#yeah i rewatched pretty woman recently

[fincalinde]

aziraphale as the corporate suit who's too afraid to be vulnerable enough for a real relationship and crowley as the hooker with a heart of gold who doesn't kiss on the mouth (until he does)

[mermaidsirennikita]

I watched Pretty Woman when I was around 12. Which, first of all, my mom let me watch and read anything.

It pretty much encoded in my brain. It also played an important role in my fascination with older men with silver hair. And I love everything about it. I know it's problematic and stuff. But it's so good. Everything is perfect, casting, music, story, acting, cinematography. Romantic movies don't commit like this. I miss the beautiful, curly hair and the romantic ballads. It feels as if Hollywood is allergic to romance now.

I'm suffering from lack of good romantic movies. Please recommend some good movies.

If it makes you feel any better, I was probably younger than 12 when my mom like MADE me watch it with her lmao

And I agree so much with everything you have to say about it. Pretty Woman is, to me, the Iconique romance movie. It feels more like a romance novel, to me, than most movies. And it's sooooo sexy.

For other romantic movies, I'd recommend:

Brown Sugar (2002). This one is really fun because both of the protagonists make really bad choices sometimes! He marries the wrong person, she gets with the wrong person, it's friends to lovers the way it should be done (ie with a lot of angst). But you still root for them to get together! Also, Taye Diggs gives an absolutely perfect line delivery (like several) in this clip.

(We gonna celebrate--what? *clink clink* MY DIVOOOOOORCE!)

Always Be My Maybe (2019). Another example of friends to lovers done right, though it's really one of the things I love in books too, which is "childhood friends to strangers to lovers". So good. Also, the single best usage of a celebrating playing themselves ever with Keanu Reeves.

Imagine Me and You (2005). A sweet sapphic romcom with a bit of a moral quandary in the premise... A woman is walking down the aisle to her husband, looks over, sees florist Lena Headey, and understandably falls in love with florist Lena Headey. But like, she didn't even know she was bi, let alone that florist Lena Headey existed, so--what now? Cheesy in a very sweet way. Actually plays with infidelity in a manner that movies kinda don't as much at the moment (Brown Sugar does as well). Yet it remains heartwarming.

Faraway (2023). Nobody ever talks about this movie, even though it has so many things we always say we want—like a woman over 40 who isn't stick thin falling in love with a man over 40 who also doesn't have this insanely ripped body (and he remains hot, to be clear). In this one, a woman finds out her husband is PROBABLY cheating on her on the day of her mother's funeral. She also finds out that her mom had a secret house in Croatia! And when she goes to that house to get away from her family, there's Some Guy squatting there! And now she's kind of in a love triangle with Some Guy and a younger real estate developer who wants to buy the property...? It's delightful. I need to rewatch it.

Hit Man (2023 though let's be real it's a 2024 movie). Anyone who hasn't seen this yet--it's a romcom. It's a whole romcom. With sex in it. It's very funny, it made me attracted to Glen Powell against my will, he eats this girl out a kitchen island (and she thinks he's a hit man she almost hired to kill her husband). It's definitely got a touch of darkness, but everyone who suffers deserves to because they're like, abusive husbands and racist predatory cops. Hell yeah.

Amelie (2001). I'm sure everyone has seen Amelie by now, but if you haven't, watch Amelie. It's everything it's cracked up to be.

Argylle (2024). YEAH. YEAH. I'M PUTTING THIS ON HERE. Everyone shat all over Argylle, and I was like oh shit, what even is Argylle??? I don't wanna spoil too much, but did you know that Argylle pretty much ends on two people making out as they speed away from whimsical chaos??? Did you know that Argylle has like.. AN AMNESIA ROMANCE PLOT??? It's goofy as fuck and it is delightful.

Lisa Frankenstein (2024). Another recent one that is actually so romantic. And the monster uses a giant Hitachi magic wand on Lisa Frankenstein. Good for her.

The Through My Window trilogy I will always cite as Euroteen romance movie excellence. Like, the second movie is kinda rough, but the third makes up for it completely. It is soapy, it is ridiculous, it is EVERYTHING a good Wattpad movie should be except there's also like, an actual earnest heart to it. Ares is a king among men. Raquel is batshit insane but gets away with it because she is That Girl. I love it.

Anyway, this is far from a complete list, but try these for like, the heart feelings.

[theshortolivia]

Get to Know me tag :)

Was tagged for a get to know me tag game by @deerlisteners and these are fun so thought I’d do it for the like two people who will see it, even though, they are both childhood friends and know all this…

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yeah! My moms named me after the character Olivia Benson from law and order because she was a ‘strong independent woman’ like they wanted me to be and they also both had a crush on her/the actress who plays her. Bonus fact I’m p sure if I’d been born male they woulda named me Josiah

2. When was the last time you cried?

Uhhh, I got emotional and ALMOST cried at the ‘shoe scene’ (can’t be any more specific cause Huge spoilers) when rewatching Jojo Rabbit, I DID cry when I saw it in theatres and I HIGHLY recommend it as a comedy satire but also a harrowing reminder of history we should never forget (and for taika waititi of course). Um last time I actually cried I don’t remember cause recently my mental health has been depression apathy and not anxiety tears but it was Probably out of frustration at my chronic illness limiting what I can do, not a fun anecdote unfortunately but sometimes it be like that

3. Do you have kids?

I do not and I don’t plan on having any anytime soon for economic, chronic illness, and age reasons (I’m 22 lol I am Not settled in life I don’t even live alone). I would like to have kids when I’m older and more settled health and money wise, I love kids and feel I have so much love and care to give, i think I’d both enjoy and be a good mother. Also, I’d like to have them ‘traditionally’ because I’d like to experience pregnancy and I have some good genes lol. I think I’d like to have 3, partially because I do think I will love to raise and love children but also largely because I want my kids to have multiple siblings and to have a bigger (I know that’s not large in the grand scheme but for like, this day and age and economy and etc) family and for their kids to have multiple aunts/uncles. I love having a brother and wish I had more siblings, I wish I had a sibling closer in age that I could relate to, but I do still enjoy taking care of him and him being my baby brother. I also used to have 5 aunts and uncles (well 10 since they were all married ig) and many many cousins of all ages before we stopped talking to that side of my family, and I have two uncles (and my aunts their wives) and only see a few of my cousins due to where they live, and I am so glad I have family gatherings that big but I do miss the giant ones too, therefore I want for my kids what I have and love.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I am NOT a sports girlie. Up until I was 12 ish I was a very into ballet and modern dancing (would’ve continued but alas anxiety struck) and after that I did musical theatre which is its own style of dancing, incorporating all different types. I’d love to go back but since I stopped dancing due to a steady string of anxiety, anxiety medication side effects, foot problems, and then finally chronic fatigue syndrome, I’ve become out of shape, have really bad feet, and REALLY struggle to find time to take care of myself. I do want to start exercising again in ways that don’t require me to have functional feet like weight lifting, aerial dancing (those fabric strip things) etc. But I am Not good at sports nor do I like it, sorry. I remember basketball in elementary being the most frustrating and volleyball being,,,ok

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Hm in general i don’t think I do actually, I’m a pretty earnest and straightforward person myself and idk using sarcasm feels negative? For me? And I strive to be as positive to others as I can be. (Not that sarcasm is always mean I just feel like it don’t my Vibe ykwim) but I’m also somewhat socially and subtextually dense so I think it makes sense I don’t use something I may not be the best at understanding unless it’s obvious

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hmm, I think that varies a Lot, it’s probably usually either makeup, clothing, hairstyle, or tattoos if they stand out or if they’re something I’d want myself or am attracted too or like aesthetically. I always try to get up the courage to compliment people on things I notice because I feel good when I get complimented so I want other people to feel like that too :) also actually since I’m a cashier and people hand over cash and point cards often I usually notice nails. Oh I also notice extremes in height immediately, I’m short so people shorter than me are like woah! And people super duper tall are also like Woah!

7. What’s your eye colour?

Dark brown

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

TLDR happy endings, I’m a sucker for happily ever after to the point where if it didn’t end happily I’ll probably write or st least daydream a fan fiction ending where it does. ESPECIALLY romance it Always gets me. I do like scary movies though, especially psychological horror, although,,,In The Tall Grass FUCKED ME UP (the movie, I don’t read stephen king books cause his writing style makes me uncomfy but man does he have some fucked up terrifying horrible ideas for for him)

9. Any talents?

Ig that’s kinda complicated cause I’d probably call myself a jack of all trades (but master of none). I was one of those kids that was praised for being good at like everything the first time I tried it and now as an adult has to learn how to study and have a huge issue of getting frustrated and stopping anything I try that I’m not immediately good at therefore never being able to improve because I’m not practicing. But I’ve been Told by teachers, professors, and other people that I’m quite talented at singing. I starred in some musicals in elementary school and studied vocals in high school, in choirs the whole time too, so I’d say I’m like, sort of trained in musical theatre and opera and I Have worked to improve my voice. But I was also told that apparently when I was 3 ish I grabbed a mic and went on a stage (probably at play group or smth idk) and belted twinkle twinkle little star and parents laughed and said I’d be a star one day so idk maybe I just have that star quality lol. Oh I’ve also been commended for my acting skills back before I did acting? But I haven’t done much of late and wouldn’t consider myself exceptionally skilled, I want to be though! I uh also had a period in high school where I discovered I liked (and was good at) academics and excelled in science and math and focused Heavily on that, getting awards and whatnot. I’m not gifted but my mom and grandfather are (were, granddad is not alive) and I definitely did get their big brains.

Oh also I’m like a professional daydreamer at this point I write whole ass stories in my head most of which Never make it to the Google docs and I’m Amazingly talented at oversharing I’m sorry in advance tell me to stop talking I literally won’t mind I promise I ramble Too much

10. Where were you born?

Ontario, Canada

11. What are your hobbies?

Too many. I have this issue where I like too many things so I spread myself too thinly to commit to spending enough time practicing on any one thing to improve, and then on top of that have this thing where I can’t just do something for fun I have to be Good at it (which I think stems from being a Talented Kid™) BUT here’s a list here we go it’s long

Singing

Acting

Dancing

Cooking

Baking

Writing

Makeup

Learning languages (I’m shit at it tho)

Linguistics (how languages WORK is So Cool)

Driving

Drawing

Learning about cool science things namely psychology, genetic, otherwise biology, or nuclear related

I’m not good at this yet but I wanna get into mixology for fun and also as a job

Can’t sew v well yet but I think it would be So Fun and also good to know cause I have to hem every other pair of pants I get

12. Do you have any pets?

I live w my parents still n we have a dog who’s actually my brother’s service dog she’s a huge black lab named Marshmallow and she is full of so much love but not a lot of thoughts, and we recently got a tuxedo kitten i got to name Carmilla (Carmilla is the name of an 1872? gothic lesbian vampire novella that came out before dracula, see my kitten loved to hide n is super duper fast and also play bites, hence, vampire)

13. How tall are you?

5’1 or 152cm

14. Favourite subject in school?

Too many uhh in high school I rlly loved general biology, my vocal classes (which we learned solos in Italian, German, and musical theatre genres and etc it was amazing), my intro to sociology, psychology, and anthropology class, my human development throughout the lifespan class (I wrote a super cool paper on the theory of infantile synesthesia which tbh is probably the best paper I’ve ever written), and my drama classes. In uni so far I’ve enjoyed my year 1 biology class, Especially the second half cause it was like almost All genetics (soooo fascinating!!!), I Loved my Japanese class which was hard as hell but so fascinating and awesome (I love languages and how they work, and Japanese being so different from my native language of English was really interesting, I also really like Japanese food and culture and nature so learning the language was partially because I think it’s a wonderful language but partially so I can go to Japan at some point), my psych intro class was fascinating and I especially enjoyed the parts on sleep and consciousness and on sensory and perception, those parts of our brains are sooo cool I also really liked my Health Psychology (relating our body to our mind was eye opening and very interesting) class. All those classes had super interesting subject matter AND really amazing sweet and helpful professors. Oh my intro data science class was cool cause I got to do shit of coding which was fun and rewarding

15. Dream Job?

Ok so remember the ‘jack of all trades but master of none’ thing? Liking and being somewhat good at many different things is rlly not helpful for deciding on careers, the end of that phrase ‘but better than being a master of one’ I’d say isn’t true cause I do think being good at One thing has its pros and cons, a pro being it’s def easier to decide what to do. I’ve been told I could probably make it in the opera industry, and I would love to act and sing for a living, whether that’s theatre, film, or voice acting, preferably I’d love to do them all tbh. It feels narcissistic to admit but I do like the recognition for performing, I relish the applause I get during curtain calls or after a solo, I wouldn’t say I Live for the applause but I do like it, I think I’d like to be some level of famous. However I know that’s not easy to attain and I also would love to be a teaching and researching professor of psychology and genetics. I love presenting and teaching and am very good at it (my best marks are always on presentations lol) and I love researching concepts that are interesting to me, like for example if I had to write a thesis right now I’d probably write it about the possibility of finding the epigenetic patterns that cause hereditary depression, anxiety, etc, and use CRISPR gene editing technology to correct those thus ending the cycle of hereditary mental illness instead of putting the bandaid of a medication on it. Also I know that coding and computer science is lucrative right now and I did enjoy my taste of coding so I’d also love to look into that. I Do want to make a lot of money so I can afford to take care of those I love (and myself), be more sustainable, and enjoy some extra things in life like fancy and unique or uncommon to my culture food

No pressure but Also tagging @dragonheart1330 :)

I probably didn’t even say One thing @dragonheart1330 and @deerlisteners don’t already know lol as I said I am soooo talented at oversharing

[tojisun]

Okokokokok not a request, dw, BUT I recently rewatched the way of water and I am ENTIRELY GAY for Zdinarsk ok like ok just imagine

You two aren't a thing yet, hell, you two barely even know each other. But during a small briefing where you're just there idk taking notes or listening or are in on this mission, WHATEVER. You turn your head and see Z's tattoos and you admire them. She notices you looking at them from the corner of her eye and when she turns her head to look at you, you don't notice cause you're too invested in the cool little dragon on her arm. So she flexes her muscles and that makes you look up and see her catching you staring and you look away but she smirks. Now whenever you two are in the same room, she makes sure she's close enough so you can see her tattoos and she looooves catching you staring cause you're so cute

IM SO OBSESSED WITH HER OMG I'm normal I promise I'm normal

oh my god oh my god A ZDINARSK ASK?? FOR ME??? IM GONNA SCREAM I LOVE HER SO MUCH ITS UNHEALTHY

MY STOMACH FLIPPED THIS ONES TOO GOOD OH MY GOODNESS

her flexin when she sees you staring? her being a tease??? YES ABSOLUTELY AHHH

omg imagine her purposefully cutting off the sleeves of her RDA-issued shirts because she doesn’t wanna waste time not showing them off when theres a pretty girl in the compound who is obsessed with the art on her skin??

wainfleet teases zee about her sudden “hoe-ry” and whines because zee’s not telling anyone why’s she suddenly invested in working out and in gaining guns and-

AND JUST. imagine when you and zee are finally together and you two are scissoring, and she has your leg thrown over her shoulder – the one with the dragon full sleeve – and she moans, “c’mon, princess. look at me, yeah?” because she knows the angle would show off her spectacular arms.

and when you do, teary-eyed and mid-moan, she flexes her goddamn arms and. GODDDD IM GONNA GUSHHH

id let this woman bite me. mark me. make me her little fidget toy – sitting on her lap while she fingers me, idk!!!

also she def into hair pulling. loves fisting your hair and tugging, making you bear your neck to her. HHHHH and she’d sink her fangs on the column of your neck or by the dip close to your shoulders.

OR NIPPING YOUR TITS. MARKING AND BITING THEM UNTIL YOURE SQUIRMING ON HER LAP

yea whew im gonna go pass out now <33 sorry this turned into smut all of a sudden. i have no self control 😭

a gift for u my luv:

[louisinart]

Okay let's talk about Jim's gender.

Jims gender in s1 is something else about their character that didn't quite make sense to me until I was rewatching more recently, having already seen season two.

I remember feeling a bit disoriented back in 2022 because on one hand I had queer friends glowing at the upfront representation of being nonbinary and then, on the other hand, my parents genuinely did not understand Jim was queer at all. Of course, some of that can be chalked up to my parents as people, but it did itch at some deep feeling for me. While I understand that ofmd is technically historical fiction (silly jenkinisms aside), and therefore can't have a character break into an educational monologue about what it means to be nonbinary (a modern day word to describe a modern day understanding of gender), jims transness felt almost discreet to me. There was a fuzziness to it that didn't sit comfortably in me, even if I didn't hold it against the writers or the character.

Then came season 2 and with it a much more actualized Jim. And, for that matter, a Jim whose gender feels (at least to me) quite different. There's less fuzziness, and more play. Some of this is that they've been styled to be more aligned with modern modes of queerness, for sure, but I think it has meaning beyond that. Where their clothes were once loose and beige, Jim has incorporated color and different fits. They have that delightful party outfit that just sings of gender euphoria to me.

So, after all that, I went back to watch episode 4 of season 1 and I hear this:

"So this whole time you were a woman?"

"Yeah, I guess... I dunno"

And honestly? It all falls into place. Of course Jim's gender seemed fuzzy to me in season one, they were in ACTIVE GENDER CRISIS.

Like, if we look at jims gender timeline here's where we're at: Jim is living, unquestioned, as a woman. As they have for their whole life. Then, one day, they do a bit of murder and to help them go on the run they wear a disguise and start living as a man. That works pretty well, actually! Great! Everyone is treating them well, and they're pretty damn respected too. Until it comes out that they're not a man, actually. And then everyone is talking to them like a woman and it feels bad now in a way it didn't before -- or at least they think it didn't? Maybe it was always bad and they just didn't realize? But also they definitely aren't a man, they know that for sure. So fuck it, they're just Jim. Everyone can deal with that, and it feels right enough, and it's fine.

And that's how they end season 1, more or less, because they're too fucking busy getting shit done to worry about their gender right now thank you very much.

[sunmontuewrites]

THURSDAY! I did have a completely free weekend, however we are going out as a family for dinner on Saturday and then I am going out on Sunday for lunch for work to smooze with a civil engineering lecturer (this is interesting for reasons I will detail below).

We have a very flat structure in the school of engineering. As in, the Dean of Engineering, who is the BOSS, is approachable and listens and is WONDERFUL. I have MANY examples of why he is great but here are a few:

He insists on still being involved in teaching - he's passionate about it and he's GOOD at it. He genuinely cares about the success of his students and takes time out of his personal life to help them out (i.e. staying in the labs with design groups after hours to help them finish a project). It is rare for someone so high up to still want to teach - he says it's integral to his understanding of the primary function of the school.

He cares about the mental well-being of his staff. I have expressed concerns to him of my own (anxiety over the new fleet vehicles, among other things) and he'll ASK whether I want to hear his possible tips of solutions, or whether I just want him to listen. We have also discussed ways in which to improve the culture and support for staff and he throws his support behind initiatives I come to the table with.

His dog is named Pixie and he brings her into the office pretty regularly. He runs a Quiz night twice a year for staff and students (and his wife comes along to help him).

He asks how you are, and he genuinely WANTS to know the answer, will remember something you said last time and ask a follow up question. He also calls my manager (the School Manager) the boss, and she is a Maori woman

Now - keep in mind that this is a white guy from England who recently turned 60. His two kids are in their late 20s and his daughter got married in April to a gender-fluid person who uses they/them and he talks about it and how it took him a while to get his head around it but he's used to it now.

MAIN POINT - He doesn't hold himself above anyone else.

So, when interviewing for potential new academic staff, they've kind of realized that they want to employ people who will be okay with this type of culture. That they will be okay with students calling them by their first name. That it doesn't matter if they get taken out to lunch by the admin team or the Dean - we are all one team working together.

So yeah - this is also the guy that has said I can 100% go to Canada for three months and work over there a couple of days a week while also travelling from the west to east coast.

So when people ask if I like me "new" job I have to tell them I love it...

Work emails under 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5

Morning routine / evening routine

Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

Morning coffee

Moisturise

Space audit info into spreadsheet

Social activities planned + emailed

Tidy away 100+ files

Write 1k

Staff meeting minutes

Physio appointment

Pick up things from PBTech

Ted Lasso rewatch with besties

Check contract in Te Hononga

Weekend list

Schedule "What to Write weekend" post

[beholdingslut]

8 shows to get to know me better thank youuuu @derelictship

1. legend of korra, to this DAY! to this day. what a show. amazing world building, development of technology, the place of the avatar waning… i was delectable! korra remains one of my favourite characters.

2. black sails, which, yeah. pirate show of all time. “treasure island prequel mixed with golden age of piracy” is an insane concept to pull off.

3. arcane, HELLO it was so good, animation and characters went so hard and it just slapped. is there anything so undoing as a daughter. yeah.

4. severance, watched recently and mmmm it’s just compelling. i’ve thought about it every week since we finished.

5. yellowjackets, we all know why this is here (milfanie lynskey)

6. kings, which i watched a full decade after it was aired and cancelled and was devastated even then. i just know if i rewatched it the woman i am today, jack/david wouldn’t even get a look in compared to david/s—[i am taken out by snipers]

7. leverage, very good show, obviously i was there for parker/hardison/eliot who were everything to me in 2017.

8. super— no i’m just kidding. imagine. probably the borgias. stupidly huge budgeted show rife with historical inaccuracies but to this day i’m still like wow they made CHOICES in the pilot and committed until cancellation. got to respect it and i love pretty historical dresses and family drama.

i would like to tag @zezran @shesnake @everythingeverywhereallatonce @xueyangapologist @brownbicon @unamused-kookaburra @ahoroa & of course anyone else who feels like it.

[majorbaby]

i would love to hear any and all doctor who related thoughts you'd like to share (tenmartha related or otherwise!)

i'm currently very slowly rewatching s3 for the first time in over ten years so i'm not in a position to give a thorough breakdown but i can speak to my general feelings about her (until very recently) unique experience of a being black woman accompanying the doctor and therefore having to endure being thrown to multiple sets of wolves, the fans and the writers.

cut for essay (sorry)

aside from her just being a gorgeous and amazing character, i think was drawn to her for the same reason i think people were so viciously critical of her - her blackness means she's an anomaly. there was mickey, but he was more of a secondary character and he's also a man and doesn't have to content with the intersection of race and misogyny.... you know all of this already.

all companions deal with the fact that travelling with the doctor is fun and worth it, but it often comes at a terrible cost. it's dangerous, sometimes it's fucked up, but ultimately they still choose to do it.

what a luxury it is for most companions to be able to opt-in to venture to a planet where the systems and people you encounter on a daily basis may be hostile to you for something you can't control. that's the life martha is choosing when she decides to accompany the doctor, but it's also the life she's choosing when she decides to leave him.

for me it increases the stakes every time her life is in danger. the circumstances she finds herself in with the doctor are inhospitable to her but the genre she's in is also inhospitable to her. she deserves better from the doctor but she also deserves better from the story she inhabits and what kills me is she's aware of that! she knows she doesn't belong! her "i'm good" reminds me so much of this moment from my favourite movie, the matrix:

no! no one was expecting or knew what to do with a black woman in a major role in speculative fiction!

it's not clear to me that the doctor knows just how good martha is and that's a symptom of the writers not knowing either. tbf to the production itself, she's got lots of great moments, but the odds are utterly stacked against her and the fumbles (human nature/family of blood i'm looking at you) are painful to watch.

i get that the doctor needing his companions is a founding character trait of his and it was fun to watch martha save his ass but at a certain point it felt gratuitous to me. he spends the whole season fucking up terribly without acknowledging how much hell she goes through on his behalf and i think i'm still meant to feel worse for the him re: rose. and also i'm supposed to buy that that's the main reason martha is upset whenever she's upset, which i find kind of... laughable lol. unrequited love sucks but does it suck worse than all of [gestures] that? idk, maybe i'm just not 14 anymore but i find it pretty hard to believe that my crush not liking me back is worse than being trapped in early 1900s england, to say nothing of... what is it, vampires in that one?

sorry i didn't have more positive stuff to say.... there is at least 42 where the doctor screams that he needs her. yeah you do, we all do!!! that is ultimately how i feel about her.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

top 5 animals, top 5 comfort movies, and top 5 books atm? ^_^ (feel free to pick just one or two of these if it's too much!!)

Animals! :D Again I will probably think of several more once I list these...

Hawaiian Bobtail Squid my absolute beloveds

Crows!!! Any species I just love crows!

Cats. Any cat. I just love cats!

Pine Martens

Storm Petrels

Hmm... you know. I don't think I really have comfort movies. I'm one of those people who rarely rewatches a movie (though this does not extend to shows for some reason - I'll want to rewatch a show immediately after I finish it...). My mom has comfort movies so we usually end up rewatching those, but this is the only one I can think of for me:

Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - this is the movie I watched more than anything as a kid. I used to pull up to the tv as close as I could to take in the snow and the scenery. It's still a cute movie! The soundtrack is beautiful! I should rewatch it sometime I think hehe

Books! I've read a lot of books and I'm having trouble thinking of favourites so I'll just tell you five I've read recently or am currently reading that I enjoyed:

Rashoumon and Other Short Stories - Ryuunosuke Akutagawa (out of all of these, I really liked Loyalty! They're all quite good though - I don't think there was a single story that didn't intrigue me)

The Keeper of Lost Causes - Jussi Adler-Olsen (this is actually the first book of a mystery series - the detective gets demoted to solving cold cases - the one he picks up is one where the victim may actually still be alive! I enjoyed that it switches perspectives - so you actually get a little of what happened to the victim from her perspective. pretty cool I thought)

The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino (suspense novel where a genius mathematician attempts to cover up a murder committed by the daughter of the woman he likes, but his opponent is an extremely gifted, also genius physicist/detective. It's really entertaining and fascinating to watch them dance around each other, kind of Death Note-esque, but sadly not as gay. They were kind of friends though before. It's an "I know you know" situation but the detective can't prove it just yet. I'm still finishing it!)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle (I binge read all the stories in this collection in a single night. I went to bed at 6 am. I had school the next day. I don't recommend this... recommend the books though! I went back for a re-read recently and forgot how funny they actually are)

The Fall - Albert Camus (...yeah :) )

(Also I'm working my way through Dostoevsky's works because they are so so good. But I didn't want to take over the list with Dostoevsky.)

[pynkhues]

For the movie asks: 4, 5, 10, and 15!

Thank you!!

4. A movie you like but wouldn't recommend

Mmm, probably Wanda (1970)?

I read House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films by Kier-La Janisse fairly recently, and loved it a lot, and I've been slowly working my way through the movies she's explored in it.

Wanda is one of the first movies she talks about in the book, and it's an early woman-directed exploitation film, and on paper, really simple - an abused housewife goes on the run with a bankrobber. The reality though is a nakedly frank film about what forced submission does to women, the way abused women fall into other abusive relationships, and the fracturing of their psyches as a part of it. It's a really, really hard film to watch, but that's kind of the point, and I think what Barbara Loden did in it is borderline unparalleled. I also don't know if I could easily watch it again, not would I ever find it an easy film to recommend.

5. A movie musical that you like

I actually love a movie musical, and could recommend so many golden age ones, but I rewatched Mary Poppins (1964) recently with my nephews (it was their first time!) and it's pretty incredible to see their utter enchantment with a movie as old as their grandmother.

10. A foreign language movie you like

I watch a lot of international cinema too, haha, so I feel like I could list a hundred films here, but I watched The Wolf House (2018) recently, and it's been pretty much living rent free in my head.

Full disclaimer - it's pretty harrowing. It's a Chilean film about the Colonia Dignidad cult, which I'd genuinely never heard of prior to watching this movie for the first time. I've since listened and watched and read quite a bit about the horrors of it, but the way this film weaves a dark fairytale through the narrative spouted by the cult leaders to keep children close just feels like a feat of tremendous artistry.

It's a savage indictment of what happened, while also fully and deeply letting you sit with the experience of the children who lost their childhood to it. Hard to watch, but also real capital-c Cinema, y'know?

15. A movie ruined by the ending

This is probaby controverial, but Polite Society (2023).

On the whole, I really, really enjoyed this one! It's funny and bright and embraces everything that's awkward and uncomfortable about growing up. The premise is a teenage girl who desperately wants to be a stunt woman discovering her sister might be marrying a Bad Guy(tm).

This just - - yeah, didn't stick the landing for me at all? I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that it never had a clear sense of what the sister, Lena, wanted, or even what she didn't want, so it kinda felt like her sister was fighting for Lena to have a voice the writers never actually thought all that much about, which is a shame! Because there's so much else to love in this one!

Ask me about movies

[im-no-jedi]

my thoughts on TBB season 2 episodes 7-8

and why it’ll probably be a long time before I’m able to rewatch these episodes again 💀

this is gonna be long and probably not very coherent, but I’m gonna do my best cause I need to get my feelings out 😅

I wanna start by saying I think these were some of the best episodes not just in TBB, but in SW media overall. the issue of Clones rights is something that we’ve been desperate to see addressed ever since TCW. we got hints of it in TCW, but it was never a prevalent issue since the series focused so much on the Jedi. Umbara was the first major instance we got of this, after a few smaller hints (Rex with Cut and the Separatist attack on Kamino were standouts for sure). but this was the first time we saw real, true focus on the rights of the Clones, especially in relation to their significance outside of war. it was done perfectly imo, even though it ended up being what kicked off the official start of the Stormtrooper era 💔

I told this to @jam-n-ham and she agreed with me, but Riyo spoke not just for her own beliefs, but for the entire fandom as well, and I really appreciate that 💙

another thing I absolutely loved was seeing TBB work with Rex again. them sneaking into Rampart’s ship and that whole endeavor was very reminiscent of their TCW arc with the refined chaos we know and love about them; it’s easily one of my favorite moments of the entire series now 😁

speaking of Rampart... DING DONG THE BINCH IS GONE. OMG. I legit thought he was gonna be more of a problem throughout the series (and he probably still will be 🙄), but for now at least, he’s finally outta here. hallelujah \o/

one more thing I have to mention is Omega. oh my sweet baby girl. this episode was such a good showcase of her character. it showed her sweetness and curiosity, while also giving her a chance to express her feelings about what happened on Kamino. her little rant was everything, and I’m so proud of her; she’s becoming a very expressive and strong young woman that I wish I had gotten to see more of when I was younger 💙

alright. now time for the feels™

I want to state that this is something extremely personal to me, so I’m going to speak mainly from the heart in regard to this. it’s really hard for me to make a more thoughtful judgment about it, especially since the season isn’t over yet, and we don’t know how things are going to play out fully. all I know right now is how I feel. so here we go.

I’m personally absolutely devastated about Echo leaving.

I know, I know, pretty much everyone can relate to this right now. but let me explain.

I struggle greatly with loss. of any kind, really. mostly in terms of relationships and people. throughout my life, I’ve struggled to maintain relationships with people and have had many people permanently leave my life, either by choice or circumstance. I can’t handle death very well, and I rarely can bring myself to even say goodbye to people. the very idea of someone leaving, even temporarily, is hard for me to handle.

this is further worsened because I also get extremely attached to things. this includes physical objects, people, animals, fictional characters, franchises in general, you name it. my specific brand of undiagnosed neurodiversity means that I get extra emotional when anything happens to something I’m attached to. @jam-n-ham can vouch for how excited and emotional I get when we’re watching something together. I don’t cry irl very often, but I get extremely emotional watching media of any kind.

so imagine my reactions to when a fictional character either dies or leaves in some manner. yeah...

when Fives died, it devasted me in a way that I’ve never fully recovered from. it legit traumatized me. to this day, I literally cannot even look at screencaps or gifs of when he died. it’s only been recently that I’ve even been able to acknowledge anything from that arc in general. I feel similarly about when Kanan died in Rebels as well (although that one is a bit easier for me to stomach because of how it was done).

and for me, characters leaving, even if it’s on good terms, affects me in an almost identical way. to me, Echo leaving TBB is no different than when he “died” in the Citadel arc, another moment that traumatized me. it doesn’t matter that he said he’ll be back or whatever. he’s still gone in my eyes.

I’ve been very attached to Echo since we first saw him. I actually liked him more than Fives for a while. I was ecstatic when we found out he was still alive and got rescued in TCW. and he’s been an absolute joy to watch in TBB. although he’s @jam-n-ham’s bae, he’s my boy and my bro and I love him very much. there’s a reason I made him my best friend in my self-insert series 🥰

I really wish I could explain this better since there are many instances of characters leaving or dying that hasn’t affected me so badly (again, I handled Kanan WAY better than Fives, and I literally can’t count the number of times I’ve watched the Umbara arc). I’m in a sensitive place in my life in general right now, so that might have something to do with it. but I feel like I would have these same feelings no matter what simply because of my trauma and my specific attachment to Echo as a character.

I do want to say though that I’m glad him leaving was presented the way that it was. I actually already knew he was going to leave at some point WEEKS ago due to spoilers, and I spoiled myself again before seeing the episodes, so I knew it was coming. it didn’t make it hurt any less, but the fact that he left on good terms with everybody is nice to know at least. Omega had a strong emotional reaction, which was understandable and realistic, and I appreciate that as well (considering I had a similar reaction 😅). also, I support what he’s doing and am glad that he feels like he’ll make a difference with Rex supporting other Clones in need. he’s a good boy, guys 🥺💙

so yeah. although I’m positive we’ll see him again (along with the likely possibility of him rejoining TBB at some point), it’s still incredibly painful that he’s gone and separated from the others. I feel like this will be addressed with Omega in the show, since she seems to be going through similar feelings. and if not... well, I still have my self-insert series that I can use to address it LOL

tl;dr because of my trauma dealing with loss and my strong attachment to Echo as a character, I won’t be rewatching episodes 7-8 for some time. I’ll be reassessing my feelings again once the season is over, but for now, this is where I stand.

ilu Echo. I hope I see you again soon 💙💙💙

[thisisjustmefangirling]

Merlin rewatch 1x04

That Camelot red vs Mercian blue is very Capulet vs Montague

Merlin admits the ways of the court are a mystery to him. Merlin, baby. You need étiquette training. Have someone teach you. Please.

Arthur, that outfit you put Merlin in is ridiculous, but also... a bit too put together for a servant ? It's not just the hat... Merlin is wearing a cape !

Merlin having a crush on Nimueh and thinking she's as beautiful as a princess is sweet 💕

Merlin making accusations without proof, in front of everybody, AGAIN.

Arthur accusing him of being an idiot and drinking, again, to save his ass and the relationship with the Mercians

Uther is ruthless and unfair here. Bayard was willing to prove his goodwill by drinking out of the goblet but looks like Uther decided that poisoned cup or not, Merlin would suffer from the outcome, either by being poisoned or being punished for lying.

Arthur protests, because he may be a royal prat but he's not like his father.

"Merlin, apologise. This is a mistake ! I'll drink it". Arthur 🥺

ARTHUR IS THE FIRST ONE GETTING TO MERLIN WHEN HE CRUMBLES UNDER THE EFFECT OF THE POISON

Morgana grabs a knife when everybody draws their sword ! I love her. I wish she hadn't been turned into such a villain.

The Mortaeus flower is guarded by an awful magical beast and Arthur goes "Sounds like fun" and immediately decides to go save his servant's life

The next scene between Uther and Arthur is really good at showing the difference between them. Arthur starts questioning his father and they both reveal their values. Uther doesn’t care who dies because to him the life of the future King of Camelot is worth more than a servant's. Arthur refuses to stand by and watch, especially since to his knowledge, Merlin has saved his life twice already. "Then don't watch", Uther says.

Morgana is GREAT here. She wanted to fight Bayard's men with a LADLE ?

"Spare me the lecture, I've already had it from Uther". Uther's kids are just really good at opposing him 😆

"Sometimes you've got to do what you think is right, and damn the consequences". "What kind of King would Camelot want ? One that would risk his life to save that of a lowly servant or one who does what his father tells him to ?" I love seeing Arthur being challenged and growing into the King he will be.

"He's getting hotter" The innuendos in that episode are comiiiiing.

Merlin speaking 💫 magic language 💫 in front of Gwen. I wish she had put two and two together before the finale...

Morgana makes me laugh ! She defies Uther and defends Arthur.

Funny how Uther sees his son as "just a boy" and Morgana goes "Have you seen your son recently ?" And tells him he's old enough to make up his own mind and have his own experience of the world. Is Morgana still Arthur's older sister in this story ? She would be older than him then.

Merlin moaning Arthur's name as he lays dying and feverish is gay. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

The idea of Nimueh as a pretty wounded woman in the forest is a great throwback to the original Arthurian texts, where young maidens were often on the way of knights as temptations or traps, steps in their quests.

Hell yeah Arthur's wrist move with his sword !!!!!!

You slay that cocatris by THROWING your sword !?

"Arthur, it's a trap". Merlin, he sadly can't hear you ! I wish they had shared a telepathic connection, it would have been so useful sometimes.

Though... How the fuck can Merlin see him and what is going on ?

Arthur's... pauldron (?) Is decorated ? I had never noticed before.

Arthur manages to slay a big spider with one hand while the other is hanging on to that rock for dear life. Impressive, indeed.

"It is not your destiny to die at my hand" please Ma'am it's only season one, I am NOT ready for season five and its pain.

"Go on, then ! Finish me off" Arthur has always been brave in the face of his potential own death.

That blue light seems so gentle and warm, and the music is epic.

"Leave them (the flowers)" Merlin stop being so selfless and let Arthur save your life, the flowers are RIGHT THERE.

"Faster! Faster! Climb ! Follow the light!" Once again, he can’t hear you... and how do you even know what is happening to Arthur ? Why doesn’t it happen again later ?

"Inform the King ! Arthur has returned to Camelot". Who the fuck are you to not call him PRINCE Arthur ?

I wish Arthur's red shirt looked fancier, nothing about it indicates he's royalty.

"Gaius knows what to do with it [the flower]. Put me in the stocks for a week, a month even, I don't care. Just make sure it gets to him. I'm begging you". Arthur cares so much about Merlin 🥺

Uther truly doesn’t give a fuck about Merlin's life... He saved his son twice, he is Gaius' apprentice, and he crushed that flower, in an attempt to teach his son that "there is a right and a wrong way of doing things" and he shouldn't be disobeyed. Asshole. "I'll see that you're let out in a week and then you can find yourself another servant". Servants are all replaceable to him.

Gwen shows then that even though she seems shy, she is also brave.

Arthur using the pretense of his own well-known arrogance to get the flower to Merlin by refusing the food Gwen brings him... yes King ❤️

"We're not all as precious as Her Royal Highness" that guard walked so Gwaine could run with his "princess".

"The poison was created using magic, we might need to use magic to create the antidote" dude that's just exposition at this point, you could have tricked Gwen into leaving without saying anything

You can tell Gaius hasn’t used magic in two decades... he may care about Merlin but he's a two faced bitch.

Merlin's heart has stopped and was probably restarted because his magic won’t let him die.

Gwen kissing him haha

Uther pisses me off so much omg, he seems this close to getting angry when Gaius asks him for a minute of his time. His arrogance is worse than his son's, because there is no changing him.

"She's a powerful sorceress, she can enchant the eye that beholds her". Such an interesting concept ! No need to change your face, you just make people believe they are looking at someone else.

Morgana looks so soft. I love her dresses.

Arthur seems changed by this experience. He's uncharacteristically humble in that scene at the top of the castle.

"I'm glad you're back" they were already like siblings... if only we could have kept that dynamic between them...

Uther, you chicken and liar, not telling your son the truth about Nimueh...

"You did the right thing, even though you were disobeying me. I'm proud of you, Arthur. Never forget that". Damn for once Uther is doing something right. Arthur better remember that moment, indeed.

Arthur goes to check on Merlin 💕 Like "omg are you alright Merlin ? Barely alive ? I still wait for you to be there tomorrow morning when I wake up because looks like after only four episodes I can't imagine my life without you in it anymore."

"Arthur ? Thank you"; "You too". WHAT IS THAT OH MY GOD SO HE HAS ACTUALLY THANKED MERLIN BEFORE THE DAY HE DIED ????

Arthur is so soft for Merlin omg <3

I don't understand why Nimueh wanted to kill Merlin when he is Emrys and is supposed to bring magic back to Camelot and free magic users...

Aaaaand in the next episode we will meet Lancelot. 😊

[marinerainbow]

LOVING AND THRIVING off of the fact that the flood gates have reopened, bless!! so glad to have revisited the movie for some of my faves. but y'know who else i've been thinking about recently??? the stepsisters. i'm biased and want them to live their best lives (preferably away from their mother's corrupt influence, but at the same time, why deny the world of a trio of girlbosses???) i would've loved to see more of the stepsisters, especially in having that realization that they're a means to an end. "hey mom? yeah, uh, fuck you kindly, we're out." y'know?? like!!!! Cinderella 3 vibes but they're 2 dolts of a different brand, yet who share a brain cell, so these two sisters actually both ditch Freida lmao

i actually had a dream last night!! OH I HAVE GOT TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS!! too long for one ask so consider this part 1 of 2 gjkhfjkd

@slashingdisneypasta the N'ever Anon is back again!!! Are you alright if I call you that? ^^

Honestly, you're so right about the stepsisters! Rewatching the film, I wonder what happened to them. Weren't they in the ballroom when all of the guests were imprisoned by the bad guys? I'll have to watch the ending again, but maybe they were a part of the crowd shooting out the bad guys or at Ella's and Rick's wedding? 🤔 and I like how they made Frieda cold towards her daughters, too. And they were scared of her as well. It implies that they are at least a little aware of the kind of woman their mother is. I like to think that if Frieda let them be imprisoned, they pretty much went just like you said XD

Oh! Let's see the dream ^^

[delta-queerdrant]

big doctor energy (Heroes & Demons, s1 e12)

Yeah, our first holodeck episode + our first Doctor episode! This one is pretty silly but it's a capital-R Romp and I'm here for it.

Once again this is an episode that begins with resource management! One of the things that has been cracking me up during this rewatch is what a hands-on and, perhaps, micromanager Janeway is. She really does love science and is always going on away missions, peeking over people's shoulders, and in this case, beaming aboard samples of "intense photonic activity" to see if they can be used in the ship's power converters. No one seems to mind, but there are presumably some off-screen science officers who are grumpy because they never get to do the fun labwork.

Janeway hair watch - the "bun of steel" has been swapped out for a side-swept French twist kinda thing. It's definitely an improvement, though the twisty parts are slightly fussy and overcomplicated. Damn this woman would look good with an undercut! Anyhoo.

If I were sending the Doctor on a fantastical adventure, would I choose Beowulf? Perhaps not - Hollywood depictions of the "Dark Ages" do little for me - but it's an okay time. I appreciate the inclusion of Freya; shieldmaidens are authentic to early Scandinavian culture if not to Beowulf itself. And I have always enjoyed Unferth as a side villain - he is the ultimate undermining coworker and I love that he has existed in literature for at least the last millennium. We all have our inner Unferth and I think that's fine.

Shame they're not all speaking in alliterative verse, or that the forest looks like no forest that ever appeared in Denmark, or that the Doctor is eating what appears to be a giant turkey(????) leg despite it being pre-Columbian Exchange times, but none of that is the point.

Watching the Doctor laconically roleplay his way through this adventure is, of course, a fun and silly time. He is such a fish out of water and his blunt, uncomplicated responses are all accidental zingers. By the end he has really come into his own and his moment of heroism feels earned, facing down Unferth with the absolute banger line, "The only reason you won't die is that I've taken an oath to do no harm." I wrote big doctor energy in my notes and I think we can all agree with this assessment.

I should probably be mad about Freya getting fridged, but, like, she feels surprisingly three-dimensional for a fictional character? And at the same time, she is an in-universe fictional character and it doesn't matter? It's complicated, since both she and the Doctor are holograms. From where I'm standing, she genuinely had her own character arc and her death felt meaningful on its own terms. I will have things to say later in the series about the Doctor's sexuality, but I don't think I'll say them here.

The Doctor makes peace with the glowing squiggle (sorry, photonic life form) and the captured crew are restored, including Harry Kim in his very cute LARP outfit. I am always here for Harry being the absolute dorkiest of dorks; in this episode he looks like he is cosplaying Bilbo Baggins.

As mentioned in an earlier review, I am an ex-ELCA Lutheran (Lutheranism and I are still pals, we just weren't right for one another) so I was tickled by the Doctor briefly taking on the soubriquet of Schweitzer. I am not culturally Lutheran, but Albert Schweitzer is definitely a big Lutheran hero and gets Lutherans going (other things that get Lutherans going - potlucks, Prairie Home Companion, "A Mighty Fortress is our God").

After watching this episode I went down a Schweitzer rabbit hole and was reminded that, in addition to his humanitarian work, he also wrote one of the important "historical Jesus" books, in which the facts of Jesus's life were reevaluated. It was so interesting reading about his (shockingly recent) rediscovery that early Christianity was basically an apocalypse cult. Schweitzer was down with this, because he thought it was punk rock or something. I find this approach to religion - religion as something that can be analyzed, that is both culturally contingent and, at its nucleus, contains a critique of powerful political and social forces - such a compelling antidote to gray goo evangelism, in which no belief is ever examined. This is not to excuse Lutheranism for its complicity in many shitty things, or to privilege belief over various forms of nonbelief, but the fact is that many of us have a Christian worldview lodged in our brains whether we like it or not, and it helps to spend some time thinking about what Christianity actually is, deciding what we'd like to hold onto and what's better discarded.

Sorry! This isn't a theology blog! I, ah, definitely can't promise I won't do it again.

Hardly gripping television, but a pretty good entry point to a beloved character's journey. 3.5/5 improbably sized turkey(!?!?) legs.

[prince-of-elsinore]

I liked your mash 1x01 meta! The opening just really gets me every time, there's something about how timeless it feels? 100 years ago, but also 20 years ago, but also right now, but also 70 years from when I'm watching it. I find some of Hawkeye's flirtatiousness in the earlier seasons kinda cute, it seems more like he has a repartee with most of them than just lecherousness. But I get it.

Are you planning on doing meta for the entire rewatch? Thanks!

Thank you so much! Yeah, time in this show is so disorienting in general, it feels very fitting an opener.

I do consider Hawkeye's flirting mostly harmless and endearing! That's how the nurses take it, so its fruitless to rail against it. It's still just jarring sometimes, watching in the 21st century. Mostly I wanted to articulate something I've noticed with more than one womanizing character in media, even much more recent media, which is the double-consciousness I watch these interactions with. I know all too well the lived experiences of women that haven't traditionally gotten the same air time and validation in media; I also see that on screen, the parties involved are enjoying themselves, even if the patterns of seduction are outmoded or seem unrealistic. As long as the woman is interested/gratified, I'm appeased (though thank goodness in MASH we get more serious subjective exploration of female desire through Margaret!)

And... yeah, that's my idea so far! Like I said, that's a big undertaking, though, so I really doubt I'll end up doing it for every episode. I don't have much of a plan, I'm just going to see what feels right and feasible as I go along. I'm sure a lot of the metas will be much shorter than that first one. (I'm also not strictly a MASH blog, but I do tag pretty liberally so if you're just interested in these rewatch metas you can blacklist my other fandoms, or track 'dear mash' which is my tag for the rewatch)

[pricklypear1997]

The show is awful. I recently decided to rewatch it a fourth (or fifth?) time while picking up the books again where I left off. I’m currently like 2/3rds into book 4. The show was good in season 1, but by season 2 things started to change. Even Dany is different from the book counterpart. It’s much more subtle at the beginning but it’s like she’s got this weird polarity within her… like she’s sooooo bloodthirsty one minute and then acts forgiving and peaceful the next. It’s strange. In the books she’s a traumatized 13-15 year old who’s been abused and groomed by these horrible (and even pedophilic) men around her, yet she still cares about the safety of others. To me, in the books she’s just not as blood thirsty. Yes, she kinda had her vengeance on the witch lady, (I forgot her name) because she took advantage of an already traumatized girl who actually wanted her baby to live. The show totally downplays Dany’s Stockholm syndrome as well unlike in the books. Overall her personality is less like able and less relatable to the reader in the show vs the book. It’s not just Dany though. This sexism is so rampant throughout the show. It’s a crime what they did to Arya. Making her a woman hating “oh I’m so independent and reclusive and anti social” sociopath. They completely took liberty of her character and even sexualized her in season 8. Literally made her have this weird “Dommy mommy kink” thing… it was disgusting. The last thing she’d do is just randomly have sex with some guy. Yes, she knows Gendry and I do ship them, but not like this AT ALL. Arya is a traumatized, child with depression and ptsd. She is a minor and girl, and she literally got threatened by creepy men and boys all the time… she literally had to work with and be around rapists and criminals (Roose Bolton for example 😐), and you honestly believe that you can convince me that she would all of a sudden act all sexual and dominatrix towards Gendry out of nowhere??? That was ridiculously out of character and disgusting. Arya is my fave, so yeah I got really pissed lol. The show also started to change Arya by season 2. Even when she worked with Tywin (instead of Bolton) she said some pretty sexist shit about women, even though in the books she constantly brings up the women and girls are important… the show really hates women. The show is stupid. Season 1 was great, but by season 2 it started to change. I will never be able to enjoy it again.

Now the subject of war. I do believe that GRRM is anti war, but even war itself is kind of a morally grey thing…. It’s very complicated. Sometimes war needs to happen in order to defend yourself and community. There are 2 criteria needed for me to defend war; as long as civilians are left out of it and it is being fought in self defense against a cruel and tyrannical ruler(s) then I do support it. I am anti war. Trust me. I hate it. I come from a war torn region that’s still going through conflicts because much more powerful foreign governments (USA, I’m looking at you specifically) are constantly interfering and ca��using instability and internal conflict. I will support a war if it’s against tyranny. Doesn’t mean I’m pro war. Sometimes you need to fight to protect your rights. The Boltons taking over Winterfell was bad enough (and doesn’t belong to them in the first place) that the starks needed to reclaim their home. That’s a necessary evil that needed to be done to save not only the Stark home, but the civilians of the land and getting rid of the cruelty the Boltons would inflict on others. So yes, in a way the starks are morally grey, but every time they fought was for a just cause… Martin is anti war, he’s clearly anti sexist as well, but it’s more complicated than a lot of people realize and I don’t think we should argue that someone is “evil” for fighting back against a terrible bully and abuser. I wanted to make this comment because I was a little confused by your commentary about GRRM being anti war and from what you wrote it Kind of sounded like you were implying that he’s not anti war, but I digress.

I love the books for their realistic character depth and complex story and scenarios. I think GRRM understands that we can’t 100% deal in absolutes and I also believe he understands that we live in a complex world that revolves around complex societies and people. For an American, I think he’s very well read and actually understands the functionality of ethnic states and shows a world that’s very similar to our own (outside of the US ) and I greatly appreciate it. He doesn’t think black and white, he’s not an SJW and he’s not some alt right conservative. He’s just an individual who understands that all humans are individuals and that every society is going to be different to its respective culture and instead of trying to push some kind of propaganda that only one way is the right way, he’s just showing that world (and our own) as it is. He makes extremely valued critiques and arguments about these characters, world and situations that mirror our own in a way, that he’s critiquing our world as well. He may lack in “poeticness” but his strength lies in depth, which honestly makes his books better than any other book series I’ve read. 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Hi, so I watched GoT+ am on asoiaf 1 rn and I have a Q about Dany; why is her character so divisive? I read meta by pro Dany fans and its "Dany's compassionate, self critical, a good ruler, a political reformer, frees slaves she'll be a hero at the end" and the antis "shes entitled, vengeful, profiter of slavery, a coloniser and GRRM wont validate a foreign invasion with nuclear weapons; hes anti war!!" Like, wHAt? Surely her character cant be THAT ambigious?! These are popular opposites??

Alright, I'll try to explain this from my perspective as a Jon Snow fan. However, this will be spoilery if you have read only one book. I would suggest reading all the books before joining in on discussions about the character.

It's a combination of things.

One is most definitely sexism. I don't throw that word around lightly having been constantly attacked as a ‘sexist dudebro who hates women’ for simply critiquing a female character.

Sexism in fandom is when female characters are held to different standards compared to their male counterparts. When female characters are critiqued or disliked for doing the same thing that male characters are often praised for doing. Daenerys is subjected to a lot of this which is especially evident in the books because she has a parallel arc of leadership with Jon Snow over at the Wall - the two characters at the ends of the world. 

An example is right there in your ask. GRRM is anti-war and hence why would he validate Dany's invasion - She is therefore in the wrong. Okay. In which case why not extend that argument to every other main character in the series? GRRM is anti-war and therefore Robb Stark was wrong to wage war for Northern independence. GRRM is anti-war and therefore Jon Snow is wrong to help Stannis in his battle against the Boltons. GRRM is anti-war and therefore Tyrion is wrong to use wildfire and defeat Stannis at the battle of the blackwater. GRRM is anti-war and therefore Jon Snow is the villain of the battle at Castle Black.

I think the main thesis of GRRM’s argument in regard to his protagonists has been that there is no good or bad and instead they are all morally gray? Yeah war is bad and most of our protagonists engage in war and they are therefore morally grey characters. I mean, Jon Snow is over there taking child hostages that he has promised to behead - does that make him a baddie? Ned Stark took Theon as a child hostage. Is he a baddie? Our main characters all belong to noble houses in a feudal monarchy - a system of governance that GRRM relentlessly critiques in the books. Are they all baddies?

This double standard is particularly glaring when Dany's battles in Essos is about helping the little guy - the slaves who are under the worst kind of oppression. The WOT5K (War of the 5 Kings) on the other hand was about personal power, ravaged the land and lead to much devastation and suffering. However, for some strange reason when fandom discusses the books and the author being anti-war they focus particularly on Daenerys - that strange reason is sexism.

If you have watched GOT, I am sure you would have noticed those obvious  double standards yourself.

Tyrion standing there making sad faces makes it look like Daenerys is doing something wrong when she executes the Tarlys - two treasonous traitors. However every other House does the same! Jon Snow executed the mutineers at the wall - even a child. After the battle of bastards, he mentions the Karstarks and Umbers having been killed in battle or else they would have been executed. Sansa wants to punish even their children!! But for some strange reason [(i.e) sexism] a female leader executing traitors is evil. That she does so without crying (Something the show runner David Benioff points out in an BTS interview) means she is evil. Jon not crying when killing people = badass, Dany not crying when killing people = evil.

Daenerys in battle with Jaime Lannister to get the Iron Throne = evil. Starks fighting against the Boltons to get Winterfell = Yay! Awesome. Thousands die in both battles - in one battle they die, burned by dragonfire. In the other one they are hacked to death and die with their guts hanging out. In both cases, people die.

The show quickly moves past Jaime Lannister, the Tarlys and their men massacring everyone of Olenna's men and piling their bodies high and sacking and looting the place. However, the show takes time to linger on Tyrion's sad face with the sad music and the men dying when Daenerys is attacking those same men on the battlefield.

I am not even getting into season 8 because it was so, so bad and full of puke inducing sexism that will need 10 pages to outline. I think you have got the gist of why sexism is such a large factor in how Dany's character is otherized and analyzed by fandom at large and made worse by Benioff and Weiss' rampant misogyny shining through in the show's writing.

I mentioned this in another post and I will say again - removing show Tyrion from show Daenerys' narrative would reduce the sexism in her story arc ten fold. He was D&D's mouthpiece in the series after season 5 - there to tell us that Dany was evil for doing all the things the male characters did.

And yes, Nuclear weapons are bad. Nuclear weapons can also be a deterrent and prevent war. Nuclear weapons can also be useful in a fantasy, magical world dealing with an existential apocalyptic threat. This is why I find one to one comparisons like these to be ridiculous. The Starks also have some fiercesome beasts that the author has indicated will be used in battle. Are we calling them evil?

The rest. Colonizer? They should look up what that means and whether it applies to Dany's story in Essos. Profiting off slavery? If one reads the books one knows this is blatantly untrue. Entitled and vengeful? No more than any of the other main characters who belong to noble houses in Westeros.

Daenerys has her flaws, not saying that she doesn't. That's what makes her a three-dimensional and relatable character. It's easy to criticize the character because she does self-reflect and introspect, is sometimes crippled by self-doubt and wants to do things differently and try different options - something that makes her human and real and very well written. Leadership is not easy and she’s 15 in the last book.

The other aspect is a flaw in the writing with respect to the setting of Daenerys' story in the series. She's the only main POV character in Essos until Arya and Tyrion get there in ADwD. And there is a lot of orientalism in GRRM's writing for Essos - meant to represent the East while Westeros represents the West.

There's much to say about how he writes the Dothraki as savage barbarians. While he gives POV characters for the Ironborn with Theon and Asha and characters like Mance, Tormund and Ygritte for the Freefolk, where's the equivalent of all that for the Dothraki? Oh but look, they are eating honeyed locusts! How exotic! There's lots of cartoonishly evil slavers who kill puppies! GRRM keeps otherizing their customs and culture as being savage and cruel and different - highlighted by the fact that we don't have a single Essosi POV giving us their side of things.

I do find GRRM's orientalism distasteful and off putting, especially as Essos is just a prop, a stepping stone for the characters before they move onto Westeros where the real story is happening. That is however a critique of the writing, not of the character. People tend to conflate the two. A middle aged white man writing in the nineties about a fantasy eastern world does not make Daenerys a 'white savior' or a 'colonizer' and it's clear from various interviews the author has given that this was not his intention either.

Daenerys is also the only Targaryen POV in the books. Think about that. The Starks have 6 POVs in the first book. The Lannisters get 3 by AFfC. The Greyjoys have 4, the Martells have 2. The only major house worse off than the Targaryens are the Baratheons with no POV characters.

We see Jon Snow through Arya and Bran’s POV. We see Arya through Jon’s. We get none of this for Dany. The Starks have a home and a loving family. Dany meanwhile is starting off the story at her lowest point - an abusive brother and forcefully married off to a Dothraki. While the Starks then end up losing that security, family members die, one of them is a hostage and the other is on the run - they still have memories of each other. Danerys meanwhile, slowly and painfully works her way to the top. 

Reminds me of a post I responded to the other day, where the OP said that Arya and Jon cannot be underdogs because they are winners (Whatever that means). That’s the attitude that a lot of fandom has towards Daenerys - now that she is queen and has power, she has it easy compared to the likes of Sansa and the rest of the Starks. Ignoring that when the books started Daenerys was in a way worse position than any of the Starks.

This is a fandom that thinks that Sansa Stark deserves to be Queen in the North because she’s beautiful, has good manners and is a Stark. And this is the same fandom who think that Daenerys, who worked her way to the top - with no family to help, no happy childhood, no teachers, no security of food and shelter, who were beggars and on the run at one point - the Daenerys who is currently spending an entire book ruling a city state, making trade deals, dealing with an insurgency and famine, engaging in marriage diplomacy to sue for peace for the slaves she freed, that Daenerys is entitled. Do you agree?

I am a Jon Snow fan and even I can see how utterly ridiculous the fan discourse around Daenerys is. When the show was on, I was only posting about Jon and there was so much anti Dany stuff on the Jon Snow tags I had to wade into discussion about the character. And the more I defended her, the more I ended up re-reading her chapters, the more I ended up loving the character. There’s so much hypocrisy and sexist double standards where the character is concerned.

And I have not even touched upon the obnoxiousness that is ‘Jonsa’ - group of morons who think Sansa is the main character in a book series called A Song of Sansa and Sansa and Jon is secretly in love with Sansa who is going to be Queen with executioner/personal spymaster Arya Stark and her consort Jon Snow who will sexually manipulate and murder Daenerys for his great love Sansa.

Sansa fans make up the vast majority of asoiaf fans on Tumblr and the majority of them dislike Daenerys and Arya or see Dany as Sansa’s antagonist - even though these two characters have no connection in the books and I doubt they would ever interact. If you look at most of the anti Dany posts on here, they will be made by someone with a Sansa pfp. There are posts about how Jon will kill Dany or how Arya will kill Dany, and if you look at their blogs they will be big Sansa fans.

These are the same people who write essays on how Arya is not a real girl or is ‘male-coded’ or who write essays on how Daenerys only uses ‘threats and force’ whereas Sansa is apparently a political genius who uses ‘Soft Power’ - a foreign policy concept - because she talked down 13 year old idiot Joffrey that one time. When in the actual books, it’s Daenerys who has used Soft Power in her marriage diplomacy with Hizdahr and Sansa has never engaged in any kind of politics with actual adults.

Notice that these kinds of ‘metas’ are popularized by fandom bnfs using blogs like asoiafuniversity. There’s this very popular idea that’s propagated in fandom that Sansa is kind and compassionate when in the actual books there are more instances of kindness and compassion from Arya and from Daenerys. This is once again an example of how sexism and misogyny in this fandom has worked to give the wrong impressions of these characters. Arya and Daenerys are seen as more violent compared to Sansa even though Daenerys’ entire arc for two books has been about helping an oppressed population. The mind boggles!

It’s the same when it comes to love and romance. Arya and Daenerys are not considered worthy of love, romance and marriage because they are the wrong kind of girls. And let’s not bring age into this considering Sansa is 11 at the start of the books and she is the fandom bicycle shipped with every Tom, Dick and Harry.

I am not even getting into the slut-shaming and victim blaming that Daenerys gets in the fandom. There was actual discourse in this fandom on how Dany was not a good rape victim like Sansa because she brought up her rape in conversation! Daenerys is somehow seen as less than because she can’t possibly have children - that apparently makes her less of a woman and a bad partner for Jon Snow unlike Sansa Stark who will surely have ten babies!

The worst part is that’s it women who engage in this kind of discourse and the same women who turn around and gaslight the fandom into thinking that Sansa is unfairly targeted because of sexism.

There’s also the usual dislike from the fans of other characters.

There are Jon Snow fans who see him as the prophesied hero and main protagonist, who don’t like Daenerys coming over and taking away main character status. I personally think there is no one main character. IMO, Jon, Dany, Arya, Bran and Tyrion are all tier one main characters, who will work together against the Army of the Dead. [Note: This works the other way as well. I have seen Dany fans who dislike Jon Snow as well and think he is unimportant in the grand scheme of things]

There are Stannis Baratheon stans over on the Asoiaf subreddit who will excuse everything Stannis does - including burning people alive for his God - and then nitpick every single policy decision of Dany’s in order to argue she is evil or a bad ruler. 

There are house Stark fans who hate House Targaryen and see them as in opposition to each other. There are fans who believe in Northern exceptionalism i.e the North is special and Dany is a threat to that specialness because she wants the 7K etc. etc.

This turned out to be a long post. On the whole, the answer to your question on why Daenerys is such a polarizing character is mainly because of sexism. There are other factors like the setting and isolation of her story, the lack of other POVs etc. The main reason though is sexism and ship wars.