#Child Literacy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mymoviefaves · 7 months

Text

So I was thinking. I think the Genshin Impact fandom (and a lot of fandoms tbh) need to learn that there’s a difference between redemption, and humanization.

Tl;Dr None of the antagonists in Genshin have been redeemed, even if they have backstories and they’re playable.

Spoilers for Genshin, She-Ra, Steven Universe, and AtLA ahead

A complaint I see about some story lines in Genshin is that the game keeps “redeeming” evil characters, and doesn’t just let them be evil, with the exception of La Signora who died before we could get much screen time at all, and will never be playable. But the characters most everyone would call “evil” who are playable, (Childe, Raiden Shogun, and Scaramouche) get quickly redeemed with no consequences for their actions, and are no longer evil characters. And there’s a worry that other evil characters that will be playable are going to get the same treatment.

Here’s my thing, I feel like they will get the same treatment, but none of those characters have been redeemed. At any point. (You could make an argument for Scaramouche but we’ll get there). None of them are even asking for redemption. All of them have been humanized though.

So I feel like the easiest way to do this would be to give examples of redemption and examples of humanization.

Redemption:

The first characters to come to mind are Zuko in AtLA, and Catra in She-Ra.

Zuko did horrible things throughout the first two seasons of AtLA, including a lot of attempted murder/capture, lying, betraying people closest to him, being a general dick even. We know that the reason he’s like this is entirely because of his abusive father, but just having that information doesn’t redeem him as a person. He has to earn that, and he does. He gains the trust of the gang, he shows kindness without expecting anything in return, he throws himself into this fight whole heartedly against the fire nation and the only family/friends he’s ever had aside from his uncle. I feel like I don’t have to go too deep into detail, but you get it right? He actively tries to be a better person and to make good on everyone he’s wronged. The gang and Iroh don’t have to forgive him, but they do, because he earned it. And it’s a “kids” show where forgiveness is kind of a big theme.

It’s a similar situation with Catra in She-Ra. She’s a horrible person. She’s selfish, manipulative, violent, and she tried to destroy the universe for attention. We know why she’s like this, she was horribly abused and manipulated by Shadow Weaver and the Horde. She’s sad, scared, and lonely, but obviously none of this is an excuse or makes her a good person automatically. She doesn’t get a redemption arc until the last season where she sacrifices herself for Glimmer, having absolutely nothing to gain from it. She has to literally become reborn, and much like Zuko she completely devoted herself to fighting the opposite side of this fight she’s been in her whole life because it’s the right thing to do. At no point did she just trauma dump and get the best friends squad and the princesses to immediately forgive her, it took weeks of earning their trust expecting nothing in return. Again, hard work.

Humanization:

I feel like this is where a lot of confusion lies. Especially with the black and white thinking found all over the Internet. “If bad person, than horrible evil monster who kicks puppies” “If good person, than perfect saint of a person has never done anything bad in their life”. That’s just not how reality works, and that’s not how good writing works. If your antagonist is just Satan incarnate, sure that could be interesting to play around, but that has to be the main conflict. Trying to overcome this force of nature.

Great bad guys tend to have interesting motivations, and are fully fleshed out three dimensional characters.

I’ll use a controversial example, but the Diamonds in Steven Universe. They. Are. Not. Good. People. Rebecca Sugar was never trying to make them good people. They do not get redeemed at the end of the show. They do not earn Steven’s or the Gem’s forgiveness. They come to a peaceful solution (because Steven is a pacifist and it’s a kids show) but they’re at no point redeemed.

They are three dimensional though. We find out that all of them are still reeling over the “loss” of Pink, and while their actions have always been hurtful they were always meant to be in best interest for the family. Does that excuse them? No. Impact is always more important than intent, and that’s why they’re the bad guys. At the end of the day and the end of the series, they’re still not welcome in Steven’s life even if they try to be better. The audience can see them as more than just evil cartoon villains, and that makes them interesting as characters, but they’re still bad people.

Another evil antagonist who is humanized and becomes a more interesting and well rounded character, Darth Vader. Stay with me.

Obviously Anakin Skywalker gets “redeemed” at the end of the original trilogy, but it’s obviously very bare bones. It was 1985, and not a great example of a bad guy getting redeemed. However, in the prequels we can see how this literal cartoon villain, dark castle on the side of a volcano, evil character, started as an optimistic, brave, and kind hearted little boy.

Say what you want about the prequels and their writing, but the way they portrayed the downward spiral of Anakin Skywalker was fantastically done if you pay attention and don’t zone out during all the political speeches. We know Darth Vader already, but at the start of the prequels we’re introduced to a literal innocent child. We watch him literally being manipulated and groomed to the dark side by Palpatine, have no outlet to talk through his trauma so the only solution he has is violence, and when he’s at the most scared and desperate he’s ever been, he fully falls into the role of Darth Vader and goes out to murder a bunch of little kids. Little kids the same age and with the same mindset he had at the beginning of the series. Does any of this backstory, trauma, and being a victim of Palpatine’s manipulation make him a good person? No. He’s fucking Darth Vader. He kills babies and tries to drag his own son down the same path as him. It does make him into a more rounded and interesting character though. It makes him human. A terrible human, but still human.

ANYWAY BACK TO GENSHIN IMPACT

Childe, Raiden Shogun, and Scaramouche have all been humanized by the story so far, not redeemed.

Childe is a Fatui harbinger. He actively tried to kill the traveler, and while he felt bad about it (there was a translation error in the English version) tried to kill an entire city of innocent people. He only half heartedly apologized for the attempted murder and just laughed it off. He still doesn’t see what he did as wrong, or anything he does working as a harbinger as wrong. He’s by all standards a bad guy. But, he’s genuinely a kind person. We learn that he’s a loving and sweet big brother who’d do anything for his family. We’re probably going to learn about whatever traumatized the light out of his eyes soon in Fontaine, but he’s never been redeemed of being a murder happy mafia caporegime. He’s still very evil, and probably will be until either he dies trying to save the traveler/Tucer, or realizes that the Fatui are just using him and that taking care of his family is more of a threat than a favor. I have a lot of feelings about this man. But that’s the thing, he’s an interesting, well rounded character even without redemption.

Raiden Shogun has never once apologized or even asked for forgiveness for what she’s done to Inazuma. She doesn’t see her actions as evil, she just sees them as an over correction. She’s barely even able to see her citizens as people because she locked herself away from humanity for 400 years. When we get to know her and her backstory we learn that she has horrible trauma, and everything she’s done has been what she thought was best for Inazuma as a whole. We learn that she’s actually a very kind person who loves sweets and thinks the best solution to a love triangle is everyone dating each other. Does any of this redeem her and make her a good person? No. Very few Inazuma characters forgive her for what she did and the war that came from it. Kokomi is willing to be diplomatic with her, because she knows that’s what’s best for her people, but the second there’s a reason to, her and the rest of the characters effected by Raiden’s actions are ready and willing to throw hands. Will she ever ask for forgiveness or seek redemption? Probably not. But her being more than just the cartoon villain evil robot dictator that the Shogun puppet is, makes her an interesting and well rounded character.

Scaramouche/The Balladeer/Wanderer/Kabukimono/Kunikuzushi/Kuronoshi/Shouki no Kami/Babygirl is the only character so far that I feel like is in his “hey, Zuko here” era. Obviously he’s done plenty of evil things in his life. He murdered several entire families to wipe out a cultural art form because he was petty and hurt. He tried to murder the traveler several times, he helped set the vision hunt decree and war that came from it in motion, oversaw the delusion factory getting even more people killed, tried to become a god, attempting to murder the traveler again and attempting deicide on a toddler. Not to mention, overall, kind of a dick to just about everyone. He even asks “Am I evil?” And Nahida says “Yes.”

Throughout all of 3.1-3.3 we learn his tragic backstory, and how he was lied to and manipulated, and traumatized into going from “sweet and innocent puppet” Kabukimono to the Scaramouche we meet in the beginning of the game. Does any of that abstain him from everything he’s done in the past 400 years? No. But I think where we see the beginnings of a genuine redemption arc is when he decides to help the traveler and Nahida when he has no reason to. The next part of his redemption comes from when he found out the reason everyone he loved died, and the reason he became evil to begin with, was all based on a lie and decided that everyone he’s ever cared about might be saved if he never existed. And of course, after accepting all of his mistakes and the worst most evil parts of himself and still deciding to save the traveler’s life just before getting his vision.

Now, is he a fully redeemed and forgiven character even after all of that? No. Not even after all of that. The traveler is still suspicious of his motives, and doesn’t forgive him for anything. But at the same time, he told them to tell everyone effected by his actions who he is and what he’s done. He’s expecting them to come after him and he’s ready and willing to accept anything coming at him. He’s also been actively being helpful and kind to the rest of the Sumeru cast even when he has nothing to gain from it. Sure, his main reasoning for not hurting people anymore is that he has no reason to, but even if he’d never admit it he’s actively being a better person. He’s still a brat and an asshole to everyone in his life, but that’s just his charm.

Anyway, as far as I’m concerned about future playable antagonists and evil characters (Arlecchino, Dottore, honestly the rest of the Harbingers) I feel like we’re going to get their backstories, and they’ll become fully fleshed out, rounded, humanized characters, but they definitely won’t be redeemed of their evil actions by any means.

#genshinimpact #genshin impact #media literacy #writing #childe #tartagila #raiden shogun #scaramouche

37 notes · View notes

booksinmythorax · 9 months

Text

So you're an adult who wants to start reading for fun, but you don't know where to start

I'm a librarian, and I hear at least once a week from people who sheepishly tell me that they'd love to start reading for fun (for the first time or after a long break). Here's my best advice broken down into bullet points, but start here: there is no shame in being a beginner.

-Think about what you do enjoy and start from there. So you're not a book person. Do you like movies? Television? Podcasts? Music? Tabletop games? Video games? What other media do you like and what does it have in common? Make a little list and Venn diagram that shit.

Maybe you're into stories about fucked-up families (Sharp Objects, Succession) or found families (lots of realplay TTRPG podcasts, Leverage, Avatar: The Last Airbender) or fucked-up found families (various Batman media, Steven Universe, The Good Place). Maybe you mainly watch or listen to stuff for the romance (Taylor Swift music, The Best Man, Heartstopper) or the sci-fi horror (The Magnus Archives, M3gan, Nope) or the romantic sci-fi horror (Welcome to Night Vale). And hey, maybe you're not a fictional media person at all. What do you like? What do you want to know about? World history? True crime? Home improvement? Birdwatching? Gardening? Various animals and their behavior? Human psychology? Cooking? If it's a thing, there are books about it. Start there.

Think about why you started to dislike reading. Did an adult snatch a book you thought looked cool out of your hands and say "Don't read that, it's below your reading level/above your reading level/a comic, not a real book"? Did school give you an endless parade of miserable, bleak books and tell you they were universal stories about the human condition? Or did it maybe only give you stories with saccharine, unearned happy endings, or only show you stories about straight cis wealthy abled white kids, or keep you from reading entire books at all in favor of endlessly dissecting tiny passages out of context? (For some vindication, check out "How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading" by John Holt.) Did you have an older sibling or a friend who was better at reading? Did adults put you in competition with that other kid and make you feel like shit about it? Were you in a situation where you were good at reading in one language, or even more than one, but required to read in another that you were still learning? Did this make you feel like you were "behind schedule" or like you shouldn't read at all? Or was reading just harder for you than it seemed for other people? Did reading give you headaches? Did the letters or numbers seem to float around on the page? Was it hard for you to focus for long enough to get through a whole book? Did you need to learn to read differently than the kids around you could? Did adults punish you for this instead of helping you? (Look, I'm not a doctor, but if any of these apply to you, consider going to an optometrist, a psychologist, and/or a psychiatrist to talk about these things if they're persistent and interfere with your life.) Or maybe you're burned out on reading. Maybe you did an advanced degree in literature or writing or history or some other reading-heavy discipline and you're just tired. Maybe your professors or classmates got snobby about what constituted "literary" works and their good opinion didn't line up with what you actually enjoy. You get to be sad and angry about these things, if they happened to you. They're also clues to how to move forward if you'd like to read more, or enjoy reading more.

Give yourself permission to read whatever you want, in whatever way you want. Wanna start with young adult books? Middle grade books? Awesome. Many of them have stories that are sophisticated and complex. Starting with re-reading the first books you enjoyed reading could help jog your memory about why you initially found it fun. Hell, even picture books are a good start. Have you read a picture book lately? Those things are getting cooler every day. Comics and graphic novels? Those count as reading. Many of them are published for adults, though again, the ones published for a middle-grade or young adult audience are often complex and moving. If you're an anime fan, give manga a shot. The source material for many anime go deeper into the characters and stories, especially now that anime seasons are often truncated to 12 episodes for entire series. (The right-to-left thing is easier to get used to than you think, too.) Romance novels and mystery thrillers and science fiction and fantasy? Those count as reading. Many of the things you might have liked about the books you read as a child or a teenager are present in adult "genre" fiction, and many of the things you might despise about adult "literary" fiction (god, I hate that word, but that's another post) may be absent from those titles. E-books and audiobooks definitely count as reading, and they're often more accessible than paper books for some people. Anybody who tries to genre- or format-shame you is a dick and not worth talking to.

Go to your local library. All right, shameless self-promotion here, I'll admit it. But I promise you, if you walk into a library and say "I'm an adult, I stopped reading a while ago, and I'd like to start back up again but I need suggestions," you will make someone's day. I get asked for my opinion about books approximately once a month. I get asked how to use the printer approximately eighty-five times a day. I love helping with the printer and I'm saying that unironically, but my colleagues and I absolutely adore "readers' advisory" questions. If you come with the answers to the above questions about your preferred genres, formats, and reasons you'd like to read, it'll help the process, but most of us are trained to ask follow-up questions to get you the best possible book match. Do not apologize. You are not bothering us. It is literally part of our job. We want people to know that reading is fun, and you are a people.

#librarians and booksellers: i would love it if you added more tips to this #librarians #booklr #books and reading #reading #literacy #media #young adult #book recommendations #public libraries #books & libraries #booksellers #books #comic books #adult literacy #media literacy #child literacy

362 notes · View notes

proudfreakmetarusonniku · 4 months

Text

fun fact the reason i have c!tommy use fancy words in his internal prose is bc i think he’s heard c!wilbur read his own poetry like he used to eavesdrop on it so he’s got a weirdly expansive vocabulary to describe things but he can’t multiply numbers.

#that’s not bc he’s stupid he’s very smart he’s just a feral child who didn’t get an education #he's learnt basic literacy very quickly be patient ok #Dream smp #c!tommy #c!wilbur #c!crimeboys

17 notes · View notes

oedipushansen · 1 month

Text

tiktok is obviously awful about aging & tries to make any physical sign of it seem like a bad thing. but some tumblr users are also very weird towards anyone in their 30's (or older) & make it out like having fandom interests or just. being on the internet past your 20's is Cringe & somehow makes you into a child predator

#tumblr users have kind of an uppity attituide when talking abt other social media users #when rlly the users on here are not that much different from assholes on tiktok or twitter or whatever #the difference is on tiktok they'll bully you for looking your age but on tumblr they'll make a callout or vaguepost implying that youre a #child predator bc you're 33 & have hobbies #they say they love milfs & dilfs & make a somewhat poetic post abt the beauty of aging then are rude to ppl for being over the age of 27 #but then again ive only seen like. unnecessarily rude ''kinblr'' ppl & those my chemical romance oil painting icon ppl who call themselves #pretentious & blame declining literacy rates on ao3 fanfiction do this #txt

10 notes · View notes

notalostcausejustyet · 3 months

Text

As I’m settling into this whole academia business, I thought I’d share one of my first ever tumblr posts. Which turned out to be the basis for my first ever college essay. I’ll share the essay here after it gets graded later this week. Cheers.

On asking questions and public spaces

This is what happens when you have to take a dose of Excedrin for a migraine only a couple of hours before bedtime, because CAFFEINE. Sorry, not sorry! (Please note that for those of us who are gifted with brains of the divergent sort, caffeine only works as it ought when you need it not to lol.) So. Libraries. Libraries are magical. Always have done, even before they became a safe haven for the dispossessed members of our society (which is a brilliant bit of miracle working in its’ own right) but why? And the simplest answer is the obvious one. Books of course. Digging deeper for context here is important though. Before the internet was a thing (yes I’m plenty old enough for that) libraries were where knowledge lived. And not just the academic kind, knowledge of the world outside of what is permissible. I frame a lot of things around religious trauma. And it might seem like old hat, but it was a fundamental (pun intended) part of what shaped me into who I am now. I am 40, I am tired, I am STILL learning who I could be without the behavior patterns imposed by that upbringing. My very small town finally got a library when I was around 10. It was about a mile and a half away. Close enough to bike to, which meant I could go unsupervised. And I did. Volunteered in fact, one of the first summers they were open. Which is important. Because, yes I could check out books, but there was never any guarantees that what I checked out wouldn’t be inspected at home. Volunteering meant I could stash something in the office to read while I was there. And this is where knowledge comes in. I had read every copy of the National Geographic we had at home, the entire second hand set of outdated encyclopedia Brittanica, every bit of Christian fiction I was gifted. I read it all. But it was, for the most part, a carefully curated version of the world. Safely inside the boundaries of my fundamentalist bubble. Allowed. And then for one brief and glorious summer, I had the world at my fingertips. Any book, about anything I wished. No novel was out of bounds, no titillating synopsis had to be ignored. I could read it ALL. And I did. I read about evolution, I read about the Big Bang, the conception and gestation cycle in humanity, I read about the history of medicine and colonization, I dove headlong into fantasy and science fiction and read about queer attraction and love for the first time as something beautiful instead of seeing it painted as something unholy and wrong. I read about morality. And not the starkly envisioned morality of religion, but questions, hard choices, true acts of courage and sacrifice, shades of grey and unimaginable nuance in the world around us. I learned that I was not alone in my discomfiture when I pitted the world I was raised in against the world as it actually was. Knowledge. Direct from the tap, and I drank from it as a person dying of thirst. That summer took the tiny seed of questioning in my mind and planted it firmly in the fertile grounds of my imagination. Each new book was sunlight and rain to a rapidly growing NEED to better understand. I took many years after that one before the tree planted there grew tall enough for me to climb to the top and really see the world around me. I didn’t fully escape religion and begin the work of healing until my late 20’s. But it never would have been possible without that one summer. Without that library. Access to knowledge and storytelling is one of the most precious keystones in humanity’s development. It’s how we make sense of the world. It’s how we gain empathy and understanding outside of our own experience. It’s how we reconcile the questions we have against the world we live in. And like all things, it isn’t perfect. There exists as much capacity for deceit and evil within the pages of a book as there does in humanity itself, but without them we would be lost entirely.

#books have saved me so many times #good omens #yes good omens because that book took all of my unease with religion as a child and gave it language #books books books #public libraries #library appreciation post #I have a lot of very big feelings about literacy ok?

8 notes · View notes