy.

This arrangement made him very happy, and for a while, he thought he needed nothing more in life.

But one day, was the day something new awakened within Gigan.

It was an unusual mission; the Nebulans wanted him to help them capture a target, alive and unharmed. Their target was another bioweapon, just like him, created by a long-extinct race and flying around the cosmos destroying worlds. That kind of power could be useful, and best of all: it came with a mind-control chip of its own.

His name was Ghidorah. King Ghidorah.

The pictures did not do this dragon justice, as Gigan and the Nebulans tracked down the mind-control chip’s signature, and found the massive asteroid. From it, emerged the three-headed dragon. The GOLDEN three-headed dragon with MASSIVE sails that caught the light beautifully.

Setting his eye on the creature woke something in Gigan, for the very first time. He... He WANTED this creature, all to himself. Alive. And he can have him, once they brought this creature into Nebulan control. That was all the motivation he needed.

The battle was a dangerous one. The dragon’s intentions to kill were obvious, and for once in his life, Gigan had to hold back. He had one goal in mind, to incapacitate the dragon and bring him into Nebulan captivity. A swift and powerful strike to the middle head was all that was needed to finish the job.

The Nebulans went right to work with that mind-control chip. Gigan wanted something else, but was forced to sit out while the dragon was prepared. And when they finally did meet, the dragon spoke not a word to him. He just needed time to adjust, the Nebulans reassured the cyborg. They’ll be spending plenty of time together once their plan was ready to set in motion.

Their first mission was to Earth, to dispose of a creature called Godzilla. Ghidorah apparently already had run-ins on this planet, but was swiftly outnumbered. But now with Gigan at his side, surely the odds will lean in their favor.

And it very well nearly did. Together, Gigan, Ghidorah, and the Nebulans almost killed Godzilla.

Until...

Something went terribly wrong. All of a sudden, Gigan lost contact with the Nebulans, for the very first time. The mind-control chips in both kaiju was de-activated, and Gigan was left on his own. Unfortunately for Godzilla, Gigan was no innocent victim under the control of malicious aliens. Mind-control or not, he functioned largely of his own accord and he quickly resumed torturing the fuck out of Godzilla.

Even dragging him to Ghidorah’s feet like a proud suitor showing off prey.

Which Ghidorah promptly rejected and punted the fat Earth lizard away...

That’s okay, it was funny watching Godzilla fly anyway.

However, it quickly became obvious that Ghidorah was no team player and had a great disdain for Gigan. He made little effort to involve himself in the fight, beyond warding off Anguirus’s advances. This hatred even seemed to outweigh his beef with Godzilla as Ghidorah ignored his Earth-side enemy to argue against Gigan. Such vitriol from the dragon for what was an accidental collision- Wait, this wasn’t about Gigan accidentally flying into him. No, Ghidorah was blaming HIM for this whole entire mess?! THE FUCK!!

This argument costed them the mission, Gigan attempting and failing twice to retreat back to the Nebulan ship. Only when Ghidorah was allowed to retreat did Godzilla finally let the cyborg flee alongside him.

It was a bitter blow to Gigan’s ego; not only was his attempt to impress such a beautiful mate a complete failure, but he never lost a mission so miserably. But things go from bad to worse, when Ghidorah followed him back to the ship and to his horror, proceeded to destroy it. Revenge for keeping him hostage.

It was at that moment Gigan had to choose, between his Masters, who were essentially his parents, or this beautiful dragon that he wanted so badly but whom didn’t seem to return the favor...

He chose his Masters and, despite being injured, he rushed to defend the ship with everything he’s got. Ghidorah seemed reluctant to engage in teeth-to-claw close combat, and when the hydra saw that it would take more than Gravity Beams to keep this cyborg at bay, it was what allowed Gigan to chase him off. The Nebulans were safe...

... For now.

For it was barely over a year later, after yet another failed Earth mission with an ally named Megalon, that Gigan returned to his Masters even more damaged than last time. And that’s when Ghidorah, lying in wait for the perfect opportunity, decided to strike.

The Nebulans were defenseless and a weakened Gigan could do nothing but watch as his Masters were destroyed. His home... The sight of it all was horrific, and yet... somehow beautiful, seeing this dragon’s full destructive power unleashed first-hand. After the carnage, Ghidorah turned to him, regarding him with six blood-red eyes. Gigan was ready to go down fighting, but to his surprise, the dragon turned and flew off into the void. Leaving him alone for the very first time.

His mind-control was lost completely. No orders, no reassurance that everything was okay. Nothing but silence. With everything he’s ever known gone, Gigan knew not what to do. Is this what it feels like to finally leave the nest? Was he ready?

........

Of course he was. His Nebulan ‘parents’ taught him all he needed to know in life, and he went forth to make his own path. He forged his own way, making a living as an assassin and a pirate. He met with old friends, recruiting Megalon into his crew, and made new ones, meeting a grumpy ol’ centipede. He also took those same friends and threw them under the bus when the law finally caught up with them.

He was totally going to come back for them, honest....

His career as an assassin came to an end, however, when the worst day of his life happened. It was like any other, coming to meet those who wanted a job done. However, this turned out to be nothing more than a means to trap the cyborg and put him through another Change...

This one, for the worst, as it completely stripped him of his space-duckness, his feathers gone, his sails tainted red. His new ‘Masters’ wishing to enslave him...

Needless to say, it didn’t end well for them, when they learned the mind-control chip was only ever mild and served more as a means of communication than anything. The Nebulans never needed complete control, like Ghidorah’s mind-control chip was designed for. They had Gigan’s loyalty because they were all he’s ever known. Like hell, he’s letting his freedom go for some no-name low-lives who think they’re hot shit.

Still, the whole experience left its mark. He quit the idea of working as an assassin, and went full-time pirate. Taking out all the anger and frustration on innocent ships, innocent worlds. Stealing their most important resources to sell on the underground space-market. Accumulating riches in the most dishonorable of means.

But every so often, the thought of a dragon would enter his mind. Those gold scales, those massive wings, a complete disregard for life. Everything he could ever want in a mate...

... He would have extra fun with his victims whenever he got that bothered.

Until one day, he decided he was finally going to act on those desires, make those fantasies a reality. He had the tracking information on Ghidorah, he just needed to catch up to him. Not too hard when the dragon would spend so much time destroying any life-bearing worlds he came across.

When he finally did meet his Master’s killer once more, he... didn’t really know what to do from here. His new Final Wars form made him a freak; even if he were to do a proper courtship, he was certain it wouldn’t be successful. Maybe play off his new look like it was an intentional change, something he labeled a “work-in-progress”?

Would Ghidorah even recognize him?

Turns out, yes, yes he did. Despite Gigan’s attempts at friendly re-introduction, Ghidorah seemed just as hostile towards him as before, making it clear that he was still holding a grudge against the cyborg. But the dragon never really escalated that hatred into an actual fight.

This was something he can work with.

And he was nothing if not persistent. Unlike all those other females the Nebulans would try to pair him with, this one was special. He wanted him, forever and not just for the night. For that, he knew he had to earn Ghidorah’s forgiveness. Maybe then, the dragon will be willing to give him a chance.

Worst case scenario, he still remembered how to activate that mind-control chip...

#gigan #ghidorah #king ghidorah #godzilla #gigadorah

13 notes · View notes

telehxhtrash · 5 years ago

Note

Hi! Thank you for all your killugon meta posts, you are really doing the lord’s work. I was just wondering what is your exact reasoning for why you think Palm was solely created by Togashi to be a foil for Killua’s feelings?

Hi ! You’re very welcome, thank you for reading !!

I’ll try to answer as well as i can but this might be messy so I hope it’s ok hahah

To me, to be able to come to the conclusion that Palm is a foil to Killua’s feelings, we need to ask ourselves a few questions : what are palm's defining traits ? why are they useful in the story ? what's palm's purpose in the story ? why was she created as mainly a romantic interest for gon? why did togashi make those feelings romantic, and not friendship? and ALSO, why did he not make her a viable love interest ?

First of all, Palm's defining traits : it's a no brainer that Palm's defining traits are her INTENSE feelings of love for any man who looks her way, from the moment she introduces herself and instantly talks about her love for Knov, to when she asks Gon out on a date, we can see how her character reeks of love. Ofc I'm not saying that's the ONLY thing that characterizes her, but when you think of Palm you instantly think of "this weird psycho who took Gon out on a date"

Now, for Palm's purpose in the story : I believe Palm's characterization to have been created to foil/be a catalyst to Killua's feelings. The reason for this is, when I think of Palm's journey as a character, what she went through and where she ultimately ended in relation to the themes that CAA talked about, I only see her culminating scene as her confrontation with Killua. To me, everything she's been towards Gon and Killua lead to this specific moment of the arc : this is where her characterization truly comes into play.

Togashi could've created Palm as a regular character, who would never have wanted to get involved romantically with Gon, while still keeping her strong feelings of love towards Knov : that kind of characterization would've worked in the story. So why did Togashi make the deliberate choice to make her have romantic feelings towards Gon?

To me, it's because CAA is heavily focused on Killua's feelings towards Gon. This arc is basically about Killua, showing that he wants to do anything he can to help Gon and prove that he's worthy to stay by his side. For the first time in the entire manga, we are allowed to see Killua's feelings. From the "Gon you are light" scene, to him willing to die by his side, Killua's character arc in CAA is one where he does everything he can for Gon, because he loves Gon.

To emphasize those feelings, Togashi needed a character that could act as a catalyst, making Killua question his feelings, and to me, that's what Palm's character is about. Togashi needed that character to act as a "rival" towards Killua, so that he could fully explore his feelings, and so that we, as the audience, could understand where Killua stands.

To Killua, Palm is this crazy psycho that asked his best friend (and probably crush) on a date. We saw Killua act rather hostile towards Palm, especially when she asked Gon out on a date. Killua believes that Gon and Palm are somewhat close, if not romantically involved, and since he's questioning if he's worthy to stay next to Gon, he thinks that Palm is more important to Gon than him.

Before the Palace Invasion, Killua notices Gon worrying about Palm, and him pretty much wanting to stray from the original plan to be able to save Palm, thus further cementing the idea that Gon cares about Palm a lot, and probaby making Killua feel even more insecure.

Killua's insecurities are further reinforced when he questions whether Gon meant the sentence "let's go" as a friend or as a teammate, and all his self-confidence and feelings of self-worth are crushed when Gon tells him that the whole Kite ordeal has nothing to do with him.

At this moment, Killua feels like he's really no one to Gon. He's been through hell to show his worth, always being at his side, always wanting to be at his side, we saw him contemplating how much Gon means to him multiple times in the arc, and now to him, all his efforts are getting rejected.

And now enters Palm, whom we haven't seen in a LONGGGG time. When Killua sees her, he immediately remembers how much Gon was worried about her before the assault, and he thinks that perhaps, since they went on a date and Gon seemed fairly concerned about her, she can help better than Killua can, because she's Gon's ""romantic partner"" (that's what Killua thinks), so she's more important to Gon.

And to me, THIS is exactly why Palm was written as having romantic feelings for Gon. For this exact moment, where Killua ponders his place next to Gon. All of the dating stuff, all of the romantic feelings, all of Killua's fears that he's not enough for Gon, all culminated to lead to this moment. The moment where Palm tells Killua that the one that's the most important to Gon is him. Not Palm, not the ""romantic partner"", but him. And that's why Killua is so shocked, because he was questioning his place next to Gon for a while, and now Gon's "love interest" comes in and tells him that he's the one that Gon wants the most in his life.

Palm admits that she's nothing to Gon compared to Killua, and that's a beautiful moment because that's the exact moment where Killua's fears are put at ease. His "rival", whom Killua believes is romantically involved with Gon, reassures him that he's wayyyy more important to Gon than her.

Making Palm, the character who only wanted romance from Gon, face Killua, who we have seen struggling with his feelings for Gon and for the right to stay by his side, is a deeply symbolic choice from Togashi.

Togashi could have written Palm as Gon's friend, he could've made Palm hang out with Gon platonically while still making Killua jealous, that would've worked too. But he decided to make her have romantic feelings for Gon.

Imagine that Palm was a completely different character, with like I said earlier, only feelings of friendship towards Gon. You can even picture Palm as a man if that helps ! In this scenario, we would see Palm 2.0 hanging out with Gon platonically, but Killua would still feel jealous and threatened by that. Then would come the reassurance scene : Killua would see Palm 2.0, think that she's a much more important friend to Gon, and that she could help him in this situation more than Killua ever could. But Palm 2.0 would comfort him, telling him that out of the two, he's the most important one to Gon. This situation would basically be Palm 2.0 telling Killua that he's a better friend, more important friend than she is. It would be her stepping down her role of "most important friend to Gon" and giving it to Killua.

This scene would basically be Palm 2.0 telling Killua that contrarily to his belief, she was never a threat to his friendship with Gon, because Killua always was the most important.

You see where I'm going with this ? With Palm having not platonic feelings but ROMANTIC feelings for Gon, and putting her in the same situation where she reassures Killua about his place next to Gon, the same thing happens.

Thematically speaking, it's Palm stepping down her role of "Gon's most important person romantically" and giving it to Killua. Telling Killua that she was never a romantic threat, and that he had no reason to worry because Killua was always the most important person to Gon, even more important than a supposed romantic relationship.

And to me, that’s why Togashi wrote Palm as having romantic feelings for Gon. Because if Palm was written as a character only wanting friendship, and Killua getting jealous of that friendship, the scene where she reassures him it wouldn't have had the same impact. Togashi needed his character to have romantic feelings for Gon to pinpoint exactly the extent of Killua's feelings. He needed a character to mirror Killua's feelings, only for the purpose of having this character reassure Killua when he feels jealous and threatened by their place next to Gon.

THIS WAS SOOOO MESSY i'm so sorry i'm not even sure i argued correctly HAHAHA but i hope this was still kinda clear and that i still have some decent arguments !

Tbh the entire reason I believe Palm is a foil for Killua's feelings is because of this wonderful post, which I truly recommend reading (it makes so much more sense than my reply LOL)

But thank you for asking for my opinion on this matter, I'm glad I was able to talk about it !!

#meta #hxh #my posts #ask #my meta

161 notes · View notes

ethanhuntfemmefatale · 2 years ago

Note

Um. Here we go.

ETHAN HUNT CORRUPTION RANT

Ok so anon if you’ll forgive me. Your ask is so excellent and for me it feeds essentially into like a million other things that I have on the brain so I’m going to put them all here. I’ll get to Ilsa eventually there’s just Setup. A lot of it.

Something I’ve been thinking about a ton recently is the way that Ethan’s relationship with Jim influences and defines his perception of. Trying to figure out how to put this. Who is allowed to be a hero. And who is allowed to be good. What goodness means. I want to try to set out the argument that throughout the MI franchise Ethan’s relationship with goodness and heroism is fundamentally drawn from the lessons he learns from Jim in MI1. And that especially by Ghost Protocol and onwards, Jim’s “purity rules” have transformed into personal unshakeable imperatives that Ethan is constantly negotiating with on some level. (I imagine ‘thou shalt not covet’ running on a constant loop in Ethan’s mind through most of Rogue Nation, for example.) A constant fact of Ethan’s character is that he wants more than anything to be completely good, and sees complete goodness as something he is fundamentally incapable of achieving. Nearly all of his choices in the franchise are defined by the effort to make up for, or hide, that intrinsic lack.

BE WARNED: I have been theorizing about these movies for a while now and I kinda have theories on theories on theories at this point. I have too many thoughts to lay out entirely where they all come from, although I feel confident in saying they’re all somewhere in the text—it just takes a long time to write out examples. Also, every day I get less capable of stepping back from my rants and saying “that’s just my opinion.” So to make this easier on me, let me just slap a disclaimer on this whole thing: the following is my read on Ethan, it’s my read on the franchise, heavily influenced by my own perspective.

SECONDARY WARNING: this one is going to be very, very long.

I don’t actually know if this will be comprehensible in any way. But if anybody has follow up questions or additional ideas or anything like that, just know that discussing this stuff is literally my favorite thing to do with my time, so.

Anyway, onward!

There’s a lot of defining that needs to happen here before I can really get into the meat of the discussion. MI1 sets out a lot of complicated ideas that I’ve written about before—I’m going to give my perspective here on the main concepts and the way they’re presented, the characters that portray them, etc, to set up context for the way that Ethan interacts with those ideas later in the franchise. Specifically, I’m going to delve into: moral corruption; moral purity; moral integrity; heroism. All of these ideas interact to form the tentative concept of goodness that Ethan is wrestling with constantly in later movies.

Anyway!

MORAL CORRUPTION VS. MORAL PURITY: THE JIM THESIS

In MI1, moral corruption takes a lot of forms; the contrast between the way the movie defines corruption and the way Jim defines corruption is fascinating, perhaps a topic for another post. But for the purposes of this rant, what the movie thinks is immaterial—what is important is moral corruption as defined by Jim Phelps, which is decisively linked to sex, love, and femininity.

To explain what I mean—

First, let’s talk about sex as corruption. Not sexual violence, incidentally—that’s part of the patriarchal power structure that reinforces Jim’s heroism—but sexual manipulation, sexual desire (except when expressed violently), vulnerability to sexual exploitation, are all seen as corrupting. To my mind, the reason for that is that they’re classically feminine and weak. The exemption for sexual violence solidifies it for me. Women as sexual temptation, women as irrational or gullible due to sexual desire, women as manipulators seeking to gain power through feminine “sexual wiles” rather than masculine physical dominance. By Jim’s rules, Ethan’s patdown of Claire is almost heroic, until he stops and is convinced; his seduction of Max is a corrupt act, although it’s not his first. Claire seducing Ethan is also obviously a corrupt act, although it’s not her first either. More on that later.

Second, love as corruption. This is a key element in Jim’s purity rules. I think love and sex are bastardized into one awful thing in Jim’s mind—he can’t imagine love that isn’t lustful, covetous, objectifying; I have a whole justification for this but I’ve written about it in another post and I don’t have room for it here. Still, for our purposes it’s important to distinguish between sex-corruption and love-corruption. Love, again, is linked to femininity, to weakness and gullibility, to irrationality. Ethan and Claire are corrupt from the first scene of them together, when it becomes clear that they love each other. Both of them being in love with Jim also makes them both automatically corrupt—never mind that Claire and Jim are married. Just the act of love and care is, by Jim’s rules, feminine, weak, vulnerable. Jim keeps himself physically removed from both Ethan and Claire except through acts of violence or the rare professional indulgence (Ethan leaning on his shoulder). He consistently works to establish himself as a distant figure with ultimate power and control over Ethan and Claire, and he doesn’t let his affection for them or his romantic and sexual desire for them (their “feminine wiles”) interfere with his ultimate goal of power. By his rules, he is morally pure.

Jim’s rules for moral purity vs. corruption are strongly linked to his ideas of heroism, and who is allowed to be a hero. The lynchpin of his “thou shalt not covet” argument (which, given the bastardization of sexual manipulation, sexual desire, and love that he’s referencing, is really insanely well summed up by the word covet) is not anger or jealousy, although that’s subtextually present. Really, the reason why Jim pulls that line out like a trump card the way he does is to point out that Ethan is doomed to lose. He’s throwing in Ethan’s face that Ethan is fundamentally morally corrupt, spiritually weak and sinful and feminine, in a way that makes him unfit to be a hero—to defeat Jim—to take Jim’s place. For arc, if you read this, cause you know rgu: to me, it’s the equivalent of “you could never be my prince, because you’re a girl.”

It’s time now to take a step back for a moment and look at the other moral pole that the movie presents. Ethan himself.

MORAL CORRUPTION & MORAL INTEGRITY: THE ETHAN THESIS

Ethan’s arc in MI1 is all about the ways that his moral corruption is immaterial in the face of something that, to him, is more important. I’ve written about this before and probably did a better job then than I’ll do now—Ethan willingly throws away moral purity. He doesn’t value it, he doesn’t value the power or illusion of superiority it provides. (This doesn’t mean that the loss of moral purity doesn’t hurt him, just that he doesn’t care enough about himself to let that sway his decisions. He cares infinitely more about protecting people than he does about protecting himself.) What matters to Ethan is his integrity; his integrity causes him to seduce Max, which he doesn’t think twice about. His integrity causes him to steal a NOC list from the CIA and then trust a criminal to keep it safe. His integrity causes him to try to believe in Claire, to try to bring Jim in without anybody else getting hurt.

Crucially, Ethan feels that his moral integrity is compromised by his love for Claire. To go all Arthurian nerd for a second, in Ethan’s head, he is in the Lancelot conundrum. He’s in love with Arthur, but he can’t have him; he loves Arthur’s young wife, and Guinevere loves him, but he can’t have her either without betraying Arthur completely. Cue years of self-torture. Ethan isn’t impacted by “thou shalt not covet” because of a consciousness of sin by Jim’s rules; he believes he is guilty of sin by his own. He’s guilty because he wants Jim and Claire, when the two of them are married. His love for either of them feels like a betrayal of both of them.

In a way, this ends up looping around to something that in practice looks…oddly similar to the Jim thesis. Self denial to protect others from him, versus self denial for an illusion of purity and strength. The Jim thesis and the Ethan thesis have some minor overlap. For example, they have some similar ideas about…..

HEROISM

This isn’t entirely textual, and in fact this section is probably the least textual and most speculative of this whole rant, but it’s my personal belief that Ethan subscribes to the idea of “you have to be good to be a hero” almost as much as Jim does. He just does it in a different way from Jim, with a different set of expectations and beliefs. First of all, where Jim projects his ideas outward through control and criticism of others, Ethan directs his ideas inward, controls and criticizes himself, and ends up incidentally influencing others as an inspirational figure. The other key difference between them is that Jim believes that you have to be morally pure in order to be a hero, where Ethan believes that you have to have moral integrity.

Going back to MI1 for a second with this idea. Ethan believes that in order to be able to be a hero, to save everyone, to win, he has to maintain moral integrity. He fights through the whole movie to accomplish it. But! He fails, and in the climax, his failure is thrown in his face.

In MI1, by Ethan’s rules, he does not have moral integrity. He’s compromised—not by Claire’s seduction, which was mostly just painful and horrifying, but by his love for the two of them. And so, he fails. Even though from an audience point of view Ethan “wins” MI1, succeeds in all of the movie’s goals and gets a nice neat ending…from Ethan’s point of view, the ending of MI1 is nothing less than a brutal, gutting punishment for his failure to maintain his moral integrity. Ethan didn’t want to kill Jim. He wanted to bring him in. He planned, carefully, in order to make sure no one else got hurt. And he had to watch Claire die, and kill Jim and Krieger personally.

This is the fundamental moral basis with which Ethan moves forward from MI1. He has Jim’s rules of purity (he knows he is corrupt by Jim’s standards); he has his own rules of integrity (he knows he is corrupt by his own standards); everyone he loves is dead. For Ethan, being Ethan, the oncoming conclusion is obvious. All of it was his fault. The people he loved paid the price for his mistakes. If he had exercised better self restraint—here it wraps around almost to the Jim thesis—if he had kept his distance, shut down his love for Jim and Claire more absolutely, kept better control over himself, then maybe he would have been fit to save them.

Now comes the interesting part. MI2.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2—HOT GIRL SUMMER

MI2’s portrayal of Ethan is really fucking interesting. It keeps the throughline of moral integrity, and it delves deeper into sex, sexual manipulation, and sexual violence while giving Ethan the power and control that MI1 established as a) masculine b) Jim’s domain and c) irrecoverably out of Ethan’s reach. This is the movie where Ethan decides to save a woman and then saves her! At the same time, this is also the movie where Ethan loses his entire shit trying to protect a woman he just met, not to sleep with her, but to help her get out of a horrible situation that reminds him of himself. He watches her sacrifice herself on the altar of moral integrity by injecting herself with Chimera, taking an Ethan-esque “third option”, and he yells at her. He sees her trying to handle the sexual violence and sexual manipulation of living with Ambrose, and he tells her he wants her out. And he does all of that…more aggressively, more desperately, more violently, than he does much of anything in MI1.

I see MI2 Ethan as a deeply reactionary creature. This is a guy who is shaped fundamentally by a deep all-consuming fear that he can’t let himself acknowledge and that he isn’t able to accept (if he’s scared, he’s weak). MI2 Ethan, despite still being our favorite sub boy, still believing in moral integrity, still wanting to avoid hurting anyone, has become absolutely obsessed with power. That desire, born from fear, to become so powerful that he is able to save people, leads him to…kind of try to be Jim. He wants to be James Bond, he wants to fight and ride motorcycles and scale fucking cliffs without even a rope (ETHAN), it keeps the fear of being helpless at bay. As a result, MI2 Ethan comes off preoccupied, playing a part, phoning in a loyalty to the IMF that he doesn’t feel, grabbing onto anything that could remind him that he isn’t powerless anymore.

At the same time, I think MI2 Ethan is really fucking angry in a way he can’t allow himself to properly express. I think it’s easy to see that as much as Ethan connects the action hero stuff to power, he sees violence and violent emotion on his own behalf as unforgivable. There’s no way to read shit like “THEN FEEL BETTER” (favorite line in the movie lmao) as anything but ethan being really fucking angry in a way that he cannot allow himself to investigate. Ethan being angry means Ethan was hurt, Ethan was wronged, and Ethan cannot allow himself to acknowledge hurt against himself as real hurt. So he acts out, for the whole movie—while also stubbornly playing a role. You can even see that in the hair! It’s action hero hair, it’s ridiculous, it’s dramatic, it’s hair for a role, but whether or not Ethan allows himself to be conscious of it it’s also a big fuck you to the guy he was in MI1 who let his whole team die. In my mind, although I don’t think Ethan lets himself acknowledge this at all, it’s also a fuck you to Jim Phelps.

There’s another element that’s important to address here, which is that MI2 is one of the only movies (MI3 also does this) where we have canon confirmation that Ethan has had sex. MI1 very much leaves all that behind tasteful cuts-to-black, and from MI4 on Ethan’s relationship with sex is beautifully nonexistent. In MI2, Ethan and Nyah meet—they flirt, and Ethan immediately starts with his sub shenanigans, which is fascinating to me in the way it immediately undermines the action hero role. Then they have a car chase. They kiss on the edge of a cliff. It’s all very romantic—which honestly I think could be significant. A crucial element of the MI1 sexual trauma is that the Max stuff is just business, and the Claire stuff turns out to be in a lot of ways just business, and I can see Ethan being deeply hungry for sex that feels normal, that feels romantic. And then there’s the gut punch of realizing that he accidentally seduced Nyah into an awful situation full of sexual manipulation and violence and lies.

Anyway, that’s the main body of my thoughts on MI2 Ethan. Moving on:

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3: HOUSE HUSBAND ERA

Ethan overcorrects again! This movie breaks my heart for a ton of reasons. One of them is that in this movie I feel for the first time that Ethan is trying very hard to be Good, or I guess what I mean is pure. The purity he’s looking for isn’t Jim purity, although it does stem from an awareness of his corruption, which is always tied to Jim. Ethan is looking for a more classic kind of purity, innocence and simplicity and mundanity and honesty and uncomplicated affection. It’s essentially his solution to “thou shalt not covet,” where he finds someone he’s allowed to want and then he marries her.

And this is also the movie where he betrays his own moral integrity so fucking much. He lies to someone he loves, over and over. That’s a big deal! Ethan to my knowledge doesn’t ever lie to a loved one beyond Claire and Jim in the final act of MI1, and Julia. I might be forgetting something, but I don’t think I am. And the reason why he lies to her, you ask? Simple, and heartbreaking! He betrays his own moral integrity so that he doesn’t have to reveal to Julia that he is impure.

This is my MI3 argument. I think about it all the time.

At the point of MI3, the IMF is so fundamentally tied for Ethan to violence, sexual violence, manipulation, betrayal, power struggles…when Ethan meets Julia, he works very, very hard to excise that part of himself. Consciously, he does it to protect her from him, the same old reason why he does everything; unconsciously, I think he believes that the only way Julia will ever love him is if he pretends to be someone else. This is another movie where Ethan canonically has sex, and the contrast between Ethan seducing Max and Ethan kissing Julia once on each shoulder is so stark. Ethan wants to be someone else. He wants to erase the past. He wants to be pure, and he wants to have a pure relationship, an innocent, romantic, “normal” relationship free of the sea of lies. Ironically, in order to get that, he ends up lying…so much. That’s because he sees his true self as fundamentally impure! Fundamentally incompatible with purity! Fundamentally corrupt. So he lies. This is also the movie where he suffers Immensely for his loss of moral integrity. He comes very close to losing Julia, and I think he takes it as a warning.

(Important note: this is the only movie where Ethan Wants things openly. And again, he comes very close to losing Julia, and again I think he takes it as a warning and doesn’t make that mistake again.)

There’s another way to look at this, which is that this is the movie where Ethan sacrifices his ideals of moral integrity (dangles a man out of a plane, lies to his fiancee) for a last desperate grab at the purity he never got to have. In his mind, by his rules, this means he’s quite literally giving up being a hero, because he doesn’t want to be corrupt anymore.

GHOST PROTOCOL: HOT PRIEST ERA

The beginning of McQuarrie’s involvement, and the beginning of a more stable code of behavior for Ethan that changes and solidifies over the course of the next movies. By Ghost Protocol, Ethan has adopted a policy of what I’ll call “radical emotional self-denial”, or maybe a more accurate term is self-removal. In order to be able to be a hero again, he cuts himself from the picture. He does his best to become a non-entity, to become—not another role, but a tool. He becomes the job. In practice, this translates to subtly keeping the entire team at arm’s length. Everything personal to Ethan enters this movie against his will—until the very end of the movie, Julia only gets brought up by others; there’s no Luther until the end, either, which is mostly a deep tragedy but happens to work well for the movie where Ethan doesn’t want to be a person anymore.

That drive, to keep himself far away from the personal stakes and squabbles and irrationality of the others (the contrast between Ethan and Jane is insane) in order to cling to an illusion of control…it’s very…Jim-ish! It’s an adaptation of thou-shalt-not-covet that basically prescribes that in order to be good Ethan has to not covet…anything. Obviously, unlike Jim, Ethan’s conscious motivation is selfless, but I would argue his unconscious drive is actually not too different from some of the shit Jim has going on in MI1. This is Ethan’s way of getting power. It’s his way of protecting himself (unconsciously) from ever again experiencing the kind of hurt that has blindsided him over and over for three movies. He keeps himself apart from everyone, he tells himself he doesn’t want anything, he treats himself as a tool and not a person, and he treats the other members of the team as agents (who he still cares about a little too much) and not people, for as long as he possibly can until the walls start to crack in the final act.

The most telling dynamic for this, to my mind, is Ethan and Jane. Jane has a fucking personal stake in the narrative and she leads with it. She wants revenge. This is actively worrying to Ethan, and he insists over and over that she deny herself, that she put the mission first. She doesn’t. She compromises the mission to accomplish her own goal. And Ethan basically goes…okay.

There’s a lot of complicated emotion going on there, when he interrupts Brandt and goes after him, not Jane. Brandt made the worse mistake because he broke Ethan’s rule of moral integrity by concealing important information, not Jim’s rule of thou-shalt-not-covet. Also, Ethan…gets it. He’s deeply familiar with what it means to lose a loved one. It has to be cathartic for Ethan, who hasn’t let himself get really angry in years, whose only act of violent revenge was an orchestrated cover up to put him in jail for the good of the IMF, to see someone be so emotionally compromised over a death—and still be strong. Capable. A hero.

Ugh they’re important to me. Anyway.

There’s something else crucial going on in this movie, and this is where we start to get into the actual theory behind what you’re talking about, anon. GP is the first movie where Ethan starts to really come into his own as a leader—and that brings up a whole other element of Jim-related unconscious reactions and emotional maneuvering. I think it’s not a coincidence that the movie where Ethan becomes a leader is also the movie where he seems to be constantly living with the image of Jim in his head. There’s two main things going on for me.

First: I think Ethan is subconsciously imitating Jim as a leader. This is pretty straightforward. Jim’s the only real leader Ethan’s ever known—Swanbeck and Brassel don’t count, and aren’t much better. He doesn’t have other role models. There were good parts of Jim, or there were in Ethan’s mind, things like his competence, reliability, professionalism. Those come through in GP.

Second: I think (this is not textual, it’s just in my head) that GP is the movie where Ethan starts to become aware on some level that there was something inappropriate in the way Jim treated him. I genuinely don’t believe that’s something that occurs to Ethan before GP at all. But I can see Ethan’s leadership role bringing up a lot of old buried feelings around that. The way Ethan handles the seduction scene with Jane is fascinating to me when thinking about Jim—he’s at the gala with them, first of all, for better or for worse. And when he sees that he has to kiss Jane to make the seduction work, he communicates (not a ton, but way more than Ethan’s usual), he does it, he leaves. There’s no lingering, suggestive gaze, no implications or what-ifs. Thinking about the psychosexual mind games of MI1 and the plausible deniability, the push-and-pull emotional withdrawal, the was-that-what-I-thought-it-was, the what-did-that-mean. It’s interesting to imagine, although I don’t necessarily think it’s intentional in the text, that Ethan is consciously trying to be way more straightforward with Jane than Jim and Claire ever were with him. (I can only imagine how much they fucked with Ethan’s head on seduction missions.)

Last thought on GP—I really love the bit where Ethan storms out to go meet the guy associated with Max and doesn’t tell anybody where he went. To me that’s so indicative of Ethan’s ongoing effort to “keep boundaries” (one of the only ways Ethan ever sets boundaries for himself) between his current hero life and his corrupt past. Really means that he still hasn’t gotten over the idea that he can be corrupt and flawed and human and still loved/worthy/heroic.

Those are my main thoughts on GP. Rogue Nation takes those ideas and expands on them in a different, more explicit way that I really like—and there’s Ilsa! Finally, I can start actually answering your ask, anon!

ROGUE NATION: HOT LONE WOLF ERA

MI5 is the movie where people start noticing that Ethan is holding them at arms length. Specifically Benji, bless his heart. The “I am your friend” moment drives me insane for many reasons not least because it is a (intentional?? I wouldn’t put it past you mcQ you sly bastard) very striking parallel to Claire’s speech in MI1, “if I’m not dead, I’m with you.” And you can see it hit Ethan in that same way, and instead of distrusting that emotion, he accepts it.

It’s a weakness by Jim’s rules. It saves him in RN.

The other focal point of rogue nation is Ethan’s relationship with Ilsa, and I feel very strongly that by Rogue Nation Ethan has enough distance from the events of MI1 to be able to quietly accept that his relationship with Jim was kinda fucked, in a way that wasn’t entirely Ethan’s fault. (Baby steps, people.) The difference between the stuff with Jane—no romantic tension at all, a businesslike kiss with no other implications—and the stuff with Ilsa in RN, is that Ethan and Ilsa are clearly drawn to each other strongly from the very first time they meet. It’s not romantic or sexual per se, I read Ethan as acearo generally but especially in later movies, but it’s this powerful sense of familiarity, and recognition of an equal, that has some dimension of “oh it would be fun to kiss you, and we’d probably have really good sex.” And let me now take a second to refer back to Ethan’s current code of conduct.

He has his own integrity rules, that are basically just “treat people well, sacrifice yourself at every opportunity.” He has Jim’s purity rules, thou shalt not covet, that he’s personally adapted and intensified into thou shalt not covet anything. Based on these rules, combined with the burgeoning sense that Jim took advantage of him using their age gap and power difference, Ethan having these feelings about Ilsa is…basically breaking every single rule he’s set to keep himself Good, to keep himself in line, to keep himself heroic and to keep himself from becoming Jim. That last is more and more of a concern, in the later films.

To his credit, he doesn’t freak out about it. It’s a tribute to his well developed intricate system of compartmentalization that he’s essentially able to file that Very Strong Interest away and treat her almost normally. He interacts with Ilsa with this very vague, professional warmth and kindness even when she hits on him pretty blatantly—he’s well accustomed to seduction as a defense mechanism, so he doesn’t put too much stock in that. There’s still this intensity between them, but from what I can tell after the initial shock of meeting her Ethan tries very hard to avoid acknowledging it.

The climax of RN is absolutely insane for my Ethan/Ilsa/Benji thesis AND my Ethan Hunt touch log AND my Ethan Hunt corruption thesis because it features all of Ethan’s psychological barriers absolutely crumbling at once. Hiding what you see as intrinsic moral corruption from your friends? How about you have to ask them to help you kidnap the Prime Minister! Distancing yourself physically and emotionally from your friends to protect them from an unspecified and often-imagined Terrible Fate? How about you do Everything Right, and then one of the most important people in the world ends up abducted with a bomb strapped to his chest! This is the only example I can think of in the franchise so far where Ethan follows his own stringent moral rules To The Letter, and one of the people he loves still gets put in horrific danger. And in the scene at the restaurant, it all comes crashing down. The shoulder touch Ethan gives Benji at the restaurant is so significant to me because it comes after Ethan spends an entire movie trying to keep Benji away, and he’s tired and he’s done and he’s scared and he wants to comfort his friend. And then there’s the incredible physicality of the fight scene with Ilsa! It’s so beautiful and satisfying to watch. There’s this absolute comfort and joy that Ethan clearly gets from accepting her as an equal, someone he doesn’t have to keep away or twist himself inside out to protect from himself. He and Ilsa have a different dynamic than his with Jim, and besides he’s not Jim. He’s not going to take advantage of her.

On a different topic: to go back way to the beginning of this rant, this is the movie where Ethan wins through his FEMININE TRICKERY, which is such a thrilling fuck you to the Jim purity rules!! He wins through his MI1 skill set, he feigns weakness, he plays with Lane’s fascination and (let’s be real) attraction and vendetta to get him right where he wants him. It’s excellent stuff.

In case this rant wasn’t already long enough….now it’s time to talk about Fallout.

FALLOUT: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (DILF ERA)

Fallout to my mind is Chris McQuarrie’s treatise on literally everything I’ve been talking about in this rant. It has sexual manipulation! It has patriarchal action hero stereotypes! It has combination sexual manipulation and patriarchal action hero stereotypes!

I knew I was going to lose my mind over Fallout from the moment Ethan looked at Luther and said, “Did we get it?” And Luther said, “we got it.” And then they opened up the set. Christopher you magnificent bastard. It’s an MI1 callback, it’s a Claire callback, and it puts Ethan in the Claire position, the feminine temptress pretending to be stabbed. And this is only the beginning.

A lot of Fallout’s focus is on making Ethan relive the trauma of MI1 indirectly. Thank god it’s indirect because it makes it so much more interesting, especially when you remember the fact that Ethan is not letting himself notice that any of this is at all similar to anything that has happened to him before, no way, and it doesn’t have any traumatic associations whatsoever. Elements I am thinking of specifically:

-Ethan being forced to embody the character type of the masculine action hero, ruthless, controlling, power-hungry, physically imposing and sexually violent. Basically all the things he associates with Jim. Basically everything he’s put himself in a cage to keep from becoming for five movies.

-Ethan facing a living embodiment of Max, who may or may not be a living embodiment of the one time he and max fucked in the back of a car during one of the worst parts of Ethan’s life, and realizing that in this situation, He Is Max.

-the living embodiment of Max kissing him without warning on the lips.

-MCQ I AM IN YOUR WALLS

There’s another element of the movie that doesn’t feel like an intentional MI1 callback but works along similar lines just cause so much of this movie is about MI1’s corruption thesis. That is, the Solomon Lane Julia dream, which feels to me like nothing so much as…another accusation of sin. This one is way more along Ethan’s moral lines—you betrayed this woman by caring about her, you hurt her by getting too close—because this is Ethan’s dream, about Ethan’s guilt. But it falls neatly into Jim’s purity rules too, with the same interesting overlap of selfish-versus-selfless self-flagellation. Ethan loving Julia compromises her, Julia loving Ethan compromises her, all of it puts Julia’s safety and the safety of the whole world at risk because if Ethan loves somebody too much he loses them, he can’t save them, he can’t a hero.

But Fallout also focuses on the ways that Ethan can’t get away from love anymore. He’s surrounded by people who love him, heroes in their own right, Luther and Benji and Ilsa and also Julia! And they aren’t going to let him push them away, which is good, because Fallout Ethan is getting way too old to deal with all this bullshit on his own.

Another way Fallout combats the Jim thesis of love-as-weakness/corruption is through the French cop. Ethan nearly fucks up their whole operation trying to save her, but the movie argues that he is a hero Because he does that, not in spite of it.

Phew. Last movie. Here we go.

DR1: CRIMINALITY & FATHERHOOD (HOT LAWYER ERA)

I have only seen DR1 once and most of that was spent experiencing absolutely catastrophic levels of serotonin so I can’t speak on it as well as I would like. That’s probably for the best considering how long this fucking post has gotten.

My main thoughts on DR1 is that by DR1 Ethan has let go of so much of his shame and guilt around corruption. I think Fallout helped a ton with that. I also think that as Ethan gets older and is faced with a figure like Grace, his own guilt takes a backseat to doing what he can to help her not feel that same guilt. There’s an immediate protective instinct that Ethan has when faced with “corrupt” young people in bad situations that speaks to a healthier relationship with himself, an easier ability to love people and try to protect them, and to accept failure and loss when or if it comes. He feels really human in DR1, even more so than Fallout—he’s trying hard to be nice not out of fear of the alternative but because he wants to have positive relationships with people! He meets Grace and he wants to be someone she sees as trustworthy, he wants to be her friend, and that’s an instinct he lets himself pursue.

There’s something about the casual way the DR1 lore drops in the beginning of the movie that also suggests a new relationship between Ethan and his own past. That he’s able to talk about it openly, a past that under Jim was probably unspeakable and shameful, is really important to me.

Aaaand those are my DR1 thoughts. OK HOLY SHIT WE’RE DONE!!!!!!

Final wrap-up ideas:

-It’s probably not necessary but feels important for me to specify that in my mind ethan is Deeply Good from the beginning of the franchise to the end. He’s dealing with a shitshow of trauma including horrific sexual trauma that fucks with his self perception and self esteem, but he is not corrupt, he is perfect.

-I genuinely, deeply, truly do not know if this rant makes any sense at all. If you have made it to the end, I salute you, you have earned Undying Loyalty and Friendship although you probably already had it.

-Ethan Hunt is everything. <3

One thing I’m always rotating in my mind is that the age gap between jim and claire is very close to the age gap between ethan and ilsa. Which makes it even richer to me personally that ethan has yet to make a completely romantic move on ilsa

OK ANON I AM HUGGING YOU I THINK ABOUT THIS LITERALLY ALL THE TIME AND IM GOING TO FORMULATE A WHOLE RANT ABOUT IT NOW HOLD FOR THAT BUT FIRST I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE BRILLIANT

#long post #LONG long post #mission impossible #ethan hunt #jim phelps evil polycule #cecil meta

33 notes · View notes

padawanlost · 5 years ago

Note

What was your take on Dave Filoni's speech on the Duel of Fates & Qui-Got Jinn?

I’m surprised people were shocked by that. I mean, he didn’t say anything new.

His take is the same take that has been explored since TPM came out. I don’t know if people shocked by it are new fans who weren’t around when the movies came out or didn’t have access to the interviews/EU or of if they are in deep denial about the characters portrayed on screen.

“What’s at stake is really how Anakin’s going to turn out, because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi.”

FACT since 1999. We know Qui-Gon was a ‘rebel’ since TPM came out. He’s even known as a ‘maverick jedi’ for that very reason, with multiple novels and comics exploring that side of him. Hell, he was Dooku’s apprentice, a guy known for being one of the Council’s biggest critics even when he was still a Jedi Master.

“Obi-wan: Do not defy the council, Master, not again. Qui-Gon: I shall do what I must, Obi-Wan. Obi-wan: If you would just follow the code, you would be on the council.” The Phantom Menace, 1999.

You get that in the movie, and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows that he’s the father that Anakin needs, because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact that Jedi are supposed to care and love and that that’s not a bad thing.

FACT since 1999.

He was angry that the Jedi Master would dismiss him so abruptly in favor of the boy, but he realized, too, the depth of Qui-Gon’s passion when he believed in something. Training this boy to be a Jedi was a cause Qui-Gon championed as he had championed no other in Obi-Wan’s memory. He did not do so to slight his protégé. He did so because he believed in the boy’s destiny. Obi-Wan understood. Who could say? Perhaps this time Qui-Gon was right. Perhaps Anakin Skywalker’s training was a cause worth fighting for. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace – published in 2000]

That Filoni himself reinforces in 2013 during an interview about TCW’s season 5: “I’ve always felt that one of Anakin’s downfalls, like it’s never that Anakin was innately going to be evil, but the people around him, the Jedi, in their lack of compassion, in being so selfless that they almost forgot to care.” Dave Filoni

The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they’ve become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But, Qui-Gon is ahead of them all and that’s why he’s not part of the council, so he’s fighting for Anakin.

FACT since 1999.

“With Episode I, I didn’t want to tell a limited story. I had to go into the politics and the bigger issues of the Republic and that sort of thing. I had to go into bigger issues.” George Lucas

In The Phantom Menace one of the Jedi Council already knows the balance of The Force is starting to slip, and will slip further. It is obvious to this person that The Sith are going to destroy this balance. On the other hand a prediction which is referred to states someone will replace the balance in the future. At the right time a balance may again be created, but presently it is being eroded by dark forces. All of this shall be explained in Episode 2, so I can’t say any more!- CUT interview 09/07/99?

“The first film starts with the last age of the Republic; which is it’s getting tired, old, it’s getting corrupt. There’s the rise of the Sith, who are now becoming a force, and in the backdrop of this you have Anakin Skywalker: a young boy who’s destined to be a very significant player in bringing balance back to the Force and the Republic. George Lucas - from the American ANH VHS tape in the making of Episode II in the 2000 release.

[The Jedi] sort of persuade people into doing the right thing but their job really isn’t to go around fighting people yet there are now used as generals and they are fighting a war and they are doing something they really weren’t meant to do.They are being corrupted by this war, by being forced to be generals instead of peacemakers. – George Lucas for E! Behind the Scenes - Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith

That’s one of the few times in history when the bad guys were very clearly delineated for us. There really was a fight for survival going on between pretty clearly good guys and bad guys. The story being told in Star Wars is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not. . – George Lucas

That’s why it’s the duel of the fates, it’s the fate of this child and depending on how this fight goes, Anakin, his life is going to be dramatically different.

If good and evil are mixed things become blurred - there is nothing between good and evil, everything is grey. In each of us we have balanced these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything. It is dangerous to lose this. – George Lucas

"So, Qui-Gon loses, of course, so the father figure, he knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother when he had an attachment and he’s left with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he made to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he makes to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him.

FACT since 1999. We literally see this in the movie.

He stopped his pacing and stared momentarily at nothing, thinking of Qui-Gon Jinn, his Master, his teacher, his friend. He had failed Qui-Gon in life. But he would carry on his work now, honoring him in death by fulfilling his promise to train the boy, no matter what. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

When they find Anakin on Tatooine, he says, “I feel like we’ve found another useless lifeform.” He’s comparing Anakin to Jar Jar. And he’s saying, “This is a waste of time. Why are we doing this? Why do you see importance in these creature like Jar Jar Binks and this 10 year old boy? This is useless.”

FACT since 1999.

So he’s a brother to Anakin, eventually, but he’s not a father figure.

“He is like my brother. I cannot do it.” Obi-wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith.

This, then, is Obi-Wan and Anakin: They are closer than friends. Closer than brothers. Though Obi-Wan is sixteen standard years Anakin’s elder, they have become men together. Neither can imagine life without the other. The war has forged their two lives into one. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

[With Ahsoka] I wanted to develop a character who would help Anakin settle down. He's a wild child after [Attack of the Clones]. He and Obi Wan don't get along. So we wanted to look at how Anakin and Ahsoka become friends, partners, a team. When you become a parent or you become a teacher you have to become more respnsible. I wanted to force Anakin into that role of responsibility, into that juxtaposition. I have a couple of daughters so I have experience with that situation. I said instead of a guy let's make her a girl. Teenage girls are just as hard to deal with as teenage boys are. - George Lucas

That’s a failing for Anakin, he doesn’t have the family that he needs. He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made to his mother that 'I will come back and save you.' So he’s left completely vulnerable and Star Wars is ultimately about family.

FACT since 2002.

“Love people. That’s basically all Star Wars is.” — George Lucas

So, that moment in that movie, which a lot of people diminish as a cool lightsaber fight, but it’s everything that the entire three films in the prequels hangs on, is that one particular fight and Maul serves his purpose and at that point died before George brought him back.But he died, showing you how the Emperor is completely self-serving. He doesn’t care, he’s using people and now he’s gonna use this child.

FACT since 1999.

Each Sith has an apprentice, but the problem was, each Sith Lord got to be powerful. And the Sith Lords would try to kill each other because they all wanted to be the most powerful. So in the end they killed each other off, and there wasn’t anything left. So the idea is that when you have a Sith Lord, and he has an apprentice, the apprentice is always trying to recruit somebody to join him — because he’s not strong enough, usually — so that he can kill his master. That’s why I call it a Rule of Two — there’s only two Sith Lords. There can’t be any more because they kill each other. They’re not smart enough to realize that if they do that, they’re going to wipe themselves out. Which is exactly what they did.” George Lucas

Everything that Filoni said has been part of the lore and movies for 20 years now, so I really don’t get why people are so shocked by it. Also, context people! People have been using Disney canon to ‘prove’ Filoni wrong but these movies and the clone wars were written with long before Disney came into play. Filoni, like so many of us, grew up with Star Wars belonging to George and that colors how he look at the franchise and the characters. And don’t get me started on the ‘the EU doesn’t matter’ argument because it absolutely does.

“And then George Lucas tells me one day, ‘We’re gonna put the Mandalorians in the Clone Wars.' And I go 'Oh boy. That’s interesting. Cuz, lemme show you this.' And I move this big pile of material over and I said 'This is everything. This is everything that the Mandalorians are right now.’ And so George and I do what we always do when we come across something that I know exists well in the EU, we go over it all.“ Now, all the history of Mandalore you prior to The Clone Wars⁫ it does exists. It absolutely exists.” — Dave Filoni

There’s actual behind the scenes footage of Filoni and George Lucas working on The Clone Wars and checking the EU to keep everything as cohesive as possible. The guy literately had thousands of conversations with George Lucas – the guy who actually created Star Wars – about these characters but somehow people are now trashing him because he said they should’ve know already?

Look, anyone who knows me know I’m not a Filoni stan but I believe in respecting people’s work and giving credit where credit is due even when I don’t agree with them 100%. If they don’t like his take, fine, that’s their right but please tone down the outrage fest because it’s entirely unjustified (and, to be completely honest, a little desperate for validation). He’s an actual person, not a fictional character there for you to hate or stan.

There’s a lot I don’t agree with it in this life but I don’t go around attacking real people and their jobs. But maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised, considering the people going after Filoni are the same people who have not problem whatsoever with star wars authors receiving death and rape threats.

#ask #anon #dave filoni #sw meta #anakin skywalker #meta: fandom #meta: anakin #txt

100 notes · View notes

bestworstcase · 5 years ago

Text

anyways race to the spire is my favorite episode of season three but i think in terms of cassandra’s villain arc and the cass/zhan tiri manipulation dynamic, once a handmaiden is the strongest.

fictional portrayals of “master manipulators” / the chessmaster archetype often get two things wrong: 1) they depict successful manipulators as meticulous planners, and 2) have them emotionally fall apart if their plans fall through, often by becoming enraged and violent. the second is not unrealistic per se, but it does shove the character out of the “chessmaster” category and into the “garden variety emotional abuser” one for me.

the first, however, i think speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of the way skillful, chessmaster-level manipulation works. there is no plan, and there shouldn’t be a plan. people are much too complicated and unpredictable for any plan built around manipulation to reliably succeed; thus truly successful manipulators have a clearly defined goal, a solid understanding of human nature, and an exceptional ability to improvise. this is zhan tiri to a T, and once a handmaiden showcases this more than any other episode in season three.

let’s break it down.

it’s difficult to say whether zhan tiri intended for cass to find the mirror shard or not. it would have been good for her if cass never saw the missing piece of that memory, because then cass would have continued to trust her; on the other hand, zhan tiri spun the fallout of cass finding the mirror shard to her benefit so effortlessly that it’s conceivable she prepared for it ahead of time. in the end, i think i come down on the side of zhan tiri just didn’t care, because by now she knows cassandra so well that it honestly did not matter whether cass found the shard or not. +1 for zhan tiri.

so here is our starting position. cass realizes that zhan tiri lied to her and manipulated the situation in gothel’s cottage, and she’s furious. she storms up to her throne room to confront zhan tiri about it. what happens?

not only is zhan tiri not bothered, she seems almost pleased that cassandra has finally figured it out. instead of explaining herself as cassandra initially demands (“Do you want to explain to me how this got here?!”) or trying to make up an excuse, she calmly waits for cassandra to finish ranting. her only interjection is actually to goad cass into following the evidence to its natural conclusion:

CASS: Back at Gothel’s, I thought Rapunzel was hiding the one memory that proved my mother loved me.

ZHAN TIRI: And...?

CASS: And you manipulated that memory, didn’t you?! You took this piece out. You tricked me into abandoning Rapunzel!

zhan tiri also physically waits for cassandra to approach her, implicitly positioning herself as the one with all the power in this scene. note her relaxed posture here, also:

then, instead of answering the accusation directly, zhan tiri calmly flips it around to be about cass instead and again positioning herself as an authority, someone who knows cass, and what’s good for cass, better than cassandra herself: “Perhaps. Or perhaps I merely pushed you to become what you were always meant to be.”

this reaction lays the foundation for everything else zhan tiri does in this episode. she shifts the fulcrum of the conversation such that everything rests on cassandra’s identity rather than zhan tiri’s manipulation. she also reveals her true identity to cass in a manner that implies they are fundamentally alike by visually linking them together.

in race to the spire, both cassandra and rapunzel directly touch zhan tiri without getting any “glimpses” like this, so we can conclude that everything here is something zhan tiri consciously showed to cassandra. things to note:

1. the line between what is zhan tiri and what is cassandra in this vision is intentionally blurred. is the reaching hand at the beginning zhan tiri attempting to grasp the original ancient power, or is it cassandra claiming the moonstone and emerging from the sundrop’s shadow as the next piece of the sequence would seem to imply?

2. zhan tiri is depicted as appearing from within cassandra herself, visually implying that cassandra’s inner nature is similar to zhan tiri. this connection is further emphasized by the similar style in which they’re both drawn, silhouetted with glowing white eyes.

again, the purpose of this is to change the course of the conversation so that it centers around who cassandra is, rather than what zhan tiri has done, and zhan tiri’s argument here is that fundamentally, she and cassandra are The Same.

cassandra is shocked, and it is at this point that zhan tiri starts to lay on the emotion; switching from tolerant amusement to chiding cassandra:

ZHAN TIRI: Oh, quit pretending you’re horrified. We’re not so different, you and I. We were both cheated out of our destinies. In fact, we’re more like sisters than you and Rapunzel ever were! We even want the same thing, and we can get it, if you continue to let me help you.

in this little speech, zhan tiri: 1) dismisses cassandra’s fear, casting it as just another lie she’s telling herself that is stopping her from achieving her full potential, 2) leans hard into associating cassandra’s nature with her own, and 3) continues to position herself as not just cassandra’s ally but also her friend—a better friend than she had in rapunzel, even. on the face of it, this may seem a little silly. you may be wondering how zhan tiri could possibly have imagined this would be at all convincing to cassandra.

but the thing is... zhan tiri clearly doesn’t expect this to be at all convincing to cassandra. her goal here isn’t for cassandra to suddenly be all, “you’re right, ancient evil demon who’s been stringing me along for months, we ARE the same.” it’s to provoke cassandra into having an identity crisis.

and it works.

see, the thing is, as soon as cassandra found that mirror shard, it was game over for zhan tiri’s ability to lie to her effectively. the breach of trust was just too egregious. but rather than cling to her old strategies even though they’re no longer functional (as she might do if she were a ‘planning’ manipulator with the inflexibility that implies) or fly into a rage and attempt to force cass to do what she wants (as the possessed-cass theory anticipated), zhan tiri simply moves seamlessly into a different strategy.

she knows cassandra. she’s spent months digging into her brain, learning her weaknesses, familiarizing herself with what makes cass tick. she knows exactly how fragile cassandra’s self-justifications are, she knows how insecure cassandra is, knows how difficult it is for cass to be vulnerable and trust people. and she also knows, because she cultivated it, exactly how volatile and dangerous cassandra’s temper is.

so this:

CASS: ...No. No, I’m nothing like you. Just because I’m pursuing my destiny doesn’t make me a bad person!

ZHAN TIRI: [laughing] Doesn’t it?

is cassandra playing directly into zhan tiri’s hands. this is the Ideal Outcome, from zhan tiri’s perspective, of this confrontation, and that is why when cassandra turns around and sprints out of the tower to have a panic attack in the woods, zhan tiri just laughs and calls after her:

ZHAN TIRI: Run, Cassandra! But you can’t run from who you are!

simply watching the rest of the episode demonstrates precisely why zhan tiri provoked cassandra into having this identity crisis. not only did it divert cassandra’s focus away from zhan tiri’s actions (and motives), it also enabled zhan tiri to exploit her insecurity and volatility in order to get cassandra to snap, destroying corona, forcing an eventual confrontation with rapunzel, and getting zhan tiri one step closer to achieving her ultimate goals.

now let’s skip forward to the the scene in the tent, which i’m just going to quote in full here:

ZHAN TIRI: You didn’t really think your plan to make things right would work, did you?��

CASS: What are you doing here?

ZHAN TIRI: I don’t understand. You could have just gone up to her and apologized, face-to-face.

CASS: I said, get away from me.

ZHAN TIRI: You’ve had more than a few opportunities, and even still you haven’t done it. Why is that? I think—

CASS: Because I’m scared she won’t forgive me!

ZHAN TIRI: You’re right to be scared. I’m guessing she hasn’t told you about Project Obsidian. A weapon that was designed to destroy you. Rapunzel just authorized it yesterday.

CASS: What?! No, I don’t believe you. She would never—

ZHAN TIRI: You can ask her yourself if you don’t believe me. You might want something to defend yourself against her; this potion may be your only protection against the princess when she inevitably turns on you.

the brilliance of this is that nothing zhan tiri says here is untrue. she is one hundred percent correct in her assessment of cassandra’s actions in corona: pretending to be someone else while doing vague nice things in no way makes up for what she’s done, and she has been purposefully avoiding the riskier but correct course of action ie to plainly apologize and accept whatever comes.

by playing evil therapist here, zhan tiri goads cassandra into articulating her exact fear that her actions are unforgivable. this is something that cassandra needed to express, instead of continuing to run away from her feelings. it’s a vital moment in her redemption arc, and like zhan tiri’s little speech in the tower it can seem silly or even outright counterproductive for her to push cassandra in this way. after all, she’s literally encouraging cass to go make up with rapunzel for real.

but what she’s also doing here is drawing cassandra’s subconscious fear into the open and putting that at the forefront of cass’s mind. she is forcing cassandra not just to articulate this fear but to intently feel it, which is the key to everything that comes next. this is why, after cassandra admits that she’s scared, zhan tiri moves right into reinforcing that fear—again, by bringing up objective facts. project obsidian does exist, it was created with the intention of destroying cassandra, and rapunzel did indeed authorize it yesterday. cassandra doesn’t trust zhan tiri anymore, but the beauty of zhan tiri telling the truth now is that cassandra’s doubt becomes a weakness rather than a strength.

because she no longer trusts zhan tiri, cassandra immediately goes out to “prove” zhan tiri “wrong” by doing the opposite of what she appears to want cass to do: from cass’s perspective, it looks like zhan tiri is making up lies to get cass to give up on reconciling with rapunzel and go back to following zhan tiri’s plan, so the most logical thing to do is to try harder to reconcile with rapunzel instead (despite the tiny grain of doubt that convinces her to take the potion anyway, just in case).

except project obsidian isn’t a lie, which means that cassandra is actually placing herself in an even more vulnerable position, by walking outside and approaching rapunzel so that they’re right next to each other when zhan tiri pulls the cloak away. and then, when the gun is fired, and cassandra finds herself encased in amber it creates this terrible moment for her of zhan tiri was right. and it’s that that makes cassandra snap. and that’s exactly what zhan tiri intended to happen, and that’s the outcome zhan tiri is working towards from the instant cassandra reveals that she found the mirror shard.

(i think in the end this manipulative strategy wasn’t 100% successful, because zhan tiri’s Ideal Outcome in plus est seems to have been that cassandra really would buy what zhan tiri was selling re: she and zhan tiri being The Same, and that didn’t happen. but again, zhan tiri knows cassandra well enough to see her betrayal coming, and swiftly and easily changes her tactics when it happens.)

so, more than any other episode in season three, i think once a handmaiden shows us not only that zhan tiri is manipulating cass, but how she does so, and just how skilled she is at manipulation in general. it also very neatly avoids the two biggest pitfalls of writing manipulation in stories and in general is a masterclass on how to write it well.

also here is a bonus picture of zhan tiri and her grapes

in conclusion i love gremlin baby and once a handmaiden isn’t about cassandra flip-flopping it’s about zhan tiri seamlessly switching from manipulation with lies to manipulation with facts and cassandra not being able to keep up with the change of tactics and thus falling victim to them again

#rta #zhan tiri #cassandra

127 notes · View notes

the-headbop-wraith · 4 years ago

Text

3 _ 43 _ Rekindling

As ever when all was well and right the garage was a cacophony of sounds, from hydraulics humming off the rotary lifts and power drills, to the squeal of impact wrenches. Each car port had one vehicle tended to, with a technician toiling away with the task of repairing or renovating an assigned vehicle. Outside, the carport had more automobiles parked up with numbers slipped onto dashboards.

On the work floor, Uncle Lance was lending an extra pair of arms to the diagnostic work of a utility van, a lot more teched out than his usual forte of labor. However, a tech savvy guy was left to the task of breezing through the more specialized work of the Bluetooth incorporated hardware. This was not the issue it was brought in for, but double-checking the software was procedural. The undercarriage of the vehicle needed a total overhaul and realignment, a time-consuming task.

Familiar barking rang through the garage.

“Gimmie a moment,” he grunted, to the operator in the passenger seat. He moved back from the open driver side of the van and cast his view across the open floor of the garage. There he was, a black and white streak trotting around supply carts, head held high like he carried an important purpose. In tow was Vivi, momentarily preoccupied by the phone in her hand, and some sort of satchel was draped over her shoulder.

“A bit early, are yu?” he posed. Lance took the end of the rag pinned to his pro-wrestler belt and rubbed some of the grim off his fingers.

“Work rooms locked,” Vivi replied. “Is he in today?”

“Course.” Lance nodded toward the direction of his office. “Shouldn’t be too long, ‘e’s meetin’ with a ‘‘client’’.” He did air quotes.

“Ooh,” Vivi groaned. They moved off the work field and relocated to the wall, beside where empty boxes from parts were stacked. “How do they keep finding him?”

Uncle Lance shrugged. “People post them pics to ‘em nosey sites, and they git the info where’n he works. Ye’know, that societal medium thing.”

“Social media?”

Mystery yipped, frowning behind his spectacles. This was very tiresome, tedious, and tumdum.

“Whatever ya call it. Nuisance, they are – dragging him off work.” Lance grumbled under his breath some phrase, which might’ve been a curse or a Curse. “Think they’re them first to come by, offerin’ this biggest, best deal. Arthur could git ah’lot done with them gadgets, but I understand his privacy is important.”

Vivi set the satchel down on one of the boxes, and looked the way to the doors to Uncle Lance’s office. “It’s not so much the anonymity he wants, but the builds and designs… they’re not, how do I say? General public applicable.”

“Applicable-micable,” Lance mumbled.

“Even the housing for the collar to shoulder hookup is specialized.” Vivi leaned over and rubbed Mystery’s head. “Eventually, he might try for a patent, but the models… even the college is thirsting over the incorporation. Anyway, it’s his business.”

Lance took a deep breath and sighed. “Yer right. Pisses me off still, need tu get a sign out there. Pisses me off, ‘ee’s too nice.”

Vivi leaned up rummaged through the satchel, revealing bags with containers. She selected a small box and handed it over. “You seem more, um… gruff than usual. Everything okay?”

Lance popped the lid and examined the small treat within. “We’re backlogged fer parts, work is comin’ through, and I got fancy suits in mah office tryin’ be clever. An’ I gotta get through the client list, before thay start callin’ me.” When Arthur strolled over, he raised up the little food box. An unspoken gesture fortifying break.

“I can work some over time,” Arthur began. His arm was not attached. “An hour or something, just to get some of these vehicles prepped for the morning shift.” Lance whipped around to face him fully and squared up his shoulders.

“Arthur. When five o’clock rolls around, the doors close and the shift winds down.” He waved the food box like a school teacher threatening their student with the ruler, and probably a firm algebra lesson. “No one, and no one ever built a better car while exhausted.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, “But—”

“I dun car with how enthused yu are, there’s a chasm in the ground to distinguish between work and recharge time. Your brains a battery, and batteries need recharge – or they get replaced. Aw’right?” Lance jabbed at Arthur’s chest, getting the point across the way Lance did when he was cross. “Down time is still werk, yu werk hard restin’. It’s important.”

Arthur droned out, “Yus, Uncle Lance.”

Vivi swooped in and threw an arm around Arthur’s shoulders. “And that’s why we’re gatherin’ at my place. Nothing but ‘no doing’ going on there. No cars, or parts, or pieces to tinker with.” Arthur nearly tumbled but Vivi kept him upright. “Complete bores-ville.”

A thin smile tugged at Arthur’s cheeks. “Whatever you say.”

Lance nodded, as if he won an argument – which he probably did. “Yu see to that.” He was about to move away, but leaned back toward the two. “Ah, and no work on the van, either.” Then, he took his leave.

Arthur stuttered and quivered as his Uncle left. “But… the tools need to be reconditioned, or they might turn against it!” Vivi pulled him by the collar, hauling him off. On the way, she grabbed the satchel off the boxes.

“You can still look at it. They did a fine job, you’ll never know it was crushed once they get the paint redone—”

A distant roar bellowed out from the owner’s office, “WHAT?!”

“Exaggeration!” Vivi hooted back. “C’mon Art, nourishment awaits!”

Arthur hadn’t gotten his feet squared off or organized, he skipped on his heel as she dragged him across the work room. “Whoa, hold up! Vi! Mercy! Mercy!”

The Mystery Skulls van sat at the back of Kingsman Mechanics, the location used primarily by delivery and staff parking. In the lead paced Mystery, with Vivi and the screaming Arthur trailing. Once Arthur spied the vehicle with its refurbished side, he magically regained his balance and began leading Vivi by her sweater. He had stars in his eyes, for once.

“Oh wow, you can hardly tell it was crushed.” Arthur’s phone chimed, and when he stopped dragging the blue girl to fish the device from his vest pocket to check the screen. The message read:

“WHAT?!??!?!?!?!?!?”

Arthur coughed and texted back.

Beside the van, Vivi raised the hand holding the packages. “I dunno, it might be more seamless when we get the new paint done.” She posed beside the side, arms flung high. “I can’t wait to see the design.”

Arthur cringed down, with a grin. He slipped the phone back into its pocket. “Yeah, can’t wait to show off the new colors. Hmm.” He looked aside.

Off and away from the two, Mystery was sniffing around the parking lot. Once he gave the clear, he barked and rejoined his colleagues.

“And look, we got windows in the back now.” Vivi escorted Arthur to the aforementioned updates, showing the windows. “Surprise!”

Arthur gaped. “Oh, awesome. Now we can witness the angry mob chasing us out of town.”

Vivi waved a finger. “Don’t forget, the creepy monsters we can’t deal with. Won’t that be fun?”

“Ooh-dles.” The back doors swept open, and Arthur retreated back five steps.

Lewis leaned out. “You guys are really loud.”

Arthur shuffled over to the doors and examined the fitted panel. “One way?”

“And reinforced,” Vivi chimed. She handed off the satchel to Lewis. “Is it okay?”

Arthur shrugged. “I’m not opposed to it. Hey Lew.”

“Sup.”

Inside the van and along both walls laid long, flat boxes. The label read industrial shelving, and one was already opened. Metal bars and packing sheets littered the floor. On the end of one box, Lewis set out the food cartons from the package.

“I’m gunna miss the cuvees,” Arthur mentioned. Vivi was busy wiping his hand off with a rag and some ninety-nine, even though he didn’t work on the floor since his meeting.

“Yeah,” she hummed. “But we lost inventory, and stuff would get crammed in the back and forgotten. We never cleaned them.”

He toed one of the boxes with his sneaker. “I’ll modify these, so nothing goes flying off while you’re driving.” Lewis had relocated to the front seat and snorted, a little flame curled off his shoulder. “Someone did bring in catering today. You didn’t have to come abduct me.”

Vivi was already digging in, eating some chicken with sauce. “I wanted to show off the van. And we had to dump it off anyway, so you can load up supplies.” She pulled over the portable ice chest and popped the lid. “You gunna be able to do that on your own?”

There was no sound, but Arthur did catch the faint movement of Lewis as he glanced over the bench seat. “Yeah, I’ll be good. I didn’t feel like wearing it today.” He leaned over and snagged a drink from the cooler, the ice was melting and the canister damp. “I was replacing a servo and Gally, bless his hamster instincts, decided to gnaw through the circuit board.”

Vivi nearly choked. “He what?! Is he okay?” Mystery had curled up beside her, and raised his head, horrified. “He’s usually such a good helper.”

“Yeah. I must’ve fucked up the current or something. He hates that.”

Mystery rested his chin back onto his paws. Yeah, that sucks. Arthur made that mistake once before, and it turned Galahad into a round fluff.

While they ate, Vivi pulled out a notepad and wrote out what equipment they could use tonight. Their meetup wasn’t directly off the work lane, there would be movies and not much else going on but ignoring the movies – or complaining how unrealistic the movies were. For the most part, she wanted to discuss more work centered stuff, and perhaps do something about the cluttered closet that held predominately junk stuff. She insisted on using the words ‘stuff’ and ‘things’ without remorse.

There was likewise a separate list for movies they could stream or buy, or pirate.

“You can put more down,” Arthur mentioned, as he tried to work through the veggies someone insisted he have. “Uncle’ll help me. He’ll be working late tonight.”

“Lemme get this straight,” Lewis spoke, “he won’t let you work overtime, but he will.”

“It’s his business. He can do whatever he wants,” Arthur retorted. “And people had better not start seeing your spooky shadow ‘round. We get enough problems with jackasses showing up trying to get copycrap over my spec designs, I don’t want Spectral Seekers showin’ up, harassing Uncle Lance for a crummy show.”

Lewis leaned back over the bench seat. “I was bored, okay?”

“Bored?!” Arthur spat. “Was that today, or when—”

Mystery barked.

“Art! It’ll be fine,” Vivi proclaimed. “That was one time, we figured it out. After this, we’re goin’ straight back to my place to set up. Cool?”

Arthur made a face and deflated. He poked at his food and sipped his drink, but just a bit. He avoided raising his eyes or checking the front of the van. “Hmm. Yeah. We’ll just… the guys need to stay focused.”

Lewis hunched down in his seat. “I wasn’t tryin’ to be a ‘presence’, it’s hard being all cooped up.”

Arthur fixed his legs, readjusting them along with his hunched posture. “Sure. I get that.”

Once everyone got settled, or stewing, Vivi relaxed and resumed poking at a salad. That wasn’t too bad, but she wondered if it was always like this, or when this all started. They were talking again, the progress was slow but any amount she appreciated. Then again, maybe it wasn’t them. Maybe it was… her.

Before the break could be called a success, Vivi helped Arthur bring down one of the boxes packed with equipment and stowed it in the van. The spare bike was stashed in the van, and Lewis helped Vivi pull her eco-friendly, short distance transport out before he evaporated in a plume of flames. Likely, to attach himself to the flashlight stored in the side pocket of her backpack. She clicked on the light to confirm for Arthur, Lewis wasn’t hanging around.

“Let me know if you’re running late or anything comes up,” she stated, while Arthur double checked that the van was secure and latched tight.

“I’ll remember,” Arthur replied. They said farewells, and he returned to the garage of Kingsman Mechanics, with Mystery by his side.

The remainder of Arthur’s shift whirred by in a steady momentum, cranking out the vehicles on his roaster. It was a little before closing when he scrawled out the end time of his last assignment, on the task chalkboard on the work floor wall. He might actually make it to Vivi’s before she began with the texting. It’d be fun to wait outside and just hang out, until the first one chimed off.

Following one brief shower, Arthur got busy in his work room packing some fresh clothing for the next day. A separate bag sat reserved for parts, if he got around to the easier aspects to his arm and trying out the new cooling system – it was rather clunky and added weight – though, keeping the circuits at a controlled temperature kept rotors from overheating. A vent would be a nice benefit, but he needed a sealed compartment; a difficult feat in a multisegmented apparatus.

While Arthur went around the work room browsing for items he needed, Mystery was satisfied with dozing on the couch. It was only when Arthur hauled out the travel cage for Galahad, that spurred interest from Mystery. Arthur went to the hamster terrarium and located his caramel colored companion in his nest.

“Well get this stuff downstairs and get that flatcart,” Arthur explained.

Mystery was already nosing the door to the room open. He glanced back at Arthur, ear twitching. You got that okay?

“Lead the way.” He claimed the terrarium under his one arm and went with Mystery, to the ground floor.

The lights around the corner blazed bright, but the sounds from the work floor approached subdued. By now it was well past five, and shutters barred out noises from the open road across from the carport. He hardly saw anyone as he went for a flat cart parked by supplies. Mystery hopped onto the panel and rode it, while Arthur guided it back to the corridor. Loading up his gear was a piece of cake, and he was making good time. He’d park the flatbed cart by the employee access and bring the van around, and leave the cart in parts for whoever needed it next.

Only a last cluster of technicians remained in the garage, upon his departure. A few closing out some diagnostics or working with one of the trainees. Arthur exited through the back and locked the employee access. The last order of business was a quick text to Uncle, reminding him to lock the deadbolt.

Score! No messages from Vivi, yet.

It was almost a shock for Arthur when he arrived at the door to the apartment, and it opened to reveal Vivi. He shouldn’t really be surprised, why would someone not ‘living’ in her apartment answer the door. The fragrance of sugar and popcorn swept out.

“Holy cakes, I was about to start texting,” she cheered. “Did Uncle Lance kick you out?”

“Naw,” Arthur grinned. Mystery nudged the back of his legs. “Did you need any help setting up?” He and Vivi had to give space for Mystery, the dog shoved his way on through and went straight for the kitchen. “More important, do you ever feed him?”

Vivi sighed. She was already gathering up Arthur’s bags. “He had a whole chicken today.”

Arthur grabbed the terrarium and stood, the cage nestled under his arm. The Plexiglas box wasn’t heavy nor cumbersome, even so, he lingered at the threshold watching as Vivi retreated within. He glanced away and toed at the edge of the door jam. When he raised his gaze, Vivi was still there and quiet, a patient smile tugging the edge of her lips. She nodded toward the living room.

His feet shuffled across the entry. Noises came from within, the sort you’d expect to curl forth from a kitchen. “A whole chicken? Wow. Isn’t that something.” The sounds didn’t pause or hush a bit, as he scooted through the corridor.

Finally, he poked his head into the kitchen. “Are you doing spicey stuff?”

As expected, Lewis was at the stove with a pot and spatula looking guilty. “No?”

“I’m gunna start sneezing.”

Lewis shrugged. “It’ll clear up your allergies.”

“I don’t have allergies.”

Vivi relocated to the living area to deposit Arthur’s gear, and swung back. She was dressed casually, not her typical skirt or sweater, but her clothing was certainly on the poofy side, and clearly comfy. “Are you gonna start arguing again?”

Woof?

“We’re not arguing,” Lewis defended, swinging the spatula.

“This is a conversation,” Arthur affirmed. He went ahead and followed Vivi. He set Galahad’s terrarium under the end table in the corner of the room and popped the lid.

“Whatever you call it, I’m not refereeing.”

Lewis cackled. “Purge initiated.”

Off center of Vivi’s living area, the other end table was situated with a television on top, with wires hooked from it to the laptop sitting on the floor. In the corridor to the bedroom, the closet door was open and some of the boxes within left on the floor. The door was pulled back fully, permitting Arthur to view some of the items left out of containment, wedged on the shelves within. He shuddered.

A cacophony of popping erupted from within the kitchen, and Lewis swished around the large pot upon the burner. “Wanna get a movie going, and we can start looking through the stuff?” he proposed. “I did some homemade candy.”

“Mmm!” Vivi hummed. “These gummies are really ugly, but they’re tasty.”

“That’s what happens when you don’t use molds.” Lewis brought up a plate with wax paper, and little colorful globs topped. They were ugly as heck, Arthur noted. In a large bowl, Lewis poured out a whole kettle of corn from the pot he was using. The fluffy kernels were still glistening with melted sugar, steam shimmered across the lumpy peak.

Likewise on the counter, there sat two fire extinguishers. Arthur supposed they could pack one or both in the van. He wondered if she bought both, or if one came with the apartment.

“Arthur.” He shook his head and looked to Vivi. “Can you get a movie going? I gotta boot up my laptop.”

The couch was already dressed with blankets and extra pillows. It kind of reminded him of the old times, like nothing changed. He took his seat beside the chair arm, near where he put Galahad’s travel cage. He took the ball of fluff from his little nest and set him up on the back of the couch. Mystery thundered onto the couch and gave the hamster a close look over.

Opening credits ended for the introduction, and the movie began. Vivi planted herself beside Mystery, and Lewis was last to join with the bowl of popcorn and plate of gooies. Vivi took a handful of popcorn and started eating, along with one of those gooey treats from the plate now set on the back of the couch. Galahad was wheeling his way over, but Mystery lay his head in the way.

“I was thinking,” she said, and swallowed. Lewis left the popcorn in her care and revisited the kitchen. “We’ll be off on another assignment, and doing whatever cases we want on the way. But we have all this stuff, and it’s kind of starting to pile up.”

“Right,” Arthur muttered. “You could just dump it off on Duet.” He took the bowl she passed and tried the popcorn. It was good, salty and sweet. Lewis came back over and handed off some drinks to him and Vivi. “Uh, thanks.”

“Don’t you think I tried?” Vivi licked her fingers and went to typing on the laptop. “We get duplicates and we got fake crap, some of it is legit. Yeah Lew?”

He nodded. “Some of it gives me the heebie-jeebies. Don’t like that.”

“I’ve been checking some blogs and people,” Vivi went on, tucking the unopened bottle beside her hip. “I have harmless crud, that’d make for good props for research. That stuff can go to whoever, but Duet doesn’t want duplicates or reproductions.”

Arthur popped the cap to his beverage and took a sip. “I’ll leave that to you bunch then. I didn’t want much to do with it then, and not really much now.”

“That’s cool,” Vivi assured, with a smile. “You had some heavy run-ins with some of this crap, and I don’t blame you.” She plopped the laptop onto Arthur’s lap and got off the couch.

A timer went off, and Lewis made his way over to the kitchen. “Should be good to say farewell, though? Eh, Art?”

“Yeah.” He reached over to the popcorn bowl and grabbed a kernel, which he delivered to the hamster sitting on Mystery’s head. “No goo junk,” he commanded. “We don’t want to give Mystery a haircut, ‘cuz of some gummy stuff.” Mystery delivered and expression of utter petrification.

Then it hit Arthur, while Vivi was pulling out a plastic crate from within the closet. “Shit. I forgot the equipment.”

“Que s’eso?”

“The equipment.” Arthur took the plate of small, browned marshmallow meringues Lewis handed over. “Um, I was supposed to finalize it. Make sure I’ve got it all stabilized and tuned.” He and Lewis held a painfully long stare. “I wasn’t planning on testing that crap on you. Though, it’d certify if my handywork was thorough.”

“No.”

Vivi set the crate down on the floor and browsed through a few clay figures, among them bundled tissue paper and bubble wrap. “That’s fine, we’ll get to that another day.”

Arthur sucked in some air beside his teeth. “Meh. It was my thing to do, while you guys did yours. Fuck.” He sat a moment, debating if there was something else he could do if he wasn’t preoccupied with his go to task. There was the tinkering work on his arm, but he recalled some of the tools for that was left in the boxes he meant to pack. Aside from eating, which he now was not in the mood for, he didn’t have much else to do but watch bad movies.

“It’s not late, I can swing over and grab ‘em.”

“Or you could just let it go, and have a weekend to relax,” Vivi indicated. She leaned on the couch beside his legs. “I wasn’t serious with getting a head start on this, so that stuff can wait. Right?”

Lewis took the plate of gummies off the couch back, before Galahad could crawl into them. “Is this gunna be a bother for you all evening?”

Arthur sighed. “Yeah. Threw off my groove and everything.” He pouted. “It won’t take any time at all. Zoom over and back. It’s not a lot to gather up either, I don’t wanna put it off though.”

Vivi stood up. “Fine. I’m not like, your other boss or anything.” She tried the meringue thing. “Are these burnt?”

“They fucking are,” Lewis rasped.

“But they’re good anyway. I love burnt marshmallows.”

“Not helping.” Lewis pointed down at Arthur. “I’m going with.”

“Why?” both Arthur and Vivi exclaimed. Mystery woofed. Lewis looked from Vivi to Arthur.

“To… help? Is there… a reason why I shouldn’t?”

Vivi stuttered, “No – not… it’s up to Arthur.”

All up to him. Yay. Arthur set the laptop aside and got off the couch. “Sure, fine, it’s cool. Let’s go so we can get back.” He went to the entry way, twirling intermittently through his strides to call, “Keep an eye on Gally, huh? I want him eating normal hamster things.” Lewis nearly ran into him on their way down the corridor.

They were already headed out the door, when Vivi answered, “He’ll be good— Gally! Mystery! Not the gummies! No!”

By all appearances, the garage was vacant of life and sat with impenetrable silence, scarcely an aura of habitation. Vehicles huddled abandoned, the tools cold and still at long last following a brutal and arduous workday. Upon one soldering table stood a partially drained Styrofoam cup, a stray draft teased a greasy rag hung over the handlebar of a flat cart. Light flickered over the listless machinery, in the deepest reaches of the shop strange shadows carved burrows into deserted spaces. Aside from those minute scraps of animation, nothing stirred within Kingsman Mechanics. However, appearances are deceitful.

The small access doorway for shipments betrayed the established stillness. The knob twisted one way slowly, then the other gradually, a faint tick-tick twittered from the key chamber. Tick-tick… tick! The dead bolt swept sideways with genuine dedication, and the latch barked loose.

A brief reprieve followed, insisting that nothing was amiss and all was complacent, ordinary, and drab. Then, the faithful metal panel eased an inch, enough to allow a swollen lump to squeeze through. The squishy bulb observed the blanket of unremarkable matter. Off from the doorway, the blocky stacks of supplies and barren pallets, a tarp and some other obscure items, industrial shelving and other blocky shapes.

Through the doorway extended a small cylinder, and with a click the glaring slate of light glittered through the interior room, skewering the gloom and incriminating the present occupants. Hubcaps, a flatbed cart, opened boxes and packing materials strewn on the floor. Cold metal sleeping in the dark, oblivious boxes, and not a conscious soul in sight.

The vague shape eased through the slither of doorway and let the panel whisper shut at their back. Once within fully, they doused the light and let their eyes adjust to the swollen murk. With practiced grace they moved from delivery, and inched onto the work floor. Some dull glow did enter through the front windows of Kingsman Mechanics, illuminating the barest of outlines upon workstations and patient vehicles. They moved through the garage meticulously, pausing only to listen and grasp their environment through hearing, and their intuition. It hadn’t failed them yet.

Parts and easily mobile machinery were everywhere, some adding up into the thousands if packed carefully into the duffle bag slung over their arm. None of it had substantial value, only a temporary check to drop in the bucket. They followed the wall, clicking on the flashlight and capping the front to stifle the blast of light. There was no rush, if they couldn’t find it tonight, there was always next week. It would mean stake out and observe for changes, but a task amended without issue or too much delay. Better safe than sorry. Maybe the gear wasn’t here at all, and this was a waste of time. They wouldn’t know until a thorough search was launched. But all night lay ahead.

#cliffhanger #mystery skulls #mystery skulls animated #mystery skulls ghost #fanfiction #fanfic #msa fanfic #mystery skulls fanfic #msa fanfiction #mystery skulls fanfiction #mystery skulls arthur #mystery skulls lewis #mystery skulls vivi #mystery skulls mystery #mystery skulls lance

4 notes · View notes

moriganstrongheart · 4 years ago

Text

On Firefly, Mediocrity and Problematic Media

When I first set to writing this, I intended to write a review of Firefly. I had recently rewatched Firefly and its tie-in, semi-sequel movie Serenity with my fiancée, and I wanted to express my thoughts on it. But I put the original first draft aside after writing two sentences and did not revisit it until months later. By then, I found I was no longer interested in reviewing Firefly, opting to explore issues of underlying misogyny and mediocrity in media instead. I think that Joss Whedon’s work is a good case study for these problems, as he exists simultaneously as a folk hero of sorts when it comes to speculative fiction, and as the harbinger of the now divisive Marvel Cinematic Universe. And Firefly being so beloved by its fans, I think it's worth diving deep into its problems to illustrate my points.

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate Firefly’s problems is in how it appeals to its fans. While I find the character interactions the best aspect of the show, I’m sure that quite a few fans—primarily young, white males—are attracted to the space western setting of the show and all the trappings that come with it. The Verse is filled with guns, alcohol, rape, savages and prostitutes—everything a new frontier needs, or so I expect is the intent. I don’t think these are ever the focus of the show, nor are they something Whedon ever places on a pedestal as ideals to strive for. But they are a part of the worldbuilding, and so were included with intent. There has been a debate for several years among fans of speculative fiction on whether worlds inspired by historical periods or specific cultures should include these so-called “less favourable” aspects of that period or culture, or if the speculative nature of the fiction should allow for their exclusion. I want to make it clear that I am in the second camp; I don’t believe that just because a fantasy world is set in a medieval time period that women shouldn’t be allowed to be knights, or that aliens or people of colour have to necessarily be slaves in a colonial space opera. It is speculative fiction after all, and we are under no obligation to hold ourselves to any supposed cultural or historical accuracy.

This is, of course, ignoring the fact that the cultural and historical accuracies being strived for have flawed origins, having been decided by academics with their own bias, or even maybe their own agenda. I would make further arguments that historical fiction and literature are themselves often coloured by the author’s intent, and so certain aspects are accentuated while others are ignored or downplayed in order to tell a specific story—often to the detriment of minority groups. It’s impossible to divorce bias from one’s work, no matter how objective the work claims to be. This has been proven time and again, evidenced by the revision of textbooks throughout the years.

Regardless, counter arguments to the exclusion of “less favourable” elements are normally that doing so waters down the source material, diminishing its authenticity and, more interestingly, it represents a disagreeable emotional sensitivity on the part of the opposition. This point of view assumes that the opposition is averse to certain perceived realities in the world, and that the narrative they want to ascribe themselves to would be unrealistic and, as such, not entertaining. In reality, all parties are involved in some form of escapism. The outcry for realism is a smokescreen for the desire to keep a specific form of escapism, one which can only be described as a violent, misogynistic power fantasy. The source of this outcry—again, predominantly young white males—sees the inclusion of bigotry and sexual violence as essential to their viewing experience, as they take enjoyment out of them. That isn’t to say that having violence, sexual themes or social inequality don’t have a place in fiction; they just need to have a purpose. Without purpose, they are only there to service the twisted fantasies of the target audience.

For an example that brings us back to Firefly, it never really feels like Irana’s career as a courtesan serves any other purposes than as an excuse for partial nudity, sex scenes and for Malcolm to call her “whore” on the regular. There are times where her position as a high-ranking courtesan opens doors for the Firefly crew, but this is a contrivance of how courtesans work within the Verse, and not a part of the skillset she has accrued to become a courtesan. The only true exception to this—that I can remember—is her role in grooming the magistrate’s son in the episode Jaynestown, which directly affects the primary conflict. Apart from this instance, none of her meaningful contributions to the plot necessitate her being a courtesan. She could have just as easily been someone with social or political clout. However, this wouldn’t have allowed for her to be the ship’s prostitute, there only to drive Malcolm up the wall and have someone he could call “whore” without guilt. As such, it became necessary for Whedon to not only make her a sex worker, but to create an entire system around her which would give her importance to the plot. In essence, he wanted his cake and eat it too. It’s disappointing, as the idea of having a sex worker being an important member of the main cast is interesting enough as a concept to explore. Ideally, this person would be treated with respect by others for their work, and their value should come from them as a person, not from a fabricated social status.

As a side note, I acknowledge that most people in the show respect Inara, but it is because of her fabricated social status and not because of who she is as a person. The only people who respect her for who she is and what she does are women and the one person of colour on the crew.

There are a lot of other small decisions within Firefly that show Whedon’s intent, such as the characterizations of River’s mental illness and Jayne as a character. I can’t help but wonder if Firefly were produced today on HBO or Netflix, if the showrunners would have allowed the inclusion of far more sexual violence and bigotry in hopes of attracting a larger audience. Because while we have collectively become much more cognizant of issues like diversity and the portrayal of women in media, shows with portrayals of sexual violence and bigotry tend to perform better overall. Unfortunately, the vocal minority shouting their preferences on social media only helps to reinforce this trend.

However, I don’t want to make the wrong impression. Sexism, racism, violence and bigotry are not the focus during Firefly’s runtime. In fact, Whedon generally does a good job of representing healthy relationships, strong female characters and positive representation of people of colour. For example, Zoe and Wash’s relationship is very admirable, and Kaylee is perhaps the best character on the show. The problems exist beneath the surface, informing everything from story conflicts to character motivations. Whedon comes off as a guy just wanting to have some fun, someone who is cool and trendy, just rude enough to be interesting, but knowing where to draw the line. Really though, he’s just the best of a bad lot within the entertainment industry. A lot who are, unsurprisingly, white men catering to their younger selves.

As a white man myself, I am constantly checking myself and the works I create to ensure I am providing a compelling story while avoiding trappings indicative of a male power fantasy. Because of the environment I grew up in, it can be easy to rely on tired old tropes instead of thinking of meaningful and interesting things to write. Does that mean that catering to the needs of a diverse audience is too difficult, and as such, is detrimental to the creative process? I don’t believe so, despite what many may believe. If anything, it forces writers to think of novel, more captivating stories that don’t rely on tropes and power fantasies to work. I believe that the reason people have become so weary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and similar works is because they all rely on a power fantasy to function. I myself have grown tired of seeing the same story over and over, and it is only in the last decade that I realized the reason for this is that most people behind the works I consume are—again—white males catering to their younger selves.

This has led me to question if it’s right for me to have my voice heard at all. Would I not just be another straight, white male entering a space already filled with the same? Perhaps, but I don’t think the intent of fostering diversity in media is to exclude white people. In fact, if people like Whedon were the worst in terms of what white males have to offer the entertainment industry, I think we’d be in a better place. The problem is that the majority of the media we consume today is problematic and doesn’t allow for any variance from what’s trending among a young white male audience. All I can do is hope that shows like Firefly can be used as a learning experience for creating more compelling and varied stories. Stories should rely on interesting characters, worlds and the interactions in between them to be entertaining, and not on fulfilling the twisted power fantasy of the audience under the guise of realism.

#my discussions #discussion #firefly #mediocrity in media #problematic media #serenity #joss whedon #mcu

5 notes · View notes