irregularjohnnywiggins

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

i rewatched Dune Part Two recently and one of the most striking shots for me was the one of the Fremen attacking the Sardaukar on wormback, while holding the Atreides flag.

Like, we just saw the Sardaukar forming up with their numerous flag bearers, even trying to maintain their flags raised after the nuclear detonation (in a shot that mirrored the famous "Raising the Flag in Iwo Jima" statue to me btw, nice nod to imperialism).

And then the Fremen arrive, but they're not bearing their colors, their flags, not fighting in their own names, instead it's the Atreides colors. The colors of their new, imperially appointed rulers. New pawns in the warfare between Great Houses, soldiers instead of freedom fighters. Urgh. Wish i could make gifsets.

Yeah yeah yeah it's horrifying!! You are watching a national liberation movement get successfully co-opted by a superpower and it's awful!

They did such a good job making it feel creepy and foreboding when the Atreides symbols and motifs start re-appearing in the last hour or so of the movie. The second Gurney shows up he immediately re-introduces the Atreides way of looking at the world, and it's disturbing how easily Paul falls back into thinking like that, seeing the planet and its people as tools to be used in an inter-imperial power play. (It's right after Gurney tells him about the family nukes that Paul has the signet ring out for the first time since the beginning of the second act and we're like OH NO.) This is before he drinks the Water of Life; he is already starting to think like a colonial duke again some time before he declares himself one.

After the opening montage where we see the piles of bodies being burnt, we don't see the stylized Atreides hawk symbol for most of the movie. The next time it appears is on a vault of nuclear weapons, which are never treated as anything but a curse. It's so important that Stilgar and Chani are with Paul and Gurney when they open the vault so we can see their horror at these weapons and the gleeful, casual way Gurney talks about them. Chani is also seeing an aspect of Paul that she hasn't really witnessed before--Paul, the Future of House Atreides--and she does not like it.

And then of course the whole ending battle is making the point over and over again with repeated imagery that Atreides and Harkonnens are exactly the fucking same. All the imagery from the initial Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen in Part One--which at least shows the Atreides as brave in the face of overwhelming odds--gets inverted into something that's supposed to make us shudder. That scene of Gurney hacking his way through the crowd of soldiers with someone carrying the Atreides flag behind him? Nightmarish.

All of this stuff is super important to what the movie is trying to say because it is very very easy for us to buy into the Atreides' propaganda about themselves being the good guys. If we're paying attention to what Chani tells us in the literal first 3 minutes of the first movie, we already know we should be viewing them with a bit of critical distance. And while I think there is plenty in the first movie to make us side-eye their noble image (Leto saying we will bring peace to Arrakis?? fucking yikes dude), it's easy to forget that because Leto generally seems like a good dude to the people close to him, and he dies tragically so we never get to see much of what kind of colonizer he would have become. And I think it's easy to start thinking well if only Leto the more reasonable parent had lived then things wouldn't have turned out this way.

But fucking desert power?? That was Leto's idea. This is Leto's dream being realized. The plan was always to use the Fremen as pawns in the power struggle between the Great Houses. Maybe not quite in the way that Paul does cause he definitely goes off with it, but the end result is just as much a product of Atreides imperialism as it is of Bene Gesserit religious colonialism. The Atreides aren't inherently any more noble or benevolent than the Harkonnens in their intentions, they just have better PR. But the end result is exactly the same: a pile of dead bodies being set on fire.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

So what do we think my fellow Paul x Chani fans, this moment here:

Is this the first time Paul has told her he loves her, or do we think they've said 'I love you' before but off screen?

I mean that deep breathe she takes makes it clear his words made an impact on her and that does make me think from her reaction that this could be the first time she's hearing him say he loves her.

If it is the first 'I love you' though it just makes the whole situation even more tragic.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Still having Chani feelings, man. Because I think it is actually not that common to see a character (but especially a female character) whose main commitment in life is to a political struggle, and to have that be taken seriously by the narrative. Not painted as naive idealism or a trendy lifestyle choice or something the character eventually leaves behind for "real" commitments like marriage, career or children.

We don't see really anything of Chani's home life in the sietch, but it seems reasonable to infer that the fedaykin are what she's built her life around. The very first thing we learn about her, before we even know her name, is that she's a fighter. This is a core part of her identity.

She falls in love with Paul when he's willing to risk his life beside her as an equal, for a cause that she can't escape but he could walk away from if he chose. The question she asks him is not Do you love me? but Will you always be with me? Will you always be beside me in the struggle, fighting for the same things I am?

And as soon as the answer to that question is no, they're over. There is absolutely no possibility of love overriding that political betrayal, because her love for him is inextricable from coming to trust that he is committed to their liberation and not simply trying to use them. He said over and over again that he didn't want power, and as soon as he reaches out to claim it there is no way they can be together. The worst betrayal isn't watching him choose another woman, it's watching him declare himself emperor and send her own people off to slaughter others when he said he was fighting for their freedom.

So she leaves him, and we're never supposed to see it as anything but justified. There is simply no way she will turn her back on the most important thing in her life for him.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

We’re watching the Return of the King right now, and got to the part where Denethor is introduced.  My husband asks me for the context of why Denethor is Like That, since I just finished reading the book.  So I explained how Denethor has been using a Palantir for years to get information, and how Sauron has been manipulating him by only letting him see events that give him a worst possible impression of reality.

So my husband replies “Oh!  So Denethor is basically just like your grandpa after he starts getting all his news from Fox.”   And honestly, yeah pretty much.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

An option featuring a change of literally any kind to Lúthien not included as presumably even the mere suggestion would be catastrophic, overloading energy grids worldwide and resulting in months-long blackouts.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

a hot take perhaps but i actually think the breelanders would still bully aragorn after he became king. like yes it’s funny to say imagine one day the weird emo guy you bullied shows up again and he’s literally the king but imagine. the weird emo guy you bullied shows up and has refused to dress up as the king so you dont realize hes the king and the whole town heckles him again. ooooh look whos back he finally found friends and took a bath! we’re not at risk of being robbed anymore! his legs are still too long that cant be helped can it. faramir nearly has a stroke. legolas and gimli are having the time of their lives

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

tbh I’ve always found it very funny that Elrond is like “there’s no point bringing Glorfindel on the quest, even though he’s a balrog-slayer. You won’t need balrog-slayers” and then thirty pages later they run into a balrog

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

In the games, Maya would sometimes say, “We’re lawyers” and I always would go “no one in this game should be able to call themself a lawyer, especially you Maya.” Anyone who sees these videos probably thinks I don’t like Nick because I only exist to bully him. I love Nick. He’s great. He’s just so easy to bully. 

Thank you to @themornal and @8edhead for doing the voice work again! 

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

IG : @emperorofmischief

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Are you an advocate for censorship?

is this because i said not to use the r slur

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

I'm seeing things that I - wonder don't make it into ANY adaptations, and it's odd seeing that there's a consensus of what does and does not make it. This scene where Scrooge demands to see proof that his death moved someone and it cuts to the family who get to keep their house because his death has delayed his filing of foreclosure papers until they can make the delinquent payments is one I think should be making more rounds.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

The part about Castlevania that people just don’t seem to get is that Simon Belmont was so pissed at being cursed by Dracula after tearing him apart and killing the double shit out of him that he went on a roadtrip across Romania on foot, gathered Dracula’s body parts by hand, reassembled him like a fucking Lego set on a very unholy altar, conducted the extremely unholy ritual to revive Dracula, and then proceeded to beat the absolute fucking shit out of him AGAIN until he undid the curse. Simon Belmont dragged Dracula’s face through every single surface in southern Romania until Dracula undid the curse and then, in his infinite wisdom, Dracula did not once again curse Simon Belmont and left explicit orders to be revived after Simon was too old to fight him again because he did NOT want any more of those massive dukes.

Only to be reborn during the era of Juste Belmont, who not only had his grandfather Simon’s sheer physical might, but also the Belnades clan’s sheer magical might. “Did it end with Dracula getting his face and ass dragged across every surface of southern Romania once again?” Yes yes it very much did.

#there's a reason we joke about book!Dracula wanting to move to England to get away from all the fucking Belmonts

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

“You know, for a monarchy, the King doesn’t seem to play much of a role in your affairs.”

“Well, It’s embarrassing to admit, but we’ve rather lost track of them.”

“Lost track of them?”

“Quite so. We know we have a monarch, but we don’t know who they are or where they reside.”

“… okay, you’re going to have to run that by me again.“

“To be blunt, the last King had something of a roving eye. While we’re reasonably certain one of his numerous illegitimate offspring has inherited the divine mantle, we’re not sure which one – if, indeed, it’s even one we know about.”

“Can’t you just, you know, pick one?“

“Heavens, no. Our monarch rules by divine right. The land is bound to them. Its prosperity and weather reflect their health and moods. The sacred bond is clearly responding to something, so we can rest assured that a living monarch exists, but none of the candidates we’ve tested have panned out.”

“So, the rain of opera-singing fish last Tuesday…?“

“Wherever our current King or Queen is, they’re evidently having a fantastic time.”

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

If you dare come at me about banning straws, I will throw you into the sun cannon. I’m disabled, I’m crippled, I need disposable plastic straws, and all those pricey ridiculous alternatives aren’t working as well. Plastic straws were invented for the disabled.

Way to shit all over a vital access need because you think straws are worse than corporate greed.

We all care about the turtles, the seals, the oceans, obviously. Notice how the easiest thing to yell about was something that would barely affect anything but appealed heavily to emotional discourse.

The disabled community is huge, and it can be joined by anyone. Most of those As Seen On TV products were invented for us. Society still mocks us and ignores us, and often outright harms us in multiple ways.

Communicate better. Listen better. But stop putting us out in the cold because you are inconvenienced by our simplest needs.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Our fandom forbearers did NOT suffer through Anne Rice, strikethrough, and other bullshit for fucking ACOTAR and Harry Potter fans to fucking ruin it for all of us by selling fanfiction. I am not losing novel length yaoi epics because some of you don't know how to act in fannish spaces and yes I do blame the booktokification of fanfic but I also blame those of you that treat fandom like content to consume and not a community to engage with.