#and it's interesting to see what changed

[salamispots]

something something giant isopod sharing is caring pass the detritus

inprnt

#giant isopod #marine biology #artists on tumblr #inprnt #I tried coming up with a pun but nothing popped up #cackLES #there's also another print up on inprnt that I'm waiting to post when I have other stuff settled 👀 #technically inprnt is getting to see stuff a little earlier haha #also been noticing how my process has changed haha it's interesting #like I'll spend waaaaaay more time now nitpicking/adjusting colors which is fine #but like before when I was still in old process mindset I'd get frustrated and think the colors weren't coming out right #when what I needed was to spend more time figuring it out

[novelconcepts]

One of the most fundamentally interesting things to me about YJ and writing fic, specifically, is how the blame changes hands depending on the story. On whose perspective you're writing from. On whose story it is at a given moment. The very thing I dislike about viewers missing the point becomes so fascinating to me from within the narrative. Who are these characters when seen through the eyes of their peers?

Who does Jackie become? If you're Shauna, she's the love of your life, and your greatest rival, and the other half of your soul, and the person you blame for your dead dreams. If you're Van, she's the respected captain who earns none of your respect in the woods, the one who left you to die without blinking, the easiest target for teenage malice. If you're Natalie, she's competition for affection, the blabbermouth who can't leave well enough alone, the hands putting themselves to no good use. If you're Jackie? You're just a girl. You're so tired. You're so scared. You're losing face a little more every day, and you're made of despair, and you can't even trust your best friend. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

Who does Lottie become? If you're Natalie, she's your direct foil, the splinter under the edge of your thumbnail, the smart mouth to match your own, the confusing amalgamation of normal friend and mad ritual. If you're Misty, she's the first shred of obvious power in months, a leader who might need to be nudged back into line, a fascinating exercise in hitching your wagon to the right star early on. If you're Taissa, she's flat-nuts and endlessly frustrating, she's got your girlfriend's full attention, she's incredibly dangerous. If you're Lottie? You're just a girl. You're so tired. You're so scared. You've built a pedestal you can't keep your balance on, and you're not sure if you're right or going crazy, and you didn't want this. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

From outside the narrative, there is no bad guy. There is no blame. It is no one's fault. It is Man v. Nature, they are doing the best they can with an impossible situation. They're all trying to contribute what they can to the story, for better or worse.

From inside the narrative, you are a teenager trapped in a society constructed entirely of bare-bones-survival with the wildest assortment of girls. From inside the narrative, to stay human, you have to love and fight, respect and judge. Every story changes the game. Every story shifts the blame. A hero in one has the bloodiest hands in the next. And that, to me, is such a thrilling sandbox to play in.

#yellowjackets #yj meta #the piece i'm working on right now is the objective weirdest in terms of van seeing her peers #and i did that very much on purpose. and we'll see after the edits how well it gets across #but it's one of the first times where a van POV allows for NOT trusting lottie #which is fundamentally against canon code #and it's interesting as hell to me to play with. in what contexts would van NOT trust lottie #in what contexts would any of these girls trust or distrust or fall in love with or want to kill one another #how much of that is already present in canon. how small do the changes need to be. twist the dial. see what happens #they're NOT villains. they're NOT heroes. they're just kids. they're just people. #it's not their fault but they won't necessarily see it that way and i love it

[ikeasharksss]

hey im curious

feel free to rb & explain your answer in the tags!

#i will go first <3 #i reread my own fics all the time!!! #it's so fun!! #i am the target audience for every fic i have ever written #like even if it's a gift/for an event i write it bc i am genuinely interested in it #so of COURSE im going to enjoy looking back on those fics #i have uh 24 fics on ao3 now? #so i dont reread All of them #i mainly reread my longer fics bc i just have the most fun writing them #i encourage ppl to reread their own work bc #1 its fun to see how your writing has changed #(my writing has gone through So Much since i started in 2019 lol) #2 if you write for yourself then youll always love what youve written! #n e way thats my 2 cents #pls share w/ me i am very curious #thanks love ya #fanfiction #fanfic #<- promo tags ig

[pro-sipper]

"- 'proshippers' or whatever the fuck you people are calling yourselves now -"

It's. It's still just "proshippers". It's you guys (antis) and the fence-straddlers trying to have their cake and eat it too that keep creating random new phrases to "other" and distance themselves from us. We're here, unchanging, same as ever, in our corner with our silly little stories. We aren't the ones interested in coming up with 500 new labels for people who know that fiction isn't reality.

#proship #proshippers #proshippers please interact #pro ship #proship safe #proshipper #sip rambles #anti anti #proshipping #i just see that on pretty much every dni that mentions proshippers #it's like... what do you mean? nothing has changed #then again they think that proship is the new form of ma/p or pe/ar so.... #obviously not good. obviously inaccurate. also nothing you can say to let them know they're wrong #they like their truth more than the actual truth and they aren't interested in correcting themselves

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

MDZS Disco Elysium AU part 2 - Psyche Skills

Part 1 - Part 3

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #disco elysium #MDZS disco elysium au #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #yu ziyuan #While it's more in vogue to draw a character's skill roster tailored to them - #One of the more subtle details I love in DE is how some of the skill portraits parallel character portraits of people hbd associates with. #Theres somethine rather poetic to be said about how other people shape out thoughts and sometimes act as a 'voice' in our head. #How we are in part a collection of impressions other people left behind on us. #I am a huge Skillhead (Those are my friends! My party members! They love me! They have their own agendas and alliances!) #so of course a healthy portion of this AU is dedicated to them <3 #the Int skills go basically unchanged from DE. Psy as well (with changes to a few quirks in voice). #Fys skills though...well...wwx is in a different body! Those voices belong to Someone Else. #Esp electrochem (MXY in this AU also partied to near death. WWX is withdrawing and craving substances he's never even heard of before) #While I personally don't fully subscribe to Volition Jean I *do* see Volition Jiang Cheng. The voice of your Not Brother keeping you afloat #All three of these parallels make me unbelievably sad. They are also both purple. Art is like that sometimes. #Empathy Jiang Yanli...oh man do I have a lot of thoughts about her. Disco fans Who Know....you can probably see what I'm cooking. #Authority is a really interesting skill in DE because *yes* its about power and intimidation - but it's also about finesse and respect #Titus Hardie and YZY both abuse *and* finesse how they establish their authority - in a way that leaves quite an impression. #2 more mdzs disco posts that I *need* to create and then I'm off to working on raffles <3

[marshmallowgoop]

no thoughts just Heiji Hattori (HD)

#detective conan #case closed #amv #my amvs #eye strain #heiji hattori #harley hartwell #conan edogawa #shinichi kudo #funimation english dub script #video #happy two-year anniversary to 'no thoughts just heiji hattori'! #while it's not my first amv (it's maybe my... fifth?) #it was the first one i made with davinci resolve and the amv that really got me into editing amvs for real #it's the amv that made me believe i could make amvs 🥺 #and in remastering it i deeply understood how ambitious it was! i thought i did a lot of audio mixing for 'messed up' #but that's not even close to all the audio mixing i did here--cannot believe that i did all this for my first big amv project #it took about 20 hours *just* to remaster! #which is something i've been meaning to do for a while now so i'm very happy to finally share the results! #to make this a 'remaster' and not a 'redo' the only changes i tried to make were to the source footage and audio #video now uses almost entirely hd remastered footage from my blu-rays or netflix rather than my dvds #but oh gosh was it *hard* not to touch anything else! i'd do so many things differently now #but this video will always be really special to me (and i can't believe i did it at all tbh!) #i hope seeing it in hd is fun too! i'm so blown away by all the love this vid's gotten #and that it helped increase interest in funi's old english dub is amazing and 100% what i was trying to do with it! #thank you everyone for all the support <333 i wouldn't be the video editor i am today without this vid or your encouragement for it <3333 #like the original the sources used are mostly from what funi dubbed (but mixed in hd by me!): eps 48-49 57-58 77-78 117 and 118 and movie 3 #but i also used episodes 141-142 174 189 239 263 277 291 293 345 479 491 517 and 522 #and ova 3 and tv special 6 (episode one) and movies 10 and 13 and ops 27 31 and 33 and the funi 5.2 dvd blooper for the one line lol #i'm sorry i've been so absent lately! i hope to be more active now... and there are 2 completely done amvs that i'm just waiting to post...

[uncanny-tranny]

Sometimes, I'm sad about the hobbies I have abandoned or have been too intimidated to pick up. But... what good is it, to just beat myself up over that? My bass is sitting in the corner, patiently waiting, and so is everything else. My life isn't over, and I've got nothing to answer to. I'm wading through a sea of time, and I'll pick up the seashells that interest me, and it's okay to put one back in the sand. The current's waves will bring it back to me if that is to be destiny. I can not hate myself into productivity, so I must swim on.

I think the same can apply to anybody. It's okay if you have dropped something, such as a hobby or passion. Human beings are like that sometimes, it isn't reasonable for you to beat yourself into submission. You, too, can not hate yourself into being a well-rounded person. You must cultivate it like you would a garden - with patience, time, and care.

#positivity #encouraging words #i feel like so often people will try to hate themselves into being 'better' people... #...like fitness for instance. so many people slog through fitness not because they are interested in moving their body... #..but because they are told they must do [x] workout or look [y] way... #...and so it becomes a chore that is a means to an end. but... is that how we ought to live you think? #like i go to the gym because it's FUN. i go there to have FUN. i do what is enjoyable there! #i don't worry about anything but if i am doing a weightlife correctly (for safety) and if i am moving and having fun #why would i go to the gym if i am not having fun? fun is a *human need* regardless of age! #we are wired to do fun things - to seek out pleasure. why should we surpress that? #a well-rounded person is somebody who can be in-tune with their feelings and can recognize what is enjoyable... #...and not only that but to not feel *bad* about their feelings or needs changing (this is - at least - my opinion) #i thought this was an interesting conversation and something i sometimes struggle with and see others struggle with

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - The World Within

#kingdom hearts 0.2 birth by sleep a fragmentary passage #kh0.2 #the world within #dwarf woodlands #realm of darkness #scenery #my gif #this world is interesting because it's so different from the rest #the sky looks like some sort of dome with triangular screens that project a broken glitchy sky #almost as if it takes place in some kind of data simulation #which i don't think is the case but it adds to the feeling of aqua's experiences here not feeling ''real'' #i mean this place hardly even resembles what the original world is supposed to look like #like it changed to match aqua's psyche. forcing her to look at her own reflection and confront her own fears; doubts; guilt; and sadness #actually now that i think about it this feels extremely fitting for this world #it's like when snow white was running through the forest and was so afraid that it made the trees around her look alive and dangerous #except aqua has to wander this broken world and face her dark thoughts that take shape by looking exactly like her #she's constantly running in and out of mirrors into rooms that make no logical sense like the endless staircase and the pillar maze #there are ghostly echoes spoken in her own voice that mock her by saying no one can save her and no one wants to. it's chilling #i can't even say for sure if the phantom aquas are actually physically there or if it's all in her head #similar to how she'd see visions of terra and ven #she's such a tragic character

[emergingghost]

julien baker live lyric changes masterpost

the many ways that julien changes her lyrics over time and seamlessly alters the lyrics and meanings of her songs to maintain a level of personal authenticity has become so fascinating to me and many others so i thought it'd be nice to do some research and compile as many as i can. enjoy! or cry! whichever!

the original lyrics are in parenthesis, changes are bolded, roughly in chronological order and i’ve added timestamped links to performances [x] where i can! i use mostly youtube because it's the most accessible. some of these seem to be permanent changes and others are just occasional, probably depending on how she's vibing with the song at the time (i'm assuming). let me know of any i’ve missed!

Rejoice: [x] [x] [x] pronoun change, does this lots! "i know there's a god and they hear either way" ("i think there's a god and he hears either way") [x] she uses the 'she' pronoun here this time! [x] she sings 'force' here and also in a version she performed pre-release "asking why did you let them leave and then force me to stay?" ("asking why did you let them leave and then make me stay?")

Good News: [x] [x] [x] these are not full lyric changes but rather some gut-wrenching repetition. side note she performs a cover of paul by big thief in the first clip here too! "it's less about you / it's all about how i ruin everything oh everything i do / everything i do / god i ruin everything oh everything / oh everything i think could be good news." ("it's less about you / it's more about how i ruin everything--- i think could be good news")

Distant Solar Systems: [x] pronoun change speaking of god, she also omits the second last verse. "I send postcards from the road and now and then she answers" ("and now and then he answers")

Turn Out the Lights: [x] [x] [x] this one hurts! a few times in late '18 and in '19 "maybe i'd do it but it's not a joke" ("i'd never do it but it's not a joke")

Sour Breath: [x] [x] another one that hurts!! "think all the liquors gonna keep me warm / burn everything down just to prove i could / leave you inside a body made of wood" ("think all the liquors gonna keep you warm / burn everything down just to prove you could / leave me inside a body made of wood") [x] audio only from 1:16 (same changes as above +) "i don't do too well when everyone's worried about me" ("i don't do too well when nobody's worried about me")

Appointments: [x] [x] [x] in lots of performances post-2018. she switches between using 'know' and 'think' occasionally “i know that i ruined this / but i think i can live with it / nothing turned out how pictured it ... i think that i failed again / but i know you’re still listening” ("i think if i ruin this / that i know i can live with it / nothing turns out like I pictured it ... i think if i fail again / then i know you’re still listening") [x] audio only - from 2:45 (same changes as above +) "i hope you're still listening" ("i know you're still listening")

Happy to Be Here: [x] tiny changes. not sure if she's done this more than once "different me would be inhabiting my body / have two cars, a garage, a dog..." ("different me would be inhabiting this body / have two cars, a garage, a job...")

Something: [x] [x] [x] [x] (she adds 'again' a lot, even since 2015) “asking aloud why you’re leaving again” (“asking aloud why you’re leaving--”) [x] (this was prior to release) "asking aloud why you're leaving again / i know you won't answer me" ("asking aloud why you're leaving --- / but the pavement won't answer me")

Red Door: [x] "beneath before you won't follow me down" ("beneath before you wont follow me there")

Shadowboxing: [x] [x audio only - from 3:09] "tell me that you love me / tell me you love me / i wanted so bad to believe you / so tell me you loved me / tell me you loved me / i wanted so bad to believe you" ) ("when you tell me you love me / tell me you loved me / i wanted so bad to believe it / so tell me you love me / tell me you loved me")

Ziptie: [x] [x] [x] [x] (side note the end of the second clip rules!!) “someone’s/somethings got my heart in a ziptie” (“someone’s got my head in a ziptie”)

Tokyo: [x] [x] [x audio only - from 1:30] in a few performances in 2022 “a seven-car pile-up of every disastrous thing that i am" (“a seven-car pile-up of every disastrous thing that i’ve been”) + also sings "accident" instead of "aftermath" in the audio clip

Relative Fiction: [x] [x] [x] [x] does this lots! "honey you're the only thing i'll wait around for" ("--you’re the only thing i’ll wait around for")

Highlight Reel: [x] [x audio only from 1:45 ] original chorus lyrics are 'you feel' but now in one chorus she sings 'to' and the other she sings 'you' "ooh it's a highlight reel / tell me how to feel" ("ooh it's a highlight reel / tell me how you feel")

Ringside: [x] [x] [x audio only from 3:50] two separate lyrics changes in these clips! "like a scratch-off ticket how i dig my nails into your skin" ("like a scratch-off ticket how you dig your nails into my skin")

(from final verse) “nobody deserves a second chance / so why do i keep getting them?” (“nobody deserves a second chance / but i keep giving them”) [x] [x] (from the second last verse) “nobody deserves a second chance / but somehow i keep fucking getting them” (“nobody deserves a second chance / but honey i keep getting them") Anti-Curse: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] she doesn't always change 'foreign characters' "writing the words to the best love song you've ever heard" ...“sounding out familiar characters” ("writing the words to the worst love song you've ever heard"...“sounding out the foreign characters”)

Favor: [x] [x] [x] [x] first change - changing to 'why?' in most live performances “why couldn’t you make me do it?” (“well you couldn’t make me do it”) [x] [x] new change from MSG in 2023! “how did you make me do it?” (“well you couldn’t make me do it”)

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Funeral Pyre: [x] this is just a funny thing i found on my hunt. the audience accidentally corrected her grammar, theyre singing along and sing "needed so badly" instead of the original "needed so bad" and everyone took a lil' moment to laugh. Funeral Pyre: allegedly. i just read about it somewhere so have no proof!! “while i drank gasoline 'cause it's what i needed so bad” (“while you drank gasoline 'cause it's what you needed so bad”) Shadowboxing: [x] she doesn't really change any lyrics significantly but repeats the final verse for emphasis.

Good News: [x] (i think an early/demo version but i cant find any other recordings/videos of this version!) "how i fuck up everything i think could be good news" ("how i ruin everything i think could be good news") Rejoice: [x] house show performance from 2015 before official release. a few different lyrics! "ask you why did you let them leave and then force me to stay?" ("asking why did you let them leave and then make me stay?") (final verse) "i rejoice anyway / i rejoice either way" ("i rejoice i rejoice / i rejoice i rejoice") Sour Breath: [x] she added a new mini verse repeating "the harder i swim" where there are usually just instrumentals or 'oohs.' then she continued with the original final "the harder i swim the faster i sink" verse.

Sour Breath: [x] house show performance from 2015 before official release. there's an entire additional verse where the repeated 'the harder i swim the fast i sink' usually is. proceed with caution. "...too late to talk just go to sleep been up too long and you've been drinkin' all night it's almost a week and you haven't said a word been thinkin' it isn't worth the tryin' it takes to fix everything you hate about me all that you wouldn't wanna see

the harder i swim, the faster i sink and all i ever wanted was to pull you down with me was to pull you down with me don't you wanna sink with me? don't you wanna drown with me? just let me pull you down..."

#julien baker #boygenius #lyrics #there are probably many more but the internet is infinite and this post would never see the light of day if i kept searching #some of these changes are so minor but i thought id add them anyway because i personally found them interesting #lmk what you think if u read this i know its loooong haha <3

[beaulesbian]

I was once again thinking about this goofy Luffy moment after his Lucci punch™ and i had to see it frame by frame.

first the force of it throws them both away, and while Lucci is seen on screen tumbling for a long moment, Luffy is just away in a blink of an eye.

and then his funny scene - his legs are like jelly that he tries to get under control,

he stumbles, falls, rolls into a mix of all his limbs and eyes,

and then only the cloud behind him cushions his fall

- which would be interesting if he can subconsciously control that while he tries to regain the control over his movements - that the environment around him still adapts to his awakened Devil Fruit abilities and morphs to help him. Where others would probably fall through that cloud, for Luffy that cloud backs him up like a trampoline.

It's just fascinating!

#still thinking about this new ep? its more likely than you think #monkey d. luffy #monkey d luffy #one piece #one piece spoilers #one piece ep 1100 #luffy #mine #gif:op anime #long post #egghead arc #egghead spoilers #op spoilers #sun god nika #gear 5 #i guess something like that might have been already used in wano but its these new eps that im caught up with so its like. new for me lol #and something i can notice while waiting for a new eps #i wanna know more how much the DF controls luffy and how much he is able to control it.. . *thinking face*. #especially if what im thinking could be some parallels between lucci having worse control over his DF (in the current manga) than he thinks #if it changes his characteristics that much and if that could be used as storytelling point to see that either 1. yeah it could be potentia #danger for luffy too. or 2. luffy is that stronger that he can already control it better by now. even maybe subconsciously #i just love how this anime part aired during that interesting rob lucci manga chapter few weeks ago. like.. so many thoughts

[ganondoodle]

Destiny, a pre-skyward sword legend of zelda fancomic ✨

Chapter 1: Demon (page 45 - 48 out of ca. 70* ) *it was 70 in the rough draft, less now as i have been cutting things due to pacing

archive at @tloz-destiny

(german version will start at chapter 2 over on @tloz-destiny-de )

#ganondoodles #tloz destiny #loz #tloz #zelda #art #comic #fancomic #fanart #demise #hylia #ghirahim #tbh i will never know what to tag it as so it reaches the people that might be interested #and doesnt annoy anyoen else #gdfjkvgdfkgvkdf #anyway #as always i want to aplogize for the varying quality #some pages just work better than others and i never know why #plus my style just kinda .. changes in kinda unessecesary ways without me noticing until i look back #seeing all those super pretty consistent in style indie comics kinda makes me feel bad about it all #given that it changes so much it feels like people who want to start from the beginning might be disappointed or taken aback #by how different every update looks #but i guess its more about the story and less about the art #tho i feel like my writing - while decent- isnt genius either so it makesm e feel the art part is all i can go for really #ANYWAY stumbling forward steadily lmao #and thank you for sticking with it #i feel like i have been losing more and more so seeing the comments and espeically tags means so so much to me #its literally whats keeping me motivated enough to keep going #<3

[perplexingly]

My account is truly ancient, and I've drawn for so many fandoms and some of the over decade old drawings are still in circulation, and just by experiencing how fandoms interact with them I have gained knowledge I don't know what to do about,,,

#eg Lorax fandom still exists #Berserk fandom keeps old pieces in circulation for literal decades #Or like #Every now and then I'll see tags like: 'I can't believe I found it again!! I first saw it when I was a teen and it changed me as a person' #And then I look and it's the most random drawing with 1000 notes #These are very humbling btw it's interesting what sticks with people and how different it is from my own feelings #Also #It's interesting that it's the less popular pieces from niche fandoms that get circulated far longer #While the ones that got many notes from bigger fandoms lose relevance immediately #(with some exceptions)

[quietwingsinthesky]

it ever hit you out of nowhere that castiel is living in a dead guy's body and the show just does not care. it does not care. jimmy novak might as well not exist the moment he or claire is out of sight. cas stole a guy's body and his face and his life, and we can't ever talk about it or discuss it in detail because of how fucking horrifying it is that sam and dean's best friend just walks around in a dead guy suit. there's not even a human soul in there anymore. it's just a corpse. stone-cold body snatcher indeed.

#castiel spn #spn #this is not like a Castiel Crime (tm) to be clear. this is more me being (un)surprised that the show is Like This. #castiel is a horror story he is so much a horror story in the rapture #and then they just uh. never bring up again how horrifying and fucked up this is for another like 7 seasons #and when they do its to briefly go :( claire lost her dad :) but its okay! she forgives cas for it! #which!! NO SHE SHOULD FUCKING NOT!!! #but we can't have that discussion. we can't talk about that. because to acknowledge that it's fucked up would mean making cas kind of. evil #in a way that would vastly improve his later character arcs btw. if we had to reckon with not only this massive transgression #but with the fact that cas himself STILL DOESN'T SEE IT AS ONE. #that on a lot of fundamental levels. he is still functioning as he did in s4. a lot of that base programming is still there. #something something how cas never changes out of his suit under his trenchcoat #but it's like. jimmy said yes. so it's fine. that's what it is to him. #anyway. i wish they hadn't been scared of making all three of the boys more fucked up in later seasons. #thank GOD for dean being interesting in how he becomes Worse <3 because they were not bringing that for castiel. #again. good version of spn where jimmy's bloodline is an off-shoot of the lucifer vessel bloodline. explaining a) how lucifer Got In There #and b) letting lucifer possess claire later so that the two of them can have daddy issues together. #something about cas being the monster-not monster that jimmy let in that destroyed his life. #something about lucifer being the monster-not monster that castiel lets in later. the cycles. they are cycling.

[youchoseeachother]

Sam, getting to know Dean in season 1.

#was there even anything he knew about dean. like... #i wonder if it's because dean has changed a lot during the four years they were apart #or if sam was too young/immature to actually see dean past his exterior before stanford #probably a mix of both. but it's so interesting because the idea he had of him doesn't have anything to do with the actual dean!! #sam winchester #dean winchester #supernatural #spn season 1 #corespnedit #.anna #also psst this is why it's dumb to call dean a creep just because sam once implied that dean would sleep with minors #like sam at times tends to see him as worse than he is! #like when he can't believe dean actually loved cassie or cares about saving a kid's life #so - don't trust too much what he says about him #in particular because all of the women dean actually slept with were roughly the same age as him or older #(aside from the fact that sam was probably joking that time)

[fictionadventurer]

What was the point of Scrooge's trip with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? On a structural level, it makes sense--three is the fairy tale number, and you can't visit the past and present without also including the future--but on a character level, it doesn't quite seem necessary. Showing a man that he'll die alone, unloved, and unmourned seems like the strategy you take as the last-ditch effort to convince a guy that he needs to change his ways. But that situation doesn't apply to Scrooge. He started softening immediately after he first arrived in his past. By the time he finished with the Ghost of Christmas Present, he was fully onboard with the need to reform, so the Ghost's vision of his future seems like unnecessary cruelty. Why show him all this when he was already planning to change his ways?

A few things come to mind. One is that this vision of the future wouldn't have affected Scrooge unless he had already changed his ways. A cold, hard businessman could have seen his lonely death as just the way of the world, might have viewed the people who stole the clothes from his corpse as just people doing what's practical in this world. He needed to relearn the value of the intangibles--human connection, respect for others--to see the true horror of the lonely death and the vultures who defiled the dead man.

But why the horror? Can't he reform without being threatened with doom? It's possible--but it's also possible such a reform would be temporary. After all, Scrooge started as a friendly, loving young man, but retreated into himself and his business out of fear of poverty and fear of the way the world looks down upon poor people. Even if a reformed Scrooge started on a course of Christmas charity, there was always a chance that the enthusiasm would fade, and the worldly fears would start creeping back in. The only way to beat those fears is to give him something to fear that's even worse than poverty. He needs to see the horrible end that his selfish ways would lead to, so he won't be tempted to slide back into them.

There's also the fact that seeing his death makes him ecstatically happy to find that he's alive after the Ghost is gone. Had Scrooge been spared the vision of his future, he might have been happy to find himself on Christmas Day, but his joy would have been nowhere near the manic glee he experiences after coming back from the future. Now, he doesn't just get a new start--he gets a second chance. Coming back from his own grave makes him mindful of his death, but it also makes him hyperaware of the fact that he's still alive. He isn't in the ground yet. He still has time to do good and make connections with others so he doesn't die alone.

Seeing the past reminded him of the innocence he'd lost. Seeing the present reminded him of the people whose lives he was missing out on. Seeing the future reminded him that death is waiting, so it's important to live virtuously while we can. All three are important because all three brought him outside of himself and taught him to value the wider world, just in time to live through another Christmas Day.

#a christmas carol #charles dickens #once again i've ponderously worked my way to the explicitly stated moral of the story #but i had to work my way there because stave 4 left me unsettled #had i been scrooge that trip probably would have squashed any desire i had to reform #the ghost *doesn't say* whether or not the future can be changed #what if this is just proof he's doomed no matter what so why bother changing? #fortunately scrooge was much better than i was about logic #namely: no reason to show him this future if it *can't* be changed #the point of these ghosts is to save him from marley's fate #plus we did have the ghost of christmas present's implications that future shadows can be changed #it's kind of interesting when you step back from familiar stories that just go this way because it's how they're supposed to go #and really dig into 'wait a minute. why did it go like this?' #it usually winds up with me figuring out that the writer knew what they were doing #but it's also nice to see the scaffolding that got us to the story

[fromtheseventhhell]

Imagine being 9 years old and asking your dad about the things you're interested in doing when you grow up and he's like "No ❤️! But you can get married, have babies, and then maybe your sons can do those things ☺️🫶 "

#arya stark #one of those /wtf Ned/ moments #then people act like she invented misogyny cause she was like /uuuhhhhh no thanks that's not me/ #/Arya is masculine/ and she's literally just a child who has interests outside of her patriarchy-assigned role #the way people read this and then demonize Arya for not silently conforming like people expect her to... #that's the ingrained misogyny from being socialized in a patriarchal society speaking babes 😭 #cannot stress enough how Arya is just an average little girl and what makes her behavior stand out is their society's strict gender norms #her life + learning almost entirely revolves around the fact that she is being raised to be a wife and people resent her for wanting more : #she is NINE in AGoT and her parents are discussing her refinement because /In a few years she will be of an age to marry/ #the way misogyny is explored in Arya's story is actually so brilliant and well-written (+ underappreciated) though #we feel the full weight of how restrictive their society is through her POV and get the experiences of lower-class women too #which is why it's so significant that George wrote her based on feminists who realized they wanted more than becoming wives/housewives #she's one of his key characters who will /change the world/ but people think he's sticking her on a boat bc she isn't feminine enough 😭 #thank god he's writing the books and not any of these reductive hacks who thinks misogyny is subversive 🙏🏾 #sidenote: would've loved to see this from her POV to get her feelings when he said this cause I'm sure it doesn't match Ned's perception #considering he views her main issues as being stubborn/difficult while we know about the self-esteem issues she has