#critical media studies

[power-chords]

It's hard to know what to make of Baudrillard's theory. It rests on a solid empirical foundation: people are sometimes fooled into thinking that representations are real. But, like the Marxists, the Matrixists seem to go too far. Media are powerful, but they are not all-powerful. Most people have no difficulty distinguishing reality from representation, even when the latter is presented by fancy modern devices. Is there anyone who thinks that "Reality TV," for example, is reality in the full-blooded sense? Moreover, most people realize that the media can be used to trick them. Everyone knows not to "believe the hype" produced by the media. Hollywood is the "Dream Factory," not the "Reality Factory." The key question, empirically speaking, is this: How effective are different media qua media at deceiving people, or rather, at prompting them to confuse representation and reality? The Matrixists never pose this question, so they never answer it.

McLuhan pointed media studies in the right direction by telling us that media themselves — not the information they convey — do something to us, but he refused to be specific. The Mentalist, Marxist, and Matrix schools are specific, but their theories are empirically unsatisfying. If we desire a convincing theory of media effects, one that will explain the impact of media generally, then we will have to look elsewhere.

Fortunately, there is someplace promising to look, namely, to the neglected work of Harold Adams Innis. Innis was a peculiar figure. He worked as an economic historian at the University of Toronto, where McLuhan was a student and later a professor. All of his early writings suggest a cast of mind that was profoundly different from McLuhan's. The titles of Innis's early monographs tell us much of the man: A History of the Canadian Pacific Railroad (1923), Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History (1930), Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy (1940). These works were exercises in economic empiricism, not abstract engagements in high-flying theory. Believe it or not, they turned Innis into an academic celebrity. He was perhaps the most respected scholar in Canada in the prewar years, the celebrated founder of what is still known as the "Staples Theory" of Canadian economic development. In the early 1940s, Innis began — predictably enough — to study another staple of the Canadian economy, pulp and paper. This research, however, led him in a new and unforeseen direction.

[ ... ] Innis proposed a typology of medium attributes based on weight and durability. This classification has the virtue of simplicity, but it sacrifices too much in terms of depth. We need something more complete. In order to get it, we should put ourselves in the shoes of those who use media and as what really matters to them. Most basically, a medium is a tool for sending, receiving, storing, and retrieving information. Given these fundamental uses, what attributes would make a medium really handy?

[ ... ] [A]ny medium can be made to score well or poorly on any attribute given a sufficient outlay of resources. The actual score of a medium on a particular attribute, then, is a function of cost. This insight enables us to recast our definition of attributes:

Accessibility: the cost of getting and using a medium.

Privacy: the cost of hiding the identity of users and the content of messages in a medium.

Fidelity: the degree to which data in a medium are coded.

Volume: the cost of sending messages in a medium relative to size.

Velocity: the cost of sending messages in a medium relative to speed.

Range: the cost of sending messages in a medium relative to distance.

Persistence: the cost of storing messages in a medium relative to time.

Searchability: the cost of finding messages in a medium.

Marshall T. Poe, A HISTORY OF COMMUNICATIONS: Media and Society from the Evolution of Speech to the Internet, 2010.

#marshall t. poe #marshall mcluhan #harold adams innis #critical media studies

[omkdear]

The themes explored in the early Fallout games are not only still relevant but perhaps even more pressing in today's sociopolitical climate. Can you enjoy media without thinking critically about it? Sure. Critical thinking allows viewers to go beyond surface-level enjoyment and understand the underlying themes, motives, and contexts of the work. Rather than passively consuming content, critical thinking promotes active engagement, prompting questions, discussions, and reflections about the material. Fallout is not just post-apocalyptic but also as a commentary on the legacies of colonial thinking and action. Fallout is inherently political, even if the message has been diluted.

#fallout #fallout 4 #fallout new vegas #critical media studies #steph:rants

[ferdifz]

"Power Slap" Is A Far-Right Gateway

"Power Slap" Is A Far-Right Gateway - Media Matters video essay, 6 Feb. '24, 6-minutes long.

#fz_webVideos #rumble #alt-right #media studies #media ecology #critical media studies #Youtube

[atlasascending]

So I just finished young royals and Oof, what a show. If you haven’t seen it yet watch it because it’s great BUT ALSO can I please just take a minute to say I love how much all the characters just hug? There’s so many hugs? I love it. Of course it’s Wille and Simon the most, but I adore how much a normal gesture of intimacy it is for them all. It’s so sweet to see.

I actually also think this show kind of perfectly strikes the balance of Teenager™️ wherein you can’t focus for the following two scenes after kissing someone you like (shout out to that one post) but you can also do drugs and drink and fuck around and somehow these things are not mutually exclusive. Just honestly 10/10

AND the writers and director(s) give the characters so much SPACE. It is so unbelievably refreshing to not be rushing from scene to scene all the time like most American media does (and sadly UK media is heading the same way). Truly reflect for a moment and consider when was the last time you watched something that had so much silence in it, so many pauses, so much room to breathe? And by god do you need it, because all the characters are such forces coupled with the intensity of the plot that you’d be buggered if the characters (read: actors) were barrelling on a mile a minute too

I think it’s a really well written, INCREDIBLY well shot show and that more people should watch it

#young royals #damn just #do you know how good it feels to have no criticisms of a piece of media #At least not immediately while watching/just having watched it #I study film and tv so I have many Thoughts #and am usually wholly disappointed with the works that are published today #this has been lovely #what a show #watch it guys honestly

[notaplaceofhonour]

i think there is some connection between this post and this post

the increasing tendency to treat flaws as justification to declare something wholly “problematic” is a big piece of the anti-intellectualism on the left

the entire point of criticism in academia is to refine & improve understanding in your field. when you level criticism, you are seeking to create dialogue, not shut it down—you engage in criticism to understand not just that a thing has problems, but to seek to understand those problems so you can contribute to a solution

it’s for that reason that the once valid image of a bunch of rich white dudes sitting around smoking cigars in a white tower isn’t accurate anymore. by no means does that mean all problems of systemic inequality are fully “solved”, but we live in a world where academia can and does adjust to criticism, and is now full of diverse perspectives from all intersections of minority voices

but when your approach to criticism is just finding any flaws to declare something wholly “problematic” and the only solution you have is “throw it all out!” “burn it all down!” the fact that institutions of higher learning are flawed and can be criticized leads you to embracing anti-intellectualism. rather than seeing the limitations of privileged perspectives as just that—limitations, which need to be filled out by combining them with perspectives that historically were overlooked—any perspective that may have been privileged in the past becomes trash that needs to be thrown out entirely

#discourse is the mind killer #the left #leftist #leftwing #leftism #academia #higher learning #education #anti-intellectualism #women in stem #queer studies #feminist critique #literary criticism #media criticism #critique #critical theory

[butchysterics]

people are so quick to laugh at other people for taking extremely loaded and upsetting representation in media ~too seriously~, but also conflate the words of some of the most powerless marginalized people with censorship by the FUCKING US GOVERNMENT. it’s so disingenuous it’s so silencing it’s so fucking shitty

it also very much feels like the cultural moment we’re in right now, where bringing up issues rooted in deep irl power structures is automatically written off as oversensitive and reactionary. it’s just media, until it’s an example from real life—then it’s just not that serious, or it’s childish to draw those connections, or it’s censorship to bring it up in the first place. allusions to irl violence are chump change but irl violence is always an isolated incident. and no one cares that this attitude magically seems to exclusively benefit the extremely conservative worldview that holds power

like lmfao no i don’t think it’s your right or anyone’s right to cover your eyes to obviously shitty offensive media writing laden with cultural baggage…. so that you can ~just enjoy it~! does this say nothing about you when you jump to silence the critiques of folks who noticed the harmful shit that went over your head? hot take… media is actually made and consumed by human beings who live in a society

#i don’t hate the fallout show but neither do a lot of the ppl lobbing extremely valid critiques? #devaluing all media critique as censorship or petty fandom bullshit or whateverrr makes my blood boil #ya’ll we live in real life. there is a massive body of academic work studying how media absolutely affects societal perceptions #and how many tropes (like extreme violence against black men or black characters made incompetent for comedic effect) have deep roots #that is real. i am so sorry #get over yourself! it’s not the Mature position to not give a shit about anything #no one is harming you in any way when they bring up issues with your favorite Franchise #i’m so sick of seeing critical ppl devalued as childish and petty when ppl throw fits over the tiniest critique of their fav tv show

[superectojazzmage]

You ever find it interesting or, rather I guess, annoying how anytime someone fails to pick up on satire, the audience gets all the blame and is shat on and accused of being stupid at best, evil pieces of shit at worst, the blame never once being placed upon the person who wrote the satire. Who really is at fault for people not understanding a joke, the receiver or the person who's entire job is getting the joke across?

Like, maybe that guy you're insulting for liking the Starship Troopers movie the wrong way isn't stupid, maybe Paul Verhoeven just sucks at writing satire. Maybe that dude who likes Warhammer 40K factions isn't a fascist, maybe Games Workshop sucks at making their point or half-asses it because all they really care about is selling models.

Just a thought.

#writing #creative writing #satire #media analysis #media literacy #media criticism #media studies #literacy #media #starship troopers #paul verhoeven #warhammer 40000 #warhammer 40k

[moontheoretist]

This moment when you learn that Adventurine is Romani and that his entire planet is named with a word that in both english and slavic are considered slurs against Romani people... I guess the galaxy at large is anti-Roma if they called that planet Sigonia-IV. If Hoyo doesn't give us info that this planet was actually named differently by the people living on it that wasn't named a giant slur, then I'll have to assume that Hoyo is ok with naming a whole ass planet full of Romani-based people with a slur used against those people. And it's bad. At least Adventurine's clan is named somewhat nicely, but what does it change when every single one of them was killed and Adventurine is the only survivor?

I can't shake the feeling it's a very racist portrayal, because the meta message basically assumes that a Roma-based character can't have anything akin to a normal life. That they have to suffer, lose everybody, and become a tragic character "working" for a huge space corporation that couldn't care less about people. Only to ultimately "die" for the sake of said corporation and possibly never be able to come back from the state of spiritual death. And even if he managed, he knows that all his achievements were monopolized by that corporation and that he has virtually nothing to his name and nobody to come back to. The only positive is that he is supposedly blessed with luck by Gaiathra.

Don't take me wrong disgussing the tragedy that happens to minority groups is important and should be done in media, but there is also a point often brought up that if your group is constantly represented as struggling to get by and opressed and nothing else then people start to internalize the idea that this is the only way those characters and people they're based on can live. That there is no normalcy that they have in life, so no normalcy is expected from their portrayals. This happened to queer people. We all grew tired of being constantly only represented as a group whose only point in the story is to be visibly opressed and that we never got a chance to have normal lives as well.

If he comes back, will Hoyo give him a better life? We will see.

Still... the implications are so ugh. I can't speak more about it as I'm not Roma and I definitely don't understand the stuff enough to say anything substancial, but this just looks kind of bad as it is now.

Fortunately there are Roma creators I can direct you to for better insight in regard to Adventurine and his roma-based heritage:

In addition to the video: When I learned that Adventurine (Kakavasha) is supposed to be Romani his design stopped being ok to me. Because it means Hoyo appropriated a real life oppression of a group so they could then stick it to a white guy in a video game. It says a lot about Hoyo, who already had similar issues in Genshin Impact before. It feels like Hoyo fears melanin, because there are other Chinese video game studios who don't stray from using dark skintone on their characters and those characters are selling pretty well, so what's the issue?

#honkai star rail #adventurine #kakavasha #anti-roma #romani people #roma people #character design #media studies #hoyoverse critical #racism #fantasy racism #honkai star rail spoilers

[belle-keys]

what do you think about all those who whine about how they miss the old fandom culture of interacting with fanfic writers and fanfic artists as members of the fandom community who enjoyed engagement and discussion and feedback because now content creators are on a pedestal and don't need positive feedback but do need to churn out constant content to feed the a03 machine? like 8 years ago i was in harry potter fandom and people weren't so sensitive when dealing with constructive criticism. now every message that isn't praise to the sky is hate message lol sorry but now content creators are like anti democratic leaders. they want only approval, want readers to be brainwashed into total devotion to the point of obsession and act mad that their egos aren't petted with constant praise? if they need to be cuddled better do it irl peple no longer worship writers like gods lol or go to therapy, maybe it's not too late

I’m gonna selectively disagree based on what we’re talking about… Writers of original written content should man up and respect criticism, and moreover, stay out of reader spaces. People, even hardcore fans, are allowed to read works critically amd have negative opinions. That’s the whole point of literary criticism and media literacy. I don’t believe in unwarranted praise just because someone is a writer.

However, this should not apply to fanfiction writers from my point-of-view. No fanfiction is not worthy of overwhelming negative criticism – the characters do not even belong to the fic writers and were not created by them. Fanfiction is an exercise in indulgence, in comfort, in imaginativeness. But it’s not original content. No single person is truly qualified to tell a fanfiction writer how to write their fanfiction i.e. their borrowed creative property that exists purely for giggles and creative exercises at the end of the day. That’s as hilarious as “homeless man calls other homeless man a brokeass”. How the hell can “you characterized Draco as too much of a bully in this fic when he wasn’t even that mean in the canon and his relationship with Harry is abusive and toxic here” remotely qualify as constructive criticism? The whole point of fics is that there are no rules. Like, fanfiction is an exercise in emotional fantasy, not skill. I don’t believe in providing “constructive criticism” on unoriginal written content that exists for neither literary study not commercialization purposes. Keep your negative fanfiction opinions to yourself – fanfiction, unlike literature, doesn’t exist for the purpose of critique.

You can critique the genre of fanfiction on a holistic meta-level, absolutely, there are dissertations dedicated to that. But to go on an author’s fic and be like “your worldbuilding in this ABO Destiel fic is so bad here” is ridiculous. I’d lose respect for people doing that in online fanspaces. Ignore and move on and go read something else if you have nothing good to say.

#idk if this is unpopular or what but fanfiction is not literature bud #you didn’t pay for it and you can’t study it formally either because you don’t own the property #so move on if you think a fic is bad #you don’t need to exaggerate praise but like just move on #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom culture #fandom #fanfic writing #destiel #drarry #media literacy #media criticism #literary criticism

[khalidistan]

using gerudo link as a queer icon ignores the criticisms of orientalism by poc. jasbir puar writes, why is it "feminisms [are] neither able to theorize gender and violence nor able to account for racism in its ranks... especially when it works to center the (white) Euro-American feminist as victim?"

the championing of queerness at the expense of other identities such as race and class represents the limitations and failures of queer politics. there are no "queer rights" without intersectionality. quote from after queer theory by james penney:

And from the perspective of Marxism, queer politics fails because the difference upon which it rests (queer vs 'heteronormative') carries no necessary relation to class antagonism, to the mode of production in its determination of the relations of capital. Non-heterosexuals are widely distributed across the range of material privilege. In fact, what's so politically disconcerting about queer is the largely academic and upper-middle-class origin of so much of the discourse, not to mention its serious lack of geopolitical mobility and awareness.

this is a comprehensive breakdown of how botw's writing of the gerudo community is steeped in orientalism and racism.

#orientalism #legend of zelda #gerudo link #link loz #loz #khalid text #critical race theory #queer studies #media analysis #racism

[eenochian]

it’s very funny how this fandom suddenly cares so much about sensitivity, meanwhile no one was up in arms about folks calling valeria shit like “cartel mommy” and simping for her. and, if you point this out, you get told that it’s “less important” or incomparable. way to tell victims of cartel violence that they don’t matter. y’all can’t preach about sensitivity and mindfulness while doing the exact opposite of that.

sensitivity is something that needed to be brought up a long time ago. people need to be mindful about the content they’re engaging with and producing. COD and its characters are based on very real issues and very real situations, mindfulness is needed for every single character.

seeing this only be brought up in the context of makarov and graves is honestly so, so frustrating. they’re not the only problematic characters that you need to consider when making content. western militaries like the US and UK are incredibly controversial and have devastated vulnerable people and their countries. price, ghost, soap, gaz— any member of the military, especially the special forces, is problematic. they’re not good people and should not be treated like saints, nor should they be idolized for what they do.

that all being said, the concepts of “be mindful and sensitive when making content” and “let people enjoy problematic media” can absolutely, 100%, co-exist. art is not meant to be a paradigm of moral goodness, it has always been a medium for people to explore things that are considered "taboo" in a safe space. there's a reason why "dead dove: do not eat" exists as a genre – with proper warning and precautions put in place, people can explore darker topics. for some, it's morbid interest. for others, it's a way of coping with trauma and experiences they've had in real life.

i want to repeat this just to make it very clear: be mindful and sensitive with the content you're producing. do not romanticize topics that should not be painted in a good light. don't minimize the impact of characters' actions or act like people are in the wrong for being uncomfortable with them. in this fandom especially, people treat atrocities like jokes because we're becoming desensitized to them. it's up to every individual to ensure that they don't forget how impactful a lot of this stuff is in real life. war is not a joke. terrorism is not a joke. people dying is not a joke. do not romanticize any of these things in your content, even if you're exploring the different sides of the people behind these things.

humanize the characters all you want. horrible people are still people, after all. humans are not one-dimensional beings. humanize them, but do not romanticize them.

be kind to victims, be sensitive, and be mindful about what you engage with. no one is perfect, no thing is perfect, but we can always do better. we need to approach every topic through this lens instead of picking and choosing who to support. everyone is deserving of it, everyone is entitled to basic respect. we don't need to compete and argue over who has it worse, we just need to be better across the board. support real victims. don't let media warp your perceptions of reality. be conscious of the content you make and consume.

#call of duty #cod #cod mw2 #mw2 #modern warfare #putting it in very clear words because i'm scared people may misinterpret what i'm saying: #for the love of god— LISTEN when people tell you that you're doing something wrong. #especially if these are victims or people knowledgeable of the topics you're portraying. #do your research. learn about the things you're writing or reading about. #do not portray bad people or harmful things in a positive light. #it's completely possible to “simp” for villains without disregarding or defending their actions. these characters are fictional. #it's better to get your rocks off to a set of pixels modeled after a normal person than a REAL person that does harm. #but be cognizant of what you're looking at when you do. #if you can support real victims— please do. #donate to ukraine. educate yourself on the war. learn about the harsh reality of cartels. study the impact of colonization and racism. #not only is it good to be informed of things in the real world— but it allows you to better understand these topics in the media. #i'm FAR from perfect. i'm not immune to doing wrong. i'm no exception to this criticism. #also wanted to throw this into the post but i may make another to address this specifically: #it is VERY telling that this fandom only started talking about sensitivity once (predominantly) white folks started being impacted by it. #no one cared about valeria being called “cartel mommy” or the cartel being romanticized. #graves gets criticized for being racist. but even he's often given a “pass” by the fandom.

[river-taxbird]

On Business School and Media Literacy

How the most basic media studies knowledge makes you look like an creative genius in the average business class.

Something interesting happened to me in a business strategy class last year, and I think it might be illuminating to share it. This story has never left my head and probably won't for a long time. A little background: In my accounting degree, we sometimes do classes that overlap with the business majors. Career preparedness, leadership, strategy, stuff like that. In my experience the business professors are a lot less competent and professional than the accounting professors, and the business studies adjacent classes tend to suck and be the worst part of the semester.

So in this class we were looking at some ads from a sports drink company, (not naming names because fuck giving them any promotion, but I will provide links), and we looked to see how their strategy has changed by looking at ads from the 70s, 80s, and generally now.

Ad 1 (1979): A sick kid wants to go and play with his friends, his mum puts him to bed and gives him the drink, narration says it gives energy and aids recovery.

Ad 2 (1985): A famous sports star of the day is shown running on a track. He is getting tired and then drinks the drink, and starts running again. The narration calls it a "Refreshing glucose drink."

Ad 3(2021): A young black man drinks the drink and walks around a suburb while hula hooping. The slogan is "When you're on, it's on".

So the professor shows these three ads and asks the class what we think. This is a class of around probably 100 people in a fairly big lecture hall. The students are a mix of finance, marketing, business etc. After a moment of awkward silence, someone says "It's definitely more diverse in the new one." The lecturer asks, "Is that it?" and more silence follows, "Does anyone have any more thoughts?"

Now personally, I can see these ads tell a very clear story, but either nobody else has noticed it, or if they have they're too shy to say. I am known for running my mouth in lectures, which my accounting professors tend to like, but the business people can be more mixed on it. So I say: "It's clear that the messages the ads present is changing over time, but the reasons are likely external. The 70s one is making some clearly bogus health claims, that a sugary drink can help you when you're sick. Obviously science would disagree, so as time goes on they change their message and are aiming to make it more of a sports drink, that it gives you energy, but now in the modern age of truth in advertising laws they can't say that anymore. It doesn't give you any more energy than anything equally as sugary, so now they are implying it by showing someone being active and doing a physical implausible feat after drinking it. They can't directly say it gives you energy anymore, but they are clearly trying to imply it."

This impressed the lecturer but the conversation ended there and the class basically moved on. I don't think what I said was particularly smart, I was simply taking the most basic elements of the text and synthesizing them with some external knowledge to deduce what the narrative they were trying to say was, and what that narrative implied about how science and marketing has changed.

My point is though, nobody in the whole class was remotely prepared to approach a text like this, to ask what it was saying, what it was meaning to say, and forming an opinion on it. At least if they were, they were too shy to say it. Now obviously I am a curious queer creative nerd who takes an interest in the world around me, but my point is, that attitude does not seem to be encouraged on the business studies side of things, and the moment something media studies related came up in class, it seemed like nobody knew how to handle it. I know I have seen (and participated in) a good amount of dunking on business majors recently. (Personally as an accounting major I see them as my primary rivals but that is another story.) I thought this story would be illuminating on the topic if you have never been to a business class.

#business school #media studies #marketing #academia #long post #critical thinking

[moobrvoobl-moobmoob-oobmpoobroom]

me, trying to navigate the star wars fandom on tumblr and find sensible posts I agree with: damn it’s like a minefield in here

#Swift talks #not that I have anything against breaking down media and studying it critically but the amount of arguing and harmful discourse in this #fandom makes me sad and appalled sometimes like this is supposed to be for fun #‘pro/ant* Jedi’ ‘pro/ant* Anakin’ I wish I could just Not Care about it #what if we all went back to observing Star Wars as it was meant to be #‘man with blue lightsaber good red lightsaber bad’ ‘Anakin was good but then he became bad :(’ #original trilogy save me #save me original trilogy…… #Star Wars #the clone wars

[thesoftboiledegg]

People debate about whether canon is more important than fanon or which one gets the "final say," but I think it's pointless because it's all fanon. Yes, you watch a specific set of events unfolding on screen, but you insert your own interpretations while you're watching it.

We might THINK that we're taking the series as it is without inserting our own theories, but that's not true. Two people can watch the same episode and have totally different interpretations, each thinking that they're right. Look at all the fandom discussions about characters and their motivations. That wouldn't happen if everyone just blankly watched episodes without thinking about it.

Even people who say that they only draw or write about canon scenes aren't really doing that. For example, if you draw art for a canon ship, you're still drawing a scene that doesn't exist in the show. And yet, it feels equally real to you.

Likewise, other media influences the way that you view the series. If you watch a live-action adaption of a novel, you have different mental images when you read the book again. Someone who hasn't watched the movie wouldn't view the book that way.

No objective "canon" exists. Even the people who worked on the series (writers, directors, actors, etc.) interpret their work a little differently. A book written by one person might be the closest, but the writer can't control the mental images that each reader creates.

Canon doesn't matter. It's all imaginative anyway.

#fandom thoughts #fandom theory #fandom things #fandom #fiction thoughts #fiction tropes #tropes #media analysis #media studies #media literacy #criticism #about writing #booklr #about reading #literary analysis #character analysis #meta #film analysis #character concept #text

[ofsappho]

Begging people who’ve only read TSOA to stop slandering Hector because he killed Patroclus and broke up your ship.

Please.

That is literally so annoying.

Obviously you can read whatever you want and you don’t have to have an interest in the Iliad, but part of the greatness of this epic is how complicated the characters are and how the Greeks can be both heroes and villains.

In some vases from Ancient Greece, Achilles’ son beats Hector’s father to death with the body of Hector’s newborn son and then forces Hector’s widow into sex slavery.

You can have your ship without massively oversimplifying the whole epic. Thanks.

#Ancient Greece #Ancient Greek studies #Greek mythology #Ancient Greek mythology #the Iliad #the Trojan war #Hector #I feel like I’m kicking the hornet’s nest here but media literacy and critical thinking should always be in style

[widevibratobitch]

my god. skinny people really just have like. No Idea huh just absolutely not a single clue lmao it's almost funny to watch fr but then id lie if i said i wouldn't fucking kill to be able to be that ignorant

#girl i am SO sorry people react with surprise when you say you're studying to be an opera singer because you're #*checks notes* skinny and attractive. so so sorry that must be literal hell for you huh how will you ever recover :(((( #no no please keep talking about how equally bad that is to the brutal fucking fatshaming and ED glorifying #in the industry that me and the only other fat girl in the room were talking about before you interrupted us <3 #anyway. we were talking about this one review of a quite famous professional music critic whose only comment about a fat mezzo in the cast #was 'miss xyz.... lose some weight'. not a single word about her singing/acting/whatever. but yeah no you're too sexy for an opera singer #and THAT is the real problem here girl i totally understand yeah <3 thoughts and prayers dearest. #earlier that same day this same girl was standing next to me in her bodycon dress and went #*pointing at her stomach that's so flat its almost concave* 'ughhhh what do i have to do to not look pregnant in this dress 😩😫' #and i said 'girl' and just looked at her and like the sudden horrified realisation on her face was lowkey hysterical #like omg you really did forget you're not talking to your other skinny friends with whom you can pat each other on the backs #and reassure each other that 'dw girl ur not fat at all ur so so sexy!' huh sjshsjshsjs #but yeah i dont like making people uncomfortable irl so i did reassure her she looks hot and pretty and skinny as all shit #let at least one of us have a nice evening and not feel Absolutely Fucking Disgusting ig <3 #and the day before that after i saw our (last ever btw never photographing myself with them ever again <3) picture and had a mini break down #the other even skinnier and smaller and petite-er crouched down next to me with the most guilty fucking expression and quietly asked me #if im alright and do i want her to delete those pictures (that she posted on two separate social media pages) and like #the look of immense fucking pity on her was even worse than seeing those pictures #like i know she meant well and was trying to be nice but my god. this really is how you all see me huh #like looking like me would be fate worse than death for yall #not even gonna mention the thing i just learned this friday that the retired ballerina who leads our ballet classes said about me #trying to cheer up the other fat girl who happened to have a bit of an emotional breakdown in the middle of the class :))))))) #like i am sooooooo so glad and honoured to be an inspiration to you. really. always happy to help. the exemplary Fat Girl Who Fucking Sucks #But Doesnt Let It Bother Her <333333 #like on one hand. yeah it really does make me wanna jump off a cliff. but on the other. its just hilarious sjdgsjsgsj #you sure are right miss ma'am. i sure don't let this bother me at all. i am famous for my uncanny ability to Not Be Bothered by all this <33 #but shes new. its ok. how could she know about the last two years when i was getting panic attacks and sobbing myself to sleep every tuesday #but yeah no. [lauren cooper voice] am i bovvered? am i bovvered tho? i aint even bovvered!