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blossom-hwa · 1 year

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a detailed analysis of rizz levels across pretty much every group I stan

chip ( @wingkkun ) and I had a very interesting conversation about this a couple months ago. here are the results, complete with direct citations and paraphrasing from our instagram dms. I do not take constructive criticism but I will entertain debates in my inbox. think of it as a scientific peer review

(disclaimer: all of this is meant in good fun and is not meant to be rude or harmful to any member I talk about. I love every one of them and in the end this is all just a joke!)

TXT.

soobin: below the charts. this man has negative infinity rizz. less rizz than me and that’s saying something bc I only ever flirt on accident if I tried to do it on purpose the world would explode. the limit of his rizz as you approach any point is negative infinity and I do not feel sorry for saying this. in the wise words of chip, “we like you bc ur ultimate cringefail (affectionate)”

taehyun: net positive rizz. I'm definitely biased but also do not argue with me I will bite your face off. the amount of rizz he has is a true problem and I am not immune to it (neither are you). he’s so cute and he’s also so hot and smart and I'm never going to shut up if I keep going so I'll stop. positive rizz. off the charts. do not @ me.

beomgyu: please refer to hoshi’s bit below. they are one and the same. beomgyu had too much rizz it was eating him alive so his body compressed and converted it (lossless compression) to another form and now he’s a chaos monster who screams for a living and oozes what remains of his original rizz onstage. we love him for it

hyuka: +10 rizz because he’s cute. no more than that because he’s an overgrown baby (affectionate). he gives me a lot of brain damage but it’s just because of his plushies and his little brother energy so I feel like he could manipulate me with his rizz but it would only go so far before I either pat his head bc he’s so cute or I punch him in the face bc of the annoying sibling energy therefore he only gets ten points

yeonjun: after going through the entirety of our conversation I realize now that chip and I forgot to diagnose the rizz levels of the fourth gen it boy so now I'm pulling some shit out of my ass. net positive but low magnitude. I give him +3. mostly because he’s got insane stage presence and has the ability to kick beomgyu in the face but he’s soooooo pathetic. possibly reading skye’s ( @warmau ) thoughts about him have influenced me but he’s pathetic hence the very very low magnitude of rizz. I am not sorry

SEVENTEEN.

mingyu: rizzless. I direct you to this post I made because it’s factual and explains his horrifically low levels of rizz. do not be fooled by this man’s muscles he’s constantly screaming crying throwing up to be told he’s sexy but the second someone does tell him that he’s a blushing anime girl (affectionate) and we love him for it but he’s rizzless. negative off the charts

jun: rizzless but not in the same manner as mingyu he just does not know what rizz is. very similar to juyeon in this manner. the8 or dino have definitely tried to explain rizz to him before but he simply does not understand and does not care to. even if he did understand it I'm still not certain he’d care which gives him a lower magnitude rizz than mingyu which is better even if it’s still negative

the8: positive rizz with quite a high magnitude. I can’t quantify it but it doesn’t even matter because even though he has rizz he doesn’t use it. he’d rather tell us to stop having a parasocial relationship with people behind our little computer screens and ooze rizz via charisma on stage instead and I can respect that.

seungkwan: so much rizz. so much fucking rizz have you ever seen this man complimenting female idols on shows. have you ever seen this man tell idols they’re pretty and wonderful and beautiful in every which way without batting a damn eye and with so much earnestness I blush. cannot believe chip ever thought this man as on the same level of rizzlessness as soob smh

vernon: 0 rizz, but this does not mean he is rizzless. rizz is a spectrum and having 0 levels of it just means you are rizz neutral. purely neutral. no one has purely neutral rizz the way vernon does he’s simply so special. that one gose episode where he showed up in that rainbow hoodie with red glasses? that’s the epitome of rizz neutrality

s.coups: refer to daeyeol’s bit below. handsome. reliable. have you seen him with kkuma. I melt every time. unfortunately he is still horrifically pathetic and though we adore him for it this does unfortunately decrease his rizz levels drastically. without it he’d probably be somewhere at positive infinity but now he’s at like +8. the world knew that if coups wasn’t pathetic enough he’d be too powerful so they had to humble him.

hoshi: he doesn’t have rizz but it’s not like the nerds where their rizz levels are just buried in the negatives it’s more like the magnitude of his rizz was so high that it has since been compressed and turned into something else. so he has no rizz but it’s not because he was born pathetic, it’s because it was converted due to the law of conservation of rizz (real)

wonwoo: similar to taehyun in that they’re both very positive but slightly different. yes they are both gym rats yes they are both token introverts (sort of) but wonwoo is a gamer. their rizz is fundamentally different but they’ve evolved to be similar due to their personalities kinda like wings on bats and birds. as you can tell it’s been a while since I took biology

jeonghan: similar to lino in that he has rizz but he stole it. the difference between them is that lino has some natural organic rizz while jeonghan was born with none and stole all that he owns now. without this stolen rizz he would be a limp noodle dragging himself across the earth but now he’s a fairy. life isn’t fair

dino: negative but low magnitude. the first number I gave him was -14 I don’t really know why it was -14 specifically but the point is it’s supposed to be low magnitude. recently he began climbing my bias list and chip yesterday convinced me to change his magnitude to to something lower so I now give him -4. I am easily swayed

joshua: positive rizz in the same manner as jangjun et al. the man is fucking insane. insane charisma but also just plain insane. I'm not entirely convinced he didn’t steal some of it but while jeonghan freely admits that he stole it joshua keeps evading the question. there is a venn diagram of jangjun et al and lino et al and joshua is in the intersection

woozi: I considered an intersection between chanhee and the8 and I think woozi falls into it. perhaps I've just been gaslit into thinking he has positive rizz but let’s just roll with the thought. has some rizz like the8 (less than the8 though) but does not care to use it (like chanhee) and also doesn’t really care that it’s there. he just kinda lets it be

dk: net negative but low magnitude. I originally gave him -13 to bc I thought he was a step above dino but not by much. I still kind of think this way so I'm elevating him to -3 since dino got elevated to -4. sorry dino I think you’ll always be one step behind no matter how big of a crush I have on you

STRAY KIDS.

lino: has rizz but in the wrong way. the man touches butts for a living AND he has cats he’s got to have some rizz hence the net positive but he also definitely stole some. please refer to my comments on this post for details he definitely does not organically have all this rizz but he’s stolen it and now it’s his you can’t ask for it back

chan: also has rizz but in the wrong way but also differently from lino. chan should not have as much rizz as he does but he’s got that “libra sun scorpio venus rizz” (chip) which makes him extremely dangerous. he’s a loser and for that I'd give him negative rizz but unfortunately he has an aura that separates him from the likes of mingyu (it’s the dilf dad energy) so he has net positive rizz of a dangerous magnitude.

jisung: we welcome another member to the ranks of the negative infinity rizz. do I even need to explain. does the anime girl babygirl pathetic cute energy not already do enough explanation for you. I should not have to spell out the fact that this man is rizzless at every point on the mathematic plane. I love him to death but that will not save him from the rizzless fate

seungmin: please refer to jangjun in the honorary mentions below. his rizz applies here. positive rizz. high magnitude. ridiculous for a man of his caliber but here we are. he’s got some weird mutant rizz and that’s all I can really say like.....what do you become when you have rizz levels +69,420. what do you fucking do.

changbin: fluctuates between +10 and -10 like a sine curve (please refer to mingi’s bit for more information). his positive rizz is similar energy to yunho but louder and his negative rizz is just pathetic baby boy-ness. I adore him. big muscle men who are soft. I don’t have a section for wonho but if I did they’d be of very similar types.

hyunjin: negative rizz. he’s an only child what else do I need to say. ferret energy. flails around. long limbs that he doesn’t know what to do with. so much baby girl energy I always want to laugh at him (affectionate). lovely boy so very lovely with such fucking negative rizz

felix: like jangjun and co his rizz got converted but unlike jangjun and co it was not converted to insanity. it was converted to something...... alien. idk how to explain it. asymptotic rizz, according to chip. weird behavior as x approaches infinity. I agree with this assessment. nothing earthly explains how this man is so ethereal so I have concluded that alien magic converted his rizz to ethereality

jeongin: ok so I did say vernon is the only one who’s truly reached rizz neutral but jeongin is pretty close. similar vibes. they’re both slightly insane of course but they are also more than likely to just stand there and vibe. this gives off rizz neutrality. jeongin is less neutral (probably tipped in the negative direction) but he’s getting there.

ATEEZ.

seonghwa: rizzless this man is the nerdiest nerd ever he is RIZZLESS. magnitude infinity in the negative region of the graph. he and soobin are two sides of the same coin the latter is a lanky little gamer dude and the former is a Star Wars nerd with a display case for his figurines. the absolute most negative rizz ever (affectionate)

yunho: oooooooo my god. positive rizz if I've ever seen one. so much rizz. so much fucking rizz. the magnitude of his rizz is off the charts and unlike the other insane ones his rizz didn’t get converted so he is DANGEROUS. if you ever meet this man in the wild run in the other direction you will not survive his pull. in the wise words of chip “yunho has |rizz| (absolute positive rizz)”

mingi: his rizz...fluctuates. like a sine curve idk. he alternates between having so much rizz it hurts and so little rizz it’s laughable. yes I have definitely been influenced by having seen him in concert twice (do NOT bring up the fact that he became a wrecker after the second). he knows he’s hot and will use that to the best of his ability but he’s also kind of pathetic and for some reason it doesn’t balance out so he fluctuates

jongho: has rizz. does not care to use it. falls in the same camp of the the8-ers (refer to the seventeen section) in which he prefers to simply ooze rizz onstage and kill everyone’s heart there instead of flirting with fans. respectable. also incredibly dangerous. everyone wants to hug him but if you try to his rizz will snap you in half but if not huggable then why hug shape?

hongjoong: net positive rizz but he’s convinced he has more than he does so I dock several points due to excessive confidence. panics too much when wooyoung tries to kiss him for me to restore them. if he gay panicked a little less then I might consider him having as much rizz as he says he does but alas he does not and so I will not.

san: -10 rizz. negative but not too negative. he’s really cute and really hot but also really pathetic and I say this with the greatest fondness imaginable. remember that one poll where tiny voted him as the person they’d least like to vacation w bc he’d stay inside (don’t worry me too san)? same vibes. his patheticness outweighs his hotness and while they’re close, ultimately patheticness wins out. sorry not sorry

yeosang: net positive rizz but he does not use it. this is not by choice. he just doesn’t know how to. in fact I'm not fully convinced he knows what rizz is. in this manner he is somewhat similar to juyeon (refer to the boyz section below) except where juyeon’s rizz is negative infinity yeosang has some positive levels. in chip’s words get well soon yeo

wooyoung: falls in the same camp as hyunjae in that he has fully negative rizz and embraces this fact to use it as a weapon. dangerous man. fully insane. if his rizz was positive he’d be the same as jangjun and co but unfortunately he’s pathetic for hongjoong so his rizz is negative and is not handled the same way.

THE BOYZ.

hyunjae: all of Bermuda line is rizzless to the max but in different ways. in hyunjae’s case he knows he is rizzless and fully accepts and utilizes this to his benefit. you’re telling me this man doesn’t know how pathetic (fond) he is? he’s self aware and will absolutely use this against you. as dangerous as those with high positive levels of rizz. watch the fuck out

younghoon: fully rizzless bc he’s in Bermuda line but is not self aware. in fact he protests that he does have positive rizz but look at this man. he has the energy of a dying victorian child trying to make it past this cold, cold winter. all you want to do is pat his head and coo at him to make him feel better he has no rizz. absolute negatives.

juyeon: again, completely and negatively rizzless since he’s in Bermuda line but like younghoon he is fully unaware. in a different way though. why you ask? because this man definitely has no idea what rizz is. look at his sweet little eyes and tell me he knows. that’s right. you can’t.

q: negative rizz. not as low as Bermuda line/seonghwa/soobin/etc. but still quite negative. the thing is no one ever tells him this or brings it up to his face because he’s dangerous. he may not know what rizz is but he does know what an insult is and if you say a word about his purported negative rizz levels you will not be heard from again. this is a warning.

sangyeon: has net positive rizz. it isn’t super high but given the fact that I've just said four of his members have some of the lowest rizz levels imaginable it’s relatively high in the realm of tbz. can’t really explain it but he gets this rizz from his hot tired uncle energy that no one is immune to. have you seen him with his nephews? don’t argue with me.

(at this point chip told me to stop making rizz comments bc their stomach hurt. I did not stop)

kevin: rizz levels -1. not quite negative infinity. in fact pretty far from it. still negative though and he’ll never recover from that. I'd say that I'm sorry but I'm really not no matter how much this man works out I will never be able to stop laughing at him to his face (in best friend fashion). love you kev

new: negative. not horrifically so like Bermuda line but still more negative than kev. you may be thinking what the fuck lina new has so much rizz wdym? you’re wrong. he doesn’t have rizz and he doesn’t care. his lack of care gives the illusion that he actually has positive rizz but he does not. do not be fooled

haknyeon: POSITIVE RIZZ. do not question the positive rizz of tangerine boy ju haknyeon. it may not be positive infinity but I do say he’s around +50ish and given the patheticness that surrounds him that’s pretty fucking good I’d say. so much rizz. so much true rizz. I love him

sunwoo: the most negative fucking rizz ever except he’s convinced it’s positive. see without this unfounded conviction his rizz would just be somewhere around -50 and he’d be fine because Bermuda line exists but nooooo he decided to ruin it by being overly confident in his rizz powers so now he’s at negative infinity and one. sucks to suck.

jacob: (chip came up with this one) he has beomgyu and jangjun levels of rizz so like rizz off the charts but while a lot of it was converted into weirdness some of it stayed rizz so. hm. a tamer version of jangjun if you will. however beware because his rizz is once again increasing since he stopped playing league. watch out.

eric: negative rizz. same boat as sunwoo. their rizz magnitudes are the exact same and in the same direction (negative obviously) but it’s in a slightly different manner. both have unfounded confidence in their imaginary positive rizz levels but eric’s is in the manner of a teacher’s pet who thinks they’re popular while sunwoo is just plain mad

HONORARY MENTIONS.

jangjun (golden child): positive rizz and it’s terrible. I can’t tell you what the number is (it’s +69,420) but it’s really fucking high and I hate it. most of his rizz has been compressed and converted like hoshi’s to something resembling insanity but unlike hoshi there is a dangerous amount left. beware this man

daeyeol (golden child): +5 rizz. he’s handsome and reliable and if we got married I would be able to trust him to get things done. similar to sangyeon in that he’s got hot tired uncle energy but he’s also pathetic so he only gets five rizz points

mark (nct): negative rizz if I've ever seen one, but missing the negative infinity rizz by one point. I just need him differentiated from soobin and jisung and the other pathetic ones. mark is pathetic but I give him one point out of pity

beomhan (??): I don’t know anything about this guy except that he can’t cook and has high cholesterol problems from eating too many eggs but he’s in the same group as jangjun and co

keeho (p1h): I also don’t know anything about this guy except what chip has told me but I think he’s similar to chanhee and chip thinks he’s on sunwoo’s level. do with this information what you will

236 notes · View notes

doyou000me · 3 months

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Part II: Historical Context and Hyung's Background

So… this is not what I was going to write for Part II. I was going to write about shame and the way we perceive/react to how society sees us. I was going to loop it back to Part I; “An excess of self-awareness was a disease in itself.” I was going to compare how the narrator, his mother and his boyfriend are all affected by it in similar and/or different ways.

And then I got to thinking about the boyfriend, mainly referred to as Hyung.

About two thirds into part II, we get Hyung's backstory and, without spoiling anything, it’s basically a chunk where the narrator name-drops a bunch of movements and incidents that are part of recent history in Korea. Most of it meant next to nothing to me, and I felt like I was missing out on a whole lot of context. So I did some preliminary google searching, realised I needed more historical context, and went to the library to borrow a book on Korean history. Then I started making a timeline. Then I went online and started googling specific movements and incidents. Then I got a headache.

[This is long, so I’m putting the rest of it under the cut. Also, this is about Hyung's backstory so, you know, spoilers about that.]

The chunk of a paragraph that started all this is this one:

“He had been part of the leftover student activist generation of the mid-nineties and after graduation had dipped his toes in the labor movement. The Misun-Hyosun incident demonstrations had also been during his time, as well as protests against the abolishment of the National Security Act and the anti-Chosun Daily movement…”

Student Activism in the mid nineties

Labour Movement

Misun-Hyosun Incident

The National Security Act

Anti-Chosun Daily Movement

That’s 5 historical events, all named in one paragraph without further explanation - likely because a Korean reader is expected to know what this all means. I am not a Korean reader and I have no idea what most of it means. It’s a lot. When I started reading about it, I realised it’s even more. As is often the case with history, a whole lot of things are connected, and many of these things connect all the way back to the Japanese occupation.

There are academic papers written on these things. There are books. I am a pyjama-clad person curled up on my couch with a book and an internet connection. Of course I decided to attempt to summarise and explain it all. What could possibly go wrong?

Disclaimer time: I am not a historian or, in any way, an expert on the subject. I’ve spent about a day and a half on this, and it’s not nearly enough. Also, I am paraphrasing to the extreme to make sure I don’t end up writing half a book. I hope it’ll serve as context for anyone reading part II who feels as context-less as I did, but if you actually want to know about any of these topics, I’d recommend doing some reading of your own. I’ll leave references at the bottom.

Also: content warning. This is really dark and really heavy history. Be warned, and take care of yourselves. Now:

Some massively paraphrased Korean history

Japanese Protectorate and Occupation (1907-1945)

Starting out as a protectorate treaty to challenge China’s power on the Korean peninsula and give Japan access to Korean ports, Japan took control of Korea in 1910. What followed was 35 years of repression and Koreans living under systemic racism as second class citizens in their own country. This included institutionalised erasure of the Korean identity. 85% of the Korean population lost their Korean names and were forced to take Japanese names. Many never learnt to write in Korean, only Japanese. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were killed for protesting against the occupation. All higher positions within the country were given to the Japanese, and the Korean workers were paid half of what Japanese workers got. Towards the end (1931-1945) when Japan went to war with China and needed resources, 3,5 million Koreans were displaced, both within Korea and abroad to Japan and China. Many were forced into slave labour in mines where unsafe working conditions and 17-hour work days killed many. Women, many just teenagers, were made “comfort women” and forced into filthy, violent brothels to serve the Japanese soldiers.

Then WWII ended. Japan surrendered to the allied forces in 1945, packed up and left Korea. Korea was suddenly free.

Just as suddenly, there was no government and no regime. There was no leadership, and not just on the government level. Industries ground to a halt. Production stood still. Displaced Koreans moved back, leading to sudden overpopulation of urban areas. Nationwide unemployment was at 50% and criminal activity, homelessness and alcoholism rose.

American Occupation (1945-1949)

The US stepped in. Due to global tensions after WWII, they did not want Korea to fall into the wrong hands, and made a deal with the Soviet Union: they split Korea in two along the 38th parallel, and the US would get the south part while the Soviet would get the north part. The plan was for Korea to eventually regain independence. The split along the 38th parallel was not grounded in any social or geographical conditions. Farmland and manufacturing in the south was divided from fertiliser production, natural resources and energy production in the north. Families living on different sides of the border were divided.

The American leadership that was put in place had next to no time to prepare, barely any prior knowledge of the Korean history, culture or people and very limited interest in learning. The US leader, General Hodge, had little political or administrative experience, and initially tried to cooperate with the Japanese to help with the occupation (this, as you can imagine, did not go over well). Labour demonstrations born from the terrible conditions Korean workers had lived with were brutally repressed and seen as pro-communist. Racism led to the assumptions that the Koreans were incapable of organising and governing themselves. The National Security Law was established in 1948 with the purpose of arresting North Korean sympathisers and infiltrators.

In 1949, the US withdrew from South Korea, and South Korea was declared the independent nation of the Republic of Korea. The Soviet Union (officially) withdrew from the North - while also helping North Korea, along with China, to build up their military. In June, 1950, the North Korean army marched over the border on the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea.

The Korean War (1950-1953)

On one level, the Korean war was about North Korea invading and trying to take over South Korea, turning all of the Korean peninsula into one Korea. On another, global level, it was a cold war power play between the US and the Soviet Union with South Korea, the US and the UN on one side and North Korea, the Soviet Union and China on the other. Both sides tried to take all of the Korean peninsula. Both sides failed. After three years of war, where foreign soldiers fought in a foreign land and Koreans fought Koreans, nothing was gained. In 1953, the border on the 38th parallel was reestablished. The entirety of the Korean peninsula had been bombarded and razed to the ground. Everything needed to be rebuilt. North and South Korea were among the poorest countries in the world and millions were still separated from their families by the border.

34 000 American soldiers were killed. 140 000 South Korean soldiers were killed. More than 640 000 North Korean soldiers were killed. Over one million Chinese soldiers were killed. Some 3 million Korean civilians were killed. And nothing was gained.

South Korea Under Military Dictatorship (1953-1960, 1961-1987)

So, with hunger, spreading disease and homelessness, with cities in ruin, orphaned children on the streets and widows left to fend for themselves in a country where women were not seen as independent citizens at the time, President Rhee and the Liberal Party won the elections in May 1954, making Rhee the first Korean president. They worked to turn the economy around through the use of five year plans as well as grants and loans from the US and secured national safety with an agreement with the US to place troops in Korea indefinitely - troops that are still present today.

They also turned the democracy into a dictatorship when Rhee risked being voted out of office. Elections were rigged and political opponents silenced. The National Security Law (according to which anti-state groups and those who disturb the national order can be imprisoned) was used to silence and root out opponents. Student protests were regularly held against the violations on democracy and corruption in the Rhee administration. After Rhee’s fourth presidential reelection in 1960, the opposing party rejected the results and student-led protests erupted in Masan, quickly spreading to the rest of the country. This became the April 19 Revolution, which led to Rhee going into exile.

An election was held and a new president was chosen.

The next year, in 1961, General Park led a military coup and took power, claiming that South Korea - amidst strikes, protests and student and left-wing groups discussing immediate reunification with North Korea - was not yet ready for democracy. They focused on economic growth, successfully turning South Korea’s economy around and, on the way, making the chaebol into some of the wealthy conglomerates we know from kdramas. They also focused on improving the relationship with Japan, leading to major protests.

They also cracked down on all opposition. Less than a month after the coup, the KCIA was established - for decades, the KCIA investigated, arrested, tortured and assassinated South Koreans who were accused of being North Korean sympathisers, suspected of supporting communism or seen as a threat to the regime. Gradually, the dictatorship became more and more repressive, with crackdowns on freedom of speech, increased power for the KCIA and martial law being imposed. Student activist protested, demanding a return to democracy, and workers protested with them, demanding better wages and working conditions.

In 1979, Park was assassinated.

General Chun took over, appointing himself director of the KCIA and continuing the military dictatorship, but by this point the people had had enough. Starting with university students in Gwangju, thousands of people in the city gathered to demand a return to democracy. The protest lasted from May 18 to May 27 of 1980, and became known as the Gwangju Uprising. It ended in violence, when the Chun regime isolated the city and went in with tanks and paratroopers. 150 were killed, over 4 000 wounded, thousands arrested - both protesters and citizens simply living their lives in the city. After that the relationship between the regime and the people was strained, to say the least, and anti-American sentiment sky-rocketed as people associated the US forces with the violent crackdown in Gwangju.

It was during this time that “Hyung” was born, in 1979, because yes, this post is still about LitBC Part II, and this all started because I wanted to understand his background better. Hyung lived his first years under a military dictatorship, where the people were under constant threat from the KCIA, student activist groups continuously struggled to regain democracy and anti-American sentiment was on the rise.

In 1987, as the next presidential election approached and with the Gwangju Uprising still fresh in memory, people doubled down on their protests. Led by students and workers, the June Democratic Struggle broke out on June 10 with people demonstrating across the country. It lasted until June 29 - in success, as the new president pledged that South Korea would have free, direct presidential elections. Democracy, for the first time in about 20 years.

Many changes were still needed in the country, but now the population could take to the streets and protest without fear of violent repercussions - and the regime listened. Wages doubled over a span of five years.

In 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis hit South Korea. Several Chaebols went bankrupt and 1988 became the worst year in the history of South Korean economy since the Korean War. (Go watch Reborn Ritch if you’re interested) Today, this is spoken of as the IMF crisis. Fortunately, South Korea recovered relatively quickly. To balance the country’s over-reliance on manufacturing, the government launched a campaign to support the entertainment industry, thus laying the ground for the Hallyu wave that would spread globally in the 2000s.

The 2000s

“Hyung” entered university in 1995, and would have graduated somewhere around the shift of the millennia, right as South Korea was recovering from the IMF crisis. Shortly after his graduation, the Misun-Hyosun Incident, Anti-Chosun Daily Movement and Protests against the abolishment of the National Security Act all happened within quick succession.

The Misun-Hyosun Incident, also known as the Yangju Highway Incident, occurred on June 13, 2002, in Yangju. Two South Korean schoolgirls, 14 year old Shim Misun and Shin Hyosun, were struck and killed by a US army vehicle on the way to a training exercise. Apologies were issued, but the drivers of the army vehicle were ultimately found not guilty by the US MIlitary court, sparking demonstrations across the country and fuelling the anti-American sentiment in South Korea.

The Anti-Chosun Daily Movement can be traced back to the early 1990s. The Chosun Daily, or Chosun Ilbo, is one of the main newspapers in Korea. It is a conservative newspaper and has historically had a very close relationship with the ruling regime, military dictatorships included, which brings into question its role in a democratic country of free speech. With the rise of more progressive online journalism, the criticism against the Chosun Ilbo has increased and people have gathered online to raise their voices, leading to boycotts and an anti-Chosun manifesto being written. In 2002 the movement became an important part in Korea’s development as a progressive country and was a contributing factor to the media reform that followed.

Protests against the abolishment of the National Security Act broke out in 2004, when the then leading political party called for its repeal. This National Security Act/Law is the same one that was established in 1948 to catch communists and North Korean sympathisers, and was then used by the Rhee regime to silence political opponents (are you still with me?). When the law was about to be repealed, a newspaper poll found that 66% wanted the law revised but not repealed, while a majority would rather keep the law as was than have it abolished on grounds that it helps keep the country’s economic stability. The constant threat of North Korea is a very real factor to why people see the law as necessary. Amnesty International has called for the law to be fundamentally reformed or abolished, as it challenges freedom of speech.

Ok. Deep breath.

If you’re still reading, I applaud you. If I lost you somewhere along the way, you won’t see this but I do understand you. As I hope you understand, this is all very condensed. The history of Korea is very complex and much of what I have written about are still sensitive issues today. I’ve tried to keep close to my sources to avoid getting anything wrong, but I am sure there are many, many more movements and issues that would need to be covered to present anything close to the full picture. Still, I hope this has given some insight into the background of “Hyung” and the past that has shaped him into the character that he is.

When I read part II, I did not understand his character. I dismissed him as some conspiracy-reading guy living in a basement keeping a tinfoil hat somewhere, and when our narrator dismisses and downplays his story, I was fully onboard. Now, after a full day of reading up on the historical context and political climate that “Hyung” must have grown up in, I understand his paranoia and reluctance to interact with anything American far more. It leaves marks, having lived in a time when the KCIA could drag you off the street for speaking up against the government, never to be seen again.

Times have changed in South Korea and they’ve come a long way, but the recent past is still very recent and they still have a long way to go before old wounds can be healed and damage done can be cleared up. All it takes is watching a few kdramas, and it’s clear that general distrust in politicians and the legal system is still around. Apart from a better understanding of a character in a book, it’s shed some light on my own naive ignorance and lack of understanding when it comes to some Korean attitudes and reactions I’ve encountered in the past. Some things I frowned at then, I now understand.

Apart from Reborn Rich, which plays out between 1987 and today with its main focus on the financial crisis, I have not watched dramas depicting this part of Korean history (I have avoided them, because the subject matter was very heavy simply to read about. I do not think I could handle watching it dramatised). Neither have I found any good documentaries covering it. If you have recommendations that you’d like to share, please do.

Now, as promised: sources!

Historical background and context: Korea; A New History of South and North by Victor D. Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo (2023)

Most of this post is based on this book, and if you’re interested in 20th century Korean history, I’d really recommend it. It’s a surprisingly easy read.

Misun-Hyosun Incident/Yangju Highway Incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangju_highway_incident

National Security Act: https://wilj.law.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1270/2012/02/kraft.pdf

Anti-American Sentiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-American_sentiment_in_Korea

Anti-Chosun Movement: https://www.academia.edu/86931794/The_Anti_Chosun_Movement_Journalism_Activism_Politics_and_Historical_Memory_in_Post_Authoritarian_South_Korea_1998_2002

Student movements in Korea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_movements_in_Korea

Internet activism in South Korea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_activism_in_South_Korea

National Intelligence Service: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Intelligence_Service_(South_Korea)

@lurkingshan I'm not sure if this counts as meta or goes as a context-post, so I hope it's okay I'm tagging you

#litbc book club #love in the big city part II #when my interest in everything Korean overcomes my general disinterest in history

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camlannpod · 8 days

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hi I’m the person who asked about character creation advice in the listen along stream. My internet went funny so sorry I couldn’t specify on stream!

I meant characters in general! I really want to get into writing stories (books, podcasts, film, I haven’t really decided yet) but I’m struggling a bit with fleshing out my characters and I often feel like they’re all kind of the same person.

I really love the characters in Camlann so advice would be great!

Hi hello! Thank you so much for joining us for the stream, I'm sorry for your internet difficulties!!

Hm, this is an interesting and tricky question which I want to preface with a quick disclaimer:

Everyone writes differently. There's no one correct way to write, and whilst there are tool sthat you can use for writing - just like there are tools in visual art and music, learning which tools you want to use and how you want to use them is, I think, a big part of learning how to write well and in a way that's enjoyable for you.

This said! People often make jokes / comments about 'plotters vs pantsers' or 'architects vs gardeners'. A lot of writers fall into one of two categories - meticulously plotting detail before writing, or just kind of going with the flow. I personally am very much in the latter category, so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of specific tools or exercises I can give you.

This said, I'm going to do my best. Ursula K Le Guin is, in my opinion, one of the best writers of the 20th century, and she writes a lot of wonderful essays about the imagination and writing which I find really inspiring. I'm paraphrasing because I can't find the quote, but she once said something along the lines of: "If I can't close my eyes and have a conversation with a character, then I'm not ready to write their story yet."

That's a lot how I feel about writing characters. Some of it is conscious. I identify traits - flaws, strengths, quirks - in myself and others, and I give them to my characters. Dai is hyperactive and excitable because I'm hyperactive and excitable. Perry infodumps because I infodump. Morgan is stressed and protective because I am both of those things. But they also all have elements I don't have - Morgan is a lot more understated and pragmatic than I am. Dai is much more confident and reckless. Perry is significantly more organised and self-disciplined.

As a rule, I personally find it best to avoid ever trying to write 1 for 1 either yourself or a friend into a character. That way lies hurt feelings and honestly an inability to see them clearly, because it's very hard to see yourself objectively. Instead, I think of it like putting puzzle pieces together, or a patchwork quilt, or planting seeds. People often say good writers are good eavesdroppers. Phrases that people say on the tram stick with me. Strangers in shops. People dancing. Expressions and ways of speaking that filter through to characters I write.

Once I've identified a small handful of key pieces, I leave them to grow in my subconscious. This normally takes a few months. It's like...moulding a piece of wet clay for a few hours - ok, I don't want them to be X, I do need them to do Y - and once you've got roughly what you want in the right places, putting it in the kiln that is your mind and letting it cook. I just...think about my characters a lot - daydream about them, imagine them in different situations etc. Once I feel they've had enough time to settle, I start writing.

I honestly find one of the best ways to get to know a character is just writing them. For me that always feels like a conversation. And not just writing - editing and rewriting and rewriting - learning what they would or wouldn't say, thinking about how they'd react in different situations etc. There are...minimum 7 drafts of the Camlann scripts? I got to know the gang better just because I spent a lot of time with them.

Finally, for audio specifically, always always read your scripts aloud! If you can, rope in a friend or two. The way people speak out loud and the way they speak in our heads when we're reading is very different. Something that's incredibly moving in prose can feel awkward and stilted in audio. So read it out loud - start getting a sense of your character's vernacular. Do they say 'don't' or 'do not'? Do they swear? Do they use slang? Are they flirty, shy? I always find that my characters start coming to life when I can hear their voices. If I can hear them speaking to me, they're ready to be written.

This is all a little wibbly wobbly, and very personal to me, but I hope it at least helps you think about how you want to write. Good luck, and have fun!

#question this #thatdamhobbit

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usafphantom2 · 8 months

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Growing up at Beale Air Force Base, CA there were black projects and then there were Deep black…. projects …I’m just finding out about many of them now.

“The goal is simple, but the problem is titanic. Get photos of the top-secret Red Chinese hydrogen bomb tests near the Mongolian border deep inside Asia, then get them back, without being detected “ to do this, they needed a MD 21. Which is a cousin of the SR 71.

In the Back Lot of the Pima Air & Space Museum You Can Discover History.

1547 Hrs. December 20, 2009. In the Back Storage Yard of the Pima Air & Space Museum Outside Tucson, Arizona.

Most of what is lying around in the dusty expanse of the aircraft graveyards around Tucson, Arizona is readily identifiable

But there… What is that strange, manta-ray shaped, dusty black thing lying at an angle just on the other side of that fence? It may be an old airfield wind vane or radar test model. But it also may be…

I quickly locate a spot where the entire fence line opens up. I skirt the fence and in a couple minutes running around the sandy airplane corpses I’m inside. There, sitting right in front of me on its decrepit transport cart and dusted with windblown sand, abandoned in the Sonoran Desert, is one of Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich’s most ambitious classified projects from the fabled Lockheed Skunk Works….

I just found the CIA’s ultra-secret Mach 3.3+ D-21 long-range reconnaissance drone. The D-21 was so weird, so ambitious, so unlikely it remains one of the most improbable concepts in the history of the often-bizarre world of ultra-secret “black” aviation projects. And now it lies discarded in the desert. The story behind it is so bizarre it is difficult to believe, but it is true.

July 30, 1966: Flight Level 920 (92,000 ft.), Mach 3.25, Above Point Mugu Naval Air Missile Test Center, Off Oxnard, California. The MD-21 takes off.

Only another M-21 is fast enough and can fly high enough to photograph this, the most classified of national security tests. Traveling faster than a rifle bullet at 91,000 feet, near inner-space altitude, one of the most ambitious and bizarre contraptions in the history of mankind is about to be tested.

Tagboard” is its codename. Because of the catastrophic May, 1960 shoot-down of Francis Gary Powers’ Lockheed U-2 high altitude spy plane over the Soviet Union the CIA and is in desperate need of another way to spy on the rising threat of communist nuclear tests. Even worse, the other “Red Menace”, the Chinese, are testing massive hydrogen bombs in a remote location of the Gobi Desert near the Mongolian/Chinese border. It would be easier to observe the tests if the Chinese did them on the moon. Flat, triangular, black, featureless except for its odd plan form as viewed from above, like a demon’s cloak, it has a sharply pointed nose recessed into a forward-facing orifice. That’s it. No canopy, no cockpit, no weapons. Nothing attached to the outside. Even more so than a rifle bullet its shape is smooth and simple. This is the ultra-secret D-21 drone. The D-21 is truly a “drone”, not a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). Its flight plan is programmed into a guidance system. It is launched from a mothership launch aircraft at speed and altitude. It flies a predetermined spy mission from 17 miles above the ground and flashes over at three times the speed of sound. It photographs massive swaths of land with incredible detail and resolution. And because of its remarkably stealthy shape, no one will ever know it was there

Despite a successful launch the D-21 drone was lost. In the middle of 1972, after four attempts at overflying Red China with the D-21 drone and four mission failures, the program was cancelled. It was imaginative. It was innovative. It was ingenious. But it was impossible.

So ended one of the most ambitious and outrageous espionage projects in history.

Written by Tom Demerly

Posted Linda Sheffield Miller *disclaimer I did not write this I am paraphrasing.

@Habubrats71 via X

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many-but-one · 2 years

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System Partner Boundaries Survey

Hello everyone! This is Dorian from Many but One. Recently in a system server I am part of, a lot of members were talking about boundaries with partners. Systems in the server were talking about the various ways their partners either respected or denied their boundaries. Some people said their partner was amazing and acknowledged every alter's boundaries. Others said their partners violated alter boundaries at almost every turn with little to no remorse for the actions.

As some of you know, I write articles for a website called "The Mighty" for people with DID. I have several articles waiting for review and publication, and one article fully published (it can take months for articles to be reviewed, as their team is small). The article I have published is another guide for people whose partner just came out as a system. My therapist has read and reviewed it and said it's a great "first resource" for partners, as it first talks a bit about what DID is, and then gives a short list of tips at the end. You can read "Tips for When Your Partner Has DID" at this link.

What is my article about?

I will be writing a guide for partners of DID systems AND for DID systems to help them work on boundaries. A lot of non-systems don't understand the idea of boundaries with individual alters and I want to help explain it to them as well as help folks with DID talk about how to set boundaries with their partners. My goal with this data I'll be collecting is to share how proper boundaries affect people with DID and how violating boundaries affects people with DID.

To be absolutely transparent about this survey:

-Answers are fully anonymous. You will have to sign in with a gmail/email account but that will NOT be shared with me at all.

-All questions are required to be answered except the LAST TWO, which are paragraph-style answers, one of which asking for any additional information you'd like to share about how you and your partner set boundaries with each other and the other asking for any feedback on the survey as a whole. These two questions will NOT be used in ANY data for the article.

-There are ELEVEN required answers, plus the two optional answers, making the quiz thirteen questions long total. It will likely take about 5-10 minutes to complete depending on if you write in your own answers or not. One of the eleven required answers is simply consent to use the data you provide for my article.

-This data (the multiple choice questions) will be compiled and used for my article, to give people "real life" data from a sampling of people who have a complex dissociative disorder (CDD). No data will be tied to you specifically, ever. It will be more like graphs or percentage data rather than specific answers from specific people. There will be a disclaimer in the article that this is a sampling from a population of people with DID, but NOT an accurate "scientific" sampling, as I can't prove everyone who participates has DID with certainty.

-There are several questions which will require a concrete answer from the given answers. There are also several questions with an "other" option to allow you to fill in the blank with your personal experience. If you do so, please know that any identifying information will be seen by myself and other survey-takers, as the survey results WILL be able to be viewed after survey-takers are finished. If identifying information is presented, it will NOT be used in the article. For any graphs it would simply be labeled as "other" and if the personal experience feels like a relevant point to make in my article, then it may be paraphrased with NO identifying information shared.

-The survey will be open until October 15th. Shortly after it closes, all data will be compiled in graphs and all that fun stuff. I will then write the article. I will publish it here, as well as submit it to The Mighty for review. If the article is accepted I will also publish the link to the article on The Mighty's website here and on other social media.

Who Can Take the Survey?

-You must have a CDD (complex dissociative disorder) that includes DID, OSDD, P-DID, UDD, etc. You can be officially diagnosed, medically recognized, or self diagnosed with research. This survey is for people who are traumagenic.

-You must have a partner or spouse. It doesn't have to be a single partner or spouse. Poly relationships are accepted as well. This survey is NOT for familial relationships or for friendships. (I may do a separate one for a different article about family/friend relationship boundaries with DID systems.)

-This is specifically for people in a relationship. QPP (queer platonic partnerships), romantic relationships, and sexual relationships are all accepted. Even if the relationship is not a "committed" or "long-lasting" relationship, (i.e. "friends with benefits") I would be interested in hearing your input, as boundaries are necessary for all of the above, no matter how deeply committed you are with the person.

-Past relationships work too! If you have been in a relationship in the past but are not anymore, that works as well!

The Survey

I'm going to tag some folks to see if they are willing to boost this post so I can get a large sampling of data. Those that I tag, you are NOT required to share/reblog/etc! Thank you if you do!

@did-inquiry @circulars-reasoning @holywheel @foreverfragmented @the-cabin-complex @dissociativediscourse @ultrabright-flashlight

Edit: If you would like a transcript of the questions in the survey before clicking the link, please DM me and I would be happy to provide that for you!

#did #didosdd #dissociative disorder #dissociative identity disorder #osdd #otherwise specified dissociative disorder #did alters #did relationships #survey #system survey #did system survey #pdid #dorian #udd #manybutone

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tori-tumbls-04 · 9 months

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Alright, by popular demand and after much anticipation, I present to you:

The Jedi Culture and Religion as Presented by Me, Tori

Now why the hell should you read this? I mean like, you don't have to. This is tumblr dot com, not a social sciences class, and I have not assigned this as required reading. However, I took a class on Star Wars, and we essentially discussed the irl religions and moral philosophies that influenced many things in Star Wars. This class really helped me understand the Jedi in a broader sense, so I think that my summation of it will help you too

WARNING: This post contains incredibly broad descriptions of religions that do not always apply to every aspect of said religion (This was a short class and we were mostly comparing religions, so going into a deep analysis on all the traditions would not have been helpful for our purposes. Also, because any religion is hopelessly complex, we learned the mainstream versions of them, so not everything I will say will always completely apply to every person who practices these religions)

If you want to read more, click on the links where I've attached them for references or just ask me! I'd love to gush about the Jedi so give it a go

Table of contents:

Buddhism

Daoism

Christianity

Conclusion

Before we get into this, let me give y'all some context.

Overall, Star Wars was inspired by the book The Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. In it, Campbell claims that every religion is, by in large, the same, which he argues by distilling down what he says are the main hero stories of every religion into a step-by-step plot line that can supposedly apply to every religion's stories. This is the monomyth, or the original Hero's Journey.

Source

From a religious studies standpoint, this is WILDLY untrue. Campbell picked and chose his stories elements based on what he believed fit the narrative, and not even all Western hero stories fit this narrative, let alone Eastern stories (for example, Jesus never really has a Road of Trials. He's born, there's a twenty year time skip, and suddenly he's the all-powerful Son of God/God Reincarnate. I think a lot of Christians would say that Jesus is their hero- a perfectly valid and acceptable thing to say, since that is indeed the point of Jesus!- but nevertheless, he doesn't follow the Hero's Journey). Also, you can't claim that every religion is inherently the same, that's ignoring literally everything that makes religion religion, and it makes white idiots from Seattle think they understand everything about Confucianism just because they read that one book. It's also not super well written and the book kinda sucks overall.

However, this was a really popular book and it influenced a lot of minds on storytelling, including George Lucas's. It's mostly regarded with scorn in religious studies spheres today, but a lot of screenwriting classes assign it because the Hero's Journey creates stories that audiences want to hear told. Lucas used it for this reason, but also claimed that the Jedi were every religion in the world distilled into one, taking broad themes and building a culture around it (paraphrased- I can't find the exact quote and I didn't write it down so just like trust me bro). This is Hero with a Thousand Faces, plain and simple. I think we'd be hard-pressed to apply the Jedi religion to every religion, but there are three religions that emerge as the core for the Jedi, plus a few philosophies. These chosen few are Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity.

Buddhism

(Source)

Anyone who's been on the pro-Jedi side of any social media site probably saw this one coming. Jedi are inherently Buddhist in practice and culture, and we see it everywhere. But for the previously uninitiated, here's the rundown.

What is Buddhism?

**Disclaimer: I am not an expert in Buddhism. What I know is what I've learned from this class and from one of my best friends who is Buddhist. If you want to know more, I recommend doing outside research because I'm really only equipped to talk about Buddhism in relation to the Jedi Order**

Buddhism was created in about 5th century BCE by Siddhartha Gautama, who was a wealthy prince that grew weary of the material and physical pleasures of this world. He left his titles, wealth, and wife behind and traveled for years to learn meditation techniques and ancient truths about the world. Eventually, he became the Enlightened One, or the Buddha.

Buddha taught with the Four Noble Truths:

Life is characterized by suffering

The cause of suffering is desire and delusion

Suffering has an end

You can alleviate suffering by following the path to Enlightenment (aka nirvana)

Yeahhh Buddha wasn't really Mr. Happy Fun Guy. Essentially, to Buddha, everything is suffering, and I really mean everything. Everything bad is bad, everything good comes to an end and becomes bad, and the more invested you are in earthly affairs, the more you'll suffer because of how they'll work out (eventually bad). The solution? No attachment to earthly affairs. This allows you to stay on the path to Nirvana without making yourself suffer (and here's the kicker) or making the people around you suffer. The goal is for no human to suffer.

Now, Buddha recognizes this is hard. Like, he got it in a few years, but he's also The Best At Everything Ever. Most people take multiple lifetimes to get to the point of nirvana (reincarnation exists in Buddhism), and by multiple, I mean somewhere around 500. So the goal of your life is not to achieve complete non-attachment by the time you die, but to get yourself closer and close to non-attachment and non-suffering with each life. That means continuously and consciously working to do good and reduce suffering everywhere, even if you can't reach nirvana just yet.

Source

"But Tori!" you may protest, "How in the hell are we supposed to do that??? How do we know what will make people suffer and what won't???"

That, my friends, is why the good Buddha came up with the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment, or what I call the Cosmic Playbook for Doing Good. Here's the Eight Folds:

Right Understanding (accepting Buddhist teachings)

Right Resolve (committing to action)

Right Speech (telling the truth)

Right Action (avoiding wrong behavior)

Right Livelihood (not having an occupation that does harm)

Right Effort (controlling one's mind)

Right Mindfulness (being present in the moment)

Right Meditation (mental calm)

The Eightfold Path is based on three pillars: Wisdom, Morality, and Meditation. Wisdom says you must have understanding and fight delusion; Morality says you must have benevolence and never give into anger; Meditation says you must be non-attached and never give into greed (Is this starting to sound familiar?)

Now here's the key part: Buddhism teaches selflessness and compassion. And like yeah, I mean this in the Western sense of "don't be a dickwad," but there's also a Buddhist-specific reasoning behind this.

Selflessness in the Buddhist sense literally means no self. As in you do not exist, except in a constant state of change. Your self is not permanent, therefore tying things to yourself (attachments) is going against nature and preventing you from reaching nirvana. If we accept that we are fleeting and the things associated with us are as well- money, power, influence, things in general- then we may act selflessly and with compassion to other humans. We are all connected, so acting with compassion to other people will spread compassion further throughout the universe, alleviating suffering further.

Ultimately, this is what Buddha wanted for his followers to act, and this is why Buddhism distinguishes between "good" and "bad" attachments. "Good" or selfless attachments are connections made for the goal of helping others. The focus is not you, and when the time comes, you are content with parting ways. This person is not a part of you, simply a part of this point in your life. This doesn't mean they can't have a lasting impact on you or you can't have emotion towards them, but it does mean recognizing that nothing is permanent and accepting it with peace. "Bad" or selfish attachments are people you latch onto as part of you. Bad attachment is making it about you: you have to have this person or you will die, you have to have their love or support or whatever and you're unwilling to compromise. When they leave, you can't except it because you believe both you, your self, them, and their self are permanent, and it causes you to lash out to protect your self. According to Buddha, this is the cause of all aggression, and that is why selfish attachment is to be avoided as much as possible.

Buddhism and the Jedi

I started with Buddhism because, in my opinion, the Jedi religion has its foundations in Buddhism. If you don't understand Buddhism, you can't understand the Jedi, and I think that's why many people believe that Jedi philosophy doesn't make sense. Cause lowkey, from a Judeo-Christian standpoint, it doesn't. But if we start with Buddhism and work from there, the understanding might come better.

Let's take a look at the pillars of the Eightfold Path again:

Wisdom (Understanding, no delusion)

Right Understanding (accepting Buddhist teachings)

Right Resolve (committing to action)

Morality (Benevolence, no anger)

Right Speech (telling the truth)

Right Action (avoiding wrong behavior)

Right Livelihood (not having an occupation that does harm)

Meditation (Non-attachment, no greed)

Right Effort (controlling one's mind)

Right Mindfulness (being present in the moment)

Right Meditation (mental calm)

Now compare it with this version of the Jedi Mantra:

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force"

(Source)

Some of these are not relevant right now, since they come from Daoism or Christianity (and also, we'll come back to the other version in a minute). But you can already see the parallels between Buddhism and the Jedi, especially in the Meditation pillar. Right Meditation and Right Mindfulness correspond directly to "There is no emotion, there is peace" and "There is no passion, there is serenity." Also, Right Understanding and Right Resolve feel very "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge" to me. This means that "There is no emotion" does not mean there is no emotion ever, it simply means controlling your gut reaction and staying calm. Reacting with gut emotions sometimes means that people around you will suffer, especially when your gut emotions are anger and hurt. Remember, we're not about suffering in this house, so there will be no gut reactions here when we can help it.

Also, the idea of attachments comes straight from Buddhism. In Buddhism, delusion leads to anger and greed, which leads to further suffering, and we delude ourselves by being selfish (remember, in this sense selfish is thinking our self is permanent, not necessarily being a dickwad). Now, I really hope this sounds familiar, because this is "fear leads to anger leads to hate leads to suffering" in practically the same words. Here, delusion of the self and fear of losing it are one in the same, and the Jedi fight this by not being attached to one state of themself, and everything that entails. Ultimately, the Jedi exist to alleviate suffering throughout the galaxy. That is their literal job description and what they sign up for when they become Knights. In Buddhist philosophy, having selfish attachments is directly counter to this idea, as we see in Anakin.

Because this definition comes directly from Buddhism, this does not mean that Jedi cannot make connections. In fact, Buddhism says we are all connected (just like with the Force! Wow it's almost like that was planned), and we should have compassion for everyone. The Jedi also say this, plain and simple, in broad daylight.

(Source: @ gffa, David Thibault on Pinterest)

The best example of a Buddhist Jedi is Yoda, who was based off of literal Buddhist monks and has non-attached compassion down to a science.

So, in summary, we got the Buddhist ideas of attachment, compassion, and selfishness for the Jedi. What about everything else?

Daoism

(Source)

Next up is Daoism/Taoism! This one is possibly the least obvious if you don't have familiarity with Eastern religions and philosophies (or maybe it is for everyone else, but I was kind of surprised to see Daoism and how well it applies to SW/the Jedi). Let's get into it

What is Daoism/Taoism?

**Same disclaimer for Daoism that I had for Buddhism! Except I know even less about Daoism than I do about Buddhism. Again, if you have more questions, I recommend doing outside research because I'm about to tell you just about everything I know on Daoism here**

First things first, how do you spell it? Daoism or Taoism?

There's no actual difference between them. The sound at the beginning of the word doesn't really exist in English, but it's somewhere between D and T, and translators often switch between the two. I use D because I just like the way Daoism sounds better than Taoism, but that's literally such a dumb reason. Call it whichever, people will understand you! There's gonna be a lot of those in this, since Chinese to English translation is tricky on the best of days and translating Daoism is... well, we'll get to it

Lau Tzu, from source

Daoism is one of the six great philosophical schools of China. It emerged around 3 century CE when Lao Tzu wrote the Dao De Jing (also known as the Tao Te Ching. To keep my spelling of D/T consistent, I'll be using the Dao De Jing spelling). The story goes that he was a great sage of his time, and he was stopped by Chinese border patrol one day. When the agents recognized who he was, they begged him for advice and pearls of wisdom. So, he gave it to them, and someone (possibly Lao Tzu, possibly one of the agents) wrote it down. This would be awesome and hilarious, because the Dao De Jing is a short book, but it has 80+ poems/maxims/stories in it, which means mans was there for way longer than the border patrol probably wanted him there

It's also possible that Lao Tzu doesn't exist and the Dao De Jing was actually written by multiple people buuuuut the other explanation is more fun so let's go with that

Dao De Jing roughly translates to "The Book of Virtue and Wisdom." In it are a lot of verses that explain the Daoist school of thought. They can be translated in many ways, but the version I read was in poetry. Here are a few excerpts that I think explain the Daoist religion the best:

"The way you can go isn’t the real way. The name you can say isn’t the real name. Heaven and earth begin in the unnamed: name’s the mother of the ten thousand things. So the unwanting soul sees what’s hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants. Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery. Mystery of all mysteries! The door to the hidden."

Source: "1, Taoing" Tao Te Ching, trans. Ursula K. Le Guin

"Not praising the praiseworthy keeps people uncompetitive. Not prizing rare treasures keeps people from stealing. Not looking at the desirable keeps the mind quiet. So the wise soul governing people would empty their minds, fill their bellies, weaken their wishes, strengthen their bones, keep people unknowing, unwanting, keep the ones who do know from doing anything. When you do not-doing, nothing’s out of order."

Source: "3, Hushing." Tao Te Ching, Ursula K. Le Guin

"Be completely empty. Be perfectly serene. The ten thousand things arise together; in their arising is their return. Now they flower, and flowering sink homeward, returning to the root."

Source: "10, Returning to the Root." Tao Te Ching, Ursula K. Le Guin

Now if you think that these are confusing and difficult to parse, you'd be correct. It's not just cause they're written as poems and not just cause they're translations between two difficult languages to translate; the Dao De Jing is intentionally written to be difficult to understand. You have to work to understand the Dao (the Way), and that's how Lao Tzu intended it. But part of the work in understanding the Dao is part of the experience of the religion. In other words, putting the work to try and understand the Dao is already halfway there!

Because I'm nice and because I want some baseline understandings for this discussion, I'll go ahead and give you broadly accepted interpretations of and concepts from the Dao De Jing.

The goal is to be unified with everything around you. All things cycle into each other and influence each other, and the goal of the Way is to be one with the natural flow of the universe

There is a common delusion that things are separate from each other. In Daoism, this is false. Nothing is truly separated- all things flow into each other and become each other in time (This is where yin and yang come from)

Adding off of that last point, identifying things too much will result in privileging one over the other. In Daoism, humans operate too much in absolute terms- what is good, what is bad, why each is each, and how to keep the good without having the bad. But all things must cycle into each other (dirt to flowers to dirt, sun to moon to sun, winter to summer to winter, etc), otherwise there is no balance, and no Way to follow

To follow the Way, you have to practice wu wei, or non-doing. In its absolute simplest terms, non-doing is going with the flow, but in a very specific way. Non-doing requires acting organically and adapting as specific opportunities arise. Having an end goal is contrary to the Way. Instead, the philosophy of wu wei says that what you need/want will come to you naturally if you follow the flow of nature

Expect things in unexpected places (but not... like... expecting? Cause you gotta Go With The Flow y'know? Anyways)

Pacifism to the Max

You must follow the Way completely and fully. Half-assing the Dao will result in being generally unhappy since you're not actively pursuing your goals either outside the Way or inside the Way. So it's just like lose-lose no matter what

There's like... more. But that's enough to delve into the Jedi methinks so let's do it.

Daoism and the Jedi (and Star Wars overall)

Jedi are notorious for defying expectations. A crotchety old frog is the most powerful Jedi in the Order. The most devout Jedi Padawan ends up being the person who tried to blow up their Temple. The person who will become The Villain of All Time is regarded as being well on his way to being one of the Best Jedi in the Order, if not already there. The list goes on. The same crotchety old frog says everything as cryptically as possible to force his students to do the work to understand what he's saying (a mannerism that many Jedi copy, if they're not as cryptic as Yoda). The Jedi are not pacifists, per se, but they go out of their way to be non-violent as often as possible (this overlaps with the Buddhist idea of attachments and their relation to violence). The Jedi also try to treat within their Order the same, and hierarchy is pretty loose.* Also, the Force is the Way. It literally flows through everything, it doesn't get more obvious than that. Also, "do or do not, there is no try," anyone?

*This point is contentious, I know, but looking canon it's true. The Jedi do not privilege one Jedi over another- councilor members seem to be treated roughly the same inside the Order as every other Knight or Master. The difference between Knight and Master is nebulous at best and the only difference between the two seems to be raising a Padawan. But at what point beyond that does a Knight become a Master? Why are Knights also called Masters and vice versa? Padawans and younglings are a different story, but certainly within ranks there is little differentiation.

But more than that, the world that the Jedi operate in is very Daoist. The Light and Dark side of the Force come from yin and yang (though, due to Buddhist and Christian influences, yin isn't quite the Dark side and yang isn't quite the Light, but the idea definitely came from Daoism). Light and dark people have bits of both in them, as Clone Wars goes out of its way to demonstrate over and over again. In The Last Jedi, Luke outright states that the Force is what ties together the Light and the Dark, and that they cycle into each other. This is reinforced over and over again. In Mortis,

Source

On Ahch-To,

Source

And just about every time anyone says where there is great light there is also great darkness, plus a lot in Legends content because Legends writers apparently love playing with this.

Also, time in Daoism (and generally in Eastern religions/philosophies) is cyclical. In the West, we view time as cyclical- one thing happened back then and it won't ever happen the same way again. But in Daoism, the same events happen over and over again in a continual cycle, just as they do in nature. Star Wars operates in the exact same way. The Republic rises, then the Empire, then the Republic, then the First Order, and on and on. Characters rise and fall with their times, and at times, it seems like the same story is doomed to play out over and over again. Where exists bright light, also exists deep night; every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Alright, back to the Jedi Mantra. Now that we're in Daoism, let's look at the weird one:

"Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force."

Source

Many interpretations of this mantra have focused on the idea that both exist, and I personally agree with that interpretation, especially in the context of Daoism. The key with Daoism is that Daoists aren't trying to change the world, like Christians or Buddhists. They're simply trying to be one with the universe, as is the natural state of things. They do not deny the chaos, but harmonize with it instead. They do not deny death, they simply follow the Way/Dao/Force to death when it's time. The key to Daoism is holding contradictions together and finding the way between them like water in a stream, instead of choosing one side over another. Also, tell me this doesn't read like the Dao De Jing? You can't because it does.

(Side note: the holding contradictions together thing is also the explanation behind Obi-Wan's iconic line "Only the Sith deal in absolutes." Sith cannot acknowledge shades of gray or sides that are not their own: for the Sith, there is only their side and everyone else's side, and their side is always right. Jedi are trained to see the white dot in the black swirl and the black dot in the white swirl. Sith can only see the black or the white, nothing in-between. This is also known as obsessive and/or antagonistic thinking.)

The best example of a Daoist Jedi is Qui-Gon Jinn, aka Mr. "Let's-Bet-On-Some-Kid-Who's-Never-Won-A-Podrace-In-His-Life" whose middle name is Maverick. Need I say more?

So, in summary, we got the "weird" and confusing parts of the Jedi religion from Daoism (though I hope I cleared some of them up! But they are meant to be confusing lmao)

Christianity

Source

"But Tori," you protest, "If the Jedi are supposed to be following the Way and the Way goes between what's good and bad, why are Jedi constantly the Good Guys who do Good Things instead of being neutral monks on their mountain?"

Well my friend, let me introduce you to a little thing called Christianity.

Now, in my opinion, the Jedi are possibly least inspired by Christianity. By in large, most of their themes and Main Religious Points can be found in either Buddhism or Daoism. But so far, all we have for motivation of why the Jedi do good things is compassion and to alleviate suffering. How do they know how to do that? The Jedi say they do it by following the Force, but how do they do it by following the Daoist Force, which says they have to be neutral as possible and one with nature?

Let's pivot to Christianity (with no disclaimer for this one because I was raised Baptist and Catholic (long story) and I actually know quite a bit about Christianity).

What is Christianity?

Christianity grew from followers of Judaism right around 0 CE. Though the Torah (the primary Jewish religious text) is official canon in Christianity, Christians follow God and Humanity's savior, the Son of God, Jesus. When Jesus was alive, He preached gospel to His followers over the course of a few years. Though there are many things that make up Christian theology, Jesus's teachings are often first, foremost, and the foundation of that theology. These were written down in the Bible in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, and further expanded into the New Testament of the Bible (the primary Christian religious text).

Jesus was real simple. He preached that there is a Good and a Bad, and both of those things are determined by the creator of the universe, God. A true Christian will do Good things, like feed the poor and respect your fellow man. If you do Bad things, that's okay! You just have to confess and repent, and you will be forgiven by God. Other Christians also must forgive you, because that is one of the Good things that All Christians Must Do. If you refuse to repent, you go to Hell when you die. If you believe in and worship God, follow all the rules, and do all the Good things, God will reward you in the afterlife by sending you to the Kingdom of Heaven, where there is No Bad Ever.

Tl;dr: don't be a dickwad and say thanks to God every once and a while and you're good homie.

Therefore, Christianity is based around three pillars: Faith, Love, and Hope. Have faith in your God to know what to love and what to do, and hope for a better tomorrow and afterlife.

Everything else is kind of extra and we don't really need it here (including the Ten Commandments, since the Jedi don't really follow them), so like... don't get mad at me for summing up Christianity like this please haha

Christianity and the Jedi

I've already alluded to this, but Jedi get their moral compass from belief and faith in the Force to essentially tell them what to do. This is fresh outta Christianity ladies, gents, and enbies; though themes overlap a bit in Daoism, Christianity takes pains to make it clear that its moral compass come from God and Jesus. If you want to read more about this, CS Lewis articulates the argument really well in Mere Christianity.

Now, this bit can be a little tricky to see clearly with the Jedi, since the Force doesn't act like the Christian God. The Christian God is generally fairly active in a Christian's life, especially in the Bible. God will straight up send heavenly messengers or like communicate with people himself in the Bible to tell them what to do, but the Force is more subtle than that. Obviously the Jedi can feel the Force, but they rarely- if ever- know what the Force is trying to tell them. So instead, Jedi seem to use more of a river current approach: where the Force flows is obviously Good, so they try to feel the Force tugging them in that direction and go there. But you can swim against the flow of a river, and sometimes it's super easy to do in still spots. That's okay! As long as you repent and turn around, it's all good.

The practice is obviously Daoist, but the Force as the Ultimate Moral Good is a Christian concept. This is why Jedi are the good guys and why following the Force generally leads to the most narratively rewarding and best outcomes- if they were purely Daoist, they'd spend their days doing things like eating wood and carving cart wheels perfectly right (Daoist stories can get more exciting, but generally Daoist hero stories revolve around mundane things like this to emphasize that the way to live is to be perfectly in tune with the world around you). Instead, Jedi often present themselves as Christian heroes. You know, the ones who follow God and defend their city from evil forces, magically know which food is poisoned, carrying people across a near-impossible to cross river, levitating and making things fly across rooms, and more. Any of this sound familiar?

The Jedi morals themselves are influenced from many places, as we've already seen. But the Dark side vs. the Light side are Western/Christian; it's very reminiscent of heaven vs. hell and the motifs in both mirror that. The Dark side is cold, aggressive, and "bad," and the Light is warm, kind, and "good" (in Daoism, these concepts are flipped). The visuals draw from Western visuals of both.

Also, Jedi are supposed to look like a cross between samurai and Christian monks, and many of the other aesthetic choices for Jedi come from one of those two influences.

Source (1, 2, 3+4)

The Vatican compared with the Jedi Temple in AotC and RotS

Jedi are also literally called Knights. How much more obvious can it get.

Christian Jedi are a little harder to nail down, but if it came down to it, I'd probably place my bets on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan has doing Light Side things down pat, as well as forgiveness and repent. Plus, tell me he didn't sound a bit like God when he was talking to Luke in ANH.

Conclusion

So, if I had to sum up the Jedi, I'd say it like this (Bold is from Buddhism, italics is from Daoism, and bold+italics are from Christianity):

"The Jedi Order is a Force-sensitive religious group dedicated to the alleviation of suffering throughout the galaxy. Though they are mainly trained as peacekeepers, all Jedi are proficient with a lightsaber, and the Order encourages this practice as long as they use their skills to defend.

Due to their Force-sensitivity, Jedi can connect to the living things around them and sense emotions, thoughts, and sometimes memories as though they were their own. Without proper emotional regulation, Jedi can become overwhelmed and pass out or obtain other psychic damage. For this reason, the Jedi practice mindfulness and non-attachment through meditation. From a young age, Jedi are trained to regulate emotional instincts and react mindfully to their surroundings to not overwhelm themselves or others.

The Jedi follow the Will of the Force. Though this can be difficult to interpret, Jedi train their entire lives to recognize the signals of the Force as they are presented to them. The Jedi follow the "Light Side"* of the Force, which puts them in direct opposition to the Sith, who follow the Dark Side. The two have been mortal enemies since time immortal, and will continue to be so as the cycle of light and dark continues to chase itself.

*it's worth noting here that at no point in time is the Force that the Jedi follow referred to as the "light side," it's simply the Force. This implies that the Jedi truly are just following The Way, and the Sith have completely convoluted The Way.

There are two versions of the Jedi Mantra, which outline their philosophies well:

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force"

"Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force."

The Jedi believe that fear leads to anger, which leads to hate, which leads to suffering. Therefore, Jedi try to conquer fear and selfishness as much as possible, which is how the Jedi principle of non-attachment came about. Though Jedi believe in compassion and love, their duties and Force-sensitivity require them to forgo attachments, or unhealthy and obsessive relationships with others. This is a struggle that many Jedi work through their entire lives. Jedi also believe in non-material possession and contentment in the natural world. Since the natural world and the Force are intertwined with each other, this allows Jedi to listen to the Force better."

Finally, the way the Jedi follow the Force is not the only or "correct" way of following the Force. Just irl as there are no correct cultures or religions, just the ones that align with you, personally, the best, there is no correct way of practicing the Force (though the Sith are generally set up as bad guys in Star Wars, the Dark Side of the Force is corruptive by nature, and Sith are almost always rampaging killing machines, so I think we can make an exception for them). The Force seems to manifest in many different ways, so therefore the religions can too.

I hoped this helped you guys answer any questions you may have about the Jedi! This got so long so if you read to the bottom you're a real trooper. If you still have questions, feel free to rb or shoot me an ask!

#star wars #jedi #jedi order #pro-jedi #meta #star wars meta #sw discussion

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saintmeghanmarkle · 12 days

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Lady C Tea YouTube 4/18/24 (a few nuggets paraphrased by me) by u/daisybeach23

Lady C Tea YouTube 4/18/24 (a few nuggets paraphrased by me) Greetings from Castle Goring,Lady C, what do you make of Harry losing his court case and what do you make of Diana lying on her first job application? Harry has lost his court case with the Home Office. The Judge has emphatically stated that Harry, “definitely and comprehensively lost.” Harry has said he may appeal. I am sure David Sherborne would want to proceed with this. Harry is still chasing that IPP status because he didn’t “choose to be born into the Royal Family.” As for Diana, even her brother said she was prone to lying. Diana was 17 years old. She wanted a job. She did what many people do and fudge their work history. Diana was shrewd. People say Diana was innocent. She wasn’t. Her traumatic childhood guaranteed she was not innocent.Lady C goes on for a long time talking about Hugh Grant and how she doesn’t feel sorry for him settling. She is not sure if Harry will settle or not.Lady C says it doesn’t matter that Harry is technically a Councilor of State. The King has seen to it that he will never be called upon to serve.Lady C, I don’t think Harry will succeed with Netflix polo show. Harry is no good at Polo. He rides his horses too hard and had actually killed one of his horses who was pregnant. I think this is a loser for Harry. There have been disturbing photographs of Harry wounding his horses with his spurs. There is also the story of Harry’s horse who collapsed and died. Why would Harry ride a pregnant horse? I think this is all so dreadful. Polo is an elitist sport. I was told some time ago that Harry was trying to drum up people to play with him at Wellington and he was turned down. This show will not be popular. Harry couldn’t get any of the grand polo players he wanted. I cannot say who they are. He was turned down cold. Nacho and Harry? Who cares about them. As for Meghan’s series, is she going to show us how to make jam? It is a very long and tedious process. I have been told that Ted Sarandos who is also married to a woman of color, are very keen to be sure to give Meghan every chance possible because they believe in supporting woman of color and helping them succeed. Harry and Meghan are being wound down gently. Everyone expects them to tank and they will be let go quietly. I heard that Meghan and Harry aren’t even producing these shows. I am sure their names will be on the credits. I hear Meghan’s series will be “curated” by her. Curated? A curator is someone who works in a museum and gathers all the treasures.Toodles Sinners!PS. Lady C is repeating a lot of same comments she has made previously…Should I keep doing this as is or should I just cover content she has never said before? post link: https://ift.tt/3QxS8so author: daisybeach23 submitted: April 19, 2024 at 07:29PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

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thenookienostradamus · 10 months

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1, 3, 4, 14 - CHOOSE VIOLENCE BABY!

Thank you!!!! ::rubs hands like Mr. Burns and chuckles evilly::

#1. the character everyone gets wrong: ok so, disclaimer - I actually don't care much about other people's character interpretations. You do you, folks. That being said.... Eöl. I think the "evil-to-the-core, creepy-rapist" explanation for his behavior is too simplistic. I have a fascination with people's responses to trauma (after having processed a lot of my own trauma responses), and I see him as having been deeply traumatized - the mechanism is up to you. He wants what anyone wants: love and family. But he's too damaged to make it work. My pet theory is that Aredhel is also extremely damaged from her upbringing. Try as they might, they're both just too messed up to make it work. And no, trauma doesn't excuse murder, but there was no murder and there's no need to excuse anything because these are MAKE-BELIEVE PEOPLE. (That last addition is for the fiction-is-reality idiots.)

#3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr: oh dear god...so many bad takes. idk about the absolute worst, but here was a recent one (paraphrased): people who have sexual fantasies about hypothetical non-consensual encounters are "minimizing the trauma of real victims" and kinksters who negotiate noncon scenarios are self-hating sickos. Yeaaah, take your radfem purity-culture takes and shove 'em right alongside the big ol' stick in your ass, ya bellends.

#4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person? I asked mutuals repeatedly to please PLEASE tag stuff about wellness/fitness/weight/diet. I have my own opinions and I do not inflict them on others; I do not want the opinions of others inflicted on me. One person just couldn't get with that, so I had to block. Sorry not sorry; it's my dashboard. Another mutual, alas, is hovering perilously close to getting blocked for the same reason.

#14. that one thing that you see in fics all the time. "cum." It's an immediate nope-out, no matter how far in I am. it's a dumb fucking word. My estimation of any writer plummets into a shit-filled gutter the instant I see that word. It's stupid, it's juvenile, and I'm judgy about it.

THANK YOU! I l choose violence!!

#ask game

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loveourfuture-c · 2 years

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🔥 + hopper and also stranger things in general? Lol. But also I would kind of love to hear your take on all the ships?🤷🏻‍♀️ but I know that's a lot so if you want to pick then that's cool haha

Okay, first of all it’s never to much because I absolutely adore talking about stranger things.

DISCLAIMER: I am not trying to attack anyone or make anyone feel bad these are just my opinions. I will tag this accordingly.

Hopper- DILF, the end.

Okay, but in all seriousness I absolutely love Hopper. I love his development and his desire to protect the people he loves. I don’t care what anyone says, Hopper is a great dad. He isn’t perfect (no one is) but he always did his best to protect El. Once she came into his world, she become his world. One of my favorite moments with them was in season three when they were at the mall and he told El that she, “didn’t have to do this” (I’m paraphrasing) meaning fight the monster thing the mind flayer made. He always let her know there was an option not to use her powers, which was something that she had never had before. Also another one of my favorite hopper moments was when he basically threatened Mike. I don’t care what anyone says that was hilarious.

Stranger things as a whole:

Is it perfect? No, but no media is. It is extremely enjoyable and I love it. It’s extremely endearing and I love how all the scary monster stuff is contrasted with the kids being goofy and being friends. This has quickly become one of my favorite shows and I forgot how much I loved it until I watched season 4 and went back and watched seasons 1-3.

Ships:

I have many many thoughts on this. I’m just going to do the mainish ones so if I leave any out I’m sorry.

Jopper: Absolutely perfect

Stancy: I am going to make some people mad but I feel like a large majority of Stancy shippers view Nancy as some sort of consolation prize for Steve. I can see why people ship them but I think it does a disservice to their character development to have them get back together. In the wise words of Winston Schmidt, “don’t be a backslider”

Jancy:(is that the ship name idk)

He took pictures of Nancy when she was naked without her knowledge or consent. “Oh but that was a long time ago so much happened since then” I literally don’t care. He barely apologized and they just never talked about it again. It’s super weird. I love Jonathan and I don’t think he is a bad person. I just think being in a relationship with someone who did that to you is super weird. This is more on the writers for how they handled it tbh.

Lumax: Absolutely perfect. I adore them with my whole heart.

Ronance: I absolutely love this. It’s very wonderful.

Vicky x Robin: They are super cute!!! They have really good potential and I am curious to see where they go with that. Also having similar quirks does not mean they are carbon copies of each other. Calm down people.

Steddie: Amazing. 10/10. My wonderful beautiful friend @tyrannusbasiltons writes fic for them and it’s amazing.

However, a lot of the shippers need the calm the fuck down and stop harassing that poor actress that plays Chrissy.

Eddie x Chrissy: SUPER CUTE!!! I love the idea of it and it’s very sweet. Also they have very cute fanart.

Mileven: They are very cute!! I do enjoy them, not as much as I used to though. They have a very sweet pure teenage love.

Byler: This is a very cute ship. I support Will Byers in all his romantic efforts even if I believe he could do better. One of my favorite pastimes is watching Byler edits to Taylor swift songs. My personal opinion is that Mike is Bi. I think there is real validity to this ship. It would be cool if they could make it cannon but in all honesty I just want Will to end season 5 happy with a boyfriend. Doesn’t have to be Mike.

Also this is conflicting cause I absolutely adore El and want her to have the whole entire world. I do think it would be good for both El and Mike to date other people though.

Elmax: Absolutely perfect. 100/10. I think this ship is super adorable.

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citrus-cactus · 2 years

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So, I saw a ballet production of Dracula last weekend (original choreography by Michael Pink) and I HAVE THOUGHTS.

I should caveat that I have never read Dracula before doing Dracula Daily this year, nor have I seen any other adaptations, and these are just the things I remember! I might look up the official recording of the Milwaukee version later if it’s still available, just to see how they compare.

This is really just a summary of this particular production/my impressions, but it got really long. Also contains spoilers (for the ballet: definitely, for the end of the book: maybe?? I’m keeping that part vague on purpose!)

Overall though I thought it was really good, really MOVING, with high production value. Great sets and costumes, including smoke/pyrotechnics, lots of story, as well as great staging and choreography. Music was very modern: dissonant and amelodic, and contributed hugely to the discomfort and horror. I am SO GLAD that I was familiar with the story and characters beforehand though, it made it so much easier to understand and (I think) that much more enjoyable.

I am also going to state up front here that the final scene (Act 3, Scene 3) included an explosion effect that was extremely loud, bright, and sudden. We were warned that it would occur before the ballet started, but as it comes so late and is meant to be an interruption to the action on stage, it was still a rather unpleasant surprise when it happened. According to someone in my party who has seen this version before, “it’s always that loud,” so try to keep that in mind if you ever end up seeing it in person, because it was honestly not the best effect to unleash in a dark theater!

I also generally would not recommend this ballet for young kids (aka as fun seasonal theatrical experience akin to The Nutcracker). Obviously everyone is different, but Dracula is a horror story with some intense and mature imagery that just keeps escalating, so if you are thinking about bringing a child, please consider if this is something they would enjoy very carefully! I would personally rate it T for Teens.

Ok, thanks for making it through my disclaimers, now on with the show:

It starts with a prologue. Jonathan having a very foreshadowy nightmare that includes many of the elements we’re about to see. He and Mina (in a wedding veil!) weave in and out of some increasingly unsettling stuff. It gets worse and worse and he wakes up SCREAMING MINA’S NAME and she rushes in to comfort him. Our good friend Jonathan is having a mental breakdown before he even leaves on his very bad business trip, and in this version, we can’t even blame it on paprika hendl! JONATHAN T^T

ACT I

Act 1, Scene 1: Jonathan departs for Transylvania. It is established that the Harkers know Van Helsing at this point. Renfield is also there. Right before Jonathan leaves, Mina wraps a red scarf around his neck. I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS AS A COSTUME CHOICE. The foreshadowing! The symbolism!! JONATHAN!!!!! T^T

Scene 2 shows Jonathan arriving at the village as the villagers are conducting a protection ritual. Sticks are knocked together and laid on the ground in a cross shape. A dead wolf is brought in and paraded around on pikes. Jonathan watches passively; I can practically hear his thought processes at this point. He is given a cross to wear around his neck. He is brought to the castle by an imposing coachman. The Count appears wearing a very cool blood-red coat. They enter.

Act 1 Scene 3: Jonathan is shown to his room. He takes off his cross (Jonathan NOOOOO!) and is immediately visited by the Weird Sisters. This is actually a very cool bit of staging (one of them appears from INSIDE HIS BED!!). Drac intervenes when things start getting Too Sexy(/he’s about to lose his midnight snack) and distracts the ladies by throwing them a thing in a bloody bag.

And then.

AND THEN!!!!

TWO-MAN PAS DE DEUX. This is an incredible bit of ballet. Paraphrasing someone else’s description, it is an absolutely AMAZING distillation of what Jonathan goes through at the castle. And just as the Count is about to bite… the scene shifts, and Jonathan is home, as if waking up from another terrible nightmare, once again screaming for Mina. THIS IS THE END OF ACT ONE.

ACT TWO

Act 2 is all about Lucy!! Scene 1 shows us a party at the Grand Hotel in Whitby. Unfortunately, this was one of the weaker scenes from a clarity perspective. There were LOTS of people on stage, mostly couples, and since it’s a different occasion, everyone is wearing different clothes. The program said that Jonathan and Mina would both be there, and I kept wondering “is that them??” until they ACTUALLY appeared, and the only real “tell” from where I was sitting was that they were interacting with Van Helsing (though I think Jonathan briefly had a cane? I might be mistaken, but AAH T^T). Before that, I had been hoping the Harkers were the couple dressed all in black—that would have been another amazing costuming choice, but I suppose they don't have that much to mourn (yet…).

Lucy was also really hard to spot, and as someone in my party pointed out, Lucy and Mina probably should have had different hair colors to make them more visually distinct (it’s not like wigs were off the table; Dracula’s danseur was wearing one). Basically, it was VERY hard to tell who the main characters were in this scene unless you were already familiar with the book!

It is also worth noting at this point that there is no Dr. Seward in this version. They seem to have combined his character with Van Helsing’s, which is also a bit unfortunate, because I was looking forward to Lucy dancing with her three guys.

BUT!!!!! Lucy still had Arthur and Quincey, which is fantastic (an adaptation that actually has Quincey!!! He had fringe on his jacket and BRIEFLY wore a cowboy hat, but he left it at the coat-check and never got it back XD). Their relationship dynamic was obvious, and very true to the book. Lucy got to dance with each of them, and also BOTH AT THE SAME TIME (Pas De Trois… what a queen!). And all of the Drac attack pack are friends. I am LIVING!!!

…and then the Count shows up. Boo! His presence goes unnoticed by almost everyone at this party. Jonathan has a bit of a relapse (:C), and while most of the main cast is looking after him, time seems to slow down for everyone but Lucy and the Count. He enthralls her for a bit, and then bites her—IN PUBLIC WHILE NO ONE IS WATCHING—before leaving. And she tries to carry on and dance like nothing is wrong, but she collapses. LUCY!!!!!!!! T^T

Scene 2 summarizes Lucy’s “illness” and turning. Everyone is concerned about her. I should mention we have moved to the sanatorium at this point (which I guess is Van Helsing’s?), and there is a very cool two-level set with Renfield doing some amazing pantomime in his cell up top, and Lucy’s room on the bottom. Mina gets to be there with the one she loves with all the moods and tenses of the verb, and that is SO IMPORTANT.

Van Helsing lays garlic around Lucy’s neck and bed, and everyone leaves to let her rest. Then the night nurse enters and is so offended by the smell she removes the garlic (nooooooo!). And then the Count comes again. First to Renfield, and then we DO get a little lizard fashion(/bat fashion) as he slithers down the set to Lucy’s bed (this was an amazing bit of athleticism, but there were stairs RIGHT THERE Drac, why do you have to be so extra?? XD). They dance some more, he bites her again, and then disappears, crawling backwards into the mist and shadows.

Everyone comes back, wondering what happened, but now Lucy is dying. She says her goodbyes to everyone (including Mina!!!!) and goes still. And then we get to see her ballerina execute an INCREDIBLE change in character as she becomes undead. And the Bloofer Lady escapes, crawling backwards into the shadows, in the exact same manner as the Count (lizard fashion Lucy!!). END OF ACT 2.

ACT THREE

Act 3 focuses on Mina. It starts with her in the Harkers’ bedroom at the sanatorium. She’s writing by herself, then falls asleep, and has a dream about Lucy (yes, really!). It’s more of a vision than a dream, in which she sees vampire!Lucy in her (now blood-stained) dress lure a child away into the night. It’s so good and creepy!! And then Mina wakes up. VH is there briefly, and then Renfield starts acting up. He escapes from his cell and attacks VH (miming licking VH's blood off the floor in a VERY recognizable moment!), and some orderlies subdue him and put him in a straightjacket. After VH leaves, Mina is sympathetic towards him, and they actually dance a pas de deux together (!!), which is both amazing and tragic because Renfield’s arms are bound :(

Scene 2 sees “the men” coming back, getting ready to hunt some vampires. If I remember correctly, VH tells Quincey to put his gun away, and gives him a cross instead (tragically, Drac is not shot at by a cowboy nor stabbed by a solicitor in this version). The Suitor Squad and VH leave for the evening.

Jonathan is exhausted. He takes all the pillows for himself (no offense to the ballet, but Jonathan Harker from my emails WOULD NEVER in the bed he shares with his wife!!) and crashes for the night. And then it’s Count Time again. Mina tries to shake her husband awake several times, but it’s to no avail (T^T). Van Helsing et al. burst into the Harkers’ room just as Mina is being forced to drink the Count’s blood, and he steals her and flees into the night.

Scene 3 is the hunt, and since that’s where we are in the book, I won’t go into too much detail (though I’m quite sure the ballet is taking some massive liberties at this point). Here’s what I will say about it: It takes place in the ruins of Carfax Abbey. There is a SURPRISE CHOIR IN THE ORCHESTRA PIT. Renfield dies by the Count’s hand. The Count dies by the polycule’s hand (I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that!!). But also, a character who I will not name dies by the Count’s hand. If this happens in the book, I will be DISTRAUGHT.

Amazingly, the Bloofer Lady is NOT shown to be killed. She just… disappears? Mr. Pink, can we get a sequel about her? Please?? :D

Genuinely, though, the ending was gutting, and I mean that in a good way. It’s the same sort of gutting as the novel has been thus far, showing these characters changed by the horrors they’ve been forced to face and the implication that they will never be the same as a result.

Final takeaway: I really liked it, though it may not be for everyone. The unique partnering in each act (Jonathan/Count, Lucy/Suitors, and Mina/Renfield) were the dance highlights for me, and I absolutely recommend it, if (like me) you’ve been following along with Dracula Daily and/or enjoy seeing the occasional contemporary ballet!

#dracula daily #ballet #dance #centennial state #the cactus speaks

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mettywiththenotes · 1 year

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The boys of course

But also Mera and Nagant for my own personal entertainment

!!!

First, The Boys

(disclaimer that I'm not thinking about canon so much as what I think about the duos)

Fix each other/make each other worse - okay listen. This is more dependent on my own idea of them more than canon, but the way I see it, it's like a balance

Tomura's case is what Izuku needs to truly be the Hero Who Saves Everybody (narratively, in Izuku's own arc). For him to understand villains/outcasts, those who do the worst of the worst and still want that help, etc. And Izuku obviously wants to save Tomura, he wants him to be safe. This would be the ways in which they "fix each other"

BUT THEN, you also have the fact that Izuku is a Hero, and Tomura has grown to hate Heroes to an incredible amount. On top of Tomura finding Izuku annoying, we also have the other side of that, where Izuku HATES what Tomura has done

To me it's a bit of a "you have good points but you also make the worst ones sometimes" kind of relationship. It's interesting! At least, in my eyes. I think there's a lot you can do with that kind of thing when writing them too

It's not exactly in canon explicitly I think but. it's something I've noticed

Fandom sleeps on them, YES. Can you believe that, throughout this entire story and the lead-up, only as this arc has started am I seeing people talk about these two? For all of their narrative complexes and similarities and foils, it's amazing (derogatory) that only around the mid-300's am I seeing people talk about them

Also like. the fact that we have season 6, where we literally have a Hero-Villain ending (Toga and Ocha, Dabi and Endeavor etc) with mostly Izuku and Tomura visuals, and yet still, people don't talk about it?? How great it is?? What??

There's probably more but. there's like so much there and it feels like the fandom should be talking about them more. So yeah I think they're slept on big-time

(Though, I am only on tumblr, so maybe people talk about them on twitter or reddit or whatever? but I don't see a lot of people talking about them on this site so, that's where my explanation is coming from. it's from my perspective of the fandom)

I don't really need to get into this a whole lot since I've already talked about it before but, villain and hero aesthetic? Bubbly round cute features and sharp scarred broader features? The contrast? Yes yes yes

BRING ON THE ANGST. I WON'T BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT BUT BRING IT ON ANYWAY

With comedic potential, there's just a lot I'm thinking of. The fact that they are both nerds. The fact that they both have ghosts inside their heads. The fact that Izuku has Tomura's grandma in his head. I mean, even in canon, these two have some pretty funny moments. Izuku looking Tomura in the eye despite being in a hostage situation and being like "the difference between you and Stain? he has a goal, he knows his purpose. unlike you" (I'm paraphrasing obviously but that's basically what he said). Tomura sneaking up and holding Izuku hostage JUST so he can vent to him. AND he thanks Izuku for the advice afterwards. That moment in War Arc where Tomura said "little brother" and they both just fucking looked at each other like "what the fuck was THAT? anyway-". Izuku trying to wrap Tomura up in Black Whip and then being hurled across the battlefield. Izuku wrapping Black Whip around Tomura and then hugging him from behind in an attempt to keep Tomura still. Tomura just chomping down on Izuku's arm. That one sketch Hori did with Izuku and Tomura dressed up as horror characters in a Totoro film set. The list goes on, they keep making me laugh

The vision... for all that I talk about them, they have only met 4 times in the story (USJ, Mall, War, 2nd War), 3 of those being battles while one of them was with the boys actually talking, and that talk just showed SO much potential as a pair they could have. I wanna see more scenes like that one. Izuku wants to save Tomura, Tomura wants to be saved, but it feels like there's so much left in their dynamic and relationship. We're almost there

Next, Mera and Nagant

From here on out, what I'm talking about is only in my head because they've never actually met or talked about each other in the canon story tho we live in hope

Better in fanfic - bro MY fanfic. I mean, I don't have a fanfic about them. Just the posts about them and HC Trio au. But... in my head

Narratives - Nagant hating the Chairman (and probably also Chairwoman? Maybe? CW sent her to prison and also made her image and case a symbol to everyone who ever thought about betraying the HC, "this is what will happen to you if you disobey" yknow? but she also stopped Nagant from being executed so... pros and cons? 🤷‍♀️) and going against the HC, having trauma around that, meeting Mera who is now temporary head of the HC? I mean it practically writes itself

Aesthetics, I made a post about it but. sleepy guy office employee who probably slept in his uniform and badass lady assassin who dresses pretty and she is pretty and has muscles vs his lanky arms etc

I see the potential I have the vision we are NOWHERE NEAR it being almost there but I can hope I can imagine and I can make memes

Comedic potential. I mean, pathetic sleepy man office employee who suffers comically and badass lady assassin who suffers from her Tragic Past who would not be able to take him seriously. Also she has a gun. Like I can imagine the following scenarios; Nagant protecting Mera (and whoever else) with her gun while they hide behind her, Nagant carrying Mera with her Big Strong Arms calmly while Mera's holding on for his fucking LIFE. Mera naturally suffering comically while Nagant is all serious and keeps her cool. Imagine it

I don't really know what to say about the fix each other-make each other worse thing. I haven't thought it out extensively. Bit of both? Maybe? Trust me on this one tho

Angst - This centers around Nagant's trauma and past. I have a specific vision with this but like. yeah it's there. It's not always there but it's there. Nagant's motivations for finding the Chairman in the first place, wanting to kill him, her body still healing from the damage she took but she's determined to kill another chairman... yeah (and then she finds out the guy is only a temp and has only been in this position for like a month or smthg nsdufndsj)

#bleh i don't know if i did this right #im not thinking about canon so much as what i think about the duos #also sorry for the explanations they were supposed to be short but i got to ranting #thank you for the ask!😊#asks with metty #bnha asks #ask game #hc trio au

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