#with those shallow assed analysis

[m4el-1t0]

You can dislike or even fucking HATE TSOA as much as you like idgaf but some of the shit y'all come here and say is getting ridiculous. Y'all be like 15 coming into this god forsaken website saying shit like "Yeah man I don't think a woman who's been studying The Iliad and Homeric hymns and Greco-Roman culture in general for like 20 years understand what the fuck she's doing with these characters. I think she just lied about all her degrees and just wanted to write mid Yaoi lol I definitely know more than her even though I just read The Iliad a month ago for a school project and like 3 Wikipedia articles"

[ladyshinga]

The saddest thing I've noticed in all the Acolyte whining (well ok the saddest is just the blatant bigotry, this is the second saddest) is the deeply incurious nature of Reaction culture. An incomplete and unfinished story has people SCREAMING in rage because of "plot holes" and "inconsistencies" which were, bear with me here... HINTS. They were HINTS. There was PLOT hidden in those "holes", you were SUPPOSED to notice something funky was going on. That's what HAPPENS in a STORY.

But when the culture is all about "well I need to IMMEDIATELY have a strong Reaction to things the SECOND they come out, therefore there is no time to bother with nuance or patience to see where a story goes before I call it out as a flaw"

If you wanna speedrun this sort of content, that one guy, what's his face... Cinema Sins? he'll do this for a full video with seemingly no self-awareness. He'll whine in the first 20 minutes of the film that there's a "plot hole" and then that "hole" is revealed to actually be on purpose and explained perfectly in the next 60 minutes of the film and he won't even BOTHER to edit out his own shortsightedness from his reaction video. Because he doesn't care. Because the point is never actual media analysis, it's JUST the dopamine rush of an IMMEDIATE Reaction. the immediate judgement. the cheap and easy laugh of "figuring out" where the creators fucked up.

Don't be that guy. Don't shriek about plot holes in unfinished stories. Just shut up and, like. Wait. Before you show your own ass to the whole world as some one who can't figure out media analysis beyond the most shallow possible interpretations. it's just a Reaction. and god are those boring.

[fuumiku]

Chilcille huh... ngl I was a little suspicious. like why would you do that, huh... hope youre not mischaracterizing anyone in your weird and wacky ship. a little weird. but then you said they both had flat asses and you know what? I salute you and your perfect characterization

The fact you seem to think you managed to not make this ask insulting is baffling. What the hell. Fuck off.

If you actually care to be open minded about the ship, I talk about marchil on my sideblog 24/7. Funnily enough I’m currently 4k words deep into an analysis of their character arc together in canon, but that’ll take some more days to get done. Some notable posts:

Of course without counting the analyses of Chilchuck on his own I’ve made, like my masterpost on his family situation. Or better yet you could also read my fics for them, see how weird and wacky they are here.

Wanna talk about mischaracterisation? They’re literally a comedic duo who interacts 24/7. Marchil is crazy bc ppl are like "did those shipper read with their eyes CLOSED?? They have no chemistry!" Meanwhile canon is like: "She’s obsessed with knowing everything she can about him and she reads him like a book." In her eyes he’s like that extra rare and hard and shiny unlockable dating sim character, that brooding mysterious character trope that’s thrilling to crack open and typically is at the center of the plot. The wife roleplay???? "Hey, did you know his type is blondes. Hey did you know he likes his women pretty and blonde. Hey did you know he likes her hair. Hey did you know that he teases her 24/7 and it’s one of the few things that consistently gets him grinning because he finds her reactions cute." Like a schoolyard bully pulling on the pigtails of the girl he likes.

It’s not like they have any thematic narratives or relevance. It’s not like she’ll live to 1000 and has existential dread about it while he’s logically gonna be her next friend to die at 50 and wether it’s romantic or platonic it’ll terrify her to lose him. It’s not like it’s fear of death x fear of rejection so they’re both obsessed with the thought of loss looming, past and ongoing. It’s not like it’s half-elf x half-foot and there’s an inherent journey that was and still is to dispel prejudices and truly come to see each other. It’s not like he’s painfully real and raw and flawed but still a good man, that he’s not the figure of prince charming that she’s always dreamed of while still being virtuous and worth fighting for. Or you know, her hair being golden and it being the epitome of beauty to him, and his hair turning silver and it being Marcille’s worst nightmare.

Just a weird wacky ship who means nothing but shallow things to people who have weirdo reasons for liking it. Like can you not. If you’re not imaginative enough to think of reasons why this ship may have an appealing dynamic that’s not my issue. But yes, yes, they’re both flat asses to me, thanks.

[sunniedesi]

In Defense of Future Diary...

TW: lots of yapping.

Making a small essay for Future Diary is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Since my entire blog is dedicated to the series, it only feels right to put something like this out into the ether. However, I’m never sure of the topics that I want to discuss the most. Do I write a defense for the show? My reasons for loving it so much? Its relevance and importance for anime culture? An analysis of Yuno’s character? There’s so much I feel you could say, but I never find the right words to express my feelings coherently. Today, I’ll make the attempt, though. I’ll go over all of the aforementioned questions here, mostly focusing on my personal opinions and feelings regarding the show. I don’t have much experience writing essays or analyses of media, so sorry in advance if my yapping is all over the place.

To begin, I should probably address the elephant in the room: Future Diary, despite its popularity and almost cult-classic status, has turned into a show people love to hate. You see it everywhere, when it comes to reviews, comments, opinion pieces, you name it, if it has Future Diary on the title, people will let you know all the gripes they have with the show. And while I tend to feel defensive or even saddened when I see so much hatred directed at my favorite show… I don’t necessarily blame anyone for feeling that way. I don’t want to be one of those people who pretends to hold the intellectual high-ground, acting as if everyone else is media-illiterate and I’m the one who truly gets the meaning of the series. At the end of the day, it’s just an anime, it’s not that deep. Everyone’s gonna like what they like; we all have different tastes and interests, so it’s only natural we all hold such different opinions about the show, especially given its campy, gory and almost edgy nature. Future Diary is definitely a product of early 2000’s trends, which some people (me lol) appreciate, and others certainly don’t.

That being said, while I respect people disliking the show for personal reasons, there are certain criticisms I see thrown its way that are not necessarily warranted. These issues can be boiled down to the following categories: “plot-holes,” a weak protagonist and toxic pairings. I’ll delve into all of these in a second, but I must say, the amount of times I’ve seen these specific points parroted over and over again makes me believe that many of the people making these arguments are piggybacking off of one another. It’s almost like they’re following a trend, repeating how the protagonist “sucks ass” and that the plot makes zero sense, without showing any examples as to how. 

It’s really common to find shallow arguments like those in comments sections and forums, but since I don’t want to feel like I’m barking up a tree in writing this essay, I decided to look for a source that encapsulated all of the common criticisms, while also backing them up with examples. Now, there are many good video essays out there on Future Diary, my personal favorite is by The Hot Box. But as far as critical pieces go, the one I found that goes the most in-depth is by the creator NezumiVA, titled: Mirai Nikki is Garbage, and Here’s Why. I’ll be referencing the video as I go along, but please note that while I disagree with many of this creator’s arguments, I don’t intend this to be a personal attack. As I said earlier, we’re all entitled to our different tastes and opinions, I can respect them disliking the series while having my own criticisms to give regarding the video. Just a little disclaimer so my intentions aren’t misconstrued here. 

With that out of the way, let’s take a deeper look into the main three arguments I mentioned before:

“The plot-holes eat up the show”

If you’ve been in the fandom for a while, you know that this is probably one of the most common criticisms levied towards Future Diary, and perhaps the one that holds the most weight. Or at least it would be, if it weren’t for the fact that “plot-holes” aren’t exactly the issue people are pointing at here. To explain, I believe people who dish out this claim all have different understandings of the definition of “plot-hole,” so to clarify: a plot-hole is an inconsistency, a contradiction in the narrative. For example, Yuno’s diary is all about Yukki, if she were to have diary entries not about him, that could be considered a plot-hole, as it contradicts the original narrative. A smaller detail being unexplained or overlooked for the sake of pacing is not a plot-hole. A flaw, yes, but as long as it doesn’t contradict what’s already been established in the story, it’s not a plot-hole. 

On one hand, it is true that there are certain Deus Ex Machina moments that aren’t properly explained in the show (heck, the god of this universe is called that for a reason), such as: how does 5th acquire all of his booby traps? Or where did 9th pull that motorcycle from? Why are characters so quick to forgive/forget certain events? These are smaller details that aren’t properly justified on-screen for the sake of pacing and making the show more interesting. You could possibly count this more as a case of poor characterization, particularly with 5th’s character having a lot of knowledge despite his age or Hinata quickly accepting the coin toss challenge despite having an advantage. Given the show only has 26 episodes, it’s only natural that detailed explanations for smaller details are omitted to make the show flow quicker and be more entertaining. While this may bother some people, I don’t find it to be such a big deal, or at least not a reason to dogpile on the show, when many other animes with shorter runtime fall victim to poor characterization as well. 

Many deem the plot nonsensical for missing these smaller explanations, but again, I find that exaggerated as they’re much, much trivial details that the majority of people don’t think of or focus on when watching the show. The video I referenced touches on the plot being illogical several times, not necessarily mentioning plot-holes per se, but complaining that many of the justifications behind certain plot points are unrealistic or contrived, though let’s be real here… since when is anime realistic? Future Diary, I would argue, does a good job of balancing very unrealistic scenarios with some realistic characters (like Yukki, but we’ll get into that later), which is what makes it interesting to watch. After all, what’s the fun in watching a fantasy show if it’s completely grounded in reality? Not to mention that many of the points brought up in the video aren’t contrived, especially if you were paying attention to the show. For example, the scene of Yuno meditating to figure out Reisuke’s plan. This wasn’t a Deus Ex Machina moment, it was foreshadowing of the fact she has her first-world memories locked away, and the meditation was her trying to access those memories. Same thing with Bacchus having an overpowered diary, it isn’t for the sake of it, he literally designed it to be that way, because he was the one who presented the idea of the diaries to Deus in the first place.

I’m getting a little side-tracked here, but you get the point. Ultimately, the worst sin a show can commit is being boring, and while Future Diary has its flaws in pacing and characterization, it contributes in keeping the viewers hooked to the action, packing its small run of 26 episodes with quite a bit of entertainment. Moreover, a lot of people overreact to these so-called “plot-holes”, yet they also fail to pay attention as to why things happen as they do in the show. Many of these criticisms can be summed up as either: trivial details that are omitted since they have little relevance to the plot and/or people not paying attention to what’s going on. 

Moving on, let’s tackle another very, very popular argument:

“Yukiteru is a total pushover (to put it nicely).” 

This is, without a doubt, the most common criticism I’ve seen people have of the show. I’m not sure if this is because people are used to the upbeat, overpowered protagonist trope in anime, but people don’t realize that Yukki being frustrating, awkward and terrified is an important part of the show’s storytelling, not to mention relatively unique. Very rarely do we see a realistic portrayal of a teenage protagonist in anime, and it is important for the show since it serves as a contrast to the other characters, all dark, callous and obsessed with the goal of becoming a God. Yukki is the only character not interested in any of this at the beginning. All he wanted was to escape reality with his phone and imaginary friends, and he's now thrusted into this terrible and hopeless situation. How exactly is a young boy expected to react under these circumstances? 

Teenagers are naive, dumb, selfish, all characteristics portrayed in Yukiteru, and these characteristics are put under scrutiny by every one of the diary owners, constantly telling him to grow a pair and stop using Yuno. This is easier said than done when you’re used to avoiding every little bit of responsibility in your life, and a girl who’s self-reportedly “crazy good at killing people” suddenly thrusts into your life ready to do all the work for you. Yukki is indeed a very flawed character, but that isn’t an accident, it is an intentional addition. It’s what makes him interesting; it pushes conflict into the show, and most importantly, drives home one of the main lessons of the show with Yukki’s development: fear doesn’t mean you’re not brave, it’s having that fear and pushing forward that makes you brave. A little corny, I know, but a valuable lesson for the Survival Game. 

Every character has an incentive for becoming God, and they’re utterly consumed by it to the point of insanity. Even a character like 4th, who was originally concerned with the goal of bringing order and justice rather than more carnage to the game gets carried away when a proper incentive for God’s seat comes into play: saving his son. In a Survival Game where we're surrounded by the most cunning and twisted of characters, killers, terrorists, people in corrupt positions of power, Yukki stands out like a sore thumb for retaining his humanity throughout it all, unwilling to get his hands dirty, rather willing to see hope in everyone else. It comes across as naive and all-too trusting. This is especially true for his father, but considering how little people he has to rely on, plus his childish hopes of seeing his family back together, his forgiveness towards him makes sense. And the same can be said for Yuno, the one constant he’s got all throughout the game. Despite the abuse and manipulation, she’s ultimately got his best interests at heart, but I’m getting ahead of myself with this point.

Eventually, the circumstances that Yukki goes through (namely his parents’ death) put that humanity, kindness and mercy, the staples of his personality, to test. It’s a testament to how desperate situations can corrupt even the most innocent of individuals. Yukiteru goes from a hopeful individual to a callous killer, no different from Yuno and equally as selfish. Similarly enough, we know thanks to her third-world-self that Yuno was originally a normal, happy girl with the hopes of finally having a loving family taking care of her. All of this, to then be tortured by the people who were supposed to bring that peaceful family life to her. 

Yukki being a weakling may be frustrating to some, it is certainly brought up many times during the video essay, but it’s an important factor that drives the plot and many of Future Diary’s lessons about growth and accountability. Besides, the anime certainly wouldn’t be as interesting to watch if every character was just an OP know-it-all like Akise. Which no hate to him, but the show wouldn’t be the same if every character were like him.

And speaking of Akise, I’ll take the opportunity to mention a point in the video essay that bothered me a bit. The creator says the show is “queerbaiting” with his character, because Akise’s attraction towards Yukki is forced, but I don’t see exactly how this is queerbaiting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t queerbaiting when a character is insinuated to be gay, yet it’s kept ambiguous enough to never address it? The show straight-up explains the reason behind Akise’s attraction to Yukki. His love is forced because it was created by Deus to further his investigation about Yukki and Yuno. Akise himself is a fabrication of Deus. It is literally explained in episode 23. You can’t bait the audience into believing a character is gay if you explicitly tell the audience the character is gay lol.

But that’s one of the smaller issues I had with the video’s criticisms. My biggest gripes were actually the following: at the beginning of the essay, this creator talks about how many of the plot points in the show are contrived and illogical, but at the same time, they dislike the characters having tragic backstories that explain how they went on to become twisted individuals. Isn’t it a little contradictory that you complain about a character acting unnatural, yet when the explanation for their behavior comes up, you completely disregard it? They go as far as to say Esuno hates women and is misogynistic for his portrayal of female psychosis, and the use of SA as a tragic backstory being distasteful. Because, according to this creator, people who have been victimized never go on to become terrible people themselves, and that this is a “problematic stereotype.” 

To say that this worldview is incredibly simplistic and naive is putting it mildly. Being a victim doesn’t exempt you from the capability of hurting others, and in fact, the opposite is often true. Hurt people hurt people, that is another main theme in Future Diary, and one of the things I love about it so much. It doesn’t make its characters victims of terrible situations for the sake of pitying them, but to portray their natural descent into madness from being corrupted by a cruel and unrelenting world. Yuno, Yukki, Minene, Tsubaki, these characters all started out as normal until life turned them into the nihilistic monsters they became. They’re morally gray, an example of what you can become when your ethics and moral worldview is tested by society so many times, it ultimately turns you into a societal outcast. Which only makes it funnier that one of the questions asked in the video is “are we supposed to like these characters?” Yes and no, that’s the fun of writing morally gray characters.

I often see these takes with people who fail to understand that the portrayal of something in media �� endorsement. It’s the crux of people who lack media literacy, the failure to understand morally gray or just straight up evil characters as protagonists. The media itself isn’t telling you to repeat their actions, it is an exploration of how these actions manifest in the first place, a cautionary tale, if you will. I know that having evil or twisted protagonists isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but to accuse the story or the author of malicious intent would be completely missing the point of the story’s purpose. Not to mention, that it is important for stories like this to exist, to put us in the shoes of those who enact harm, to understand why they do it and keep us from becoming like them.

The show doesn’t justify any of their actions, in fact, it often shows them for what they are: twisted and morally corrupt; it is on the characters themselves to bear the burdens of these actions. A clear example of this is the confrontation that Yukki has with his friends nearing the end of episode 22. It is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire show: Yukki being forced to face all of his demons at once, realizing just how much damage he has caused, damage that he later has to mend in his final confrontation with Yuno to finally put an end to everyone’s suffering. It is dense, crude, and it is certainly necessary for both him and Yuno. 

Funnily enough, this youtuber goes on to say the following about Yuno’s background: “I really don’t care what her (back)story pans out to look like… her actions are still not excusable.” Which is true, just because someone was abused doesn’t justify them perpetuating the same abuse later. However, they then crush their own point by claiming that Yuno’s obsessions started all because of “a passing conversation.” I guess they weren’t lying when they said that they didn’t care about Yuno’s backstory… because chalking up her obsession as solely a result of that scene is completely disregarding her background. That conversation in the classroom did start Yuno’s fixation towards Yukki, but it is not the root of her obsessive tendencies. Yuno herself believes it to be, but this is an idea that is squandered by Yukki in his final confrontations with her. Moreover, if you paid attention to her backstory, you would understand it is all due to her childhood neglect. And similarly, Yukki’s attraction towards Yuno stems from this as well.

This brings me to the final criticism:

“Yuno and Yukki’s relationship is problematic, toxic and makes no sense.”

There is no denying that Yuno and Yukki start out as an incredibly toxic and troublesome pairing, using each other for their own selfish wants instead of working with each other. This is the Achilles heel in their dynamic, and it is often the cause of their troubles. Yuno acts impulsive, unstable and manipulative towards Yukki due to her insecurities and debilitating obsession, while Yukki pushes all responsibility to Yuno due to his own lack of a spine. They hurt each time and time again, yet they can’t help but be with each other. And this is because, in a twisted way, they compliment each other. 

On one hand, we have a social outcast, ignored by everyone including his family, visibly alone and afraid of being hurt by others, but still seeing the best in people. Then on the other hand, we have a popular girl from a prominent family, visibly perfect, but in reality just as alone due to abuse she experiences at home, making her view people as fundamentally cruel. On the outside they’re opposites, but deep down, they’re both lonely, and terrified of said loneliness. It is only when they meet, when Yukki shows her the kindness she was missing for years and when Yuno gives him the support he had always craved, that they fulfill each other’s needs. By becoming acquainted with Yuno and the Survival Game, Yukki becomes increasingly darker, eventually maturing at the end of the show, while Yukki awakens Yuno’s empathy and pulls her back from the darkness, as we see when she falters to hurt third-world Yuno and her parents. 

Their complementary personalities are even referenced by their diaries, which only work seamlessly if paired. They balance each other out perfectly, bringing out the best of each other, but only after learning to push back on their worst characteristics, which is also true for real-life relationships. In truth, just like these two, people are flawed, traumatized and generally toxic to one another. There’s no such thing as people or relationships that start out perfect from the get-go, they need to learn to grow together. 

In that sense, this is what makes the ending of the show so powerful to me. Yukki isn’t set on killing Yuno or becoming God anymore. He’s finally taking responsibility, coming to terms with the awful deeds he’s done, and the fact that he can’t undo them. Instead, he wants to help Yuno come to terms with her own demons, finally giving back to her what she needs and not something for his own benefit. Similarly, Yuno realizes just how off the deep-end she’s gone when she meets her past self, acknowledging that she’s lost her original goal, and that repeating the cycle of hurt won’t fix her already broken spirit. That world isn’t for her, and so she finally ends the hurt, giving her and Yukki the peace they need. 

Many people don’t like Redial because they see it as an undeserved Happy Ending for two awful individuals, but the way I like to see it is as a form of redemption. Both characters, in the end, do what they have to do to restore order in the world. Yukki pays for his sins in the void, finally a God but at the cost of mourning what could’ve been. First-World Yuno ends the suffering she’s putting herself through so her new self can thrive, almost akin to breaking free from her past traumas to finally heal. The new self regains those memories, not to sulk, but to build from them, going back with Yukki to start a new world that isn’t characterized by their original hurt. In a way, it's a story about how the most downtrodden of individuals can find solace in love, break from their past and learn to heal together. For me, it’s cathartic and fulfilling to watch.

To finish this lengthy post, I feel it’s appropriate to mention the importance of Future Diary’s characters, and more specifically, Yuno. The video describes her writing as shallow and contrived, but I’ve already addressed that in the previous paragraphs. Many people love chalking her up to “cRaZy YaNdErE gUrL™ 🤪​,” but she’s so, so much more than that. Her character actually has a lot of depth if you pay attention to her story: she’s a girl, an orphan who went on to be neglected by her foster father and abused by her foster mother, resulting in complex trauma, insecurities and fear of abandonment that she tries to hide and overcompensate for in her overly aggressive tendencies. Her obsession in avoiding the loss of the only person she has becomes her demise, as she lives in a loop of torment all for the sake of not being alone again, a cycle of hurt only she has the power of breaking if she finds the strength to do it. Whether it was intentional or not, Yuno portrays a lot of the issues people with mental illness, such as BPD, struggle with. 

Now, claiming that Yuno is a perfect, one-to-one representation of BPD would be reducing this disorder to a caricature, there’s obviously so much more to BPD than what you see in this portrayal. But, I feel like out of the huge list of characters that fall under the “yandere” or crazy girl trope, she’s probably one of the best written ones in anime. I know she’s often dubbed the “yandere queen,” but seriously, it’s rare to see media committing to this trope and properly characterizing it. I would go as far as to say she’s the best character I’ve seen written in this genre, only sharing that spot with another character from a certain game (but given that the mere mention of its name is enough to ensue controversy, I’ll abstain from talking about it here 🙄​). A big portion of characters within this trope are quite two-dimensional, without clear motives for their obsessions, or having their issues played up for laughs (I’m looking at you, Anna Nishikinomiya). Heck, many of the characters associated with the trope aren’t actual yanderes, like is the case for Shion Sonozaki or Lucy from Elfen Lied. 

Yuno’s character is rich and interesting to watch, she isn’t just some “crazy girl” for the sake of it. She’s a product of tragedy, only motivated by the hope of finally having Yukki alleviate all of her insecurities and sorrows. I’ve always found the “yandere” trope interesting since it delves into the lengths people are capable of going over an obsession, and how these form to begin with. Given how complex, sensitive and even personal this topic can be, it’s important to have characters like this be properly written, and I’m glad that Yuno set a standard for this back in her day, even if many people don’t take her character seriously. 

I think it’s important to close up this post repeating the sentiment I had at the beginning. My purpose in writing this defense isn’t so much to force people into liking the show, and even opinions I disagree with like the ones in NezumiVA’s video are valid in their own right, as everyone has different perspectives in interpreting media. This is simply my take as someone who’s been a fan of the show for a really long time, since I don’t see many in-depth essays for Future Diary out there. It is a show that has stuck with me for its lessons on learning to be brave, healing from the past and selfless love. As silly as it may sound talking about an anime, it’s something that I can always look back to and smile, laugh or cry along with. Despite people’s conflicting views and endless criticisms, it will never fail to have a special place in my heart. Given how much time I’ve dedicated to this series, it’s only fair I dedicated a little bit of that time explaining my love for it too. And if you made it this far down the post, I would also like to thank you for dedicating a little bit of your time to my shower thoughts as well!

[maoam]

Hello, I hope you're doing well. You're one of my favourite blogs and i hope you never leave tumblr.

Genuine question, what is it about Naruto the series that make people get on so absurd and obnoxious? I'm not even referring to ss or nh fans, in every fandom of Naruto. Naruto fans and Sasuke fans (outside of the sns ship), Itachi fans, Sakura fans, Hinata fans, fans of some problematic ships, sasunaru/narusasu fans. The manga will say something like "The sky is blue". And those fan's logic will interpret is as "The sky is red.... also it's not the sky but the ground." Basically Interpreting the context and text as everything BUT how the author meant it to be understood. How can the text and context of the manga mean anything else then what it's meant to mean?

I know other fandoms can be obnoxious but it doesn't beat the level of absurdity in the Naruto fandom. What is it about Naruto that makes people behave in this way?

I do think there are other series fandoms that reach the level of absurdity that Naruto fandom has. Even snk and jjk fandom has bizarre behaviour. Harassing the staff, harassing other fans, saying the author deserves to die or suffer, stanning the characters in the most obnoxious way possible, having terrible misinterpretations of the source material... they have it all.

Look at Yuji, he's a sweet boy, yet even he has some terrible stans out there. Some shippers who like him as bottom will harass everyone who doesn't agree on twitter and in general hate on other characters, especially Megumi. And it's all just because they relate to Yuji or whatever. So they misinterpret him and act like everything needs to be about him. And some dudebros do the same, just in a different way. They think Megumi should die, some of them think Yuta is a bum who should die and so on. Because everything needs to be about THEIR fave. Some Gojo stans harass people who like Sukuna and attack them if they even dare to write analysis on Sukuna's character. Plenty of snk fans are disgusting too, like the way some people talk about Historia or Mikasa is gross. The way people misinterpret the characters to death is rampant in that fandom as well.

Itachi stans (the specific ones) can be so damn corny I don't even bother talking about them. Like they're the type who would put Senya as bg music on a video with Kafka quotes or some shit and act like they're deep. What's truly bizarre are the Sakura stans and Hinata stans, because neither of those two are impressive or likeable, so it's baffling why they have such a dedicated fanbase. Kishimoto intentionally made them unlikeable. Sakura is supposed to represent a shallow and self centered person who acts like they're a big deal and bites more than they can chew while getting her ass handed out to her constantly. She's supposed to be a laughing stock. Hinata is supposed to be a wallflower who has nothing else in her head except a boy who doesn't pay much attention to her. And yet. Their stans act like these are the most admirable characters in fiction... lol.

Shonen series tend to be "relatable" to a degree so it attracts people who need to make everything about themselves and interpret things to suit their own preferred view. Fans also tend to get angry at the author if the series doesn't follow the typical found family/mc triumphs all the time/other cliche formulas. Because those are what the readers find relatable. They're not that inclined to give chance to a different type of experience. Hence why Kage arc was so hated by many when it came out, and why Pain arc was so loved.

[lastoneout]

Ya know ngl when they announced they were removing Sokka's learn how to respect women arc I kinda had a sinking feeling that they were going to remove the blatant sexist comments and replace them with like actual misogynistic writing and then pat themselves on the back for doing women a solid bcs they're too media illiterate to understand that like non-sexist writing has less to do with what people are saying and more to do with how you present your female characters and their role in the story...

...and like I am truly sad to see that I was right.

Edit: like them removing Katara's anger and not having her struggle between the maturity she believes is expected of her and wanting to be the kid she is might seem cool if you only have a surface level understanding of these issues, like yeah you made her nicer bcs we don't want to fall into the angry poc trope and parentification of kids is bad, but that doesn't actually help bcs you took out the incredibly complex driving force of her characterization to make her more palatable and the original show made it very clear that her parentification was a result of growing up during a war and being asked to do things no child should have to do and how that's tragic and shitty, but now the story just doesn't have anything interesting to say about kids growing up too fast due to trauma and war.

And sure you took out Sokka saying sexist stuff, and sure him not saying sexist stuff seems good, but that ignores the fact that the show constantly makes it clear how WRONG he is by punishing him for those remarks and having the other characters point out what an ass he's being and his arc was about overcoming those sexist beliefs!! And changing the Kyoshi Island plot from "Sokka learns to respect women" to "Suki helps Sokka realize that he is actually a strong warrior who shouldn't feel insecure uwu" makes the episode actually sexist!! (And plus "sometimes good people believe bad things but that doesn't mean they can't change for the better" is a way better and more interesting message than "good people just don't believe bad things at all ever".)

This is the problem with like surface level media analysis and shallow ideas about progressive writing, you jump to conclusions about parts of the story because your concept of morality is 100% black and white and then you replace those "issues" with writing that actually does these subjects way way worse bcs you didn't actually understand why something might be sexist or whatever, you just heard a guy say "I think women are better at cooking than fighting" and freaked out bcs oh not that's bad!! Tbh it's everything wrong with online "progressive" spaces, surface level knee jerk reactions, black and white thinking, and no theory or deeper understanding of why the bad things are actually bad.

Thanks I fucking hate it.

[drifloonz]

your steven interpretation is boring and fits into the fanon characterization of steven, i wish you would be a little more unique with how you write him :(((((((

i do Not feel like this is true bc fanon steven is like nothingburger sexy guy or yandere... esque?? or things like that that make him very shallow and one note . And not super depressed and mentally ill as he would be. literally like Fanon Steven is Not my steven and my steven is also very near and dear to my heart bc hes a comfort character who i had when i was going through a lot of shit! Like Actually! I think about him a lot! And a lot of the things i do w him are lifted from canon and the ways i interpret and analyze the og story. not a lot of the fanon or fandom stuff ... Does that. a lot of it is very divorced from stevens struggles and story and the fact its a tragedy in favor of shipping or whatever else. they do not give steven realistic struggles.

also bc i havent properly written steven in ages. idk if you read my headcanons or analysis'. Read Those if so. I dont actually write shit almost ever especially now i do not write him as a character bc i like to think about him and how hed do things, i dont like to Write him.

my keyboard is broken i am tired and depressed and dont really have many ideas for things to write with him bc i exhausted a lot of them. i still think about steven daily though, im mostly focused on my self indulgent shit i write because thats all all of this was. sharing my self indulgent shit with people who are fighting for Crumbs of steven.

i think ab him more than almost anybody else seems to in this fandom other than a few people i personally know ( shout out to like 3-4ish people ) and a few others i dont personally know. There are not many people i know who have the same headcanons and a lot that did i think took it from me? which is kinda funny. i dont own steven having bpd but i think its a thing i popularized more for example afaik. i see little bits of my headcanons rippling into other peoples and its fun

Also what the fuck do you mean 'boring' what do you want the depressed adult ass man to do when hes isolated. Sorry that he is not dancing for ur entertainment? Sorry that hes not a crazed serial murderer!!! when... he.. Wouldnt be he only really killed mike and nobody takes doors open as canon ever bc its stupid. I have no idea what you mean by boring. the fuck would an 'interesting' interpretation be. i am not interested in entirely redoing his concept as a character or his story nor am i fucking rewriting strangled red or am ever interested in it bc i think its fine on its own and whenever anyone tries its usually... Not good. Even ( and especially ) when smr did it LOL ( thankfully he never got to strangled red proper ).

i dont like a lot of people that do that unless it has a reason because i think the og story is perfectly fine untouched even if some parts could be elaborated on or explained better, but i dont think you have to shove super big changes to things like 'missingno is actually a conscious entity that talks to him!!! mike DID kill her' Like this detracts from a lot of the story and things that do that at least in my opinion make it.. more boring. its fine if people like that but its not for me. you dont need to make strangled red more dramatic and explain away everything. some of the vagueness is the fun of it.

i just wanted to share headcanons and my own projections that i think would fit him to the world bc nobody really thought about steven in the way i did.

i know a lot of people really love my steven interp and think hes unique so i think you just dislike it. Which can be a thing you can do i dont give a shit. I would also probably dislike whatever yours is! Im very picky with steven interpretations! ok not really people just dont genuinely write him as a full-fledged character very often. i am not making 'content' for people. im just sharing what i want to. if that doesnt appeal to you make your own shit! You probably wont find a lot of people writing whatever you want steven to be so you should do it for yourself bc thats how i got here.

if im taking this very personally or sound like it im mostly jsut really confused. and also bc i half-am but i dont care that much. Bc like. What do you want me to do...? Im not going to suddenly rewrite the entirety of my own personal interpretation of a character ive loved for almost 2 years straight now for someone else. i barely use this blog anymore! except when i want to post analysis or headcanons. its self-indulgent! but i still sure do think about steven deeply and intimately even if it for some reason feels like i dont. i think the autistic analyzation of the og writing should paint that im like serious about it.

anyways, there was not much of a reason to send this if youre so upset i dont write steven content the way you want ( and you probably would also have a lot of ideas i wouldnt agree with. ) Then send me 50 dollars NOW! [ if it wasnt obvious this is a joke. ]

[mcrmaidlesbian]

I felt like I played myself for hyping this movie up.

Yes there will be the million of “analysis” out there on tumblr which are just people picking out select messages out of a very scrambled mess because no one can just sit down and admit this movie wasn’t cohesive in what it was trying to say.

The dialogue rarely felt dialogue, it felt like ChatGPT writing a modern feminist movie. And that’s not to say the things said were shallow; I don’t think they were at all. But it was all how it was executed that made it that at the end of the day.

The scene where Barbie goes up to the girls and she got roasted by Sasha was just so random, because if you thought this woman wasn’t Barbie, and was just an annoying mentally confused woman, then I would just expect a “sorry ‘barbie’, but you aren’t as progressive as you think you are?! And you’re weirding us out leave us the fuck alone!” But nah I guess

People praise the old lady scene, and I’m not gonna go too hard on the people who did, but the scene felt too cheesy for me IM SORRY. Not only did it feel cheesy, it felt like it came out of nowhere. Like if this scene were followed eventually by Barbie learning about what old age was and if she wanted to deal with that or whatever, it would make sense. But nope….never followed up again. It was a random planted in scene. And yes I know the purpose, for this stereotypical Barbie to be intrigued by this type of woman she never met before and then realizing she personally actually finds the woman to be beautiful, despite her not even being an existing g concept in Barbieland. When saying that, yes intention of the scene is very heartwarming, but goddamn it I hate to keep using the word “random” but yes it was. It was weirdly placed.

Im not even gonna go into how they got intersectionality weird, and how I guess white women do not know that no, men of color do not hold more power than them, and yes it was funny to see a black Ken be willing to be so eager to be treated as a half assed side piece by a white Barbie when I know they were weirdly trying to have an interracial pair because “progressiveness” and what not. In that regard, I call this “Taylor Swift feminism”.

But I know the movie did not have the time nor the effort to delve into that. And I’m kinda playing myself here since it was obvious they were going to be a racially diverse group of Kens, and they were all to be seen as “just ken”, but I didn’t expect a lot of what they were going to do with that.

Time for the opinion I’m not sure whether is unpopular or popular, but that I feel a lot of people will side eye me for: the plot or Ken going to the real world and back was way more interesting than Barbie going so. Don’t get me wrong, I actually liked the parts where barbie goes back home to see the mess of what it became, and to see how her and the rest of the women there were going to fix it. Also found it interesting during those segments, Barbie was going through the most existential crisis.

That being said, in regards to whose arc with “going into the real world” was better, I’m going to have to say Ken’s. Not only was it interesting, it was downright hilarious. But of course, it wouldn’t worked as well if the idea of Barbie coming along wasn’t a thing, but that idea wasn’t necessarily handled all that well or was even that exciting.

All in all, I thought it was alright.

[egg-emperor]

I love when people make shit up like "in Frontiers Eggman seemed morally gray/like a villain with standards/on his way to redemption/bettering of himself" and I'm like WHERE‽‽‽ where.

His evil ass doesn't change at all, he spends the memos learning about the ancients and their tech and goes "hmmm how can I use this to MY benefit", keeps thinking of possible evil schemes and then being bummed out like "oh wait I can't because I'm trapped in this stupid cyber space", he shows his lack of empathy towards a terminally ill child and is like "why couldn't I get all the attention instead" like an entitled attention whore, he values and praises Sage for her efficiency to serve him and for him to take pride in an impressive creation as her genius creator which is shallow and selfish, he still laughs at Sonic's suffering to the robots and his death when he's fully cyber corrupted and says he wishes he could've had the pleasure of finishing him off, is pissed about working with Sonic and had to induct him into the empire to feel like he was getting his way in some degree by making it feel more in control like it's his command, and obviously like always he wants The End to be destroyed because he wants to rule the world and needs it to exist to conquer it. That man is still rotten to the core

I'm sorry but it's just such a bold statement to make when the game shows all the exact opposite of what you're saying and it's not even hard to see and hear for yourself. It's been bothering me as much as those insisting against Ian Flynn's own word on the Maria memo not implying neglect towards Eggman, and the Eggman and Sage dynamic not being as wholesome and pure as people are saying it is. Which mind you, at the end of Flynn talking about that second part, he also went out of his way to assert that Eggman is still a BAD PERSON, and speculated that Sage could also just make him worse in ways another time.

I really need to make my bigger post appreciating things I like about Frontiers Eggman portrayal, where I talk about things that actually happened using actual screenshots of scenes and memos lol. That's definitely coming up alongside some analysis I'm forming now

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

"imagery without meaning" ok so u didn't get it. There's more to digest than just "oh she's going crazy !!!!!" Shallow ass analysis

I know there’s more than “she’s going crazy” that’s I said it doesn’t do a good job of her spiral into darkness and the imagery associated with such an event. If I thought the bit was that she was going crazy I’d probably think the imagery was really good because then the theme would be vague enough for any imagery or metaphor to work.

That being said I can understand why it fails. The movie wants to tackle sexuality, parental abuse, the fine line between passion and obsession, and it wants to do all of those things with a notoriously short script all while trying to explain to an average viewer the nuances of ballet. That’s a lot to do with just a little at your disposal and it comes off as jumbled, messy, and not particularly strong in its convictions by the end. The last line is great and delivered well but I don’t think the movie builds to it strongly enough for me to praise it.

That all being said I admit it’s probably closer to a 3 but I tend to be a little more sour on films that disappoint me after being so hyped up for so long.

[iwtvdramacd18]

Louis is such an interesting character and I feel like some analysis on him are fun to read. But people always go left field with it. I'll never forget that post blaming Louis for the riot. Even Lestat doesn't blame Louis for the riot. He says, "those people were just looking for an excuse". I find that people have such shallow analysis on such a rich character. His pimping and treatment of Claudia are right there. No need to add stuff to it.

Yeah like the fandom response to the race riot was INSANE like when you got even Lestat "how your cinnamon mocha ass get through the door mon cher" de Lioncourt with more understanding of the racial context behind a race riot something wrong. The focus on who Louis harms and to what extent is so skewed that we making up shit about him and Jonah it really says a lot. Media literacy in shambles. That being said at least the writing team knows that's up

[ofmiceandpeace]

Heyo! I have come with the ASP question ask. Feel free to answer in however many or little words you want for any of then🫡

0. What were the opinions of those around you to the book compared to yours and what's your opinion/any comments on those opinions?

1. did you read asp for school? if not, why/when?

2. what were your first impressions of the book? did they change?

3. favorite character and why?

4. favorite part and why?

5. favorite quote and why? (Or just a quote you like)

6. what’s the tea on brinker? (love or hate?)

7. why do YOU think gene jounced the limb?

8. was gene and finny’s relationship strictly platonic or was there other stuff going on? pls explain any relevant headcanons<- hcs optional

15. Did asp affect you personally at all? how so?

HI YES.

0. People around me like the book like I do and it's some people's favorite book (which, same). We all think it's very moving. How would you not think that after those last few pages in the last chapter where Gene is recounting his memories with Finny???? It makes me so sad.

Yes I did.

I honestly can't remember well. I think that I thought it was boring / going to be boring on my first read. I'm not good at analysis so I only really got the meaning after listening to analyses on the book's themes and plot points and character traits and things like that. Like on the first read, I binged most of it on a weekend so I just read the butt paragraph and didn't think anything of it..???

I love Gene!! He reminded me so much of myself. Okay wait I didn't mean for that to sound narcissistic but it's just so cool to relate to a character so heavily. He's so complex and tragic.

Let me think... all of the scenes are good but something I thought was really cute was the one right before the trial. Like you know when Gene and Finny are studying and Finny admits that he always 'knew' the war was real. The best part is after that, where they're kind of laughing about it and Gene's like "I liked your idea a lot better." So basically the interaction I will put here since it's really cute:

LIKE AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW then brinker saunters in and ruins everything.

5. A quote I like, perhaps my favorite? is a small part in the last chapter. It goes: "Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last I had." URGHHHHHH "SO AT LAST I HAD" OK THIS QUOTE IS SO SO SO SAD!!!! So I guess that's why I like it...

6. I HATE Brinker. I'm sorry if this opinion is shallow but bro couldn't have minded his own business??? He wanted to seem more mature and conduct a whole ass trial by himself and it caused Finny to break his leg AGAIN. Then he freaking died??? Like nah. At least in the 2004 he gets a small redemption at the end, kind of.

7. I think Gene jounced the limb (obviously subconsciously, not purposefully) kind of out of spite. Like he realized that he and Finny were not rivals, and that Finny was on another, higher level than he could ever be. So now that Gene realized he was wrong, he was kind of mad at himself and at Finny (at the fact that Finny was so good). So because he was mad at Finny subconsciously in that moment, his knees bent and the whole thing happened.

8. Please. If there wasn't an official relationship there was obviously some pining happening, from the way Gene described him that one time, and the way Finny acts towards him.

9. ASP definitely affected me personally. Like I said before, I related heavily to Gene; his whole psychology and character traits, being jealous and insecure and paranoid, is so me. He's also introspective and I think about my psychology a lot which is kind of annoying and strange. But moreover, the ending lesson being that people mistaken others as enemies because of their insecurity resonated with me and I kind of realized I'm a negative person on the inside. I don't know if that sounds whimsical that I took that lesson to heart, but I think about it all the time. Also A Separate Peace literally takes up a lot of my time 😭 that and Peace Breaks Out. John Knowles was really on something with all these boys' prep school novels.

Thank you for the ask 😁😁😁😁😁 I think this is all I'll answer lmao

[hellmouth-manor]

gaslamp lit by your renown | alou | mm.5

It's brief, but Alou's heart squeezes tight in a rare moment of pain as he watches Cu looking so small and uncertain. Poor Cu. He was a misfit in a sea of outcasts. Nobody seemed to see or care to see the young man who spun adrift-- directionless, un-tethered, because he'd chosen the wrong friends and the wrong enemies.

Is this feeling regret? Is it guilt? Is he feeling sorry?

...

No. He hasn't felt sorry in a very long time. It was more accurate to say that Alou felt sorry for himself. Every wrong inflicted on Cu was a wrong inflicted on Alou, because of their similarities. And, because of their differences.

“Ah… Cu… it’s alright. You just can’t see it. I had high hopes for you, but you’re soft. You’re good. And that’s not enough.”

He shakes his head softly at Cu, and one might interpret it as an absolution of Cu's responsibility... but a dismissal is a dismissal, after all.

"Happy endings..."

Alou echoes Miranda, and his voice projects further than it should for how softly he spoke.

"You know, it's my hope you can be happy. All of you. Truly. Because you were right-- we deserve it. But it's looking like I'm not going to be getting mine. And that's alright for me. People like us, we can't just be satisfied with happiness alone, can we? We’re always chasing that thing… purpose?"

That’s not quite it, but it’s as close as he can figure. Why else would she have reached out time and time again to save lives? He looks fondly at her, and then at Touji.

Touji and Kamiya, whose enduring natures couldn't be rocked by anything so shallow as murder and lies. He's genuinely delighted when Touji dismisses Kamiya, and Kamiya looks into some bizarre alternate universe searching for answers. He indulges Kamiya’s question happily.

"Birds with black wings... crows, ravens, blackbirds of course, and, hm. Vultures. But don't worry Kamiya, it's not Cu--"

His little raven, a wolf's playmate but not a wolf himself.

"--nor is it Poppy."

Bone breaker, lamb eater, a vulture that looked fierce but held very little true malice.

Alou's smile breaks into a laugh for Minami. He always liked her jokes, no matter how poor in taste. And, no matter how dire the situation or dour the crowd.

"Are you going to kick my ass, Minami?"

That's rhetorical. Before she can answer, Alou stands…

… and continues talking. Good lord. Hi Nike. Nice metaphor.

“Interesting literary analysis. They’re supposed to be snakes, you know. Hidden, traitorous snakes– hell loves snakes. But we had to make them cuter. Worms are cute~”

He shakes his head to himself.

“You know, the reason I gained an interest in birds… was because Poppy had an interest in birds.”

His smile takes on an odd tilt as his eyes move around the table. The fondness is strangely distant.

“Music, poetry, flowers, cooking, fencing, games, romance, politics, medicine, murder– funny coincidence isn’t it, that so many of the things I have, at minimum, a passing proficiency in, are things that you all…”

Alou laughs again. It’s not a coincidence at all.

“I’m sure if I’d had the time for engines as well as medicine, I would have had to learn those too. Which is too bad. I wish I’d had more of an excuse to spend more time with Minami.”

“No, the thing that I like… the thing that’s mine, and mine alone– it’s insects. Do you know how many bugs there are per square meter of land? No, I won’t tell you– you wouldn’t like it. But I wouldn’t mind being one of the hundreds of living, of dying, of eating and eaten. Nothing loves you quite like maggots love a corpse.”

They’re always with you. They’re always watching. And their lives are inexorably intertwined with the lives of everything else, whether they know it or not. Even bugs dance the dance of death.

Mirai’s words are what slow the momentum of Alou’s rambling. In conversations, he expects a fight. He expects derision and argument, and he’s used to countering it. But when there’s nothing there, he falls forward from lack of resistance and he’s faced to confront gravity.

For that, he thinks he’s loved her more than most of the people here.

For that, he’s always been afraid of her.

“There’s still the path back. There’s…”

He tries for levity, but only barely just catches the note of desperation from slipping in. Her words settle like snow– a little bit at a time, silently, with a surprising weight. He shrugs them off rather than letting them melt in, if only because they’re not alone.

“... No, you’re right. This is the only way. It always was.”

[smokeybrandreviews]

Speed Run V: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

I actually participated in Barbenheimer when it originally happened but found that i had way to much to say and the entire energy surrounding that event just kind of drowned out my analysis. I wanted to give that phenomena room to breathe because it absolutely deserved it. Barbenheimer will go down as a legit cultural flash point and it deserves every bit of that adulation. It's rare something so weirdly attractive, brings all form of society together in an effort to just enjoy. Barbie is set to hit streaming on September 5th so i figure now is as good a time as any to dig into what turned out to be two of the best films i have seen in years.

Barbie

If you would have told me that the Barbie movie would be the one to deal with existential dead, i would have laughed in your face. Yet, here we are, talking about a film that has done more for the feminine experience than any third wave feminist podcast to date. When i was watching Ben Shapiro burning Barbies in protest to this excellent film, i just couldn't help but laugh because that type of sh*t was the point. As a film, Barbie is easily one of the best. It has great direction, a brisk pace, fantastic performances, and a clear vision. It's messaging is never bogged down by shallow identity politics, as much as terms like "patriarchy" are thrown around but, let's be honest, of course a film about Barbie is going to focus on the female perspective. It's Barbie. What else would this film be about? Whether you like to hear about the realities of our world or not, the messaging in Barbie has rang true to the tune of a billion dollars at the box office and a number one spot for four weeks straight. Barbie clearly resonated with people across the gender spectrum and party lines so it's always odd to see people bash it for it's "feminist" messaging. Seriously, telling me you hate Barbie at this point is basically telling me you hate women without telling me you hate women. The weakest part of this film was Will Ferrell and his weird Mattel cabal of goons. You could have cut that sh*t right out of this film and nothing would have changed but whatever. Barbie is much, much, better than it has any right to be and it's weird people hate it for being exactly what Barbie has represented herself to be since the goddamn Sixties.

Oppenheimer

So the enheimer half of Barbenheimer was what got me into the theaters. Barbie had to grow on me but i was on board for Oppenheimer last year after that teaser. It was gorgeous and haunting and everything i never knew i wanted in a biopic of the man who created the Atomic Age. This film did not disappoint. Obviously, the cast as exceptional and weird that Best Supporting Actor can very legitimately come down to RDJ versus Ryan Gosling, but that speaks to the quality of both these films. That said, between Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy for best lead performance of their respective films, I'd give the edge to Cillian. This man kills this performance, acting his ass off. You get a real sense of who Oppenheimer was during each phase of his life; A Stark contrast between before and after those bombs were dropped on Japan. Seriously, that ending was haunting. I've always subscribed to Oppenheimer knowing exactly what he had done. He knew exactly what it meant to drop that bomb. He saw what was coming and that exchange with Einstein at the end of the film was haunting. And he was right. I remember seeing the old footage of Oppy quoting the Mahabharata about how it felt to see his work succeed. The way his face dropped and his eyes glazed over, pulling that locked away memory forward. The say he very methodically spoke those words “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” J. Robert Oppenheimer believed that of himself and Cillian Murphy absolutely embodies that energy in the back end of this film. Absolutely stunning performance and i cannot wait to watch it again.

[smokeybrand]

Speed Run V: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

I actually participated in Barbenheimer when it originally happened but found that i had way to much to say and the entire energy surrounding that event just kind of drowned out my analysis. I wanted to give that phenomena room to breathe because it absolutely deserved it. Barbenheimer will go down as a legit cultural flash point and it deserves every bit of that adulation. It's rare something so weirdly attractive, brings all form of society together in an effort to just enjoy. Barbie is set to hit streaming on September 5th so i figure now is as good a time as any to dig into what turned out to be two of the best films i have seen in years.

Barbie

If you would have told me that the Barbie movie would be the one to deal with existential dead, i would have laughed in your face. Yet, here we are, talking about a film that has done more for the feminine experience than any third wave feminist podcast to date. When i was watching Ben Shapiro burning Barbies in protest to this excellent film, i just couldn't help but laugh because that type of sh*t was the point. As a film, Barbie is easily one of the best. It has great direction, a brisk pace, fantastic performances, and a clear vision. It's messaging is never bogged down by shallow identity politics, as much as terms like "patriarchy" are thrown around but, let's be honest, of course a film about Barbie is going to focus on the female perspective. It's Barbie. What else would this film be about? Whether you like to hear about the realities of our world or not, the messaging in Barbie has rang true to the tune of a billion dollars at the box office and a number one spot for four weeks straight. Barbie clearly resonated with people across the gender spectrum and party lines so it's always odd to see people bash it for it's "feminist" messaging. Seriously, telling me you hate Barbie at this point is basically telling me you hate women without telling me you hate women. The weakest part of this film was Will Ferrell and his weird Mattel cabal of goons. You could have cut that sh*t right out of this film and nothing would have changed but whatever. Barbie is much, much, better than it has any right to be and it's weird people hate it for being exactly what Barbie has represented herself to be since the goddamn Sixties.

Oppenheimer

So the enheimer half of Barbenheimer was what got me into the theaters. Barbie had to grow on me but i was on board for Oppenheimer last year after that teaser. It was gorgeous and haunting and everything i never knew i wanted in a biopic of the man who created the Atomic Age. This film did not disappoint. Obviously, the cast as exceptional and weird that Best Supporting Actor can very legitimately come down to RDJ versus Ryan Gosling, but that speaks to the quality of both these films. That said, between Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy for best lead performance of their respective films, I'd give the edge to Cillian. This man kills this performance, acting his ass off. You get a real sense of who Oppenheimer was during each phase of his life; A Stark contrast between before and after those bombs were dropped on Japan. Seriously, that ending was haunting. I've always subscribed to Oppenheimer knowing exactly what he had done. He knew exactly what it meant to drop that bomb. He saw what was coming and that exchange with Einstein at the end of the film was haunting. And he was right. I remember seeing the old footage of Oppy quoting the Mahabharata about how it felt to see his work succeed. The way his face dropped and his eyes glazed over, pulling that locked away memory forward. The say he very methodically spoke those words “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” J. Robert Oppenheimer believed that of himself and Cillian Murphy absolutely embodies that energy in the back end of this film. Absolutely stunning performance and i cannot wait to watch it again.

[silvaurum]

yall are clearly having two+ very different conversations. op is correct tho. it is extremely fucking irritating to tell someone 'hey that hurt me' or 'hey that hurts people' and for them to respond 'how dare you say i'm capable of hurting people?!?!'

yeah 'oppressor' is loaded and has moral weight, because oppression holds moral weight, because oppression, the structural force, is bad. and generally people who are trying to say 'hey that hurt me' are not going to call you an oppressor directly, but even if they do, maybe address the hurt first and complain about the exact wording later.

there IS a conversation you could have about language here. 'part of a class that reaps privileges from the existing structure of society, whether they want to have those privileges or not' -> 'part of a class that has structural power over another class, whether they want to or not' -> 'part of a class that oppresses another class' -> 'oppressor class'. these are all equivalent in literal meaning, but feel very different. it gets condensed for efficiency and loses some nuance.

and then yes people are going to react defensively when they feel you've implied they are inherently oppressive and immoral. sure. i wish people would take a deep breath when that happens so they could stop taking statements about our current social positions as an inherent personal fault, because it's all arbitrary, no one chose whether we were born into a class like "in the global north".

the main issue is that it's a pain in the fucking ass to tiptoe around the structure of society and word everything perfectly delicately when I've just been hurt in a very predictable way and am reacting "ow! hey!"

that is also the entire issue with 'guilt' when we talk about oppression. it's not that guilt is a "bad" feeling that you shouldn't feel 🙄. it's that your reaction to your feeling guilty is not always helpful in the specific moment when you're being told you hurt someone. it's fucking irritating to tell someone 'hey that hurt me' and for them to respond 'oh my god im so sorry can i hate myself for you? i'm so terrible let me tell everyone how terrible i am' and take up all the air in the room with a self-hate spiral, so that regardless the original issue of you getting hurt is now minimized.

it's okay to feel guilty, it's totally neutral. it's the actions of public self hatred which turns the focus away from fixing the problem. soothing the feelings of the person who has benefited from an oppressive social structure, even without their consent, still matters… but it should come well after helping the people who are still being hurt by that structure and would like it to be acknowledged.

and thus op. i wish we could collectively stop taking it personally for five seconds when someone says "ow! hey!" so we can say "oh sorry, that was wrong, i'll be more careful".

+ taking the definition of oppressor class from colloquial twitter-ese is silly, man. its not even 'shallow' analysis it's looking at the name of a theory and extrapolating from there. these people think gaslighting is when you disagree about what happened + people who are oppressed talking amongst themselves are not going to word everything in perfectly neutral political theory terms, especially when we're either being hurt or trying to heal from being hurt + 'socialized male' person does not have any serious political analysis to offer, this is just a terf throwing words at the wall + "Oppressors can cry until next week, choke, or burn in hell for all I’ll ever care." this is not directed at you and it is not a literal political stance that anyone genuinely has. this is an expression of frustration. you taking it literally and personally looks ridiculous. this is a hammer car explosion post

lot of people take the idea they might be an oppressor like it's some kind of curse or marks them or makes them fundamentally irredeemable.

this means whenever someone suggests they might have structural power over some group, rather than being normal about it and going "oh yeah i should be mindful of how i act so i don't abuse that," they take it as a personal attack, and either jump to defending themselves by denying it, or start lashing out.

this makes 99.99999% of all conversations on this website completely fucking unbearable.