#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!

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Red Skull

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

It seems today that all you see is Nazis in the White House and Nazis on TV. But where are those good old fascist villains on which we used to rely?

Well, here you go.

Johann Schmidt AKA Red Skull is the mortal nemesis of Captain America, the right-hand man of Hitler, and the head of HYDRA. Schmidt is actually the second man to take on the Red Skull moniker, but he's the most famous and the one who you probably think of when you hear "Red Skull." He's certainly notable enough to get revived by HYDRA in the 60s, at any rate.

Now, Marvel comics is no stranger to Nazi supervillains--you can't spit in any direction without hitting one between all the Struckers and Zolas and Zemos--but the one the average person will know best is Skull, likely because of his striking design and just the sheer coolness of an evil Nazi skeleton duking it out with Captain America. But I think that just saying his looks is why he's such an iconic and memorable villain is a shallow way to look at it; no, Red Skull is iconic because he is one of the nastiest motherfuckers in comic history.

Motivation/Goals: He's a Nazi terrorist. What the fuck do you think his goals are? What you see is what you get with Schmidt.

Performance: Red Skull has appeared quite a few times in films and shows, and he rarely has a bad performance given to him.

Perhaps the most notable portrayal was by Hugo Weaving in the underrated MCU pulp action film The First Avenger. While Weaving reportedly didn’t really give a shit about the character at the time (something he eventually changed his tune on), you wouldn’t believe it with how hammy and over-the-top he goes. He delivers the sort of sneering, menacing performance you’d want from Cap’s mortal nemesis.

In the 90s film, he was portrayed by Scott Paulin, and while he’s certainly no Weaving he manages to be chilling and menacing despite being out of the red makeup for a vast majority of his screentime. He also drops the rawest villain one-liner ever right before the final battle, so I can’t hate his performance.

Final Fate: Red Skull sure does fucking die a lot, huh? He’s one of those villains, one of the ones who die and come back and die and come back and die and come back and so on. No idea why Jean Grey gets the bad reputation when dudes like Johan here die every second Sunday and pop up next quarter to boost comic sales. Here's one of his deaths you might be familiar with, since it gets posted out of context a lot because of how hard it goes:

Unfortunately, since comics are bullshit, this awesome killing is kind of soiled by what happens immediately after, but that’s a conversation for another day.

As for the movies, MCU!Red Skull ends up getting blasted to the planet Vormir after misusing the Cosmic Cube, where he is eternally forced to stand guard over one of the Infinity Stones. It seems like he gets off easy, but he can never leave and, because no one loves him, he has no way of acquiring the stone he’s guarding. So he’s forever unable to achieve any of his goals even though the thing that could most help him do it is right fucking there. Plus, considering the ending of Endgame, there’s a bit of an implication Steve might’ve whooped his ass on his time travel journey.

In the 90s film, he’s simply given a classic Disney villain death, where he tumbles off the side of his fortress. It is genuinely hilarious how the camera holds on his body tumbling down the cliff face into the sea, I love it.

Evilness: This comic panel, which you have probably seen a thousand times before, really says it all:

When the fucking Joker thinks you’re too evil, you’re not anything less than a 10/10. And Skull is 100% irredeemably vile, so it's no exaggeration on the part of Joker; you could easily make a top 50 list of the most vile things this guy has done, from his slaughter of innocents to his friendship with Hitler to the treatment of his own daughter. Oh, and this is how he talks about Wanda:

Though Mr. J is a tad hypocritical considering the sort of women I’ve seen him hanging out with…

Best Scene: We’ve already gone over the time Magneto fucked him up and that time the Joker tried to kill him for being too evil even for him, so let’s highlight a moment from the criminally underrated The First Avenger where he lets Zola have the keys to his cool car to escape the exploding factory. Genuinely all his interactions with Zola are great as he seems to actually like/respect him, but this one takes the cake.

As far as comics though, I do like this bit where he calls Magneto out on his rank hypocrisy:

This moment had to be a catalyst in Magneto turning good, because if Super Hitler pointed out that I was like him and he actually wasn't even slightly wrong, I'd probably rethink my whole life.

But hey, let's show Magneto getting one over on him again:

Here's some more context for this particular moment!

Best Quote: In the 90s film, Cap refutes Red Skull’s dismissal of him as “a clownish symbol that no one cares about” with a simple “I care.” And how does Skull respond to this incredibly badass yet simple rebuttal? With one of the rawest lines in cinematic history:

“You care? Then come to me, my brother. Let us see if this heart of yours is stronger than my hate.”

Say what you will about any of the changes made to the character in the movie, but that line feels like a perfect summation of the two characters’ dynamic across their history. It is always a clash between Cap and his love for his fellow man and Skull’s seething hatred and contempt for humanity, and the fact that this silly film gets that and manages to hit the nail on the head speaks volumes.

Final Thoughts & Score: Red Skull is one of those villains where it’s only possible for him to do one or two things, but he really excels at them. Like, Red Skull is a Nazi. There is no getting around this. So whenever he shows up in a story he has to be somewhere on the evil scale. The question then becomes “How evil will he be this time?” and that can be plenty of fun. He’s not a particularly deep villain no matter the incarnation, but he’s a villain that it’s fun to hate and watch get fucked up.

It’s kind of interesting how people joke about how he’s a character that would be impossible to put in games like Marvel Rivals in this day and age. Like yeah, he is a Nazi and all, but he’s kind of a Saturday morning cartoon caricature of a Nazi most of the time. There’s no need to tone down how evil he is when you can just tone down how openly Nazi he is, y’know? The MCU did that just fine by having him be so evil he wanted to overthrow Hitler.

Red Skull is just one of the all-time great comic villains, and definitely the most iconic foe of Cap. When Cap isn’t able to punch Hitler, be it because WWII is long over or because Hatemonger isn’t available, Skull is the next best beatdown target. In a broad sense across all of his appearances I’d say he’s a 9/10, with his film and cartoon incarnations being around 8-8.5/10. This is mostly because they really water him down and don’t let him get nearly as vile as he should be, but it is pretty telling that even if they slightly soften him he’s still an awesomely despicable bastard.

[melliemell]

Would Fyodor ever have qualms against a chubby reader? Thoughts? 😪😪

gosh i adore how literary every ask i have in here is fyodor related ❤️❤️❤️ one braincell gang eyyyy

Btw i've been pondering about fyodor's potential type/lover preferences as a whole and honestly I find @literatureloverx's take really interesting, so I def suggest you all give her a visit! she's insane when it comes to analysis things I'm not even joking, bless her т-т. Our opinions differ on some things but I am guilty of liking my men beneath me soo (sorry fyodor, can't run from that)

As to fyodor's preferences, I definitely see him more on the vain side. He's more of an appreciator of beauty and would not shy away from that fact. Perfections and all are kinda his past-time obsession (and full time)

But

There's the thing, i can never see canon fyodor going for any romantic options whatsoever. Not in the real sense at least. But he definitely strikes me as the type of person who'd find a way to exploit that part of human relations if it's going to be useful to him in some way. Unlikely to happen, but not beyond him.

So long as you're deemed useful, that would be the main reason for you being still alive. Or with him.

But it's still obvious as day that he's not a shallow person at the heart of it. He's a thinker, a bit too much for his own good (and humanity, he done fucked up there). If he does somehow miraculously find his heart somewhere under all those protective layers he flaunts about in, it's not gonna be thanks to looks, babes. His interest in dazai is proof enough of that.

He needs a mind beside him.

So i think that and one other detail to be the deciding factors.

Mind is all nice and good but the need to be in control of things is hard to deal with, so being vulnerable is gonna be a pain in the ass for both him and a potential partner. The only way I see this happening is if he actually has a partner he could trust. That doesn't happen with just brains.

Compassion and a kind heart at their core would definitely tip the scales. Good people don't want to manipulate others so fyodor'd be safe around such a person and not worry about where their loyalties lay. It will definitely be a hard battle to win but it'd be so worth it.

Gosh, he's such an interesting character even if he fucks up everything in the manga now. I adore him to bits

[locatislunaticolupin]

RIP my dumb ass because I do like talking about that scene in Deathly Hallows, so here's a different post about it.

What's interesting about Remus leaving Dora (or "his pregnant wife", since people like to rob Dora of her humanity and name) isn't the shallow moralizing the fandom likes to do. Doing that makes that scene easier to understand for people who don't like engaging with their own weaknesses or failures, and I understand flattening complex scenes and characters is what fandom does, but it still grinds my gears that that's how fandoms dedicated to books pretend to win arguments.

I was a kid once too, I felt betrayed by him in that scene too. What that storyline forced me to do was try to understand what could lead a person like him to make a bad decision like that. Older now, I don't pretend to excuse him of his wrongdoings, but that scene did force me once, and forces me again now, to genuinely engage with the complexities of not only Remus, but Dora and Harry. It's not a scene that exists in a vacuum: it's the culmination of a lot of different storylines, from Remus' marginalization to Dora's desperation to Harry's relationship with family and the past (and I'm absolutely not engaging with all of that here. These are the cliff notes at best of some of that stuff).

Remus leaves Dora and his unborn child because he hates himself so much that he genuinely thinks that's the kind thing to do. He's not running away from conflict (he's running straight at it, actually), he's not scared of raising a kid: he genuinely thinks staying means he'll destroy their lives, just like his own life was destroyed.

Ever since then, taking himself out of the equation has been how he fixes things: his family used to move around a lot so people wouldn't suspect them and he resigns from the DADA position because staying would land Dumbledore and the school into trouble. He's not running from confrontation, he's thinking his mere existance is bringing trouble to those he loves and attempt to help him. When he's avoiding confrontation (with Dumbledore or his friends), he does it because he doesn't want to lose their love. However, he's under no illusions that Dora won't be angry at him for doing this. He's not expecting to keep Dora's love. He's expecting to make her life better. Engaging with those contradictory ideas is way more interesting than being comfortable with surface-level, easy to digest analysis.

We can compare Remus' decision to Harry himself, who attempts to run away from his loved ones whenever he thinks he'll bring harm to them. He tries to leave everyone behind in Order of the Phoenix, later on he tries to leave Ginny, he doesn't even want to take Ron and Hermione with him in Deathly Hallows. That doesn't make him any less brave or good: we understand that he genuinely thinks that's the best way of protecting the people he loves.

Harry's reaction when he finds out about Remus' decision is very much the same one as the reader's: anger and disappointment. That's one of the themes of the book: in the process of becoming an adult, a child will (even must) be disappointed by the adults he knows. He'll find out they're not perfect, that they can't protect him, that they'll make bad decisions. Dumbledore is the biggest example of this, but we also have Harry realizing Sirius was deeply flawed, just like he'd found out before that James was as well. I could write a whole aside about Severus and Peter and how Harry walks the opposite path with them. Realizing that people aren't completely good or completely evil is a big part of the saga.

So Harry calls Remus out, just like any friend of Remus would have. What he says has more to do with Harry himself than Remus (what Harry values, what has hurt him up to that point. He even talks shit about Sirius), but it gets Remus to react and pushes him back on the right track because Harry's forcing him to see how his actions are really affecting others. It's not better just because he's not there. Harry gets Remus out of his self-hating, spiraling thoughts.

Remus is so thankful and appreciative of it that he names him godfather. He's thankful he was called out on his flaws and mistakes, and he goes out of his way to fix them. We see him being a dad, we see it makes him deliriously happy. He dies with his son's baby pictures in his pocket. It's the first thing Harry says to him when he brings him back with the Resurrection Stone. For them, that scene is a breaking point: not only does Harry go through a milestone towards becoming an adult, but he's also seen as one by one of his mentors. Remus is the only one of that friendship group that gets to see Harry as an equal, as an adult.

I don't think I've said anything controversial up to this point, so here it goes, because I absolutely adore Dora, but I rarely see people honestly and genuinely engaging with her character.

Remus and Dora got together under pressure from the war, their friends, Dora herself and the desperation born from Dumbledore's death. Remus' concerns (he's too poor, too old, too dangerous) are all legitimate, both in the sense that they're real and that they could prove to be significant obstacles in a relationship, but they're brushed aside when they get together by both Dora and the Weasleys. They're all well-meaning and supportive, of course. Molly had brought up before that her own marriage was born from the desperation of war, so it makes sense that she'd be so supportive and encouraging of them. What they can't quite see, however, is that Remus' life is getting harder by the minute: discrimination against werewolves is at an all-time high due to the war, both because of Greyback and because of the Ministry (Umbridge's law that makes Remus' life harder was put in place after Severus outed Remus in Prisoner of Azkaban. Chances are there's a correlation there). Dora's life becoming harder because of her relationship with a widely-known werewolf isn't a far-off posibility born from Remus' trauma and low self-esteem, it's a real thing.

So when Dora begs him to understand that she loves him, she's not quite grasping that that's not the problem (or at least not the whole problem): the problem is that love's not enough to make a relationship work, especially in such a hard context. Ultimately, what we get as to why he changes his mind are Arthur's words:

“But she wants you,” said Mr. Weasley, with a small smile. “And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so.”

(with a little push from McGonagall's after).

"But she wants you" is Arthur pointing out that Dora's her own person and she's making her own decision. She's an adult and she's choosing this. Remus' objections aren't acknowledged, and are therefore still there, still a problem, but he can't choose for her. People making their own decisions and dealing with the consequences is also a big part of the saga, so alright, the relationship's a go. They're both choosing this. Remus can understand that (and part of what he likes about Dora is that she's a daredevil).

A big criticism of their relationship is that Remus was "pushed into it". I don't think he was: he's clearly interested in Dora and he wants to date her. What was pushed aside were his concerns: in the middle of a war, neither Dora nor the Weasleys want them to lose time or even the opportunity to be together when they don't know if they'll still be alive in a week. So Remus' fears were never laid to rest and, on top of it, the relationship developed fast. According to Pottermore, they were never together before that hospital scene, so in less than a year we go from a reluctant/concerned Remus to a kid.

Once Dora gets pregnant, the situation changes: that child isn't choosing his parents or the life he's being born into. All of Remus' concerns, which were never acknowledged or put to rest, arise with even more force than before. The lack of acknowledgment of his well-founded fears was part of why his reaction's so big and so cruel. He's alone in his understanding of what being a werewolf and living with a werewolf really entails. He couldn't prepare with Dora or the Weasleys about it. If past experiences are anything to go by, they won't acknowledge that being with a werewolf does bring drawbacks to someone's life, and he can't do that to a child.

Of course it's Harry's perspective that makes him "see the light". Harry's talking from the point of view of an orphan of war, he's paralleled to Teddy at the end of the book. Harry, in that moment, can be seen as Remus' son talking to him if he goes down that path. Of course Remus goes back to him. Of course he faces his biggest fears and goes back.

[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. ]

[i-was-a-teenage-eldritch-horror]

There's something about Anno in particular I want to say. On one hand, Anno is an Otaku nerd, he likes fanservice so the show has that and is occasionally hampered by it. But how do I put this? I think Eva resonates with people because it's written by someone who "gets" it. I relate to Shinji in large part because he's written by a nerd who understands loneliness, pain and lack of self, and how those things can drive someone into cruelty if left unchecked. Eva just wouldn't be same without that.

Tell me where I said that Shinji being lonely, hurt, and mentally ill is the main flaw in his character. Also in this statement there's a weird assumption being made that these traits do not also apply to the women and girls in the show. Bizarre!

Some of y'all are out here making asses of yourselves in my inbox acting like I hate this show or I hate Shinji or I hate Anno or whatever. I love this show, and I do actually love Shinji as a character. You all are doing him dirty with shallow analysis that you can find on some dork ass angelfire asushin site from 2002. Please read what I'm actually saying or just leave my blog, this is exhausting and it's a major reason why I took a very long hiatus.

[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.

[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

[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.