#woke without the work

[varianwinchester]

You know following @thestorytimeguy has made me realize of all the stories and history that have been neglected from different backgrounds. Latino and Aztec/Mesoamericano stories but also African and African American stories. But neglected I mean we hear so often iterations of the Brothers Grimm, Aesops Fables, Hans Christian Andersen, etc. and not those stories. Stories from a racially diverse background.

We are getting a new The Little Mermaid.

I’ve always been distant with these live action remakes because they seem like a downgrade to the beautiful original. Flawed as some of them may be these originals have worth. It is way much more worth than these live action remakes that offer more often than not poor soundtracks, extra time and for what? The same exact story! Nothing new is really not added! And if things are altered the changes feel weird because you know they are changes! And the special effects although props to all the workers, they just don’t have the same freedom animation has and can’t do the scenes already done good justice. They cater to the nostalgia of their older audience and leave their new audiences confused on these attempts sometimes.

I digress, anyways… this “Ariel” is black and yk the rest of her sisters are racially diverse too (I hope this is given a purpose like each sister comes from and rules a separate ocean of the seven seas, that would be cool) but like when Ariel’s actress was announced I wasn’t one of those people who were like “that’s not how Ariel is supposed to look like” but I also don’t see their reasoning. Is this supposed to be representation? Because even though there’s not really a “supposed to” for a mythical creature this is a white story. I do hope there’s a purpose like the aforementioned because then you have your POC with a story that is not their own. That is not REPRESENTING them.

I mean unless you do something exciting with a remake or retelling. Because Disney is doing both with this Little Mermaid- remember Hans Christian Andersen’s little mermaid was some different. I think like despite the story of The Frog Prince being German, the remix The Princess and the Frog put on it- showing the culture of New Orleans, putting role model relationships and a role model princess- is representation going right. Although yeah I agree the whole half a movie as a frog is a bit of the opposite of representation you still have the cast diverse (the crew could use some work but through the movie you can at least tell they did their research). There’s a new trailer of the upcoming Little Mermaid out… and the first teaser was honestly exciting I had hopes anticipating what they might do for this remake. How naive I am. This new trailer showed the EXACT SAME SCENES AS THE 1989 MOVIE. Dude the EXACT same dialogue. I know because I know it like the back of my hand! (Ariel was my sister’s favorite princess) How disappointing it was! I will say maybe a wider view “I-can-show-you-the-world” Under the Sea sequence sounds cool and the way Ursula’s tentacles lit up was real cool.

I had some disconnect when I saw Halle Bailey react to her Ariel doll. Which is amazing don't get me wrong! I really don't know why I felt this, maybe because she said Ariel was her favorite Disney character and now it looks like her. I hope I am not insensitive in saying that I don't quite understand that?

I mean when it comes to dolls I know there's like a whole other history and issues- some I am sure linked to film, so that is a whole other branch in topic. But my feelings I am referring to is besides dolls. More of referring to the argument that it is good for Ariel to be a POC for the young generations to see “themselves” in roles they would want to emulate. I do hope that kids aren’t limited by skin color. I hope that they don’t look at these animated princesses and think “I can never be them, I’m not white.” Be whoever you want to be in heart and outfits/dress-up. (A different story if literally working in parks of course.) It’s not like I don’t understand though what it means to see your color on the screen. Even despite dressing up as Cinderella and Snow White when I was young, having a favorite princess in the former, I still had felt this ethereal connection to Pocahontas. Although not my culture (not anyone's really) it meant something that she looked like me.

I guess that is what they are striving for with this remake. But we have on come so far from the thinking of the 90s to just take that now. On the matter of it doesn't matter what the princess or hell superhero looks like, let me clarify: yes that is a bit of a “colorblind” statement and I still stand by that for I contend it is the right kind of clot blindness for a child to have. But as adults, as movie creators, and occupants of this society that race was built into, we can't be colorblind because you neglect the trials, tribulations, and triumphs behind the race. And that is what this "representation" does.

That's what this new Little Mermaid is. I applaud the representation of movies like Moana and Encanto, their flaws still present, these films gave the adventure and role models and lessons and culture behind the ethnicity of these characters. The cast and characters delivering their own new stories. THEIR OWN.

Like aside from race representation, what I think would be a bit more than surface level representation would be casting queer actors in the roles of Ariel and Ursula. This movie and story is a queer allegory through and through. The mermaid who had body dismorphia, who didn't belong. That was the story when (possibly queer) Hans Christian Andersen wrote it and that essence remained in Disney’s 1989 adaptation – of course in their version the mermaid gets the happy ending well in the OG she did not. As far as I can tell Halle Bailey is not queer. Melissa McCarthy is a strong ally, and in fairness she has performed as a drag queen. Which if you didn’t know the design for Ursula was inspired by drag queen Divine. And she apparently "stays true" to animated Ursula. Which again- mixed feelings after all if you are going to make a live action, make it your own! Not a copy, not Will Smith trying to be Robin Williams’ Genie. Make it Will Smith being Will’s Genie.

But Ursula I think they went the safe route because although the queer community has pretty much claimed the sea witch as their own, the issue of and complexity of queer coding villains arises. Yet I’m still in favor for Alex Newell playing Ursula. That’s based on merit too! Like did you HEAR their performance on Disney’s Pride celebration?? Since maybe with that fan-cast other issues might come about, hear me out, instead of a live action Little Mermaid, what about- another Alex Newell featuring project- Once on This Island?!

Once on This Island is a musical adaptation of 1985 novel “My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl” by Rosa Guy, a Caribbean retelling of Has Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid. It was nominated for 8 Tony Awards back in 1991. It would be an excellent story to put to the screen! A fact that Disney even acknowledged. Disney+ announced a pro shot of the stage version back in 2020 and no one’s followed up, so here’s me following up!

[noodles-and-tea]

Returning home

[mari-lair]

boys

[poisonouspastels]

can you believe these are statements made by the same fucking guy over 10 years apart

[not-poignant]

every now and then i forget how bad my chronic illnesses are and every now and then my body is like 'hmmm you seem to have forgotten what it's like to be cripplingly bedridden and disabled and we don't want you to forget' and then i'm reminded and it feels a little like being yeeted into a granite cliff wall at full speed and leaving a dent

[dykephan]

you know what i HAVE to go to this tour because i can't believe i've seen drew gooden danny gonzalez and kurtis connor live and idgaf about them 😭 it's not right

[divinesouldariax]

Ashton Greymoore: Chronic Pain, Physical Touch, and the Juxtaposition of Toughness and Vulnerability

(Spoilers up to episode 38 of campaign 3 of Critical Role)

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Ashton in the context of the recent confirmation in canon that they experience chronic pain, and I’ve just finally managed to put all (or at least, most) of my thoughts about it in the same place.

We got this exchange in the most recent episode of 4-Sided Dive, during a segment where Taliesin was talking about how Ashton is changing the way they think about his past and what it might mean, after saying that he’s starting to trust the group more:

(Four-Sided Dive episode 8: Why are you like this?!):

Tal: Just…like, to throw out–Ashton only, like, really touched another member of the group very recently. There hadn’t been a lot of close physical contact until like, the last game (Sam: Whoa). That was the first, like…yeah.

Sam: Is that a thing?

Tal (matter-of-factly): Uh, yeah!

Sam: Not a toucher?

Tal: Everything hurts.

Sam (incredulously, still trying to wrap his mind around it): Everything hurts?

Tal: Everything hurts.

Matt: Yeah.

Sam: Always?

Tal: Yeah. Uhh–

Matt: Chronic pain, man.

Tal: Beating the living fuck out of things helps you ignore it, and yeah, once this (gestures at head, indicates Ashton’s rage) starts going, it kind of lessens, but yeah. It’s just, everything’s always low-key bad. Not even that low-key. (Sam: Wow.) Yeah. It’s why they’re a dick. (laughs)…But yeah, there was an actual like, “oh god, okay, physical contact, this is happening. Alright. Okay.

The moment it seems like Taliesin is referring to where Ashton allowed physical contact was this sequence with Orym:

(Campaign 3 episode 38: A Dark Balance)

Marisha (as Laudna): We’re like a…a real family.

Liam (as Orym): Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

Tal (as Ashton): Could be.

Liam (as Orym): Get down here. (puts arm around Ashton’s shoulders and tugs them down towards the tree)

Tal (as Ashton): No, I–careful, I–yep, yep, okay, this is weird.

Liam: I start to give him a noogie, but it hurts.

Everyone else: (laughing and agreeing)

Tal (as Ashton): Yeah, this is weird. Ah, this is weird…okay. No, I’m okay. I’m okay. (continues mumbling in what seems like a forced-calm voice and looking unsure)

Ashton’s obvious uncertainty about this contact (especially when he said “careful”, which I missed on my first watch because there was cross-talk happening) rang so, so true as a “I don’t actually mind you touching me, but I am very nervous that you’re accidentally going to hurt me” thought process. This is a process I’m personally very familiar with as someone who experiences chronic pain (I had to tell a preschooler multiple times today that she needed to hold onto more of my hand than just my pinky while she was balancing on the bench or she might hurt me because I was genuinely quite worried that she was going to dislocate my finger if she fell, lmao). 

Like a lot of things that Ashton does, it seemed to have registered with the other players and with the audience as an “I’m edgy, I don’t have friends, and I certainly don’t let people hug me” schtick. Which is, of course, the point.

Ashton swears and presents punk and pushes people away and is (as Tal said) just generally a dick to distract people from their chronic pain and his loneliness. 

And it works! It’s extremely effective! Absolutely none of what I’m saying is intended as negative criticism of any of the people involved (because I think this is going to be resolved in-game, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a conversation happening behind the scenes as well, even though Sam still seems completely bewildered by the concept of chronic pain lmao), but the edgy charade works so well that even characters who are usually thoughtful and careful tend to overstep boundaries and assume that Ashton is always fine with their body being used as a resource and can take extra pain. And Ashton doesn’t give them any obvious reason not to keep doing so! 

Some examples:

(Campaign 3 episode 24: The Hellcatch Valley)

Tal (rolls a nat 1 dex save, Ashton ends up with a harpoon bolt through his side and 24 points of piercing damage. As Ashton, sarcastically, after it takes everyone a minute to notice): I'm sorry. You were all busy. I didn't want to interrupt anything!

(Some scrambling to help, they end up pulling the harpoon out)

Sam: I’ll cast Cure Wounds…just a level one. You heal 10 points.

Tal (as Ashton): That is good. Ow! Ow. Well, it's been a great day. I'm going back to sleep. Goodbye. (laughter from the group, continues OOC and quietly, unacknowledged by the rest of the players) I don't make it to the bed. I just fall over.

(The party returns to their previous conversation)

And:

(Campaign 3 episode 28: The Deathwish Run)

Liam: Orym springs up and lands and sits on Ash's shoulder– (needing a higher vantage to keep an eye out over a crowd)

Tal (as Ashton): “Ah–” (startled, possible pain, but accepts it and helps steady Orym)

Liam: –but I want to look for anyone that we recognize.

This one in particular stands out to me because Orym very clearly does not ask if it’s okay to use them as a perch, or give Ashton much of a chance to respond. There’s too much going on at the time to Taliesin to respond, either, since Otohon Thull and Ratanish walk over to them immediately, but based on what Tal said in the most recent 4-Sided Dive, it’s very possible that Ashton would have rejected that contact given the moment to do so. Tal may have even dismissed it as something Ashton wouldn’t have let happen but there wasn’t a good time to retcon it, which is why he phrased the statement about the contact in episode 38 being the first time he’s allowed it.

Other examples that I didn’t want to search through transcripts for, in the category of “Ashton does a Thing even though he knows it will Hurt without telling anybody that it hurts, whether that’s because somebody asks/demands it of them or of their own volition”:

Ashton carrying the statue out of Jiana Hexum’s house for Fearne

Carrying Orym inside after he fell off the skyship

Carrying FCG up and down ladders in the Fownsee Hollow

Carrying Laudna’s body for miles

And then there’s every time Ashton is very vocally expressing that he’s in pain (they’re not subtle about it lmao) and doesn’t get checked in with afterwards. Some examples of this are:

During the carnivorous plant fight in the jungle

The aforementioned harpoon incident

Later that day when he rolls a nat 1 to swing the hammer and ends up dropping it in obvious pain (“Ow! OW. Ohh, yep, can’t do that. I–ahh, yep, gonna go pick that up.” in exactly the same tone and cadence that I hear from myself when I’ve just done something that I should have known was going to fuck up a joint, especially when I’ve got another injury compounding the baseline pain)

Sometimes they do get checked in with, at least briefly, but usually not past the initial “cast a healing spell and move on because there’s too much happening to really take the time to make sure they’re okay” stage:

The Ratanish fight at the ball when Dorian secretly casts Cure Wounds

The time Ashton gets Phantasmal Killer cast on them during the fight where they meet Dusk/Yu and Orym takes his hand to lead them back over to the group, and Fearne casts a Cure Wounds afterwards

Still, as Taliesin said, Ashton only very recently started feeling more comfortable being vulnerable with the party. It’s why they asked Imogen and FCG to check their memories, why he allowed himself the “Ashton, are you going soft on us?” “No! Yes. Fuck. I need a drink.” confession after the “You make me happy” speech, why they didn’t pull away when Orym put an arm around him. Previous attempts to ask them about their pain probably wouldn’t have resulted in them opening up. But now? They’re changing.

We really are seeing an Ashton who’s going soft. Again. “I was soft, once”, and he’s returning to that state: not physically reverting back to a non-genasi body, of course, but just letting down the emotional rock walls that have been protecting an affectionate, caring, genuine interior, of a person who desperately wants to be vulnerable, and just needs a little convincing (as he admits to Fearne, “I'm having this moment where I'm realizing that perhaps one of the reasons why I allow myself to get the shit kicked out of me is in the hope that people are actually fucking watching.”). He needs these people to prove that they’re not about to leave him, not about to realize his weaknesses (even though he wears most of them on their skin like a signpost–if they just keep acting tough, if there’s no cracks in his facade like there are in his body, then nobody will notice) and abandon him like their last family did, before they’ll let themself be truly vulnerable.

And it’s why, I hope, something will shift in the way that Ashton and the party respond to his pain. I would love an acknowledgement that chronic pain brings limitations, that they let the disabled character be disabled (preferably mechanically, because I know they can incorporate that kind of mechanic–they’ve done it before with mental illness, with Caleb, with Imogen, with FCG, and it would mean so much to me if the same sort of consideration could go into a physically disabled character’s mechanics. But I would accept pure story/flavor acknowledgement as well). 

I also hope there’s going to be an in-game conversation about how Ashton feels about being touched, letting him set boundaries and tell the party specifically what hurts too much, when to ask permission, when not to touch at all, and when and where it would be welcome.

It’s obviously something Taliesin is thinking about, and I think it deserves to be discussed in-character. This period of time where they’re stuck on a skyship with nothing plot-urgent happening seems like a perfect time to have those conversations…(holding out hope for that next episode lol). 

This all ties in with my last post about the topic (it doesn’t have to hurt more to be love!), and it’s something I obviously feel very passionately about lmao. I want to see a disabled person with chronic pain that does limit them, that inconveniences their friends sometimes, and I want to see them get loved and cared for and accommodated because their pain is a part of them, and it’s not something that can or should be ignored.

In other words, as Matt said, “To clarify, there is strength, and there is pain. There is pain, and there is strength.” Pain and strength, strength and pain, equally present, equally important to his life and to their character. We’ve seen so much of Ashton’s strength. It’s time to let them show their pain.

[grandcovenant]

it's such a shame that sophia as a character is so reliant on keeping everything about her a mystery until.... literally the last chapter, because it makes her a lot weaker as.... one of the main characters. she's intended to have the same level of importance as geppetto in the narrative, however, in execution..... you can't really get invested in her because she doesn't really offer anything meaningful to you until the very end, and by then it feels a little too little too late. (and so much of it is wrapped around simon's plotline, which i have already expressed i don't really care for.)

i think it's why i try to make a bigger deal of things like the hermit's cave, or the thing about being a listener being "the devil's power", according to sophia's mother. these bits show her as an existing part of the setting she's in, and not as the walking Big Reveal set-up she... kind of is, honestly.

sophia is meant to be p's guide through his growing humanity, a counterpoint to geppetto, and i wish more was done with it!!!

[heybaetae]

.

[wundrousarts]

Hi guys...... don't want to alarm you too much but I would like to give a heads up outside of the discord...... there seems to be like a 50/50 chance that Silverborn is delayed a whole nother year 😭😭😭

I'm doing my best to investigate and I am hoping that it's just a massive error where the wrong year was inputted on a publisher site that then triggered Barnes and Nobles preorder postponement emails to be sent out..... but I would say to perhaps prepare for the worst 😭

I will update if there's confirmation one way or the other 🥲

[solace-seekers]

screaming into the void <3

[transgirltrish]

today has been a very good day for me. I expected bad days, it literally hasn't even been a week since I got broken up with? it's been 5 days at most.

[august--and-everything-after]

I'm trying to create a new professional gmail account for job hunting purposes and I've tried firstnamelastname and firstname.lastname and firstname_lastname and it says those user names are taken.

So I try logging into google with them and it says the accounts don't exist ("Couldn't find your Google Account")

Hello??????

[draslihanxfahri-bailey]

📜𝙰𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙵𝚊𝚑𝚛𝚒-𝙱𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚢 & 𝙾𝚙𝚎𝚗 (𝟸/𝟺)

Getting back to work full-time was both a blessing and a curse. Of course, she was still prioritizing time with her family and that was okay. However, after spending months taking things easy? Well, easy for her, that is? Asli hadn't realized how quickly she could fall back into her workaholic ways. How second-nature it was. And, frankly, how that wasn't exactly a good thing, yet she tried not to think about that. With Eli offering to hold down the fort concerning the girls and cats, she was off at the Midnight Club (perhaps a dangerous option, now knowing Jesse's presence still being around). Trying to get caught up on any work she didn't have Phoebe sneak in for her. With having been given the approval to curate the new wing and turn it into the Hall of Ancient Mediterranean History (name still a work in progress), Asli now has even more on her plate concerning the museum. And, after a few hours, she ended up falling asleep on a stack of files and plans. Her laptop screen eventually going black after awhile. Until, finally, she jolted slightly awake.

"Wha—?" Blinking, her eyesight was blurry as she narrowed them. Her fingers searching for her glasses as she tried to look around. "How lon... Wh-What time is it...?"

𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛: 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚋, 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 ; 𝚘𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟶𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟹 || @providencepeakstarters

[loathsome-sickness]

what if.... what if you had chronic fatigue... and you needed to lay down for naps...

but eeevery once in a while instead of having a nice chill little rest you got locked into an hours long state of hallucinatory half-consciousness while also having your entire adrenal gland dump into your blood system every 30 seconds or so

(i call it the torment nexus. i fucking hate it here)

[yallemagne]

I geh fuckinnnnn YEAh I keep harping on this but like please please it's my blog I can tear it up on this harp of pettiness as much as I want.

The Fuckers that say my shit is Modern™ as an implicit diss because my writing does not support the prevalent sexism of the era that the story takes place in. Like you goddamn...

I just fucking paused my work to look up the term "Rubenesque" because I was worried it wasn't a word during the 19th century. It was, just wasn't used as much as now in the 21st century.

I know that's a whole different animal of "historical accuracy" but no, I will not write a period piece that actively or even passively supports shitty power structures no matter how "inaccurate" people think my deconstructions of sexism and gender are to the era. I will, however, obsess over the etymology and usage of certain words during the era.