#and ordering it anyway

[benicebefunny]

Ted Lasso, "Pilot" Rewatch

My key takeaway: Ted Lasso is not some country bumpkin too pure to understand (or participate in) social hierarchies.

There's an old feel-good comedy staple where a simple, salt-of-the-earth Hick goes to The City and meets Fancy Cityfolk. Not familiar with their fancy city ways, the Hick doesn't treat people according to this foreign hierarchy. He does things for himself rather than ordering around the butler. (He may even assume the butler is the Master of the House!) He innocently insults the Fancy Cityfolk by violating their social rules. He shakes the men's hands too hard. He invites the stuffiest matron around to go possum huntin'.

The Hick acts without respect to the Cityfolk's social hierarchies, because he doesn't understand them.

In the Pilot, it's clear that Ted is Not That Hick.*

Ted is a keen observer of power dynamics. Unlike the Hick who runs roughshod over social hierarchy out of ignorance, Ted is constantly negotiating social hierarchies. The Hick upends hierarchy. Ted is an active participant and often a beneficiary of hierarchy.

Ted has a brain that won't turn off and a fuckton of social privilege. And, by god, if he doesn't use both in the Pilot.

Example 1: Ollie, the Erstwhile Tour Guide Ted's first interaction on British soil with a British person is a bit of a fake-out. When Ollie (the cab driver presumably sent by Richmond) goes to take Ted and Beard's luggage, they refuse. Ted says no several times in a row, followed by, "We packed 'em, we'll carry 'em." Perhaps, for the briefest moment, we think Ted is That Hick. He doesn't want to be waited on; he doesn't want to watch someone labor on his behalf. He's opting out.

But then Ted immediately says, "Love to make a little pit stop though." After Ollie agrees, it's cut to: Ollie showing Ted and Beard the Tower Bridge. A thing that is very much not Ollie's job. A thing that Richmond is not paying him for. A thing that neither Ted nor Beard tip him for on-screen.

Ted seems uncomfortable with Ollie, a dark-skinned Black man, carrying his bags. He's wary of such a visible marker of class and racial hierarchy. The historical weight cannot be ignored.

However, Ted's fine with asking Ollie to play tour guide--something that literally is not Ollie's job and that he isn't dressed for (Ollie's removed his suit jacket in the sunshine of the water front). Moreover, Ted feels comfortable requesting a delay in their itinerary that could potentially lose Ollie further business with Richmond.

There's a connection between the refusal to let Ollie carry their bags and the request for a tour. It feels like a negotiation. We'll carry our bags; you give us a tour. The fact that Ollie is expected to carry his fares' bags becomes a bargaining chip. It buys Ted the good will necessary to get something he wants. (Which is so fucking Midwestern.)

In this interaction, Ted doesn't opt out of the racial and class hierarchy. He just alters the terms.

Example 2: Nathan and Nate Like Ted, I am also a Midwestern transplant. I understand the impulse for nicknames. Where I grew up, if you didn't have a nickname (preferably something ending with an -y sound), it meant people hated you. Or you were rich. Or both.

It was quite shocking to move to California and meet some Okie who introduced himself as "James."

Among family and friends, coining a nickname can signal affection, warmth, familiarity.

Among people who've just met, a white person inventing a nickname for a person of color is... bad, it's bad. Don't do it. It's wrong. No. I don't get to decide what their name is. Stop.

Nathan introduces himself as Nathan. Ted calls him Nathan a few times. But in their third scene together, Ted has started calling him by the diminutive, "Nate." By the time Nathan is driving out of the Richmond car park, Ted is calling him, "my man, Nate."

If I were in Ted's place, the moment Nathan dropped me off, I would call a cab, board a flight home, and change my own fucking name. I'd enter the Whiteness Protection Program so goddamn fast.

My point is: Ted is overly-familiar with Nathan. He takes liberties with Nathan. He redefines Nathan, shrinking him down into Nate. He exercises authority over Nathan's very identity.

Compare this with how George Cartrick calls Higgins, "Higgy Boy."

Contrast it with how Ted addresses Rebecca. He calls her Ms. Welton. When she corrects him, he believes her.

He doesn't call her Becca or Becky or Bex. He calls her Rebecca.

Because she's his boss.

Which is to say: he knows how power works at work.

Example 3: Tea Time? As a new employee, Ted is deferential to Rebecca. He is careful about staying in her good graces.

Ted initially calls Rupert a "good time" for being surrounded by champagne and groupies (a moment of casual sexism that Nathan would have criticized himself over). When Ted learns that's Rebecca's ex-husband, he immediately backpedals. He tries to save face and avoid offending his new boss.

Famously, Ted hates tea. He's never tried tea, but he hates it. When he receives tea by mistake at a restaurant, he returns it. When Rebecca gives him tea, he at least tries it. He views his rich boss Rebecca differently than the barista at Starbucks.

That last sentence may seem obvious, but it's a concrete example of Ted understanding and negotiating power.

The Hick would reject the tea from Rebecca, the same as at Starbucks. Ted doesn't.

Conclusion Ted is neither above nor oblivious to the flow of power. Ted is not pure in a world of filth. He's in the muck with the rest of us. He's not an innocent; he just has an accent.

In the episodes to come, Ted will use his understanding of power dynamics to create a more cohesive team. In doing so, he becomes complicit in those power dynamics and the harm they cause.

You can't win the game without playing the game.

*A deeper engagement with the Hick Goes to the City trope in other media may reveal that some (many or even most) Hicks are far more agile navigators of hierarchy than we are initially led to believe.

#ted lasso #ted lasso rewatch #meta #my feathers get a little ruffled when it's implied that being from the midwest makes ted #innocent wholesome guileless or un-sophisticated #because you know who else was born and raised in the midwest? #my dad #and he knowingly negotiates power within a variety of contexts #not well perhaps but he exists in a matrix of social relations just like anyone else #and that's an entirely separate thing from him not knowing what pesto is #and ordering it anyway #and being shocked and dismayed when his lasagna comes out green

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

#due to the Great Data Decay academics write viciously argumentative articles on which episodes aired in what order #at conferences professors have known to engage in physically violent altercations whilst debating the air date number of household viewers #90% of the couch gags have been lost and there is a billion dollar trade in counterfeit “lost copies” #serious note: i'll be honest i always assumed it was english imperialism that made shakespeare so inescapable in the 19th/20th cent #like his writing should have become obscure at the same level of his contemporaries #but british imperialists needed an ENGLISH LANGUAGE (and BRITISH) writer to venerate #and shakespeare wrote so many damn things that there was a humongous body of work just sitting there waiting to be culturally exploited... #i know it didn't happen like this but i imagine a English Parliament House Committee Member For The Education Of The Masses or something #cartoonishly stumbling over a dusty cobwebbed crate labelled the Complete Works of Shakespeare #and going 'Eureka! this shall make excellent propoganda for fabricating a national identity in a time of great social unrest. #it will be a cornerstone of our elitist educational institutions for centuries to come! long live our decaying empire!' #'what good fortune that this used to be accessible and entertaining to mainstream illiterate audience members... #..but now we can strip that away and make it a difficult & alienating foundation of a Classical Education! just like the latin language :)' #anyway maybe there's no such thing as the 'greatest writer of x language' in ANY language? #maybe there are just different styles and yes levels of expertise and skill but also a high degree of subjectivity #and variance in the way that we as individuals and members of different cultures/time periods experience any work of media #and that's okay! and should be acknowledged!!! and allow us to give ourselves permission to broaden our horizons #and explore the stories of marginalized/underappreciated creators #instead of worshiping the List of Top 10 Best (aka Most Famous) Whatevers Of All Time/A Certain Time Period #anyways things are famous for a reason and that reason has little to do with innate “value” #and much more to do with how it plays into the interests of powerful institutions motivated to influence our shared cultural narratives #so i'm not saying 'stop teaching shakespeare'. but like...maybe classrooms should stop using it as busy work that (by accident or designs) #happens to alienate a large number of students who could otherwise be engaging critically with works that feel more relevant to their world #(by merit of not being 4 centuries old or lacking necessary historical context or requiring untaught translation skills) #and yeah...MAYBE our educational institutions could spend less time/money on shakespeare critical analysis and more on... #...any of thousands of underfunded areas of literary research i literally (pun!) don't know where to begin #oh and p.s. the modern publishing world is in shambles and it would be neat if schoolwork could include modern works? #beautiful complicated socially relevant works of literature are published every year. it's not just the 'classics' that have value #and actually modern publications are probably an easier way for students to learn the basics. since lesson plans don't have to include the #important historical/cultural context many teens need for 20+ year old media (which is older than their entire lived experience fyi)

[cozylittleartblog]

"content creator" is a corporate word.

we are artists.

#anti ai #fuck ai #artists on tumblr #please do not call me or any artist a content creator #i'm an artist. a fanartist. a designer. but not a content creator #ai clowns in my replies will be deleted and blocked without response so do not waste your breath #you are not an 'artist' for generating an image any more than you are a chef for ordering from a restaurant. someone Else did the work. #owen dennis just deleted all his blue sky stuff again and i hate that he does that because he makes such interesting comments #about the entertainment industry lmao i need to just. start screenshotting every smart thing he says #anyway thats why i decided to finally make this when its been sitting in drafts for a few months #owen dennis #edit - if you dont know who owen dennis is he's the creator of one of the best animated series of the last 20 years (Infinity Train) #he's very open about talking about art and the entertainment/animation industry on social media and in his newsletter and hes so cool 4 it

[sayaberry]

being completely and utterly normal about the bombshell that just dropped

#HOW THE FUCK DOES HE KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT #anyway for those who don't know; toby fox managed to get an interview with yume nikki creator who is literally infamous not doing them #and not only interviews. kikiyama has been nearly if not totally completely radio silent FOR NEARLY 2 DECADES since yume nikki came out #toby fox wielding his immense power for good and i respect it. i also respect kikiyama's denny's order #yume nikki #undertale #deltarune

[soaked-doors]

a comic about wine, a wager, and reconnecting through your weird kids

-

this behemoth of a comic is finally done - and just in time for zoros birthday huehue. initially i wanted to make a zolu introspective from an outsider POV and was like you know who would have really funny input on this … mihawk. and then it spiraled into seven pages of mishanks sitting and talking. i thought it would be funny if mishanks ended up doing self imposed couples therapy the day mihawk brought luffys bounty bc well. its kind of hilarious to think abt mihawk realizing shanks was onto something all those years ago after he meets zoro and luffy. like sure this new generation is batshit crazy but my god are they cooking. anyways. cheers. get some kids

#one piece #i seriously cannot explain what came over me in order to make this #tldr: mihawk saying hubris is ok if you do it in a cool way #anyways #happy birthday RORONOA ZORO #mishanks #zolu #dracule mihawk #roronoa zoro #red haired shanks #monkey d. luffy #opla #one piece fanart #my art

[taffybuns]

🦑💥🐙

#i drew all these months ago but i thought id draw more to post along them on tumblr. i didnt. so here they are anyway #splatoon #side order #agent 3 #captain 3 #agent 8 #agent 24 #doodles

[starry-bi-sky]

I am loudly pushing the batdad agenda i am loudly pushing the— DPxDC Prompt

“Woah. You look like shit."

Granted, that’s probably not the first thing Danny should be saying to the guy that just bit the curb, but in his defense; he’s not running on 100% right now either.

The man -- tall, towering, and broader than Danny is tall -- whips around on his heel, black frayed cape flaring out impressively. Danny would've whistled in appreciation, but he takes the time instead to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood running from his nose across his cheek.

"Sorry." He blinks widely, not even flinching as the man with the horns zeroes in on him. "That was rude of me. I have a really bad brain-to-mouth filter; Sam says its what always gets me into trouble."

And she's not wrong either, per say. His smart mouth is what landed him in this situation -- with blood blossom extract running through his veins and cannibalizing the ectoplasm in his bloodstream. Thanks Vlad.

The man grunts at him; a short, curt "hm" that shouldn't make Danny smile, but he does because he's somewhat delirious and probably concussed. The man keeps some kind of distance, sinking towards the shadows of Gotham's alleyway like he dares to melt right into it.

If it's supposed to scare Danny, it doesn't work. Danny's never been afraid of the dark; he's always been able to hide himself in it. He blinks slowly at the mass of shadows.

"You look hurt." The shadows says, blurring together around the edges. Danny squints, and licks his lips to get the blood dripping down his chin off. Ugh, he hates the taste of blood.

"I am." He says, "My godfather poisoned me. M'dying." The agony of the blood blossom eating him from the inside out looped back around to numbing a while ago, so all he feels is half-awake and dazed.

"Hey," Danny stumbles forward towards the man, a bloodied hand reaching out to him. "You-- you're a hero, right? You're not attacking me; which is more than I can say for most costumed people I've met." Maybe it's a poor bar to judge someone at, but he's already established that Danny's not in his right mind.

The man makes no change in expression, but Danny realizes blearily that it's hard to tell with the shadows on his face. He stays still long enough for Danny to latch onto the cape -- stretchy, but almost soft under his fingers.

He looks up blearily into the whites of the man's eyes. "Can you help me? I don't-- I don't wanna die." Again. He doesn't wanna die again. He blinks slow and lizard-like. "I mean- I'll probably get to see mom and dad again, but I told them I'd at least try and make it to adulthood."

There's a clatter down the street, and Danny's ghost sense chills up his spine and leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. He immediately knows who it belongs to even before the deceptively gentle; "Daniel?" echoes down the way.

"Daniel? Quit your games, badger, Gotham is dangerous for children."

Danny's mouth pulls back, and blood spills against his tongue. "Please." He rasps, and grabs onto the shadow's cape with both hands. "Please. He's going to kill me. Please--"

"Daniel? Is that you?"

His lips part, dragging in air to plead with the darkness again. He doesn't need to, the whites of his eyes narrow, and the cape whirls around him before Danny can blink. Soon swaddled in shadows, the Night lifts him up, and steals him away.

#I AM LOUDLY PUSHING THE BATDAD AGENDA #anyways— add ons are encouraged i wanna talk more dpxdc with folks i just cant find any aus i really like enough to engage with #which is nobody's fault and its why im making my own content in order to reach more people #danny fenton is not the ghost king #dpxdc #dp x dc #dpxdc crossover #dp x dc crossover #dpdc #dc x dp #dpxdc prompts #i took a ‘which batfam member are you (except its personal)’ quiz a few days ago #and got bruce wayne. and then was promptly read to filth why im most like him and it rudely but accurately explained why im the most like #him. it also consequently explained to me why i like him so much. whenever i see him in his kindest form i see a mirror looking back #anyways lots of ‘danny rejecting bruce as a parent’ aus. may i present: bruce and danny finding family in each other aus. batdad aus pls. #dpxdc prompt #dcxdp #this prompt can take place at any point of Batkid accumulation but personally i was imagining this as before Bruce has any of his kids yet #eldest brother danny supremacy and also just that one on one bonding #danny being someone who was never afraid of the dark as a kid and even less so as he got older. taking solace in it as a ghost because you #cant hide in the dark when you glow. his enemies can't jump out at him. but he can jump out at them. how can he be afraid of the dark when #the dark is where the stars like to live? there's a comfort in the shadows. there might be something hiding in it. but he's hiding in it to #blood blossoms eat ghosts headcanon #wasn't sure where i was gonna go with this at the beginning and then i caught steam. #batman casually kidnaps an orphan upon kid's request. also the kid was Actively Dying Of Poison. What was he gonna do?? NOT help him? #mister 'keeps candy in his utility belt specifically for scared children'??? no way.

[geothebio]

in my five years delivering pizza, these are definitely the best delivery instructions i’ve ever gotten

#shitposting #idk what even to tag this? #pizza delivery #? #anyway this made me laugh #and no the order wasn’t made at like 2am #1:30pm baybee i work the opening shift

[gambeque]

short

#started w an acht doodle and just.. kept going #anyways #playin w colors i feel like theyre a lil too bright on my phone ⚰️ #hshshhs #myart #splatoon #splatoon 3 #side order #agent 8 #acht splatoon #dedf1sh #pearlina #marina ida #pearl houzuki

[obsob]

hmm anyway. holds u in my arms

#mine #cats #i did this a while ago n forgot 2 post whoopsies !! #anyway. my brain was so so small today colouring is so hard but...i think i may...have a solution....perhaps....we will test 2morrow and se #i hope everyone has had a good beginning to ur week also #tomorrow i need2 do orders and fix colouirng maybe and then thrusday finish colouring n then friday im going BIRD WATCHING #its fun ducks season i love fun ducks #ducks r so easy. unlike say a plover or a bunting of which there r 1000 and they are all the same

[weaver-z]

A SHRINKING Glob.......

#anyway we love to see it #flop harder. that's an order.

[jel-jel-jel]

hey do you guys like dedf1sh

#my art #splatoon #side order #acht mizuta #marina ida #splatoon paul #im not entirely a believer in the acht / paul sibling theory but i do think itd be funny as hell #like dude you forgot your brother man. what the fuck #although i guess it could still work it seems like octarian society is way fucked like maybe they didnt interact much to begin with #anyway. all my faves are my little fashion dolls #you guys like they/them tummy? you better

[wasyago]

welp, didn't manage to get everything out before season 10 started, but i gotta post it one way or another so here we go! heard there was a fandom swap game going on, wanted to do a couple promts of my own :D

#guys with freaky eyes <3 #i really didn't expect season 10 to be so soon what do i do now... #very sorry to all the naruto girlies. there might be a lot of minecraft art for a while 😔 bud ninja stuff is coming too eventually #anyways! about the drawing: #decided to turn hypno into the 'bug tango with 4 arms and antennae' variant instead of a regular one because it's just more fun and unique; #and tango is in his dungeon master color pallett because his regular one looked a bit plain. #and i think hypnosis really fits the theme of a dungeon master and wrangling ravagers. #plus i wanted to use the design i drew a while ago at least once #oh also yeah hypno is a bee here because of his honey shop and stuffs #hypnotizd #tangotek #hermitcraft #my art #sketch #season 10 fanart is coming but later. i wanna post everything in the order it was drawn. so...

[the-last-butter]

Early game tattletale traveller hshsb

#yes the abyss order is causing us trouble what is he gonna do about it anyway???? intervene???? #anywho who’s excited for 3.5 dropping #unfortunately for me I’ve got to complete the sumeru aqs to get to see dain and kaeya again such a pity #AND DEHYAS HERE TOO RAAAAHHH LETS GO #genshin impact #kaeya alberich #kaeya #lumine #lumine genshin impact #genshin impact fanart #traveller genshin impact #my doodles

[amarantheia]

Today's a personal Black Sails Anniversary for me, so posting this drawing of my faves from my fave show as a tiny celebration

#Black Sails #Black Sails Fanart #James Flint #captain Flint #madi black sails #miranda barlow #miranda hamilton #max black sails #Anne bonny #john silver #not CR #they are in a particular order but it's like #Flint & Madi own my heart and soul #Miranda & Max make me want to sob and scream in the shower #and Anne & Silver are like pieces of me that annoy me and make me feel very protective in equal measure #Anyway happy personal Black Sails anniversary to me

[nightcorecarseatheadrest]

Today I am excited about excaping the Torture labyrinth

#NEEDED to draw four in the style of those weird fish bots. how we feelin #anyway 🫶🫶 I’m sooo fuckinf excited for side order I feel sick. AUGH. side order is COMING and we’re GETTING AGENT FOUR #four draws tag #splatoon #splatoon art #splatoon 2 #splatoon 3 #agent 4 #agent 4 splatoon #splatoon oc #side order #side order splatoon #splatoon side order #side order fanart #side order art