#yabbers

[thewandererh]

⚠️ slightly flashing gifs under the cut

gifs from an upcoming animation i’m workin on, featuring the Iambic Pentameter crew (chonny jash but rainworld). these mostly consist of MND being apathetic and scary, but he’s a real sweetiepie when you get to know him :]

This is during a period in MND’s story when he is apathetic towards everyone and everything. this shadowy form is a personification of HRT’s fear and dehumanization of him…aswell as being the last thing HRT ever saw…

(slightly flashing gifs under the cut)

[hollownest-whore]

I also like to think Tiso is really meticulous about cleaning and grooming, remnants of ant instincts.

THIS! but like in a VERY SPECIFIC WAY!? Tiso, while he is cleanly and takes time to care for himself and others, he uses his mouth. Which I mean, normal bug behaviour but in hallownest with how culture and society evolved I'm pretty sure if someone finished dinner by licking their fingers or silverware everyone would stare. Of course nowadays nobody really has time to care, certainly not Hornet or the void twins but I think Quirrel is like ahaha greaaat! ^^ and cleans everyone's dishes with water and tells them to wash their hands lol

[demento]

his shoulders are FOUR. HEADS. WIDE.

[binkusdinkus]

+alt version

I loved this scene in X-Men evolution but Jean looked so janky so I had to redraw it in a way

[bluesidez]

I am having a little block with my current requests, so Gym Rat Miguel lovers will be getting a cute lil surprise (not really a surprise) at some point between today and tomorrow...hopefully!

[overleftdown]

farleigh start and racism; oh boy.

(some people are going to find this post really annoying. some people are like felix catton.)

read this.

just some thoughts from the perspective of a person of color who is slightly too obsessed with this character. this movie leaves the viewer a lot of wiggle room to interpret how dynamics such as race and privilege come into play. there are certain parallels between this movie and the real world, and how unnoticeable white privilege tends to be for white people.

lemme lay some groundwork. from what i understand, the most prevalent form of racism and white privilege within upper- and middle-class circles is implicit bias. this is racist conceptualization that subconsciously interacts with one's perception of society and people. implicit bias is often externalized through microaggressions, differences in treatment and language towards a marginalized person, misplaced guilt or pity, and persistent denial of any existing privilege or marginalization. most of these biases are also founded on stereotypes. some racial stereotypes are heightening (e.g. asians are all smart) and some are lowering (e.g. black people are all lazy). all stereotypes are harmful. i'm going to discuss some of the stereotypes that could theoretically interact within the saltburn canon, as well as some things i've noticed within viewers. can of worms, to be honest. boutta get INTO IT.

to use one of my externalization examples, let's discuss (or, more accurately, let me discuss) the denial of existing privilege or marginalization. this is a subconscious way to uphold a sense of morality, effectively avoiding "white guilt," so to speak. as is clearly presented to us, the cattons are very attached to their methods of upholding their own self-righteousness. saviorism is a common theme within both elspeth and felix. in oliver's conversation with elspeth about poor dear pamela, you can see that oliver recognizes elspeth's need to justify her actions in an attempt to preserve her sense of decency. one can only assume that this applies to how they view farleigh's relationship with them. there's more to talk about there, but i'd like to start with the only overt mention of race in this movie.

in felix's confrontation with farleigh, farleigh makes the bold and brave decision to mention his blackness. i call this brave because it's genuinely a terrifying thing to do, and the end of this conversation is proof. "oh, that is... that is low, farleigh. seriously, that's where you want to take this? make it a race thing? i never know our footman's names; the turnover for a footman is notoriously high!" we have felix's intentional or unintentional shaming of farleigh. we have felix's appalled denial of any involvement of race or racial bias. we have felix's diversion away from farleigh specifically and onto his own inability to know his staff's names. felix made no further attempt to recenter farleigh, aside from telling him that the cattons have "done what they can." (which is SO absurd on its own. they are clearly and obviously able to do more. they are disgustingly rich). farleigh does feel ashamed after felix's response; you can see it on his face, and archie says it directly. here is a relevant and prevalent stereotype for all marginalized people: that the discussion of marginalization is exclusively weaponized to gain something or manipulate a situation. this is how felix chooses to see farleigh's implication of existing white privilege. this conversation results in nothing, does nothing, as felix chooses not to confront what he's probably thinking as he repeats the words "begging bowl" to venetia.

now. saviorism, guilt, and pity. felix specifically tells oliver that sir james made an effort to support farleigh out of guilt. i'd like to order some things in a way that i perceive them. frederica start runs from england, which is explained in a condescending way by felix. frederica start marries a so-referred-to "lunatic" who dug through fred and jame's money, although it's farleigh who only mentions fred's financial irresponsibility. out of guilt, james offers to pay for farleigh's education. the specificity of education is compelling to me. perhaps james is simply a patriotic man who strongly believes that english education is better. or this is a mobilized racial stereotype! who can truly know. i digress. james' offer to pay for farleigh's foreign education puts the cattons in an odd position; if farleigh is to attend english schools, he will need to stay with the cattons. if farleigh is staying with the cattons, he will need to be treated as equal to felix and venetia. this is all one long chain of obligations. none of these acts from one family member to another should be considered "charitable," because family should intrinsically create a trustworthy and supportive dynamic.

i believe that the cattons do consider their fostering of farleigh as obligatory. moral obligation, as they recognize that families are intended to have a sympathetic and loving relationship. they cannot, however, escape the truth that they're just guilty. the "begging bowl" and "biting the hand" are more symbolic of a starving dog and its charitable adopter than a cousin/nephew who's staying with his absurdly rich family. see, the cattons are fully and entirely capable of affording another child, of supporting frederica financially, etc. the only way i can rationalize their reluctance to do so is by assuming that they don't feel like farleigh deserves it. is this a crazy assumption? i genuinely don't see why else. of course, i don't think this mentality is explicit or conscious. it's more-so the reality that when farleigh walks in a room, he's not the same as anybody else. aside from background characters at oxbridge, the only on-screen black people are liam, joshua, and james' godson's wife (who gets degraded on-screen). this is the reality of being different in an environment such as the english aristocracy. the cattons choose to see themselves as the hand that feeds the less fortunate, more entertaining, and least inconvenient. the cattons' inclusion of farleigh is not only reliant on how well farleigh performs, but also on their own pity and guilt.

all of this is somehow, painfully mirrored by some takes i've seen on farleigh. maybe this entire post is presumptuous, but you know what isn't presumptuous? saying that certain people hold farleigh to an incredibly odd standard. while the cattons never canonically said anything along the lines of "farleigh doesn't deserve our love and support," mfs on the internet have. the number of times people have referred to this character as greedy, lazy, petty, and malignant is so odd to me. i'm insane, i know. i just don't understand how people can hold farleigh to the backdrop of an english aristocratic family and so passionately say that he, of all characters, is the most detestable. or that he, of all characters, has no reason to behave in the way he does.

is farleigh greedy? greed is defined as a desire for more. farleigh has no desire to climb ranks, no desire to replace or surpass felix, no desire to hold any power over any family member. he is maintaining, upholding a standard that has been set for him throughout his life. is it kind or selfless of him to meddle in other people's affairs with the cattons? no. does he have a reason to be upset that non-relatives of the cattons are a threat to his inclusion in the first place? yes. is farleigh lazy? i don't even need to explain this one. no. if you don't consider oliver lazy, then i really don't want to hear anything. is farleigh petty? pettiness is defined as "an undue concern for trivial matters, especially in a small-minded or spiteful way." farleigh's meticulous attention to trivial matters isn't undue in any sense. a person of color and their meticulous attention to trivial matters is almost never undue. elspeth is a good example of petty. is farleigh malignant? there are a lot of definitions of malignant and i've seen people apply all of them, in some way, to farleigh. that's just wrong. archie madekwe once said, "i was interested in humanizing what, on paper, seemed like a mean character, a villain, or a bully. i don't think he's any of that. he's very self-serving, but i think he's really a heartbreaking character." case closed, this was for my own piece of mind. had to write this section because good lord.

in conclusion to this post that has gone tragically off the rails, i think the in-canon and viewer perspective of farleigh is, perhaps, a little racially motivated. sue me. they are all very centered on this idea that farleigh doesn't deserve inherent respect, support, and love. to remove farleigh's rational position within the cattons family would be akin to removing his right to familial love. genuinely, that's how i see it. the transaction nature of farleigh's actions is responsive. he sees felix as a social shield at oxbridge, he sees elspeth and james as the beholders of his perceived security, and he sees saltburn as a way to escape from his lack of privilege and his lack of stability in america. boom. bam. pow.

[yoirua]

jiaoqiu’s lightcone has me weak oh my god he’s majestic

MARCH IS SO CUTE OH MY GOD I LOVE HERR 🫶🫶

YUNLI’S SUCH A CUTIEE

[thatlonelycactus]

We talk about the s2 ep6 kiss SO MUCH and for good reason. It is a kiss that means so much to the characters, the plot and the fandom. However, as a kiss itself, it isn’t what one would call as romantic as, say, the Richard II kiss. It’s an almost violent kiss, a final argument in a fight that Crowley knows he’ll lose but for once in his existence he’ll at least try to fight. Because Aziraphale is the only being that loves and has ever loved him unconditionally. Aziraphale is the only being or thing he has left to love. But now, hes going to risk losing him to the same side that took everything else away from him. It’s desperate. It’s filled with want, with pain. It’s the need to love and be loved. A final attempt. A final attempt to be an ‘us’. He grasps him like the sands of time, knowing that loosening his grip would mean losing it all too soon. On the other hand, Aziraphale tenses, he struggles to hold Crowley back because he knows it’ll be harder to let him go. If he lets himself think of what they could be, he knows he’ll give in. Aziraphale isn’t running, no, he has to go fight another battle. A battle that, if he wins, means that they could be an ‘us’ someday. Just not the ‘us’ Crowley wants to be. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, he simply can’t stop himself from trying to reach for him, for a being who loves him, actually loves him. A being he knows to be good. He tries to hold on whilst also trying to resist. He asks for more and yet tries to distance himself. Because the kiss- the kiss is the closest they have ever been and yet the farthest at the same time. They both want the same thing and yet the same thing means two entirely different things. They want to hold on when for years they’ve tried to let go- tried to keep each other safe- tried to save themselves from heartbreak- but they’ve always failed because all roads lead to each other. And finally, when they let themselves give in they know there is no hope they know how it will end but they give in anyway. Because after years of always being able to reach for they other, they’ll try to reach out and only be able to find the traces of what was and what could never have been.

[thorin-apologist]

just to be clear im sad but not shocked. i did my mourning for the show the moment con-number-one-ofmd-fanboy-o'neill's character was killed off like it just didnt even occur to me that season 3 could exist without him. con would've had to be physically restrained for 3 months if they filmed another season without izzy

[juicesnatcher]

This is what every discord call I have with @skipysstuff sounds like

[yuichiroswife]

{ Happy 26th birthday to me. }

[frickfrack1001001001]

guys...

[itti-bitti-yibbi]

I just realised I'm in a place where I like my art and I'm kinda emotional about it hold on

gonna end up posting this doodle along with others for my siren! au over on @twoautisticboysinatrenchcoat which is a blog for tma (mostly jmart) au stuff I'm running w my friend @lancingmangos

we'd appreciate you checking it out if you're interested in that sort of thing :3

[demento]

I think at least in part Curly is representative of a bigger picture. I could say intelligent things like, "he's symbolic of the mistreatment of burn victims," or "he's symbolic of how people will use the physicaly disabled as sockpuppets to fuel their own beliefs because they can't defend themselves," or "the way Jimmy treats him is meant to parallel his rape of Anya in that he uses him for his own pleasure," but I don't really know how to express my thoughts in a smart way. Still. Something to think about? 🤷

[bluesidez]

Thinking about Actor!Miguel who’s known for the passionate chemistry he has with his costars on screen, but is at the beck and call of his pretty wife at home.

[overleftdown]

can u talk more abt his apparent affairs w teachers and relationship w sex in general? so many ppl gloss over that bit

of course! i'll link a couple posts for preface, although i'll probably paraphrase some stuff anyways.

[my commentary on sex and consent in saltburn.]

i received an ask regarding farleigh's queerness the other day, to which i tied in this little tidbit about farleigh's affirs with teachers. the explicitly male/male language that felix used when recounting farleigh's sexcapades with teachers was interesting to me. farleigh is pansexual (as stated in the screenplay), but felix uses male/male language exclusively. part of this could be the erasure of pansexual or bisexual reality. people either exclude the homosexual aspect of someone's identity, or the heterosexual aspect. but this could also mean that farleigh did only harbor affairs with male teachers.

that would be an interesting complex to think about. although women in positions of power are absolutely capable of abusing that power and asserting dominance over others, men have a different dynamic within that. the fact is, farleigh does things to gain the affections of other people, because he isn't automatically handed that affection. farleigh does play into teacher/student dynamics, whether it's overtly sexual or not. you can see this in the tutor scene and the brief montage moment where fareligh is sitting on the floor in front of the tutor, while they both ignore oliver. consider it an investment, of sorts. there's always a possibility that a white teacher will have academic bias against you, and the need to mitigate that is strangling sometimes. teachers are also just dicks. i find myself in "teacher's pet" positions for a number of reasons, a few of them are bias related.

where it gets complicated is the sex aspect specifically. if it is true that farleigh has been expelled from an absurd number of schools specifically for harboring teacher/student sexual affairs, then this is can really only be perceived as compulsive. also, can i just say, the fact that farleigh was expelled instead of the teacher being fired is disgusting. i kinda wanna call this evidence of discrimination, as well. queerness and perceived sexual deviancy, blackness and the constant inability to be seen as human and innocent. arghgh. i digress. the fact is, if farleigh truly was harboring sexual affairs with teachers for his own benefit and that alone, then he wouldn't have made the mistake so frequently. he would've recognized that the disadvantages outweighed the benefits and found other ways of playing teacher's pet. archie talked about the quickstart dynamic and said that although it was ambiguously consensual, farleigh is attracted to and aroused by power dynamics. many people are. where that compulsive need to buy into power dynamics comes from, i'm not sure. it could be a lot of things.

the neglectful nature of farleigh's upbringing could've resulted in a need for validation and attention from those who are in a position of authority. farleigh's queerness could've resulted in an internalized feeling of perversion that was then externalized through a desire to be taken advantage of. the nature of submission is also often linked to a need for control in other areas of life, and therefore relinquishing control in sexual dynamics. some marginalized people play into eroticization because it can be more validating than exclusion. many people learn to crave their own objectification, and it's often a manifestation of sexual trauma or other forms of trauma. if i get really convoluted and let my angst-fanfiction brain run wild, i start to imagine what environments farleigh was in throughout his childhood. as archie said, farleigh was involved in overly "mature" conversations and situations through his mother. what that could mean for farleigh's perception of sex, nobody knows. i can let my imagination go insane though. i can imagine a lot of weird scenarios. those are all conjecture, of course.

i'm just going to conclude that whatever sexual complexes farleigh has, they're not healthy. i don't think that they should be fetishized or ignored. i think that they're relevant to farleigh and oliver's on-screen dynamic, especially considering oliver was in a position of power over farleigh when they had sex.