violeteyedhero

[violeteyedhero]

Just so y’all know: I can’t speak for every other fic author but I can say that I remember when people leave me kind comments. I recognize your urls and/or usernames on AO3. I remember you and sometimes in writing my fics I think to myself, “Oh, I hope this person sees this because they liked x in this other fic I did.”

Not only that—I go back and reread comments when I’m feeling low. I look at tags and reblogs and asks and wish I could hold them in my hand like a note from a friend on an old, torn piece of notebook paper.

Your comments have so much more impact than you know. So thanks to those who use the comment section to spread love and encouragement. We appreciate you.

[violeteyedhero]

Drawings of my spidersona (Night Spider)+Spider-Rey

[violeteyedhero]

“FMA is bad because it portrays war criminals as sympathetic, likable people” bro that’s the point. That’s the whole point. That is THE point. Did you think Ethnic Cleanser is some kind of special category of person that gets separated away from all the Good People at birth? Did you think there’s some kind of barn full of Genocide Doers that only gets deployed into the general public during world wars? Did you think assholes who do terrible shit in real life are never charming or likable or capable of doing good things and helping people? One of the best parts of FMA is how we the audience realize that some of our core protags have made irredeemable choices, and we have to reckon with the fact that they’re still people, with the unalienable rights and qualities thereof. Sorry if the Problematics aren’t constantly wearing a dunce cap and a list of all their crimes and this makes the media incomprehensible to you  

[violeteyedhero]

So the Muskrat seems to have locked me out of my twitter account...think I'll just chill here for a while

[violeteyedhero]

One way a person can interpret The Last of Us messages can be that young people are not the ‘cure’ to societally problems. It’s far too big of an issue. There is no going back to the way things used to be. We exist in this moment and moving backwards is not an option. The state of the world has changed too much. Young people have the potential to continue changing and adapting to new world challenges, but the challenges remain. The way older generations interact with young people has the potential to kill that ‘cure’. It matters more to survive, adapt, and live in the moment. Love all the things that you have. Humans have learned to survive in all situations, and it’s up to us to accept those circumstances and better the world given to us

[violeteyedhero]

tlou ep 8, changes to david (ep 8 spoilers!)

cw references to rape, religious abuse

I think they did something interesting and v intentional by making it that David uses Christianity and scripture to control his group. This was a change from the game, where he doesn’t use religion like that, so I am trying to understand the implications. I am going to go into that - warning this will, of course contain extended discussion of religious abuse and Christianity.

Craig could have chosen generic verses, but he mainly picks ones that are about the love of God and parents - the comparison exists in those verses because the idea is that humans are flawed and *only* a good parent comes close to knowing what unconditional or perfect love is like.

Craig has David quote “there is no fear in love” while trying to rape Ellie - that full verse reads “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” - perfect love, unconditional love. The comparison of God & father/parent isn’t meant to be about power, it’s about that.

Because the full context is that in other verses that perfect love is “humble” - patient, kind, self-sacrificing. Something beyond the abuses of power of a bad parent. So ellie wanders outside & finds safety/peace in the actual unconditional love she has with her actual dad.

There’s one verse where Jesus says - people are kind of crap (I’m paraphrasing lol). But good parents know what it is to give someone only good love and that if you know what it’s like to love your child like that as a good parent you have an understanding of how God loves. Because even an “evil” person who is a good parent can love their child with a love that approaches perfect love.

So yes - Tess was right: she and Joel are not good people. He’s done evil shit. He will do it again. He’s honest with himself about that. But he is also a truly *good* parent and capable of approaching something beyond himself through that at the same time. Both are true.

I think it’s significant that they have David outright admit he doesn’t believe any of the shit he’s talking. His ideal world is one where *he*–and everything he wants–is God, not where he tries to reach high enough to be like the love of God.

I actually found it upsetting at first that Craig had David use that verse–one of my favorites–while attempting to rape Ellie, but I’ve been mulling over the why and it clicked together for me.

It’ll take seeing how they shade the choices in the final episode to fully contextualize why they turned David into someone who uses religion & compares himself to a father God and “perfect love” only a good parent comes close to though.

I don’t think it was a generic “how do we make the bad guy bad? let’s toss some Christianity on that mfer!” All the changes from the game have been very intentional setting up contrast/foreshadowing/etc. Ultimately what they’re trying to say about the love Joel is capable of and the evil/violence he’s capable of is up in the air until I see the finale. I’m very interested to see how it all fits together!

[violeteyedhero]

Reylo Fic Reveal - Oubliette

I'm happy to reveal the fic I wrote for the RFFA for VioletEyedHero.

Oubliette - a Sith Rey/Jedi Ben fic. Jedi Ben Solo is captured and brought to Exegol for torture. Snoke's apprentice, a girl with no name, realizes that they are connected and rescues him. She keeps him in her room, at the base of an abandoned tower, part-prisoner, part-guest. But his coming causes changes in the girl, changes that cannot be ignored.

[violeteyedhero]

Glass Onion and the Mona Lisa

(Major Glass Onion spoilers obviously)

I saw a post yesterday that showed the Mona Lisa next to the final shot of Helen sitting on the beach, posed the exact same way, with that same unreadable smile. I think in that moment everything kind of clicked for me, and I think I understand now how it was used as a motif. I poured things out on twitter and I'm gonna do it here too.

So the Mona Lisa is introduced about thirty minutes into the movie, before anything has technically happened. We are shown that Miles purchased it, had it put in his living room (full of volatile hydrogen gas), behind a glass door, and that he can override the glass just to see her face. He looks at it with some awe, but to do something so arrogant and dangerous is not something that you do when you just admire the art...it's a power move. It's a rich man flaunting a priceless artwork and saying, look at me, I don't give a flying fuck about the consequences.

Then, he talks about how he saw it when he was six, and how he longs to be immortalised like the painting. Smash cut to Andi.

Now, I have only a rough recollection of Da Vinci's story, but something that I do recall is this--we still don't know who was the true subject of the Mona Lisa. There were at least two women who it could have been (as well as Da Vinci's male student/lover and Da Vinci himself). There's even still a fair bit of debate as to whether he painted it at all. The truth has long been obfuscated. Only the physical painting by Da Vinci matters to people. The subject is irrelevant.

Not long after this scene, we discover that 'Andi' is not in fact Cassandra, but Helen, employing the rich bitch voice that the sisters created as kids. An elegant, unreadable woman with an ever-changing mood and smile, and an air of absolute mystery. Her character is framed, in the first half at least, as the real-life Mona Lisa.

As the story goes on, you can see how important this parallel becomes. Miles constantly reiterates how he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as the Mona Lisa. In the same way, he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as Andi Brand. He tries to be like her, cheat her, steal from her, surpass her, and take her life from her. He uses the image and money that he gets from being her partner, and uses it to steal her ideas and kill her. He obfuscates her role in the company's founding, takes it for himself.

Andi as a person is dead, but the world doesn't know that yet. For now, Miles gets to keep her image and everything she's built for himself. Not for admiration, but for power. The world just sees her as the subject of his work. Secondary, and irrelevant.

Enter Helen, who steps into her sister's role and uses her image to get to the truth. The others don't know who she is, but Miles should. It's glaringly obvious, but he never thinks to look beyond the glass between them and see who she truly is or why she's there. And he doesn't let go of his need to show off how powerful he is.

Because like the Mona Lisa, the envelope is in plain sight. The last piece of Andi's work is hidden within the Glass Onion, just behind his fake napkin--the one he took credit for.

Miles loses, in the end, because he's so deeply arrogant and idiotic. He plays dirty to get what he wants, and can't help but mount his prizes on the wall. But Helen understands that, at the end of the day, she is a third grade teacher from Alabama, and a black woman against an absurdly wealthy white man. He will not face consequences for this. He won't even be arrested for Andi's murder.

So what does she do? She literally destroys the glass. She annihilates the illusion of his brilliance. She destroys the layers of the onion, shows the rot in its core--his persona, his wonder fuel--and then, she destroys the Mona Lisa. Because it is a painting, something that he chose to put in danger. And the world will see if it is gone.

She brings down the glass barrier, but he destroyed the painting the moment he set foot in Andi's house. And maybe this way, even if he isn't remembered as the murderer of Andi Brand, he will always be remembered as the destroyer of the Mona Lisa. It's a small sort of justice, but it's the only thing that Miles will answer to.

The dust settles, Helen goes to the beach. She ends the story sitting as the Mona Lisa did, her arms crossed, expression unreadable. There's no illusion anymore, no glass between us and the subject. We can look into her eyes. It's a moment where the subject of the art reclaims the narrative, not unlike OJ's ending shot in Nope. The painting may now be gone, but the Brand sisters have been immortalised in a way. Andi is gone, but Helen is alive and true.

[violeteyedhero]

Watching Andor and my computer keeps changing Mothma to Mother and...accurate.

[violeteyedhero]

Hello my dudes.

Princess Shuri of Wakanda and Namor The Sub-Mariner in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022 | dir. Ryan Coogler)

images source

[violeteyedhero]

Con La Brisa

Chapter 4: Cove

Rated M

He lies there, drawing in shaky breaths, at first looking just as frightened and vulnerable as he did the first time. Then, his expression shifts into something else. A quiet respect. “You are truly…” He whispers. “Remarkable.”

[violeteyedhero]

Con la brisa: A Namuri story

[violeteyedhero]

goncharov (1973) dir. martin scorsese // h of h playbook - anne carson // @/orpheuslament (x) // wolf in white van - john darnielle // “the gods show up” - michael kinnucan (x) // @/annevbonny (x)

[violeteyedhero]

I come back to Tumblr for the first time in four years to find out that everyone's seen Goncharov (1973)??? What happened?? People finally developed good taste in movies???

[violeteyedhero]