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babypandawrites · 3 years

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Allies, Pt. 8

The Deserter

Pairing: Sokka x F Reader Warnings: Burn Injury Word Count: 3,300 Summary: As usual, things do not go as planned. Lesson learned, going to a Fire Nation festival should always be tucked into the bad idea folder.

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Taglist: @boomeraangin

Eyes wide, Y/n snatched one of the pages hanging from the notice board before the others could see it. It was a wanted poster of her. It wasn’t the first time the Fire Nation put one of these out for her, but that didn’t make it any less alarming! She balled up the page as Katara approached the notice board, and shoved it into her pocket. Grimacing, she moved to stand next to the girl. None of them saw that, right? “This should give us a good idea of what’s around here.” Katara noted, as she looked over the board. “See if you can find a menu, I’m starving.” The two girls ignored Sokka, as Aang rushed up to the board. He pointed to a colorful flyer that had been hung up. “I bet we’ll find something to eat here! The Fire Days Festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits… jugglers, benders, magicians. This’d be a great place for me to study some real firebenders!” Looking at her friend, her eyebrows furrowed together. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Aang.” Sokka pointed to something on another side of the board. “Yeah, you might wanna rethink that. Look at this.” Y/n walked over to see it was a wanted poster of Aang, the boy soon joining as well. There was also one for ‘The Blue Spirit’- That being the masked person who ended up being Zuko- and a white haired man. “Hey, a poster of me!” “A wanted poster. This is bad.” Aang took the wanted poster off the board as Katara walked over to look at it. “I think we better keep moving.” “I have to learn firebending at some point, and this could be my only chance to watch a master up close.” Katara looked at the ground, thinking for a short moment. “I guess we could check it out.” “What!? You want to walk into a Fire Nation town where they’re all fired up with all their, you know, fire?” Crossing her arms over her chest, Y/n looked between Katara and Aang. “I’m gonna have to agree with Sokka on this one, this is a terrible idea.” “We’ll wear disguises and if it looks like trouble, we’ll leave.” Katara suggested, as her and Aang walked over to Appa. Sokka breathed out a sigh. “Yeah, because we always leave before we get into trouble.”

On a hill outside of the town, Aang told Appa and Momo to hide, only one of the animals being successful in the feat. Y/n giggled watching Appa attempt to hide behind a small bush, he was truly adorable. “Ready disguises!” At Aang’s words, Y/n, Sokka and Katara pulled the hoods of the cloaks they wore over their heads. Aang had pulled the top of his shirt over his head in a completely ineffective disguise. He grinned at the three, as Sokka crossed his arms over his chest. Katara and Y/n laughed at the silliness of it. “It’s like you’re a whole different person.” Sokka spoke sarcastically. Aang started to lead the way down the hill. “Let’s go!” The group walked down to the main square of the town, it was full of people. Several of the people enjoying the festival wore colorful masks. “I think we need some new disguises.” Sokka looked at his sister, somewhat annoyed. “Where are we gonna get masks like that?” Nudging him gently in the side, Y/n nodded her head over to a stand a few feet away from them- It was selling masks. “Get your genu-ine Fire Festival masks here!” “That was surprisingly easy.” Each of them had gotten masks to wear- Sokka wore one with a happy expression on it and Aang wore one with a sad expression. Looking between the two, Katara and Y/n took the masks off the boys and switched them, matching their masks with their moods. Walking further into the town square, Aang pointed ahead. “Hey, there’s some food.” “Finally!” Sokka rushed up to the food stand. “What do you have?” The food merchant grabbed a small bag, steam came from it. “Flaming fire flakes! Best in town.” Sokka grabbed the bag from him. “I’ll take ‘em!” He stuffed them into his mouth, but quickly started to scream and huff, steam blowing from his mouth. He partially removed his mask to cool his tongue. “Aaaaah! Hot! Hot!” Katara crossed her arms. “Flaming fire flakes, hot? What do you know.” Y/n snickered. “Never would have guessed that.” Aang looked off to the side, and started to walk away. “Hey, look at this.” The three followed after him, stopping near a puppet stage. The audience in front of the stage was composed of children. The curtain in front of the stage drew open, and a puppet of the Fire Lord appeared. The children cheered. “Don’t worry loyal citizens! No one can surprise the Fire Lord!” Behind the Fire Lord puppet, a puppet of an earthbender rose up, with a rock ready to strike the other puppet. The children in the crowd cried out warnings. The Fire Lord puppet suddenly turned around and torched the earthbender puppet with a gout of flames. As the children cheered at the display, the group turned away from the performance, and followed Aang as he led them to another area. “Aang, hold on! Where are we going?” Katara questioned as they walked. “I don’t know, but there’s a big crowd so it must be good.” “Knowing the Fire Nation, it’s probably an execution.” Y/n furrowed her eyebrows together under her mask. “The Fire Nation doesn’t hold public executions..” She mumbled to herself, following after her friends to get a better look at the stage. A firebending performer stood on the stage, manipulating flames for the crowd's delight. He extinguished the fire and produced a small flock of white birds that flew off the stage. Aang partially took off his mask, watching the birds fly away. He turned back to the stage, a large smile plastered onto his face. “I gotta learn that trick!” “Thank you! For my next trick I need a volunteer from the audience!” Aang’s hand shot up in the air. “Oh! Oh! Me! Me!” Sokka looked at him. “What do you think you’re doing?” “I want to get a closer look.” Y/n’s arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” “It’s better that we don’t attract any attention to ourselves.” The performer pointed at Katara, after she finished speaking. “How about you, little lady?” She backed away, shaking her head. “Uh…” “Awww, she’s shy. Leeet’s give her some encouragement, folks!” Someone in the audience pushed Katara to the edge of the stage, where the performer grabs onto her and hauls her up. “Awww! That could’a been me.” The performer ushered Katara to the center of the stage, sitting her on the chair that had been brought out. “This next trick is called ‘Taming the Dragon’. You will be my captured princess!” He used a maroon ribbon to tie her to the chair, before beginning to bend a huge fire comet from the fires that stood atop the pillars of the stage. He looped it close to Katara then moved it back away. He controlled it by a flame rope that connected to his hand. “Don’t worry, young maiden. I will tame this fiery beast!” He continued to control the fire comet. “It’s too strong, I can’t hold it!” “We gotta help her!” There was a hint of panic in Aang’s voice. “No, we don’t want to make a scene!” Sokka tried to stop him. “Yeah- Aang, it’s just a performance-” “The rope, it’s breaking!” The rope the performer was using to control the comet broke, the flames charging at Katara. She cringed and cried out. Aang airbended himself up, Sokka, Y/n and another man failing to restrain him. He dropped down in front of Katara, and created a whirlwind that dissipated the comet in a shower of confetti. The performer looked at Aang. “Hey, you tryin’ to upstage me, kid?” The crowd started to ‘boo’ Aang, and as he did a little dance to amuse them, Sokka and Y/n hopped up onto the stage to untie Katara. “Hey! That kid’s the Avatar!” Someone shouted from the crowd. This caught the attention of three Fire Nation guards, who started to weave through the crowd to get to the stage. “I think it’s time to go.” Sokka said, as the group removed their masks. “Follow me! I can git ya outta here!” The man who tried to help stop Aang before called out to them. He stood near a broken wall at the back of the stage, waving them over to it. “There they are!” One of the guards shouted as they got to the stage. They ran through the broken wall, and once they were through the man threw a smoke bomb at the guards to obscure their view. The group ran through squares and alleys, the man who helped accompany them. A guard pointed at them, as they passed him. “Over there!” “I’m calling Appa!” Aang got out his bison whistle and blew into it, as a group of guards started to pursue them. “I hope he can really hear that bison whistle!” Sokka commented. “This way!” The man turned into an alleyway, that was a dead end. “Okay! Not this way!” They turned to leave, but the exit was blocked by guards. The man threw another smoke bomb at the guards, allowing the group to run past them. They ran into another alley, but it was also a dead end. “Appa! Down here!” Aang called to the bison as he arrived just in time. Appa landed between the group and the guards and hit his tail against the ground, blowing the guards out of the alley. They all got up onto Appa and took off. The man who had helped them used a bomb like object to set off fireworks that had been in the alley. He removed his hood as they flew away. “Nice touch setting off the fireworks.” Aang commented, watching the fireworks go off. Sokka looked at the man, impressed. “You seem to really know your explosives.” “I’m familiar.” He turned to face them. “You’re a Fire Nation soldier!” “Was. My names Chey.”

The group settled around a campfire that night. Chey was speaking with them. “I serve a man. More than a man really, he’s a myth, but he’s real, a living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general, or wait, was he an admiral?” Sokka looked at the man blankly. “He was very high ranked, we get it.” “Yeah! Way up there! But he couldn’t take the madness any more. He’s the first person to ever leave the army- and live. I’m the second, but you don’t get to be a legend for that. That’s okay though. Jeong Jeong’s a firebending genius. Some say he’s mad- But he’s not! He’s enlightened.” “You mean there’s a firebender out here who’s not with the Fire Lord?” Aang stood up, excited. “We’ve gotta go see him! He can train me!” “We’re not gonna go find some crazy firebender!” Chey stood up. “He’s not crazy! He’s a genius! And he’s the perfect person to train the Avatar! That’s why I followed you into the festival.” Sokka also stood up. “Look, thanks for the help, but we’re leaving for the North Pole in the morning.” Aang furrowed his eyebrows together. “Sokka, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me.” “It can’t hurt just to talk to him.” Katara said, standing up. “That’s what you said about going to the festival! Why doesnt anyone ever listen to me?!” Sokka turned to look at Y/n, who has yet to speak. “Come on, Y/n, you’re with me, right?” She was silent for a moment, thinking. “Well… Aang does need to learn Firebending eventually… Hmmm..” She shrugged her shoulders. Groaning in frustration, Sokka turned to stalk away from the group, but stops having nearly run into a spear. Suddenly, they were all surrounded by men wearing straw hats and armor, each of them wielding a spear. “Don’t move!” They were led through the forest by the rebel men, after a long time walking, they came across a small shack that had been settled at the bottom of a hill. “Go on. He sees you only.” The man who’d Y/n had learned the name of was Lin Yi, spoke to Chey. “Oh that’s okay, we can chat later.” “Is that where Jeong Jeong is? I need to talk to him right away.” Aang tried to walk towards the shack, but was stopped by a spear shaft blocking his path. “No! You wait there.” Lin Yi pushed Chey forward roughly. “Go now!” “Don’t worry! Everything’ll be fine. He’s a great man, great man!” Chey walked down to Jeong Jeong’s hut.

Y/n had fallen asleep during the wait and in the morning had learned Jeong Jeong agreed to teach Aang firebending. She sat on the ground outside, doing some stretches while listening in on the lesson between Jeong Jeong and Aang. “Widen your stance. Wider! Bend your knees. Now, concentrate. Good, good!” “Wait! What do I do now?” She glanced over to see that Jeong Jeong had begun walking away. “Silence! Talking is not concentrating! Look at your friend,” He pointed at Katara. “Is she talking? What about her?” Then he pointed at Y/n, before pointing at Sokka. “Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he’s doing.” “Hey!” Snickering, Y/n went back to focusing on her stretches. Aang breathed out a sigh. “But what am I concentrating on?” “Feel the heat of the sun. It is the greatest source of fire. Yet, it is in complete balance with nature!” “So when do I get to make some fire?” “Concentrate!” Katara, Y/n and Sokka all laughed a bit as Aang tried to concentrate, feigning innocence when he turned to look at them all.

“This is the worst firebending instruction ever. All he does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate or breath.” Aang complained, as he held a leaf with a small hole burned in the center in his hand. “I’m sure there’s a good reason.” Y/n nodded in agreement with Katara. “There most likely is. Jeong Jeong is a Master, he’s bound to know what he’s talking about.” “But I’m ready to do so much more.” His face lit up when an idea came to mind. Widening his stance, he began to take in deep breaths. The leaf he held started to smoke, before suddenly bursting into flames. With the leaf disintegrating, Aang was left holding a fireball in his hand. “I did it! I made fire!” Katara took a few steps closer. “Aang, that’s great, but you should take it slow.” Eyebrows furrowing together, Y/n once again nodded in agreement with the girl. “Yeah, this doesn’t seem like a good idea, Aang.” The flame got bigger, in reaction to Aang’s annoyance with their comments. “Careful!” Aang regained control and reduced the flame to its former size, but he nearly fell into the river doing so. “Now that’s firebending!” He shot a whip of flames into the distance, before beginning to juggle the ball of flame happily. Y/n took a few steps back. “Aang, you should stop.” “Yeah, you’ll hurt yourself!” She was about to tell Katara to get back, but was a bit too late. Aang created a circle of fire around himself, pushing it outwards. The flames burned Katara’s hands, when she raised them to protect her face. Crying out in pain, she crumpled to her knees. “Katara!” Aang and Y/n shouted in unison, rushing over to her. The latter kneeling down next to the waterbender. “Katara, I’m so sorry.” Sokka rushed over. “Katara, what’s wrong?!” He looked at Aang, clearly upset. “What did you do?” Aang held his hands up in defense. “It was an accident! I was… Katara, I’m so-” He got cut off, from Sokka tackling him to the ground. “I told you we shouldn’t mess around with this! Look at what you did! You burned my sister!” Katara got up, and ran away. Getting up herself, Y/n rushed to grab her bag, before running after the girl.

“Katara?” Y/n tentatively approached the girl, as she sat at the riverbank her hands dunked into the water. “I have some salve that should help your burns…” Trailing off, she watched in shock as Katara’s hands glowed underneath the water. They glowing stopped as she lifted her hands from the water, the burns on her hands now gone. “That… also works.” “You have healing abilities.” The two turned to see Jeong Jeong approaching them from behind. “The great benders of the water tribe sometimes have this ability.” The man took a seat next to Katara. “I’ve always wished I were blessed like you- free from this burning curse.” “But you’re a great master. You have powers I’ll never know.” “Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forced those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor’s edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart.” Suddenly, the water in front of them is blasted with gouts of flame. Jeong Jeong stood quickly, taking a defensive stance before breaking the flames that threatened to hit him, Y/n and Katara. Fire Nation riverboats floated across the water towards them. “Go get your friends and flee! Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed. Hurry!” Y/n helped Katara off the ground, before the two ran back in the direction of Jeong Jeong’s hut, where Sokka and Aang should be. They ran up to Sokka, where he was preparing Appa to leave. He turned to look at them, worry written onto his features. “Katara! Are you all right?” “I’m fine, we’ve got to get out of here. Where’s Aang?” Sokka pointed his thumb in the direction of Jeong Jeong’s hut, turning to Y/n when Katara ran down to it. “What’s going on?” She tossed her bag up onto Appa’s saddle. “The Fire Nation found us. Jeong Jeong is dealing with them right now but honestly I’m not sure how long that will last. We should leave and fast.” “Right.” He nodded in affirmation, before raising an eyebrow. “What did you do to help Katara?” “I was going to give her some of the salve I have for burns but, turns out she didn’t need it.” “What do you mea-” “Come on!” He got cut off by Katara, as she ran over and clambered up onto Appa. Once the three were all up on Appa’s saddle, they went and got Aang, before leaving. “Aang, you’re burned.” Katara said, once they were up in the air. His sleeve was torn, burn marks covering his skin. “Let me help you.” She opened her water container, before wrapping some of the water around her hand. It started to glow, as she placed it over Aang’s wounds. After a moment of concentration, she pulled her hand away and the wound was healed. “Wow! That’s good water.” Sokka looked at her confused. “When did you learn how to do that?” She offered a shrug. “I guess I always knew.” “Oh… well then thanks for all the first aid over the years. Like when I fell into the grease briar bramble and that time I had two fish hooks in my thumb!” Y/n let out a snicker. “Two?” “He tried to get the first fish hook out with another fish hook.” “Wow.” “Oh, and the time that big snake bit me! Thanks for healing that up. That was great. Really helpful.” He continued, as they flew into the distance.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar the last airbender x reader #atla x reader #reader insert #sokka x reader #sokka x y/n #sokka x you #team avatar #slowburn #book one allies

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jyndor · 3 years

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I’m rewatching the Puppetmaster for ~research~ and ugh.This is such a good episode but I cannot stand the treatment of Hama and also Katara’s special bending ability. And I’m gonna talk about it because I can’t help myself. But I also want to offer a solution maybe something that the writers could have done instead. Granted I’m a white US American so while I am about to talk about imperialism, anti-indigenous racism and racialized misogyny, I am coming from a position of privilege here and ymmv. It’s important that we as fans (especially white fans) acknowledge the things that our favorite stories can do better so that we can make our fandoms safer for everyone.

And btw fans of color have been talking about this so I definitely am going to be quoting some phenomenal bits of critique I have read on here. Also you should follow @shewhotellsstories and @visibilityofcolor for anti-racist fandom commentary.

I am also going to talk about grooming, so just be aware if that is a trigger for you.

I. Hama as a Campfire Horror Story Monster

The episode starts out with the Gaang camping in a creepy forest telling ghost stories to each other. Set to spooky music, Katara tells a story about something that happened to Kya, a friend named Nini (likely) dying in a snowstorm and then haunting her family’s home as a ghost. Immediately after, Toph hears people screaming under the ground - and then Hama finds them and invites them to her inn.

Every so often, Hama says something spooky with the spooky music playing. Katara immediately takes to Hama, but the others (especially Sokka) find her pretty unnerving. Katara says she reminds her of Gran Gran before Sokka starts snooping around and finds a bunch of puppets and a comb from the Southern Water Tribe. It’s the standard horror movie fakeout.

Every so often we get an artfully placed hint about Hama’s agenda - pulling water out of thin air, showing Katara that “plants - and all living things” are made of water. And oh yeah, she makes herself ice claws. Cool skill, but in the context of the episode, a little more unnerving.

The “moon monster” that Old Man Ding mentions, the alleged Moon spirit, turns out to be Hama (of course) and the tension builds to a peak as the Gaang rush to save Katara from the “dark puppetmaster” that has imprisoned the villagers.

Meanwhile Hama and Katara stand under the full moon washed in spooky cool lighting with an ominous breeze around them. You see Hama practically transform into a monster in a way sort of reminiscent to a werewolf - her fingers become claw-like, her veins pop out. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it’s a coincidence that as she reveals her true agenda, she becomes less human in appearance. Which... okay I’ll get to that later.

While I can’t say that Katara fits the Final Girl trope very well, I do think it’s interesting to note that horror movies often do feature women as heroes who defeat the monster/killer/whatever and usually the Final Girl is used to allow audiences to experience the full horror of the villain, which absolutely is how Katara is used here. Yes, her friends come to help, but she saves everyone in the end (my queen).

So here’s why that’s bullshit.

Framing Hama as a horror story monster make sense when you don’t think about the Implications of framing the indigenous woman POW living surrounded by people who have benefited from Fire Nation imperialism. It does - it’s a common trope: the reclusive witch who first seems kindly to some lost/wandering children before revealing her true intention - to use them for her own purposes. Yeah, I know they’re playing on Hansel and Gretel. But yeah, I’m gonna call bullshit on that too - drawing on a c*nnabalistic witch for inspiration when you’re writing an indigenous woman character is probably not the way to go.

II. Hama the Puppetmaster* and Groomer

A puppet master is obviously a puppeteer, and Hama has puppets (creepy though they may be). But in terms of the underlying meaning, she’s a chessmaster, an Emperor Palpatine/Dick Cheney kind of master manipulator who works mostly through other people. What most people would consider a psychopath (in layman’s terms). When her friendly mask falls, she is terrifying.

She is cold, calculating, manipulative as fuck - she isolates Katara almost immediately. Hama uses Katara’s desire to connect with her culture to groom her to become a weapon. It’s actually such a good example of grooming that it has to be purposeful:

Targeting a victim - Hama hears that Katara and Sokka are from the SWT. She also hears Katara tell a story about Kya. To Hama, a waterbender from her own culture is a hell of a target.

Gaining trust - Hama reaches out to Katara in particular, is especially kind to her, gives her individual attention that the others don’t get. She prepares a SWT feast for them and tells the Gaang about her heritage when they go snooping.

Filling a need - so once Hama has given Katara reason to trust her about waterbending, she promises Katara to pass on SWT waterbending heritage that only Hama knows. She fills a unique need of Katara’s.

Isolation - From then on out, we don’t see Katara with the rest of the Gaang until the end of the episode. Hama seems like a normal teacher but she does start to drop little hints, pushing Katara very gently to see how she will react to her real agenda and desensitizing Katara to what would otherwise seem unacceptable coming from someone else who hasn’t established that unique trust. “You’ve got to keep an open mind, Katara.”

So this would be the point at which Hama would make sexual contact but this is metaphorical so that obviously doesn’t happen. What does happen is Hama pushes Katara’s limits. She makes her pretty uncomfortable with the idea of killing the fire lilies for water, but when Hama appeals to their shared history of marginalization she gets over it.

Maintaining control: Hama makes her final move, which is obviously bloodbending, and reveals her true agenda - and when Katara refuses to manipulative living beings’ blood, Hama violates her bodily agency. And not only this, but she pushes Katara into bloodbending when she victimizes the Gaang, fully realizing her control.

Hama sees it as a victory, and telling Katara breaks down at the end in one of the most emotional scenes in the show. She feels like so many of us have felt at some point: violated, betrayed by someone we trusted. And then they never really deal with that.

I actually think that’s the point of The Puppetmaster, especially given ATLA being a show for children. I think it’s supposed to be a metaphor for csa.

And... okay.

Undoubtedly it is important to send these messages to kids. And yes, people usually are victimized by those closest to them, by those in their own communities. But not indigenous women. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but according to the National Congress of American Indians, Native American women and girls are more likely to be sexually assaulted by non-NA men. 57% of cases are perpetrated by white men. Not the people in their communities.

Choosing to tell this story with an indigenous woman POW (who very likely would have been victimized herself lbr) is a choice that I find really aggravating. When writers tell stories with a Point, it is incredibly important for those writers to understand the implications of what they are saying about the characters who they are using to make that point.

Like I’m not saying don’t make that point, or don’t use Katara (who would in real life be at a higher risk of sexual violence than the others) to make it, but why make the perpetrator someone who is statistically unlikely to be Katara’s abuser? I’m not sure I have a good answer to that question. My guess is, like with making Hama animalistic and about as unsympathetic as it gets, the writers just had blinders on about the cultural implications of what they were saying.

Not even considering the whole victimizing-the-“innocents”-of-the-Fire-Nation-town plot, Hama’s not a good person. This is probably because she was driven mad by the need for revenge, which, eurgh okay, but still it’s very apparent that she is not interested in winning over Katara’s support directly or honestly.

* also the antisemitic history of this trope hmm.

III. Hama and The Victims of Genocide Victimizing Oppressors #NotAllFireNation

Okay. So this is the part that I think annoys me the most because it’s so bad. Like, imagine for a minute that you’re a white guy and you’re gonna tell a story about a victim of genocide who is completely divorced from her culture and homeland, and furthermore is an escaped prisoner of war who has radicalized in prison - okay it just hit me, I know what they MIGHT have been going for, like maybe some kind of anti-Gitmo statement? But that didn’t happen. People who were stolen away from Iraq and imprisoned illegally in Guantanamo Bay, and who were released after being detained illegally, haven’t really shown any real radicalization. They’re pissed at the US for victimizing them, but like that seems pretty fair considering so many of them did nothing wrong.

That’s been the US government’s excuse for not releasing innocent people who were detained illegally. The idea that prisoners of war radicalized in Gitmo so they can’t be released because they’ll attack the US is propaganda. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, but that’s where it comes from.

Considering the time period ATLA was written, considering how much of it was inspired by the US wars of aggression and imperialism, considering how political ATLA is (and why it was so popular during its initial run - during the years that Bush lost a ton of popularity) I think if that’s what they were thinking about, that’s not great.

But for all of Avatar’s good messaging on imperialism and war, it’s still written from a white US American mindset. Well surely I’m not responsible, surely you shouldn’t imprison and abuse me, a random white girl in the States. It’s my government, which I cannot control because of two-party politics or some shit.

So first off, that’s shitty because oppression is often about systems, not individuals. Sure we need to always consider the individual experiences of people who are victimized, but the people who are benefiting from imperialism? Me? Fuck if I care if someone in El Salvador or Iraq or Chile or idk any of the countries we have meddled in, let alone from a marginalized community in the United States, hates white US Americans for what our government has done - and that’s even silly because white US citizens support our government. Like we think the institutions are sound, although sometimes we don’t support the guy in charge. We think the cops are going to help us, even though that isn’t really the case.

Why frame it about what she’s doing to the Fire Nation civilians at all? Why make Hama the villain? I don’t think they wanted her to be unsympathetic, I mean they tell her story and I don’t think anyone would conclude that it doesn’t justify her desire for revenge, but why tell this story through a victim of genocide?

Recently I saw a post by @sunkin-akh where they point out that Hama basically quotes Malcolm X:

I was literally just watching the Hama episode again and I just noticed for the first time that while forcing Katara to bloodbend she says that they must fight back against the Fire Nation (and she used this exact phrase) “by any means necessary”, which is Frantz Fanon’s phrase popularized by Malcolm X during the Civil Rights Movement (iirc). They directly compared Black liberation to Hama’s evil acts and it disgusted me.

The full context:

Hama: The choice [to use bloodbending] is not yours. The power exists. And it’s your duty to use the gifts you’ve been given to win this war. Katara, they tried to wipe us out, our entire culture, your mother.

Katara: I know.

Hama: Then you should understand what I’m talking about. We’re the last waterbenders of the Southern Tribe, we have to fight these people whenever we can, wherever they are, with any means necessary.

I find that so appalling because it is framing resistance, specifically anti-racist resistance, as barbaric and monstrous. And given the way that Hama is portrayed at this point, about as inhuman as anyone in ATLA, that is extra gross.

Finally, after Katara defeats Hama, she is lead away by the authorities in CHAINS.

So now the FN cops are the good authorities who we’re gonna trust a SWT waterbender with? I mean she’s a villain so we’re probably not supposed to feel bad for her, like yeah sure the FN is usually bad but she’s a criminal so it’s okay that they take a POW back into custody.

No, no, no.

I know I am reading into this far more than the writers intended - but that’s kind of the point of critically engaging with media. Because shockingly writers don’t always question their choices - they are people and have implicit biases just like all of us. When those writers come from a privileged culture that has colonized the culture they are using as “inspiration” for their story, they need to be extra mindful of how they represent those people.

IV: How To Write Hama

Well, I’m not gonna talk over indigenous fans on this one on specifics, and you should read this rewrite by @kispesan but my thoughts generally are:

lose the horror framing it’s just not right for this context and this character

don’t frame Malcolm X as a villain because that’s nasty and racist

have Katara learn to use bloodbending in ways that she is comfortable with (and not just like once in one episode where she’s extra vengeful and the hero of the show doesn’t approve of her actions JFC) and don’t make the dark-skinned girl the only character whose special bending skill is dubious (I know she also has healing but still)

bring Hama home

have indigenous people in the writers room

Anyway, I’ve gone on wayyy too long. Let me know if I am speaking out of turn please if you feel that I am. and I’m sure I had other thoughts but if you want to read some other good pieces of Hama meta, I’ve listed some below:

post and another post by @marsreds

this post and this post by @visibilityofcolor

this post by @shewhotellsstories

anyway katara is a queen and should have been allowed to heal, and hama never should have been irredeemable because if you can make iroh redeemable, if the show was going to redeem AZULA, you can make hama redeemable.

#hama #racism #atla fandom #fandom racism #katara #some amazing people on here who i hope don't get mad i mentioned them #grooming tw #racism tw #i sure hope i remembered everything i wanted to say butttt

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storiesbeyondthestars · 5 years

Text

I remember watching S4 & 5 and realizing ‘oh, Lance is going to end up having a huge part in Shiro’s arc’, though at the same time, as anyone who has read my story Ignite the Stars knows, I predicted the shit out of the Keith and Shiro fight (which, to this day, remains one of my favourite moments in Voltron). I always knew that a Keith and Shiro showdown was the only way for that to go, I just thought Lance would be involved somehow.

But he wasn’t. It was one of those little moments that had me stumped. A lot of people just got mad and accused the creators of hating Lance, getting rid of his arc, being racist, all kinds of bull like that.

It got me thinking though. Why set up Lance being the one to notice something was wrong with Shiro? Yes, a few others noticed that he was a bit off, but not in the same way.

It was one of those things, in retrospect, that Lance pieced together and realized ‘oh fuck it was staring me right in the face’. Some fans like to claim that Lance is the most observant one attuned to others feelings but…no, he’s really not. I can now confidently say that that wasn’t the point of the entire thing at all, because I think I know what it was, and I think we’re about to see this play out in S8. (Heads up, this gets super long.)

Lance isn’t the most observant of the Paladins. He’s not the most sensitive. He’s not the most intelligent. He can think of good plans, but he’s also an impulsive little shit too and isn’t the most patient. Lance’s greatest strength is the fact that he’s adaptable. Lance, from episode one, has been shown to learn from his mistakes. We see this when he crashes a simulation but learns from it and adapts, and is able to better fly Blue later.

We saw this when he went from claiming he would never follow Keith’s lead to being the first one to vocally support him. We saw this when his gun turned into a sword and he rolled with it.

Lance learns and adapts like no one else, especially when he makes a mistake. And we know a part of him feels guilty about what happened with Shiro.

That’s so important with Lance, because he’s not going to make the same mistake again.

I want to talk about Keith for a second now.

I’ve been one of the ones with the on-going theories that something is going to go down with Keith, that Honerva wants to get her hands on him for some reason that likely has to do with his connection to quintessence (and the fact that he was soaked in an entire vat of it). It’s very likely that she’s going to try to corrupt him in some form.

As we know now, in moments of extreme emotional distress, Keith does seem to get access to more Galra characteristics. The sclera of his eyes turn yellow, his irises become slits, it looks like he gets fangs, and, from those two moments during his fight with Shiro, he seems to become stronger.

While fighting with Shiro, those two moments were there for a reason. Keith was thinking about his actions, he was entirely on the defensive, but Shiro pushed him once and he lashed out, and that’s when we saw the Galra eyes and Shiro saying “There’s the Keith I remember”. It’s not because of Keith’s eyes, it’s because that’s literally the Keith he remembers, the one who would run full-tilt into a fight rather than play defensive.

The second time, Keith’s life is in danger, and Shiro says that the others are dead and Keith once again acts on instinct.

That part of him that shows up isn’t necessarily ‘feral’ or bad by any means, but when Keith’s in whatever frame of mind he gets in to prompt the physical changes, he moves by pure instinct.

A lot of people who don’t like the theory that Keith’s going to be corrupted or something argue that it’s playing into the ‘Galra are animals’, ‘Galra are all bad’ and stuff like that, but no, in this case, it’s not. Galra have never one been shown to react the same way Keith did. Not once. Galra have never once been shown to be able to shift their forms without quintessence. And that’s why I bring it up in this at all.

And Haggar/Honerva never showed any interest in Keith prior to this, where she would have been watching from Kuron’s eyes. We know this, because she wants Kuron to kill him. Keith’s eyes changing is the only thing that really would have caught her interest. She saw something there, something that made Keith stand out, and I doubt it was just the fact that he defeated Shiro.

I think that Honerva’s been targeting Keith ever since. The last thing she told her druids to do was to target the Blade of Marmora. Pidge assumes that the destruction came about because everyone in the Blade was exposed after Lotor fell, but what if that wasn’t the case? That was just Pidge’s assumption and we do face unreliable narrators all the time in this show.

Honerva doesn’t know what happened to them, but she was watching through the clone’s eyes when Keith introduced his mother to Shiro and called her ‘a member of the Blade of Marmora’. Not hard to extrapolate that Keith was one too.

She’s a puppet master. She doesn’t need to do everything herself. So she sends her Druids after Keith – taking out the Blade of Marmora in the process, but keeping Kolivan alive to draw others in.

The fact that the druid doesn’t target Krolia immediately in The Ruins tells me something was up with that. She admitted to training a ton of Blades. She’s a high ranking member. She should have been target #1. But she wasn’t. Keith was. Yes, Kosmo separated Keith from the others, and the druid threatened to kill him – but I don’t think that would have ended up being the case.

I think that a part of him maybe hoped to hold Keith (like Kolivan) until he could find ‘Haggar’ again.

Except, she was gone doing her own thing with the Alteans, growing her own Empire. And she didn’t leave it at that. I think that Acxa too is working for her (in a show of loyalty towards Lotor most likely…to try and help him), and has been trying to track Keith specifically. She literally tells us this.

Unlike the Druid, Acxa helps them. Acxa puts herself in a position where it seems like Keith and everyone else can trust her. She plays on Allura’s feelings for Lotor too – relating to her over the entire thing. It works.

Now, why am I talking about all of this? Because something’s up with Keith.

1.He doesn’t appear much in the trailer. Two scenes (get to your lions and when he’s fighting). The last time they pulled that with Keith, it was because he left Voltron. Now, I also think they only showed us footage from maybe 3-4 episodes, so that’s still a lot, and there was plenty of Voltron shown so Keith has to be there (not to mention stuff from NYCC), but the point still stands.

2. In this first pic of the group, he’s up front and center. Keith doesn’t shy away from being the leader now. His posture is open, confident, and he’s ready for anything.

Then we got the picture from what’s likely the filler episode, and it was pointed out that something looks terribly wrong with Keith’s eyes.

There’s no shine to them, which is a pretty good indicator that you should be wary of a person, that something’s wrong with them. At first I thought it was just an error, cause budget, but they’ve added in that detail in smaller scenes before.

It’s not there on purpose. (This series of pics came from this post here on twitter!)

It’s very likely that something or someone is working to ‘corrupt’ Keith in a sense. Probably his quintessence. Who does he currently trust that was shown looking for him specifically at the end of S7? Oh, right. Acxa.

It wouldn’t be hard to isolate Keith. Get Pidge and Hunk doing their own thing, Shiro busy being the Captain of the Atlas, and Lance and Allura off with one another? Not to mention the hurt Keith probably feels about that whole thing? Yeah, he’s going to be spending time with Acxa, likely being more isolated from the others and slowly corrupted.

The newest picture tells me this too.

His eyes already seem dull there, and he’s physically very separated from the rest of the Paladins (outside of Shiro, but that makes sense given the layout of the ship). Pidge, Lance, and Hunk look ready to throw down with whatever they’re looking at, Shiro too, and Allura looks super concerned, but Keith doesn’t even look like he’s looking in the same direction.

He’s Voltron’s leader. He should be front and center if there’s a threat there (plus that’s the Keith-thing to do). He’s not. This is the second image where he looks off. Something is wrong.

In the trailer, we see him alone. He has nothing but his Marmora Blade with him. He looks cornered and desperate. That’s not a good thing. Something is wrong.

Now this started as a Lance post and turned into a Keith one. Why?

Well, if Keith’s subtly being corrupted, subtly starting to change and act differently, no one’s going to catch onto this, right?

Unless, of course, there’s someone around who almost caught onto a very similar scenario, but ended up just shrugging it off and felt terribly guilty over that. Someone who just happens to be defined by being adaptable and learning from his mistakes. Someone who seemed to lose part of his own story arc out of nowhere.

Lance was never going to be the one to save Shiro, because he’s going to be the one to save Keith. THAT is what the entire thing is building to. I mean, you can take it from a platonic standpoint if you wish though I don’t see it that way.

Keith being ‘corrupted’ is super similar to what happened with the clone, and that’s the entire point. Lance wasn’t able to help Shiro and sees it as a personal failure. We know he does because he was in tears about it. It’s especially important that Shiro tried to reach out to Lance in the Astral Plane – because that moment turned into a failure, and ultimately, that’s the place that Lance is going to actually save Keith.

I still think that we’re very likely to see a fight between the two of them – and no, I’m not romanticizing violence between a pairing. Jesus. The assumption that the fight in and of itself is the exciting part is disgusting. Keith won’t be in his right mind at all, and in the end, it won’t be Lance defeating Keith the way Keith defeated the clone that decides the ‘winner’. Keith outclasses Lance as a swordsman by a long shot, and Lance isn’t going to be able to defeat him.

Keith tried to reason with Shiro, tried to talk to him, but it didn’t work. In this case, Lance is going to try to do the same. He’s going to try and reach Keith because he doesn’t want to fight him. They’re not enemies. At the very least, they’re friends. And it’s going to work. He’s going to get through to him, because no, violence isn’t the answer to this at all.

That’s what makes it so powerful.

So, to summarize: Lance’s storyline with Shiro appeared to be dropped, but it really wasn’t. It was set up for his upcoming storyline instead.

#klance #theorytime #my thoughts #s8 spoilers #vld spoilers #vld s8 spoilers #voltron spoilers #tagging those for the pictures used #and also s8 speculation #just in case #lance #keith #long post

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razorblade180 · 5 years

Text

Patriarchal Prison

[Schnee Manor]

*the middle of the night*

Whitley:Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Klein:* bust into room* Master Whitley, what is the- oh my....

*room snowing and Whitley incased in ice. Ice rods from his arms connect to the ceiling*

Whitley:*Panicing* I can’t move! W...what is going on!?

Klein:Sir please come down. I’ve seen this before.

Whitley:You what?

Klein:*Walking away*

Whitley:Don’t leave! I need help.

Klein:Don’t worry, I know just what to do. Luckily your sister is home.

*five minutes later*

Weiss:*night gown* Sigh, Whitley what do you-oh! Well would you look at that. You’re sleep freezing *sees snow on the ground* bout time. Winter would love to see this.

Whitley:Sleep freezing? This is normal?

Weiss:Your semblance has finally unlocked. It happened to Winter and I when we awakened ours. It’s just proof you’re growing up.

Whitley:Well how do I get out?

Weiss:hmmm, Klein can you prepare two hot chocolates and bring my sword. Keep the hot chocolate on the stove.

Klein:Right away *leaves the room*

Weiss:*inspecting the him* Are these rods? Pillars maybe? I got to say you really did your room a number ; it’s freezing.

Klein:*hands her sword and leaves*

Weiss:Thank you Klein. *creates a heat wave*

*almost entire room returns to normal*

Weiss:That’s more like. *trying to warm up*

Whitley:*still trapped*Aren’t you forgetting something important?

Weiss:Oh I can’t unfreeze you.

Whitley:What!?

Weiss:*points to glyph under him* That glyph is keeping you like this. Fire dust won’t really work; also I don’t want to burn your room down.

Whitley:*struggling* Are you saying I’m trapped like this!?

Weiss:Until your aura runs out; I can unfreeze you then. But.....

Whitley:But what?

Weiss:You’ll freeze again next time you fall asleep. Only you can stop this permanently by stopping the glyph by yourself.

Whitley:Well aren’t you helpful?

Weiss:Hey, consider yourself lucky. Winter had to figure all this stuff out alone and had to get Klein to smash her jail bars when she went through this. She almost got frostbite bite until she figured it out.

Whitley:Jail bars?

Weiss:That’s what she kept making every night. A small jail cell with our crest on it. None of us made the same thing.

Whitley:What did you keep making?

Weiss:....A bird cage.

Whitley:That’s....random.

Weiss:Not really *somber* Our creations represent our mindsets; the way we feel about father.

Whitley:oh...so her jail cell was...

Weiss:Her way of calling her time here a prison. She only got out when she learned to move past that idea.

Whitley:*examines himself* (I know exactly what I’m in...) Wait, I get a jail cell. A bird cage though, that’s a bit strange.

Weiss:Oh, I guess I never told you huh? Figures, we’re only now starting to get on good speaking terms.

Whitley:Told me what exactly?

Weiss:....The reason I started to hate you.

Whitley:......

Weiss:*takes a deep breath* You may or may not remember this but either way you should know I’m in the wrong here.

Whitley:Okay.....

Weiss:Your fifth birthday was coming up and like any little kid you were excited. *chuckles* I remember Klein constantly had to tell you that lie about little boys who sit still get more presents.

Whitley:*small smile* I remember it didn’t work and I tried sneaking into cellar to see if anyone hid them down there. I also remember tumbling down though steps; hard.

Weiss:*Wincing* You scraped your knee really bad. I ended up picking you up and carrying you back up because “you thought it was shattered.” Always so dramatic.

Whitley:*red* Whatever....I was basically five.

Weiss:You kept crying and crying even after you got patched up. I finally got fed up with it and started singing you a song to distract you. It ended up making you feel better.

Whitley:It was the first time I heard you sing. You caught me by surprise. I remember wanting to hear it again so I- ...... oh

Weiss:When your birthday finally came around you only wanted me to sing happy birthday. I would’ve said no but father was there and you would’ve cried. So I sang Happy Birthday; in front of him, his advisors, and the rest of snobs trying to get friendly with him.

Whitley:That was the first time you ever sang in public wasn’t it?

Weiss:Yep, and they liked it just as much or more than you. I’m typical opportunist fashion, father saw how people adored the voice of Weiss Schnee. By next morning, I’m taking singing lessons everyday. Just so he can use my talent to gain profit; I was basically his little canary. Singing to draw attention.

Whitley:Hence the bird cage....

Weiss:For years I blamed you and your constant whining for things to go your way for my situation. It wasn’t right though; all you wanted was to hear your big sis sing and it’s not like he wouldn’t have found out eventually. I despised you for enjoying my talent like everyone else; I’m sorry.

Whitley:*sigh* I...can’t really blame you. I’d be pretty pissed too in all honesty. We’ll call it even.

Weiss:Even?

Whitley:Your tenth birthday; the fight between mother and father because you wanted him to show and he didn’t.

Weiss:I remember....

Whitley:That was the last day we saw any motherly love. I always blamed you for her phoning it in on us. Even though I probably shouldn’t have.

Weiss:You were eight; of course you’d be upset. I was so upset I even blamed myself over it.

Whitley:Geez, our parents really are something huh?

Weiss:If we can even really call them that.

*both chuckle slightly*

Weiss:I least we had Winter right?

Whitley:*reserved* Actually you had Winter. Too you young to really interact remember? She was already heading to Atlas by the time I actually started to matter to this house.

Weiss:And then I went to Beacon. I really left you all alone didn’t I? *rubs his face* some big sister I turned out to be.

Whitley:Eh I wasn’t exactly being the best younger sibling. This manor really is a prison though; I can’t fault you from leaving.

Weiss:Well I’m here now at least. *smiles*

Whitley:Yeah, you are aren’t you? *smiles* too bad you can’t do anything to help my current situation.

Weiss:Oh yeah, *pulls on Ice rod* still not budging.

Whitley:That reminds me, How’d you open your bird cage.

Weiss:Simple, Winter and my fans showed me something real important. Something you showed me on your fifth birthday.

Whitley:?

Weiss:It doesn’t matter if he profits off of me. I’m using my gift to cause real smiles; that’s something he can never take. Just like that, the bird cage faded.

Whitley:That simple huh? Just owning what you have?

Weiss:Winter realized she didn’t have to be bound by his rules, I took back owner ship of my talents, and you...*looks at him*

Whitley:.....

Weiss:When will you realize you’re not his puppet to control. *looks at the rods* those are supposed to strings aren’t they?

Whitley:It’s easy to reclaim a talent someone uses Weiss. What’s not easy is looking in a mirror and accepting just how much you look like the person you hate the most.

Weiss:.....

Whitley:Everyday is a constant reminder. No matter what I say or do it’s “Just like Jacques.” I can’t stand it

“You shouldn’t have to”

Winter: *walking in with the hot chocolate* People are always gonna judge and compare. It’s important to not let it weigh you down. Or bind you in this case.

Weiss:Winter!?

Whitley:Why are you here?

Winter:Isn’t it obvious? To make sure you don’t freeze. I took a job close to home cause I figured this would be happening soon.

Klein:She rushes over as soon as I called her.

Whitley:....

Winter:*looks around the room* to be honest I was really hoping that at least you would thrive in this house. Guess we’re all sick of his influence.

Weiss:He’s really stuck in there. The glyph doesn’t even look like it’ll stop anytime soon.

Winter:*staring at Whitley* It doesn’t have to. He’s gonna breakout right now. First try.

Whitley:Like that will happen. Even you-

Winter:You’re not me are you? You’re not any of us. You’re Whitley Schnee. You’re more intelligent than I was at your age and more in control of your feelings then Weiss was.

Weiss:She’s right you know? Most importantly though, your leagues better than Father. You might look like him but that’s the only thing. He doesn’t even have a semblance.

Winter:Or the humility to see his own faults. *sips out of mug* He doesn’t even like cocoa. *holds out a mug* what about you.

Whitley:....Honestly you two.... *reaches for mug; breaking the ice apart* who doesn’t like cocoa? *sips* it’s basically the best thing for a cold house.

Winter:See? Completely different in every way. Told you that you can do it.

Whitley:Thanks...both of you.

Weiss:Don’t sweat it. We’ve all been there.

Whitley:I’m guessing it’s time to actually call it night this time....

Winter:Well...I’m already over here and have nothing planned.

Weiss:I’m actually not tired anymore so... maybe we should just spend sometime together. Haven’t done that in years.

Whitley:Klein?

Klein:*smiles* I’ll make more beverages.

Whitley:Actually I was gonna say go rest. We can take of everything from here.

Klein:Why I do believe you can. *closes door* hehehe *looks at an old picture* I do believe you can indeed.

#rwby #whitley schnee #weiss schnee #winter schnee #schneeblings #rwby klein

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eddie-redmayne-italian-blog · 6 years

Photo

We Asked Eddie Redmayne And Katherine Waterston Your “Fantastic Beasts” Questions

“This movie could be called Fantastic Beasts and...It’s Complicated.”

Posted on July 12, 2018

Ellie Bate

In 2016, Warner Bros. announced that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – the Harry Potter spinoff set in a 1920s iteration of J.K. Rowling's wizarding world – would become a series consisting of five films. Now we're only six months away from seeing the second, and fans have questions. We know the story will take place over two decades of the early 20th century, culminating in 1945, when Albus Dumbledore famously defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. We also know that the sequel will see characters visiting London, Paris, and New York, and that we'll see a young Dumbledore played by Jude Law. But we don't know much else.

Last week, we at BuzzFeed had the opportunity to meet with the film's stars, Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston, to get some info about the upcoming sequel. We asked them your nerdiest questions, and their answers were definitely interesting...

Aside from Dumbledore, can we expect to see any old friends from the Harry Potter series in Fantastic Beasts? – madelinerosee2

Katherine Waterston: You can expect that.

Eddie Redmayne: You can. There’s these sort of lines of connecting families and familiar people and names to the worlds of Beasts and Potter.

Which relationships between characters are you most excited to see develop in the upcoming films? – queenoffckingeverything

ER: I mean, our relationship! I’m hoping for an extraordinary J.K. Rowling romance. We know that we end up together, basically.

KW: But how?! How is it going to happen?

ER: Jo sort of tells us bits, but I don’t know. I loved our bit in this film. It’s so complicated. It’s complicated.

KW: Look. It’s complicated.

What can you tell us about Newt and Tina’s relationship in The Crimes of Grindelwald? Has it progressed or developed at all since the end of the first film? – Megan Walsh, Facebook

KW: Progressed? Regressed, maybe.

ER: There was so much hope at the end of the last film, but there’s miscommunication.

KW: Yeah. It’s a long-distance relationship!

ER: It’s desperate because they’re sort of pining for each other, but things have gone awry. Part of this film is about them re-finding each other.

KW: Yeah, but you know, there’s a lot going on, so it’s hard to just have a cup of tea and catch up and sort things out.

ER: We were quite excited at the end of the last film. We thought, Oh my god, we’re going to get to have a lot of fun working together on this film! And then the script arrived and it became clear that it wasn’t going to be that easy. We’re going to have to work for this romance.

KW: But that’s fun. It’s fun to have it be complex and surprising and rich.

What’s one thing that might surprise fans about the new instalment of Fantastic Beasts? – katerinap

ER: It’s so much darker than the last one. I think Jo loves that. In fact, I think she even said that to me on set. She was like, “I just love it when it gets darker.”

KW: It’s more complex. I think it’ll be a really fun journey to revisit and look for clues and things you might have missed the first time. It’s really dense and full of interesting dynamics and relationships and wonderful wizarding lore.

ER: I love that she has such an extraordinary imagination for plot. It’s so tightly wound, this story, that you have to pick apart each element of it. It feels like an extraordinary puzzle.

We know Newt prefers working with animals, but the trailer shows him working with Dumbledore. What motivates him to work with his former teacher? – Ginny Lemarie, Facebook

ER: A part of this story is about Newt’s call to action. One of the lovely things that I adore about Newt is that he’s just completely his own person – he doesn’t get pulled in to become a member of the tribe. People are always trying to recruit him, but he’s his own person. And yet, actually, the stakes get so high in this film that it’s really him questioning whether he can continue doing that or whether at some point you have to engage.

As for Dumbledore, he and Newt have always had this kind of wonderful master/apprentice quality and there’s kind of a joy between them. But Dumbledore’s sly. Dumbledore’s been recruiting Newt a little bit, and he certainly does in this film. I suppose the reason he’s pulled to engage is because the stakes are so high. That Grindelwald dude is causing havoc.

Since you already know what happens at the end of the series thanks to the Harry Potter books, does that inform the way you approach your characters? – Lucy Friedl, Facebook

KW: I would say no, because we – within our series – don’t have any clue where it’s going. You know, Jo will occasionally give us a little hint about something, but unlike the Harry Potter series, we don’t have books to refer to, so it’s a lot more, in a sense, like real life. You know, events happen and we respond to them.

ER: But it’s kind of wonderfully reassuring to know that we’re gonna end up together, right? Hopefully happily married.

KW: We still have to play it like we have no clue what’s happening, though. And isn’t that fun? That the audience is a step ahead of us? They can watch us fail and misunderstand each other and fail again and struggle to come together, and they can think, “Aw, these suckers. They don’t know it, but we know it. It’s going to work out.”

But maybe she’s going to change her mind! Who knows?! She’s J.K. Rowling! She can do what she wants!

How did it feel to have the fantastic four reunited? Have their relationships changed since the end of the first film? – Wanda Atlas, Facebook

KW: This is the kind of question that’s gonna get me in a lot of trouble.

ER: Do it. Get in trouble.

KW: It was amazing to be reunited. We spent so much time together on the tour and working on the first film, and it’s always so exciting when everybody goes away and people’s kids get bigger and people fall in love, all sorts of things happen. It’s really wonderful to all reunite and get the gossip.

ER: Those first early days when we come back to work, there’s no work happening. It’s just life catch-up and David Yates occasionally going, “OK, there’s work going on here, team. Enough with the banter.”

KW: As for this film… [thinks for a bit] Things have changed. With all the relationships in the group.

ER: You said that really enigmatically, it was brilliant. The idea of the quartet... I think, momentarily, the band has been disbanded.

KW: But the concern and the bond and the intimacy is still there. These people are very important to one another.

How much of a role will the beasts play in the upcoming films? Please tell me Pickett has a hand in the defeat of Grindelwald! – clairk

ER: I don’t want to give away too much, but Pickett definitely indirectly – just because he’s brilliant, and does these brilliant things effortlessly – helps us out. But there are also new creatures. One of the things I enjoy most about these films is getting to work with the puppeteers and the visual effects designers. In those early stages, when we’re prepping in the months beforehand, we’re seeing all these wonderful designs, and you’ve had a sense of what the creatures are when you read the script, but you see the visual effects team – who are like actors themselves – come up with these ideas that are like your ideas on steroids. There’s one creature in this – a very, very big, huge creature – and he sort of plucks me up at some point, and so the reality of filming that is you have a guy called Seven-Feet Pete – he’s really tall, he has massive arms – just having to pick me up all day.

What is the relationship between Newt and Theseus like? Are they close? Does Theseus’s relationship with Leta Lestrange cause issues? – Kerry Endicott, Facebook

KW: It’s interesting that you would ask me that. [laughs] I mean, this movie could be called Fantastic Beasts and...It’s Complicated. You know, all these relationships are really dynamic and rich.

ER: It is really complicated. [Theseus] is an Auror, he’s very establishment, and Newt is kind of the antithesis of that. But what I loved, actually, was the way Jo had written their relationship. It was quite antagonistic to begin with, and it certainly is filled with complexities. I mean, his brother is engaged to this girl who he had a huge affection for growing up, so there’s obviously a real tension there. But one of the things I loved is, actually, Jo said to me seeing what Callum [Turner] was doing and how David was directing – there was a lot of love there – that she progressed the relationship as a consequence of that.

What was the most magical thing that happened on set? – KaralineT

KW: There was this PA who seemed to have the magical ability to deliver a dose of gummy bears to the little holding area for the actors at the moment in the day right when I started to flag. It seemed as if by magic they would appear. I often wouldn’t even see him do it. I would just think to myself, Oh, I’m a little tired, and I would look to my left, and there would be gummy bears. It was pretty magical.

ER: One of the things I find weird about filmmaking is you can be filming wide shots and big things in the morning, and then everyone stops for lunch, and you’re feeling slightly tired afterwards, and you have to go straight into a close-up or an emotional thing. That’s why, basically, I’m a coffee addict. Katherine gave me a lot of grief on the first film about drinking so much coffee.

KW: I’ve never seen one man drink so much coffee in all my days.

Have you ever met any actors from the original series, and did they give you any advice? – UrbannaGirl

KW: You knew Emma [Watson] already, because you’d worked with her, but the rest of us met her the day of the premiere. She came by and she was very sweet when we were all feeling very vulnerable.

ER: I met Ralph Fiennes just before we started filming, and he said what an extraordinary time he’d had, and how brilliant David Yates was. He said there are days when you’re in the back of a scene, and you’re thinking like, oh, I’m not really in this, it’s fine, I can coast, but [David Yates] sees everything. That was…

KW: Scary? [laughs]

What was the hardest thing to get used to when you were filming Fantastic Beasts? Was it something to do with the preparation for your character, or was it something on set? – mcflaherty24

KW: In this film, I wear a navy blue leather trench that I think weighs about 30 pounds. Maybe that’s not a lot of weight for a strong person, but I had to kind of get fit for the coat. It was sort of like trying to move through mud up to your neck. It’s like something’s trying to pull you to the ground all the time.

ER: She had a twitch, which was like, before every single take she would not be comfortable unless she fiddled with her belt.

KW: Yeah, because if I tied the belt really tight, it would kind of lift the weight off my shoulders a little. It was the wandwork. It was sort of like doing wandwork with someone pushing down on your arm, so I got kind of jacked just from the coat. I could start a workout – the Leather Coat Workout. Make a video.

ER: I think for this film, we were kind of prepped, but the most hilarious moment from all the Fantastic Beasts for me was on the last film. Katherine and Ali [Sudol] and Dan [Fogler] and I were all so paranoid about what Apparating was, and so we worked with this movement coach for weeks, the four of us. We would take it incredibly seriously and sort of run and grab each other’s arms and try to Apparate, and we would get so worked up by it.

KW: Nothing would happen – we would just still be there!

ER: We saw the film, and basically the moment you decide to Apparate, they just vis-effects disappear you. All these wasted hours and sleepless nights with Apparating anxiety.

If you could choose a Patronus for each other, what would it be? – janavalcke93

ER: I think that you would be, like, a really elegant foal. Because you’re incredibly elegant and brilliant and occasionally wobbly on your feet. It’s because I know your Patronus is a white horse.

KW: That’s true. And I know your Patronus is some kind of hound.

ER: Aw, a basset hound. Please don’t make me anything else other than a basset hound.

KW: Well, I think it suits how I feel about you in this film. There’s a song – it’s from a very long time ago, and it’s by Elvis. It goes something like, “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog.” Which I think suits how I feel about Newt in this film a little bit. Just a no-good, dirty dog.

ER: She’s got it all wrong. He’s not a dirty dog.

KW: Do I? Do I have it wrong? Girls – the ones that look really sweet? Watch out.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/eddie-redmayne-katherine-waterston-interview?utm_term=.xvR2LldGv#.stADbGpNY

My best wishes to all those who asked questions and received the answers from the lovely Eddie and Katherine!!

#eddie redmayne #katherine waterston #fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald #porpentina goldstein #newton scamander #newt scamander #questions #buzzfeed.com #the theory of everything #the danish girl #obe #talent #oscar winner #best actor

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rockrevoltmagazine · 7 years

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Metallica Delivers a Metal Show for the Ages at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA

Metallica – Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, Massachusetts – May 19, 2017

Metallica certainly has achieved far more than either James Hetfield or Lars Ulrich could have ever imagined possible back when the pair first met in Los Angeles nearly four decades ago. Dreams of opening up for a main stream hard rock or metal act at the Rainbow or the Whiskey were likely the loftiest goals the duo ever initially set their aims on.

Okay for the record, Ulrich was probably contemplating world metal domination back when he and Hetfield would hang out in his boyhood bedroom listening to some of their early musical heroes such as Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Tygers of Pan Tang, Blitzkrieg and Venom.

However, barring getting a hold of Wonder Woman’s truth lasso, tying Ulrich to a chair with it and interrogating him, I seriously doubt that even the boisterous drummer would admit that he thought the band would go on to become the most dominant and driving force in all of hard rock and heavy metal for close to forty years now.

Metallica’s first three records, Kill ‘Em All, Ride The Lighting and Master of Puppets defined the thrash music landscape while creating the blue print countless musicians would use to fuel their own bands’ metal music dreams.

Although the band themselves has decried their fourth studio release, And Justice for All, as being overwrought, Metallica broke new ground with the record in terms of bridging metal music to the mainstream with the video for the transcendent track off the record, “One.”

Whether it was Metallica’s intent or not, the video not only would become the first salvo in terms of launching Metallica as a global music phenomenon, it paved the way for metal music to secure its rightful place in the mainstream universe of MTV and traditional terrestrial radio.

Many members of band’s hard core fan base may have been taken aback by their full on shift away from the hard core sound that had propelled them to fame with the release of the self titled Metallica, popularly known at the Black Album, back in 1991.

However, not only did the record cement the band as kings of the hard rock and metal universe, it also was genre defining in terms of how much of an impact their moving away from the speed and thrash world would ultimately have on metal music as a whole.

Any band that is more than three decades into their career are bound to have some missteps along the way and Metallica has had more than their fair share of maladies both personally and professionally.

On the professional side of the spectrum no one is ever going to bury copies of Load, Reload, St. Anger, or Death Magnetic in a time capsule so some high school kids in Escondido, California in the year 3017 can open it up to hear what “metal” music sounded like during this age.

It’s also a safe assumption to make that many Metallica fans, especially the die-hard crowd who jumped on board with the band in the 1980’s, would be perfectly okay with those records, along with the ill-fated Lou Reed collaboration, Lulu, being buried three to four hundred feet under the ground for all of eternity.

Personally the band has also endured more than a few trials and tribulations, many of which likely would have caused most outfits of Metallica’s caliber to simply call it quits long ago.

The movie Some Kind of Monster provides a brilliant window into the degree of Metallica’s dysfunction as a band, and as human beings, by the time they had reached the early 2000’s.

The film also goes a long way towards explaining why Metallica began to produce material not quite on par with their early career work and why even the band’s live performances during this period suffered.

If anything rock and roll is about emotional ebbs and flows and unlike any other profession, it not only welcomes, it encourages spectacular rises to fame and glory as well as disastrous falls from the mountain top. Rock music and its millions of fans also warmly embrace musical stories of redemption and triumph.

Should anyone question whether or not Metallica has turned the worm on their career yet again, perhaps you should pick up and listen to their new record Hard Wired to Self Destruct.

Taking in one of the Metallica’s surreal and beyond sensory deafening live performances they’re currently putting on these days as part of their ongoing World Wired tour would also be advised.

Whether or not you’re enjoy the band’s music you’d be hard pressed to walk away from one of Metallica’s concerts on this current tour cycle without thinking something along the lines of, “that was pretty damn amazing.”

Hetfield, Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo brought the metal music mayhem to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts this past Friday night to play on the field that Tom Brady and the world champion New England Patriots call home.

Along with a production that included stadium spanning 100-foot video screens, a stage that served as three stages in one, as well as a pyro technic and laser light display that would have even scared King Kong or at the very least that alien from the end of the movie Prometheus off, Metallica announced to all of their New England fan base, they’re back.

Despite all the bells and whistles that are a part of the World Wired live experience and the fact that the band was playing to over 60,000 screaming metal crazies, the beauty in the performance may have lied in the simple fact that it didn’t come off as bloated, instead the concert felt deeply personal from the first note played to the last note strummed.

Even though Metallica chose to start the night’s musical festivities off with two songs from their new record, “Hardwired” and “Atlas Rise!,” the entirely of the crowd was in lock step with the quartet from the jump.

Metallica should be given credit for not only playing these new songs live but for challenging themselves as musicians in doing so. The technical aspects tied to Hard Wired to Self Destruct are beyond reproach, thus the difficulty in terms of playing the Hardwired material in a live setting, let alone to crowds in the tens of thousands, would be daunting enough.

The fact that the band executed these tracks flawlessly while also managing to keep the fans beyond engaged is a testament to not only the quality of the new material, but living proof that the four members that make up Metallica are some of the most gifted musicians on Earth.

There were so many transcendent moments from Metallica’s 18-song set at Gillette Stadium it would take another thousand words to give each and every one of them their proper due.

“Master of Puppets,” with the classic Metallica graveyard imagery and massive puppeteer strings dangling over Ulrich’s drum kit, Hetfield’s evocative and spine tingling vocals on “The Unforgiven,” Trujillo’s homage to late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton in the form of his take on “(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth” while images of Burton dotted the gigantic video screens, Hammett’s many jaw dropping guitar solos or the wave of sky high fireworks explosions and dancing flames that preceded the band’s performance of “One,” were all but just a few of the many high points tied to the evening’s performance.

As for any noteworthy nods or dedications tied to Soundgarden and Audioslave’s front man Chris Cornell, during Trujillo’s bass solo the bassist played several bars of “Black Hole Sun,” while at the very end of the “Unforgiven” Hetfield uttered these four simple words, “We forgive you Chris.”

The band closed out their initial set by coming together at the top of the mini-stage, in what Hetfield termed an attempt at, “Trying to recreate the garage they played in as teenagers,” to perform what would turn out to be a stadium wide sing-a-long of one of Metallica’s most revered songs, “Seek and Destroy.”

The moment came off not only as beyond genuine it also served to remind those in the audience exactly why they have been serving at the alter of Metallica for these oh so many years, the band is just flat out fucking good.

Metallica has always shared a symbiotic connection with their fan base that can be traced back to the days when they would play songs such as “Motorbreath” and “Hit the Lights” to rooms of about two hundred mostly unemployed, in a need of shower, metal heads.

By the time Metallica came back to the stage to perform the final three song encore of “Fight Fire with Fire,” “Nothing Else Matters” and “Battery,” each and every last fan still in attendance likely felt more connected to the band than they’ve ever have.

Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett and Trujillo seamlessly made these connections that much stronger by simply getting up on that massive stage, having a ton of laughs, sharing personal moments with one another, as well as more than a few with fans directly and by delivering a bone jarring and sublime performance that if had to be described by only a singular word, that word be metal!

Something that was impossible not to take notice of was the sheer number of parents that brought their young or millennial age children to see Metallica perform. Considering the band hasn’t toured the United States extensively in close to a decade, anyone present that was born after 2007 was likely taking in their first ever Metallica show.

Thus the most relevant take away from the night may be the fact that through their mere performance alone it’s entirely possible the band may have just inspired countless youngsters to form this generation’s Motörhead, Slayer or even the next Metallica.

That proclamation may come off across as a tad bit unrealistic to some but if a 13-year old Ulrich were in the audience this past Friday, having never seen or heard Metallica himself, he’d likely turn to one of his friends at the conclusion of the concert and say something along the lines of, “Yeah that was pretty good but our band is going to be way bigger than those guys.”

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All writing and photography: Robert Forte / 40 Photography

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Metallica Delivers a Metal Show for the Ages at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA was originally published on RockRevolt Mag

#and justice for all #Cliff Burton #enter sandman #Gillette Stadium #hard wired to self destruct #James Hetfield #Jason Newsted #kill 'em all #Kirk Hammett #Lars Ulrich #Master of Puppets #nothing else matters #One #ride the lighting #Robert Trujillo #seek and destroy #the black album #world wired tour

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