#I don't like to rant on this blog

[sophsicle]

not to be obnoxious. but i really like the jily in choices. and now you're thinking, bitch i should hope so, you wrote it. WHICH, yeah, fair point. but, it's super overwhelming to receive a lot of negative feedback on something, especially when that negative feedback is like "you're a morally corrupt person writing horribly morally corrupt characters blah blah blah die" y'know? so like, there are a lot of parts of that story that, in my head, have been a bit warped, by having people repeatedly tell me how awful they are. but sometimes i'll read bits of it and im like "wait. no. this is actually good (grammar mistakes aside - im sorry, i know it's bad, i had school and work and my brain was clearly mush or something idk)." like. chapter 55 jily. i just love it. i love when lily tells james he's putting on an act in therapy. i love when she tells him that now, when she looks back, all these memories she thought were about them, have regulus's fingerprints all over them. and he tells her he thinks regulus felt the same way and that he's sorry. because he never wanted either of them to feel like they meant less than everything to him. because they never meant less than everything. i like when she tells james that regulus wasn't a good person. and when james says "i know. but he wanted to be, and doesn't that matter?" and lily thinks it probably doesn't but regulus is dead and so she lets him have that. LIKE i just. yeah it's fucking messy. and it will never not be messy. nothing about their relationship will ever be simple. but i love that. like i love that so much. and i've had people tell me they think it was a copout, having james love them both. but i just, i disagree. james being torn apart by how much he loves people. like that's it. that's the story i want to tell. that's the character i want to write. ANYWAY. there's not really a point to this other than like, sometimes i forget that i really like choices a lot. that i wrote it for myself and i wrote the characters and the relationships that i wanted. and that it isn't some horrible ugly terrible thing that should be hidden from innocent eyes and like, stuffed in a cannon and fired into the sun, y'knowwwww?????

#sorry this is a very self serving rant #that i might delete #but technically this is like my fanfic blog #so if i can ramble on about my fanfic anywhere surely it's here???? #i don't know #choices #soph rambles

[anghraine]

Okay, breaking my principles hiatus again for another fanfic rant despite my profound frustration w/ Tumblr currently:

I have another post and conversation on DW about this, but while pretty much my entire dash has zero patience with the overtly contemptuous Hot Fanfic Takes, I do pretty often see takes on Fanfiction's Limitations As A Form that are phrased more gently and/or academically but which rely on the same assumptions and make the same mistakes.

IMO even the gentlest, and/or most earnest, and/or most eruditely theorized takes on fanfiction as a form still suffer from one basic problem: the formal argument does not work.

I have never once seen a take on fanfiction as a form that could provide a coherent formal definition of what fanfiction is and what it is not (formal as in "related to its form" not as in "proper" or "stuffy"). Every argument I have ever seen on the strengths/weaknesses of fanfiction as a form vs original fiction relies to some extent on this lack of clarity.

Hence the inevitable "what about Shakespeare/Ovid/Wide Sargasso Sea/modern takes on ancient religious narratives/retold fairy tales/adaptation/expanded universes/etc" responses. The assumptions and assertions about fanfiction as a form in these arguments pretty much always should apply to other things based on the defining formal qualities of fanfic in these arguments ("fanfiction is fundamentally X because it re-purposes pre-existing characters and stories rather than inventing new ones" "fanfiction is fundamentally Y because it's often serialized" etc).

Yet the framing of the argument virtually always makes it clear that the generalizations about fanfic are not being applied to Real Literature. Nor can this argument account for original fics produced within a fandom context such as AO3 that are basically indistinguishable from fanfic in every way apart from lacking a canon source.

At the end of the day, I do not think fanfic is "the way it is" because of any fundamental formal qualities—after all, it shares these qualities with vast swaths of other human literature and art over thousands of years that most people would never consider fanfic. My view is that an argument about fanfic based purely on form must also apply to "non-fanfic" works that share the formal qualities brought up in the argument (these arguments never actually apply their theories to anything other than fanfic, though).

Alternately, the formal argument could provide a definition of fanfic (a formal one, not one based on judgment of merit or morality) that excludes these other kinds of works and genres. In that case, the argument would actually apply only to fanfic (as defined). But I have never seen this happen, either.

So ultimately, I think the whole formal argument about fanfic is unsalvageably flawed in practice.

Realistically, fanfiction is not the way it is because of something fundamentally derived from writing characters/settings etc you didn't originate (or serialization as some new-fangled form, lmao). Fanfiction as a category is an intrinsically modern concept resulting largely from similarly modern concepts of intellectual property and auteurship (legally and culturally) that have been so extremely normalized in many English-language media spaces (at the least) that many people do not realize these concepts are context-dependent and not universal truths.

Fanfic does not look like it does (or exist as a discrete category at all) without specifically modern legal practices (and assumptions about law that may or may not be true, like with many authorial & corporate attempts to use the possibility of legal threats to dictate terms of engagement w/ media to fandom, the Marion Zimmer Bradley myth, etc).

Fanfic does not look like it does without the broader fandom cultures and trends around it. It does not look like it does without the massive popularity of various romance genres and some very popular SF/F. It does not look like it does without any number of other social and cultural forces that are also extremely modern in the grand scheme of things.

The formal argument is just so completely ahistorical and obliviously presentist in its assumptions about art and generally incoherent that, sure, it's nicer when people present it politely, but it's still wrong.

#this is probably my most pretentious fanfiction defense squad post but it's difficult to express in other terms #like. people talking about ao3 house style (not always by name but clearly referring to it) as a result of fanfic as a form #and not the social/cultural effect of ao3 as a fandom space #you don't get ao3 house style without ao3 itself and you don't get ao3 without strikethrough and livejournal etc #and you don't get those without authors and corporations trying to exercise control over fic based on law (often us law) & myths about law #and you don't get those without distinctly modern concepts of intellectual property and copyright #none of those things have fuck all to do with form! #anghraine rants #fanfiction #general fanwank #long post #thinking about this partly because the softer & gentler versions of fanfic discourse keep crossing my dash #and partly because i've written like 30 pages about a playwright i adore who was just not very good at 'original fiction' as we'd define it #both his major works are ... glorified rpf in our context but splendid tragedies in his #and the idea of categorizing /anything/ in that era by originality of conception rather than comedy/tragedy/etc would be buckwild #ivory tower blogging #anghraine's meta

[saypleasetickleme]

So my lee friend and i are potentially meeting up pretty soon and i can't wait to tickle the shit out of her!

It's gonna be great, the only issue is that she's pretty adamant she wants to keep all her clothes on no matter what. She said she'll take her shoes and socks off and maybe wear a t-shirt or whatever but i just, idk if i can tickle her properly like that you know? Do you have any advice to help convince her it's okay and way better without?

I mean.....I really don't know what kind of response you were expecting to get from this? I was half debating just ignoring it like I usually do with asks in this wheelhouse but you know what, these topics are important, so let's talk about it. If i'm being honest, I don't think you should be Lering for anyone if you can't respect a boundary like that to the point you're asking for advice on how to gaslight her about it??? You were so close to having the right mindset at the end there; convince her it's okay. That is literally all you need to do. Because it is. Because I can't believe I actually have to say this, but her comfort level with her own body has absolutely nothing to do with you.

Your job as a Ler is to make sure she's safe, comfortable, and enjoying a scene as much as you are. That's it. Tickles over clothes are completely valid and still fun and great. If during pre-session talks you get the okay to sneak hands under clothes so long as skin isn't on display, amazing. You literally mentioned her being okay with giving you her bare feet, that's no small thing! Open and honest communication is genuinely the most important thing in any of these spaces, and she's doing that with you. You owe it to her to do the same if it's truly something that'll prevent you wanting that experience, but don't you dare make her feel guilty about it. If a lack of clothing is more important to you than your Lee's comfort level then I really don't know what to tell you other than the fact you should probably re-evaluate that mindset before meeting up with anyone.

#I know it's a bit of a rant #I'm just so sick of the whole 'my Lee's uncomfortable but I really want them to do a thing' asks I've been getting lately #At what point in ANY aspect of my blog does it look like we're of the same mindset?? #I don't care how you word it - trying to coerce anyone into doing anything they're uncomfortable with isn't a healthy dynamic #it's just abuse #like how tf is that not obvious?!

[ameiniateria]

consistently I'm a little annoyed about the rift between c!Tommy and c!Dream fans in this fandom. like I like your guy too! I think he's great! actually, I think our guys have a lot in common! I'd love to see your take on this really messy, complicated relationship!

oh wait you think c!Dream is a pure evil, completely heartless villain that exists to do nothing but torment c!Tommy, who is of course a sweet innocent uwu baby who did absolutely nothing wrong, and therefore deserves to be murdered twice, imprisoned, isolated, starved, and tortured with no control over his own autonomy (but prison was actually way better than exile, which was the worst thing that ever happened to anyone on the dsmp. obviously. because c!Tommy tried to kill himself. yeah. don't think about c!Dream walking into a wall of lava and burning himself to death multiple times because he was so incredibly desperate for human connection. that was to escape, right? c!Dream couldn't possibly feel real emotions -- that would mean he's a person that -- oh no -- deserves compassion despite the terrible things he did. oh no -- that would make him -- gasp -- a lot like c!Tommy!) and actually he deserved more than that. he was never actually punished. c!Dream always won (citation needed).

also, c!Tommy was a child. do I have to say that again. well, I will anyway. c!Tommy was a child. c!Tommy was a child. c!Tommy was a child.

great.

#discourse #dreblr #c!discduo #to clarify I don't think c!Tommy deserved exile #obviously #no one deserves to be manipulated and abused and bullied #I don't think anyone actually thinks that exile was a good thing #to be fair #it's a really annoying strawman but people keep bringing it up #c!Tommy went through some pretty horrific shit! #but so did c!Dream #there is no law on the dsmp #if you're mad at c!Dream because he blew up L'Manberg -- good for you #in the nicest way possible I do not care #doomsday was not a crime #no one even died #DOOMSDAY WAS NOTHING MORE THAN PROPERTY DAMAGE #what would you call c!Tommy griefing c!George's house again? #sorry for ranting #I'm just tired of not being able to follow like any c!tommy apologist blogs because they have inevitably posted #super rancid takes about c! and cc!dream #why is c!discduo discourse such a mess #why can't we be friends #I don't want to argue with any post directly because I think that's rude #but I wish we could have lore discussions in good faith and actually learn about each others' favorite characters #without accusing each other of being abuse apologists or whatever #I know I came off as kinda mean here #I'm sorry #no one's going to read this anyway #I'm just sensitive and this is frustrating

[valyrfia]

i'm like n1 lecfosa but i have to say some of the anons i've seen in other people's inboxes because they think that charles could've driven better today or that carlos deserved the win....have not been it. if you have an opinion to say, please just post it on your own blog and put your own name to it rather than going to terrorise and spit on someone who doesn't agree with you while retaining the luxury of hiding behind an anonymous icon. or even better, if you're upset, stick to the blogs that you know share your opinions.

#do not give the lecfosi a bad name we may not be particularly ethical people but we are fair #bonus points if you get that reference #but seriously guys......i was as upset as the next person but at the end of the day it's one race and charles is still p2 in the standings #with a suzuka upgrade coming that will make the front pointier #and carlos did win after getting his appendix out literally two weeks ago it is an impressive narrative people are ALLOWED to be impressed #blogs you enjoy can have differing opinions from you and that's okay! #but if you're upset about it there is no reason to send those with differing opinions a barrage of “CHARLES DESERVED BETTER DON'T YOU SEE” #like do i think charles deserved better. yeah. am i going into the inboxes of people happy for carlos and taking that away from them. no #if you have something to say that could be controversial put your name to it #like i'm fully aware my opinions are not everybody's cup of tea and that's okay #i have mutuals i really enjoy content from celebrating carlos and that's also okay end of the day it's a SPORT #if you come into my askbox and tell me that charles leclerc is washed i will be snitty because that's my territory #but the beauty of tumblr is you can curate your space - USE THAT BEAUTY #okay rant over just a psa i have been a little upset seeing some ppl i like content from get upset

[linterteatime]

Sorry for this, but people have been really fucking annoying on the comments of my posts lately that I'm really really considering privating the blog for some days or something bruh💀

#like cmon now the people on my instagram and my twitter have been behaving better that tumblr thats wild #like okay ppl aren't comenting anything like horrible but it's so stupid like- #logging into tumblr truly is something #i limited comments on the blog for only ppl that follow me for a while so if tomorrow i get anything stupid im just packing up #just for a couple of days dw #anyways sorry for venting or ranting idk what this is #but like!!! i always hear people say that tumblr is the most chill social media site and like thats not true for me bruh #well to be fair i did have some really really chill months for a while this year but i guess that's over now with october idk #anyways maybe i will post art later who knows #not art #delete later #maybe #also this is not about the people that say nice things on my posts don't worry guys this is not about them #sorry if someone thought that

[weirdgirlshowdown]

i've seen people talking about it, but none of the posts are getting much traction, so i'd like to say something here where i have a bit of a wider audience

i'm seeing that the schrodinger's gender bracket [the one that everyone was clowning on for including emperor belos from the owl house] includes a lot of characters who are canonical transgender women [gwen stacy from spiderverse] or just transmisogynistic caricatures [chihiro fujisaki from danganronpa] and honestly i find it really disgusting that they're being either misgendered [in the first case] or praised [in the second] by their inclusion in the tournament. from the sheer amount of characters included it seems like this probably wasn't done out of intentional malice, rather just including every submitted character, but if that's the case it's an extremely irresponsible way to run a bracket. irresponsible at best and intentionally transmisogynistic at worst. from mod to mod, you should not have done this.

please don't harass this mod, by the way. instead, if you're ever considering running a tournament of your own, i'm begging you to do what they didn't and be responsible with the characters you choose to include, especially if the poll is about any kind of marginalized demographic. thanks goodnight

#there are a LOT of other problems with this bracket btw i just didn't want to mention everything else #or i'd just feel like i was ranting about a much smaller blog #but this is such a huge issue and like i said not enough people are talking about it so i felt like i had to say smth #tournament mods need to be humbled so they stop thinking they don't need to be critical about who they include #and you can take that from me mx weirdgirlshowdown mod herself #personal

[tamelee]

Just wanted to share with you a preview of something I'm working on ;-; because this is my very first real (?) Manga panel and it's a lil Naruto 🧡 🔆

#my art #naruto #manga art #I kept thinking yknow #but wow this is hard #I already had so much respect for people who create manga #or comics webtoons anything like that but #my head is on the floor and Im bowing down to you people #Im only 7 pages and multiple breakdowns in #on a practice project!! #because I suck at this #I know I have silly dreams and wishes #I still want to try #people around me keep telling me to be real and give up #to be more productive or to find a job that suits them better #or whatever the hell that means #its always been like that #I don't want to sound whiny which is why I rant in tags sometimes #I feel like I can't even voice my thoughts on my own blog anymore #time for a change soon I think #anyway bottomline #mangaka's and comic creators are cool #I'm a total noob #that was the message

[wyfy-meltdown]

Something I find really neat and subtle amoung Madoka Magica's (many) foreshadowing and narrative contrast-y moments is Mami's fight against Gertrud.

Gertrud has a strong flower and butterfly motif, and Mami's soul gem is shaped like a flower (and maybe a stretch but in one of Mami's transformations she does an action that resembles a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis).

I think there's some parallels between the two that make Gertrud a surprisingly clever and well designed first enemy. (But perhaps I'm stuck in Mami fan mode, and just see Mami in everything)

#mami tomoe #madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica #mahou shoujo madoka magica #I could go on a deranged rant about every possible parallel between Mami and Gertrud but I should not #like how Mami killing Gertrud could symbolise her overcoming her loneliness now that she has Madoka and Sayaka #I swear I'm gonna post about other fandoms or other Madoka Magica girls at least but the Mami Tomoe hyperfixation is real #why does Gertrud get brought up so much on this blog? I don't even like her that much and yet I've posted so much about her #wyfy's meltdowns

[triaelf9]

ugh I reallllyyyyy didn’t want to get in on this but like

The assumption that all atheists are people who’ve “never touched a religious text in their life” basically says to me you have a specific view of atheists and have probably not known many.

Most of them grew up IN the system and DO know the text and THAT’S why they walk away. 

If you’re gonna make a whole post on ppl not using nuance with CR stuff right now the least you can do is use nuance yourself and not paint an entire group of people with a brush that TV taught you, or a bunch of white men into power *cough* Dawkins *cough* coopted a movement in a society where to not believe in god is synonymous with being immoral.

So just keep in mind, the representation of people without faith that you see on TV or twitter isn’t the majority and 9 times out of 10 isn’t correct at all.

thanks ^_^

#I learned a new word the other day #apatheism or something #b/c there isn't a word for what I am #but like I know that people who don't know what I am will paint me with the nuance-less brush of #oh you're atheist or whatever #but yeah #maybe also pick up on the nuance that Matt's putting down #that not all the Prime deities are the saammmme #can't paint them all with a brush too #just funny that so many people saying I want to be free to not worship anything rn brings so much ridicule #I'm sad ppl are taking a really fascinating complicated take on gods and such is being turned into this stupid fight #just BREATHE please #yes I'm sub-blogging a little b/c I don't want to get into it #I just want ppl to keep in mind that some people out there are ppl too #sorry I don't mean to go off but it's a sensitive point for me #something I never talk about b/c of opinions like that out there #can't wait to see my follower count drop b/c this sorta thing always does T_T #I just wanna be me and make the world a better place isn't that enough #Tria rants

[anghraine]

The English class I teach just finished a unit on literary criticism, and one of the things we talked about was the distinction between criticism in the sense of literary criticism/critical thinking and criticism in the more common sense of criticizing things.

I think the distinction is important, and it's important to take the next step, too. Nobody is obliged to like anything or not to recognize its flaws. But pointing out flaws is often the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to engaging with a text—the quickest, easiest approach to take.

For many, it's quite easy to default to kneejerk critical reactions (in the common sense) without thinking them through or seeing any need to do so. That isn't just different from critical thinking; it's the opposite of it and actively impedes it.

I've often seen this in creative writing workshops. People typically are much readier to point out real or imagined flaws than to think through what the text is aiming for and how the author's choices aid or inhibit it. When workshop students encounter a very good piece, they often don't know how to respond and will resort to comfortable nitpicking or simply "I don't see anything wrong with this," as if finding wrong things is the sole purpose of a workshop.

But the idea that thinking critically about things = criticizing or condemning them seems to loom even larger over literary criticism and reviews and fandom meta and all sorts of things. Identifying and analyzing flaws can be part of critical responses (in the lit-crit sense) and often are. I am personally not at all hesitant about pointing out flaws when I see them or connecting them to more general interpretations. But critical thinking does not begin or end with pointing out flaws and it's entirely possible for critical thinking about a piece to result in an even greater conviction that it's wildly successful in its aims and as a piece of art.

I was partly thinking about this because of the common insistence that it's okay for people to like things (thank you, kindly overlord!) as long as they also think critically about them. But "think critically" here almost always seems to mean "as long as you point out its flaws every time you mention it and your actual overall opinion about it is ambivalent at best." The goal doesn't seem to be for others to ever have a reaction like, "I stopped and thought deeply about how it's crafted and what it's doing, and thanks! Now I have a fuller understanding of how spectacularly well it accomplishes its artistry."

It's fine to be ambivalent about things and point out flaws, as I said before, but a) it doesn't take critical thinking to do that alone, and b) it's not required for someone to feel and do that to be thinking critically about something.

#you need to think critically!!! should not = you need to agree with me without thinking about it #also people don't need to think critically about everything all the time anyway #some things you should always be thinking critically about (generally in line with how important the thing is - like news reports) #but sometimes we've got to turn our brains off so we don't burn out and that is okay actually. #'hdu criticize the thing i turn my brain off with' is inappropriate but so is 'hdu enjoy a thing without analyzing its flaws' #anghraine babbles #anghraine rants #general fanwank #ivory tower blogging #long post

[fuckyeah-bears]

you know 99% of the time i get nice, totally reasonable, polite, and frequently kind asks on bearotonin. but every now and then i get some asks that just make me wanna reply snarkily so badly lmao

#the weird shit people send me #like unsolicited 'helpful suggestions' about how to run my blog better #or 'concerns' about the way i run it or some of the photos i post #and it takes a significant amount of self control not to be snarky #because i am not allowed to break brand continuity #but like #people really gotta learn that it's not cute or helpful to come into a stranger's inbox and critique/suggest they run their blog differentl #and i get that most of these (admittedly not that many but still frequent enough) asks are probably not meant to be obnoxious #like i'm sure the person who sent them doesn't have bad intentions #and probably just doesn't realize what they're doing is irritating and a basic etiquette no no #but it's still annoying #sometimes people just gotta learn to keep their opinions to themselves #not every opinion should be shared #just being clear 99.9% of the many asks i get are totally fine and nice #but because i get a fuckload of asks the 0.1% of annoying asks i get is substantial enough to get annoying and tiresome #don't mind me im just vague post venting here as a stress relief so i don't reply snarkily on bearotonin #okay im done ranting now #please ignore me lmao #Posts about bearotonin

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

I feel tumblr deleting their profile pictures for anyone but the OP and for a reblogger who actually adds text...

Taps into something in my brain psycologically.

Like...

Tumblr legit said

"Remember: You have abandonment issues, people leaving you and the fear of being forgotten."

And I'm like.

Yeah. Wow. Thanks Tumblr.

Put that on blast by deleting Profile Pictures and see how well I cope.

: D

#personal #LIKE REALLY... #I feel I'm making a mild fool of myself by a basic change #mainly cus my blog is a fun place where I reblog stuff and chat and write overly long detailed rants about fictional characters #It's the place where I play and my followers play with me #Tumblr put a bag over my head #and now im worried people forget me #or notice: oh hey i don't like that fandom i guess i'll leave i guess #i reblog so much random shit that I just love myself #so i hope you guys stay

[dol--blathanna]

I try not to post too much TWN negativity on this blog, because I know plenty of people enjoy the show just fine, and I hate being an asshole and raining on other people’s parades. But, god, the way that the show treats Yennefer - or rather, mistreats her - just upsets me and pisses me off so much. 

The book already puts her through the wringer - too much at times, honestly - but the show just takes it to a whole new level. The amount of suffering they put her through that wasn’t present in the books is so frustrating to me. Like adding in random torture scenes that weren’t present (the hysterectomy scene, being tortured by Stregebor), losing her magic powers, constantly being captured in S2, not even having a particularly good court standing - like in S1 when Fringilla mocks her for not helping advance Aedirn at all, and Yennefer doesn’t even have a good comeback to that. It’s as if the show is just obsessed with giving her constant Ls and never really letting her come out on top. Sidenote: I am fine with angst, in fact I enjoy it, and I am fine with a character going through hardships and suffering. You can do a lot of great character, story and theme exploration with angst, and sometimes it’s necessary for a character to suffer to develop that. If I wasn’t fine with angst, I wouldn’t be a fan of the witcher lmao. But when I see a character who already goes through a shit ton of misery in the books get forced into even more suffering in the show that never happened....I start to have a problem.

And then, of course, S2 committed the cardinal sin with that stupid ass Voleth Meir plotline. As if torturing her, having her be captured, making her lose her powers, wasn’t bad enough - they completely character assassinate her by making her almost sacrifice Ciri to a fucking demon. Something that is so bewilderingly OOC for Yennefer, something that never EVER happened in the books. When the show got bored with creating narrative suffering for her, they decided to take it to a meta level by character assassinating her in a really bizarre, stupid way. Because, why was this necessary? I know that they were concerned about the fact Yennefer doesn’t really show up much in Blood of Elves, I understand they wanted to create a plot line for her that got her more involved in the main plot. But - why this???!!! There were 101 different plot lines they could have given her that didn’t involve her trying to sacrifice Ciri to a fucking demon, in the process completely messing up her relationship with Geralt and Ciri!!

And this is the main reason I’m making this post - her relationship with Geralt and Ciri being messed up. I’ve seen a lot of articles recently about S3, all stating that Yennefer essentially has to grovel to Geralt, that he ignores her for potentially a full year, that at the beginning he doesn’t even let her enter the same abode as them - what the fuck!!! It upsets me so much. Because this was the biggest problem with the VM plotline - it completely upends Geralt and Yennefer’s dynamic. In the books, their relationship is way more equal - in fact, it honestly would be accurate to say that Yennefer is the more dominant one in the relationship, not Geralt. The show is now completely turning that on its head, and making Geralt the dominant one - but not personality wise, more in a moral highground type way. Because now, whatever stupid shit Geralt does, or has done in the past - e.g. tell Yennefer she’d be a terrible mother, which he never apologises for - none of that matters!! Because it will never be as bad as Yennefer trying to kill Ciri. Instead of a relationship where they both fuck up and both make mistakes, like in the books, in the show the emphasis will all be on Yennefer. Yennefer is the one fucking up, Yennefer is the one making absurdly stupid mistakes, Yennefer is the one who needs to apologise and grovel and beg for forgiveness. 

And this is what I mean by, the show is obsessed with giving her Ls. Not only do they make her suffer, they character assassinate her by forcing her character to do this cartoonishly evil thing, and then punish her for it!! They don’t just take away her powers, her court standing, they even strip her of her own relationships!!! And I ask again - why is this necessary?? Who decided that punishing her like this would be an extremely important plot line, an improvement, over the original source material? Like back when the show was first announced, I sure as shit wasn’t thinking “oh wow a netflix witcher show - I sure do hope they have a plot thread where Geralt refuses to talk to Yennefer, and doesn’t even let her into the same fucking house as him, because she tried to kill Ciri!!” who wanted this??? Who thought this was a good idea??? Honestly, it makes me feel as if someone on the writing team hates Yennefer and wants her to suffer, both in a narrative and meta level. And no, I’m not talking about that infamous Beau deMayo interview - something that caused a huge amount of online drama and should be taken with a big old pinch of salt, especially since the writer who made this claim was responsible for some pretty questionable decisions, namely the whole Treeskel thing. I’m not making a direct accusation here - it’s more a feeling. When I look at TWN, I cannot help but sense a level of contempt and spite towards the character of Yennefer. That doesn’t necessarily mean someone in the writing team genuinely has it out for her, but if that’s the impression that I get from the way they treat her in the show, then something has gone very wrong with the narrative decisions they made for her.

And this is why, not only can I not let myself be excited for S3, it’s why I’m genuinely feeling dread about it. Every time I read interviews about how Geralt and Yennefer have this really rocky start and he’s ignoring her or whatever, my stomach just sinks. And again - why was this decision made? Who thought this was a good idea? And yeah, the TWN team have already said they’re trying to fix the problem with their relationship caused in S2, but a) the way they are going about fixing it only serves to punish Yennefer’s character more and b) it should not have been something to fix in the first place. It’s also why I can’t bring myself to believe that S3 will suddenly be more faithful and better than S2, esp in regards to Yennefer (aside from the fact they’ve made this promise before and failed to deliver). Because the early plot points of a story are extremely important in setting the foundation of your later plot, especially in a series like the witcher. If your foundation is inherently flawed, it doesn’t matter how good your later seasons are; they are built on a faulty base, and will therefore lack a good structure. Case in point with Yennefer. Without going too much into book spoilers, let’s just say she has a really rough time of it post-Time of Contempt in the books. So in the show, either a) they will just put her through even more suffering and leave you thinking “wow did this entire show exist just to punish Yennefer?” or b) they will have to deviate away from the books. Neither of these options are particularly good. (this also is one of my problems with S2 as a whole - they were so desperate to put in all this insane blockbuster action and dramatic plot points, but sometimes in stories you need moments of calm to make later dramatic plot points more hard hitting. In the books, Blood of Elves was the moment of calm before Time of Contempt’s batshit, action packed drama. In the show, you never get that moment of calm. Why should I care about whatever happens in Thanedd if S2 had Ciri get possessed by a fucking demon and go on a killing spree? But anyway.)

And I think the reason why I’m particularly disappointed with the way that the show has treated Yennefer’s character so badly (aside from the numerous promises of “we’re a faithful book adaptation” being complete lies) is that Yennefer is a character who already receives a lot of unfair hate. Obviously there’s the annoying “Team Yen vs Team Triss” thing from the games, but even within the show there were a certain type of fans of a certain ship who hated a lot on Yennefer for daring to get in the way of their ship. Like, I’m so sick of seeing Yennefer getting hate for stupid, unfair reasons - and now even the show is treating her like shit??? Like, give me a break!! 

I’m just tired of it. And obviously, if you like TWN and you’re excited for S3, that’s fine. In fact, I’m honestly jealous, I wish I could feel the same. And who knows, maybe the show will improve its treatment of Yennefer, maybe they’ll finally give her some Ws. But that’s what I thought about S2, and was proven VERY wrong. Any confidence, trust or optimism I had left for the show was completely destroyed by the Voleth Meir plotline in S2, and the show will have to work very hard to rebuild that trust for me. And unfortunately, everything I’ve heard about S3 so far is only confirming that they’ll continue to treat her poorly.

#sorry I just had to rant about my feelings after seeing all the interviews about S3 recently #it's just so disappointing #and I don't like being negative about TWN on this blog too much bc I don't like pissing on other people's enjoyment of things #but man. i'm just so sick of how this show treats Yennefer in such a weirdly mean-spirited way #anti twn #anti witcher netflix #twn critique #twn critical #twn negativity #long post #text

[crabussy]

I think I'm going to ask the others to remove the part of their bios that says they're an alter in a system to avoid this kind of thing from happening again because people aren't able to treat us like human beings

#just. people are so unkind and so cruel towards system members I don't understand it #some people assume systems are faking if they show even the slightest hint of enjoying their lives #maybe if this is how I exist I should be able to enjoy it? the others should be able to enjoy themselves?? #we shouldn't be forced to act miserably in order to be treated like people #I'm horrified that sunny was dehumanised and mocked like that and I won't let it happen again. anons are off on everyones blogs now too #rant #ableism #I'm exhausted I just want to rest and have enough energy to be kind again

[mermaidsirennikita]

always a disappointment when you're reading a romance novel and they're getting down to it and the heroine is all "oh wait I'm sorry I'm on my period" and the hero's like "oh it's okay let's cuddle :)" instead of doing this

#romance novel blogging #not very fond of ali wong these days but this moment. #this moment lives in my brain #i think i've read... 3 books? that i can remember? where a period isn't an issue #and it's not that the other ones are gross about it but it's like #a disproportionate amount of heroines who don't want period sex #and a disproportionate amount of heroes who don't even offer like 'oh i am DOWN if you're down' #like i've read hundreds (if not thousands by now) of romance novels #and 3...? come on now #now to be fair out of those hundreds a relatively small portion reference periods #unless it's to be like 'SHE'S NOT PREGNANT YAY!!!' (or 'she not pregnant boooo') #but still #idk represent real life a little people are and have always fucked on their periods #not everyone by any means and it's totally okay for those who won't #but. like. #you're telling me ROMANCE LEADS are skipping a week out of every month? #when nORMAL PEOPLE don't? #plssss #[and thus ends caroline's quarterly rant about a lack of period sex in romance novels]