#without storytelling to get us there

[impulsivelycontentious]

I was discussing this with a friend yesterday as we were joking about rare pairs (and the times we were shocked about how spectacularly they were written, we believe in you all and your capacity to make anything work) and my friend brings up a het ship that i;d seen once or twice as "super weird". And like, it really wasn't to me? So we talked about it and basically, it works as a "she can fix him" kinda deal and BOTH OF US find that intensely boring as a het dynamic - or even as a lesbian dynamic - because That's What Girls Are Expected To Do, and therefore, boring to us (you do you boo taste is all personal).

Anyway, that got us in to het ships in general. Both of us will seldom read het ships (neither of us are cishet, if that's relevant) which of course means we have to Figure That Out. It comes down I think to the way het relationships generally play out. There's an expectation there that men and women will fet together and it's often used in media GENERALLY as a substitute for real chemistry and relationship building. There's framing in visual media used to substitute for interactions. Music, slow shots, all that jazz. And it's just.. not that compelling to either of us. The gay shit we watch generally works a LOT harder to show WHY these people are in to each-other and our aro asses REQUIRE that in our media to enjoy it.

Now there is some bollocks I enjoy - and they do too - that is het bollocks. I enjoy pride and prejudice which I think is an absolutely gloriously petty work of cattiness that constantly jabs at the upper classes in victorian england, but I digress. We're all allowed to enjoy popular fiction. It's just that the bar is often so much lower in het relationships and doesn't really make sense, so it can get boring especially on repeat. Because heterosexuality is still perceived as default it is easier to find gay works that put more effort in to this than straight ones. So that's where both of us gravitated - in both origonal works and fan fiction (which was how this started).

This has a lot to do with personal preference and the things we look for - we are both aware that being aroace spectrum definitely impacts how we see art, since self-insert is somewhat limited, for example, but yeah the gay stuff definitely has more storytelling that tells stories I find compelling as someone who loved a good love story, and dislikes stuff that is too real or normal (i have a real life already i'm here to see/hear/understand something new).

Anyway this has been your unasked for opinion on gay vs het ships and why I voted I prefer the gay stuff but can enjoy the het stuff.

🖤🤎❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

[ciderjacks]

Wip

[mamawasatesttube]

you guys i have so many thoughts about tdr. i have so much to say. like i don't want to be super mean but dude that comic fucking sucks and i can't lie i think it made me kind of homophobic actually

[willowcrowned]

“Making anyone over the age of 8 watch tcw should be forbidden” okay, but why?

because it’s bad in the way only bad kids shows can be. and then it’s also bad in fifteen other ways

[ericas-spop-blog]

This is a scrap - and should be read as a criticism of the story telling moreso than of the (fictional) characters - but...

One of the results of Season 4 framing Adora as purely a victim of "crazy ex" Glimmer - Presenting it as if Glimmer was reacting to nothing, that Adora wasn't controlling or jealous or secretive - is that it deeply undercuts the idea that Adora treats Catra badly because She Just Doesn't Know Better.

If Adora treats Glimmer in the same (bad) ways she treated Catra, then it tells us she has flawed assumptions about what a "good" relationship looks like; that her behaviour (if not innocent) is at least sincere, and that she is continuing to apply bad models even in a situation where it does not benefit her(or anyone but Shadow Weaver). Having these models fail her would drive the character towards self-examination and personal growth.

But if Glimmer was the core problem in Season 4 - if Adora was nothing but supportive, even when the circumstances of her youth are recreated nearly 1-to-1 - then we're saying that Adora is already perfect, that actually she does know how to have normal, healthy relationships even under trying circumstances.

Which makes her refusal to extend that care to Catra incredibly suspect. Does she think that Catra is uniquely unworthy of respect?

Or does she just know that other people think Catra is unworthy of respect, and aren't going to say shit (especially when they still need She-Ra to save them)?

========================

Look, obviously none of this is the intended read; And fwiw, I think that at least the script of Season 4 actually does show Adora replicating her bad behaviours -

being high-handed, controlling, jealous of Glimmer's relationship with Shadow Weaver, and unhealthily invested in her role as The Hero -

and then has those flaws drive personal growth - reflecting on if she is making things worse, recognizing that her idea of being A Hero is to be a weapon in someone else's hands and explicitly rejecting that -

but that this is undermined by the directorial lens overwhelmingly framing Glimmer as The Villain (and thus Adora as In The Right/The Victim/Smol Bean), and that this conflict drives these really ugly implications.

In absolving Adora, the story inadvertently validates her beliefs - even the ones that it set up as false and harmful. Which, yeah, creates the implication that Adora knows when she's acting badly, but just doesn't care (and that we shouldn't either). That her status as "Good" protects her from criticism, and allows her to cast any opposition as defacto "Bad" and not worthy of acknowledgment or examination.

[hanzajesthanza]

just wanna say, im rewatching your the witcher video essay for like the 5th time lol and it’s truly such an infallible piece of work for when one is bored and wants to enrich themselves somehow. on top of being such a thorough and competent examination of the story as well ofc. so thanks i guess lmaoo

i'm so happy to hear that! i'm already honored that people watch, and a rewatch is a double honor. so this is like a quintuple honor!

[swan-orpheus]

Tech's Death And Proper Narrative Closure: A Cool-Headed Almost Rant

So whether you are for or accepting of or against the killing off of Tech, I have to ask: is it acceptable that we get no episode that exists mainly for the purpose of addressing his death?

Does not a major character in a show about clone family not rate an entire episode to acknowledge their passing?

It cannot happen in the frenzy of last season or the beginning of this one, but it ought to have occurred once everyone reunites and crosshair reconciles. We get a beautiful acknowledgement of Crosshair's grief over Mayday, but nothing for his batchmate?? We get everyone looking down in silence for a few seconds before moving on. Then we're catapulted into the next mission. We even get various side quests that take up entire episodes as well as random guest appearances from old characters who do little to nothing to advance the story of the bad batch and likely only drop in to foreshadow future content. So now we're promoting future shows atop his unackowledged corpse. nice.

The post character death grief episode is standard practice in shows. It gives the characters and the audience a safe space to process their feelings. It is an in-scene, on screen acknowledgement of the death and what everyone is feeling, but having a hard time expressing. We see it visually from time to time teasing an eventual conversation that never arrives. At the very least you have an episode that is ostensibly about something else but that heavily features particular themes and is symbolic of said grief before sitting everyone down in the closing minutes to formally address it with all relevant parties present. It's called closure. Sure events do not always give one closure, but people hold their own ceremonies and commune with one another in order to achieve the closure that life does not always kindly bestow.

Why deny the audience this basic kindness and sign of respect?

Whether down to poor writing or blatant dishonesty about the trajectory of the plot and/or handwaving...

I deem this unacceptable.

[imidori-ya]

Screaming crying scratching at the walls of my enclosure because it’s now somehow necessary to not just use social media but excel at it to even be considered for any of my dreams jobs??!?! Since when do I need 30k followers to be good at something other than a popularity contest?? Why does follower count matter to how good of an artist, writer, or general creator I am? I shouldn’t be required to know how to market and pander to the masses when all I want to do is create art! I just want to make things! I don’t care about selling them to the most people ever! I don’t care about notoriety! I’m a creator! I. JUST. WANT. TO. CREATE!!!

[daggryet]

OPEN THE SCHOOOLS

[neonblixtar]

acrylic on cardboard scraps

[rebouks]

Previous | Next

Transcript:

Sidney: I can’t believe you didn’t say anything! I’ve been in the ER all night. Aspen: To be fair, it happened kinda fast. Sidney: Lucky you!

Alton: Do you have a name for her yet? Aspen: We can’t decide between Juniper and Willow. Oscar: Both are cute.

Aspen: Aha, that’s the problem. [PHONE VIBRATING] Sidney: That’s the third time, answer your phone!

Oscar: In a minute. Sidney: C’mon, you’re hogging the baby! Alton: Uh-huh, move your ass.

Oscar: Oi! Noah: [snorts] Oscar: Is it tiring, giving birth?

Noah: I don’t know how you run on so little sleep. Oscar: You’ll get used to it, sort of. Noah: I can’t wait for you to experience this, it’s just.. something else.

Oscar: I can’t wait either, I-... [PHONE VIBRATING] Oscar: [sighs] Gimmie a sec.

…

Oscar: Jesus Ivan, can’t it wait? I’m kinda busy. -------- Oscar: Chill out, dude.. we’re at the hospital-.. nah, nothing bad for once; I’m officially an uncle! -------- Oscar: Why? What happen-… -------- Oscar: Okay, okay! I’m not going anywhere, geez.

[redshoes-blues]

Here’s my season five theory:

Mike is Vecna’s main target (like Max was)

This leads to: the audience realizing his internalized homophobia, El finding out about his feelings for Will, and Will tapping into his powers

I also think since they’ll be pairing up characters again, Mike and Will are going to be paired together so Will can watch Mike and ensure that he’s safe

And I also am seriously considering them pulling a Deadlights parallel (in IT, Bev gets taken by Pennywise, thrown into the air in the same way Vecna does to his victims, Ben kisses her and it saves her) where Mike ends up in Vecna’s lair and we get a little Upside Down kiss moment that helps pull him out of the trance

Because: Vecna is all about self-hatred. He targets people who are depressed and feel guilty and who hate themselves. Mike accepting himself would be the key to defeating Vecna in this scenario. It fits in perfectly with every “moral message” this series has shown so far

That’s why I think it’s crucial that he is targeted by Vecna, because he’s such an insular character that only Bylers acknowledge the possibility (and likelihood) that he’s queer and has feelings for Will. Vecna is the perfect way to make these internal feelings shown on the screen

And remember the piggyback?

I think that, somehow, Will is going to learn how to do this as well. And he’ll see what Mike is going through and will then realize that it’s safe to tell him how he feels and the truth about the painting (if he hasn’t already at that point). I think this visual will also be the way that El begins to put the pieces together. I actually wouldn’t be shocked if she realized this before Will and tried telling him

[mamawasatesttube]

you guys i have so many thoughts about tdr. i have so much to say. like i don't want to be super mean but dude that comic fucking sucks and i can't lie i think it made me kind of homophobic actually

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Re-reading Bleach’s Arrancar arc, and… god I want to give Orihime a shoulder to lean on and cry on. Just… gosh the poor girl… she can’t catch a break :’(

The moment she has self doubts about her own abilities (a very understandable and normal teenaged thing!) she has an even more stronger insistence to be stronger, and just when she’s about to get a tremendous improvement in her abilites, the bad guys show up (specifically Ul//quiorra) and basically coerces her to join the arrancar because the value her abilities. That refusal would lead to the deaths of her friends, and as a pacifist who doesn’t like violence and wants to keep her friends safe, it’s understandable that such an offer is VERY HARD for her to decline.

May I remind people that Orihime at this point in Bleach is a teenaged girl attending high school. Who just a few months ago almost saw her best friend die (they’re okay but they’re not the same person anymore), had a near death experience herself, and also saw the person she has a crush on be violently defeated in a battle he wasn’t prepared for.

Arrancar arc is really just… Orihime and the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day :(

[readymades2002]

something difficult about writing/storytelling but only in short disconnected bursts is that writing anything longform is very difficult. there isn't as much time to practice long-term character development or subtlety (implying character instead of immediately clarifying) when its not really meant to go anywhere but a notes app. its a little frustrating...i'd love to do something more longform though. i've considered maybe just doing some short writing scenes in my various original universes a lot recently mostly because i just havent had time to draw anything fancy recently </3 maybe that would be something...

[bredforloyalty]

i don't think we do luv i don't think we do