#which frankly I think saying your treating someone like an animal says more on how we treat animals/view them

[dragontamer05]

When I ever I see or here ‘human’s aren’t animals’ I don’t know why but I just feel so weird

In that one hand I do get what is being said and what people generally mean by it- in that we/ our brains are more evolved then even our closes primate cousins, not only smarter but over all essentially just made/built different from any other animal that’s gotta survive based on instincts alone and all that.

There’s a reason we’re considered the dominant species after all.

However on the flip-side  it’s not exactly an accurate statement because for as different as we are from say the Gorilla’s in the jungle, or even the pets we keep- human’s by the very scientific definition are animals.

We are no less animals then a teeny tiny Water Bear- which has literally evolved in such a way that it can survive in conditions that would ordinarily kill even us humans, and microscopic or a Jellyfish which quite literally haven’t a single brain cell to their name.

And no I’m not saying go around and treat people the same way you’d treat a dog, or some animal you stumbled across in the forest, and I fully agree that because of how human’s have evolved there are many aspects of the human species that can’t be compared to the rest of the animal kingdom

But I just don’t fully agree with the idea of treating that difference as being because we’ve somehow evolved into something so far removed that we can’t even be called an animal anymore.

Instead of saying we aren’t animals maybe a better phrase to use could be ‘we are more then just animals.’ or ‘humans aren’t just wild animals’

Again I realize when people say this they don’t mean it literally (I certainly hope they don’t anyway) and is being used as a way to get across how different us humans are to any other creature but it just sounds weird, in that it’s not something we’d say about any other animal that’s evolved to be so different compared the rest of the animal kingdom (such as my Jellyfish and Waterbear example from earlier)

- On a side note I get very amused by this animal book that goes over a large number of creatures in the world (all broken up with reptiles/ amphibians/ birds/mammals ect) I have and I think if I recall its the very last page of the book - could be wrong- they actually have written up about humans

[abarbaricyalp]

hey!! <3 Too Sweet for the wip game if you’re still doing it because i still remember you mentioning you were working on it (haven’t stopped thinking about it since)

I can't remember what I said when I first started talking about it, so apologies if this a repeat! WIP Game

Too Sweet is based on the Hozier song, obvi! It's told from Bucky's point of view as he watches Sam date, and recover, from a variety of partners who should be ideal for him, but just don't work out for one reason or another--usually related to what Sam was attracted to about them in the first place. Someone kind and gentle can't handle the Captain America danger. Someone in his running group is too focused growing better for themselves. Someone who knows/works with him as Cap only treats him as Cap, etc etc. And Bucky silently pines and aches (and hates all of these people for leaving Sam) because he thinks Sam is too good for him/he's too bad for Sam. It's supposed to be a 5+1 but I dunno how many more fake partners I have in me lmao

.

"Don't sulk. And stop chewing on your nails," Rhodey said, appearing in the chair beside Bucky with a frankly uncanny quiet.

Bucky looked away from where his gaze was drilling into Sam and the man he was dancing with. "I'm older than you," Bucky pointed out. "You can't order me around."

"I outrank you too," Rhodey pointed out with a small smirk. 

"You and most of the army. Tweety outranks me." He nodded off towards Joaquin, who was not watching Sam the way he normally did. Instead, he was three people deep into an animated story and an adoring crowd.

"It's not going to last," Rhodey continued. He usually had some remark about how Joaquin was a 'good kid' or something, but clearly he had a mission today.

Bucky took in a steadying breath as he dragged his eyes away from Sam again. "Have you met Winston? Even I like him. He was practically gift-wrap-made for Sam. Sam's crazy about him."

"Sam likes him," Rhodey accepted. "And they're pretty cute. But it's not going to last," he repeated. 

"Why do you say that?"

Since beginning to spend more time with Sam--and following him around like a shadow when he could--he'd learned that Sam and Rhodey had become close friends, despite all of the bullshit that tried to get between them. Rhodey was the kind of noble that Bucky thought only existed in fairytales, so it made sense him and Sam found camaraderie in each other. There was some super-secret Air Force bond that Sam wouldn't tell Bucky about, too. Bucky liked Rhodey. He thought he was level-headed and no-nonsense, which Bucky was appreciating more as he realized how rare it was nowadays. 

Still, Rhodey could be nosy when it came to Sam. Could be as bad as all the old folks down in Louisiana, who were the reason Sam was slow dancing and laughing with Winston now. Bucky always had a suspicious side-eye ready when Rhodey brought up Sam in a less than professional context.

Like talking about his relationship not lasting.

Bucky gnawed on his cuticle again and watched Sam get spun around in a dizzying turn combo. He watched him catch himself on Winston's chest and hide his laugh against Winston's shoulder.

"Because I saw the way Winston reacted to Sam getting home last weekend."

Bucky bit down on the side of his finger too hard and tasted copper instantly. "He came all the way to DC to see Sam?"

Rhodey shrugged. "Sure, but he was freaking out about it. We were a day late, comms were out of the question. Winston was losing it."

Bucky shot him a strangled sort of look. "You're complaining that he's a concerned partner?"

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Sam wasn't even hurt. Imagine how he's gonna react the first time Sam winds up in a hospital or a fall is caught in HD and plays on the news for a week straight."

"I get pissed off about things like that," Bucky pointed out.

"But you stick through it. I'm just saying, a lot of soldiers lose partners who can't handle the danger of the job. Imagine dating a superhero."

Bucky couldn't imagine it. Being best friends with one was exhausting enough and he was one himself. All of the people who kept his bed warm were hardly interested in his long-term wellbeing. It's not something he thought about often.

"Sam's always alright," he said. "He's the last guy someone would have to worry about. He's smart out there."

Rhodey leveled him with a skeptical look. "Isn't there a 'Days since last self sacrifice' countdown on your fridge?"

[kyouka-supremacy]

If we’re talking about sexism in BSD can we talk about Dazai Osamu’s Entrance Exam? (Not the anime adaptation) I really really really hated how Dazai and Kunikida would talk about Sasaki right in front of her like she wasn’t even there?? And just how they generally were with her…Reading that light novel was a genuinely unpleasant experience more times than I’d like to admit solely because of how egregiously gross it was when it came to Sasaki's character and how the guys would treat her. I've never seen anyone talk about it but it's been bugging me for a while now.

(个_个)

I understand how that's all sorts of fucked up. I haven't read the Entrance Exam novel but in my opinion the Sasaki / Kunikida / Dazai anime scenes rub just as wrong. There's really the whole deal of talking in front of women like they were lesser / objects which is plain atrocious. But then again, the bsd novels produced the unfamous Naomi description, so it's really the author giving their worst apparently.

The sexism in bsd is pathologic. Something I've brought up before but that is really explicative to me, Dazai going “The murder must have occurred in the early morning, because that's the only time of the day a woman wouldn't be wearing make-up”. And it's probably silly of me to pick up on such a small thing when wearing make-up is debated within feminist spaces itself, and it's probably something I have personal issues with, but the way in the story it serves the role of an objective hint, something plain and unconfutable, that women are expected to wear make-up at every hour of the day and them not doing so is just absurd and unthinkable… To me it really speaks of how the world of bsd is a world were women are expected to fit a determined ideal that is very distant from reality, and the author really has a very limited understanding of what women are actually like irl.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about what was up with the Yosano / buisnessman (?) scene in chapter 7? It's been two years since I've watched and read that scene, and I still can't figure out what it's supposed to mean or convey. First, Yosano is shown being tame and overly polite towards someone who was being extremely rude; then, after he hits her and tells her to know her place, she replies “Well, a thousand pardons, sir. Would it be more womanly for me to crush your puny ××××× under my heels, perhaps?”. Now, her reply is somewhat funny, but really, doesn't mean anything. And I'm not talking about the censure. Why is her behaviour so fluctuating and inconsistent? What does womanhood has to do with anything here? Why would she be so polite and then suddenly backtrack? Really, why was she being polite in the first place to someone being so vulgar and disrespectful towards her? Honestly, that doesn't feel Yosano at all. At most it feels like that's supposed to portray how a woman is expected to react in an imaginary and unrealistic world, but that has so little standing potential irl, not even Yosano in this manga could hold the charade for long, and the result ends up looking awkward and nonsensical. Every time I see this scene I'm just like… What is going on here. Not even in a judgemental way, just as in “I seriously can't understand what the author was trying to say with this”, and frankly, I don't think they do know either. It really makes evident their struggle to write female characters, like women were this strange, foreign, very abstract concept that's impossible to crack or relate to. And when the answer is so simple, that you shouldn't write women as an unknown and indecipherable species, but simply as people— it would almost be endearing if it wasn't so detrimental. I won't even get to her “It is an era of equality for men and women” line which, put in the context of this manga, comes off as the most unfunny joke ever. Here, I can see what the author was trying to do alright, nodding to irl Yosano Akiko feminist viewpoints, but making the character Yosano talk in cheap feminist slogans to rival mcu movies ends up doing her a disservice more than anything, and I doubt it would leave the actual Yosano Akiko positively impressed at all.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about how Kouyou should be the next pm boss, and the fact that the spot is canonly reserved for Chuuya instead is insane and nonsensical and outrageous to the point that even CHUUYA agrees on the fact that she should be the one? You know, Kouyou, the powerful ability user, experienced, senior in hierarchy, who has been shown to be both loyal to the current boss Mori and close to him on a personal level? Compared to Chuuya who never wanted to be the boss in the first place? But he gets to be either way, because the concept of a woman pm boss is just unthinkable. I feel like there's more reasons to cry for that Cannibalism stage play scene than the Flags' voices.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about Higuchi? Can we talk about Lucy? Bsd offers so many examples of its sexism, we could be here to talk about it for days. At this point I feel like I might come across as someone who loves hating on things, but in reality every time I write a post of this kind it's a desperate prayer to the author: “Prove me wrong! Please, prove me wrong! Write women with layers and agencies! Expand on their virtues and flaws and ambitions! Dedicate narrative arcs to them! Prove me wrong!”

[living-animal]

I have some gripes with Film Cooper on YT due to a video he made. If you wanna hear about it, here it is

First off, title- “this man lives in a dog suit” factually incorrect, he does not live in a dog suit, he wears it on occasion

Next, he’s tweaking over the fact that a German tv host is treating the man in a dog costume like a dog- isn’t that how you’re meant to treat all costumes?? Like they’re real?? Isn’t that the whole point of Disney? It’s the same way you treat cosplayers as the character. It’s fun to pretend.

Barely over a minute in, Film Cooper accuses Toco (the man in the suit) of being sexually aroused by the tv host calling him a “good boy” and claims that Toco must have a fetish for being treated like an animal. I feel like I don’t need to explain why that’s bad.

“Theres no way this isn’t a [fetish]. There’s no way that him dressing up as a border collie and walking around being called a good boy isn’t a [fetish].” (He was using a code word as to not get demonetized)

I can easily combat this claim just from he simple fact that this is likely not an often occurrence for Toco. He does not walk around all day in public being called a “good boy” by “hot German women” as Film Cooper puts it.

He then shows the first ever recorded instance of this suit on the internet, posted by a Japanese artist on their Twitter, showing off the suit they had made, and Film Cooper has an audibly and visually disguised reaction. “They made this for a human” yes Cooper, they did. I’m scared to see what would happen if Film Cooper ever accidentally stumbled upon a furry convention. I’m sure he would have a heart attack and die immediately.

He claims that this is “not furry” which is factually incorrect. In fursuit terms, this is just a hyper realistic quad suit. “Furry might be the closest thing” is true for the suit itself, but Toco is not a furry, Toco is likely some form of alterhuman/therian, which, from this video, I can safely assume Film Cooper doesn’t know shit about. “Furry is anthropomorphic” anthropomorphic doesn’t just mean walking on two legs, that’s bipedal. “A furry stands on two legs” a furry can be on four legs. It’s called a quad suit. Anthropomorphic means human-like, whether that be in physical form, intelligence, or emotions.

He also adds that furries “fuck”?? Which to me implies that furries/fursuits are sexual in nature, which is a whole other can of worms.

“He wants to be a border collie that licks his own BB hole” that’s a big claim. Wanting to be an animal doesn’t automatically mean you want to lick yourself?? And it’s frankly disgusting to me that that is what Film Cooper imagines when told that someone wants to be an animal. “In my opinion that’s gross. Haha. I think it’s disgusting. You like to dress up as a dog, walk on all fours all day and lick your BB hole?” When did he say that Cooper. Stop making freaky and perverse assumptions about people you’ve never met.

He then shows a video from Toco’s account of him in the costume outside a window, but edits it, turning it black and white and adding scary music. This was entirely unnecessary, and just feels like fear mongering to me. He proceeds to compare the video to the horror movie Tusk, and more terrified ramblings of there “being a guy in there”. Yes, Cooper, that is how costumes work.

“What is wrong with this man” I don’t know, he has a hobby that makes him happy? Why the fuck do you care so much, Cooper? Because his suit is uncanny? Because you think it’s “weird”? Well I think your constant queerbaiting is weird, and you don’t hear me accusing you of being an animal fetishist. And then he has the audacity to make his motto “what’s up weirdos” and call his audience “weirdo nation” while actively making content harassing and attacking ACTUAL weirdos. Don’t call yourself a weirdo if you have a visceral reaction to someone actually being weird.

“I guess the implication is that he wants to be a dog so bad because he’s in love with dogs?” OH MY FUCKING GOD?? What the actual literal fuck. The fact that Cooper just accused this man of being a literal ZOOPHILE for no other reason than the fact that he dresses up in a realistic dog costume is actually so fucking sick. Shit like this is the reason alterhumans/therians receive so much hatred on a daily basis. This makes me so fucking sick. Cooper has the fucking audacity to accuse a stranger on the internet of being a zoophilic animal fetishist because he wears a costume. It’s so fucking baffling to me. And he says it so casually. “The implication here” WHEN was that EVER implied ANYWHERE in Toco’s content.

(He then proceeds to go on some random unnecessary spiel about sexism ((in a very performative way I might add)) or whatever)

He talked about age regression and pet regression a bit, and said those were fine (although he’s clearly uneducated about those things), but he says that Toco buying an expensive suit to “be a border collie everyday” is different. (Although I would like to add, WHERE TF ARE YOU GETTING THE IMPLICATION THAT HE DOES THIS ALL DAY EVERY DAY.)

“This, it’s safe to say, we can make fun of.” No, Cooper, you can’t. Because if you educated yourself beyond literally just watching this guys videos and having a baseline knowledge of furries, you would know about a little thing called alterhumanity/therianthropy, which it’s safe to say, you can’t make fun of. Asshole.

“I’m defending this against nobody. Nobody is looking at this being like “no, come on, man, he’s just chilling.” It’s like, no, this is fucked.” No, actually, Film Cooper, it’s not, and a lot of people are actually normal, and don’t fucking care about a guy in a dog suit having fun, unlike you, on your little queer-baity white savior complex high horse, who likes to call yourself a weirdo for wearing rings and having long hair, while also bashing ACTUAL weirdos. You’re the only one making up incorrect statements about this guy’s life to cry over as if it were real. No, this man does not LIVE in a dog suit, and no, he is not attracted to animals, you sick fuck.

He then shows the second video Toco ever uploaded on his YT channel, and proceeds to make fun of Toco’s poorly translated attempts at being polite and introducing himself, because Toco is a Japanese man that doesn’t speak any English. He had to translate this, presumably using some sort of translator app. Japanese is a very difficult language to translate into English, and vice versa. He also makes his tone out to be far more aggressive than necessary, and calls his narcissistic (???) for making an intro video (which a think a lot of people who have YouTube channels do) the phrase I’m specifically referring to was “I’m going to start uploading videos at my own pace” which was very clearly translated from Japanese, as the original Japanese text was on top of the English, but FC went on a whole ramble about some “GUYS EVERYONE CALM DOWN IM SO BURNT OUT” my brother that is a whole new sentence. Where are you getting all this from?? Are you seeing something that I’m not??

He then commented on said video, clearly in a cruel and bullying way, asking Toco to “put on the dog suit and twerk” which I would most definitely classify as sexual harassment. Wow Cooper, I love your humor! It’s so funny to sexually harass people on the internet, and it’s definitely not super wrong and disgusting because Toco is a man and has a weird hobby!

Next, there’s a Q&A from Toco. In the beginning of the video, Toco literally has a disclaimer that he may have some translation errors in the video (because he doesn’t speak English and had to translate from Japanese) we know Cooper saw this because he literally read it out loud. Next thing he does, is after Toco answers the first question; “Q: why did you want to become a dog?”

“A: I’ve had a vague dream of becoming an animal since I was a child” and Film Cooper compared this to FELIX CIPHER, the person notorious for believing he is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. I don’t think I need to explain why this is absolutely abhorrent behavior. Not only is it making light of some extremely offensive and antisemitic behavior, but also further demonizes furries and alterhumans/therians. And also it’s just incredibly distasteful, and not at all an accurate comparison. Sure he says that Felix Cipher is worse, but he still made the comparison. He also says to Toco “let dreams be dreams. Just don’t do it.” I’m glad to see we’re encouraging people to repress themselves and what makes them happy just because YOU personally don’t like it, Mr. Film.

Film Cooper claims that Toco is “avoiding questions” even after just a second ago he acknowledged the disclaimer about mistranslations and misrepresentations.

“I don’t want to spend 30k on a [dog] suit and walk around as [a dog]” okay, then don’t? Nobody is forcing you to do that. Nobody’s even forcing you to watch this content if it makes you so uncomfortable. If you were to see it and say “I’m uncomfortable with this, I don’t want to watch it” I wouldn’t care. But when I start to care is when you go out of your way to make a video harassing, attacking, and insulting an innocent man on the internet for money and clout.

He calls him “annoying” because of his sentence structure, and because FC felt as though he was avoiding questions, even though we know, and it has been stated three times now, that Toco does not speak any English, and this video is poorly translated. He’s mad at Toco for saying that he doesn’t know why the trigger for wanting to be an animal. But what do you want him to say? If he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. Things like this are hard to place.

The next question, he once again makes up entirely new sentences from Toco’s answers. He makes Toco out to be angry and “indignant” with the questions he’s receiving, even though Toco has been nothing but polite, friendly, and respectful. And he also continues to misinterpret what Toco is saying, accusing him of “interrogating himself” because he was asking the viewers questions, and Film Cooper interpreted that as Toco asking himself questions?? For some reason. I think Film Cooper just lacks any form of literary comprehension.

Cooper continues to reinstate the fact that Toco is “an adult human man in a dog suit. He has a job, he goes to work..” but I think that just further humanizes Toco, doesn’t it? It makes me dislike him even less. I don’t care that he’s a grown man in a dog suit, I care that he’s a human being with feelings and a life beyond what we see online of him.

He accuses Toco of being defensive again. The question was if the costume was modeled after any specific border collie, and Toco said it wasn’t, though due to poor translation, it came out as “it’s not my collie or my friend’s collie” to which FC goes on another ramble acting out Toco being “defensive” about the origins of his suit design, making him once again appear like a creep.

Film Cooper, again, takes a clip of Toco moving around in his suit, and turns it black and white and adds horror music over it to make it look scarier. I don’t know why he insists on doing this so many times.

He also accuses Toco of not answering questions again, even though he did, and Film Cooper continues to misconstrue what Toco says “Q: are you tired of being human?” “A: sometimes it is reported that I am tired of being human. I never said that. […] Be aware of incorrect information.” Toco says he has never stated to be tired of being human, yet Film Cooper accuses him of not answering questions, AGAIN, due to his misinterpretation of Toco’s answers, not Toco’s own lack of answers.

He accuses Toco of not answering AGAIN; “Q; the topic is getting a lot of attention. How do you feel about it now?” “A; I am very surprised because I didn’t expect this to happen […]” The answer to the question was that Toco was surprised, but Cooper decided to focus on the rest of the answer, where Toco talks about how grateful he is for all the comments people have left, apologizing for not replying, and asking people about how their country is viewing him. Toco answers the questions every time, but Film Cooper chooses to focus on everything but Toco’s answer, just to keep calling him a freak. “You are a real life cosmic horror villain. Lovecraft would write a story about you.”

“A day in his life is him as a dog.” No it’s not, Toco wears the suit to make content, and the content he makes is specific to the dog suit and his desire to be a dog. So it makes no sense why Film Cooper is confused as to why Toco is making content about his dog suit “as if it’s normal”. Because in this context, it is. This is his channel where he posts about his suit, so obviously, the suit is a normal thing on his channel and it’s going to be treated as such.

Toco replied to a comment asking if he tells people he know about his suit, saying that he was too insecure about it, and only tells people he’s close with. Cooper had this to say;“He should be embarrassed to do this at work. Don’t do this at work.” He literally just said he didn’t!! The previous question was literally “have you ever gone outside [in the suit]” and Toco’s response was no. Obviously he’s never done it at work. Goofy.

That’s the end of the video. I have many, MANY smaller things about this video that upset me as well, but this is just the important things. And rewatching this video to make this post has filled me with a violent rage and hatred for Film Cooper like never before. We all clowned on his for the Marsha P. Johnson thing, I thought we all hated him now, why do we all still love him?? Anyways, dear Film Cooper, please do a MODICUM of research before you make tasteless videos like this, literally just look up therianthropy and alterhumanity on tumblr.com and that’ll clear some things up for you. And to Toco, I love your videos, never let jackasses like Film Cooper tell you that you’re a freak for doing what makes you happy. There’s a whole community of people just like you out there, and I hope you’re having fun and still making bigger bucks than Film Cooper ever will 🫶🫶

[ladybeug]

Alright so

It has been about 24 hours since i finished @peachcitts fanfiction metamorphosis and i spent at least 3 of those hours making a fanmix.

Listen, Im sorry, this is just who I am, Im someone who wants to make a playlist about a specific iteration of ml characters. Especially if there are some grey morals up in there.

read the fic, listen to the fanmix, follow me under the cut thats where the party is

...and by party I mean analytical summary of each song.

I'm about to talk about some of these choices I made in depth, as a treat for myself. An indulgence. I'll keep the fic references high level but there may be some theme/tone spoilers so real talk go read the fic and meet me back here.

@peachcitt I know I tagged you but this will get long you do not have to read it or acknowledge this homage just know I appreciated your story and thought a lot about it.

so.

the whole playlist is meant to be listened to start to finish, its half the tragedy and half the hard work to get your life right side up and the rewards.

I actively tried not to put Cry for Judas on here and i did ANYWAYS

its on so many of my playlists already, I'm loose with this song. But frankly if i could only keep it on one I would keep it on here. I mean I just don't think any other adrien iterations do things just to see how bad they'll make him feel QUITE like this one and i just HAD to have that as the first line of lyrics in the playlist.

I'm just also obsessed with sad and angry, can't learn how to behave?? The tragic acceptance of being unable to be good??

find me a better match. this song had to be on here and it had to be first.

Your Ghost - this might be the only song thats only about Marinette which is a crime because I really connected with her pov but the truth is that this is an adrien fanmix and i need to accept that.

But for real the acceptance but inability to move on in this song is just perfect.

Can't Lose - maybe the angriest song on here? A little angrier than I was going for but I had to keep this one though because, I mean, "I'm thinking I can't move if there isn't somewhere else to go?" like, the, 'sure what im doing is bad but what else IS there' of it, I mean, what can I even say. It had to be on here.

If you only listen to one song on here listen to Animal Mask.

It's a song about partners in a wrestling match written as a metaphor for when John Darnielle's wife was in labor, and its so tender and sweet, and frankly it sounds like it could have been written for metamorphosis for like every single flashback of ladybug and chat noir.

I could quote every line and be like 'this is them' but like, 'hold on,' I cried, 'I'll be right there', pulled your mask down through your hair. they won't see you, not until you want them to. What am I supposed to say?? It moves me deeply I'm having emotional problems please come join me. Every other song on this playlist doesn't matter.

Anyways intermission, while we're here, let me share this experience that I had today with you:

I did then proceed to count, was appropriately ashamed that about 25% of the playlist was mountain goats, and extremely painfully chose to remove 'oceanographer's choice'.

[tangent about Oceanographers Choice vs Haunted House]

As obsessed as I am with going straight from the unbearably tender memory in animal mask to oceanographer's choice, first line: "well, guy in a skeleton costume, walks up to a guy in a superman suit, runs through him with a broadsword", the anxious switch in music, and then straight into a song about a fucked up guy fighting the woman he is still complicatedly in love with.... and he doesn't know how else to be....

oh no, listen, as I typed that I half convinced myself to add it back in again

but I won't because I even more love the transit of animal mask to the shrill and tense line in Haunted House, "I was buried in the summer, all those parties ago", and then a confused and hysterical song about dissociation and loss of control in a world where nobody seems connected to what you're going through. The tone is more ungrounded, and scared, and less resigned. Which matches what I was going for - I tried to avoid songs that were just like... "yeah i'm evil >:) thats my identity"

[end tangent]

Little Pistol I feel like I barely have to justify, but I will say what really sold me is the reference to 'I want what's best for me, and I think I know just what that means'. But then also the slight change in tune at the end? Delicious?

The Run and Go, just read the fic ok

I Wanna Get Better is one that honestly feels like it doesn't fit perfectly but I'm really drawn to a sharp turning point in the playlist from 'bad and spiraling' to 'desperately clawing my way up' which is how reading the fic felt at a certain point, and this song feels like the perfect tonal shift and has the end-of-a-movie screaming conviction that I want. Its also just so good

Do it Anyways might be the second most important song... third most important? on this fanmix. The frantic, panicky music matched with the unwavering conviction to improvement is so unmatched honestly and if we're talking about how hard it is to be your best when you feel your worst, oh my god. Read the fic, listen at 2:44 and meet me back here and there's nothing else I even need to say

Absolute Lithops Effect.... I tricked you, this is also a mountain goats song :) its a cover though so I'm not counting it.

This is one of the most beautiful songs about hope for the future and growth that I know its very important to me. The title of the playlist comes from this song. Here's what you need to know about it:

Lithops are these:

They grow so slowly they don't look like they're growing at all. But they are.

Love Love Love: Ugh don't talk to me about love love love. I'm not going to explain how this connects to the fic. It does, I'm right. There's nothing I can say about this that can't be said better by Mr. Mountain Goats himself:

"The point of the song is, you know, that we are fairly well damaged by the legacy of the Romantic poets--that we think of love as this, you know, thing that is accompanied by strings and it's a force for good, and if something bad happens then that's not love. And the therapeutic tradition that I come from--I used to work in therapy--you know, also says that it's not love if it feels bad. I don't know so much about that. I don't know that the Greeks weren't right. I think they were--that love can eat a path through everything--that it will destroy a lot of things on the way to its own objective, which is just its expression of itself, you know. I mean, my stepfather loved his family, right? Now he mistreated us terribly quite often, but he loved us. And, you know, well, that to me is something worth commenting on in the hopes of undoing a lot of what I perceive as terrible damage in the way people talk about this--love is this benign, comfortable force. It's not that. It's wild, you know?" — NPR interview with Linda Wertheimer, 14 May 2005

Metamorphosis: okay this one I added to make myself laugh but I also stand by it thematically

SUPERBLOOM: Don't we all deserve a little celebration for the hard work we do?

Anyways this is my fanmix, if you read to here I love you and you're welcome for all the mountain goats songs I peeled off of here that I didn't even tell you about. I didn't even put heel turn 2 on here. Whoops ok now i've told you about that one.

[ihopesocomic]

You know, one thing that people saying "homophobia not existing is unrealistic" in your comic reminds me, It's racism in fiction. People act like in fantasy and rpg worlds, different races need to have racism towards each other, just because in LOTR they did. And don't get me wrong, I don't like to say what people can and cannot write, nor do I think they need to make a perfect world where everyone loves each other, but certain issues like racism, as well as homophobia, are serious, and shouldn't be used as just "lore of the world".

The fact that queerphobia and sexism don't exist in your story doesn't stop bad lions like Jasper from existing, and main characters like Hope having to face them. Now seeing people make characters who are part of a fictional minority, and treating the bigotry they suffer as a way to make them "strong" and badass is so wrong to me.

And honestly, I think that even if someone wanted to do a story in a world where there's nothing bad, no bigotry, no murders, no abusive people, or whatever, that wouldn't stop the story from being good and interesting.

THANK YOU! There was no need for anyone to sling slurs at anyone and there's still tons of drama for people to chew on. There's dangerous animals, some sort of conspiracy that resulted in the deaths of three relatives, inner struggles, and more trouble on the way without it overwhelming the plot. So the fact that there's a small group of people who simply CANNOT enjoy our story unless someone's being ableist or homophobic, just tells me all I need to know tbh. Tells me we're doing something right.

After all, this LGBT-friendly comic stands by it's promise that it's LGBT-friendly lol We wanted to reassure everyone that queerphobia won't be in here, cuz quite frankly, I'M fuckin tired of seeing it in media. If the readers have to worry about whether they're gonna see bigotry relating to them in their content, then it just takes most people out of the story entirely. And if it NOT being there ruins someone's experience, that's a whole other commentary lol

(I just wanna put a pin here to say that, obviously this doesn't apply to people writing about their own experiences with discrimination. I'm mainly talking to/about cis/het/able/white people who try and fail to do stories around bigotry, but particularly in fantasy.)

I don't wanna tell people what to write either, but I will say with the utmost confidence that if you simply MUST write a story that HAS to include bigotry (racism, sexism, queerphobia, ableism, etc) where it makes no sense to include bigotry, then you're probably not a good writer. There I said it.

It's especially present in TTRPG where "THIS RACE IS EVIL" which to be fair, those mechanics are mostly phased out. But you still have those people who for some reason can't wrap their brains around the concept of an orc that's Good Actually. Like, it's not hard?

We've discussed this multiple times, but most people know why people have prejudices, and it's not naturally occurring. There's reason for it. So either come up with a good reason, or don't include it at all. (And if you're writing xenofiction about animals and you're using the 'realism' approach, it's more unrealistic for your animals to automatically have Christo-fascist beliefs lol)

Making homophobia or racism or sexism or ableism or whatever a point of contention in your fantasy story where you just assume its normal to include "because that's how it is in real life" is fuckin lazy. Not only is it more nuanced than that, people make it seem like those are the only problems in existence, while simultaneously never deconstructing it. The world is filled with inspiration for conflict surrounding resources, cultural differences, political turmoil, etc, that can be used in anyone's story and it'd be better for it, and people would know that if they realized that the key to writing a good story is to live life. - Cat

[loving-n0t-heyting]

i actually think we tend to see more private property fetishism from the online artist crowd than can be written off to like, anti-ai sentiment alone. art style theft discourse, anti-piracy discourse, and a general tendency to present supporting small businesses as a moral good are very petit bourgie aligned stances. those are also in contrast to like the actual conditions of most waged artists- who are generally made to conform to the stylistic sensibilities of their employers and who aren't necessarily the primary profiteers of their work, also they're kind of contradictory stances to hold from ppl who make their names and careers off of derivative works. like you say, its false consciousness, but i think the online artist archetype has primed a lot of ppl to jump to ip as a first defense against any perceived threat to their career prospects

Mm you make a fair point but I still think this tendency isn’t reducible to petty bougie class striving

First, often the animating concern isn’t even directly economic except in some extended sense. When someone writes “OC DO BOT STEAL” [eta: lol that was a funny typo so I’m leaving it] under their fan character sketch or expresses fear of Literal Nazis using their art, I don’t think their worry is they’re not going to get a cut of the money the proud boys make off their fantroll. It seems more analogous to ppl worrying that ppl who make them uncomfortable will sexually fantasise about them against their will; there’s I think(?) a Lydia xz brown post I can’t find rn that expresses this as horror at acquiring a theory of mind, bc it reveals others’ fundamentally dangerous ability to think of you without your consent. Money does not even have to enter into it in order to fear badwrong representation by ppl you don’t like or trust!

Second, even when the anxiety is economic, it doesn’t have to be petty bourgeois. You can see this clearly w some writers who panic about piracy and exalt ip law as a noble protection of human dignity while frankly acknowledging they are not the ones principally profiting off of their sales. They’ll instead point out, I live and die by contract work from the publishers who actually enjoy the proceeds of my ip, and precisely bc of this they will refuse to keep contracting with me if my work is pirated instead of purchased bc the value to them of the product of my labour is how much it sells for, not how much it gets read. Same for waged artists who treat much of their work as exposure in hopes of getting further hiring offers from it, who again have an economic incentive to resist unattributed “art theft” fully consistent with never expecting more than wage labour as artists. Which seems more analogous to store clerks bristling at shoplifting since they’re threatened with punishment for letting it happen under their nose than it is to the classic image of the independent artisan with aspirations to medium-sized business ownership

[doomspiral]

hello! I was the anon ask you received yesterday, and i wanted to send it to you off anon if that helps with resolving the issue properly and clarifying a few things. again, i stress that there is nothing wrong with facing the facts—i knew lithuania was going to win most likely because he's european, white and therefore more popular. what i meant was just how you referred to the other poc countries—i didn't have an issue until you used the word "sacrifices." i understand it may have seemed like a harmless joke and as if i am being overly sensitive over a small word, but it was hurtful—both to me and other poc friends who saw the post—because it seemed to perhaps confirm an unconscious thought by the fandom, which is that we exist as accessories to the popular characters and that we don't have much agency out of them...

for context, i remember browsing through the aph south korea tag to find the round 2 poll, and after voting for that round i looked at the reblogs to see what people had to say out of curiosity, after which i had seen the tag of your reblog. as a south korean and a poc it really stuck with me and felt like an unconscious admission: that pocs will always be unpopular, yet people seem to pretend that both are on an equal status

the small things that you can brush off your mind stick with us, because it relates to us and how we are seen in this fandom. but whenever we, the minority, voice these concerns, it usually ends with our voices being dismissed as "not being able to have fun and enjoy the fandom" or "raining on the parade."

i don't want to assume that the final post about how fandom must be treated was a vaguepost about the ask, but simple things such as "just have fun and don't be a party pooper" is on the similar vein as "they're just characters" or "hetalia is just an anime." now, this wouldn't be an issue if hetalia wasn't an anime about countries(meaning there is history and politics)! and so a lot of pocs struggle to have fun in the sense that you do because even though exclusion isn't upfront and obvious, it's all in the little things.

i don't wish to accuse or say that this is how you think of us, but rather a reminder. no matter how influential you are as a blog, being a small or big blog is not an obstacle to stepping back and seeing if what you do or say is inclusive to everyone!

Hey there, thank you for coming off anon for this. I’m sorry for how brash I am about anonymous messages, I’ve just been in online fandom spaces since 2006 and have been sent a lot of bait that reads as well-intended, and seen it get muddled and ugly within hours. I know that messaging someone like this can be intimidating so I hope my response reassures you that this is an okay and good way to go about things that have hurt you, regardless of who did it.

I agree actually, that my wording was not good. Ideally, someone who knows me would have said something by now but it's possible those are the people who know what I meant and let it slide bcs of that. I used excitable text about it, but the thought process was actually that I didn’t think the lineup was fair for a first round, and that the act of seeding a character we know damn well is popular among horny bloggers being lined up with notably less popular characters I very rarely see people going ham for. Did I say that? No lmao, that point was left to the wind and this was the result.

You are correct to not assume the fandom and fun post was related to my responses to the anon, it 100% was not. I had moved on by then and was thinking about how my favorite rarepairs now have people talking about them and telling me it's because I made it look fun or interesting. Back In My Day and frankly what I’m used to, it’s fandom that’s broken into little groups that talk about a character/ship/trope most often, while also branching out now and then into larger fandom when they catch an event the other group is doing. I do stand by the fact you have to make your own corner of this fandom, not just to convince anyone but because that’s what is going to make it worth participating in the first place.

This is a different topic than fans of color pointing out that the largest groups are for white m/m ships and made up of mainly white fans, and what that comes with in the larger scheme of things. I have 0 intention of speaking over that, which is why I make and share a lot of posts about fandom positivity, and roping your friends into a good time, while also sharing posts from fans of color outlining the problems they face in fandom.

TL,DR; If I do something shitty, anyone can pull me aside and say “hey dude, that sucked” and I will listen if they want to go into further detail. This has happened plenty of times already and will happen plenty more, does not hurt my feelings. I also do not trust anons to do this or actually care about the outcome. I’m sorry that I caused you distress with my response to the latter.

[effingunicorns]

14, 23, 24 for the choose violence ask?

I know very little about fma but I promise to take all your fandom opinions on it as gospel.

you are exceptionally kind (◡‿◡ ) this post is now front-loaded as hell.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

god, how to pick? obviously there's the whole bottom Ed thing--I don't usually care about top/bottom discourse in m/m ships unless someone's trying to say Dean Winchester's not a bottom, but there are literally only 51 Roy/Ed fics on AO3 where Ed tops out of more than 4,000 total fics in the ship tag, or out of a little under 2,000 if you restrict it to mature, explicit, and unrated fic. That's 1-2.5%!!! and I wrote two of them!!! why does no one believe in variety here!!!

but it gets better, because there's also several things that scream "I don't know how to deal with the passage of time in canon". basically, due to a huge personal fuck-up, Ed starts canon with two prosthetic limbs and the ability to transmute things into new shapes with a clap of his hands, as opposed to studying and making advance preparations like anyone else. he's also incredibly short for his age. he slowly and measurably gets taller as canon goes--which is weird enough for a manga/anime even before you factor in that his being sensitive about his height is key to a running gag--and at the very end there's a sequence of events where his prosthetic arm gets destroyed, his brother sacrifices himself to get Ed's original arm back, and then Ed sacrifices his ability to do alchemy at all to bring his brother back, having finally learned the lesson that people are more important than power. then everyone lives happily ever after and Ed grows to a perfectly normal height for his age--arguably even tall.

so naturally every post-canon fic is Edward Elric Keeps His Automail or Edward Elric Keeps His Alchemy, or both at once, or both at once and not even tagged for, or not in a way that can be properly wrangled. Ed still being short is such a given that the only tag regarding his height is if he actually gets tall like canon says he does! and there's a frankly weird amount of self-loathing over things he never had a problem with in canon, or things he pretty clearly came to terms with--it's exactly like that post from the other day about characters who are funny or mean to conceal their real feelings getting mischaracterized because fandom is too focused on the chewy bits.

and all of this isn't even getting into the fics where he stays in the military, but there are other questions to get into!

23. ship you’ve unwillingly come around to

I wouldn't add it to my wheelhouse or anything, but I've learned to see where the Elricest shippers are coming from. Ed and Al basically raise themselves for most of their childhood. Most of their few age-appropriate friends are some combination of fellow genius, royalty, and assassin, and the rest of their friends are mostly adults who treat them as fellow adults. their respective concepts of normal are off on another planet somewhere, and so it doesn't seem like as huge a leap as I used to think for them to say fuck it and add another taboo to the list. sure, they screwed up hard on the last one, but at least this one isn't likely to cost them body parts, right???

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

so far I've actively made an effort to not go searching things out. partially this is because stirring the pot in such an ancient fandom feels mean, and partially this is because I've got other wank to look at when I'm hungry, but legitimately I think most of the really bad stuff is buried in 15- to 20-year-old LJ comments, abandoned message boards, and the like. there's evidence of fancops in these lands, to be sure, but when the two actual most popular m/m ships in the fandom are 14-year age gap starring a teenager and brother/brother incest, and the most viable alternatives to either are all m/f, they don't really have room to shit all over everything.

(I kind of want to invite folks to send me evidence to the contrary so I can preemptively block, but I pretty much never get trouble here, so it wouldn't really make a difference 🤷🏻‍♀️)

the choose violence ask game! (or in app mode if my theme is too much)

[oolathurman]

Howlite: 👃🦴🚲

Athenyia: 👀😍👙

Eko: 💞🔥💐

Piping Hot OC asks which I'll be continuing to answer all night!

(^ howlite, athenyia, and eko, from left to right. eko is mixed sith pureblood/twi'lek. note to self, get another screenshot with athenyia's updated hair.)

Howlite

👃 : Does your OC smell good? Do they have a signature scent?

I imagine he smells like warm spices, mushrooms, and this very specific smell I associate with oil in a hot wok. (I'm not sure if it's the smell of the breath of the wok, or the hot oil, or both...)

He has a homey smell, if you've lived in a chinese kitchen half your life. It's the smell of a family waiting for you to join them at the table. It's comforting, inviting.

🚲 : Does your OC enjoy playing the field? Or are they more monogamy-minded?

While he certainly doesn't mind polygamy, he simply chooses to be devoted to whoever his partner(s) are at the time. When he dates, he will want to date a person(s) with the intent that he's looking for long term relationships and long term relationships only. If his partner(s) want to open up a relationship, he doesn't mind, though it's likely he will not pursue anyone else at that time.

🦴 : Does your OC have much sexual experience? What are they like?

Sorta as a result of the above, while he has experience he doesn't... have a diverse portfolio, shall we say. lol. But what he does know, he's good at. And while he may start of pretty vanilla, he's more than happy to try other things -- just take it slowly.

Athenyia

👀 : Does your OC believe they are attractive? Do they use that to their advantage?

HAH no. If you told her she was pretty she'd look at you like you asked what the spanish word for quesadilla was: Like you're a fucking idiot. She's got scars for days and cybernetics covering half her face, what the hell is attractive about that???

That said, she still does like colorful makeup, but mostly cuz she just likes the colors rather than anything else.

😍 : What does your OC find irresistible in others?

Cheekbones and well defined muscles. She likes watching how muscles flex and move under the skin, she likes studying them. How the light bounces off the skin, how tendons stretch and muscles relax… (Kind of like how she'll watch prey animals and find them fun to watch when she's on a hunting trip...)

👙 : What kind of underwear do they use? Is it pretty or functional?

It is unbearably practical. Part of it is that it's hard to find pretty underwear for fat bodies and part of it is that she doesn't know how to care for pretty lacy things. While she can be careful, she's not a gentle person, and would hate to rip something beautiful.

That said, I think that if she'd ever admit it, she'd like a nice set of basic lacy lingerie... but only if she didn't have to be the one to worry about making sure it stays lingerie and not turn into a pile of shredded fabric.

Eko

💞 : Do they treat sex casually or do they view it as something with a lot of emotional weight?

Oh he's so fucking casual about it. That said, it's hard to get in his pants (or skirt or dress) in the first place so good luck :']

🔥 : What’s a surefire way to make your OC get flustered?

Being better than him at something he likes. Like dancing. It's how Junba wooed him in the first place lol. That said, he can be pretty competitive so Eko would learn how to become a better dancer out of spite... There's a lot of 'anything you can do, I can do better' in Junba and Eko's relationship and the amount of competition between them has honestly just become part of their courtship rituals lmao.

💐 : What is their courting style? How would they woo someone?

I mean frankly, Eko just has to show interest in someone to woo them. Assuming that person is into short pretty boy twinks that is. He can be as picky as he wants when dating someone, pretty much.

[stop-him]

Be Honest, Art is Worthless to You

I remain - well, I don't know - surprised? baffled? dismayed? - at the number of takes that cross my path that complain about AI art, and how it's stealing from artists. That itself isn't the issue so much as then those same people turn around and almost in their very next breath justify some form of art piracy - music, movies, and so on.

I submit to you: this is the world you built, and you have no standing upon which to express outrage over AI now, because this is simply the logical extension of how we treat art. One poster put it like this: "companies need to learn that they're competing with free". That right there is brilliantly accurate and at the same time the very symptom of the problem. Why go see a movie or buy a DVD when you can sign up to a streaming service with hundreds of shows for the price of one each month? Why sign up for a streaming service when you can bum a password off a friend or relative? And then you loudly complain about how some new season's special effects are crap or the animation's all janky, and my dudes, that shit costs money, money which you are dead set against spending.

I get it: times are tough, the economy sucks, sure. And you are fortunate enough to live in a time where technology enables the taking of art without paying money. Let me tell you (cue someone with the Man Yells At Cloud meme), when I was young and I couldn't afford all the albums I wanted, I had to budget and make hard choices and set priorities, because stealing a vinyl LP was not nearly as easy as freeloading off the Internet. Nowadays, people can get anything they want all the time, so they come to believe they are entitled to everything, all the time. At least as far as media goes.

And in the graphic arts, like drawing and such, it's not like the signs haven't long been painted in bright day-glo colors, warning of exactly this fate. Anyone who's an artist or follows artists has heard horror stories of the entitled would-be commissioner who demands high-quality work and then is outraged to the point of abusiveness when expected to pay more than a couple bucks for it. We hold these people up as assholes of the highest order but then expect a band to let us have their music for free. "Go on tour! Sell merch!" we say. A person spends their youth practicing guitar or the drums so they can become a glorified t-shirt salesman.

So how could it be any shock or surprise that AI developers would treat the entire visual library of the Internet as their own personal reservoir of data? Why not? What ethical rule do we use for media that would stand in their way? Why should graphic artists and illustrators be treated any differently than musicians or filmmakers?

No, this is the life people asked for, only some people didn't expect that system to turn around and bite them.

Frankly, I've lost the will to argue with people about piracy itself - the rationalizations are too entrenched and cross-pollinated. Cue another meme, of the two muscular men clasping hands: one is a Communist who thinks all art should be free and the other is an Anarcho-Capitalist who's certain that free is the perfect market value as long as you can get it.

So you do you, kids - but admit it, to yourselves if not out loud, that you don't actually value art that much, if you can't give an artist so much as the price of a value meal at McDonald's in exchange for their work. And then, when the crowd clamoring for free art eternally and always turns and begins to chew at your own art and industry, don't be surprised when you encounter a certain lack of sympathy.

[centaurianthropology]

It’s time for more gif-inspired meta!  Because that is my way.

First off, I don’t think Isaac looks at Rey as an animal, but he is 100% certain that the Camarilla does and that view would forever exclude Rey from the Camarilla clubhouse.  That is not what I find most interesting about this moment.  What I find most interesting is that Isaac is both wrong and right at the same time, and both how he’s wrong and how he’s right are shaped through a lens of aggressive and unrecognized projection.

See, he’s wrong in that I do think that if Rey did enough and kept working at it the Camarilla probably would eventually let him in.  But he’s right that Rey will never be anything more than an animal to the Manhattan Camarilla (your mileage varies city to city, but the Manhattan Cam is yuppie and elitist as fuck, from what we’ve seen).  They would accept Rey, but he would never be anything more than a pet to them.  He would never be treated as an equal, and to Rey that’s going to be just as bad as being excluded entirely.

I think it would be similar for Serif.  Isaac insists that she would be executed by the Camarilla right along with him, but from what we’ve seen in season 2, reactions to Argus are not nearly so extreme.  If anything there is a generalized apathy about him.  So I think that Serif would not be entirely shut out, but she would be treated very much akin to how the homeless are treated by an elitist society: she would either be ignored, shooed along to be someone else’s problem, or treated as a charity case.  She would also never be equal, but she could be someone’s pity-cling-to-their-humanity-project.  Which would be frankly on the same level of mistreatment as Rey, and just as unacceptable to her.

But I say Isaac is projecting because he really is.  He looks at how the Camarilla would treat the others through the lens of how he knows they would treat him.  Just look at how Coco reacted when she learned that there was a Tzimisce in the Bronx.  This was not the apathy given to the Ravnos or the vague fascination given to the Gangrel.  This was a visceral horror and disgust, and it seems to be shared from the bottom to the top of the Camarilla.  The only thing they told Panhard that seemed to really get her attention was that their city had a Tzimisce in it, because Isaac is not a person to the Camarilla, and he’s not even something as benign as an animal.  To the Camarilla, based on nothing more than his clan, Isaac is a monster.

  And you don’t treat monsters as pets or charity cases.  You put them down.  

Isaac is in the unique position of being part of the one clan who the Camarilla genuinely would not accept, and would hunt down and kill rather than even consider tolerating.  He is a threat that has to be eliminated, the stain of the Sabbat never washed away the way that the Lasombra managed.  His clan isn’t just mystical or  strange or ruthless; they are body horror personified.  And there is nothing he can do about that except keep his head down and get in good enough with the Anarchs that he buys himself a measure of protection.

So of course he looks at the people who--through no choice or fault of his own-- want to exterminate him, and view them and their actions through the least possible charitable lens.  And it even makes sense that he would take the danger he’s in and project it onto other ‘outcast’ clans like Gangrel and Ravnos.  It’s safer, and frankly there’s a level of comfort there, not being alone to face the axe.  If there’s  a whole lot of clans who would also be killed or shunned, he’s less of a priority.  If he’s alone as the one Anarch Tzimisce, the only one of that faction that the Camarilla would actively hunt down purely based on his clan, that’s so much worse.

I think this is what’s so much fun about having the most experienced and knowledgeable of this coterie still be very young and his perceptions still be very warped by wrong conclusions about things he’s heard and experienced.  It means that Isaac is often wrong, and the information the coterie is running on can also often be wrong.  But it also means he’s right on weird levels, that he perceives the way things really work, and even if he comes to the wrong conclusions about those things, you can figure out fascinating truths about unlife in New York through his perspective.

New York By Night | 01.08 Virtue Overthrow

[fozmeadows]

race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.  

[animeyanderelover]

Hey, can I request Chrollo, Illumi, Machi, and Tsukuyama with a darling who is an animal hybrid (think neko but it doesn’t have to be a cat) and they treat them like a pet? Thank you 💕 you’re amazing!

I just went with a Neko since this is like…the most well-known and famous animal hybrids in Anime? Btw, for the characters from HxH, this is not a Nen ability.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, clinginess, touchiness, manipulation, stalking, darling being treated like a pet, strictness, mentions of kidnapping

Darling is a Neko

Illumi Zoldyck

🤎​His social skills with humans and cats alike need some practice so I doubt he would really treat his darling much differently at the beginning. Illumi in general is someone who doesn't really know how to act once he has his darling abducted. He only knows that he wants control and somehow also wishes that you return the love he has for you in a more open way than he is able to do. He remains indifferent to the fact that his darling is basically a Neko as long as he can keep them and form them into the lover he wants. It's due to the interference of his family that he comes to slowly change his behavior and seems to become aware that you act differently according to your cat side. His mother makes a fuss due to your cat-like appearance at first and Milluki, as the anime and Neko fan he is, desperately wants to meet and pet you. Silva and Zeno take it all with a cooler attitude, still wonder if your reflexes, stamina and senses are on a better point since cats are predators.

🤎​And Illumi is having none of it. He's possessive and just wants darling for himself, he does not want them to take part in assassination nor does he want anyone from his family interacting much with them. Milluki is due to his obsession with a Neko especially bad and there is a real danger that he will get himself killed from Illumi if he pushes his brother's nerves one more time. He had a few near-death experiences already when he tried to somehow sneak past his brother to get a glance of you. Maybe that all helps him realize that you are different, your own behavior only enhances that. If you are in the mood, you try to get some affection from literally anyone which irritates him silently, though he has ensured that everyone knows what happens if they touch you. The only option is going to him and even if he is rather awkward with it, he won't allow anyone else to touch you and he might start to understand why Milluki is so eager to pet you when you starts purring for him. Illumi starts focusing on your cat-like personality more since he realizes that it's a way to gain your attention and affection more which mirrors in the presents he gives you as a sign of his love.

Chrollo Lucilfer

📖He's always expressed curiosity in the nature of other people and the same definitely counts for his s/o as well. Especially since they are an animal hybrid he is interested whether or not the typical character of a cat is part of his darling's personality and he, frankly spoken, enjoys figuring his darling out. He never gets bored though, he finds it all rather endearing if he might say so himself. Chrollo is someone who wants to tame you if you're his darling and ironically or not you just happen to be half of an animal. Cats are known to have their own heads and do what they want to do which makes the whole thing much more interesting for Chrollo. He likes to explore your character and figure out how he can insert his own will slowly and steadily into you. Witnessing how you start to let your guard slowly down when he is around and how you stop hissing and baring your claw and teeth threateningly against him is a sweet reward for him. Patience and observation always pays off after all.

📖​Since you literally have a human and animal side on you, it's best for him to explore both sides equally and use both aspects to his advantage. Humans and animals might not be that different in the end though. A attached cat is known to get rather cuddly with their owner and enjoy their attention and pets so he knows very well that he has won you over the moment you start seeking him out for touches. Chrollo wouldn't necessarily call you his "pet" in the typcial sense, you're more like a precious treasure of his he wants to keep close to him until he is unable to do so. At the same time he's ready to use whatever is effective to not let you think of anyone else that isn't him. He puts his own pleasure above yours if he wants, is willing to indulge in what you want if it is a sign that you love and trust him enough. He forbids other members of the Phantom Troupe to touch you at first though since he plans to use your touch-starved side, whether stirring from the human or cat inside of you, against you so that you can only really go to him for any sort of touches.

Machi Komacine

🪡​Machi is a strict type and I don't really see her wanting to dehumanize her darling as her "pet", Neko be damned. You have to keep in mind that Machi is despite her sharp and rude attitude someone who cares much for her darling to the point where she worries for them due to their hybrid blood. If it's possible, she would like to avoid kidnapping her darling so she has to worry a bit about how others will react to you being different than the majority. She wouldn't admit it instantly, but she cares a lot more than she might show at first. It's not like you are a damsel in distress, you have literal claws to defeat yourself with after all. Machi is a cautious woman though and her little secret she keeps from you adds another layer of worries for her to think about. She wants to treat you like an equal to her and others, especially since you might have experienced bullying and a treatment like that of a cat that anyone can touch when they feel like it already. She works to gain your trust.

🪡​She's very willing to defend her s/o from anyone who thinks that they can harass them just like that, fear this pink-haired woman everyone. Your personality that resembles a cat causes her to worry sometimes a bit as well, even with your enhanced senses and strength. You chase after things that awaken your curiosity, climb on high things and your playful attitude can lead to problems sometimes as well. Some aspects of your cat-like behavior might be a little bit weird, she never calls you out for it since she understands that this is just part of your very nature. Sometimes she does scold you, mainly when you got yourself a bir ruffled up though. Machi is not known to be a cuddler so she gets positively flustered and embarrassed whenever you want to canoodle with her by rubbing your body boldly against hers or just climb on her lap. She wants to keep her tough act together after all, her facade has to crumble eventually before she gives in and indulges your cat-side.

Shuu Tsukiyama

🍷​Dear people, I present you...the drama king himself. Truth be told, Shuu is just totally over the top with literally every action he takes. He sees his darling in a role where he has to play the prince to save them since they obviously have to be saved. Even with you not being a ghoul who has to devour humans, you are still a freak in the eyes of the public at best and at worst another monster that has to be examined. He does you a favor by taking you with him and you should be grateful to him, even if he did all of it totally out of his own selfish desires. If we're talking about him still being the sadistic, little piece of shit it might very well end with him not only physically tormenting you due to you being a rare species and for that tasting very unique, but also mentally ending up teasing and mocking you and your cat-like appearance like the ears and the tail. Tsukiyama is such a wild card during the first few stages of his obsession so you have every right to prepare to clah with him and it isn't until his father appears that things change for you.

🍷​The struggle to hide your real self out of fear to be hunted down and killed is something Mirumo understands, both ghouls and you as a Neko can't do anything against the way you were born after all. On top of that the way Tsukiyama has treated you as a partner is unacceptable and so the life-altering lesson starts with the end result that Shuu turns into one of the most clingy and smothering guys ever. Suddenly it's all about spoiling you and keeping you happy instead of the constant fear of him wanting to take a bite out of you. I'd say that it's likely that it really might look like Shuu treats you like a pet, that is not quite the truth though. His father would never accept that for beginners and at this rate Tsukiyama himself has literally become a worshipper. Blame it on his overly affectionate side that some people might gain the wrong impression. The guy just loves to drown his darling gifts and affection and he finds the purrs you make adorable.

[books-and-catears]

I liked the one about a ghost MC it was a really cute idea! I wanted to request something similar, where the MC who has a the appearance of the Japanese slit mouthed woman. She is a regular human and you can decide if she got the scar's from an accident or not, but she always where's a face mask to hide it and eats alone rather then with the brothers. When she's asked why they say "People can't eat when I they see my face." But one day she finally trusts the brothers enough to show her face.

OH MY GOD I KNOW THIS GHOST. If I'm not wrong, this ghost is called the Kuchisake Onna, kuchi meaning mouth.

This is so wholesome I love it. Your asks are so adorable :')

It has been forever since the accident. And yet the scar makes it feel like yesterday. Two scars running up towards your cheeks, making it look like you're constantly smiling. You hated mirrors at this point, without your mask especially.

You hear loud talking from the dining room downstairs as you stare at your meal on your study table. When was the last time you ate a meal with other people?

"What do you mean you won't eat with us MC?" Mammon and Asmo parotted every other day.

"People can't eat when they see my face." You left with that reply, refusing to answer the follow up questions.

Yours was a face only a mother could love, they said. Some screamed, some smiled sympatheticallly, the others nervously scattered away from the last time you tried to eat out by yourself. The restaurant requested you to leave since they were losing customers.

You walk up to the stairway, watching the brothers in their usual chaos. Maybe - just maybe, they won't be repulsed. Surely they've seen more horrifying things than you?

"Um..." You cleared your throat loudly. All of them stopped and looked at you. You usually never showed up until half an hour after meals.

But today you called out to the one of them. "Would you mind eating with me tonight...?"

Lucifer

"Of course I wouldn't mind MC."

He promptly got up with his plate as if he was already prepped for this day. Swiftly follows you into your room.

He sat down across you and began eating normally. "Thank you for inviting me in MC. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Nothing just..." You said untying your mask. "It felt like a good day." The mask fell off your face into your lap.

You paused and stared at Lucifer. He only looked shocked for a split second before a hidden rage clouded beneath his eyes. "Did someone deliberately-"

"No it was an accident. I was getting my teeth fixed when the lights went out and I moved. And something cut through my- well you can see." You explained.

"I see. Well that's quite unfortunate." Lucifer said and began picking at his plate.

You felt uneasy as chewed your food."You can leave if you feel repulsed. I wouldn't force you to-"

"No such thing MC. I was just thinking of consulting Satan and Solomon. Surely they know of spells that can heal your scars if you want them gone." Lucifer replied promptly. "And it's going to take a lot more than scars to scare us demons away."

"Lucifer...thank you." You said quietly.

"If possible I'd like to eat dinner with you from now on, MC. Frankly it's much calmer and it's a relief from my brothers."

After a long time, you laugh without your mask on.

Mammon

"I'll be right there, MC!"

Hurriedly grabs whatever food he has making a mess and jumps to his feet. He is in such a hurry, it's a miracle he didn't drop half of his dinner.

He plops down across the table from you, grinning ear to ear. "Of course you'd choose the Great Mammon to eat with ya!"

You nodded and chuckled, "Of course. But would you choose to eat with me?" Your pulled your mask away from your face.

His eyes went wide and then watery in the same instant. Is he..crying? "I-Im sorry..." You feel horrible so you hurry and tie the mask back up. Mammon grabs your hands and holds them down.

"I'm not crying stupid human! I'm just...you..you must have been in pain..when that happened." He said. "Who did this to you..."

"It's okay it was an accident, Mammon." You try to calm him down.

"Then why do you hide it? It's not even your fault!" Mammon said pouting. You looked down, "People get uncomfortable..."

Mammon shot up from his chair. "WHO DARE MAKE YOU FEEL BAD ABOUT IT? Show me I'll get them all! Noone messes with my human! I'm yer protector ain't I?! You never have to wear that thing around me!"

You blushed as he moved forward and hugged you, burying your face into his shoulder. "Mammon..."

You knew he was the best protector out there.

Leviathan

"I'm coming right away, don't worry MC!"

Stumbles around with his plate at your sudden invitation. His day has come. He is the chosen one.

He struggles to sit down, feeling estatic and nervous at the same time. "I didn't think you'd want to eat with me of all people, MC..."

"After tonight, maybe you'll feel that way about me Levi..." You said, taking off your mask. His face lit up as he let out a loud "Woahhh!"

Thinking he was scared you tried to hide it again before he screamed, "MC you look just like my favourite character from that horror romance anime "I fell for my best friend's scarred smile! That's so cool!"

You blink at him, blushing. What is with him and his oddly specific anime names!? Levi was oblivious to your shock ,going off at his own tangent. "You could pull off the perfect cosplay, come to my room tomorrow I can design it for you and then I'll make my own to go with it and we can go to the next convention-"

"Levi Levi calm down you'll run out of breath!" You couldn't hold in your laughter.

He stared at you awestruck,"So cute...why would you hide that cute face MC?" You shake your head, "Not everyone sees it as cute Levi."

"Well sucks for them to be such stupid normies." Levi blushed and scoffed.

Levi was the best friend everyone deserves and you were glad to have him.

Satan

"I'd be delighted to join you MC."

Was slightly taken aback at first but quickly composes himself and his dinner and follows you. His pace faster than usual.

Pulls out your chair for you like a gentleman and sits down himself. You smile and blush at the action. "So how was your day MC?" He asks like a gentleman, avoiding the elephant in the room, choosing it normalise it. You let the mask fall off your face.

"Oh..." Satan sat up straight, his shoulders stiff, his eyes going wide in anger. "Who dared to-"

"No no no Satan it was an accident!" You had to explain the whole thing for him to calm down. Then he nodded and held out his palm. "May I see how the deep the scar is MC?"

That was new. Noone has wanted to touch your scars before. When you nod, he reaches out and runs his fingers softly across your scars. "Hmm don't worry. They're not too deep. I can have them gone in a matter of days. That is if you'd like to me to."

It's like he knew. As much as you hated that scar, it kind of helped you see people's true intentions. You looked down unsure. Satan held your hand. "It's normal to get attached to scars you have for too long. None of us here will treat you any differently with or without it."

You smiled at him and held one of his fingers playfully. He laughed, his cheeks turning pink. "Ah now that's a smile I'd love to see everyday. May I have dinner with you more often MC?"

"Of course." His words and his presence were always calming to you.

Asmodeus

"I was wondering when you'd ask MC!"

Daintily picks up all of things and paces after you. He was excited but he restrained himself but he didn't want to scare you off.

Sits down close to you, smiling gleefully. He's just happy to be there with you. Grabs something off your plate with a fork and holds it upto your mouth. "MC come here let me feed you!"

It was probably the most nerve wracking to open your mask in front of him. The Avatar of Lust, the most beautiful being in Hell, and you- ugh, what's the point? You've come this far, let's get it over with. You put your mask down, bite off the potato off his fork.

You'd think Asmo would probably gasp and act all dramatic and hysterical. But instead he cupped your face, his eyes filled with worry and tenderness. "MC how long have you had this...?"

"A little over three years." You answered honestly. Asmo looked like he was about to cry. "You've been hiding away your pretty face from people for three years..." Asmo pulled you in a hug. "Noone deserves that. It's too lonely."

"Oh I'd hardly call it pretty-" Before you can even retort, he is glaring and pouting at you, holding your shoulders.

"I think I know beauty a little better than you, MC. And I say you're gorgeous and I'm going to eat with you everyday now." Asmo huffed to which you laughed.

Everyone deserves a hypeman like Asmo in their lives.

Beelzebub

"Oh? Me? Sure MC!"

Is surprised but happily goes along with you with all his food. You know he loves you when he gets midway from eating just to eat in your room.

He sits across, already muching away at his food. "Thank you for asking me to eat with you MC." You nod and tentatively take your mask off, trying not to draw too much attention for it.

Beel looks up shocked, his mouth full of food but he stopped chewing. He involuntarily reaches out to touch you, "Does it hurt MC?"

You shake your head. "It's years old Beel. It's okay. " Beel looks genuinely relieved at that and goes back to eating again. He doesn't seem bothered by it at all after that.

"Say MC will you be free next week? I could use your help in the new workout I'm doing. I need to train particular muscles for the big game they said." He switched to a whole new topic just like that. "Also this means I get to eat with you every day right?"

You felt warm inside. You were more than just your scar and Beel made you feel like that by hardly saying anything at all.

Belphegor

"...me huh? No I wouldn't mind."

Has a smug grin on his face as he gathers up his meal and slowly heads upward with you, making sure his brothers see how you chose him over the others. Cheeky cow.

He sits leaning into you cause he's too lazy to sit up straight. "So what's the special occasion MC? A face reveal?" Wow this one is direct.

He is staring right at you, as you pull off the mask slowly, thinking if it was a bad idea. His eyes grow wide for a split second before his fingers are already near your mouth feeling the scars.

"Deliberate or accident?" He asks. "Accident." You answer. He nods, "Good. I'm too tired today, wouldn't be able to take appropriate revenge." His fingers never leave your face.

"Is that why you keep it covered? You're embarrassed of it?" He asks. You think about it for a while. "I think I accepted it, it just seemed to make people uncomfortable and scared, if I smiled or opened my mouth to eat." You answer.

He smirked. "Then smile more. Let their cowardly selves feel uncomfortable. It's their problem that they can't see how cute your smile is."

That was surprisingly thoughtful. You smiled at him. "Thanks..."

He smirked back, "Also I'm going to be eating here from now on. My brothers annoy me."

He's cheeky but he has a good heart. Smiling never felt so easy.

[anhed-nia]

Spoilers be here

The more I think about this movie the less I like it. Under the veneer of competence and sentimentality there may be nothing but a gimmick, and it's an old gimmick too: "What if we made a zombie movie but with REAL human drama instead of all that horror bullshit?" It feels like someone has to ask this question every few years and everybody treats it like it's a really novel idea, even though George Romero was immediately doing Real Human Drama when he invented the zombie subgenre as we know it, and he never stopped. I'm not really doing any kind of good or responsible film analysis here, I'm just venting about this personal pet peeve that won't die (ahem). But this is why I didn't like The Walking Dead (comic or show), because of all this posturing on the part of BOTH the writers and their audiences suggesting that it was really brave and sophisticated of them to have psychological realism and character deaths, and to say "This is NOT a story about scary monsters, it's REALLY about human nature etc" when they're really just imitating what Romero perfected decades earlier. And I mean it would be foolish to insist on originality in any case, but your familiar, derivative thing still needs to be good, it's not enough to just be very serious and self-satisfied. I'm not so sure that HANDLING THE UNDEAD is anything more than just very satisfied with its own seriousness.

Another thing I don't like so much here is also a reoccurring issue in modern horror cinema, and it is also supposed to confer instant sophistication onto a film without the hassle of good writing: that thing of being deliberately ambiguous with your story. I happen to have a very high tolerance for this, in fact I am less tolerant of movies that bend over backwards to rationalize and explain themselves; I mean film is a visual and atmospheric medium, you should be able to tell me a complete story without trying to convince me that it happened in real life. But if you're going to do that thing where some facts are deliberately left in shadow and there are no easy answers etc, there should be a real motivation for it other than just trying to seem smart and artsy. Like in TROUBLE EVERY DAY, which feels like it has about twelve lines of dialog, you don't need any more information than what you get in order to feel fully involved with the story, and in fact more information might have just made the film feel bloated and defensive. But some filmmakers seem like they've decided to be withholding as a stylistic gesture--like they're doing it because they saw Claire Denis (or someone) do it. They don't know why Denis does it, they're just jealous of that bewitching power she has, so they're going to leave stuff out too. But if you don't know what you're doing, this can be really detrimental, for instance:

Some of the characters in HANDLING THE UNDEAD have some sort of troubled past that is not explained. An angsty young burnout doesn't resolve whatever-the-problem-is with her mother before the mom gets zombified, and this is supposed to make their situation extra fraught...but in reality the conclusions are all the same as with all the other characters, "It's really sad when someone dies, you can never go home again, etc." Meanwhile in another segment a woman and her father contend with the re-animation of her five year old son, which raises huge questions not the least of which is "How does a five year old die?" I mean this isn't the dark ages, they don't just expire from obscure weaknesses. And there's this unexplained enmity between the woman and her father, and it's impossible to tell if they're just "dealing with grief differently" or if one of them is specifically culpable in the child's death or what...but once again none of this impacts the answer to the movie's central question, once again it all just boils down to "It's really sad when someone dies." Which frankly is something that nobody really needs to be told. But I think if you propose but refuse to answer a question that is way more intriguing than the central question that you do answer, then that's a big problem and you should rethink why you're doing things the way you're doing them. The End.

HANDLING OF THE UNDEAD (Hanteringen av odöda)

There's a certain common experience of comic awkwardness--actually there's even a Mr. Show sketch about it, if I remember correctly--where, after bidding a sincere farewell to someone at the end of an enjoyable night out, you make the unfortunate realization that you're both walking the same way home. Emotionally you are both somewhere else now, "the night" is conceptually over, and now you're trapped together without a script. Although Thea Hvistendahl's feature debut HANDLING THE UNDEAD probably has nothing else in common with Mr. Show, they both ask this same basic question about closure and the persistence of the past. The film concerns three families of the recently re-animated; there's a sort of will they/won't they tension regarding the obvious question of whether these zombies will behave in the traditional manner, but the focus is more strongly on the emotional problem of accepting that things will never again be as they once were.

I think this film is really going to do it for modern horror fans who have come to expect direct explorations of tough topics like grief and trauma. For me personally, I found it highly competent, but a little flat; yes, it is sad, it is VERY sad, it is VERY, VERY SAD, and what more can one really expect? At my screening director Hvistendahl was available for questions, and she candidly confessed that she didn't have any personal experiences with grief to which she could refer--a fact that had no impact on the amount of sniffling in the audience. She inherited the project from others, after a few false starts over the last decade; it is adapted from a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, better known for LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, and the writer really did have a powerful reference point for grief. According to Hvistendahl his father was literally defaced in a hideous boating accident and, despite the warnings of morgue workers, he insisted on viewing the body. The filmmaker says that her own reference points lay outside her life; that she drew inspiration from others who'd had closer encounters with death.

Personally, I started thinking about people I've known who died early in the film, and then I just couldn't stop. I wondered what would happen if various people came back. The basic assumption might be that it's usually desirable to have somebody back, if you missed them. But I feel like things are likely to be more complicated, especially if the living have already gone some distance through the grieving process--potentially accessing feelings that were too hard to face during the deceased's lifetime.

I thought about a much-admired friend, somebody who was kind of my hero and who was adored by everyone who knew her, who killed herself. The main initial reaction among her closest loved ones was rage. People were so, SO angry with her for leaving them, or not allowing them to save her, or maybe for forcing them to feel as sad and lonely as she felt, or for whatever other things seem to piss people off so much about suicide. I don't know what would happen if she came back to life. I mean probably a lot of people would lay down their arms and try to be grateful, but who knows. That kind of really personal anger can be hard to come back from.

I also thought about a couple I know well, the wife was extremely well-loved by many people, all of whom were devastated when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The painful, protracted illness made the loss all the more awful, and it fell to her surviving family members to preserve and sort of reenact her memory for everyone else. But the reality was that things were not so perfect at home--not to suggest anything really dark, but the couple would have been divorced had she survived. So then she died and her widower was left holding the proverbial bag; he could never have the personal satisfaction of separating from someone who was not right for him, and criticizing her would be unthinkable. If she came back to life...sure, they might divorce, but it's just as likely that he would suffer public pressure to honor and keep her in a more extreme way than usual for the rest of his life.

Finally I thought about a friend of mine who was murdered. I watch a lot of slasher movies, and whenever I hear the criticism that horror lovers must all be desensitized or delusional about real violence, I think about this person who was senselessly killed by a random psychopath at her sister's wedding. It shattered our circle of friends and I cannot imagine what it did to her family, especially her sister. I mean even if they were to do another wedding, it would be impossible not to think of the murder the second time. It would be permanently associated with the new couple. It's hard to even wrap your mind around all the effects of this event. In this case--setting aside the problems of zombies, which I have left out of my meditation--I can only think that having my friend back really would fix things for everyone.

So maybe ultimately I'm saying that HANDLING THE UNDEAD would be a more interesting movie if the losses in it were a bit more complicated in some way. However, I can't ask one film to be all things to all people, and surprise is a particularly difficult thing to achieve. But if you like John Ajvide Lindqvist and you want to be surprised, I strongly advise you to watch BORDER. You will see some stuff in there that you will never see anywhere else in your life, and it probably won't bum you out too much.