WHEN SUCCESS SUCKS
One of my readers wrote:
“Paul, I get a lot out of your blog – love your Dutch bluntness – it’s always a refreshing addition to my inbox. On my studio wall is a print-out of an excerpt from your blog post about perfectionism. I glance at it every day to remind myself to focus on “practice,” not “perfection.”
There’s nothing more satisfying than receiving a message like this from one of my…
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someone probably said this already but in spiderverse i think it's interesting how when pavitr was first introduced everyone thought something bad was gonna happen to him bc of how confident and optimistic he was. and then in the actual movie we see that something bad was supposed to happen to him (police chief dying!) but it doesn't! miles stops it! and miguel berates miles for this, says it's going to cause the universe to collapse or whatever.
there's this idea that tragedy is inherent to spidermans growth, and while it's true that some spiderpeople learn important lessons through loss, no one stops to ask, is it really necessary? yeah, maybe the chief was supposed to die. but why does spiderman have to be formed through tragedy? why do we (as heroes) have to let people die? pavitr didn't lose anyone, and he's still a good spiderman! maybe, if he doesn't suffer, he'll end up better off for it!
so while miguel is arguing for all this big picture stuff about saving the multiverse he's lost sight of what it really means to be a spiderman, he's not looking out for the real individual people. yeah it's just one person who would die, but that one person means something to someone. shrugging and saying "stuff just sucks sometimes, we can't do anything about it" is the opposite of what superheroes do. pretty obviously, miles arc is also a reflection of the struggles people face in real life, working within unequal systems, where it's easy to shrug and say "that's just the way it is" and not ask "but why does it need be this way? can't we do something about it?"
miguel is arguing that you can't have your cake and eat it too. presumably, miles and co. are going to find a way to get around that and change things for the better (and maybe that's why miles has that line about two cakes in the advisors office!)
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the responses i’ve seen to shiv’s ending seem very quick to write her off as just another sad victim of the cycle, which isn’t without truth BUT!!! that is not even remotely the summation of shiv’s story.
i don’t think she votes yes to “save kendall” or to try to finally set her brothers free. and i don’t think her main concern was that ken was becoming their dad. she absolutely noticed and didn’t love it, but that was not her motivation in betraying him. she was thinking about herself.
it’s tempting to make a martyr out of her as she is the only female child and we see her suffer the onslaught of misogyny that comes with that. but to make her into a saintlike figure who got beat takes away the power and intelligence behind her decision.
at this point she’s stuck between two non ideal choices, but she recognizes that they have accidentally made her the single most important player in the game. because while she can’t have the outcome she’d prefer, she has the power to decide the fates of everyone else. the written off lone woman now holds in her hands the fate of every man in her life.
so she thinks about the long term benefits of both options and realizes that one side leaves her completely without any leverage.
her brothers have proven to her multiple times in the last few days alone that they will cut her out and walk all over her the first chance they get. siding with them leaves her nothing to bargain with. she would just have to hope that ken would actually take care of her. and that level of vulnerability is not only unacceptable to her, it’s stupid. and shiv fuckin roy is not stupid.
so she thinks about the other side and about what she actually wants for her life. and against her better judgment, it’s becomes unfortunately clear that she wants tom. the way she wants him is not altogether loving or even good but it is necessary to her. she sees relationships as having winners and losers and she chose this man specifically so that she could be confident in her ability to win. except now he’s grown some balls and made himself unavailable to her.
she may not like the way her husband is evolving but she already placed her bets on him, so she’s sure as hell not losing to him now. there’s also a part of her that feels intrigued by this new man she’s married to. it’s interesting to have a sparring partner in him instead of having to looking for excitement outside of their marriage.
so for maybe the first time ever, she processes what tom has said to her and thinks about what he actually wants.
he needs her to prove that she cares. he needs to know that she is capable of sacrifice. if she can’t find it within herself to do this for him, then she will lose him, and by extension, she will lose.
siding with tom gives her the opportunity to once and for all make a grand-stand gesture of love, but more importantly, it creates leverage for her. never again will he be able to hold the moral high ground over her head. never again can he say she doesn’t love him. never again can he call her selfish or uncaring. above all, he can never betray her again, because she just removed all of his moral justification for turning on her. he doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s just taken back all the power in their relationship. just in a more subtle way than she’s used to operating.
and just like that, she has the ceo of a multi billion dollar company in her pocket, while situating herself as the only descendant of logan roy to still be playing the game, having removed her brothers from the equation permanently. she may still be far from the top but she’s creating a path for herself to climb.
so yes, she’ll let tom play king for a day, and she’ll have his baby and say “congratulations,” and play the gracious wife, but tomorrow is a new day with lots of room to maneuver. and when her husband puts out his hand, she’ll place her own on top. but she won’t grasp it because she doesn’t need to.
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DP x DC worlds greatest detectives ramble
You ever just get a bit tired of the batfamily being dumb?
Sure I appreciate a good “Danny is weird and the Bats try to figure out his deal and draw wrong conclusions based on incomplete evidence” fic as much as the next guy, and I’m definitely not saying not to write them
But the thing is, they’re all really smart. It’s their whole thing, they’re a family of detectives that dress up in colorful costumes and fight crime, but detectives nonetheless
And I get it’s for humorous effect to have otherwise intelligent people be incredibly dumb about one thing, but it’d just be nice to see them be smart sometimes. Even in a fic where they’re drawing the wrong conclusions, it’d be nice to see them use their detective skills
Like build a case so solid Danny questions whether they’re actually right about him and if he’s just confused
Or just apply it to more conventional situations/crimes
Because frankly it’s funnier if you show they’re smart before having them do something really stupid
If you build them up a bit, then it’s funnier when they fall down.
“Where did he go? It’s like he vanished into thin air!?”
“Don’t be silly, see these scuff marks? Someone recently went down this way. The gravel here has been disturbed indicating this manhole cover has been moved recently. Now if we just prop this up…”
“…huh, is that…?”
“Killer Croc and not the twink we were just tracking?”
“Yeah, that”
“Yeah, that’s killer croc… hi Waylon”
*large scaly hand darts out and drags Bat in question down in the sewers while Danny watches invisibly*
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ok but stewy being canonically bi really makes everything about his relationship with kendall so much funnier like imagine being a beautiful bisexual stallion and your fate is to become best friends with and develop a 30 year crush on logan ‘homophobia’ roy’s prodigal son like. imagine having to do deal with kendall’s ‘no homo but my tongue is down your throat’ repressed bullshit for 30 years whilst also dodging the beam of mixed flavor racism homophobia his father directs at you every time he sees you within 5 feet of said prodigal son but also you feel a strange solidarity with this old man because he at least has also accurately clocked and acknowledges that his prodigal son is queer
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sometimes a relationship with your father is like “my father is a malignant presence, a bully, and a liar” and “I’m better than you” and “let me out. I don’t want to be you” and “I just do what my dad tells me” and “I can see through you” and “why did you never ask me?” and “he sees everything” and “you have a hard time finding a happy medium between worshipping him and wanting to kill him” and “he loves me. he does. it’s just a wrong kind of love expression” and “fuck dad, he can kick me as many times as he wants” and “pass me the fucking shotgun” and “dad, please. /what have you got in your fucking hand?/ i don’t know, love?/ love? you come for me with love?” and “there’s nothing you could say to me now that I would ever believe” and “are you a cunt?” and “he never even liked me” and “I can’t forgive you … but it’s okay. I love you” and “it’s what dad would do” and “you hated him./ I loved him” and “maybe the poison drips through” and “he was so terrifying to us” and “when he let you in, when the sun shone … it was warm in the light” and most importantly, “he made me breathe funny”
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