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scripttorture · 3 years

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I'm trying to write a character who gets depression/anxiety after a few days of torture, but I'm worried that from an outside perspective the tiredness, lack of interest, and hyper vigilance are going to look like the character has been beaten down into meekness/compliance by the torture. Any advice on how to avoid the trope that this character was broken by their expeience when most days they're too tired to argue about anything and are slowly checking out of life due to the depression?

That’s a really good question. I think the best thing to do is combine several different approaches rather then relying on one particular thing.

My first piece of advice holds true for writing any kind of minority experience. If you think you could be suggesting that an entire group has a particular feature/characteristic include another character from the same group who doesn’t. The more characters you have who are torture survivors the easier it is to show that they’re a diverse bunch with different symptoms and experiences.

They don’t need to be major characters. They don’t need to be in the story for very long. But having them there makes a big difference.

This is a lot easier if you’re talking about legally defined torture in a prison of some kind. But if that’s not the kind of story you’re telling consider bringing other survivors in during the character’s recovery. They could meet people while waiting to see the same doctor or mental health professional. They might be advised to join a group, either for group therapy or communal support. They might meet people while looking for financial support or jobs. If they’re religious they might be introduced to people through their priest or broader religious community.

The next thing worth thinking about is: what can your character practically do?

We have this tendency to conflate resistance with big, obvious, violent acts. Most of the time torture victims are not in a position to do that kind of thing. And in situations where people are held for a very long time (ie slavery, prisoner of war camps etc) what you tend to see are a lot of smaller or less obvious acts. Enslaved people did oppose slavery violently, with organised military action and with smaller acts of violence like poisoning slave owners.

But they also did a host of other things. They sabotaged equipment or products they were supposed to produce. They broke valuable objects. They provided each other with material support and aid. They escaped and set up separate societies. They channelled resources into these societies. They aided others in escape attempts.

It’s always worth thinking about what your character can actually practically do and what the risks or consequences of those actions might be.

I talk about that in a post over here. Characters can take meaningful action even when they can’t take effective action. It’s worth taking the time to think about what would be meaningful to this character and figure out ways to show them prioritising it.

It’s also worth considering what depression and anxiety can look like because yes, the features you describe are common in people with depression and anxiety. But they’re not necessarily constant and they’re not the only ways these conditions manifest.

Depression can look like sleeping all the time. It can also look like not sleeping and a lack of sleep feeds into anxiety. Insomnia also causes paranoia after a while, makes it harder to interpret other people’s responses and can increase the risk of violent behaviour.

Similarly depression can look like eating a lot, but it can also look like nausea, like being unable to eat full meals and struggling to keep food down. From the outside anxiety can be read as fear but it can also be read as aggression.

It wouldn’t be unrealistic for this character to be more depressed at times and more anxious at others. It wouldn’t be unrealistic for them to be incredibly sleep deprived, paranoid and less able to see the risk in something like… spitting on a guard some days even if they’re generally incredibly tired, lethargic and apathetic.

Basically even if this is the predominant way depression and anxiety manifest in this character there’s still leeway. There’s still moments when you can have them go against that. Even if it isn’t very often.

The choice to use an outside perspective does make things harder. Especially if that perspective is a character who believes these kinds of tropes and has a poor understanding of mental health. One way to get around this is to have the point of view character’s perspective change with time and have them come to (and lead the audience to) the conclusion that they were wrong.

But the character doesn’t need to reach that realisation if you work in enough signals to the reader that they’re unreliable. One way to do that is to contrast what the point of view character thinks with what the survivor character actually says and does.

Let’s say the point of view character is having a conversation with another person who isn’t a survivor and they present the survivor as this sad case, broken by what they experienced because of a specific behaviour. Like sleeping a lot or being listless or not engaging with things in the way they used to.

On it’s own that scene could easily back up these tropes (though it’s not an unrealistic scene because these tropes are commonly believed.) So let’s imagine the scene with the survivor’s response.

They could respond that they sleep a lot because they have chronic pain or because their depression makes it hard to eat properly which leaves them exhausted. Physical symptoms like that are often easier for people to understand and it underlines the point that this is illness not some state where they’re permanently incapable. They can also respond with the steps they’re taking to try and make their life better. For chronic pain in torture survivors that can mean medication or physiotherapy. Perhaps they’re working on changing their diet or the schedule they eat at and sleep at, to work around these physical limits.

You can apply the same kind of logic to the other points here, talk about why depression makes the character listless or stops them engaging and what they’re doing now. The aids that help them focus, how therapy is going, the new hobbies they’re exploring instead (perhaps because old ones contain triggers.)

It’s harder to apply the same thing if the character is still imprisoned and still being tortured. But you can still do it. May be the dreams and plans the victim character had before seem meaningless now, but there will still be things they want to do and there will still be things they find meaning in.

May be they don’t think they can be a Nobel prize winning doctor any more and may be to an outside perspective that looks like ‘broken’. But it’s harder for the audience to agree with that conclusion if the victim character is saying ‘My priorities are different now. I regret spending so much time working and I miss my family. If I get out I want to make them my focus instead of work.’

A self aware character might be able to say ‘I don’t think I could achieve that dream anymore. But I think I could achieve this instead.’

You can have other characters, doctors, psychologists or anyone who has worked with survivors for a long period, refute the idea these people are broken. Hurt, yes, but that doesn’t mean they’re incapable of living or of living well.

If the perspective is more of an omnipresent narrator you’ve got more scope to show little acts of resistance the character might be engaging in. You’ve also got more scope to just straight up tell the readers what’s going on in this character’s head.

It’s worth stressing that characters like this do still have and make choices. They are choices in incredibly awful situations and they are not free choices. But that capacity to choose is still there. And there are understandable, though not always rational, thought processes behind those choices.

Depression doesn’t always mean checking out of life. I’ve known a fair number of people with depression who kept going with things they considered important. They just also… got no enjoyment out of it. They were miserable and in pain. But they were still trying to do the best they could for their kids or finish their degree. These efforts weren’t always successful. Depression makes most things more difficult.

But a character willing to give up on themselves isn’t necessarily willing to give up on other things.

At the end of the day the symptoms you choose for your character and how those symptoms manifest isn’t the problem. There’s nothing wrong with picking the symptoms that are right for your character and there’s nothing wrong with writing them in this way.

The problem comes when we start telling people that there’s no hope, that nothing gets better. It comes when we imply that natural, physiological reactions to trauma are somehow the fault of the victim or that those reactions mean they are forever controlled by their abuser.

Torture is an awful, effecting and life changing experience. It leaves lasting wounds.

But humans are incredibly resilient, stubborn creatures. Our capacity for survival, to find ways to live well, is astounding.

There’s room for optimism here and it’s worth making space for that in your story.

I hope that helps :)

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#writing advice #tw torture #writing survivors #writing victims #writing symptoms #writing recovery #depression #anxiety #torture survivors are not broken #ways victims resist #mental health #mental illness in fiction

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westcoastbroadway · 4 years

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Bandstand and Dear Evan Hansen. Two musicals revolving around mental illness, released in the 2017 season. One snubbed by the Tony's and nearly forgotten, one catapulted to stardom. These two shows do mental illness very differently, let's explore why Bandstand is more effective. (TW: suicide, depression, anxiety, PTSD, flashbacks, etc)

Bandstand never outright says "These characters have PTSD", but DEH literally opens with a scene where you're straight up told that Evan has anxiety. Once again, when Connor is introduced to the story, there isn't any way that they show us Connor has depression, they just say it. It feels lazy and inorganic. The way Bandstand does it is much more subtle: the repeating refrain of "it'll be just like it was before [the war]", even as we watch Donny struggle to adjust to civilian life, find a job, and fight through panic attacks. The dialogue hints at what's happening, mentioning soldiers that couldn't adjust and committed suicide, and Donny claiming that if he can't play "what's the point of [him] making it back at all". It's just as obvious, but more natural.

Another thing Bandstand does more effectively is choreography and staging. The characters whirl around Donny when he's experiencing a flashback, the lighting illuminates what he's seeing in his mind, and it really let's the audience in on what Donny's mindset is like. Between songs and scenes, there are short interludes where you see how each of the band is coping and struggling with PTSD and the wide variety of reactions. DEH doesn't really have any moments like this, where we get to see inside Evan's head and feel what he's experiencing. This also is a much more effective method of storytelling, because it allows us to see what happened to Michael instead of Donny blatantly telling us, where Evan has to simply speak the story of how he fell out of the tree.

Bandstand also does an incredible job of displaying how different people with the same mental illness react. Each of the members of the Donny Nova band reacts differently to the horrors of WW2. Nick is paranoid and doesn't let anyone in, Davy is a jokester who abuses alcohol, Donny refuses to talk about his feelings and focuses on his music, Wayne doesn't give himself a minute of silence for fear that he'll have to relive those moments, etc. This is the most opiniony thing in this entire opinion based post, fair warning, but Evan feels like a stereotype. He's a loner, he stutters, he can't talk to girls, he's awkward. It's damaging to portray people with anxiety as the same one stereotype.

Bandstand also does flawed characters better. All the characters have their issues, and these issues aren't justified or excused. No one tells Davy that his alcoholism is okay, no one acts like he's allowed to do whatever he wants, just because he has PTSD. Conversely, Evan lies for (one could argue) personal gain, harms and hurts the entire Murphy family and all his friends, and no one even cares. They get mad at him, he barely apologizes and does nothing to prove that he's changed, but he faces no consequences. Connor is the same, his abuse is waved off because he's depressed, and no one in the show or in the random holds him accountable for more than Zoe's verse of Requiem.

Finally, the characters in Bandstand are much more layered and three dimensional. The characters all have their own backstories, and personality traits, and families, and interests. They all feel like fully fledged humans, no one is archetypal or one dimensional. Additionally, none of the characters exist solely to be another character's something. Julia isn't only in the show to be Donny's girlfriend, she has her own opinions and objectives and stands on her own. But in DEH, all the characters have one stereotypical personality trait. Larry is the regretful angry dad, Cynthia is the weeping mom, Zoe is the angsty teen, Connor is sad angry depression boy, Evan is sad nervous boy, Heidi is single mom, Jared is haha funny joke teen boy, Alana is ivy league bound nerd, etc. They don't have any opinions or interests that are counter to Evan's, and they all only exist to be Evan's love interest, Evan's friend, etc. This is annoying and bad story telling but it's also super damaging, because it perpetuates the stereotype that people with mental illness are only their mental illness. Evan doesn't have a trait beyond his anxiety and even that arguably isn't portrayed well.

#i wrote this a full year ago #and im just now posting #whoops #bandstand #bandstand musical #corey cott #laura osnes #dear Evan hansen #ben platt #tony awards #tony's #broadway #broadway musical #musical theatre #musical theater #theatre #theater

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siren-of-redriver96 · 2 years

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Villian Heights (Part 2)

(reading Wuthering Heights for the first time and trying to figure out the deal with this book with some assumptions from previous summaries of the story)

Today: until the point where Cathy is about to return from Thrusscross Grange

(spoilers and kind of heavy themes - also strong language)

oookay, this is definitly a psychological ... book. Not a thriller, but damn - Bronte leaves no thing that led to the characters becoming the way they are to the imagination

Earnshaw kinda sucks? No, he absolutely does. The man says such damaging things to his kids it’s almost as if Bronte has seen the effect it has on people herself

Hindley is useless to him and he replaced him with Heathcliff, and lets him feel every bit of it

he flat out told Cathy he wishes she hadn’t been born and we know that the ... first few times ... it made her cry ... until it didn’t

Heathcliff is a very little kid still, his brain works on “How do I get what I want” without much consideration for consequences for anyone or himself yet - he remembers what his life used to be very well I think and just can’t stop (note: I’m not defending adult Heathcliff, I’m explaining him just past toddler age right now)

both Cathy and Hindley also fall sort of into his category as they simply get no reason to be better - Cathy shows some signs of compassion that comes from herself at least

Hindley is completely out of control - maybe he was glad to be schooled somewhere else than this hell-hole of emotional abuse

the way Joseph begins influencing Earnshaw and puts most of his “your kids are bad” on Cathy - wow. I’m starting to feel like this guy just really works on having a position of power he wouldn’t get anywhere else, and he executes his power

the way punishment works in this household - it doesn’t. In fact, I feel like the Earnshaws were so quick to hurt their bio kids every chance they got that it dulled them to any consequences. Humans adapt. They adapted. At least Cathy did.

I think Cathy is the best example: physical pain doesn’t hurt her any more, nor any kind of punishment. She’s used to it. In fact, she seems to like the fact that she can do A and get reaction B, and from what Nelly says, most scolding doesn’t bother her, she fights back verbally

it’s full on acknowledged shortly before she returns from Thrusscross Grange

I find it interesting that Nelly also mentions her positive aspects, like caring for people when she’s really hurt them, and bonding moments with her dad and especially Heathcliff

also, Earnshaw saying “Why can’t you always be so nice?” and Cathy saying, “Well, why can’t you always be so nice.” Spot on. The characters are heavily effected by their surround

the way Nelly describes how little Cathy was confused by her fathers increasing change in character due to his illness - that’s tough

Cathy’s behaviour - to me, it seems she’s a lot smarter than most kids her age, and a little brimming with energy - she’s learning to read people I think

speaking of which, I like the fact that she schooled Heathcliff when Hindley cut his education

wow, the scene at Thrusscross Grange - the rampant racism spewed out by the characters isn’t going to stop I think

it was fun to imagine Heathcliff and Cathy making more noise to scare the Linton kids and then running away

also, probably one of the more uplifting moments here is the concept of just running through the night over the hills etc.

I’m glad these two are getting a break too

We’ll see how things go when she comes back, I’d like to hear more about what she says herself

#villian heights #wuthering heights

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nblenasabrewing · 4 years

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Does Lena have PTSD?

This excellent post from @drummergirl231-2 goes into a detailed analysis about Della and the examples showing possible PTSD. I, being who I am, wanted to look at the same for Lena. Full credit goes to them for the idea and format!

According to the DSM-5, in order for a person to be diagnosed with PTSD, they must have a certain number of symptoms from eight categories: Criteria A through H.

For a diagnosis of PTSD, someone needs: to meet Criterion A to have at least 1 symptom from Criterion B to have at least 1 symptom from Criterion C to have at least 2 symptoms from Criterion D to have at least 2 Symptoms from Criterion E to meet Criteria F, G, and H

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional. I do NOT have a degree in anything related to psychology and simply enjoy dissecting the layers of a fictional character. If you feel you fit any of the criteria, please see a professional for a real diagnosis. This isn’t something that can be easily self-diagnosed, and a professional diagnosis would open you to more opportunities for help.

Lena does and doesn’t fit the criteria in general for PTSD. She’s certainly suffered from traumatic events, but the event is more... her entire life. She’s a classic child abuse victim, which makes her more of a candidate for C-PTSD.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD; also known as complex trauma disorder) is a psychological disorder that can develop in response to prolonged, repeated experience of interpersonal trauma in a context in which the individual has little or no chance of escape. Being stuck with Magica for fifteen years absolutely contributes to Lena’s current issues. C-PTSD and PTSD share similarities, there are a distinct differences - mainly that PTSD focuses on one event and the effect it has on a person long term, while C-PTSD focuses on years of repeated trauma. However, there’s no approved criterion yet for C-PTSD. So I’m using the PTSD criterion with some added explanation where C-PTSD would be applicable.

Criterion A: The traumatic event

A person must be exposed to one or more events involving threatened or actual death, threatened or actual serious injury, or threatened or actual sexual violation in one of the following ways:

Direct involvement

Witnessing the event happen to someone else

Hearing about it happen to a loved one

Repeatedly hearing details about traumatic events, such as police officers repeatedly hearing stories of abuse

The obvious example here: Lena effectively died. Twice. Following that, she was trapped in a realm where she couldn’t be seen or heard by anyone and she couldn’t touch anything for six months (give or take). Her first interaction with anything since she had been trapped there was smacking the Boggle case in Friendship Hates Magic! And even she’s surprised by that.

In addition, she spent fifteen years with Magica in her shadow, who effectively acted as an abusive parental figure. She’s proven to be an expert in gaslighting, and knows exactly how to manipulate Lena - by hanging the promise of freedom over her head and reminding her repeatedly that people will think she’s a monster if they find out the truth about her.

Criterion B: Intrusive Symptoms

Expected or unexpected reoccurring, involuntary, and intrusive upsetting memories

Repeated nightmares related to the traumatic event

Some form of dissociation, such as flashbacks, where the individual truly feels the traumatic event is happening again

Strong emotional distress when exposed to internal or external triggers associated with the traumatic event

Strong bodily reactions (such as rapid heart rate) when exposed to reminders of the traumatic event.

Nightmares: While we can’t say for absolute sure that Lena has nightmares outside of Magica’s influence via the helmet in NOKH, the fact that no one is surprised by her nightmares does seem to imply that’s she probably had more than she’s letting on. Lena’s biggest fear is turning into Magica, after all - it’s no surprise she would have dreams along that line.

Emotional distress, strong bodily reactions: These really come out in Violet’s library, when Lena gets overwhelmed and tries to hide. The fish-eye view of everyone trying to talk to her while she sees Magica over their shoulders was most likely meant to imply she was having at least the start of a panic attack.

In addition, her reaction to Webby calling her (looking like Magica) a monster was pretty extreme. Again, the dream world setting makes things a bit wobbly, but given everything we know about Lena up to this point, and the fact that she yelled at Magica for saying they’re both monsters, it feels safe to assume she’d be angry and upset and scared if anyone ever called her a monster (again, something Magica constantly used against her.)

Criterion C: Avoidance

An individual with PTSD will frequently avoid reminders of the traumatic event in one of the following ways:

Avoiding thoughts, feelings, or physical sensations that trigger memories of the traumatic event

Avoiding people, places, conversations, activities, objects, or situations that bring up memories of the traumatic event

Whether the nightmares were caused by Magica or not, their effect on Lena is real and pretty easy to see. She sets up an entire sleepover just so the kids can help keep her awake. Avoiding sleep to avoid nightmares is pretty extreme.

She also continues to keep secrets from everyone despite Webby’s constant reassurances that they all care about her and don’t think she’s anything like Magica, because the alternative is having to talk about it or worse, have her fears confirmed.

Criterion D: Negative changes in thoughts and mood

The inability to remember important details of the traumatic event

Persistent and elevated negative thoughts about oneself, others, or the world

Exaggerated self-blame or blame of others for the cause or consequence of the traumatic event

Pervasive negative emotional state (anger, fear, shame, etc.)

Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities

Feeling isolated or detached from others

Difficulty experiencing positive emotions

Lena’s opinion of herself seems to be pretty low. We only get one episode to really see it, but her fear of turning into Magica and active attempts to avoid such an outcome definitely make it seem like she still considers herself “evil”, and is trying to make up for it. She also readily gives in and says, “I am her”, essentially giving up on herself.

The dream adventures also excellently illustrate how Lena feels “Othered” from everyone else - they get butterfly wings, she gets weird monster wings. She falls behind at Dewey High and is separated from the others. She’s the only one in Louie’s dream, aside from Louie himself, to experience any sort of physical change. Even when she tries to be happy with them, she can’t keep up the facade.

And before all of this there’s the classic example of her being jealous of Violet (under the guise of protecting Webby from being tricked again). She immediately assumes the worst of Violet and follows Webby around telling her not to trust Violet.

Criterion E: Alterations in reactivity that started or worsened after the traumatic event

Irritability or aggressive behavior

Impulsive or self-destructive behavior

Hypervigilance (feeling constantly on-guard, or like danger is lurking around every corner)

Heightened startle response

Problems with concentration

Sleep disturbances, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless sleep

Lena’s personality in season one was mostly that of the sarcastic, irritating cool teenager who can’t be bothered. Under that, she was an unwilling slave to Magica, and while she did show irritable tendencies toward her, those can be forgiven as “Magica is terrible and provokes her.”

Season two, on the other hand, shows us a much different teenager - one who snaps easily and seems constantly frustrated by her own perceived shortcomings. Those emotions, of course, come out on the other kids (i.e. snapping at Huey and Violet). And while all of that can be attributed to her inability to sleep, which is being driven by Magica, Frank’s already said this isn’t the last we’ll see of Lena’s emotoinal growth and negative feelings.

Criterion F: The above symptoms must last for more than one month.

Obviously time is relative in Ducktales. Given everything that was going on around them, we can assume she’s been home for around a month-ish. Donald left for a month-long cruise two episodes before Lena came back, and everything after that has to have taken place within that month or it would have been way too obvious something was up. And again, Frank has said this is going to come up again. But even while she was still in the Shadow Realm, she was showing signs of trauma.

Criterion G: Distress from symptoms significantly impairs the individual’s ability to function in multiple areas of life (social, occupational, etc.).

While we haven’t seen much of Lena’s daily life, we do know a few things - before returning, she was living in Webby’s shadow, presumably following her around and getting comfortable in her shadow-y life. Violet throws a complete monkey wrench into that comfortable life, and Lena reacts... poorly, to say the least. She initially refuses to take responsibility for the tulpas feeding off her own negative feelings, continuing to project all the reasons she hates herself onto Violet (”She’s a spy, she’s a second-rate me,” etc.).

In NoKH we see that the triplets aren’t quite used to the fun, happy persona Lena tries to project, which immediately gets a frustrated yell and fire flaring up. She’s so worried about trying to be Good that her anxiety bubbles over into her life. She’s also constantly keeping secrets, something that is, unfortunately, normal for her, but not normal overall.

Criterion H: The symptoms are not due to substance abuse, medication side-effects, or another condition.

So the real issue comes in here - while there’s no medication or substance abuse, there is an outside force. Most of what we see of Lena’s symptoms are due to increasing sleep deprivation via Magica’s brainwave helmet. By the time NoKH starts she’s already gone at least several days without sleep, and it’s obvious the dreams are deeply affecting to her, to a point where she arranges an entire sleepover with her friends just to keep from going to sleep. There’s no way to know what she was dreaming about (although I have a few theories), but it almost certainly involved Magica, the main cause of her trauma. And we see how understandably upset she gets when she’s finally face to face with Magica.

In conclusion:

Lena is a complicated character with a lot of different factors playing into who she is, but there’s little doubt that after fifteen years of emotional/psychological abuse, two deaths, and six months trapped in what could almost be summarized as an isolation chamber, that Lena has some serious trauma. And while Magica influenced a lot of NOKH, it should also be noted that Magica, as her abuser, most likely acts as her trigger now. She spends the entire dream sequence running away from Magica, terrified to confront her. And while she has an amazing, empowering moment at the end of the episode, I’m sure this is going to come back up again.

(***All GIFs by me)

#Ducktales #Ducktales 2017 #Lena de Spell #Lena le Strange #long post #Sam's Meta #So much went into this #including making those GIFs #I've been working on this for..... several weeks dear god #please show it some love

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mediaeval-muse · 4 years

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Video Game Review: GreedFall (Spiders, 2018)

Genres: action RPG, fantasy

Premise: Players assume the role of De Sardet, a human noble who arrives on the recently-discovered island of Teer Fradee. Able to ally with either the natives who inhabit the land and/or any of the foreign nations competing to colonize it, De Sardet seeks out a cure for the mysterious illness that plagues their family, while also battling monsters and magic.

Platform Played On: PC (Windows)

Rating: 3/5 stars

Disclaimer: My rating is in response to multiple aspects of the game, not just its politics. If I were evaluating solely on politics and gave the developers the benefit of the doubt that they were trying to make something with a good message, my rating would be around the 1 to 2-star range, depending on player choices.

***Full review under the cut.***

I am evaluating this game based on four key aspects: story, characters, gameplay, and visuals.

Story: I’m immediately wary of any pop culture item that tries to tell a story about colonialism and Indigeneity because it usually ends up indulging in colonialist fantasies rather than critiquing them. Complex, morally-grey stories are great and all, but when it comes to tales about colonialism, “both sides” narratives tend to look a little insensitive. So, I can’t tell you why I decided to play GreedFall, other than I heard that it filled the Dragon Age-sized hole in people’s hearts. Since I’d rather use my own judgment than read video game reviews, I bought this game on sale and gave it a go. If nothing else, I told myself, I could use my history and literary analysis chops to say something intelligent about it.

In terms of politics, I don’t think GreedFall was as terrible as games where the goal in itself is colonization, but I also don’t think it achieved a narrative that was critical enough of colonization. De Sardet’s primary goal is to achieve balance between all the nations (which I’m calling factions because they’re mostly that). While I can admire that GreedFall really pushed for peaceful relationships, as well as pushed back against abuse and racism, I ultimately thought the developers didn’t consider how the struggle for balance actually facilitates colonialism. This game presents colonialism a diplomatic issue, so as a result, Teer Fradee is kind of a fantasy where colonists can settle on native land while maintaining friendly relationships with Indigenous peoples (at least, if you play it that way - at worst, you can seize absolute power). The experience was similar to the one I had playing BioShock Infinite, whose politics involve a “both sides” argument - the difference is that BioShock Infinite made explicitly clear by the end of the game that Booker was the true villain. With de Sardet, it’s a bit more ambiguous, depending on how you play, but I do think the game pushes you to be diplomatic rather than power-hungry. As a whole, it brings up the very valid question of whether or not colonialism should be in media period, or if there’s some value to be derived from consuming problematic media that tries to do good and talking about it.

Still, I have to give credit where credit is due. GreedFall had the guts to actually try to tackle little-discussed themes in this game, such as forced conversion, abuse within the sciences, and institutionalized bullying. While the missions associated with these big themes were accomplished with varying degrees of success, many of them added emotional depth to the game. Companions would have emotional reactions to these quests that tugged at my heartstrings, and there were never any shots of graphic violence or mutilated bodies, so it didn’t feel like I was playing the game for an edgy thrill. All of the side quests had a lot of bearing on the main plot and the worldbuilding - I don’t think I encountered any “fetch quests,” so most of the things I was doing actually related to enhancing my understanding of the world and its social dynamics.

The game also did a good job of presenting players with factions that were constantly in conflict with one another, lending an added layer of complexity to all the political aspects of the plot. Character’s personal quests were also very well done and had emotional depth. Vasco’s arc about learning about his true family was a nice exploration of birth family vs found family (he’s a sailor whose birth family gave him to the naval faction, the Nauts). Kurt’s quest was also a good one about the bonds between military recruits and really showed his commitment to people over institutions (he’s de Sardet’s commander at arms). Siora’s quests were more about staying true to her culture (she’s a native and daughter of one of a now-deceased tribe leader), while Aphra’s were about learning to be open minded when learning about a different culture (she’s a scientist interested in plants). Petrus’ were a mix of taking down the head of his Church and helping your character find their roots (he’s something of a pastor who also wields magic to fight). You can tell that the developers were inspired by Bioware games in that you can cultivate reputations with your companions and eventually romance them. Many of these romances are available to both male and female PCs, so there’s potential for a queer ship.

I will say that by the end of game, I was emotionally wrecked, despite all the political problems. So, I do think the developers of this game have a good sense of storytelling - I just wish they had done better politically.

Characters: Similar to Mass Effect or Dragon Age, GreedFall gives players a player-controlled character (PC) and a host of companions to take on an adventuring party. De Sardet, the PC, doesn’t have much personality when they’re being diplomatic, but I did enjoy the moments when they were confronted with information that impacted them emotionally. I played a female de Sardet, and the voice actress did a good job of balancing emotion with the facade that’s required of a diplomat. Constantin, de Sardet’s cousin and governor of New Serene (one of a few colonial settlements on Teer Fradee), is also carefully written as a charismatic, sympathetic nobleman’s son who wants to prove his worth. He and de Sardet share a close bond, which made moral decisions a bit more personal and emotionally difficult. I do think he became a scapegoat for all the evils of colonization, though, and I wish more was done with him to implicate every colonizer on the island. The companions are likewise very likable and fairly unique. Each of them had personal quests and stories that were compelling and sympathetic. I do wish there had been more opportunities to chat with them, or that they talked to each other during exploration (like Bioware companions do). I also appreciated that the Teer Fradee natives weren’t one, homogeneous group. I think too often we see pop culture try to write Indigenous peoples as having the same culture and goals, but with this game, there was some variety regarding what the best course of action would be against an invading force. I’m sure, however, that the depiction of the natives overall was problematic, but I’m not well-versed enough in native representation in pop culture to articulate the issues. While they weren’t portrayed as primitive or child-like (at least, I didn’t think so), I don’t doubt that there were tropes in there that I just couldn’t recognize (for example, Siora maybe a Chief’s Daughter/Indian Princess trope - it’s complicated). I suggest finding and reading an Indigenous critique of the game. (There’s also this one, which is valid, and I do think the game’s efforts and failures are worth talking about.)

Gameplay: This RPG mainly relies on balancing skills, talents, and attributes. Skills define what weapons you can use and how (one-handed blades, two-handed blades, firearms, magic, etc). Talents are things like charisma, science, or lockpicking - stuff which will affect the way you interact with the world. Attributes are mental and physical abilities like strength or willpower which affect how you wield weapons. Overall, the process of leveling up and gaining points to spend in these areas was pretty straight-forward, and I enjoyed the mental challenge of building a character that fit my play style.

Combat was a little clunky; basic attacks ran just fine for me, but there wasn’t much grace in the way characters dodged or rolled. I also kept getting thrown off by the fact that you can’t press space to jump! But in all, it wasn’t the worst experience. Enemies had helpful health bars, and I enjoyed the combination of a pistol and a rapier to finish off my foes. The diplomatic elements were by far the best part of gameplay for me. If players assign their skill points well, de Sardet can use a number of different tactics and choose from multiple dialogue options, from intimidation to taking advantage of intuition to laying on the charisma. It was fun to figure out which tactic would work on which characters, and how my skill sets translated into consequences for my decisions. I do think, however, that more options could have been presented to players in terms of dialogue choices and role-playing elements. While players make important choices regarding how to handle any given situation, there was little opportunity to purely role play. More opportunities to influence the direction or tone of the dialogue in non-crucial situations, I think, would have helped and made my De Sardet feel more unique.

Visuals: Aesthetically, I very much appreciated that we were given a fantasy game that wasn’t set in the faux Middle Ages. I loved the 18th century vibe to all the clothing and town layouts, and each of the maps were distinct and fully-realized, from the urban settings to the natural ones. There was a bit of repetition in the urban layouts; the palaces, for example, were the same, and some houses were recycled, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Dragon Age II. I also appreciated that there were people of various races and genders in all positions and all social circles. There were women in the guard, women working on ships, and so on, without any hint that it was unusual. There was also a fairly wide variety of skin tones, with people of color being included in higher social classes and not relegated to lowly servant roles. There are some problems in that “diversity washing” detracts from the racial conflicts that were very present in the 18th century. I don’t think the developers thought through the implications of putting POC in positions of power where they could commit violent colonial acts against the natives. The creatures on the island were interesting to look at. Their designs frequently combined natural imagery (such as vines and wood) with horror to create foes with an eldritch, elemental vibe. The same creepiness was reflected in the fictional disease that afflicts the colonists; the afflicted had black, vine-like tendrils running through the skin, and there was an impending sense of dread whenever I looked at someone who was infected. Despite all the things I liked, GreedFall’s biggest problem is its animation. For a game that was made in 2019, facial expressions and combat are quite clunky, to the point where the characters felt robotic. I understand that not every video game needs to have top-tier level animation, but playing GreedFall was similar to my experiences playing the first Witcher game or the first Mass Effect or Dragon Age: Origins games. Still technically playable, but it feels very outdated.

In-Game Triggers: violence (especially racial violence), colonialism, racism, religious zealotry, torture,

I feel the need to point out that while I don’t think this game is gory or explicit in any way (PG-13 would be my rating), there are some scenes that people may find triggering. There’s also one where a Native is killed by a religious zealot, and I found it extremely upsetting (it happens when you first enter San Matheus, if you need a heads up). Other than that, you never actually see characters torture native peoples, but you do hear about it later.

Recommendations: I would recommend this game if you’re interested in the 18th century, the age of imperialism, role-playing games, and fantasy. You might also like this game if you’re a fan of Bioware RPGs.

#video game review

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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May 16th-May 22nd, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from May 16th, 2020 to May 22nd, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

What are you trying to show or tell with your story that you find to be underrepresented?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

-Mind control/mind reading where both people are okay with it. I like themes of trust -"Superpowers" without secret identities. Because researchers aren't always evil goddamnit! -Portraying people who hurt others not as card-carrying megalomaniac villains but as pitiful and broken people. I haven't gotten to this part of my story yet but I hope I can do it well when I do. -Queer characters but they never say that they are or talk about it in any way. Yes I know I'm probably the only one who wants this

Also, maybe the idea that you don't need to "do anything" with your life for it to be worthwhile? But I'm not sure that I believe this myself

Deo101 [Millennium]

Mostly I'm trying to write about love, and I hardly think that's underrepresented! But, I'm also trying to show a bit of my own personal disabled experience, and I find that the kinds of things I've experienced are hardly represented at all. so, I think I'm trying to show a sort of hope and positivity for things that I think are usually pitied and viewed negatively, which I wish were done more.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I just wanted a good ol' classic Eddings-style fantasy romp, but with characters that would usually be cast in the "evil" role, without going the "misunderstood" route.

Plus I wanted to write about shitty family (born, found and married) and that you do NOT have to forgive them in the slightest to move on and better your life.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hmm... One of the main things I want to express with Whispers of the Past is that after past traumas, you may not be the same, but eventually, you can be okay again—even if your "okay" of now, is very different than your "okay" of the past. Normalcy isn't a constant. It shifts with time and becomes something new. A new stasis. A new peace. A new normal. I don't know if I've ever seen another story show this in this way. Another underrepresented theme in WotP is that of the hero choosing mundanity over the amazing. When the quest is over, and all is said and done, and the big baddie has been vanquished, the hero doesn't become ruler, or claim bountiful riches, or sail across the sea to find new lands. No, the hero returns to a world that is familiar and unremarkable. The hero would rather just be an average person.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

-Fanfiction. I’m very surprised there hasn’t been a webcomic talking about what it’s like to create fanfiction! But overall the culture involved around it and being a creator. -The relationship and hardships of having a stepparent/being one. Particularly stepdad/stepdaughter relationships -Anger as a reaction to trauma. I see a lot of trauma portrayed as mostly sad, but I want a story where the heroes feel anger, where it’s seen as both a motivator and a detriment -The hardships of dating as someone who’s both touch aversive and on the grey spectrum. Not everyone would be as wonderful or understanding, but it’s important to be around people who are and will stand by you.(edited)

eliushi [a winged tale]

This is why I gravitate towards all these stories made by independent creators I think. So many personal and poignant messages. I’m with you there on the queer characters Eightfish. I want a society where it’s fine to be what you wish and respected to be who you want to be. I think having more positive ways of showing how we can reach that sort of openness can be helpful. In AWT I further explore: - characters in STEM fields and approaches to research design - informed consent and what that means - how to live even when things are falling apart around you, when things are falling apart within you - navigating through crushes, confessions and friendships!

Wow the beginning sounds like the objectives at a science lecture and you won’t be wrong thinking so

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

For my Hybrid Dolls comic, there are several things I want to explore: - Psychological trauma and the effects or damage it can give, without proper treatment. -Writing queer characters without them needing a self discovery episode. But I know some identities are better to be upfront? But in the story, they simply live normal or exciting lives - Narcissism in a relative that one doesn't have to forgive. Being treated as invisible or judged by age, birthright. - Other Concepts of love explored. Attraction that isn't conventional romance. - Friendship bonds between girls, and my own take on an eccentric quirky girl lead. - Being unapologetically feminine, girls who doesn't need to feel like being 'one of the guys' I'm aiming for more character variety in historical fiction, instead of yet another story of a girl 'defying gender norms' by raised as a boy/disguises trope in other similar comics. So the women in my story, use their wits and charm.(edited)

DanitheCarutor

I complain about this all the time, so I'm just going to do a quick overview since I'm sure everyone is sick of it. - Abusers can be smart, popular, generous, charismatic and subtle. I'm kind of sick of them always being portrayed as really obvious, and sometimes really stupid, while there are people like that it's not very practical for them all to be like that. - General mental health stuff. More open representation of it, that it may be something you'll live with for the rest of your life and how that's okay. - Trauma, how it can change you, make you lose sight of the person you were and make you lose interest in things you used to enjoy. (this is coupled with mental health) - Non-romantic relationships with a queer cast. While this is showing up more in fantastical indie works, not very common in slice-of-life type of comics. I can only imagine this is because readers would find it boring or too mundane (can't tell you all how many people tell me my comic is boring. Lol), but being a person totally sick of romance in everything I wanted to do something focusing on family, friendship and the relationships we have with ourselves. - You don't always heal completely. I've already mentioned this, but I want to put a focus on how someone who's been through a lot of shit doesn't alway heal completely, and that's okay. I see in a lot of media where people just overcome their issues, and they live happily ever after with everything all perfect, I want something along the lines of "we still got a long way to go, but we're doing better and we're happier than before". - Not having labels for everything. This sounds like hipster trash, but I don't see the point in putting labels for every character. Like, I put labels for them, mostly during Pride, but it feels pointless in the comic. Apollo is happy to say he's a gay man, but with Julian they're not interested in categorising themselves, all they want is to be comfortable and I don't see nothing wrong with that.(edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

For me, it’s the importance of communication and empathy, and the dangers of its absence. And it’s something I’ve had to think about a lot recently, being more active on social media Everyone’s got their reasons/methods for cutting people off, but I’ve never been a huge fan of a point-blank communication cut unless it’s absolutely warranted. And I’m not a fan of instant demonization when someone messes up or does something I don’t agree with. People are people. We’re all different and we all mess up and we all can change. Keeping lines of communication open is essential for allowing that change, or else we all get locked into little echo chambers where anyone outside is automatically The Worst.™ In a world where everything has gone to hell - and may go further yet - how can things heal when no one is even listening to each other? Where the other side is automatically at fault no matter what? It’s something I grew up struggling to understand (maybe because I grew up outside Washington DC, lol), and really affects me to this day. And if you do end up protecting yourself with silence, how can you still allow other perspectives to be gleaned? I don’t quite have the perfect formula for it. But unless someone is genuinely trying to cause harm, I try to at least attempt to understand where they might coming from - whether I accept it or not. Otherwise it’s so easy to see a lot of people as monsters. It’s a complicated topic for sure, especially nowadays. But yeah. Something like that

Miranda

Hmm that’s an excellent question. Well, a big thing is the varying effects of trauma and ways to handle it. Mainly how burying the past and ignoring traumatic events can affect someone. Also that villains can be people we relate to that just take an extreme way of reaching a goal that most people can understand And how shared experiences can bring people closer (not a unique one) I also want to portray queer characters that are not solely defined by their queerness and don’t have to announce it to everyone.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

- Having some talks about the implications of asking what you wish for and the potential consequences that comes with it. - Having more unappologic Vietnamese things happening in the comic. Giving representation to some common things that most Vietnamese Americans (or Asian Americans) can face in terms of relationships, roles, etc. Also since er i'm also directly affected by this, how does the Mixed-Asian Identity plays about it too.(edited)

hmmm I think another thing is that I want to bring up that men who express themselves in a more feminine form is valid and there's no shame that comes with it (positive masculinity hell yaaaa). Also same about expressing characters who are also queer but aren't defined about it either. it's just what they are along with their other interests and goals.(edited)

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

wow, this is a great question! I'm trying to be better about interacting here so I'll give it a shot. My comic is a historical fantasy set somewhat in Interwar Europe/WWII Europe and partially in a fantasy world based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. -War stories/histories that aren't about the actual experience of combat: most memoirs and diaries of soldiers I read doing research are about the day-to-day activities, meals, sleeping habits, and random thoughts instead of fight descriptions. It really bothers me when people zero in on in-depth battle maps and obsess over what kind of rifle was used by whom when, when I think it's much more interesting and important to look at the mindset of who was fighting, why they were fighting, and what emotional effect it had on everyone involved (including civilians!) -Asexuality, especially asexuality in history, bc it tends to "disappear" in the historical record as people who may have been ace before that label was widely used tend to not self-identify as it. I'm ace, people in the past were ace, it's a history I'd like to talk about more! -gryphons, they're cool monsters and I think they should be used much more than they are haha

eliushi [a winged tale]

I agree sierrabravo. I find it’s the personal, down to earth, close perspective accounts in historical records that resonate the most with me. Gryphons are also awesome!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I feel like there's two separate answers for Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R (http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/comics/) The first is what SGKDR represents compared to other webcomics. To me, a major thing I wanted to show with Super Galaxy Knights was a new style of creating webcomics. Animation is underrepresented as a storytelling style, sure, but the main thing I thought was underrepresented in the webcomic space was a "seasonal" method of storytelling. Like, most webcomics I see are either "each page is its own thing" or "it's one big long story, with chapters mostly there to split up different scenes/locations". I very rarely see webcomics build to a major climax in the story, then a resolution, then introduce a brand new conflict. The second is what SGKDR represents compared to other action series (specifically shonen manga/anime, as that's what SGKDR riffs off of the most). I can only think of one shonen story with a female lead, I can't think of any with an explicitly LGBTQ+ protagonist (i only know of one implied one), romance is usually handled very poorly (characters usually get paired with the protagonist due to being female and in the same room, with very little actual relationship building), there aren't many varieties of character motivations besides "pursuit of power/status" of some kind, power scaling usually gets way out of whack, and I... I dunno, I love those kinds of stories, but it just gets tiring after a while. So, I wrote my own that had all the things I wanted in it.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead) I totally agree with the difficulty and importance of talking about ace representation in a historical setting! It's extremely difficult to talk about when asexuality was so unknown at the time. I'm eager to see how you handle it!

eliushi [a winged tale]

@snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) can you speak about

I very rarely see webcomics build to a major climax in the story, then a resolution, then introduce a brand new conflict.

I find slice of life/ some really long mangas with continuous streams of antagonists/web novel like formats use this too but unsure if that’s what you were referring to?

I am also looking forward to more ace representation in the webcomic world

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Yeah that format is the sort of thing I was talking about. It's out there, but I don't see it very often.

eliushi [a winged tale]

Ah gotcha! Thanks! I recall some slice of life high school ones I’ve read years ago that have that sort of narrative structure (which feels like the story can continue forever).

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

There's a recurring trope in SF/F where the robot/AI/golem learns that it wants to have free will and make its own decisions. Or there's a biological species that are assumed to be "natural servants", and inevitably you get to the reveal that they're not actually any different from humans in terms of wanting self-determination and independence. If you think of this as a metaphor for relationships between different groups of humans, then yeah, that's the obvious outcome! But one of the great things about SFF is that you can write things that aren't just "direct metaphors for real-world issues, with spaceships and dragons thrown in for flavor." So in But I'm A Cat Person, I wanted to write something about, what if there's a group of beings who really aren't going to develop free will or self-determination? What's the reasonable, ethical way to deal with that? ...also: there's a ton of nonbinary characters in webcomics these days, but at least I can say BICP did it before it was cool.(edited)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Leif & Thorn, meanwhile, has a regular old "character forced into servitude, who definitely has independent thoughts and desires that are being controlled" situation. And there's no "Master has given Dobby a sock" loophole they can exploit for a quick fix, so they have to keep up a long-term process of double-talk and rule-bending, to communicate Leif's actual feelings without getting him in trouble. The "realistic language barriers with no convenient universal-translator to get around them" situation -- which, in this comic, is one of the biggest Underrepresented Things I wanted to explore -- makes it that much harder...

Capitania do Azar

I gotta commend you on that, @Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) because you're out there serving my bilingual needs

kayotics

Ingress Adventuring Company is all about the hero after they've finished saving the world, which I think is pretty underrepresented. It's not a quiet contemplative story, since there's still a lot of fun questing stuff going on, but I'm trying to make it clear that this all takes place after the main character has done his big saving the world quest and is still trying to figure out his place after supposedly settling down.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I love that Kay

Toivo feels like he has so much history behind him

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I'm trying to represent orthodox/religious jews because I almost never see my community represented in media. There are orthodox Jewish characters that will be appearing in Joe is dead. In future comics I want to try to plan the story more around including more religious Jewish characters because there still aren't that many in my current project

Also mental illnesses, like trauma and intellectual disability I want to represent my own experiences with it

There isn't as much of a distinct lack of that in media but it's good to have in stories(edited)

Also androgynous lesbians

Nutty (Court of Roses)

With Court of Roses, I'm trying to tell a fantasy story that's for older audiences but proving that Mature Fantasy doesn't have to be ultra gritty. People have each other to depend on, the world isn't bleak, and not every noble is greedy, peasant is starving, etc. I know a lot of fantasy likes to take from realistic Medieval Europe, but the freeing part about making my own world is that it doesn't HAVE to be like that. Their religion is different, more accepting, and again, people are more focused on looking out for each other and having a good time.

Mature themes are still present, such as murder, banditry/pillaging, alcohol, traumatic experiences, etc. but my goal isn't to present them in a darker fashion.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I wanted to make something influenced by my culture (Korean) without heavily drawing from the mythology. Mythology is just one facet of a culture, yet a lot of people who haven't read it expect HoK to be all about Korean mythology just because it wears a metaphorical hanbok. No. It reflects the traditional aesthetics, but more importantly, the cultural values and the unspoken rules of the society, regardless of whether I agree with them or not. Related to that is body language. I don't want my non-American characters using American body language, such as shrugging, or American ways of using eye contact, etc. I want to show them using (mostly) Korean gestures, sitting, standing and walking like Koreans. I always feel like there's a huge missed opportunity when friggin' aliens use American body language in sci-fi! I understand why people do that -- it makes the work more clear/accessible to English-speaking audience. But in HoK I'm taking the other path. It's a challenge for sure, but I would not have it any other way.

On a more thematic level, I really wanted to explore deeply hurtful experiences that happen in genuinely caring relationships. It's not about good guys vs bad guys, it's not about a nice person being hurt by someone who just doesn't care. Those stories certainly are valid, just not what I wanted to do with HoK. This story is about people who love each other, but don't always know how to communicate their love or needs.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I am also looking forward to more ace representation in the webcomic world

@eliushi [a winged tale] I agree, the ace rep is a challenge I would like to take on, I'm also curious how it will work in historical times? Even tho I'm ace,I'm still learning new innovative things(edited)

eliushi [a winged tale]

It’ll be important to dig deeper and research into what things were like if you want to capture the authenticity of the period you’re writing in! I’m sure there are personal accounts or documentation of these lived experiences.

Capitania do Azar

I see all these beautiful answers and I almost struggle to find something other than those to say I guess for O Sarilho https://www.sarilho.net/en/ I wanted to write a weird love letter to where I live and how I see my country (tho I'm glad I got other places I love in it too). To my knowledge, we don't get much like that, or at least that's not from a city perspective which is not what I'm trying to go for, at all. There's a lot of tiny cultural things that I want to touch that may be invisible for people who are not from here, but I'm glad that I'm including them for those three readers in the back. Linked to this, in a way, is the fact that I get really tired of those white/gray Sci-fi stories where everything is super clean and super white and technology is absolutely overwhelming and organised. I want Sci-fis in the woods too. And finally, there's something about the way violence is portrayed a lot of times that almost makes you feel like human life just is that cheap. I really don't want to go that road, I'm doing my best to tell a story about war in which death still leaves a toll and violence affects everyone involved

TL;DR I WANTED TO PAINT MY HOUSE

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

And finally, there's something about the way violence is portrayed a lot of times that almost makes you feel like human life just is that cheap. I really don't want to go that road, I'm doing my best to tell a story about war in which death still leaves a toll and violence affects everyone involved

@Capitania do Azar This is so beautiful (and tragic). This is something I also hope to express in my work. Super underrepresented message surprisingly.

eliushi [a winged tale]

I enjoy exploring sci-fi beyond the current conventions and absolutely love your setting shizamura!(edited)

Capitania do Azar

Thank u I really love Sci-fi but I don't appreciate that it has become associated with a very specific aesthetic because tbh I find it very limiting

DanitheCarutor

@Capitania do Azar That is actually really refreshing! Horror and action are so packed with glamorized death and violence, you can get really desensitized. The only stories I've ever seen that take those things seriously are war movies based on real life events, like Saving Private Ryan, (which my grandpa, a Korean War vet, said was the most accurate portrayal of what war was like.) and even then you get flicks that totally glamorize the whole thing. I really admire you wanting to put that sense of gravity onto the violence and death in your work, also I love when creators want to tackle war in all it's "too close to home", upsetting realism.

Capitania do Azar

I really love Saving Private Ryan, it is a very nice portrayal with a great message: nobody wants to be here

DanitheCarutor

Yes! I love Saving Private Ryan too, it was nice seeing a movie that didn't make war look like some fantastical bs.

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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noisemakerreviews · 5 years

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‘Joker’ Paints An Uncomfortable Picture of Today’s World

Never did I think I’d see the day where I could parallel even the darkest of Batman themes to the world we live in.

Todd Phillips’ latest blockbuster Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix as the clown prince of crime we all know and love. Phillips’ other films include the Hangover trilogy, but this new film doesn’t have a happy go-lucky trio trying to remember their drunken stupors and find their fourth mate.

Joker makes the audience laugh, but in a nervous, sort of uncomfortable way.

At the Venice Film Festival, Joker received an eight-minute standing ovation.

Reviews poured in following the Italian premiere and they backed up the hype. Mark Hughes of Forbes said, “The fact is, everyone is going to be stunned by what Phoenix accomplishes, because it’s what many thought impossible — a portrayal that matches and potentially exceeds that of The Dark Knight’s Clown Prince of Crime.”

The film opens with Phoenix touching up his makeup in front of a vanity. He hooks his fingers in the corners of his mouth and pulls them upward in a smile, downwards in a frown, then back up again; a single, mascara-stained tears roll down his cheek, and laughter ensues.

Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, an eccentric man with a funny laugh and a horrifying past, searching for his identity. The film encapsulates Arthur’s journey with himself and his downward spiral into becoming the Joker.

There are some prevalent themes within Joker that are worth talking about; the most prevalent being mental health and its effect on people in today’s society. There are several scenes in which Phoenix is sitting in front of his therapist, and she eventually jerks the needle off the record and informs him that the city has cut the clinic’s funding and their meetings must come to an end. The therapist goes on to claim that the higher-ups, “don’t give a shit,” about people like him or her.

According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, in 2016, 9.8 million adults aged 18 or older in the U.S. had a serious mental illness; 2.8 million of those adults were below the poverty line. Insurance companies have also been known to skimp when it comes to mental health cases, which makes it that much harder for people relating to Arthur to seek help. According to a study published by Milliman, in 2015, behavioral care was four to six times more likely to be provided out-of-network than medical or surgical care. In President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget, his administration aims to cut $241 billion from Medicaid, an assistance program that provides healthcare to low-income Americans.

Dancing is a symbol that is heavy in Joker. According to a Harvard study, “dance helps reduce stress, increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections, especially in regions involved in executive function, long-term memory, and spatial recognition.” After especially tense scenes, Arthur begins a slow, emphasized dance routine that is hauntingly beautiful.

With mental health being such a prevalent theme, Arthur clinging onto dancing as a coping mechanism or escape from the world backs up the analysis that he’s doing it to improve his mental health — or at least attempt to.

In any Batman rendition — comics, movies, TV shows, video games — Gotham is always on fire… literally. In Joker, we see a bright Gotham in the beginning, with normal big-city crimes happening: teenagers stealing things, muggings, etc. By the end of the film, Arthur has bred chaos in the streets, and we see the imagery of Gotham that has become so prevalent within the Batman universe. In both Arthur and Gotham’s descent into madness, there’s an arc that’s ever present: protesting the elite.

All around the country, protests have emerged to combat the elite. Most recently, climate change has brought criticism on the world’s elite members and their inability to make a change. In the past, police brutality has created protests in riots from victim’s families and their supporters, calling for change in law enforcement procedures. Countless marches have been held in response to several pieces of legislations passed (abortion laws, Planned Parenthood budget cuts, LGBTQ+ rights).

“Kill The Rich” is a headline that pops up time and time again throughout the film, feeding into this “protest the elite” arc. Arthur guns down three rich men in the subway following their harassment of a woman and a physical altercation between himself and the men. This sparks a movement within Gotham that empowers Arthur and makes him feel noticed, something he’d never experienced in his life before. Citizens of Gotham supporting this movement don clown masks to imitate the suspect, aka, Arthur.

Joker has faced its fair share of backlash. Stephanie Zacharek of Time Magazine took no prisoners in her review, stating that Joker, “lionizes and glamorizes Arthur even as it shakes its head, faux-sorrowfully, over his violent behavior.” Other reviews have had similar opinions. In 2012, a mass shooting broke out at a Colorado movie theatre during The Dark Knight Rises premiere. The assailant fatally shot 12 people. Family members of the slain victims wrote a letter to Warner Bros. expressing their concerns.

Sandy Phillips, mother to 24-year-old victim Jessica Ghawi, told The Hollywood Reporter, “I don't need to see a picture of [the gunman]; I just need to see a Joker promo and I see a picture of the killer … My worry is that one person who may be out there — and who knows if it is just one — who is on the edge, who is wanting to be a mass shooter, may be encouraged by this movie. And that terrifies me.”

In what is perhaps its most iconic scene, Arthur eccentrically dances down the stairs that we see him trudge up throughout the film. This is also the first time we see him in that iconic purple suit, green hair, and a full face of makeup. He is dancing to Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part Two,” which has earned the film more backlash. Gary Glitter is a convicted pedophile currently serving a 16-year prison sentence. According to CNBC, Glitter is allegedly slated to receive royalties from the use of his song in the movie.

People took to Twitter to post their opinions about the film. One user tweeted, “#JokerMovie was the most brutal, uncomfortable and tense movie experience I’ve had in a long time. Joaquin Phoenix is chilling. The film was spot on and did everything it should have for a character like the Joker.”

Another user tweeted, “Outstandingly Disturbing. Prolific. Necessary Blessing to Modern Cinema.”

As much as I enjoyed the film’s premise, production, and Phoenix’s performance, I do think there are some troubling themes that need to be brought up. Arthur often justifies his heinous actions by stating “they deserved it” and using the defense that society treats “people like him” like “trash” so, they should all die. He feeds into the “Kill The Rich” movement that he involuntarily created in the subway when he committed what we presume to be his first murder(s).

Though I know the concept behind the Joker character, I can see how this can be construed as glorifying gun violence. However, we can’t have the Gotham supervillain without violence and guns. It’s an accurate representation of the character, and it’s unfortunate that it parallels a lot of what’s going on in the world today.

The Joker is also painted to incite pity within viewers, which a lot of times, it does --- or at least attempts to. This is classic Joker behavior. In Paul Dini and Bruce Timm’s comic Mad Love, readers meet Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. She gets assigned to none other than --- you guessed it --- the Joker. Though this woman is highly educated (we won’t talk about the things she did to get that education), the Joker still manipulates her and convinces her to not only help him escape Arkham, but become his partner-in-crime as well; Harleen Quinzel is no more and Harley Quinn is born.

She pities him and his situation, and he spins his tale of woe so expertly that she has the wool pulled over her eyes. Throughout the comic --- and the general timeline for Joker and Harley --- Joker mercilessly abuses Harley, from pushing her out a window to not noticing she was gone for six months. He is a cruel, manipulative psychopath that nobody should follow in the footsteps of; however, he’s good at his job, and Joker showcases that, however controversial and uncomfortable it may be.

Joker is rated R for a reason; not only are there a few F-bombs, the violence is staggering. However, when dealing with a character that is known for inciting violence and not caring about the consequences, tough scenes are necessary. Phillips didn’t shy away from blood and intensity in his murder scenes, and Phoenix went all in when it came to brutality. Personally, (spoiler!) I never really wanted to see Robert De Niro’s brains blown out the back of his skull, but you can’t have the Joker without some blood.

And finally, while the troubled citizens looking for a leader are terrorizing Gotham following Arthur’s murder of Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) on live television, our hero’s story starts. Thomas and Martha Wayne are gunned down in an alley outside a theatre by a rogue thug and Joker fan, and young Bruce Wayne begins his famous story.

Joker was original in concept and plot, but had just enough callbacks to the comics to make it permissible. The atmosphere in the full theatre I was in was palpable. There were chuckles and titters here and there when Arthur would make a funny joke, or everyone was just laughing off the tension of the moment. There were also audible gasps and groans when things got especially rough (such as the aforementioned Robert De Niro scene). Joker did exactly what the real Joker would have wanted: it incited a reaction out of people.

I had low expectations going into the movie because, as someone who grew up reading Batman and loving to hate the Joker, I was afraid my favorite complex villain was going to get ruined (looking at you, Jared Leto). I was pleasantly surprised by Phoenix’s performance and Phillips’ take on Mista J, and it was a refreshing performance that was a polar opposite from the late Heath Ledger’s, but equally as convincing and chilling.

An Oscar seems to be on the horizon for both Phillips and Phoenix for Joker. The film is raunchy and tense, and I didn’t know I could hold my breath for two hours. It’s exactly what a Joker movie should be, and I’d encourage anyone to go watch it.

#joker #the joker #joker movie #review #joker review #comic book #comic book review #movie #dc #dc comics #todd phillips #joaquin phoenix #pop culture

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96thdayofrage · 3 years

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In the wake of the dramatic storming of the Capitol last week, a host of big media companies, including Facebook, Reddit, Pinterest, Twitch, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, have all taken measures against Donald Trump. Making the most headlines, however, was the decision of the president’s favorite medium, Twitter (1/8/21), to permanently suspend him “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

It’s difficult to argue that Trump did not repeatedly violate Twitter‘s rules against “threaten[ing] violence” and “glorification of violence,” justifying his ban. But we urgently need to rethink the power of these social media behemoths, because there are plenty of other examples where their enforcement of their rules has been arbitrary and non-transparent.

Whether one saw the assault on the halls of Congress as a coup attempt (e.g., Atlantic, 1/6/21; Buzzfeed News, 1/6/21; Guardian, 1/6/21), a “riot” (MSNBC, 1/10/21; Wall Street Journal, 1/12/21) or “protests” (Fox News, 1/7/21, 1/8/21), there is no doubt that Trump did incite the crowd to invade the seat of government. Instructing his followers to “fight like hell” to stop a “stolen election,” he insisted: “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

The media reaction to the social media ban was varied. Writing in tech publication ZDNet (1/7/21), Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols supported the decision. “The right to free speech doesn’t give you the right to right to shout fraud in a fractured country,” he said. “Twitter should have suspended Trump’s account years ago,” wrote Sarah Manavis in the New Statesman (1/7/21):

For years the president has been allowed to tweet anything he wants, with deadly consequences…. The case for kicking one of its highest-profile users off the platform is self-evident.

Meanwhile, Chris Stevenson in the London Independent (1/11/21) argued that privately owned websites have every right to remove their services from users.

Jessica J. González, co-CEO of the media advocacy group Free Press (1/9/21) and co-founder of the anti-hate speech Change the Terms coalition, hailed the ban as a victory for media activism:

Twitter’s decision to permanently suspend Donald Trump is a victory for racial-justice advocates who have long condemned his continued abuse of the platform.

From the launch of his presidential campaign when he defamed Mexicans as rapists, criminals and drug dealers, to the desperate last gasps of his presidency as he has egged on white supremacists to commit violence and insurrection, Trump had used his Twitter account to incite violence, lie about the election outcome, encourage racists and spread conspiracy theories. He did not deserve a platform on Twitter, or on any other social or traditional media.

Others were not so heartened by the news. Writing in Politico (1/10/21), European Union official Thierry Breton worried:

The fact that a CEO can pull the plug on POTUS’s loudspeaker without any checks and balances is perplexing. It is not only confirmation of the power of these platforms, but it also displays deep weaknesses in the way our society is organized in the digital space.

National leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also characterized the move as a blow against free speech. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg (1/11/21) was in the middle, stating that tech giants were right to ban Trump, but worried about the “scary power” they were amassing.

Perhaps the most histrionic reaction came from Donald Trump Jr., who tweeted (1/9/21):

The world is laughing at America & Mao, Lenin, & Stalin are smiling. Big tech is able to censor the President? Free speech is dead & controlled by leftist overlords.

In reality, of course, actual, self-described leftist and Communist figures are routinely purged from the site. Twitter shut down virtually the entire Cuban state media apparatus in 2019, removed tens of thousands of accounts it claims were linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and has suspended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s account multiple times without explanation. These moves failed to elicit handwringing condemnations and essays on the nature of free speech, however.

With the power that he wields as president, Trump is undoubtedly the most belligerent user in Twitter history, using the platform to threaten genocide against Iran and threaten North Korea with “total destruction” (presumably nuclear in nature). So blatant were his violations of the site’s anti-violence rules that it had to craft new “public-interest exemptions” to justify not kicking him off. Although they couched their decisions in the language of free speech, the president’s wild proclamations were always a huge money spinner; Twitter lost $3.4 billion in market value overnight after announcing the ban last week.

While Trump’s actions clearly breached the company’s terms of service by not only calling for but producing violence, the affair brings up bigger questions about private ownership of public forums and the massive power social media giants like Facebook and Twitter hold over the public sphere. Sixty-eight percent of American adults use Facebook and 25% use Twitter. Both platforms are huge gateways and distributors of news around the world. Facebook is by a long way the most widely used news source in the United States, and both platforms have user bases far larger than the collective circulation of all daily US newspapers. They also give ordinary people the opportunity to share information and build communities, making them immensely important parts of the modern public square.

A free press is the cornerstone of any open, democratic society. But like it or not, in just a few short years, massive online companies have far surpassed the reach of legacy media outlets, with news generally being broken on Twitter before anywhere else. Companies like Google and Facebook have become monopolies by design, squeezing out or buying up the competition. There are no practical alternatives of any size to these behemoths, raising questions of whether they should be in private ownership at all, given their importance to the public discourse.

Western governments already exercise considerable control over the content of social media, but for their own interests, not ours. In 2018, Facebook announced it would be working closely with the Atlantic Council to help it curate its news feeds and stamp out false information (FAIR.org, 5/21/18). The Atlantic Council is a NATO cutout organization funded by the State Department and allied foreign governments. Its board of directors includes high-ranking Bush-era officials like Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, US military generals and no fewer than eight former CIA chiefs. When organizations such as these influence the most influential means of global communication, that is coming close to state censorship on a worldwide scale.

Meanwhile, in 2019, a senior Twitter executive was unmasked as an officer in the British Army’s psychological operations and online warfare division. Corporate media reacted with a collective yawn, the news covered by only one US outlet of any note (Newsweek, 10/1/19; see FAIR.org, 10/24/19)—a response that raises many troubling questions about the relationship between deep state and fourth estate. The journalist who covered the story resigned a few weeks later, citing stifling top-down censorship.

Perhaps this helps explain why the online media giants’ primary targets of censorship have always been the domestic left and foreign enemies of Washington. Facebook has shut down pages belonging to a myriad of anti-establishment groups, such as Occupy London and the anti-fascist No Unite the Right, while suspending those of alternative media like TeleSUR English and Venezuelanalysis.

Last year it also announced that, since President Trump had designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization, all posts presenting recently slain General Qassem Soleimani in a positive light would be immediately deleted across its platforms (Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.). “We operate under US sanctions laws, including those related to the US government’s designation of the IRGC and its leadership,” a company spokesperson said. Taking into account that Soleimani had a more than 80% domestic approval rating, this meant that one pronouncement from Trump effectively barred Iranians from sharing their overwhelmingly popular opinion online with each other.

Facebook has also deliberately changed its algorithm in an attempt to throttle traffic to left-wing news sites. Last year, the Wall Street Journal (10/16/20) reported that Mark Zuckerberg personally approved changes that would hit “left-leaning” political news sites harder than previously planned. Meanwhile, conservative and far-right commentators dominate the site, despite their constant and well-documented violations of the terms of service.

Twitter has also purged hundreds of thousands of Russian, Chinese, Turkish and Venezuelan accounts, while constantly suspending antiwar voices and publications. Like with Facebook, left-wing independent news site Venezuelanalysis is a favorite target.

Private companies probably should not be hosting the largest online forums. However, if they do, there need to be transparent and enforced rules in place to deal with grave breaches of conduct. In this sense, it was a prudent decision from social media companies to suspend or ban the president, who has flagrantly disregarded those rules for years.

However, Silicon Valley corporations are far from neutral moral arbiters, and have a history of abusing their power. In 2018, it took barely 24 hours for big tech companies to shift their ire from conservative conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to the left (FAIR.org, 8/22/18), deleting and suspending accounts with little rhyme or reason. Don’t expect this to be the last highly controversial censorship decision they make.

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chiefjusticechui · 7 years

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me too

Over the past several days, I have seen more and more “me too” posts on social media in regards to sexual harassment and sexual abuse awareness, and I have some mixed feelings about the amount of posts... heartbreak, resonation, anger, annoyance.

Because of associated stigma and trauma, I have been reluctant to write, “me too,” but I've perceived the goal of the “me too movement” to be (at least in part) to raise awareness for victims that they’re not alone, not crazy, not pitiful. Feeling any of those is hard for me, and I really don’t want others to feel that way; so I choose to share.

I don’t wish to share my experiences with sexual abuse and sexual harassment in much detail, and I actually don’t even wish to share them in much extent at all. I’d rather share my thoughts on the effects--the stigma and the trauma--of such abuse and harassment.

The worst part of a car accident, for me, is usually (not that I usually get in car accidents...) the aftermath rather than the accident itself. Getting back in the car and continuing to drive immediately after a traumatic event is kind of terrifying even if the accident wasn’t my fault.

I suddenly feel paranoid and more cautious, aware of my driving and my surroundings. I flinch when another car comes to a stop behind me or changes lanes in front of me. I don’t trust myself or other drivers.

And something similar happens with sexual abuse and harassment. (I think it’s called PTSD :P).

I mean, it happens with traumatic events in general. Over the last decade and a half, I’ve trusted myself and other people (mostly males, to be frank) less and less because of traumatic experiences.

How would you feel after your family member threatens to take your life? Isn’t he / she supposed to care about you more than your friends, your friends’ parents, classmates, a grocery cashier?

How would you feel after your close friend asks for your trust and then betrays it? Isn’t he / she supposed to retain your confidence more than your acquaintances, supervisors, teammates?

Following events like that, I have trouble sincerely accepting that I can trust anybody else, be close to anybody else.

With regards to sexual abuse and harassment, it breaks my heart to just admit that, after such events, I’m terrified of things that, in some situations / with some people, are supposed to be good. I’m slow to accept and enjoy even the feeling of liking a boy just because I have a hard time imagining that he would be kind, be gentle, be caring.

After somebody proudly takes your virginity without your consent and then repeatedly urges you to partake in similar activities again, it’s hard to imagine (more so to believe) that sex could actually be a good, enjoyable, positively meaningful experience.

Forgive me for being a romantic, but I had looked forward to my “first time” being at least with somebody that I deeply care about. I can’t really look forward to that anymore. In fact, part of me doesn’t want that day to come.

It shouldn’t be this way for anybody.

Beyond fear of similar experiences, trauma has manifested in my life through nightmares. Throughout and since high school, I have nightmares about men I know and trust making unsolicited and unwanted advances on me, and I wake up feeling like I’m in danger even though I’m alone in my room.

I wake up feeling like there’s an imminent threat to my life and my body. I wake up in tears because I was crying in my dream. I wake up, afraid to go back to sleep.

It shouldn’t be this way for anybody.

Another couple of ways in which I’ve been affected and which, I think, are common among victims of sexual abuse and / or harassment is a change in self-perception and a confusion of accountability.

I started seeing myself as damaged goods, to be honest. I’m more sensitive, more paranoid, less trusting--and all of it strikes me as results of the “damage” or trauma.

That’s not fair. I don’t want somebody else’s malice to mean that I’m any less funny, any less personable, any less friendly or anything as I’ve ever been (and let’s face it: I’m really, really funny). I don’t want somebody else’s selfishness to force me into being a different person. It’s not fair.

My mom reminded me pretty early on that I can still be myself (as hilarious as I am), and I think that her support has helped me cope in that way a lot. But I also started seeing myself as a slut and an attention-seeker, and I blamed myself for some of the abuse and thought I deserved it.

It took about three months for me to stop blaming myself for losing my virginity when I didn’t want to, for me to stop calling myself a slut. And after that, it took another three or four months to come to terms with just the idea that I was raped. I even looked up dictionary and legal definitions of rape, consent, etc. to see if there’s any definite distinction...

...but I kinda didn’t land on anything specifically with regards to my own situation. One of my friends said made me feel better though; she said, “I’m not going to tell you that you were raped because I don’t want to put a label on you and I don’t know how you feel, but I do think that resembles rape.” I don’t know; I guess I don’t know if I was raped.

It shouldn’t be this way for anybody.

As aforementioned, I hadn’t wanted to talk about my experiences or their aftermath because I am afraid of any associated stigma. Not because of “society’s” reaction and response to stories of sexual abuse and harassment, but because of my own experiences in telling people about traumatic events in my life (related to sexual abuse or not).

I’m tired of being seen as a charity case or like a puppy in a rescue shelter. I don’t need (nor want) anybody’s help, pity, or sad faces. I mean, seriously, I’m a happy person who knows what she wants and works had to get what she wants. I generally have a very positive outlook and attitude, and I don’t feel that “the world” owes me anything or that I’m entitled to compensation for my sad life events.

I’m tired of people hearing my story and responding with, “I’m sorry.” Even if it’s not meant this way, it feels like people are sorry that I’m “damaged” (also, what a horribly connotated word). I mean, I know better than anybody else that I’m damaged because I see it in my daily decisions.

It shouldn’t be this way for anybody.

I don’t want to be pitied. I don’t want to be scared. I don’t want to be discouraged, reluctant, paranoid, or lonely. I want to be encouraged, confident, and I want to know that I have comfort. I want to know that I’m safe.

I want other people to know that they’re safe, and it’s hard to convince somebody that she is safe if she has reason to believe that danger is out there.

I guess what I’m hoping that people get out of my sharing depends.

Because I often feel alone and pitiful, I really hope that others who have experience sexual abuse and / or harassment know that there is at least one other person out there who cares to be vulnerable and to listen. I hope that they feel at all comforted or in-community by this and other “me too” posts.

I’m hoping that people who do not share in these experiences can understand that, sometimes, abuse / harassment victims just want others to show patience. I am slow to enjoy (and show enjoyment in) certain kinds of relationships, slow to trust, slow to a lot of relational things. I need that time to be sure that I’m safe and to believe that some people (some men) are not dangerous.

Patience and understanding, I guess. I hope that others see me the way I see myself (or want to see myself). I really don’t see myself as a charity case, and I still think I’m a fun-loving person who has goals and likes to work to achieve them on her own as much as possible.

The most encouraging response I received went along the lines of, “I don’t really know what to say or what you need. I won’t push you to talk about it, but I’ll listen if you need an ear.” That friend went on to offer love in the form of food (also appreciated...)

I’m hoping that perpetrators of sexual abuse and / or harassment might realise the potential extent of their actions, their selfishness, their inconsideration. I don’t consider my life completely ruined by the occurrences of abuse, violence, etc., but... but there are some things which cannot be replaced.

Feeling guilt and shame isn’t what I want such persons to do. Feeling guilt and shame doesn’t really help anybody, even the wrongdoer. If you feel guilty, then explicitly admit that you’ve done something wrong, that you are sincerely sorry, and that you want to / will repent and / or face the potentially harsh consequences of your actions.

We all have to for something. And we learn not to do it again. And seriously, don’t do it again. Please.

#me too

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scripttorture · 5 years

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If a prisoner spent the whole time they were imprisoned having their head/face touched or hair messed with or being told to reply a certain way to a verbal queue - something that's more annoying than abusive - would the reaction be hard to break once they were freed? Would it be a conscious effort to think "I shouldn't let people touch my hair/head" because they're used to it? Or would it be more of a visceral "do not want" reaction because it's something they associate with imprisonment?

I think this is one of those situations where there are a lot of possible realistic responses.

Before I go any further- this answer is based on my ‘best guess’. I’m unaware of any real life torturers consistently doing the same demeaning ‘little’ thing to their victims. Torturers do verbally abuse victims and behave in ways designed to demean their victims.

But torturers also operate in groups and they don’t coordinate across the group. So having all of them consistently- mess with a particular victim’s hair, isn’t particularly likely.

That doesn’t make this a bad idea, it just means I can’t reach for a survivor’s account and need to make an educated guess.

It’s possible that something like this could become a trigger. But that isn’t guaranteed.

Torturers can’t control what symptoms a survivor develops and they can’t control what triggers they develop either.

I think all of the responses you’ve suggested could happen.

My instinct is a ‘do not want’ response is much more likely. However keep in mind that people can freeze while having that kind of reaction. Which could lead to them ‘allowing’ people to touch their head because they didn’t respond and their consent was assumed.

That’s not quite the same as needing to make a conscious effort to remember they can refuse- it’s that the energetic/emotional cost of responding at the time is too high. This can lead to a lot of self-blame and it’s a pretty normal response to anxiety.

I think you would also get some individuals who just- wouldn’t really respond to this either as a trigger or an ingrained response. You’d get people who didn’t like having their hair touched any more but not to the extent that it’s triggering.

The main thing that I think you should avoid with this scenario is the suggestion that the torturers could deliberately cause- whatever response the survivor has. If the torturers are doing it to every single prisoner then statistically speaking a few of them might respond ‘as planned’. But the majority won’t. Don’t reinforce the belief that torturers control survivors.

But beyond that I think this is a case where you need to think about what serves the story best.

Why do you want to make this a feature?

Is it about exploring the effects of emotional abuse and how often it gets dismissed? Because if so then framing this as ‘not abusive’ undermines that notion.

Is it to show that even though there wasn’t an intention to abuse the character they were still affected? There are other ways you could show that which are more common: things like anxiety symptoms, difficulty interacting with people, over-justifying their presence/abilities, mild depressive symptoms etc.

You don’t have to go with any of those over having this trigger/knee-jerk response. But if the intention is to show how the character was effected by their experience, tying this response to a mental health problem can help. It gives you a guide for how the character could deal with these behaviours and it gives you an idea of how the symptoms might change over time.

Is it about unintended consequences? Because using an unusual and obvious response would work well in that case: it’s a very definite link to another character’s actions, it assigns guilt.

Is it about demeaning or infantilising the character? Eventually they’ll respond to that in some way. It might not necessarily be by snapping or overtly trying to exert their independence and competency- it could just be by abruptly leaving the social group.

Finishing this off- I think it’s important to remember that actions which are ‘annoying’ once or twice in a low stress situation can become abusive when repeated over a long stretch of time. Especially in a high stress situation.

‘Jokes’ about someone’s physical appearance stop being jokes and start becoming harassment when they become a regular occurrence and have a negative effect on the targetted person. Treat this similarly. If it is having a pronounced negative effect on your character then it’s no longer ‘just’ an annoyance.

Essentially whatever you’re doing to your characters if you want it to have a serious long term effect- then treat it seriously. Don’t down play it. Don’t make it a joke. No matter how strange or minor it seems.

I hope this helps. :)

Availableon Wordpress.

Disclaimer

#Anonymous #tw torture #prisons #emotional abuse #triggers #mental health

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millennialdemon · 7 years

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I wasn’t able to liveblog/screencap Romeo no Aoi Sora on account of watching it with my significant other (which was wild - I can’t imagine how a liveblog of it would have gone, it probably would have taken forever because it’s so dense) but I do think it’s worth doing a quick write up on as the first 1995 series I have completed!

My only other experience with World Masterpiece Theatre is the Flanders no Inu movie which really impressed me - I found it to be a fantastically focused, coherent movie. That seems like a pretty modest compliment but it did cause and effect and the whole idea of Drama (action > consequence > reaction) so well that despite it being a “mundane” story based in realism, it had a ton of momentum that made watching it very fulfilling. It was like reading a good book, and its coherency was something that is rare from what I’ve seen in anime movies, particularly movies that are spin-offs or summations of longer series, which Flanders no Inu was.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the 52 episode Flanders no Inu anime series wasn’t as tightly put together as the movie counterpart, and had similar flaws as the Romeo no Aoi Sora anime. Comparing the Romeo no Aoi Sora series to the Flanders no Inu movie thus isn’t exactly fair, but the issues in Romeo no Aoi Sora are so minor (and quite subjective) that I don’t think I’m doing it a disservice by going ahead.

The first half of the series was great - and the second half (mostly the last ~10 episodes) was great too, but it seemed like it was more focused on emotional reveals and between/following those reveals were big action sequences (breaking into the castle, for example) or emotionally lighter episodes (Michaelo losing his mother’s necklace after the Grieving Episode) which aren’t necessarily bad, but I’m the type of heathen that doesn’t want anything paired with narrative climaxes. Don’t pull your punches, I love suffering, etc. What I liked so much about Flanders no Inu is that it was perfectly… formulaic isn’t the right word, but it had no loose ends and every line went somewhere meaningful that kept pushing the momentum and made each reveal and reaction just a bit more unbearable than the last. I was worried when I saw that there was 4-5 episodes left of Romeo no Aoi Sora after the series climax, and my worry wasn’t entirely unfounded when that climax and its effects went on for another few episodes.

Of course, that’s a pretty subjective criticism. People generally like relief and because it was a longer series with a larger cast, it makes sense time was allotted to see the effects on everyone and see how they regrouped afterwards and what the future held - and I do like that the issue of children being dragged away to work in the city for cruel adults wasn’t abandoned, and Romeo and everyone else did what they could as children themselves to help the new “hires”, and that it was stated that Romeo lived to see it become illegal for children to work that job.

Speaking of that cruel job that is central to the entire series, my only other gripe and the one that is less debatable - I didn’t like the framing of almost all of the “non-villain” adults in the series. I think it’s one thing for the children in context to like and forgive them, but when Rossi becomes this almost dad figure who protects Romeo from his mean wife and son, I… can understand people are flawed, and can be flawed and still do nice deeds sometimes, but he was just as cruel to Romeo as his family was until Romeo convinced him to treat him like a human by being incredibly self-sacrificing and kind to Rossi and his family. Rossi still wastes the money Romeo works hard for on booze and had still bought Romeo as a sub-human nuisance just to work for his family. Romeo shouldn’t have had to literally risk his life to try and save Rossi, for Rossi to have realized “Romeo might be worth treating well”… it’s worse when you remember that Rossi and his family have “hired” children before Romeo and likely weren’t nearly as kind to them, and they will almost certainly hire more after Romeo had left.

That is just one instance where this happens - Romeo has to convince bitter, mean adults who are either exploiting him or being otherwise cruel to be marginally kind to him, and once they “see the light” a la Romeo’s infinite kindness, are “redeemed” and no longer Bad People, who come back later in the series to help Romeo and the others.

I totally understand it’s a TV show for children about children, but it’s difficult for me to rationalize hand-waving it as a mostly harmless cliche when in the first 5 or so episodes we explicitly see how cruel the “industry” of stealing children and ruining their families lives is. Pardon another comparison, but this perhaps too simple, too optimistic view made me realize another thing I like about Flanders no Inu - the tragedy is that the adults never do the right thing, and Nello never gets an opportunity to convince them to. Neglect and apathy is the enemy, and we see adults realize they were wrong and mourn, but it’s too late to be of any help to Nello, and too late to redeem them of their cruelty. By the time Alois’ father finally realizes he was wrong upon seeing that Nello selflessly brought back his lost money despite needing it so much more badly than him, it’s too late to be of any significance to his character beyond realizing his arrogance is a part of Nello’s sad fate, and thus only reflects on the tragedy of how Nello is kind and does not deserve that fate.

I have little interest in seeing Alois’ father and that nasty, nasty rent-collector realizing the errors of their ways and mourning Nello - in the same way, I have little interest in seeing Rossi and his wife realize they will miss Romeo. In one, it doesn’t happen and that’s great, and in the other it does and it feels jarring and unsavoury.

I realize over a 33 episode series, it would be too much to see adults be continuously cruel and never let up, but Romeo no Aoi Sora did do the Children Being Kind to Adult Abusers thing well at a point. When Romeo risked his life to save The God of Death from drowning and he was vaguely humbled by it, he didn’t become a good person and wasn’t framed in an apologetic light at all, and Romeo was still quiet and cold towards him even though he was also more inquisitive and a bit more dependant on him (I liked the line that was like “he was the only other person the children knew in Milan” when they arrive at the place where they would be bought - the thought that Romeo is somewhat hesitant to leave him in the face of the unknown is a good touch that still doesn’t make The God of Death seem reliable or kind). He was still an evil man and in the last episode, we see him bringing in another batch of kids with that grin on his face. So to me, it seems possible that the adults can change, without becoming heroic or likable, and the children’s views on them can change/become more positive without undoing the fact they are mean and exploitative people.

I think it would have been possible for Rossi and his family to become less mean without a “Aha, Romeo is Good!” moment and without meaningful redemption (I’m fairly sure Rossi is supposed to be likable or at least forgiven by the end), and for Angelleta’s grandmother to be more easily redeemable if she wasn’t so extreme (she pulled a gun on Romeo to see if he was brave/telling the truth?!). That would have been my preference.

Overall though it’s still a great series! I would think it’s pretty easy to hand-wave these complaints considering the audience and cliches, and I don’t necessarily think it’s unethical go along with the story-telling. The apologism is still handled better than most other times I’ve seen it because changes are gradual, the adults’ behaviours are usually familiar (not okay, but familiar) and are not at the front of the story. I feel like the pros far outweigh the cons and the overall plot is classic and great, the child characters are charming and I love them, and the story-telling is well done particularly early on in the series! Solid 8/10 from me and I’m glad it’s the first birth year title I ended up finishing.

#:Romeo no Aoi Sora #quick review #TLDR; it wasn't as refined as the flanders no inu movie but ofc it wasn't and its still Good Content

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secondsofhappiness · 7 years

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I have 10 anons all commenting the same issues about this storyline (thank you so much for your messages as always) and I don’t want to clog up my dash so I’ll post them in one post and this is my response to them all :)

I’ve made it clear how I am really struggling with this storyline and I have seen so many excellent critiques written in such a balanced and constructive way and that’s the best way and I appreciate them so much.

In short, I don’t understand the purpose of what they’re trying to do. There is ZERO HOPE in this storyline (and that isn’t the Emmerdale I know and love) and it feels exploitative in more ways than one.

So I get exactly what many of you have said - there’s little to hold onto in terms of happiness. There is no part of this entire storyline (except perhaps that Vic is a sweet, perceptive and compassionate soul) so far that provides any hope. If anything, the more we learn, the more depressing and hopeless and entirely miserable it becomes…

- the purpose of this direction - what the show wants to achieve at the end of this - the show’s awareness of what they’re currently doing

I have EVERY respect for the show tackling difficult and contentious subjects and I have spent years and years applauding them for it and thoroughly enjoying it. They always do it well (with very few minor exceptions) because they weave the difficult stuff in with the lighthearted, never forget the village warmth and always provide hope even in the bleaker or darker storylines.

My earlier posts about this storyline were very positive because I have experience through my work with prison violence and homophobia in prisons and I think it’s a very important and worthwhile story to tell. I had no issue with Aaron going to prison and serving his punishment either as I felt it could be a way for him to grow up and realise the consequences to his volatility.

That said, the homophobia aspects were difficult and tough to swallow but were well done… until they included G*rdon and the childhood abuse issues. That is no longer a story about homophobia in prisons. Yes, the fact that G*rdon as a man is relevant so perhaps due to G*rdon’s actions, Jason instantly targeted him but that’s not about someone being gay, it’s about someone being a sexual assaulter etc. The homophobic language and singling out is continuing which is a good example of the near constant oppression prisoners face. That could have and would have been enough of an issue to explore.

I have talked about how I find this situation twisted and I mean it sincerely. It’s the first time in 22 years that I have ever felt uneasy watching this show.

That’s not a good thing.

I have reached a point after tonight’s episode where I have almost become a little apathetic. That’s not like me at all and not like my normal reaction to the show, especially not to these two characters.

The direction of the storyline feels sensationalised for shock value and unnecessarily capitalising on an actor who can sell any scene/storyline. Use Danny! Have him on our screens always! He’s a truly wonderful actor but Aaron is a character to focus on, to nurture, to respect. He is a character people took into their hearts from day one and it feels he has been forgotten in this, his history used as a tool to create drama and shock.

I wanted to watch the show deal with the difficulties of prison life in an Emmerdale way. I wanted them to raise the issues, to show their seriousness, to have Aaron realise that he has to grow up because this life in prison could be a constant reality for someone who doesn’t take responsibility for their actions, for Rob and Liv’s relationship to be tested but strengthened, for Rob and Aaron’s relationship to undergo the same test…

That could all be achieved without half of the issues this storyline is dealing with.

The timing of it is perhaps something the show didn’t necessarily want but had to live with due to Lucy and Isabel’s commitments but the timing wasn’t so much of an issue as the story of two people in love being torn apart is a classic one, a one everyone can get on board with because it’s tragic but full of longing and desperation. People enjoy that and I would have. So I don’t mind that its post-wedding.

What I do mind is the inclusion of issue after issues after issue that so far don’t seem to be serving a purpose. Aaron can realise the harsh brutalities of prison life in many ways but the show chose to capitalise on his abuse when omitting it would have made NO DIFFERENCE to this storyline at all. Taking out the scenes yesterday would have no effect at all. The homophobic taunting and abuse and even violence would have been enough to tip Aaron over the edge to feeling desperate but no, the show chose to reawaken the abuse storyline, to have Aaron tortured, to use phrases that suggests a recreation of abuse scenes, to comment on a survivor’s ‘want’ in terms of their abuse, to suggest the abuser caused the abuse, to place them in an environment where their abuser/father committed suicide, to take an abuse survivor back to feeling those situations, all while contorted in an abusive way by the person who confessed to driving the abuser to taking his own life.

The purpose of that is unclear and I struggle to see how a valid purpose can be provided other than it was for shock value.

Aaron faced with homophobic abuse and violence and even drug use (which I also don’t have a problem with on the surface - except for a lack of inclusion of Adam/ recognition of Holly but the show may use this later) would have been enough to have him leave prison rocked to act and to grow and to seek help. To take an abuser back to his abuse in such a violent, graphic and consistent way is something most wouldn’t get over nevermind someone of Aaron’s significantly fragile mental health.

I was genuinely disappointed in the show and I can remember maybe two occasions in the past where I have even felt a fraction of that and neither came close to how I feel about this current storyline.

Add in the Rob of it all. Now, Rob is someone with a chequered past, someone who has never carried a relationship without cheating. He has a history that would make anyone uneasy about dating him, let’s be real. He has also travelled a path of learning and change and love. He has found family and home and has worked hard to better himself. When you take a character on a path like that you can never expect perfection. We all enjoy Rob being Mr Shifty and appreciate his morally grey moments (as long as we don’t turn him into a serial killer) which is why I didn’t have too many issues with the November kiss or the hat trick comment etc, all of those moments were moments in his path to find himself and were explained in a way that made that obvious aka November kiss was Rob using Rebecca blatantly but coming to realise he cannot act the same way as he used to when scheming now that he has Aaron and commitment.

I appreciate that Rob will make mistakes and I love that about him. I never expect him to be perfect or to be an angel and I hope they never remove that harsh, acid tongued, snobby, ruthless, slightly insensitive edge from him. That said, the spoilers indicate that he makes a pass at Rebecca (and I’m not getting into the debate about what is cheating and what isn’t or even what the spoilers are suggesting because I feel intentionally trying to kiss someone is cheating and who knows what the spoilers are suggesting). Why is this necessary?

What does it add?

Except to squash the excellent bi rep conversation they have sprinkled in here and there (and see my other posts for my comments on using Rob as a voice for bisexuality because that has its own issues) or to regress Robert from his current position.

To date, Robert’s journey is the best thing about this storyline. He has shown commitment, awareness of Aaron’s feelings (planing a commitment ceremony pre- prison to provide stability, allowing Paddy to visit in his place to keep up Aaron’s spirits etc), humanity and to see him miss another person to the extent that he can’t sleep the same and is worried and stressed and pulling himself in every direction is so new and interesting for the character. To see him descend a little into this hole he has to drag himself out of is a great storyline. It’s long overdue for Rob to be treated with sensitivity and humanity where his emotions are concerned and it’s refreshing.

We don’t need a cheating storyline to depict Rob’s state of mind or his deepening sadness or stress. They’re piling it on each episode - finding out about drugs & violence, caring for a difficult suffering teenager, caring for a kid who isn’t his, running 2 businesses, refurbishing a house, dealing with vandals, working alongside legal rep on an appeal, coping without his partner, feeling helpless to support his partner… the list is endless and significant.

What does cheating (or attempted cheating, whichever you prefer) achieve?

It is sensationalising and used for shock value. Pattern?

Much like the addition of the abuse storyline, it adds nothing. In fact, much like the abuse storyline being included, it makes the post- prison era darker and less hopeful. It confirms Aaron’s worries about Robert’s commitment when this was the foundation for his stress and melt down pre- assault. That feels cruel and unnecessary with the requirement that it has to be handled at some point and that will provide a significant blow to the already fragile relationship - because they haven’t healed from their last argument, they have merely focused on the good pre-court. Ultimately, it adds a significant responsibility onto the show to handle it well because by failing to deal with these two issues cheapens their most beloved couple, cheapens the characters development (both Rob’s personal development and Aaron’s semi pride and surety post trial)…

If the show has a good intention then it is not obvious and I struggle to see the justifications for the choices they’re making. I adore this show. I love it dearly but I feel less and less enthusiastic about the current content for this storyline because it’s far too much, it is no longer enjoyable because I can’t see the wood for the trees and for a storyline that could have been wonderfully character driven and could highlight the issues in a hard hitting it sensitive manner has chosen crassness, cheap drama and has risked excellent work that has come before.

I am well aware I’m watching a serial drama. I’m well aware that I am watching a medium that thrives on drama. But I know my show and I have watched it most of my life and I know what it is capable of and what it does best and this is not it. You only have to watch the sheer stunning beauty and heart ache of Ashley’s dementia storyline to see how you handle something sensitive but serious in a way that honours the characters, the issue and the show itself. I’m just sad that this storyline could not have been handled in a similar way to achieve the same resonance.

#emmerdale #uncharacteristic pessimism #robron #prison pain #tw: abuse violence homophobia #spoilers #ed rambles

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cover2covermom · 5 years

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*Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Nickle Boys by Colson Whitehead, How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, and The Book Worm of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

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» Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People is about two characters, Connell & Marianne, and their evolving relationship as they grow from adolescence into adulthood.

Normal People is one of those books that you don’t necessarily enjoy while reading, but it is a compulsive type of read. Despite the fact that I didn’t necessarily enjoy reading this, I flew through it in one evening and the following morning. I just had to know how the story was going to pan out. Normal People is a very interesting look at themes like mental illness, insecurity, toxic relationships, abuse, the importance of communication, coming of age, identity, etc.

Normal People is very much a character driven novel. It is an in depth look at relationships, and how insecurities and lack of communication can stand in the way of two people who truly love each other. These characters will frustrate you, baffle you, and make you want to knock some sense into them. Despite the fact that Connell & Marianne are not really likable characters, I can say that they feel very real.

This was my first experience with Sally Rooney’s writing. Rooney’s writing was very quiet & understated, which suited the tone of the story well. I must forewarn you, Rooney does not use quotation marks around dialogue, which can be a bit of an adjustment on the reader’s part. I did find it challenging at times to decipher where the dialogue started and stopped, but this eased as I adapted to the writing style. Another thing I noticed about Rooney’s writing was that she left certain aspects of the story up to the reader’s interpretation. Some may say that these were plot holes or unresolved portions of the book, however I feel it was intentional on Rooney’s part.

I found the tone throughout Normal People to be very foreboding. If you enjoy tragic stories like Wuthering Heights that are more on the dismal side, I’d give this book a go. However, if you enjoy lighthearted reads with happy endings, Normal People is not going to be the book for you. This book also had a few similar elements to A Walk to Remember, but without the happy parts.

Even though Connell & Marianne start out as teenagers in this book, I would not classify Normal People as young adult. The intended audience is more in the new adult to adult range.

***Trigger/content warnings: toxic relationships, mental illness – depression, suicidal thoughts, sibling abuse, etc.***

» The Nickle Boys by Colson Whitehead

The Nickel Boys is a fictionalized account of the abuse and misconduct of the Dozier Reform School in Florida. Set in the 1960s, The Nickel Boys follows a promising boy named Elwood. Elwood is sentenced to The Nickel Academy after he innocently accepts a ride from a stranger, and that ride results in dire consequences. Now he finds himself in a hostile environment and must survive the atrocities that occur within the walls of Nickel.

Whitehead tells Elwood’s story in two different timelines, one in the past that includes the lead up to Elwood’s sentencing and details his traumatic experience at Nickel, the other timeline occurs in a modern day setting where we see the lasting effects of the abuse Elwood suffered. At first, I was not sure about the dual timeline structure for this story, however it all becomes clear at the end why Whitehead chose to tell this story this way. This structure ended up complimenting the story well.

After reading the description, I was anticipating a plot driven story, however The Nickel Boys is more of a character driven novel. At the core, The Nickel Boys is about Elwood’s struggle to stay true to his convictions based of the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr, that there is good in the world, despite his current horrific situation. Elwood’s ideals are challenged numerous times throughout the novel, but he always remained hopeful.

To be completely honest, I was a bit underwhelmed with this story. I read Colson Whitehead’s previous book, The Underground Railroad, and was blown away with his portrayal of slavery and the plight of the runaway slave. The Underground Railroad was raw, brutal, and uncensored, which is what I was expecting here in The Nickel Boys. This story felt watered down in comparison. Instead of showing the reader the abuse these boys suffered, it is implied. While I do not think a book needs to be overly graphic to get the point across, I think Whitehead did the story an injustice by just glossing over the scenes of abuse.

I was set to give The Nickle Boys 3 stars, but I was blown away at that plot twist! I was caught me completely off guard, and it redeemed this book for me. Bravo Whitehead!

I appreciate when authors bring lesser known history to light, especially horrific history such as this. It is important for these types of stories to not be brushed under the rug or forgotten. After reading books like this that are rooted in history, I am always motivated to do some research of my own. I was horrified by everything I read about The Dozier School of Boys and the ongoing investigations.

***Trigger/content warning: physical, sexual, and mental abuse – not graphic, but implied – racism***

» How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

*2.5 Stars*

How to Stop Time is about a man named Tom. Now Tom looks like your average 40-something man… except he is over 400 years old. Tom doesn’t age like a typical person, but rather ages 1 year after every 15 years that go by. In order to survive, Tom reluctantly joins a secret society of individuals that also share his condition. Every few years Tom starts over as someone new in a new place. After centuries of loneliness, Tom yearns for something more, but can he have more without blowing his cover and bringing down the wrath of the society?

I loved the concept of individuals that age at a very decelerated rate, thus live hundreds of years. How to Stop Time includes themes like aging, mortality, time, love, memory, grief, and loneliness. This books brings about the though provoking question: is living “forever” worth it if you can’t have lasting relationships?

How to Stop Time follows Tom in his present life he is living in London, while jumping back into time as Tom is flooded with memories from his past. The story line occurring in the past is not linear, which was a bit confusing at first, but didn’t take long to overcome. This structure actually suited the story well. You know that feeling when something jogs a memory that takes you back to another time & place? This is how we experience the story and we slowly get to know Tom in bits and pieces as he reminisces about his life.

Despite the fact that the premise for How to Stop Time was interesting, unfortunately the execution of this story was off. There were so many plot holes & underdeveloped portions of the plot: the secret society aspect, the love story, Tom’s daughter, etc. Basically there were many different subplots thrown in but they were never fully explored.

How to Stop Time felt like an attempted mash up between The Time Traveler’s Wife with Tuck Everlasting, but didn’t generate the same level of attachment to the characters or emotional reaction that those books did. I’d also like to note that the synopsis is very misleading. From the synopsis you are lead to believe that How to Stop Time is going to be a beautiful love story, but this is not the case at all. If you are anticipating a romance, you are not going to find it here.

Haig’s writing can be very dense at times. It felt almost as if Haig was trying too hard to be philosophical, which made the writing feel forced. This isn’t to say it was bad by any means, but that it didn’t feel natural to me.

By the end, I must admit that I was skimming. While I think the concept for How to Stop Time was interesting & thought provoking, the plot was lacking & full of inconsistencies.

» The Book Worm of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

*4.5 Stars*

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a historical fiction set in the 1930s in the hills of Kentucky. We follow Cussy Carter, a legendary blue person of Kentucky. Not only does she face discrimination due to her gender, but also her skin color. Cussy is a tenacious young woman who loves her job as a pack horse librarian. It’s Cussy’s job to deliver books and other reading material to her fellow neighbors on her dangerous route across Kentucky’s unforgiving mountains.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is what I refer to as a “bookworm’s delight.” I admit it, I am a sucker for any book that centers around a reader, books, libraries, bookstores, etc. How could I NOT love a book about a pack horse librarian that braves the unforgiving land to deliver books to impoverished families? Be still my heart! I remember first hearing about pack horse librarians a few years back after an article circulated on Facebook. I was tagged multiple times by friends and family in the article, which just goes to show you I am known for being a crazy book lady 🙂 Had I lived in Kentucky back in 30s & 40s, I would have definitely applied to become a pack horse librarian! In fact, I’d totally deliver books via horseback today! You can read more about pack horse librarians here ⇒ Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles

Despite her terrible name, Cussy was a lovely main character. Cussy is extremely passionate about promoting literacy to those that do not have access to books, so of course I adored her for that reason alone. I think Cussy was a very realistic feeling character because despite her strength and determination in her role as a pack horse librarian, she is insecure about the color of her skin. I enjoyed watching Cussy’s growth and character development over the course of the book.

If you enjoy historical fiction where the author really focuses on setting the scene and taking you back in time, I’d definitely recommend this book! However, if you do not enjoy extremely descriptive writing, this might not be your cup of tea. Richardson pays close attention to the smallest of details, even the mundane. I could definitely see where her writing would not be for everyone.

My only criticism of this book was that it did feel a little unbalanced. Cussy experiences one tragedy after another in this story line, which bogged the plot down. There needed to be more lighter hearted moments to break this up. It felt like Richardson was throwing Cussy one curve ball after another for the sake of moving the plot along.

***Trigger/content warning: racism***

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

Mini Book Reviews: August 2019 - Part 2 #BookReview #BookBlog #BookBlogger #Reading #Books #BookWorm *Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Nickle Boys…

#Bibliophile #book blog #book blogger #Book Nerd #Book Review #Book Worm #Bookish #Books #Bookworm #Contemporary #Fantasy #Historical Fiction #Reading #Review

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scripttorture · 6 years

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Would it be believable for a person to try the "torture works to get answers" trope, figuring that they'll just tie someone up and hit them a few times or use some other standard movie torture to make the victim spill everything...but then something goes wrong, like the victim having a seizure or trying to kill themselves or starting to choke on their own blood, and the torturer kind of gets a rude awakening that shuts their ideas about torture down cold? (1/2)

(2/2) Is it believable for the torturer to go into a panic over the victim’s condition and/or try to help the victim? To have a “oh shit I was doing this horrible thing to another human being” or “it was never supposed to go this far” kind of moment? Would it be more believable if the person had some kind of feasible predisposition to like the person, such as the victim reminding them of their child? Or would it be better to let them form empathy for empathy’s sake?

Ithink this is the kind of scenario where the legal distinctionbetween torture and abuse is helpful. Because what you’redescribing….might be plausible but notin the typical setting that legally defined torture occurs in.

Solegally speaking torture is notthe act of a private individual. A torturer represents a largergroup. Mostly that means a country or an armed group that controlsterritory. In some countries it also includes at least someinternational organised crime.

Atorturer doesn’t act alone. For an institution or smaller unit of alarge group there need to not just be torturers but people willing tosupport or ignore their activities. Higher ranking individuals mightorder torture or they might ignore the fact it’s occurring andshield their underlings from negative consequences.

Thereneeds to be a culture already in places that justifies, condones andexcuses torture.

That’simportant in the context of this question because that cultureand the presence of other people who torture or supporttorture makes it incrediblydifficult for someone to back out mid-torture without puttingthemselves at immediate risk.

Torturersrespond badly to- well to being told they’re wrong. To opposition.They socially isolate, bullyand sometimes assault people in the larger group who seem to opposethem. And I think most of them would see reacting badly to tortureand backing out as a ‘bad’ reaction. They’d see it as a riskthat they’ll be reported. And they’d likely ‘punish’ someonefor that sort of opposition.

Essentially,in a scenario where something would legally be torture, I don’tthink you could have a character respond like this. Responding likethis puts them at risk from fellow torturers. It means being targetedas a ‘coward’ and potential ‘traitor’. It means at bestconstant verbal abuse or bullying and at worst violent attacks andtorture.

Realpeople in this sort of situation (opposed to torture in a militaryunit that practiced torture) have been sent on suicide missions.

Inthat moment whatever the character feels backing out completely seemsunlikely because it creates a real risk to their life and bodilyintegrity. They may feelthese responses but unlessthey’re ready to put their life on the line for those feelingsright then and there the more likely scenario is that the characterwould wait. They’d continue to torture, or allow someone else tocontinue torturing and they’d decide whether they wanted to opposethis and how at a later time when the immediate risk is lower.

Aprivate individual onthe other hand would not have that culture or other people behindthem condoning and encouraging abuse. A private individual would not(necessarily) be threatened if they stop. They probably wouldn’t berisking their life if they stop.

Whichmakes acting on these feelings a lot more likely.

Sometorturers do reportbeing reminded of people they know or sympathise with when they lookat victims. This does not always mean they stop torturing. In fact itsometimes seems to provoke them to try and cause more pain in orderto ‘prove’ they are ‘strong’ and do not feel these things.

Sothe answer to all of these questions depends on the broader scenarioyou have in your story.

It’sperfectly believable for both a private individual and someone whoworks for a larger organisation (military, police etc) to thinktorture ‘works’ and thereforethat it’s ‘worth trying’.

It’sperfectly believable for characters in both groups to have a visceralnegative reaction to the reality of torture when they’ve never beenconfronted with it before. That’s a natural human reaction we allhave. It’s part of the process that causes trauma symptoms tomanifest in torturers.

Buthow realistic the responses you’ve outlined are depends on thecontext behind this torturer.

Theviolent, competitive, hypermasculine and toxic subculture created inscenarios that are legally torture would not allow these reactions.They would be read as at best ‘weakness’ (which is intolerable)and at worst ‘treason’ (which needs to be eliminated). Torturers,and indeed anyone around them, are aware of this.

Youcould write acharacter reacting like this in that kind of scenario. It’s notimpossible. But there would be consequences for the character and Ithink you should be prepared to show them.

Ina private individual who has never done anything like this before- Ithink these are possible responses. Theymay not be the most likely responses for everyone but they seemplausible.

Tortureis a lot more effecting then most of us give it credit for.Witnessing it and participating in it is incredibly effecting. Havingan extreme emotional reaction would be normal and without intensesocial pressure to carry on I imagine many torturers wouldstop.

Idon’t personally see any problem with giving the abuser/torturer a‘reason’ to empathise with the victim or giving them empathy forempathy’s sake. I’d suggest going with what works better for yourparticular narrative. Neither option seems to suggest anythingunfortunate or unrealistic about torture to me.

Ithink without further information I thinkI’ll leave it there. If you’ve got further questions or want todiscuss the particular scenario in your story in greater detail I’dbe happy to help once the ask box reopens.

Ihope that helps. :)

Edit: Apparently there are some issues with how posts are showing up on tumblr mobile again. I’m not sure how to fix it yet but I am aware of it and looking for a solution.

Disclaimer

#tw torture #torturers #effect of torture on torturers #behaviour of torturers #effect of torture on institutions #effect of torture on witnesses #writing torturers #legal definitions #Anonymous #effect of torture on organisations

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