#From both a narrative and aesthetic perspective

[laniemae]

I want to talk about Mikoto’s first trial mindscape. Not in a theoretical way where I dissect every little detail to get insight on his character, I’ve already done that before. But just in the immaculate feelings it gives off.

It’s a surreal place. An infinite world of shallow waters bathed in a clouded blue sky. Sitting in this infinity is a structure. A broken down room, if you can even call it that. The remains of the walls are pure, white tiles with exposed metal wires sticking out of the crumbling concrete. A mirror hangs on the wall. A mirror only reflecting the endless blue sky. Inside the walls lays a green couch, and a small wooden table in front of it. In the corner there’s a green chair with a downturned tarot card on it. It has no reason to be there, but it is. A lamp resides near the couch, yet too far away. A lamp of no use present in the endless clear skies. Another table and a TV appear sinking into the water, the water that is too shallow for that. Two giant tarot cards over watch this strange place, the hanged man and the fool, both represented by mannequins.

This is a mindscape that defies reality. How can there be such a strange structure in the middle of nowhere? A nowhere that’s not even possible. Yet to me this strangeness and isolation feels comforting. I wish I could just be there, and simply exist.

When I first saw MeMe, I recognised the mindscape. Not from anywhere, it just felt… familiar… a bit too familiar. To me, Mikoto’s mindscape feels like a liminal space, or more akin to something like the dream pools and dreamcore in general.

The utter infinite world with only a single, uncanny structure feels strange yet comfortable. It’s a direct mix of the living room and the bathroom from the real world. This mindscape just makes me feel so much with everything that’s presented in it, it’s astounding.

Then suddenly everything goes red. The tranquil blue skies have been replaced with a cloudy, maroon sky. The calm waters have turned scarlet red. The hues of the broken down walls are bathed in red. All of the comfort that was present originally has been stripped away. Leaving a feeling of fear, dread and confusion.

It’s still kinda hard for me to understand what’s happening within the red version of the mindscape in the story, but it’s fascinating how a single change of colour can make a tranquil space into something threatening, even though nothing really has changed.

#milgram #Mikoto kayano #liminal space #Saw a video about liminal spaces by scrabbl and how they’re comforting really makes me think about this #Especially the liminal spaces that are surreal and infinite #Mikoto’s mindscape is payed a lot of attention to and even past it’s story significance it’s absolutely beautiful #I want to talk about the prisoners mindscapes and everything as they’re so interesting to analyse #From both a narrative and aesthetic perspective #Dreamcore

[iamthedukeofurl]

One interesting thing that can happen in long running media is that the general cultural background can shift under the work, recontextualizing it as it is being written. I'm specifically thinking of the Order of the Stick, a Dungeons and Dragons themed webcomic that started in 2003 with the titular party of adventurers going through a dungeon.

From left to right, we have Belkar Bitterleaf the halfling ranger, Vaarsuvius the Elf Wizard, Elan the Human Bard, Haley Starshine the Human Rogue, Durkon Thundershield the Dwarf Cleric, and Roy Greenhilt the Human Fighter. The comic takes place in a fantasy setting that knowingly runs off the rules of Dungeons and Dragons third edition. Characters talk about rolls and bonuses and intentionally take levels in various classes. At the start, the comic was a pretty basic gag comic about the D&D rules, basic fantasy/adventure tropes, ect.

In the 20 years the comic has been running, it has updated about 1300 times, not counting bonus strips exclusively made for the printed version, and several print (or PDF) only side and prequel stories. It has also dramatically grown from it's roots, the art has improved while keeping the same general aesthetic, and the gag-a-day comic has become a sweeping fantasy epic. The characters have grown beyond their initial bits (Belkar is a Murderhobo, Elan is stupid, Haley is greedy, ect), and it's genuinely up there as one of my favorite stories. But anyway, let's talk about Vaarsuvius. If you look at the above art, You'll notice that the characters tend to have three types of body shapes: Rectangles for Roy, Belkar, and Elan, feminine curves for Haley, and Robes for Vaarsuvius. This presentation is a pretty consistent signifier of gender and/or somebody wearing robes. Early on, part of Vaarsuvius's running gag became their ambiguous gender. At the time, it was a fairly common joke in fantasy to talk about how Elven men had androgynous or "Girly" appearances, so V was part of that. Instead of a singular pronoun, characters would generally just abbreviate Vaarsuvius's name as "V", and whenever the narrative would have naturally provided some indication of gender one way or another, V would resolve the situation without providing any such indication. For example, an early gag has the characters seeking out a set of modern style bathrooms in the dungeon. When they find them, V says that their "More Efficient elven biology" means they don't have to go yet, so they wait outside while the boys go into the Men's room and Haley waits in the inevitable long line at the women's. When Vaarsuvius reveals that they are married, they use the term "Spouse" to refer to their partner, when we see their children, the children are clearly adopted (V and their partner both have pale skin, their children have darker skin) and refer to Vaarsuvius as "Parent". Vaarsuvius themselves seems to have trouble identifying other people by gender. Characters outside the central cast might refer to Vaarsuvius as "He" or "She", but doing so was always shedding light on that character's perspective, rather than saying anything about Vaarsuvius. The assumption behind the gag is that Vaarsuvius must be either male or female, and the joke is that the narrative/Vaarsuvius themselves keeps finding ways to avoid "Revealing" their gender. Fan wikis and official books list Vaarsuvius's gender as "Ambigious" and on the forum there used to be a regular, multi-part thread dedicated to debatings Vaarsuvius's gender, even after the author declared that it would "never be revealed".

Anyway, going back to the start, it's 2023, and something shifted at some point, both in the comic and in the general cultural background. The jokes about V's gender kind of fell off, not just because the gag got played out, but because the basic assumption behind it simply doesn't work anymore. Everybody knows that Nonbinary people exist. There's no point in the comic where Vaarsuvius switches from being "Ambigiously Gendered" to Nonbinary, in fact, the entire comic reads just fine if you read Vaarsuvius as male or female and just not caring enough to clarify their gender to anybody and at some point other characters just stop thinking about it. But it's interesting to see how a character trait that was once included in even the most basic character descriptions (Varsuvius: Elven Wizard. Arrogant, Intelligent. Ambigiously gendered) just kind of got washed away by a rising tide of cultural nuance towards gender. Also go read OOTS, it's pretty great.

#order of the stick #oots #webcomics #long running media #posts that have been swimming in my head until I let them out

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

One fascinating thing about "Fault" is it's essentially a photonegative version of "Imago". Thematically as well as aesthetically. In terms of the aesthetics both take place in enclosed garden settings but with opposed lighting and colour pallets because "Imago" takes place in the Fold and "Fault" in the Un.

Thematically both deal with the relationships between parents and their children and how those relationships can be damaging. With "Imago" dealing with the damage done to a child trying desperately to match an imagined perfect image of a parent, and "Fault" dealing the damage done by a parent who is never satisfied, who always can and will find fault in their child.

There's a bunch of tiny things as well. Both episodes contain surrogate mothers, but while the Mothers Merciful are open and attentive and genuinely want to help Phineas, despite Mother Trauma being rather gruff about it, Costigan is dismissive and belittling to Spahr, and so unhelpful (and has so been throughout their relationship), that Spahr is embarrassed that he thought he could get any useful advice from her. Both episodes also bring the audience back to the raid on the Black Candle Cabaret to recontextualize the events with the new information the episode gives them. "Imago" directly through a Fold-moth trip and "Fault" indirectly by detailing the circumstances of Costigan's dismissal and her violent murder of Magdalyne and Nicholas Fleit. Both Phineas and Spahr end the episode with a newfound clarity of perspective and future purpose.

The two episodes pair extremely well, and really show off the parallel narrative tracks that Phineas and Spahr are on.

#midst #midst podcast #midst spoilers #phineas thatch #jonas spahr

[thepradapariah]

Your Rising Sign ✨. The Male Gaze 👀. & Female Character Movie/TV Tropes 📺.

Are you the manic pixie dream girl or the femme fatale?!

Astro Observations 🪐

Using Movies & TV shows, I’ll be talking about observations I’ve made about rising signs! This is just my opinion! You are more than welcome to share your thoughts in the comment section!

(If you know your sidereal Rising Sign Naksaktra EVEN BETTER!)

Disclaimer:

BARE WITH ME HERE!!! This post is written in a VERY generalized way. I am not trying to be exclusionary at all! I want this to be a fun post about movies & astrology. Please be creative with your pronouns if needed! This post is for anyone who wants to read it, no matter your gender or preference, but it will be written in traditional cis-gender fashion, BUT!!!!! I have tried to incorporate all female identifying communities within the examples! I hope there is something for everyone :)

Before we begin:

Definitions:

✨What is the Male Gaze?

“In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world, in the visual arts and in literature, from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer. In the visual and aesthetic presentations of narrative cinema, the male gaze has three perspectives: (i) that of the man behind the camera, (ii) that of the male characters within the film's cinematic representations; and (iii) that of the spectator gazing at the image.” — Wikipedia

✨What is a Character trope?

“A trope is an idea, pattern or motif that appears often enough in a particular art form that consumers of that art form begin to form particular associations with that idea.” - The Novel Factory

Introduction:

Men tend to be VERY simple creatures. Yes, they may present themselves as the broody artist w a checkered past or a sci-fi-nerdy-glasses-wearing-type fellow who LOVES Star Wars & Comic-Con. But believe it not, both these men have something in common…Their simplicity. Most men see life in black & white. They tend to take things at face value & rarely feel the need to dig deeper into something unless they are called to. This is not to over generalize (or perhaps that’s exactly what this is) but to draw attention to the straight forward attitude men usually have towards life. (I blame this on their primal hunter/gathering nature, but that’s another topic for another day). Men tend to prefer life & communication to be clear & concise, whereas woman tend to be far more “colorful” in our approach. We don’t spare any details when talking w our girlfriends about the latest gossip as if it’s our life’s duty, where men can sit in silence, playing video games & be perfectly content. In fact, I learned in sociology, that men can actually have ZERO brain activity happening at times (besides the automatic stuff, like breathing lol). Meaning— men can actually sit & think about nothing. Women, not so much, we are constantly stimulated, thinking & planning ahead. Because of this cosmically cerebral mis-match, the way men & woman tend to view each other can be a point of contention. Woman tend to over complicate men & men tend to over simplify woman. Thus giving us the ongoing battle of real complex female characters VS. the over simplified version of them through the Male Gaze. Do men think woman just sit around playing in make-up & fashion, bursting out into random tears & having pillow fights all day? If you ask Hollywood— probably. In this post, we will be specifically looking at how men over simplify woman using Movie/TV tropes & comparing them to the display of our rising sign, &/or if you know it, your rising Nakshatra.

You should know, that before I got into tarot & astrology, I graduated from the film school at New York University. So I am WELL AWARE of the film/tv writing process & thought this would be a cool way to combine my education of films & my love for astrology to teach & critique how woman tend to be represented in Cinema & Television— and in return, real life. (Art meets Life, amiright?)

There has been a discourse in the film & tv world about how woman are represented through the male gaze. I’m sure you’ve heard of the “manic pixie dream girl” trope over saturating the market right now. (Don’t worry, we will get into this later). Woman feel as if these are shallow representations of the feminine experience. While I agree with this statement, usually we don’t see very fleshed out, complex & interesting woman from male writers. (*cough cough* Euphoria Season 2.) I’m arguing here that until we form deep & intimate connections with men, they tend to see us, woman, as these movie tropes, IRL (in real life). If you don’t understand what I’m saying, hang in there w me.

Because men tend to be simple & take things at face value, they can miss out on the nuances of the woman they are with. How many times have we seen in movies a wife gets a haircut & the husband doesn’t notice? See, no eye for detail, or subtlety. Those small details that make us unique from other woman tends to go over their heads from time to time. And in a day in age where woman are generalized more on a mass scale through social media, it’s easy for men to get carried away thinking woman are all the same or simply, just not that complicated. This isn’t a bad thing, per say, this is just the default until we are able to build a lasting, deep connection between masculine & feminine energy.

In this post, we are going to be breaking down this “conundrum” by RISING SIGNS/1H/Nakshatras. Why? Because the rising sign is how you are seen in the world. The first house rules the body, & what people project on to you as well as what you project onto other people. (The beauty of the 1H/7H axis…more about this later) As a sidereal astrology girly, I think the first house/Rising Sign Nakshatra rules the personality more so than the sun & moon sign. After all, it is called “person”-ality, & the 1H is the house of person, whereas the 7H is the house of partner.

✨Why Does this Matter?

Well first off, it matters how much you want it to matter. This post is for inspiring self expression. By seeing how you effortlessly come across through the male gaze, you may be able to craft your own unique persona or perfect one of these tropes. I am not writing this post because you have to see yourself the way men see you or over simplify yourself while getting to know someone, I’m writing this to give you some indication of HOW men see you so you can put on a SHOW! I’m hoping this gives you the encouragement to take your narrative into your own hands & present your femininity in a way that’s true & authentic to you. I am an absolute FAN of these female tropes. Movies & tv shows have helped me curate the kind of woman I want to come across as. Nothing like seeing a great character on TV that you want to emulate. We all have the ability to play pretend. Look at using the male gaze as a game of dress-up. You can ALWAYS play the part in the ever going Hollywood Film— Your Life.

✨What is the First House?

The first house is the house of first impressions— the cover of the book men are judging.

Because your first house is home to your rising sign, to put it simply, the first house is how you come off to others at first glance. Even though I’m sure you’re a beautiful, complex & intriguing creature, for the sake of this article, we are looking at the first house through a “shallow” perspective. You may feel as if these descriptions don’t fit you at all, in fact, you may feel like this is the total opposite of who you actually are! (Blame the contradiction of 1H/7H axis for this one) However it’s not about how you feel, it’s about how you come across…

Read this article as if you are your crush meeting you for the first time. (Read that again, very meta, I know). The Male Gaze in movies/tv has been argued to be lazy & uninspired writing. I personally think that’s just the male gaze in general. I kid, I kid. Lol. But seriously…they are very simple minded, so we can use this to our advantage to give some of the best performances of our lives!

***If you are reading for your Sidereal Vedic Rising (which is HIGHLY suggest), please look up the degree, so you can read for the specific Nakshatra)

(If you are a man reading this, I don’t mean to drag you. We all know the childhood fact, Men are from Mars & Woman are from Venus. Lol.)

Through the Male Gaze, we will be breaking down how you come off through your rising sign & placements as Classic Movie & TV Character Tropes.

How to Read:

✨IF YOU KNOW YOUR SIDEREAL VEDIC RISING NAKSHATRA: Read that first! That will be the most specific to the trope. (I didn’t double dip, each nakshatra is only used ONCE)

______________

✨If you DON’T know your Sidereal Rising Nakshatra & your reading as a Western/Tropical Girlie———>

✨You can read for the sign in your first house (your rising sign) &/or planets placed in your FIRST OR SEVENTH HOUSE!

✨7H placements cast a direct aspect on your 1H, so if your rising sign doesn’t resonate, check your 7H placements! They have a major influence as well!

✨If you have multiple planets in your 1H &/or 7H, the planet with the LOWEST degree is the dominant planet. Ex: If you have Saturn at 26 degrees and Venus at 2 degrees, you would read the Venus tropes.

✨Unlike men, I’m giving you some flexibility (Lol) Your placements may overlap. For example, if you’re a Pisces Rising— read the blurbs for Manic Pixie Dream Girl & Girl Next Door. One description will probably fit better than the others, but you got options! If you know your sidereal chart for your rising Nakshatra, you’ll get

***There is NO direct correlation between the signs & Naks picked, this is a matter of opinion, so I put what I felt worked!***

Please please please keep in mind, movies & tv characters are larger than life, so please have fun with this post!!! This is over the top!! If you can imagine that you were an old Hollywood glamour queen or a modern cinema starlit, this would be your starring role!!!

⚠️ I do not want to offend ANYONE by using traditional gender pronouns. I am a cis-gender heterosexual female, so I am writing from the perspective I know best. I am NOT trying to say this is the only perspective that matters. I have included cis-woman, trans women & lesbians as examples in this post. Please feel free to share any insights you have, no matter the gender, non-gender or perspective! I’m truly open & supportive. This is not an exclusionary post.

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!!!! I am using Movies & Television shows as examples, so be prepared!

⚠️ Of course, special shout-out to my little sister! Without her, none of this would be possible!!

On with the Show! 🌹

💋 Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Nakshatras: Ardra, Punarvasu, Swati, Vishika, Mula

Zodiac: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces (All Mutable Rising Signs) & Aquarius

Planets: Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter (1st or 7th House, lowest degree)

Tarot Card: Princess of Cups (Earth & Water)

✨Definition

“[The Manic Pixie Dream Girl] exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures… [The MPDG] seems to exist only to provide spiritual or mystical help to the protagonist. The MPDG has no discernible inner life. Instead, her central purpose is to provide the protagonist with important life lessons. “

-Wikipedia (Manic Pixie Dream Girl was coined by Nathan Rabin)

✨The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is arguably THEE female movie trope of the last 40 years in pop culture. As movies moved away from the Bombshell aesthetic of the 1950’s, most notably, Marilyn Monroe; Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s introduced a new kind of woman. (Even her last name, go-lighly is a play on her attitude towards the world) A woman who throws caution to the wind & isn’t afraid to take risk. In fact, this woman LIVES to take risk! She flutters in & flutters out of the Male gaze, usually chasing some wild dream of being a fashion designer, writer, actress ect, OR is a notch above (or under, depending on how you look at it) an aimless sexy hobo. Regardless of her career ambitions, she’s always as creative as she is elusive— yet somehow, is always able to drop into the male’s life right in the knick of time, whisking the male away on some fever-dream like adventures. Encountering the Manic Pixie Dream Girl almost ALWAYS accompanies a spiritual Awakening for our male protagonist. Upon meeting this woman, usually in some weird, “only happens once in a life-time” way, his world gets thrown into a chaotic flurry. Everything he thought he knew he now knows he never knew anything about it at all. He questions life, he questions reason, he question society, capitalism, the “American Dream”, etc. This is BEST demonstrated by Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) in Fight Club, directed by David Fincher. (If you haven’t seen this movie, you MUST (18+), Brad Pitt is at PEAK sexiness…s/o to the Female Gaze lol) Fight Club is a wicked tale of a man fighting himself, society & his own psyche after meeting a woman who mirrored him so closely, it triggered a masculinity awakening. This is the function of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She is so free, so unbound, so fluid, & feminine, she helps to bring to life the masculine side of a man by reflecting his own inner chaos back to him.

As a Ardra, Punarvasu, Swati, Vishika, Mula Rising or Mutable Rising Sign: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces, this could be one of the ways you appear through the male gaze. Because your temperament & view of life can be so changeable, you can come across as a free-spirit, a loss soul, or a wonderer. Perhaps you are, & perhaps you aren’t, but as quickly as you change a hairstyle, you change your goals in life. The male feels as if he needs to tame you, give you structure, security or direction OR he feels like he wants to join you! Break away from the daily grind of life, break societies expectations of him & rendezvous w you, eating cereal, painting & watching cartoons all day. You can represent a child-like wonder and be the embodiment of the “wild-side” of life! As the mutable rising signs of the Zodiac, you tend to be moody & unpredictable. Through the Male Gaze, men may find it hard to connect with you because you always seem “elsewhere”. You always seem a little dazed, perhaps a little confused, but certainly “pixie” like in your approach to life. To the right male, you are fascinating, like a Jackson Pollock painting (the splatter paint dude) in the works— each stroke improvised, never knowing where the paint is going to land, but intrigued more by your process than the final product.

✨Music:

Female Gaze: Like a Bird- Nelly Furtado

Male Gaze: Sex And Candy- Marcy Playground

✨Examples

Holly Golightly- Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Jules- Euphoria

Summer- 500 Days of summer

Robyn Brooks- High Fidelity

Helena- Fight Club

Cat- Victorious

Issa- Insecure

Raven- That’s So Raven

Bubbles- Powerpuff Girls

Emily- Emily in Paris

Sally Bowles- Cabaret

💋Ice Queen

Nakshatras: Jyestha, Dhanishta, Uttara Bhadrapada

Zodiacs: Aquarius, Libra, Cancer, Scorpio

Planets: Saturn, Uranus, Moon, Venus

Tarot Card: Queen of Swords (Water & Air)

✨Defintion:

“…Cool, reserved, and giving nothing away. She may want love as ardently as anyone, but she masks her soft heart behind a wall of ice. It is up to someone else, typically her Love Interest, to soften her cold demeanor and win her love.

The Ice Queen is considered dangerous to love because she will not (or cannot) love back. She's not much for friendship either, preferring to be alone.” tvtropes .org

✨The Ice Queen is cold & unforgiving. She IS the resting bitch face personified, unimpressed & unfazed by those around her. Seemingly aloof, the male in the story is always trying to breakthrough her tough and unbothered exterior. Her coldness posses a real challenge to anyone who is interested in her romantically. She’s just a bitch. And a bad one at that! The Ice Queen is stern in her appearance & her approach to life. Usually divorced, or widowed, but doesn’t have to be, she walks as if she carries the weight on the world of her shoulder. She’s been abandoned by happiness in life, but she’s so regal, no one knows how deep her scars cut. She can resemble the Boss Bitch/Diva trope, because she normally holds a lot of power, but she carries a certain detachedness that is unique to this trope. She is NOTHING nice. The Ice Queen is hard to please & has no issues letting people know she’s unsatisfied. The Male wants to “warm her up”, breakthrough her cold exterior & get to know why she is so damn mean! In some cases he succeeds, in others he realized she’s just a mean & shallow as he originally thought. Elvira Hancock in Scarface is the prototype for this feminine character trope. Not only is her nose typically buried nose deep in snow (if you get it, you get it), she’s. a. straight. cold-hearted. biotch. She’s unbelievably gorgeous & unapproachable, & this is exactly what draws the male protagonist in to her. But even after the male “wins her over”, she was never satisfied. An Ice Queen to her CORE, she was never one to be defrosted. Defamed? Maybe…Defrosted…never.

It’s worth noting that the Ice Queen is usually HIGHLY fashionable. Not the cheap stuff either— the Ice Queen is a Queen none the less. She’s not the T-shirt & jeans girl next door, or the purple hairdo manic pixie…she’s class & sophistication. First rule, you gotta be hot to be so cold.

If you are a Jyestha, Dhanishta, Uttara Bhadrapada Rising or an Aquarius, Libra or Cancer Rising, or have Saturn, Uranus, the Moon, or Venus aspecting your first house, you may find that you come across as the Ice Queen through the male gaze. You carry a certain reserved & detached aura upon first meeting someone. Rarely would you put all your cards on the table. There is also a certain maturity that you carry with you when you walk into a room. Men will assume “oh, this girl, she’s been through some stuff”. You may find that you are somewhat withdrawn in social situations, although people may be very drawn to you. You don’t necessarily care about being liked, but you certainly care about being respected. You come off as if you don’t tolerate any kind of messiness. Men may think you play hard to get or that you just think you’re better than the average. Whatever! You don’t care what they think. You’re too busy reading or being an intellectual (whatever that means lol…this is the male gaze we are talking about). Again, to the right egotistical man who believes he can “warm you up”, you are a welcomed and ongoing challenge. The Ice Queen is the female trope of male dissatisfaction. When a Male encounters the Ice Queen in cinema, she tend to represent a part of the male that will NEVER be pleased, content or accepted. Normally the man after this cold woman’s stone-cold heart is trying to prove his worth to the world around him, & the Ice Queen serves as the perfect trophy. If he can impress her/have her, he can impress anyone & have the World! The Ice Queen is the ultimate prize for the male protagonist w ego/self-esteem issues. Nothing humbles a man quite like a cold-hearted bitch. You may find in your dating life, Male’s feel the need to impress you for no good reason..or maybe you enjoy watching men walk on their heads for a date w you! Either way, as the Ice Queen female trope you carry a certain air about you that commands attention & respect. You carry authority over yourself & those around you. The male gaze says although your intimidating, your worth a try to shut down all the haters, even if you’re hater number 1!

✨Music:

Female Gaze: Needed Me- Rihanna

Male Gaze: Roses- OutKast, Cooler than Me- Mike Posner

✨Examples

Elvira Hancock-Scarface

Camille- The Sapranos

Lady Mae Greenleaf- Greenleaf

Elsa- Frozen

Jade- Victorious

Elekta Evangelista- Pose

Claire- House of Cards

Molly- Insecure

Lucille- Arrested Development

Betty Draper- Mad Men

Mother Shannon, House of Balenciaga- Legendary

Cersei Lannister- Game of Thrones

Dominique La Rue- Harlem Nights

Gru’s Mom- Despicable Me

💋Femme Fatale

Nakshatras: Ashwini, Bharani, Ashlesha, Purva Bhadrapada, Shatabisha

Zodiacs: Aries, Scorpio, Cancer

Planets: Mars, Pluto

Tarot Card: Queen of Wands (Fire & Water)

✨Definition

“A femme fatale,sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to enchant, entice and hypnotize her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as verging on supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, witch, having power over men. Femmes fatales are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification, and unease.”

-Wikipedia

✨The Femme Fatale is arguably the most ICONIC of the female movie tropes. A popular trope of Film Noir “movement” in the late 1940s, early 1950s, the Femme Fatale is a sexual seductress with a naughty side. Enchanting as she is dangerous, the male gaze ogles her, even though it may cost him his life— or at least his job & social standing. Medusa is one of the best representations of this trope. If a man locks eyes w her, he’s as good as dead— yet, time & time again, men tried to defeat her, only to meet a tragic end. As time progressed, the story of the woman who turns men to stone (definitely a sexual innuendo if you ask me) found new life in television & film. The Femme Fatale is a beautiful disaster just waiting to happen. She’s wild, like the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but she has a certain knack for danger and crime. She lures the male in & traps him like a spider in her web. The male is usually a little weary of the woman, but is overcome w her grace & charm, or he’s truly an unsuspecting victim who gets completely taken advantage of an entangled in whatever mess she’s made for herself. One way or the other, the male often ends up in a position of life & death after lusting after this dark & intriguing beauty. The film, Carmen Jones, starring Dorthy Dandridge, is a classic tale of a woman w loose morals who ends up (spoiler alert) dead. Unlike most of the other female tropes, the femme fatale almost always suffers consequences for her actions. She either ends up in jail, or dead, or kills her lover, or he ends up in jail, or her lover ends up dead. Tragic, I know. Again, think of Medusa…she killed everything she laid her eye on, & then ultimately had to be killed. (RIP Medusa, you were a baddie). No one gets out scotch free when dealing w this character. The femme fatale is mysterious, almost like a mythical creature or an enchantress, & the male is instantly drawn into her, whether they exchange words in a bar, or she simply flicks her cigarette & he rushes to relight it. One thing is for sure, she lives by her own rules & is bound by nothing…not the law or death itself. She’s usually a criminal minded free-spirit, manipulating her way through life to survive.

If you are an Ashwini, Bharani, Ashlesha, Purva Bhadrapada Rising Or an Aries, Scorpio, or Cancer Rising, or you have Pluto or Mars aspecting your 1H, you may come off as the femme fatale through the male gaze. Your dark, broody & secretive nature is fascinating to them, and they want to join you on a passionate journey through time & space or save you from whatever sticky situation you may have put yourself in. They want to play detective & you are the perfect case to crack. When the femme fatale enters the male’s life, she instantly posses a threat to his usually naive understanding of the world. She’s not your typical housewife— far from it. She challenges the traditional social construct of beauty & submission. Normally from a troubled/difficult past past, the femme fatale will only submit to law & death, she’s been forced to learn the ugly sides of life & uses them to her advantage. You may find that male’s tend to want to dominate you or control your direction in life in relationships, but you are REPULSED by this notion. This trope teaches men (and woman sadly), that freedom comes w a cost. Hopefully it’s not your life, but if it is, you sure make a sexy corpse!

✨Music:

Female Gaze: Wild side- Normani

Male Gaze: Dirty Diana -Michael Jackson

✨Examples

Filomena (Sophia Lauren)- Marriage Italian Style

Cat Woman- Batman

Carmen- Carmen Jones

Dr. Frank-N-Furter (played by the wonderful Lavern Cox)- The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Jennifer- Jennifer’s Body

Gilda (Rita Hayworth)- Gilda

Amy Dunne- Gone Girl

Laura Biel- 365 Days

Alex Vause- Orange Is the New Black

💋Queen Bee/Mean Girl

Nakshatras: Krittika, Purva Phalguni, Chitra, Purva Ashadha

Zodiacs: Libra, Capricorn, Aries, Leo, Taurus & Gemini

Planets: Venus, Mars, Sun, Mercury

Tarot Card: Princess of Swords (Earth & Fire)

“The Mean Girl trope had us all believe that the dark side to womanhood is catty, conniving competitiveness.”

The swaddle.com

“Mean girls are often overly concerned with appearance. They may place a high priority on their clothing, their make-up, and even their weight. Likewise, they may zero in on these things in others, pointing out everything from acne and weight gain to clothing choices and hairstyles.”

-theteenmagazine.com

✨Somewhere between The Ice Queen and The Diva, there lies a sweet sour sweet CLASSIC female trope that always leaves the girls GAGGING in disbelief, like “did she just say that?!!” The Queen Bee/Mean Girl trope has her fair share of representation in film & TV, particularly in teen dramas, but she is NOT limited to high school. The Queen Bee is in charge, she knows what she wants, she knows how she likes it & she has ZERO problem letting her loyal subject know. Sometimes, she is portrayed w a deep deep deep DEEP down heart of hold, but most of the time, she’s just a straight biotch from beginning to end. You DON’T want to cross her, or you just might end-up on her ever growing hit-list. If there is one thing Ms. Mean Girl can do..it’s hold a grudge. As stated above, the Queen Bee/Mean girl trope serves the stereotype of the cattiness & competitiveness of femininity. And it is a fact that in the wild, the female animals are usually far more aggressive than their male counterparts. (Think Lion, or a Mama Bear). Boys may have their sports, but lady’s have their looks & they will secure that W come hell or high water all the way to Prom Queen.

If you are a Krittika, Purva Phalguni, Chitra, Purva Ashadha Rising or Libra, Taurus, Aries, Leo or Gemini Rising, OR if you have Venus, Mars or the Sun aspecting your 1H/7H, you may come off as the typical Mean Girl Trope through the Male Gaze. You’re aloof, yet decisive about the things you truly care about— like— “Wednesdays, we wear pink”. You keep people on the tip of their toes with witty banter & effortless conversation. If they don’t know the latest trends, the current celebrity gossip or who dumped whom…well, you’re just not interested in what they have to say, so why bother? You can play the villain easily & have no problem being unliked as long as you are respected. You are a social butterfly, a socialite, if you will. You know how to make the streets talk with admiration & envy. People may be afraid that they can’t meet your standards, but good, they probably can’t. NO UGLY FRIENDS is the motto— people may think you actually hold try-outs for who is allowed to sit with you at the table. Through it all, you know how to take control & lead— this energy oozes from you as people seem to just step aside as you sashay down the halls. Always up on the latest fashion, you always come w your A-game and your enemies will NEVER catch you slipping. There is a beautiful confidence that you exude because you know you are the one and only. People may be extremely intimidated by you, but the real ones will bow at your feet.

The shadow side of this trope is the shadiness. Queen Bees/Mean girls are known for being just that—MEAN. People may assume that you are quite backstabby & mischievous. YOU, of all the movie tropes, don’t mind playing

d-i-r-t-y! People perceive you as never wanting to let go of that crown & you’ll do whatever it takes to keep the social order in tact. Think “Status-Quo” High School Musical w Sharpay, the ULTIMATE representation of this trope, screaming from the top of the cafeteria! (THIS IS NOT WHAT SHE WANTS! THIS IS NOT WHAT SHE PLANNED!!!!!) She didn’t care who she had to cut, scheme, lie, trick, plot & sabotage to make SURE Ms. Gabriella did not get the spotlight w her man, Troy. Think of the lengths you’ll go to to get what you want. You come off as spicy, cunt-y (in the best way), & beautiful. You are a glamour girl & never afraid to throw some shade here & there, making you the ultimate reigning Queen Bee!

✨Music

Female Gaze: Feeling Myself- Nicki Minaj

Male Gaze: Mad at myself- Issues

✨Examples

Maddie- Euphoria

Regina George- Mean Girls

CoCo- Dear White People

Lulu- Pose

Toni- Girlfriends

Emma Roberts in Coven & Scream Queens

Blair- Gossip Girl

Cheryl Blossom- Riverdale

Santana- Glee (Rest in Peace)

Buttercup- Powerpuff Girls

Alison DiLaurentis- Pretty Little Liars

Sharpay- High School Musical

The Heathers

Penelope- My Dog (LOVE HER, but she’s such a Bitch—a bad one though lol)

💋Ingenue/Damsel in Distress

Nakshatras: Mrigashirsa, Rohini, Hasta, Revati

Zodiacs: Cancer, Capricorn, Libra, Aries (All Cardinal Rising Signs) & Pisces, Taurus

Planets: Moon, Venus, Saturn

Tarot Card: Queen of Cups (Water) Libra, Aries

“The ingénue usually has the fawn-eyed innocence of a child but subtle sexual appeal as well.”

“The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device (or trope) in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motivation or compulsion to initiate the narrative. The female character herself may be competent, but still finds herself in this type of situation.”

Wikipedia

✨The Ingenue/Damsel in Distress is one of the most recognizable female movie tropes to date. From the tales of The Greeks, to King-Kong, to Broomhilda from Djengo— there is always some damsel…somewhere…that is…in fact…in…distress. The Ingenue is a naive babe, just learning the ins & outs of life. She’s pretty, she’s unassuming & adorably doe-eyed, full of wonder for the life ahead of her— just waiting for a strong man to show her the way! The ingenue is common, but in the best way. She’s not an ice-cold bitch like the Ice Queen or the Queen Bee, but she sits more in her femininity that the Tomboy or the Diva. She’s divine & subtle and a man is always lurking around the corner, waiting to whisk her away from all the evils in the world. If this sounds like a Disney Princess, it’s because it is. Most Disney Princesses would fit into the Ingenue/Damsel in Distress character trope, but just like most of the Princesses, no matter how young & impressionable, the Ingenue is usually the one who makes a way for herself in the end.

If you are a Mrigashirsa, Rohini, Hasta, Revati Rising or a Cardinal rising (Aries, Cancer, Libra Capricorn) or Pisces, the male gaze may perceive you as the Ingenue/Damsel in Distress trope. Your beauty & grace exceed you, & your youth is ever-present. When the male sees you, they just want to protect you & hold you dear. You spark masculinity in those who are attracted to you because you come across so soft & gentle. But don’t get it twisted, you can be a little spicy! You certainly have a little sass to you, but you try not to wear it on your sleeve. You are a true darling to those who are deserving. You serve ultimate demure womanliness & you seem to glide through any room you’re in. Although your impulsiveness & naiveté may land you in some sticky situations, there’s always a lovely leading man just beyond the pines to lead you out of the darkness and into their arms (Awwwwwwwwwww). You may be the type to need help opening the pickle jar, or clumsily fall into some big strong arms— you don’t mind being on the receiving end of affection & people just swoon over you. Unlike the Door Next Door, there can still be an “unapproachability” factor to you. You’re not the girl from down the street, you’re the new girl in town; a little lost, a little curious, but always cute! You may find that men tend to underestimate you & you’re constantly trying to prove yourself. OR you can find yourself in situations where your voice tends to be over powered as you get lost in a sea of toxic masculinity! Either way, you know how to leave a room in awe. You carry just enough mystique & intrigue that male’s fight to know more about you, but yet they just feel as if you’re a naturally good person. You’re coy, but not too coy. You’re shy, but not too shy. You are the perfect “woman”. You may have a past, but your future is always bright! A hero waits around the corner for the perfect time to catch you when you fall or introduce you to a world you didn’t know existed.

As the Ingenue/Damsel in Distress, your energy is POWERFUL, almost as if you’re sexily yelling “Fire! Fire! Save me! Help me!” when you walk into the room. You know how to keep the male gaze & they will break their necks to see you eloquently walk by. Before the reign of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, you were the trope on top— the beautiful default representation of hyper-femininty in the 20s/30s/40s. You set the standards for the early starlets, they were nothing if they weren’t the lovely ingenue!

✨Music

Female Gaze: Bring Me to Life- Evanessance, Pretty When I Cry- Lana Del Ray

Male Gaze: Let Me Love You- Mario

✨Examples

Betty Draper- Mad Men

Celie- The Color Purple

Neytiri- Avatar

Autumn- P-Valley

Daisy- The Great Gatsby

Persephone- The [Abduction] of Persephone

Irene- Drive

Angel Evangelista- Pose

Disney Princesses

Broomhilda- Django Unchained

Piper Chapman- Orange Is the New Black

Mississippi- P-Valley

Penelope- The Odyssey

Satine- Mulan Rouge

💋Girl Next Door/Tomboy

Nakshatras: Anuradha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana

Planets:Jupiter, Venus, Neptune

Zodiacs: Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces, Taurus, Libra

Tarot Card: Princess of Pentacles (Earth)

“The girl next door is usually from a small town or an un-flashy neighborhood. Her personality tends to be down-to-earth, supportive, and approachable. For both her main boy and her culture at large, the girl next door embodies an idealized, wholesome femininity.”

-the-take.com

✨The Girl Next Door/Tomboy Trope is by far the most realistic & relatable female trope of all. She’s not flashy. She’s not mean. She’s kind & sometimes even “one of the guys”. She gives off an innocence that makes her irresistible to the male gaze because she’s just so darn cool. She’s “not like the other girls”. Although she may prefer a comfy t-shirt & jeans, she’s comfortable in her femininity. She doesn’t try to compete with other woman— even though other woman my try & compete with her. Why? Because she’s usually the girl surrounded by all the guys— not because she flaunts her beauty, but rather because she’s not stuck on herself. She challenges the status quo demonstrating that sexy can be fun, sexy can be sweet & sexy can be “normal”. Zendaya is arguably the IT girl of a generation & she usually plays this type of character. She comes across as someone you can sip cool-aid with after she beats you in a round of basketball! For some, that’s sexier than Marilyn Monroe herself! This is the All-American (no matter the race) beauty that only lives a few doors down. This trope is most likely to be in the “friend-zone”, until one day the male realizes…”OH MY GOSH! SHE HAS BOOBS!”

If you are an Anuradha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana Rising OR a Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces, Taurus, Libra Rising, you could come off as the Girl Next Door/Tomboy female trope. You’re approachable & not stuck on yourself & that makes you highly desirable through the male gaze. You’re simple & non-demanding like some of your other female counterparts and this makes you a breath of fresh air in a Kardashian fueled instagram dystopia. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you know how to clean up nicely! When it’s times for you to put on a skirt & heels, you knock ‘em dead. You’re stunning! But you’d much rather lead with personality than looks. You have an effortlessness about you that can’t be obtained by just anyone. At times you may feel a bit awkward about your sexuality, but again, through the right male’s gaze, this is SUCH a turn on. This is an extremely powerful trope because you are realistic. You may have big dreams, but you feel like you come from humble beginnings. You’re authentic to yourself, not to Chanel & Gucci. Sometimes, you may feel overlooked & one-up’d by the “popular girl”, but there is ALWAYS someone who thinks you are the most beautiful girl in the room because you light up the room like no body else & don’t get me started on the way you flip your hair & how it gets the boys overwhelmed. You don’t know you’re beautiful…and that’s….that’s what makes you so beautiful. How lovely!

If you are the Girl Next Door Trope, you don’t have to worry about putting on a show to impress the boysies around you. Just continue to be you’re cool & down to Earth self. Even though it seems like we live in Shallow Land, where everything is based on superficial looks & flawless instagram selfies, you’re super special because you don’t give in. Don’t conform & don’t rush to be the “it” girl. You don’t need the BBL & the thick lashes. (NOTHING IS WRONG W THIS!!! NOTHING~~~) Your natural beauty is more than enough through the Male Gaze!

✨Music

Female Gaze: All You Wanted- Michelle branch

Male Gaze: Hey There Delilah- The Plain White Tees

*sorry I couldn’t link it! Ran out of space!

✨Examples

MJ (Zendaya)- Spider-Man

Zoe- Grownish

Victoria-Victorious

Monica- Love & Basketball

Bella- Twilight

Justice-Poetic Justice

Peggy- Mad Men

Moeisha- Moeisha

Betty Cooper- Riverdale

Blanca Rodriguez- Pose

Apollonia- Purple Reign

Danielle- The Girl Next Door

💋Diva/Boss Bitch

Nakshatras: Pushya, Magha, Uttara Phalguni

Planets: Sun, Saturn, Mars

Zodiacs: Leo, Scorpio, Taurus, Aquarius (All Fixed Rising Signs) & Sagittarius, Capricorn

Tarot Card: Queen of Pentacles (Earth & Water)

“The strong, dark, beautiful woman. She's often a go-getter, chasing stardom, wealth, or just recognition for her talents. If she becomes an Idol, she's not constrained by the pressures of always appearing youthful, innocent, and approachable.

Part of her allure is instead her maturity, either in personality or in sexuality. When she walks in the room she not only turns heads, but she demands respect and won't hesitate to set you straight if she doesn't get it.”

-tvtropes.org

✨The Diva/Boss Bitch Female trope is THEE BADDEST BITCH. She’s worked hard to get where she is & she isn’t going to let some MAN come along and knock her off her thrown. This female trope demands a certain level of respect when she walks into the room— all heads turn because they know she’s the boss, just waiting to give quick & sharp directions. Usually fashionable, because she can AFFORD it (hello!), she knows how to command in any setting while looks good. A trend setter! She may be one of the most intimidating of the female tropes through the Male Gaze, on par with the Ice Queen, because the Diva carries a certain masculine energy. She usually is running things & bossing men around herself. She doesn’t let her sex get in the way of her ambition & talent. This character trope is not afraid to speak her mind because she knows she has just as much right to a seat at the table as anyone. She’s hard to impress & won’t settle for anything less than perfect. Mediocrity will NOT FLY with the Diva. She expects & she will have the best.

If you are a Pushya, Magha, Uttara Phalguni Rising or a Leo, Scorpio, Taurus, Aquarius, Sagittarius, or Capricorn Rising, you may come off as the Diva/Boss Bitch female character trope. You seem to prioritize work, success & your ambition over friendships & relationships. You force the males who gaze upon you to reevaluate their own status & merit in the world. They know you can’t be easily swayed & have to step to you with their best foot forward. Usually depicted as an insatiable boss, men may feel you’re an insatiable lover— demanding & hard to please…whatever, this doesn’t stop you! You know what you want & if they don’t get it for you, you’ll get it your damn self. You come off as self-assured & somewhat egotistical. You’re proud of your work & you expect to be treated like the BOSS that you are. If someone has a problem with that, well then, they can just get in line! Olivia Pope in Scandal is a great example of this trope in action. First, she has a J.O.B. & she’s DAMN good at it. The best, even. Her sex appeal through the male gaze is due to her wits & her competence. Like you, as soon as she walks into the room, people know it’s business time.

If you are the Diva/Boss Bitch Trope, don’t let ANYONE discredit your hustle—not another woman, not a man…NO ONE! You’ve worked hard to get where you are, and it shows because of the way you carry yourself. You can be one of the classiest tropes of all & that’s more impressive than you could ever know. Your beauty lies in the fact that you are sophistication personified. Your intrigue lies in the fact of your rarity! Not every woman is as ambitious or as capable as you are. You make men shiver when they lay eyes on you because you have an aura that screams “STEP YOUR GAME UP OR GET TO STEPPING!” Never try to dim who you are. You’re bossy & you’re the bitch they all LOVE to hate! Let them! You’d probably hate you too if you weren’t you because you are just too fly to handle! Confidence oozes from your pores because you know your stuff. Although it’s lonely at the top, you enjoy the view of downtown from your corner office! It’s hard to compete where others don’t compare Ms. Diva! Own it!

✨Music

Female Gaze: Flawless- Beyoncé

Male Gaze: Ms. Independent- Ne-yo

*sorry I couldn’t link it! Ran out of space!

✨Examples

Olivia Pope- Scandal

Blossom- Powerpuff Girls

Miranda Priestly— Devil Wears

Annalise Keeting- How To Get Away With Murder

Sylvie- Emily in Paris

Jaqueline- Boomerang

Shug Avery- The Color Purple

Cookie- Empire

Mercedes- P-Valley

Matron “Mama” Morton- Chicago

#astrology #vedic astrology #astro notes #astrology observations #sidereal astrology #astrology notes #astro observations #music #rising sign #movie tropes #Spotify

[maxemilianverstappen]

Hey I am a new f1 fan and i have to say Lestappen is the reason I actually got into f1 recently and I jus realised that Lestappen is the most followed ship tag on f1 tumblr. Why do you think ppl seem to navigate towards Lestappen even though as a ship, we hardly get content as opposed to some other ships, say, Maxiel piarles carlando etc.

Like the amount of fics for Lestappen or their dynamic in general seem to attract more fans than the usual f1 ships. I wonder why. Is it cuz of the enemies to lovers trope or cuz both of them are cuties who have a seemingly intriguing vibe between them or ?

Hello new fan 👋

I can't speak for everyone, but I can talk about why I came to like them:

Purely from an aesthetic perspective, they look absolutely irresistible together. They are both very handsome/pretty guys. They really have this beautiful and vibrant energy around them as individuals, and when they are together, they look like someone's fever dream. So, it is very understandable for people to look at them and think: "Wow, these two would look so fucking hot doing nasty/bad/good/horrible/lovely things to each other, let's write them down so everyone can agree with me."

But it is never just this simple.

Lestappen's true allure lies in the way that their destiny seems to be literally intertivined from day one.

Their past before their F1 careers is filled with so much lore as I am sure you're having fun reading about. They have literally been racing against each other since they were toddlers. Everyone who knows them both says that they are of equal talent in different flavors. That they are generational talents and if they're given the machinery and team atmosphere that they deserve, we'll be in a delicious few years of them fighting for championships against each other (i am looking at you, ferrari). So, the childhood rivals narrative is already grand. At this point, I need to say that I liken them to a reverse Brocedes (brocedes were childhood best friends who broke apart as adults due to their championship rivalry. Lestappen is childhood enemies who as adults became closer and I hope if they get to fight for a WDC, they'll get even more closer like Launt and Makkinen.)

They fit all the popular media tropes both as a couple and as individuals:

They are the Sun and the Moon, the Red Oni&Blue Oni, the Fire and Ice/Water. All the best dichotomies you can think of... Dichotomies are attractive for people and in narration because they generally deal with people sewn from the same cloth who have turned out different due to their circumstances, meanwhile being fundamentally the same. Like both sides of a coin...

They also both fit into these contrasting roles and subvert the trope, too. (I am on the 'subvert the fanpopular assigned roles' team because people cannot be fit into simple stereotypes.)

More than the Enemies to Lovers trope (which i always approach varily because most people write Max like a brute and Charles as a helpless damsel), I think the Fated/Starcrossed Lovers, the Mirror of One's Self/One's Better Half/Soulmates tropes are much more explorable and lend themselves to character study better. Because, their situation looks both simple and yet very complicated.

Of course, I am speculating here as a fanfiction author who works on what I can see/read about these men, but apart from the "differents attract" and the "twink/hunk" flavoured fics going around, what pulls people in is how they seem to have been literally created for each other, this connected by the red string of fate thing they have going on. Their whole worlds seem to be revolving around each other:

They just can't help themselves about showing their fascination with each other (one more so openly and loudly, the other is a bit reserved about it, but slowly slipping and it is delicious to watch).

They are each other's both destinied and chosen rivals (God, the intimacy of this shit right here... leaves no room for anyone else to even be an "afterthought" as long as they have each other in their sights as their target).

The single minded attention they have for anything the other does even if they pretend to not pay attention (they do).

The tension between them. (Sometimes spicy with adrenaline and the need to best the other and sometimes tasting like soft, years long unnamed yearning).

Unnamed, unlabeled... as if the moment they put a name on it, call it friendship, joke about it as a bromance, it will turn into something especially Charles doesn't seem that ready to embrace. Yeah, this is them... They have certainly been something for each other for years, since they were kids... That something grew with them, evolved, sometimes had very sharp edges, sometimes soft and fluffy... the way it never died off, never tapered off even when you think Max has become everything Charles has ever wanted to be, gained everything he has ever wished for meanwhile Charles can only watch and possibly blamed himself for falling short and feeling admiration warring with jealousy in his heart whenever Max looks back at him with an expectant smile as if wanting to share his happiness with him. Possibly hoping that one day, when Charles achieves his dream, he will also look at him with a soft smile and be happy with him, too.

God, it must have twisted Charles' heart so badly when he realized that Max genuinely wants to share his joy with him instead of how he expected him to rub it in his face like many others have done to each other and many people believed Max would have done to him. The way Max is so soft and sunny and kind and thoughtful when Charles must have been expecting a merciless killing machine ready to tear him apart both with his words and his on track moves. But the reverse happened and it is so compelling, like, how the hell Max can be so soft for this guy who repeatedly said he hated him in the past as if he wanted to keep the distance as stable as possible. Lol, it is like we are watching an ice castle named Charles crumble irl, and I bet it is a spectacle for the people of the fandom.

And also, the way Charles can be written as someone who thinks he has more to lose if he falls for/accepts his love for Max, because he might feel he is always going to lose to him and never win against him in a meaningful way... (Here, I must say I don't like the fics where they write Max willingly losing to Charles after they become an item. Charles wants a fight and wants it especially from Max, because in his eyes only Max's kind of fight is both "just" and on par with the way he believes what racing is actually about. This is what made him fall in love with the sports and also with Max.) This right here is soooo juicy to pass for the lovers of angst. You can write Max as his mirror that he both wants to smash and also adore like narcissus did, the way you can write them as soulmates in which Charles feels trapped by his fate, the way you can write them as My Better Half whom I hate....

They elicit a huge emotional response in the fans/consumers of fanworks. So, it is only understandable for people to seek out those strong emotions again and again. They induce heart palpitations and it is an addicitive rush of serotonin and dopamine, so who are we to deny ourselves the pleasure of enjoying them?

#lestappen #i answer things #this is long so i put in under a read more #god i love talking about them thanks for giving me the chance

[thesherrinfordfacility]

Enoch in particular is interesting bc of Saraqael. It's the ONLY text that lists Saraqael as an Archangel. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel are identified as the Supreme Princes of Heaven, and Saraquel is one of the "seven holy Archangels", which also includes those four. Sandalphon isn't listed, but I DO think a fun little fact there is that he and Metatron are the only angels whose names end in -on, likely a reference to how they're the only angels who originated as humans. I don't think he and Metatron are 'twins' in the literal sense though? Enoch (pre-Noah) and Elijah (post-Noah) weren't contemporaries. They just happen to be the only humans who become angels.

hi!!!✨ god im so sorry ive taken so long to get to this, anon!!! - tbh, im finding saraqael a bit of an enigma, both from the GO narrative perspective and indeed trying to work out who they were in terms of biblical/apocryphal significance... i hope you don't mind, but im gonna talk about saraqael in general in my response; as seems to be the way, i typically get carried away in answering what seems to be a fairly straightforward ask!!!

edit: further speculation on BOL and saraqael's potential role in it

saraqael theory(?)/analysis:

i think are a couple of crucial bits to saraqael in s2, and not just the ones where they recognise crowley etc. i talked a little bit about what i think their rank is in GO, which i don't think is the same rank as the other archangels, but perhaps a lower archangel like sandalphon. in terms of what saraqael actually does... it feels like they are essentially in charge of earth operations, or something to that effect.

muriel is, by all accounts so far, a (very?) low ranking angel. and yet, when muriel finds the matchbox, it's saraqael that accompanies them to the archangels to report it. now, that doesn't necessarily mean anything - muriel could have gone to a supervisor and then it got escalated, but what saraqael says here:

makes me think that, actually, saraqael knows muriel at least to a greater degree than the separation of an archangel (or whatever tier), and a 'lowly' 37th-class scrivener would have. in fact, this is the only scene other than presenting the matchbox, i believe, where we see saraqael and muriel interact? there is some kind of history there, and potentially even a degree of fondness.

now, let's take into consideration the theory that muriel themself may have been higher-ranking, and got Got by the metatron. they originally were going to demote gabriel to 38th Class; was saraqael similarly the one who wiped muriel's memory, as they attempted to wipe gabriel's? what was the purpose of saraqael being at the trial, other than to fulfil that purpose? and they took muriel directly into their chain of command as a means of keeping an eye on them, protecting them?

this kind of supports my thought that saraqael is somewhat an operations manager (but also...not just that at all*), doing essentially the archangel grunt-work, including keeping an eye on unauthorised miracles:

then we take a look at their interaction with crowley; because i do think there's a lot more to unpack in this bit than that they may have worked on a nebula together, and that crowley doesn't remember them.

summarising a couple of observations:

the seemingly innocent but assertive point made that the trial was in fact real, and didn't take a long time to happen start to finish

the fact that saraqael even notices the interaction between crowley and muriel: he's dressed as an angel (and demonstrated as being a 'bee' when michael/uriel don't fully catch it was him), muriel seems - despite the aesthetic of heaven generally - to be tucked away in the equivalent of a cupboard cubicle, and he accessed a file without, presumably, any alarms - the file recognised his former rank/that he 'knew' the password... so what exactly prompts saraqael to come over in the first place?

saraqael looks happy to see crowley, possibly even a little relieved, but once again like they're... fond?

they use his chosen name (specifically not 'crawley'), and use it with ease despite knowing him pre-fall and therefore, theoretically, not having any cause to use 'crowley' up until this moment

saraqael seems disappointed that crowley doesn't remember them.

where am i going with this bit? well, put simply. i think saraqael had some hand in the mechanics of the fall. i think they were meant to wipe the fallens' memories, but jigged about with the settings. perhaps, now, they regret their part in it, and is working to undo it somewhat, from the inside. i think, where they can, they protect those that get fully wiped (ie. muriel, and gabriel had the wipe gone to plan). and i think, maybe just their favourites, they keep an eye on those that actually fell. and i think that they are trying to break out this information without outright saying it ("well, don't let me interrupt you! show him the trial..."), because they know first-hand the consequences. and they know the consequences, because they are literally metatron's operational right-hand* angel:

this would explain why they seem to remember metatron in the bookshop: exposure to him? seems to fully understand how dangerous he is? not only does saraqael look genuinely apprehensive on behalf of michael, but watch their eyeline movement:

(ok but a moment of appreciation for how adorably derek jacobi says 'piffle' i mean💕)

it almost looks like it goes from michael, and then flips to up beyond michael? as they clasp their hands together? and then after the cut, they're actually breathing so heavily, out of... stress? worry? this is such a tiny thing that may well just coincidental actor-choice on liz's part, but it certainly works in the scene context... that saraqael seems quietly and calmly terrified.

another point, back on the subject of saraqael's role in heaven; i feel like the source of both the earth observation files michael gets in s1, and the fact that metatron says he's "looked back over a number of [aziraphale and crowley's] exploits" may have come from saraqael themself. that's a bit tentative, but it would certainly fit that it would come, at least, from their department. say - metatron has been spying on our boys through the sigil in the bookshop (or something to that effect), has gone to saraqael essentially for intel, and then put the offer to aziraphale to return to heaven in order to split them apart, after seeing the extent to which they're entwined with each other.

we haven't seen a direct, lone aziraphale-saraqael interaction, but their line about, "we'll be keeping a very close eye on you, aziraphale.", doesn't actually feel as ominous as i once felt. in fact, it's muriel that saraqael sends down which - let's face it, by all accounts they are not the angel to send down to earth when camouflage is key - feels actually like saraqael was banking on covering up the miracle for aziraphale and crowley, or at least buying them time.

last little bit: the comment on aziraphale's frisbee halo trick makes me think once again of saraqael's potential role as, essentially, head of operations (declaring war is rather messy, they're right), but also brings me back to the point i made here about the halo toss... somehow, i feel like it signifies something a bit more than just a casual hand grenade.

and now for the bible-y bits

well, i mean, there isn't really a lot to go on, lbr. as anon said (hi, anon, if you made it this far✨), they're described as one of the seven archangels in the first book of enoch (20:6), and if ive read correctly, the second book describes that they brought enoch himself to heaven... so maybe the GO narrative will follow this somewhat? if saraqael feels somewhat responsible for metatron being in the position he is, and having done the hypothetical things he's done? and that's why they might be trying to undo it, or undermine it?

i think the first book also describes saraqael (who i believe is synonymous with sariel and suriel, as well as other different but similar angel names in biblical/apocryphal texts) as being essentially the observer of justice and injustice on earth, "who sin in the spirit", which would also track against them having potential control over earth observations, and them potentially guarding over those that have fallen/have been punished by heaven.

i think some islam and talmud texts also indicate that saraqael may be azrael and metatron respectively, but i doubt that is an arc that the GO narrative will follow, nor indeed other bits and pieces from enoch that ive read through... but certainly there's enough that looks like it could have hypothetically inspired the saraqael story that im interpreting at the moment!

and as for metratr-on, and sandalph-on, iirc that is the meaning of the -on suffix, to reflect being born of man...? i looked at this a little while ago and found zephon as another example... parsing out abaddon kinda drove me a bit insane though, so that's where i left it! i agree that i doubt that metatron and sandalphon are twins, but definitely seems to speak to their origins, perhaps!!!✨

#another theory/analysis noone asked for #im so excited for more saraqael #i need them to be aziraphale's friend pls #good omens #ask #the fall/the great war spec #AWCW spec #metatron spec #memory wipe theory #book of life theory #saraqael spec #s2 meta #s3 narrative spec

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Something to also consider regarding WW Ganon's whole wind speech is that a lot of it is still mired in Orientalism and a lot of the tropes surrounding SWANA people and the desert aesthetic as a whole imo.

A key component of the desert in a lot of orientalist narratives is that the "east" is a barren desert full of backwards, uncivilized people who are oppressive to women and thus in need of saving and intervention from the "west." (Oversimplifying for brevity)

It's usually there to reframe the conversation on colonialism since it tries to erase the people there. It helps normalize the line of thinking that "hey, nobody was here anyway and anyone who was really needed our help, so we were doing everyone a favor."

In the context of Zelda, you can see that in how the Hylians are so closely associated with a connection to godhood and everyone orbits around them narratively and geographically.

In that sense, Ganon's coveting can be seen as a form of the game evoking pity without necessarily framing him as sympathetic, as if to say "of course he would hate this crappy place, what's there to like? Hyrule is vibrant, beautiful, and lively while the Gerudo are backwards, patriarchal, and in such a backwards way of living. Of course they'd envy us."

Ganon's character is intrinsically tied to the desert and our conception of it, which Zelda repeatedly shows as inhospitable and full of every stock racial trope imaginable. In OoT Ganon is referred to as some variation of "the wicked man of the desert."

It reminds me a lot of how people deliberately picture Africa as full starving orphans and uncivilized, but does so as a form of erasure.

It shows in the more sympathetic Gerudo too, like how Nabooru is presented as a heroic character, but she's sympathetic because she rejects the ways of her culture. The way we feel about the characters like Ganon and Nabooru are reliant upon us agreeing on a lot of basic ideas about the desert and the people who live there.

She's not really a character that escapes the issue by being heroic, since her heroism is defined by the same narrative that presents Ganon as wicked.

How we think of the Gerudo people as a whole and their relationship with the desert exists in relation to a bunch of real-world ideas of how SWANA people are treated. Something to consider I guess.

Hey, thank you so much for sending this ask!

I mean, I completely agree, and these are all great and necessary points to make. To be transparent, I do take the whole "wind" thing pretty metaphorically and not literally, as a stand-in for the Goddesses' favor basically, as well as some sort of subdued commentary on privilege and inherited oppression, principally because it would make sense for this version of Ganondorf to consider any effect on the landscape as a voluntary act of punishment by the Goddesses considering the flood and his previous monologue about the sea, but I fully recognize the games themselves do not go nearly as far.

In fact, "bad wind" remains an awfully convenient problem for the gerudos to have, since it exists without apparent cause. It's a case of bad luck, not anything constructed and maintained against them, certainly not anything the hylians could be responsible for in any way. So while this looks sympathetic, it is pitying and could theoritically be solved through, well. Submission. Not unlike the "solution" developed in both BotW and TotK that push against gerudo boundaries repeatedly, demand their loyalty and romantic devotion (framed as goodness, partially through pointed ears associated with "good" faith in the series as opposed to their "evil god" in OoT), and will have the hylians come and teach them how to survive in their own desert.

And fully agreed for Nabooru. Her moral balance never made sense to me, unless you come at it from a hylian (= "player" as conceived by Nintendo) perspective.

#asks #ganondorf #tloz #gerudos #gerudo #wind waker #totk #ocarina of time #nabooru #thanks for the ask! it was a great addition #yeah sometimes I forget that the wind thing is meant to be seen as literal #which boisters the approach of people seeing the whole spiel as manipulative #it probably is meant to be seen as literal (but also makes it much less interesting and rich not to mention... incomplete let's say)

[techtow]

The Magic of Words and Quotes: Navigating Love, Beauty, and Wisdom.

Introduction:

Step into a world where #words, #quotes, and #books become the companions in our journey through the intricacies of love, the allure of beauty, and the pursuit of wisdom. From the enchanting vibes of "dark academia" to the warmth of "light academia," let's explore the simplicity and richness that these elements bring to our lives in a language that resonates with every reader.

Quotes: Sparks of Wisdom

In the realm of wisdom, #quotes stand as sparks that ignite our understanding of life's complexities. "Book quotes," especially, offer bite-sized pieces of insight that encapsulate the essence of stories. From tales of love to the profound beauty of existence, these quotes serve as doorways to contemplation, offering moments of reflection that are both simple and profound.

Aesthetic Journeys: Dark, Light, and Chaos

Discover the beauty of intellectual exploration with aesthetics like "dark academia," which brings forth a mysterious and contemplative vibe. On the flip side, "light academia" bathes us in the joy of knowledge and learning. For those who find beauty in chaos, "chaos academia" celebrates the unconventional and unexpected, offering diverse perspectives that resonate with a wide audience.

Books and Libraries: Portals to Imagination

Explore the timeless enchantment of #booksandlibraries, where every page tells a story and every shelf holds a world waiting to be discovered. Vintage leather-bound tomes or modern paperbacks, these spaces serve as portals to realms that spark motivation, inspiration, and moments of escape. In the quiet corners of libraries, minds find solace and imagination takes flight.

Empowering Words: Feminism, Mental Health, and Positivity

In the realm of words, some serve as catalysts for positive change and empowerment. "Feminism" finds its voice in words that challenge norms and advocate for equality. Discussions about "#mentalhealth" are enriched by compassionate words that break stigmas and foster understanding. Amid life's challenges, quotes of "#positivity" become beacons of hope, inspiring resilience and optimism.

Conclusion:

As we navigate life's tapestry, let's cherish the simplicity and magic of #words, #quotes, and #books. From the gentle whispers of love to the intellectual allure of academia aesthetics, each element contributes to a rich narrative that speaks to the human experience. In this enchanting world of language, let's embrace the wisdom of quotes, the timeless allure of books, and the empowering messages that echo in our hearts. After all, within the simplicity of these elements lies a universal language that connects us all.

#words #quotes #books #book quotes #love #beauty #dark academia #light academia #aesthetic #chaos academia #books and libraries #motivation #inspiration #vintage #relationship #feminism #mental health #positive"

[athena-xox]

Eah ships and their Taylor Swift song

Tailor Quick

Dexven - The Archer

I could have said enchanted but that’s a copout. Anyways when I first listened to lover and heard the archer I immediately thought of them. “I cut off my nose, just to spite my face” is so Raven and her relationship with her mom. “I’ve got a hundred thrown up speeches I almost said to you” is also literally dexter. “All of my heroes die all alone” raven mfn queen. I could literally quote any lyric and related it to dexter raven or their relationship.

Dizzie - King Of My Heart

You know how in songs people don’t say normal things? And how they say like metaphors, rhymes and weird extra or missing words? That’s literally riddlish. And komh feels very Lizzie coded. And the title speaks for itself.

Dappling - Paper Rings

I also thought this immediately when I heard the song that it was very much apple and Darling. The fact that paper rings literally says darling in it… The archer is from both raven/dexters perspectives but paper rings is specifically Apples perspective of Darling. “I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this” I rest my case.

Bribelle - Don’t Blame Me alternatively I Can See You

I literally don’t have to say anything. For either song.

Huntlynn - Love Story

Forbidden love. Sneaking out to a garden is so Huntlynn coded. Just like the visuals of it all>>

Heartlockes - You Are In Love or “Slut!”

And historians will call them roommates. “One night he wakes, strange look on his face, pauses then says, you’re my best friend. And you knew what it was, he is in love” but like replace he with she. My fav friends to lovers. Unrelated but I was so shocked when I found out so many people hate Blondie. Also I could see this song from either perspective. And with slut it’s basically the same song just sm more aesthetic and well I feel like people would probably call Cupid a slut (my poor baby) because god (fairygod? Narrative? Gods? Grimm?) Forbid a goddess of love talk about… love.

Farrahlynn - tolerate it

Istg they need a better ship name. But no one ships them !! *Sighs* I see them as tragic unrequited in love with your childhood best friend who has a boyfriend and is now popular. Literally any song off of evermore fits them. I want more people to ship them!! If I had to give a happy (ish) song I’d say snow on the beach.

Dexpid - Foolish One

I like to forget Cupid ever had a crush on dexter. But if I had to acknowledge it it’s fs foolish one.

Bunnistair - Wonderland

I mean we knew it was coming. Also wtf is their ship name. Going with my personal hc (aka my canon ‘rearrangement’) I like to think that Alistair wasn’t also a wonderlandian and that he found wonderland (lmao Chissy Columbus) after Lizzie, Kitty, Maddie, Hatter and the White Queen had already left. And like he fulfilled his whole destiny literally missing the mad hatter, Cheshire Cat, and Queen of hearts. And that he lowkey went insane there.

Crystlynn - Forever Winter

More of athena rearranging canon; evil crystal!! And like basically the snow queen and crystal (snow king erasure bc what was the point in making him be the one who goes all crazy instead of the literal snow queen) purposefully mad it winter forever because they’re villain (Jackie Frost and Northwind erasure because they’re fucking useless and annoying). But like Crystal deep inside doesn’t want to be a villain and Ashlynn slowly starts melting (haha) her cold exterior. But then Crystals like sike and that’s when this song takes place. (I beg people to start shipping Ash/Crystal and Ash/Farrah more)

#yes I made rep purple #it just have purple vibes #huntlynn could also be dwoht #heartlockes could also be dress #but that would be too much for an album without a colour #reputation #rep #lover taylor swift #speak now #1989 tv #evermore #taylor swift #swifties #raven queen #dexter charming #apple white #darling charming #daring charming #lizzie hearts #blondie lockes #ca cupid #ashlynn ella #farrah goodfairy #briar beauty #faybelle thorn #dizzie #eah #ever after high #Tailor quick #quickian

[starburstfloat]

The Inescapable (and Comforting!) Queer Lens of Moonlight Chicken and The Eighth Sense

I've watched quite a few BL series over the last few years, but something that's struck me (and others I've noticed from tumblr discourse!) is how two recent series Moonlight Chicken (Thai BL) and The Eighth Sense (Korean BL) both embody not only characters and a plot that centralize on real queer experiences, but also a distinctive lens that makes them so achingly and relatably queer that it would be a disservice to not dissect and analyze!

(Please bear with me as we tackle some foundational background info *cracks knuckles* so--) The lens is a really cool means to understand a piece of media because it's an artistic approach from the filmmakers to show us the world through a controlled perspective. The lens has a certain focus (also dubbed focalization). In Looking in: the art of viewing, narrative theorist Mieke Bal describes focalization as the relationship between point of view in a story alongside the vision/meaning that the observer consumes of said pov. So not only does the lens convey certain emotions, but it's the observers (aka audience watching the show) who add additional meaning to it.

This relationship gets really interesting to look at when you consider that traditionally a lot of BL has been created for straight women as a sort of fetishization of gay men (I'm generalizing here, but consider a lot of BL that feels like a straight couple dynamic).

But with these two recent series, the lens feels different. It feels like it's been filmed not only in a way that conveys queerness, but for a queer audience. This focalization creates a really special dynamic between the media and its relatability. It's one of those things where I feel like you just have to be gay to understand it, and that's probably why so many of us have found solace in these two series!

For these two works in particular, there's an undeniable focused aesthetic examination of how queer people see the world and interact with it. There's an artistic emphasis on how one's queerness is inescapable and omnipresent, and how it paints our character's world.

Let me stop rambling and try to show what I mean.

In Moonlight Chicken, this omnipresence is observable in the way the characters Wen and Jim meet in episode one. Wen gets drunk at Jim's restaurant, trying to stall on going home to his ex. The way the camera work plays out during this scene perfectly captures how queer people find and recognize one another without having to overtly express their queerness. Consider the first conversation they have after closing hours of the restaurant: the lens is focused on how subtly they are drawn to each other. There's the wide shot of both of them sitting and talking, something that may be dismissed as nothing more than a two-person shot, yet the way their bodies take up so much of the frame welcomes us to notice their body language and how open they are to one another. This, coupled with the alleyway shots later that cut to individual close ups of their faces, sometimes briefly scanning the other's, a mixture of hesitancy and recognition shaping their reactions, is so queer coded!!! Like!!!!! Hello??? I love how it all culminates to Jim saying "I don't have a wife yet...I'm sure you know my preference" like LMAOOO my dude.....it's been more than obvious but I'm glad you're saying it out loud.

I guess what I'm getting at here is that the way this has been filmed is so beautiful and comforting because it depicts how queerness is inextricably tied to how we process our world. It's in the way we instinctively tag others as being in or out of the community and find solace in that recognition, all while teetering the boundaries of our attractions and carefully assessing a situation to see whether the feelings are mutual, misinterpreted, or if it's safe to express who we are.

Moonlight Chicken manages to embody all of that in the most mind blowingly subtle ways across ALL OF ITS CHARACTERS!!!! I've never encountered any other show like it - it's simply stunning, and it's set the bar way too high now.

We also witness this comforting queer lens in The Eighth Sense. So far only two episodes are out, but the way this show has been filmed is already so much more mature, graceful, and emotionally relatable than most other BL shows I've seen. And again, I think this is because the filmmakers have utilized a lens that conveys how queer people see and interact with their world in a way that other BLs have failed to accomplish. The narrative focus is so strongly centered on our protagonists living in a straight world while they navigate and (in Jae Won's case) want to hide their queerness.

Here, the queer lens resides in the way the camerawork establishes a sense of evaluation and hesitancy. It's the way the camera lingers on how Ji Hyun shrinks a bit when the surf instructor lady jokes "you came here cause of the pretty girl on the poster didn't you?" or the way we get close up shots of Jae Won's annoyed face as he demands his friends stop asking why he broke up with his ex girlfriend. As a queer audience, these subtle clues are just so relatable. It's a reflection of our own lived experiences, of bottling up our inner selves and constantly having to monitor our reactions and behaviors in a straight landscape.

These shows aren't just giving us gay characters who Meet Cute and fall in Love and deal with some turmoil and live happily ever after - they are filmed in a way that forces us to see and be seen.

And I can't get enough.

#there's still so so much to say about both of these shows #but consider this a preliminary brain dump #tagging this under #rebecca should have minored in film studies or queer theory #moonlight chicken #the eighth sense #queer theory #film analysis #media analysis #여덟 번째 감각

[shaymcsudonim]

Fuck it

Rambling Essay on Sir Pentious and Alastor as Narrative Foils 

Okay so, as a Christian myself, I like to apply the Jack Saint Test when analyzing stories about heaven, hell, and the afterlife. 

The original version of Mr. Saint’s test goes thus: whenever a story involves talking animals, it is either a story about animals, a thinly veiled story about humans, or a work that sends mixed messages and muddies its metaphors.  

For example, Shark Tale is a story about people. If all the characters were replaced with humans, the story would still make sense, as an odd couple buddy film about lying to the mafia (possibly a cannibal mafia, but I’ve seen weirder).  

Whereas something like Bambi would be difficult to transpose onto humans without a number of questions being raised. Such as why a hunter is killing a human mother, why the kid matures to an adult over the course of a single year, etc.  

And I’d say that the Land Before Time movies sent mixed messages and confused the hell out of me as a child. Anything where both the predators and prey were sapient and morally neutral freaked me out, tbh. 

Anyway, the religious version of the Jack Saint Test would be phrased thus: stories which involve heaven, hell, and the afterlife are either stories about Religion, stories about Morality, or stories using a particular Aesthetic. 

The Chronicles of Narnia are stories about Religion, specifically Christianity, complete with Lion Jesus and Bird Satan. Even if C.S. Lewis was using allegory, he was trying to convey information that was true in his worldview. 

The Good Place is a story about Morality. It doesn’t care in the slightest about what the afterlife might actually look like, or even if one exists. It merely uses the framework as a method for taking the audience along for a philosophic ride about the true nature of good and evil. 

Mairimashita! Iruma Kun is a story which uses religion as an aesthetic. It uses hell as a backdrop for an isekai story about making a found family out of demons. Superb, 10/10 would cry again. Not much to do with real-world religion, but it has some interesting notes on xeno-psychology, specifically on how morality might develop in sapient extremophiles.  

Hazbin Hotel straddles the line between Aesthetics and Morality. Specifically about judgment, punishment, and redemption, taking place in heaven and hell as conceived by pop culture. 

So yeah, St Peter as a blond white guy, demons being able to buy and sell souls like in Faust, or redemption being something possible to earn—none of those bother me, because this is clearly a story about the way that humans judge other humans in our mortal lives. It’s a modern myth, and a character-driven one at that. 

That being said, I am certainly grateful that they seem to be taking the veggietales route, and are trying to avoid depicting Furry Jesus, or God the Furry. It is an interesting detail that though ‘God’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ are used as expletives in-universe, Charlie mentions neither in her opening monologue in episode 1, she even avoids mentioning God by saying that the angels worship ‘good.’ 

Honestly, there might not be a God in this universe, and that would be a fascinating choice from a worldbuilding perspective. Although they might simply be going with the ‘clockwork creator’ route, since the angels were the ones who created Adam, Eve, and Lillith. 

Jesus not being mentioned in a story about redemption is kind of weird. Obviously, Charlie is the Christ-figure of the story. Or Anti-Christ figure as the case may be. But if the crucifixion happened, why is forgiveness a foreign concept to the angels? If it didn’t, why is ‘Jesus Christ’ a swear in universe? Is it a myth? A plot hole? 

As I said, the Doylist explanation is very obviously that they’re trying to avoid stirring up too much controversy (in the first season, at least). But considering the Watsonian one is a fascinating thought exercise. (“In 10,000 years you’re the first to change this town”? If there was a resurrection, it did nothing to change hell? I will just throw that thought into the corner and ignore it). 

Anyway, moving on from what the story didn’t say, what it did have to say is fascinating. 

Other people have already pointed out that comparing Hazbin Hotel to Helluva Boss, the Sinners seem to sink deeper into evil than the Hellborn, comparing Rosie to Beelzebub, Valentino to Asmodeus, and Alastor to Lucifer. 

And yeah, that’s a fair point. The angels and demons mostly just seem to be Normal Guys, doing their best. They have the expectation of living possibly forever unless killed, so they seem to place a greater value on stability of personality (most of them, at least). Whereas many of the humans died at the rock bottom of a self-destructive spiral and then continued to dig themselves deeper as demons. 

But the two characters I find most fascinating to compare are Alastor and Sir Pentious. I was not expecting those two to be foils, and was delighted at the contrast. 

I’m Ace myself, and I’m very used to the less ‘fuckable’ characters getting shoved into ‘redemption equals death,’ so I was feeling pretty cynical when Pentious’ ship got vaporized. Especially when Alastor had already survived.  

And then I thought, ‘wait, there was no narrative need for both of them to face death going up against Adam, not unless the story was making a point about it.’  

And then I started noticing more similarities. 

Even in the pilot, the two of them clashed, with Alastor considering Sir Pentious to be beneath his notice until the other demon ripped his coat. 

In terms of similarities, both are ambitious, with Alastor desiring power and freedom, and Pentious longing for recognition and accomplishment.  

Both make deals in pursuit of power. Alastor gathering the souls of those with less power than he has, and Pentious spying for Vox and building war machines for conquest. 

Their strengths and weaknesses, however, are different. Alastor is cold and competent, but allergic to trust and sincerity. Pentious is creative and sincere, though hot-blooded and pompous. 

Now, the series is far from over, but in the first season at least, it was humility that saved Pentious and pride that damned Alastor. 

Pentious is a buffoon. He’s not charismatic, at least not at first, but he’s not afraid to put his whole heart into anything he’s doing. He fails as a spy, fails as a paramour, fails as a hero. But he didn’t fail as a friend. 

 Alastor succeeds at infiltrating the Hotel and gaining Charlie’s regard, as well as a very literal favor from Hell’s Princess. He succeeds as an overlord. He succeeds in surviving his fight with Adam. 

But he failed to redeem himself. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, “I acknowledge that you are my friends, but I won’t die for you,” is huge progress. If Alastor didn’t want to be redeemed, he should have killed Charlie before she adopted him. She will never give up on him now, and Alastor is already as good as doomed.  

...saved, I meant saved.  

Ahem. 

But—see, here’s the thing. 

Alastor was so CLOSE. 

Alastor the manipulator, the dealmaker, hedged his bets and took steps towards obtaining what he wants more than anything else right now: freedom and power. That’s what all his scheming and plotting is aiming for.  

But he’s only working towards it. He doesn’t have anything to show for it yet. 

Sir Pentious, pure of heart, dumb of ass, gave his life for his friends, the ultimate act of love. (“Greater love hath no man than this: that he give up his life for his friends.”) 

And do you know what Sir Pentious has now? 

Power and Freedom.  

He’s quite possibly a Seraph, so he might even be third in heaven’s hierarchy? Certainly, Emily was thrilled to meet him, and the more sincere heaven-born and the heaven-bound humans will no doubt flock to support him in any efforts he makes to save his friends. 

(I wouldn’t be shocked if the egg boys have been spawning as stupid but well-intentioned cherubs for years now, so he might very well have friends already. If nothing else, I’m hoping that Dazzle makes it to heaven.) 

It’s just, after I had already separated this story from Christianity in my head, it hits me with a quite literal version of, “He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Not that Pentious literally died for Jesus, but “whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me.” Emotionally, it resonates the same.) 

So yeah, Hazbin Hotel sometimes blends Aesthetic, Morality, and Religion, somewhat muddying the metaphorical water in the process. 

But mostly, it’s still a character-driven myth. 

And I’m looking forward to season 2. 

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel spoilers #spoilers #long post

[jessicapaik]

Topsy Turvy (1999) by Mike Leigh:

Jess' Panel Presentation

Topsy Turvy (1999) by Mike Leigh portrays the collaboration between lyricist William Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan in their development of one of their most notable productions, “The Mikado.” This backstage musical dives into the discipline and obstacles within these two creatives and the theater community during the 1880s of the Victorian Era. Although the film can be subtle and dry at times, it is merely to focus on the process of creating this opera, addressing the age of art, culture, and social attitudes. 

Setting and Social Context

The Victorian Era is well known for its major developments in British Society, as it marks the reign of Queen Victoria and the city’s advancements in industrialization, science, and art. The beginning of the film not only establishes discipline and the competitive world of theater, but also the richness of art during the peak of the British Empire and is expressed through mise-en-scene in regards to the off-stage narrative, as Pattullo states, “Such a strong contrast between bleakness of narrative and lavishness of spectacle appears to heighten the viewer’s perception of the extremes of each.” The colorful and diverse architecture throughout the film shows the landscape and art of this era. We can see this through the surrounding visuals of both Gilbert and Sullivan, as their living spaces and environments make up a large portion of the film’s aesthetic and time. 

In both shots, we see an Oriental aesthetic within their surroundings, as Sullivan’s wallpaper and Gilbert’s wall filled with bric-a-brac reflect the British Empire’s colonial history and trading within Asian countries. Moreover, this aesthetic acts as a manifestation towards the creation of “The Mikado,” as this idea is established through a particular scene where Gilbert hangs a Japanese sword on his wall after perusing around the Japanese cultural exhibit. This scene shows Leigh’s direction of using architecture and decoration to emphasize Gilbert’s shock of inspiration through Japanese art and culture that displays an era of diversification.

The Separation of Performance and Narrative Space

Although the musical’s operatic sound is a standing point to the film, the off-stage perspective and narrative is what stood out the most. The structure of backstage musical gives the audience a double perspective of both the theatrical performance and creative development, as Lauren Pattullo states in her essay, “The spectator of the backstage musical can be said to experience a sense of community spirit in the exposed world of the behind-the-scenes workings of the theatre, whilst also witnessing the spectacle of a fully polished performance, as if viewing from the best seat in the house.” We see this in the editing choices that are made to transition from narrative space to performance space, as it usually starts with being in rehearsals and cutting to the stage performance. This brings emphasis towards the dominance of the off-stage narrative within this backstage musical, as Leigh focuses on the process of the two creatives and the theater’s ability to express their vision.

Another aspect of the narrative space is the audience’s ability to witness the private lives of Sullivan, Gilbert, and different characters in the opera that gives the film complexity and dimension. In particular, Sullivan’s deep rooted goal to reach his potential as a composer is well versed in the film, bringing the audience closer to his character and his passion for theater. This idea goes along the same lines of other characters in the film, as it’s a different way to get close and personal with characters within the general genre of musical. A specific scene that embodies the narrative space is the theater community in defense of keeping Mr. Temple’s song in the musical. It not only shows the relationships between one another, but also their passion in the artistry and their key role in doing what is best for the company. 

The Spectacle: Orientalism and Cultural Appropriation

“The Mikado” was one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most famous works, as this set off their careers. But, as a more modern audience, we must point out the clear racism and form of cultural appropriation of Japanese culture that is displayed both off-stage and on-stage. Especially with the on-stage set design and costume, we see a Japanese aesthetic, but within song, the traditional English sounds reflects on Gilbert's "Topsy-Turvy-dom." This brings the audience to a surrealist experience through the use of Oriental aesthetics to express a "refreshing" concept that others Asian identities.

A specific scene that stood out to me within this concept was the rehearsal of the three women trying to imitate the Japanese women brought for example. This scene shows the attitude within race during this time and the created stereotypes around Asian people being embedded in the film, as Pattullo elaborates on the spectacle, stating, "Perhaps Berkeley’s choreography uses the dancers’ femininity to create spectacle to an extent, whilst simultaneously achieving a degree of dehumanization, as the dancers blend into special effects and become mere components of patterns and designs." This idea is blatantly shown through the makeup put on the performers and the etiquette they act upon on stage. This is also seen through the reactions of the theater performers in being a part of a culturally different musical, as the backstage musical structure creates a double-layered spectacle of the on-stage presence of Japanese aesthetic and the off-stage narrative of Gilbert's fascination with the culture and performers reacting in an unfamiliar way.

Discussion Questions:

Can there be imbalance within the off-stage and on-stage narrative? Can this be an effective tool and what can it emphasize?

Are there common stylistic similarities in backstage musicals to transition from the off-stage to the on-stage?

How does culture and era play a part in the off-stage narrative, and how is it addressed?

#@theuncannyprofessoro #oxyfilmmusical #Youtube

[indexcard]

i think a big part of why i can't get on board with the heterosexual romance genre as it exists right now is because the men are so flat. like sincerely: what happened to all the male lovers? it used to be a staple of fiction that men could be outrageous in their passion: casanova, cyrano de bergerac, werther. and the 20th century evolution of straight male passion was often objectifying but you also can't deny that there were people like leonard cohen writing poetry about yearning and jealousy and now it seems male songwriters can't get much more specific than uhhh i love your body. i would do anything for you. the kind of hallmarkification/marvel catchphrasification of straight male desire, a place where meaning goes to die. obviously in part it comes from a desire for men to be sanitised, and it comes from the conservative/mainstream cooption of feminism, this like reactionary overcorrection for the very real problem of gendered violence. but where are the men under the window with a boombox? what happened to the last-minute rush to the airport? in the past idk 20 years i feel like the straight romcom has really pushed hard for female agency but in a way that actually ended up stripping both parties of agency. because we never actually get stories that allow women to woo men. like that's the crux of it: this could've been a radical reversal in the genre where suddenly women are allowed to be cast in the role of the pursuer. but now nobody's pursuing anyone and the whole genre is just a series of coincidences and misunderstandings. straight romance narratives have become passive. and, from the feminist perspective, what this actually does is alienate straight women (the primary target demographic of the genre) from the opportunity to read themselves as the object of desire. respect as a fantasy is nice, but it HAS to go hand in hand with actual complex, layered, nuanced desire, or it becomes passionless and unromantic. jane austen understood this but somewhere along the line a cultural amnesia seems to have set in, and adaptations of austen have become about how sassy the heroine gets to be. i've no doubt that there are female authors working in this paradigm still but they are not the dominant voice in shaping the cultural archetype of straight romance, which has become perfunctory, an aesthetic of blandness and traditional gender roles, yes even in "dark romance." what i'm saying is maybe we need to start letting men write slightly messy romance novels and real love songs (i'm talking alex turner and jarvis cocker, no ed sheeran bullshit) again

#i've been thinking very academically about straightness lately #this is a take

[mittenlady]

why klavquill

originally i thought of the pairing as a joke because simon would totally hate klavier, but like… i thought further upon it and now i fr am invested. i could say sooooo many things. so:

here’s a post i made a while ago explaining

here's another post focusing on the aspects of other dynamics that would be affected; less important but fun to mention

and let me provde an updated (attempt at being more concise but simultaneously more elaborative) version:

• thematic similarities in that they both helped usher in the dark age of the law BS. klavier got phoenix disbarred (which ig because he’s the golden boy is the end of the world but TBF the crazy ass corruption he exposed in his first three (?) years as an attorney does make him incredibly significant and a sort of figurehead) and simon went to prison for “murder” a year after that

• adding onto that, klavier and simon worked at the prosecutor’s office for one year of overlap (2019-2020) prior to simon’s sentence. even if they didn’t know each other directly, they would have known of each other (guy who got phoenix wright disbarred during his first trial and guy handling an international spy case with criminal affairs) (also i really love the estranged friends to lovers narrative)

• and even at that, they likely WOULD have had to interact during turnabout academy. simon was literally prosecuting the case. yes, klavier didn’t have an official investigation, but you’re telling me that they’re working on the same case without a single interaction???? frankly it’s just poor writing and they didn’t want to put in the effort to connect AJ’s narrative properly; which was an actual writing direction they had so why am i surprised.

• juxtaposition of older sibling situations; both in prison but for different reasons. i want to analyze this bit more but there’s something there

• sharing a narrative of healing from the ghosts of their pasts after DD :)

• both are incredibly melodramatic and theatrical in court. they’re on the same wavelength; and speaking just from a writer’s perspective, writing their interactions is some of the most fun i’ve had lol. if you’re curious, here’s my ao3 series containing all the fics i’ve written for them so far :)

• they also do have similar aesthetics in the sense that they both wear darker colors. klavier has a more grunge (?) / generally alternative (and like 70s-80s generic rockstar) style and simon… dresses like he’s from the victorian era yes (not counting the jinbaori) but he has more of a goth / emo vibe? i’m articulating this very poorly they both just look very well together. also men with long hair :)

sparknotes version: i think they have a lot of similarities and parallels and narratively, i believe it would make more sense for them to be together. part of it may also be wanting to connect the narratives of AJ and DD properly but idk. it just makes more sense, at least to me, in comparison to other pairings

#klavquill #ace attorney #ask #i hope this explained :) #also i’m sick of seeing a 9.5 paired with a 6. why is a literal rockstar dating someone who looks 12 #idk i just think they’re better suited for each other #i could elaborate on that as well but i prefer to say minimal things on that at least online as to avoid stepping on toes #not that it would be bashing necessarily but idk i’m really just here to write #but feel free to DM me if you do wish for an elaboration #im taggin tthis proeprly because i keep having to show it to people instead of explaining Guys listen. please

[cabezadeperro]

oh no what please talk about star wars and westerns that sounds fascinating ngl

oh boy. okay

this got really fucking long, sorry.

so. first of all. what is a western? what does make a western, a western? is it the cowboys? does it ahve to take place in the west/southwest of the us during the late 19th century? is it just a film thing? if so, what kind of movies are actually westerns? the ones made in hollywood during the 40s and 50s? do spaghetti westerns count? and the american movies made in the us during the 70s? what about the so-called neowesterns, like hell or high water?

at this point i think you could argue that the western is not actually a genre but a mood, kind of like the gothic or film noir. it implies a number of tropes, a certain atmosphere, a kind of conflict, but the details are very--diffuse. And not that relevant, let's be real. a fistful of dollars is a western; so is the searchers or most of the first season of the mandalorian or justified or prospect or blood meridian or whiskey when we're dry.

today i heard someone in a podcast describe the western as a kind of story where the main conflict is the struggle between law and lawlessness, and you know what. at first i didn't like it much but the more i think about it, the more i think they’re right.

so, we've defined what is a western (kind of. have we? moving on--). now let's talk about the western and star wars, or star wars as a western, whatever you want to call it.

if a western is a story about the conflict between law and lawlessness, what does it mean that star wars can be/sometimes is/always is a western? not just from like. a narrative perspective. but also, what does it mean that the conflict between law and lawlessness informs star wars narratives, and what does it mean for us, the fandom, a bunch of queers obsessed with star wars and clones and cowboys?

the first thing you should think about (maybe!) when you read the words "law vs lawlessness" is: whose law, and what does law even mean in this specific situation. In the case of the western, and without getting into the particulars of the very bloody history of the american west, the elements of this dichotomy are extremely charged. In (classic, hollywood, 40s-50s) westerns, law means civilisation; that is, it means capitalism and imperialism, it means western expansion, it means white settlers, it means systematically murdering native americans. meanwhile, Lawlessness includes everything (and everyone) else. 

However! You can problematise this, and most of the best westerns did (and do). And once adapted to other contexts (other times, other countries, other genres) the particulars of this conflict change, too.

And this brings us to the star war. Let’s be real: the original trilogy mostly borrowed spaghetti western aesthetics, it’s less a western and more the weirdo lovechild of samurai films, classic scifi and war movies, even if its manichean approach to narrative (good vs evil, dark vs light) could be said to be very friendly to the western.

However! X2: what about the tuskens, you’ll say

And this is where it gets ugly. Or uglier. Narratively speaking, the tuskens play in both the original trilogy and in the prequels the exact same role that native americans played in classic westerns. Someone (not me) should write something about the way this has and/or hasn’t changed in the past few years, with shows like the book of boba fett.

But this is getting long enough, and what i want to write about is the relationship between the lawlessness part of the cowboy movie conflict and star wars racism problem, because while it doesn’t mean that the western is an inherently racist genre, or that western vibes plus star wars equals racism or that every single western au you make will be racist, it does mean that it’s kind of like a loaded gun. (<- hasn’t touched a firearm in her life)

And the reason it’s kind of like a loaded gun is that it’s a trope. It’s very ingrained it’s very mechanical and it’s very easy (especially if, like me, you’re white and also not american) to follow genre conventions and thoughtlessly reproduce the same shitty stories. You can subvert this trope (and i believe you Should, honestly, john wayne is well where he is (dead and buried)), but it’s a trap and it’s a hard to see one.

And like. One thing’s Star Wars the IP, and a different thing is fandom, and i’m not putting fan creators and disney on the same level, and i’m just some guy with a keyboard. However: i do think that thinking yourself through tropes and clichés makes for better, more fun stories, so there’s that.

Finally: why i did i start thinking about this?

The main reason is because i started listening to why theory?’s episode about western  the other day, and it made me think about how much i love westerns and how i’d like to write more fic that’s kind of like a western and the issues that surround this.

Star wars characters i think are/could be western characters (™): jango, because of his everything, obviously (watch django 1966). Obi-wan. Fox, maybe. Leia (where’s my leia + obi-wan true grit au). And rex.

And the thing about rex is that he is the only one who could maybe fit the western hero trope, because he’s the only one there who’s purely moral and like. Unequivocally good (but maría, you’ll say, what about leia? What about obi-wan? Leia’s too angry, among other things, and obi-wan’s a huge bitch bastard man who goes around chopping off limbs, sorry) but he also is a brown man. In star wars canon he’s a clone, which means he’s not actually a person in the eyes of the law; in real life, temuera morrison is maori. 

But again: let’s say you make him the hero, because he IS the hero. But that means he’s on the side of the law, right? 

Or is he?

And what does that mean?

#muxo texto #maríadont #cowboy stuff #sw meta #star wars

[tobi-smp]

Context: [Link]

the most embarrassing thing about michael’s rant isn’t that he has so few lore streams that I could count them on my fingers, it isn’t even that he hasn’t touched the dream smp in a year, it’s that figuring out a direction his character could’ve taken after dream’s escape is Embarrassingly Easy.

he was a conspiracy theorist trying to piece together the history of the server both from the perspective of an outsider and from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know just how much history was obliterated off of the server. he’d taken a sympathetic approach to dream because he didn’t have the context to know that dream had Good Reason to be there, he was just being told by the people on the outside that he couldn’t ever be let out.

which is Interesting because the entire point here Is in the dramatic irony. his character was Building Up To learning that dream wasn’t innocent after all, that the conspiracy goes The Other Way. and having that realization come during the dream escape stream was As Narratively Satisfying As It Could’ve Been.

the obvious place from there Isn’t to drop the conspiracy radio host aesthetic, it’s to Lean Into It. it’s to have him realize that there’s a whole fucked up web of history on this server with all the strings tying back to dream!

imagine c!michael slowly losing his absolute mind trying to scrub together dream's history, what he's been up to, why he was able to do the things he did, and his current whereabouts. growing more and more paranoid that he's making himself a mark by doing so but doubling down that it's Necessary and that Only He's Willing (or perhaps Able) To Do It.

put that on a consistent schedule (weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever cc!michael felt he could keep up with) and it would’ve worked Beautifully as Interesting self-sustaining content that Could’ve kept up for a good while without direct contact from the other streamers if necessary (and considering how season four has been going, it’d have been necessary). it would’ve kept up Momentum from the dream escape that was sorely needed, and built up both Intrigue For and Investment In his little minecraft oc at a time where the audience didn’t Have a lot to latch onto.

he was perfectly primed to drive his character forward with or without the rest of the server and instead he dropped off the face of the fucking earth and came back a year later to shame fans for “ruining the server by demanding lore.”

#dream smp #michael mcchill #michael mcchil critical