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decolonize-the-left · 2 years

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When I think of Boomers I think of how Rebel Without A Cause was their Big movie and how the main character's rebellion & reason for being angry stemmed from an overbearing mom and a "pussy" of a dad who let the mom tell him what to do.

And now I'm thinking about the rage white american men have about their lives being so easy.

Like how much rage do you need inside of you to sit around imagining scenarios where it's justifiable to kill someone else? And how easy and boring was life for you that you'd imagine killing someone would make you the family hero and not just deeply traumatizing you and your family?

They all "I have a right to defend my property/my family hurr" but lbr, they don't give a shit what's being stolen or who else is at risk. It's not about the stealing. Or about the threat. They're just as happy to fire at you over a stolen tissue as they are to fire at you for assaulting a family member.

Because it's about the justification of being able to kill someone. It's about fulfilling their rage fantasy. Not about family or property.

Rage at what?

Idk. Maybe that they grew up thinking they'd be John Wayne and James Dean or Bruce Wayne defending white damsels and instead grew up to be just like their dads. Raising kids they hate with a wife they hate while working a job they hate for a life that doesn't give them any sense of purpose at all. Maybe it's that nobody ever needed them to be John Wayne. Maybe it's that now John Wayne is seen as just another racist white guy and there was never anything special about him (or the people who idolized him). Maybe it was the realization they were Never going to be James Dean, that daddy didn't give them enough attention and they'll Never get to make up for it by playing hero either. And maybe it's that they have no real reason to be so full of rage in the first place, they lived an average, safe life (never even been robbed, ha).

And yet.... The rage. The rage that has them taking that safety and boredom for granted... Wishing that something would happen, that someone would finally need to be saved so This White Man can save them. So he can prove that he is special and daddy was wrong about him and how he's Better than dad cuz he'd kill someone if he had to. His dad's a pussy. Everyone was wrong about him, he is special. He is.

You just gotta wait til he's robbed or something, then you'll all see how special and useful and threatening to the system he is.... It's too bad he's had super safe life, y'all have no idea the kind of lion this man Really is inside.

And those BIPOC are wrong too, nobody had it harder than him, they just need thicker skin. When he was little he had to walk 3 blocks in the snow just to reach his bus stop and he didn't complain about it being unfair. That's right, he's dealt with the world being unfair, too. People these days just don't know struggle. And why wouldn't dad just drive him anyway? It wasn't that big of a deal, it wasn't even that far out of the way, he shouldn't have been walking in the snow when daddy could drive him instead >:(

#now that its all typed out im just sitting here like These Guys Are Fucking Pathetic actually lMao #idek what this post is about anymore #my pathetic little meow meow is probably a libertarian LMAO #conservatives #republicans #the gop #right wing #yes i do want all the smoke actually #making the pathetic meow meows read this #idk what tags they follow tho #leftists #libertarian #anarchy #idk #2A #2a rights

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beepofsleeplessdreams · 4 months

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thinking out loud about some anime an illustrator i like worked on

so, one of my favorite illustrators (at least, I think that's the right term for him) is yoshitoshi ABe. recently i made the decision to look through a bunch of projects he had a hand in, mostly because i wanted to see what kind of stuff he'd attached himself to over the decades. prior to this i'd only seen Serial Experiments Lain, but i feel like basically everyone's seen that so that's not saying much lol. this was partially spurred on by a friend of mine telling me Texhnolyze was among their favorites. at time of writing, i've finished Texhnolyze and NieA_7, and i'm watching Haibane Renmei on-and-off and loving it. the world is bizarre and beautiful, and the character designs are lovely and have so much personality in my eyes. so that's where i started. so below is a series of rambles and thoughts i've had on this little journey of mine up to this point. i've still got a ways to go.

misc. spoilers for Texhnolyze in the next section

texhnolyze was a show i really enjoyed, but falls into the same pit as serial experiments lain in my brain. i struggle to understand what it's trying to say below the immediate surface and i end up primarily enjoying it as a surface-level product. not to say that i didn't make some connections in my head along the ride, i have so many questions about the world that i want answered, and some really fun observations I made. ichise's conversation with the voice in the chair was something that i had a lot of fun picking apart because it tickled that little goblin in my brain that loves social science. with the whole idea that height relates to authority, the pile of stones bringing images of gods on mountains in myth, but the chair tying all that powerful imagery up in this idea of boredom. apathy of the gods and all that. the entire trip to the surface is something that had me on the edge of the seat, and kinda tied into my greater sci-fi brainrot. that whole idea that one a society stagnates and rots people seek "better times", and this is how you end up with so many space prussians/germans being bad guys in older sci-fi anime like classic gundam and legend of the galactic heroes. it's people clinging to an idea of a """better time""" to larp that they're better than they are. this is what was going through my head during the arc of the story on the surface, whenever i saw that outdated technology that lives only in old b&w movies and period pieces. despite these obversations, i feel like i can't formulate a big picture, this is by no means bad, but i can't help but feel like i'm "missing something". though, this might be rectified in lain's case when i get around to it, it's been close to 10 years since i last watched it.

misc. spoilers for NieA_7

this is one that i don't think i ever heard someone talk about prior to me just plucking it off of ABe's wikipedia page. it's this weird slice-of-life comedy about living in poverty but there's also humanoid aliens that are kinda just around and comically failing to integrate into society. that whole second point, with the aliens, i feel it kinda detracts from a lot from the show's actually really simple and touching heart about just trying to escape being poor. the whole thing is kinda tainted with this mild xenophobia for the sake of "comedy" and the vast majority of the recurring aliens are these really mean-spirited racist stereotypes. eventually i came to ignore the vast majority of that aspect of the show, besides the titular NieA, and focus on the part of it that really spoke to me. the main character, Mayuko, is a young adult working 3 jobs on top of going to cram school in a desperate attempt to get into a good college and escape poverty by getting a """real job""" and a """future""". the reason why i use quotations is the same reason why her character really spoke to me. she was so focused on the mere act of survival and vaguely working towards the future that she never found the time to really think about the future. no plans, no dreams, inching towards a success she has no idea how to capitalize upon. something similar happened to me, personally. i spent the vast majority of highschool and college fighting for good grades and accolades with no other plan than to just get away from a very toxic family situation. and i succeeded. i gave up a social life for the sake of advancing and was rewarded by getting poached right out of college into a fairly comfortable. i moved out 6 months later and subsequently broke down. without that constant pressure of ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE i had this sort of psychological explosive decompression and became incredibly depressed, and almost made some very poor and very permanent decisions. i saw a character that was flying towards the same mistakes i made and i was wondering all along if the show would propose some kind of "solution" that i'd failed to see. it didn't offer anything concrete, but something much simpler that i nontheless really appreciated. a loving promise that things will be okay somewhere, someday. the same sentiment helped me when i needed it. i get that that's corny as hell, but i'm a stupid mushy man-thing. it's a show i really recommend people look at, because while the lows are INCREDIBLY low and mean, the heart is there and beautiful.

#texhnolyze #niea_7 #haibane renmei #yoshitoshi abe #serial experiments lain

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sabugabr · 2 years

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"Eternals" is not a bad movie — it just doesn't look like a Marvel movie (1/2)

And honestly? I'M HERE FOR IT

So, after seeing all the polemics unfolds regarding this movie, I've finally watched it, and having watched it, I went and read all those bad reviews again and, boy...

We need to talk about some things.

You see, Eternals (2021) was a very divisive movie even before it came out. Racists were mad, homophobics were mad, some other people were also mad, the movie was banned from premiering in some countries, and when it did premiered, some critics were all over it, and it received some pretty bad reviews, and... it was a lot.

A huge amount of the reviews were just plainly complaining about the representativeness of minorities. I found SO MANY coments like:

"I DON'T KNOW IF THERE WAS A MINIMUM AGE REQUIRED, WHEN I FRONTED SEVERAL SUBLIMINARY MESSAGES, REACHING FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND BABYLON ITSELF, IN WORSHIP TO SEVERAL GODS." [...] "I SAW IN THE MOVIE EVERYTHING I DON'T WANT FOR MY CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN, IN THE STORY CREATED BY THE AUTHOR, HE MAKES MANY BIBLICAL REFERENCES, AND REGIONAL AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS, BRINGING CONFUSION AND PERVERTING THE GOOD FAMILY VALUES. IN MY TIME, WE KNEW WHO WAS THE VILLAIN AND THE GOOD GUY, NOW THERE IS THE EVIL SHOWING ITSELF IN THE FORM OF A DEMON BEING THE INNOCENT, GAY COUPLES AND CHILDREN WITHOUT THEIR IDENTITY, MALE OR FEMALE DEFINED😬." — by An Asshole, read the full comment here if you have the stomach for it

I swear to God, that guy wrote the whole thing all in Caps Lock, and the full text was like, HUGE — this is just one part of it. I almost pissed myself reading this absurd. The emojis just... kills me.

There is also a lot of pearls like "The boredom and superficiality of the representation will soon make us have an elderly, obese, black, oriental and transsexual character to not leave anyone out." And even like, professional critics (like the ~cof cof~ white men in the ~cof cof~ Rotten Tomates) were complaining? ANYWAY YOU GOT THE POINT

So, before watching it, I was avoiding more specific reviews because I didn't want any spoilers, so I really thought the bad ones were just disgusting people ranting, you know? But then when I went to the specifics, I found a lot of videos and articles going on the line of "Eternals is messy", "it just doesn't make sense", "has a lot of plot holes", and then I had to stop what I was doing to politely desagree.

I think that what frustrated those people was the fact that they expected a standart Marvel-like movie. And honestly, if you go watch it with that expectation, I get why one might be disappointed. This movie didn't right-on followed the Marvel formula, and actually that's why it works in my opinion.

I really liked this movie, a lot. So I'd like to discuss here some of the topics this reviews adress, and dissect this points of the movie in it's defense, because I think that, have they made a standart Marvel movie for the Eternals, it would just be bad. And second, I think the kind of backlash this movie of all Marvel movies is getting, is very, very telling.

BUT ANYWAY it goes without saying, but there'll be some SPOILERS ahead. Especially for the 2006 comic by Neil Gaiman.

So without further ado...

WHERE THE HELL DID IT COME FROM

Well, when they announced this movie, I could bet that most part of people were, like, Eternals who???? Even comic fans might have though it was kind of random, and I really get that. It makes sense that they're not that well-known, because the stories with them were initially pretty self-focused and independent, and there aren't that many comics about them overall.

So, first I'd like to state that I'm a huge fan of the Eternals in the comics. I think I've read pretty much every issue they feature in? I really like them. So when I saw the announcement for this movie, first I got really tense (bc I don't trust Disney, sue me), but after seeing the first teasers and plot reveals, I thought "Oh, they're goin with the Gaiman plot!". And now, having watched it, I still think that's the source they drinked most from;

Of course they took a lot from other Eternal comics, but for my point here I'll be taking the contextualization of this post on the 2006 comic written by Neil Gaiman and ilustrated by John Romita.

(and you can desagree with me anytime btw, this is a safe space, my doves)

So, if you've never heard of it, there's a 7-issues comic by Gaiman and Romita that focus on the Eternals:

This wonderful work of art

It's a very "closed" story, it doesn't really mix with any other event in the Marvel Universe (as were all the Eternals plots when Jack Kirby created them), but it takes place more or less after the Superhero Registration Act, so if it were to be applied to the MCU it would probably be around the same time as the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), or right after it.

To make matters short, the story follows Mark, a very nice, common guy who works at a hospital and suddenly catchs himself having very weird dreams. He dreams of battles and long-lost tales, and he dreams he's a god. And then, he gets the visits of a strange man in a overcoat appearing at his window, asking him weird questions and apparently, they were dreaming the same dream.

It is very Neil Gaiman-ish

You can feel American Gods vibes pouring from it. And then, obviously, Mark discovers he is actually and Eternal named Makkari, and that the weird flying dude is Ikaris, and that all Eternals had lost their memories and were living on Earth thinking they were human. And their backstory goes very much like the movie tells:

But here, the Eternals were made from a hominids, "proto-human", species, and the Celestials actually helped against the Deviants, and they have these "judgments" going on: basically, if they find a species worth it, they "allow" this species to evolve. And, of course, the leader of the Eternals is Zuras, not Ajax (also, Ikaris made a little historical mistake there, and Makkari was actually called Toth, not Osiris, but minor detail, they call it out later)

So they all find each other, Makkaris is reunited with Sersi, his long-life love partner, Sersi is a party planner and she like, plans this party for the Soviets and Druig is the Sovietic Prime-Minister (...?), Tony Stark is there, Thena works for him as a weapon scientist, Sprite is like a Disney-Channel star, Zuras is homeless, anyway

Mark finds out this was all Sprite's ~ plan ~ to turn them all into humans because he got tired of being a kid and he wanted to grow up (and get laid). Meanwhile, the Deviants were planning to wake up the "Dreaming Celestial", who was there chilling, sleeping on Earth and could destroy the planet if awaken so they were doing that.

BUT THEN their plans all get frustrated because Mark is a very nice guy, so he gets bffs with the Dreaming Celestial and therefore the Celestial decides to not destroy Earth, but instead They (yes I'll use They-Them for the Celestials, sue me p. 2) will stay low and judge everyone to see if Earth is worth saving. So They make Makkari Their prophet and peace out.

And I swear, it gives me chills everytime how They call the mutants "The Changing People". This comic is very, VERY beautiful, and I highly recommend you read it (I linked it there above).

Like, it has the action scenes and you know it's Marvel, Tony Stark is there being not useful and rich, but both Romita's art style and Gaiman's poetic writing give this comic a very "mythological" vibe. It really feels (to me, at least) like they are not just superheroes, you know? They are so off, and so orbitant of the "mundane" events, that it really feels like "ok, this is another shit". Not because they are "stronger" or some God-Ex-Machine stuff like that, but because they are just a different kind. If it were mixed with, idk, the Avengers appearing, to me it would just turn this plot into some "bigger threat Marvel-style" thing.

IT'S JUST BEAUTIFUL

And this is even more effective because we have Tony there, being our human rep on the situation, a superhero that is caught up into the middle of this gods interacting and there's nothing he can do so he's just watching and going "Jesus Christ what the actual fuck" as we all would.

And maybe that's a very singular opinion, but I really think that Gaiman managed to tell a story of people in the modern days and still evoke the vibe of "yes, these are the characters that influenced all the archetic constructions of the mythologies of Western societies", "yes, we know these characters because their archetypes are engraved in our collective imaginary". You know?

I think that once you know the comic plot, is very obvious that the movie took a lot from it, from general plot choices to some minor details that made me go all cheered up in the movie theater (like, Sersi also turns a Deviant into a tree, and they also try to create the Uni-Mind to connect to the Celestial and things like that). I dare to say that this was intentionally made.

I think that it makes sense to adapt from Gaiman's comics, because it's the most popular one. Most people discovered the Eternals through Gaiman, myself included. And I really think that the reason it works so well is because they worked on the poetics, on the archetypal, on the mythological. The Eternals really feel like they are something else. And I really think the movie manage to replicate this vibe.

And knowing how impossible this plot would be to adapt into the current state of the MCU, I think the movie did a pretty good job telling this story. In many ways, I even liked some movie choices better.

So, about the movie >>>

#eternals #the eternals #eternal spoilers #spoilers #marvel #marvel eternals #and for god's sake just let us have the damn representation???#I'm a latina lesbian I'm done with the male straight leads thank you very much #neil gaiman #makkaris #mcu #and I'm also done with the girlsboss feminism they tried to sell us with Capitain Marvel #pls just let us have angelina petting that iguana #it's all we're asking here sir

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bewareofchris · 6 years

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When you make an adult character who acts like an asshole by nature, do you have some go-to reasons why they're an asshole (like bad childhood etc)?

This is an excellent question. Partly because writing a true asshole character is difficult for many reasons and partly because of my fondness for what my sibling refers to as the “Chris Pine Character”. (I.e. the asshole who I adore with all my heart who slowly endears himself to the reader but it still an asshole. I can’t remember why it’s the called a Pine character, except Chris Pine’s general face.)

So a few things to remember when writing an asshole:

It matters what kind of asshole they are. If they’re an impatient, cruel, demanding, demeaning, racist, elitist, loud-mouth, enraged, all-around, kicks local santa clauses, steals candy from orphans, etc, etc type of asshole these are all different incarnations. Not all jerks are jerks to everyone and not all jerks are beyond redemption.

My actual Go-To for the average, rude to retail employees, never uses his manners, probably comes across as extremely unlikeable, why does this bitch have friends??? is Stress. Whatever sort of stress you want. But there is STRESS that is constantly distressing. Too much work, not enough money, sick relatives, loneliness, anxiety, not enough work, boredom, overbearing relatives, mean-spirited relatives you’re trying to ignore, too many obligations, no down time, fear of water, whatever you want. There is something constantly cranking up the stress on this character’s life to the point that they have no other outlet for the stress but to be an asshole to everyone they meet.

My person second favorite is the opposite of a bad childhood, it’s a great one. The sort of childhood where they were never asked to wait for something, never told they couldn’t have something, never faced with prejudice or unfairness. When their parents fixed everything for them. They were never inconvenienced. They were never asked to cope with disappointment or loss. They were never exposed to anything at all. This is not to say that all people who come from situations like this are assholes because they aren’t, but if you need the sort of the asshole that genuinely believes they are better than everyone, is utterly incapable of understanding why people struggle, and is generally dismissive of anyone “beneath them” this is a good place to start. Because if you’ve had the notion reinforced for you (for your entire life) that you are, by default, better than everyone you’re going to believe it. You’re going to treat everyone like trash. You’re going to feel justified and entitled to NEVER BEING INCONVENIENCED. NOT EVER.

If you want to give a grown person a terrible childhood that leads to an asshole adulthood, don’t make it a generally terrible adulthood. Give them a specific chip on their shoulder. If they grew up ‘two shirt, one jeans and a single sneaker’ type of poor, the ‘always verging on homeless’ or ‘never not hungry because food is scarce’ or ‘single parent was working constantly, never got a break, still never did more than got by until she died’ sort of poor, then that character’s motivation to make money and to give zero fucks about anything but that money, and improving their status is tied directly into the unfairness of that childhood.

But the more seedy, gross, type of assholes, the ones that genuinely enjoy hurting other folks? I side with nature there. Sometimes there isn’t a good reason why they turned out that way, sometimes they just enjoy being cruel.

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