Okay but I'm going a bit insane about the growing disconnect of "maybe we're meant to harness it"/"maybe we're meant to fight it". They both thought they were on the same page when they said it, when actually they were on polar opposite ends of the same spectrum. Imogen meant "I never plan to give in to this power even if part of me wants to, I will continue fighting it, but it’s a comfort knowing there’s someone who understands the temptation and who I know won't judge and will still love me and understand if I ultimately fail and give in". Meanwhile to Laudna it meant "I've been in this struggle for longer than I can remember and I don’t know if I can do it much longer. I don’t know if I want to. I don’t know if I even should, or if giving in would be better for all of us because I'm a lost cause. You understand this about me and won't judge as I inevitably am doomed by the narrative, and you won't demand of me that I fight an inherent part of myself, even if it’s destroying me". And Imogen is finally catching on to this disconnect, is realizing that to Laudna their connection isn’t just understanding but an excuse, not too different from Lilliana. And, desperate of losing Laudna to power just like she did her mother, she says, 'if you let me go, I'm gone', meanwhile Laudna is going 'all I can do for you is die and let you go to lift you up' and both of them are going 'why are you so upset about this. i love you'.
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thinking about todd and his resolve toward… not quite isolation, but being alone in a room full of people again. he goes along to the study room to sit on his own and do his homework, he sits at the poets table and follows along with what’s being said while keeping quiet, he goes to the meetings at all but doesn’t necessarily contribute (in fact, if you watch him when cameron is telling the story ‘from camp in sixth grade’, you can see that he recognizes it before any of the other poets but doesn’t voice it until they all have). he’s not alone, necessarily, if you want to get technical about it, he’s just lonely, and he’s generally okay with that. he doesn’t have friends and that’s fine, he doesn’t participate in class and that’s fine, he doesn’t have a relationship with his family and that’s fine—he could live without any real connection and he’d have been, more or less, fine.
the thing about when he says “i can take care of myself just fine!” is that he isn’t really wrong, you can infer that he’s been doing it his entire life anyway, it’s that ‘taking care of yourself’ isn’t the same thing as really living or being happy. todd’s an introvert, certainly, and even as he gets closer to the group he defaults to sitting quietly in the background, but he’s also denying himself community out of fear not introversion. todd isn’t friendless because he’s an introvert, although that definitely plays a part, he’s friendless because he pushes anyone that might want his company away. if anyone has every wanted for his attention in the first place. (neil’s unwavering interest in him is unique (even when it comes to the rest of the poets, who are fine with todd coming along and joining the group, but aren’t really hellbent on him being there in the beginning) and his refusal to accept it is a direct result of being so lonely growing up.)
there’s obviously something to be said about the implications of his parents neglect, and the more than likely fact that he grew up friendless, and how those both play a part in in him being so skilled at dodging social interaction/being so avoidant of it, but by the time we see him in the movie he’s all but accepted his fate as being alone his entire life. he’s already accepted being the family disappointment, and he’s already accepted he’ll never amount to anything, and he obviously doesn’t like it, but he’d have managed living with that knowledge without the confirmation that it was all wrong. would he have been miserable? almost certainly. but he’d have managed. he’d done it for that long already, anyhow.
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I as an ex-mormon have found a pretty solid strategy for the missionaries who are always coming around my house. (I never bothered with the legal process of getting my name removed). It’s so far worked pretty well and doesn’t actually involve me telling them no (since I often have an issue with that. I’m working on it).
I’ll note my strategy won’t work for everyone. I’d encourage people who encounter mormon missionaries to try it if they are able but if you can’t or won’t then the best thing you can do is just politely tell them ‘no thanks’. Please don’t antagonize them it’ll just make thing worse. But anyways. Moving on.
I’ll almost always let them in when they ask unless I’m busy or have plans. I’ll often times let them schedule another time to come by if I am busy.
My strategy is to immediately engage them and get them talking about themselves. Their interests, where they’re from, their pets back home, what they plan to study in school, places they are interested in checking out on the one day off a week they get, ect. Anything other then the reason they came (religion).
My reasoning behind it as follows. These are young men and woman ages 18-22, many of whom this is their very first time out ‘on their own’ in the real world. But they have lots of rules to follow and they are literally expected to eat, sleep and breath religion. Even on their ‘days off’ they are heavily restricted on what they are allowed to do. I want to give them a chance to be just people without all that. I want to help remind them that they individuals and that their religion does not define them.
Guys you should see how excited some of these people get when they see I genuinely I want to hear about them and their interests outside of their religion. They’ll go on and on about this or that. Their favorite books or that movie they’re really excited to see when they finally get home or the dog that they miss or how they used to love helping out on their grandfather’s goat farm or how they hope that they’ll get transferred up norther next spring because they really want to see that solar eclipse or the degree that they’re planning to peruse. Often times they get so caught up in what they are telling me that they forget the reason they even came in the first place.
It’s both very heartwarming and in a way kind of sad because I know my house is one of the few times that they can just be who they are without the religion. When they are with me I actively encourage them to talk about and think about things that are important to them but that they simply don’t get the chance to talk about or hardly even think about while they are on their missions.
Often times I’ll get the same pairs coming back and a good 8/10 they forget the religion entirely and just get to be themselves. Sometimes I’ll make dinner for them. I’ll invite them to play board games (this invitation can be hit and miss). Overall we all have a pretty enjoyable time with the trade off is the 2/10 times they remember I have to sit through a prayer or a 5 minute lesson or an invitation to come on Sunday. But I personally don’t mind that. I spent a lot of time feeling oppressively surrounded by their belief system when I was just as an everyday member so I can’t imagine how bad it must get sometimes to have that be your only thought every moment of the day. If I can provide a space to help relieve that pressure on these missionaries then I’m more than happy to sacrifice here or there.
And you know. I’m queer and while I don’t flaunt it I’m not shy about it in my own home. Anyone who visits will immediately know. Most missionaries won’t ask or even bring it but but the results in regards to the ones that do have actually been resoundingly positive. They’ve been polite and willing to engage in an honest discussion with me about their beliefs in that front and why I take issue with it. I’ve had times where having these people over, engaging them on a personal level, and showing them that ‘hey I am a normal person just like you’ has actually made a legitimate difference. I’ve gotten missionaries to question the very bigoted beliefs held by many members of their church. I’ve had missionaries say ‘you know that’s a good point. I don’t know why that is, I’ll have to look into it.’
Even if that doesn’t happen I’ve never had things go badly. I’ve never been insulted or called slurs. I the worst I’ve gotten is them explaining their beliefs say my ‘lifestyle’ is wrong and then asking if they’re still anything they can do to convince me to change it. It’s always dropped when I say no. And while this is obviously not a good thing to say to a bi/enby person like me, I’m also fairly forgiving on that front. This is because I myself have had to go through the process of unlearning those bigoted beliefs. Unlearning and then Restructuring your entire worldview is a long, difficult, and confusing process and I personally am willing to give people the benefit of the doubt to allow them a chance to start that process. <- I will note that the missionaries that I have to politely but firmly shut down on this front often don’t come back but that’s fine since I’m not at all interested in what their religion has to say on the matter.
My hope here is that by being kind and welcoming and giving these people a safe place to see that ‘hey the outside world really isn’t as terrifying as the church tells you it is and that we are all just people trying to live our lives’ that maybe I’ll make a difference and encourage someone to reconsider their beliefs or give someone who doesn’t want to leave but feels trapped the courage to do so. I honestly couldn’t tell you if it makes a difference in their lives afterwards in regards to the church but I do know I’m making a big difference in their lives in that moment and for me that’s enough.
Plus there’s also the bonus of I don’t mind entertaining them for a few hours here or there and every hour they spend with me is one less hour they spend in the house of someone who really doesn’t want them there but was to nice to say no. So yea.
This was prompted by the fact that I had missionaries over at my house this morning and we had a lengthy and interesting discussion about space and exactly zero discussion about religion.
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oh the consumption of wuvvy’s love. how it eats her up inside and rue too. wuvvy wants everything to be just so, to be perfectly right for rue, not just in the physical world but internally. wuvvy would rearrange the furniture of rue’s mind if she could, tidy and clean their worries and concerns, dust away their fears. her devotion is huge and isn’t that terrifying, in a way, to stare into that maw. i just love how big her feelings are, and despite how much rue loves her in return they need more than pure devotion - needs a willingness to come to the plate and be vulnerable too, share her mess with them instead of always managing theirs. but in a way her love for them eclipses her ability to give them that because doing so would be acknowledging herself as equal partner, something she can’t bring herself to do. pride for her love, her capacity to love bigger and more giving than anyone, to bleed herself empty without asking - but rue doesn’t want that. they want someone to build something with, not to have everything built for them. gorgeous, truly gorgeous how oscar conceptualized both of these characters twisted up like vines with one another and then he and aabria knocked it out of the park performing the dynamic which is so understated and incredibly complex. when i say aabria & oscar ruewuvvy deep dive when i’m not kidding!!! i’m still in their clutches!!
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