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rocket-sith · 7 years

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The "BPD Anakin" Theory is Overlooking Some Crucial Shit - a long rambly meta objection

Suiting up in my flame proof armor for this one, but submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society jury…

The BPD Anakin theory is gundark bollocks.

I’ve seen this theory getting bandied about a lot, and it’s never sat quite right with me. It finally clicked that the reason why it doesn’t sit right is because the entire argument is hinged upon ignoring nearly all the situational and cultural factors in Anakin’s world, and “diagnosing” him in a vacuum. This is tantamount to arresting someone for yelling FIRE! in a crowded theater when there actually is a fire.

Simply put, a lot of the defenses I’ve seen of the theory fail to take into account that in order for a disorder to be present, the person’s thoughts and behaviors have to actually be disordered, and they also have to be pervasive. Patterns of thought and behavior that are reasonable within context are not disordered. (If someone’s yelling “fire!” in a crowded theater, it’s not unreasonable if there actually is a fire.) Thoughts and behaviors that we don’t see until the tail end of RotS where Sidious has manipulated Anakin into what can only be described as a psychological break are not pervasive. (I’d also argue that some of them aren’t even really Anakin’s - he’s a victim of gaslighting, both by Palpatine AND the Jedi Order. Not that it excuses what he did, but abuse victims who’ve been mentally and emotionally manipulated can display behaviors that deceptively mimic various mental illnesses. And TBH the Jedi Order was really just a fancy religious cult that responded to Anakin’s very normal, very human need for love and acceptance with pretty much the Jedi equivalent of “stop having impure thoughts or you’re gonna go to hell” - which really didn’t help matters.)

And for the sake of clarity here, let me go ahead and establish a couple of things. 1) I’m talking about Anakin while he was still Anakin. Vader is a different entity in a lot of ways, and that’s an entirely different discussion. Most of the BPD stuff I’ve seen has been focused on PT and TCW Anakin, so that’s what I’m working with here. 2) I’m absolutely not arguing that Anakin is some shining paragon of perfect mental health, or that he’s necessarily neurotypical in the first place, because yeah NO. He absolutely has some issues he needs to deal with, and as far as neurotypical-ness goes, I’ve seen some pretty convincing cases for ADHD, PTSD, generalized anxiety, and even high functioning autism. I’m only arguing that BPD doesn’t fit. So let’s go through the diagnostic criteria for BPD, keeping the above in mind.

(If you're on mobile, the rest of the post is here. Hellsite app hides the Read More. https://rocket-sith.tumblr.com/post/158218862776/the-bpd-anakin-theory-is-overlooking-some )

*frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment*

Okay, so picture this. You’re in the middle of an ongoing war, and you’re fighting on the front lines. All your friends are in the war too, and many of them are right there on the front lines with you. Your spouse is a high-profile politician with powerful enemies, and he/she has faced assassination attempts before. Your mother is living in a hostile land as a slave, where it’s commonplace to be killed or abused.

Tell me your fear of losing the people you love is irrational. Go ahead, tell me that’s not a 100% justified fear. I’ll wait.

We see in Crystal Crisis that Anakin feels abandoned by Ahsoka when she left, but she actually did leave. That wasn’t an irrational fear. She left. Anakin stood by her, not thinking she’d leave, and she left anyway, which clearly shocked him. It’s totally fair to say he’s being short-sighted in his reaction, in that the council was the ones he should be mad at, not her, but if irrational fear of abandonment is what we’re looking for here, there simply wasn’t any in this case. The possibility of her leaving never even occurred to him before the council scene in the Wrong Jedi arc, and when she did leave, he was upset, but he was upset at something that actually happened, not irrationally fearing something that might.

Anakin gets mad at Obi-Wan for leaving him out of the loop in the TCW Deception arc, but getting mad at your supposed best friend for faking his own death in order to emotionally manipulate a reaction out of you…I mean, damn, who *wouldn’t* feel pissed off and betrayed by that? And even THEN, he never thought Obi-Wan was the one behind it until Obi-Wan told him point blank that it was his idea to leave Anakin out of the loop. Anakin’s immediate reaction to finding out Obi-Wan was alive wasn’t “Obi-Wan abandoned me and was conspiring against me” it was “the council doesn’t trust me.” The thought that Obi-Wan was in on it doesn’t even cross his mind as a possibility.

Then we have the incident with Padme and Clovis where Anakin walks in and starts to whup Clovis’s ass. A lot of people like to point to this as irrational possessiveness taken to the point of violence, but again, we’re overlooking a few things here. Padme has had attempts made on her life before. The person she’s trying to lure is a known slimeball. And when Anakin busts into the room, he doesn’t see Padme making googly eyes at Clovis. He sees Clovis trying to physically force himself on Padme while she says no. This is not Anakin walking in on his wife flirting with someone, this is Anakin walking in on a known scuzzbucket doing something to Padme that looks an awful lot like sexual assault. No shit, he lost his cool!

The “everyone’s abandoned me and turned against me” mindset isn’t something we see until the tail end of RotS on Mustafar. Not pervasive. And given Obi-Wan actually was there to kill him, it’s not particularly disordered either. He did incorrectly assume Padme had brought Obi-Wan there, but considering 1) Palpatine had planted the idea in Anakin’s head that there was something under-the-table going on between Padme and Obi-Wan, and 2) Obi-Wan really had just shown up on Padme’s ship looking to throw down and start shit, it’s not like Padme bringing Obi-Wan there to whup Anakin’s ass was some random, wild idea that just popped into Anakin’s head of its own accord, manifested purely by his own insecurities. It was a conclusion reached by combining something that was actually true (Obi-Wan had arrived on Mustafar via Padme’s ship with the intention of fighting or killing Anakin) with something that had been deliberately planted in his head by a malevolent, manipulative third party (Obi-Wan and Padme were in cahoots about something sketchy). I am not in any way, shape, or form defending the way Anakin handled it, but I am saying the suspicion itself isn’t mere left-field paranoia born of nothing but a fear of abandonment. *a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation*

Anakin is emotionally intense, sure, and he comes off the rails when one of his loved ones is in danger, but I do not see instability in his relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation of the people he loves. Anakin is a steadfastly loyal person, and he doesn’t do the push-pull thing. Let’s look at the people he’s closest to - his mother, Padme, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Rex, and Palpatine.

- Mom and Rex - there’s never anything even remotely turbulent with either of these two regarding how Anakin views and feels about them. He’s unwaveringly loyal to both, never once devalues either, and there’s no push/pull here at all.

- Ahsoka - he’s overprotective of her sometimes, but she’s a young teenager in a war zone entrusted to his care. The only time we ever see him slagging her off is when he’s ranting to Obi-Wan in the Crystal Crisis arc, mad at her for leaving. That’s it. One instance hardly constitutes “pervasive” or “alternating” and we can’t forget, this wasn’t a fear about things that might happen, or Anakin saying she was Jerky McJerkface because she disagreed with his opinion of loth-cats or something. This was a reaction to her actually leaving, which was a huge, life-altering thing for Anakin that hurt him very deeply - especially since he did stay unwaveringly loyal to her even when no one else was. He’s definitely guilty of not grasping the big picture here, but again - not pervasive, not alternating, no history of devaluing Ahsoka or thinking she was going to abandon him for no good reason.

- Obi-Wan - Okay, the Anakin/Obi-Wan dynamic is complex. These two clowns are both masters at miscommunication and not understanding each other for shit despite the fact that they clearly adore each other, but again. A teenager bickering with his guardian and ranting to his friends about how much he dislikes being nitpicked and dislikes rules (AotC) is typical of every teenager everywhere, and it’s not at all contradictory for a teenager to do this even though they love their guardian. It’s 100% normal. A person being angry when a friend lies to them and manipulates them is a rational reaction (TCW Deception), and if ANYONE is guilty of disordered behavior here, it’s Obi-Wan with his shocking lack of empathy. Anakin didn’t come off the rails with the whole “Obi-Wan isn’t really my friend, he’s out to get me” deal until the tail end of RotS, when Obi-Wan really was out to get Anakin. We don’t see anything remotely like that before then. We see a teenager frustrated with rules, we see an adult upset at being lied to and manipulated, and we see some mutual communication SNAFUs, but we don’t see turbulent, foundationless devaluing.

- Padme - Both Anakin and Padme are very young considering their roles in life, and their relationship can be rocky and immature sometimes. (And not just on Anakin’s part - there was a TCW ep where Anakin had to cut an evening with Padme short to go do Jedi Business and when he showed up the Senate building later to talk to her, she greeted him with an icy “Oh, so now you have time for me?”) Anakin has some jealousy issues, and I’m not going to insult anyone’s intelligence by pretending he doesn’t, but he does not devalue Padme or think she’s against him until the end of RotS - and we’ve already covered that incident. There are absolutely some unhealthy things about the relationship (even before Mustafar), but it doesn’t fit with the BPD criteria here or indicate he’s in the habit of devaluing Padme as a person.

- Palpatine - Well hell, Anakin’s main problem here was that he was blindly loyal! If Anakin had mistrusted Palpatine at all or pushed him away, a lot of really bad shit wouldn’t have happened.

*identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self image or sense of self*

Anakin is absolutely struggling to find his place in the galaxy, but again - self discovery and finding out who you are is a normal part of being teenager and young adult. Not disordered. The Jedi are a batshit cult who try to convince Anakin that his normal, healthy, human emotions are dangerous, and he understandably gets frustrated by it. This isn’t a dysfunction on Anakin’s part, and labeling it as such is fairly abusive in its own right. One of the key elements of gaslighting is when you abuse a person and then blame them for their negative reaction to it. Jedi dogma tries to convince Anakin he’s defective and untrustworthy for having totally normal emotions, and now we’re going to say he’s disordered for reacting to it with anger and confusion? I think we’re fighting in the wrong corner, y'all. And anyways, Anakin doesn’t completely come off the rails with his “the Jedi are evil” deal until the tail end of RotS - not pervasive.

*impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).*

Anakin gets dinged for this one a lot in the BPD Anakin theories, and this is one of those areas where we need to take into account that Anakin does not live in our world. Yes, Anakin is a daredevil. However, acting like you have superpowers isn’t disordered if you actually have superpowers. You wouldn’t call Clark Kent self-destructive for thinking he could jump in front of a bullet. You wouldn’t call Wolverine irrational for thinking he could heal from a wound that would be fatal to anyone else. So it makes no sense to call Anakin self-damaging for acting like he’s some sort of badass super pilot who can deflect blaster fire with a lightsaber. *recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior* - None of this applies at all, unless we’re talking about general daredevil stuff, and then - see above.

*affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)*

This one’s iffy, especially when you’re dealing with someone who’s constantly in the front lines of a war zone, as it calls into question whether anxiety and irritability are disordered in this context. Anakin definitely seems to be anxious and irritable, but he and the people he loves are constantly in harm’s way. You could definitely make a case for PTSD here, but BPD doesn’t fit considering there are very real, very legitimate causes for anxiety and irritability.

*chronic feelings of emptiness* I haven’t seen any direct canonical evidence to support this.

*inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger*

LMAO okay, y'all can have this one. Homeboy’s got some anger management issues. (I still say a lot of the time when he’s pissed off, he’s got a good reason to be, but DAMN he does a shitty job of handling it in a remotely constructive way.)

*transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms*

Nope. It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you, ya know? He thinks the council doesn’t trust him. They *don’t* and they’ve never been shy about showing it. He thinks his mother is being tortured to death. She *is*, and prophetic dreams are a real thing in Anakin’s universe, and a power that Anakin has been canonically confirmed to possess. He has premonitions of Padme dying in childbirth. Again, he is canonically confirmed to have the power of prophecy, and the *last* time he ignored a prophetic dream, it cost his mother her life. Taking his dreams seriously is not paranoia, and it’s not him having a dissociative episode. (Yeah, there’s a fan theory that Palpatine planted the Padme dream in Anakin’s head, but even so, that’s not evidence of a disorder with Anakin. It’s more like the equivalent of a forensics expert planting extremely convincing fake evidence at a crime scene, then blaming the cops when they think it’s real.)

So there are the 9 symptoms. You need five or more for a BPD diagnosis. Anakin has ONE. *Maybe* two if you squint really hard and tilt your head. If Anakin were a regular adult human on regular earth who wasn’t in a war zone, wasn’t caught up in a crazy religious order that was shaming him for being human, and wasn’t being manipulated by a goddamn Sith Lord, it would be another matter. But he is, and it’s not accurate to diagnose mental disorders while completely ignoring cultural factors and extenuating circumstances like being a General on the front lines of a war or being preyed upon by a master manipulator.

tl;dr - The “BPD Anakin” theory might seem reasonable at first glance, but it holds significantly less water when we stop pulling Anakin out of his own environment and either analyzing him in a vacuum, or analyzing him against the backdrop of our own world rather than in the context of *his* world, his environment, and his reality in a galaxy far, far away.

#anakin skywalker #attack of the killer meta #shameless overanalyzing #probably gonna get flamed for this

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le-koko-butter-blog · 7 years

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BBC Sherlock Tinhatting Masterpost

I can’t believe I’m John Watson-ing this shit--that or Andersoning it. The reason I will stick to the former is because of all the emotional damage The Final Problem has done to me but mostly to the LGBT+ audience of the show. Regardless of whether there is a 4th episode or not, they hurt many people deeply. Some of you other fans who are curiously strolling through the sherlock tag or even the johnlock tag are baffled by the depth in which this episode upset people. Many of you are suggesting that people are overreacting. Although I plan to address this later, at the moment, I would like to say, please try to have a little empathy before resorting to condescension. Try to see WHY in the first place it mattered to them instead of assuming that in no way whatsoever can a tv show possibly mean that much. With that being said, I’m going to make a list of all the evidence suggesting some sort of trick—or rather plan. I can’t believe I’m about to kick my own goddamn balls and go through with this. Believe me, I’m generally rather rational.

Something comforting about the number 3. First off, when this line was said, it was hilarious. I honestly believed for a second that Sherlock shoved a recording device up his bootyhole. John’s disappointment only added to this. It made more logical sense than the off chance that John would leave his cane. At any rate, many were theorizing what this line means. Naturally, it caused people to think that there was possibly a 4th Holmes. Even then, many thought this suggested a 4th episode. The reason why this line is important is not only the amount of screen time it was given, but the cadence in which it was delivered. No one who was actively sitting there missed this. In place of this line, Sherlock could easily have said something more pertinent to the point of the episode, Sherlock’s aim to get John back in action (not my words. Lame explanation really for it was actually about). In prior episodes such as TAB, John is always neglected as a player by the villains. His importance is never considered. Sherlock could have said instead: “Oh but Mr. Smith, you’re forgetting the one thing that really matters, the true feature of interest, the irreplaceable Dr. Watson.” Maybe that’s a bit too cheesy and something better would do but something along those lines would make more sense in regards to the cane and would add scaffolding to the theme of John’s importance.·

Plot holes. Alright. Much has been written about the hilarity of the plot holes. There are so many, so big and so frequent the entire Spanish Armada could have sailed through them unscathed which is certainly more than what can be said of Moffat’s and Gattiss’ reputation after TFP. The plot holes are so glaring that it defies logic that not one single person on set could not have mentioned this. It’s almost as if they were deliberate. 1 or 2 is an accident. 5 is just a regular ol’ network tv show on FOX. But 80? I’m not even being hyperbolic. There might actually be at least 80 plot holes. I’m going to point out the chain one because it would need a special set up. Now as I write this I’ve only ever seen TFP once, mostly because I can’t bring my brain to consume it so soon afterwards in fear of cerebral hemorrhaging. From what I recall, we are given a close up of John’s chained foot. First off, this would suggest that at one point, the well was drained and a chain somehow installed…but never mind that. To film it, the camera would have to be dangerously close to the water if not somewhat submerged. This probably happened in another room, set up to look like the well and if that’s the case, more work would be involved. The amount of work only to have the rope thrown down there makes no sense. Even a goddamn idiot would have remembered that. It would have taken effort. It would have been hard. At least harder than not doing it. I mean as the audience, we’re not expecting a 45 year old Dr. Watson to scale the curved walls of a slick well. Maybe the Chinese ninja guy from the blind banker but still.·

Parody of itself. After the episode I was hurt. I was angry. And I was lashing out. I stepped back and listened to myself. Everything I was saying was exactly the things the prior episodes of Sherlock could be accused of by those, to say it not so politely, more boring viewers. Remember the Bond critic, the one Gattiss wrote a poem to rebuff? To give an example, there was too much improbable action: the stealing of the fishing boat, the taking over of the asylum, the transplanting from one location to another in an unreasonable time frame, the surviving the blast. Sherlock is too athletic, too badass. Certainly, Sherlock in the previous episodes can be accused of this. Sherlock can win in a sword fight like in the one in TBB as well as do calculus in his head? Please. But as fans, we understood that this was part of the fun. Sherlock Holmes has always been a super hero, he might even have been the first ever. His level of intellect is his super power. It’s mere existence is unlikely. But that is storytelling. If we wanted reality, we would watch Forensic Files (I love that show btw but all the more reason to contrast it). In addition, the disguises were downright stupid. Funny. But stupid. Mycroft looked like an evil child eating fisherman and Sherlock, dainty, dandy little Sherlock with the Renaissance curls hulked down a corridor doing an impressive impression of Frankenstein’s monster all the while mimicking an awful Scottish (?) accent. The only time we are given an actual disguise (my memory may be off) on the part of Sherlock was the French waiter. But when they did that in TEH, it was cute and playful. This was random, weird, and confusing. But then again, I can only imagine how someone who is inclined to be defensive of their own intellect and willing to dislike Sherlock because of it, would lap up that scene and mock the show for it despite it’s charm and humor.·

The Reichenbach Fall. I’ve alluded to this in another post and in some of the evidence for the above points and in no way am I the originator of this idea. But The Reichenbach Fall is perfect allusion to what Gattiss and Moffat are doing to their show. The sincere fans are terribly hurt. But the critics. Don’t think for a moment the critics are enjoying themselves. For years some viewers of the show must have resented BBC Sherlock because of it’s almost condescending cleverness. It presents it’s hero and it’s plot as being so much smarter than everyone else. In TRF Sherlock warns John about this. I may be wrong but he says this outside of the reporter’s house when met with Moriarty’s actor disguise. People want Sherlock to be a fake. They don’t want to think that someone can be so much smarter than them. They are more than willing to believe in his downfall. Now, if I am right about this and the aluminum isn’t fucking with my brain as this horned hat sits on my head, this stunt would take massive guts. Hell, it might even make television history. (how can they possibly pull this off?) I have seen in many posts people commenting on the interviews Mofftiss and the other showrunners have done. One of them says that it’s almost as if they never knew them. Hell, maybe they are dicks. But it’s like character assassination nevertheless, especially after that disgusting one about Molly. No one can be that thick. Well, unless you’re Donald Trump. How is this consistent with the same people who wrote that beautiful speech Sherlock gave at John’s wedding? How? Now, I’m not sure where we, the tinhatters stand as either John Watson or Anderson (What the fuck is his first name?) We’re standing at the proverbial grave site of this amazing show, asking it the most ludicrous question. Please don’t be dead. Just don’t. Don’t be like this. Come back, give us more. Fix this. We’re sitting there chugging coffee and devouring a 2 pound bag sour patch kids on 4 hours of sleep writing mad theories on the internet, tweeked out and heartbroken. Maybe the healthy thing would to go out and marry an assassin who we thought all along was a cat loving nurse. Maybe there are some Lestrades out there. The blessed normal ones who are just hurt. But to my defense, the theories presented in The Empty Hearse, especially in it’s first sequence is tame by comparison to anything that happened in The Final Problem. I’m not being dramatic when I say that. Those who liked the episode, please just for a moment think about what you are told to believe to have happened in TFP and ask even in the Sherlock universe, is this possible?·

Literary allusions. I cannot be credited with any of these. But they certainly are not random. Musgrave , Oscar Wilde and the Importance of Being Ernest, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Final Problem . These aren’t random. They are deliberate.·

The Projector, the Clue at the Beginning of Season 4 and the Nature of the Detective Story. Link. Alright. Now, I’m not particularly a fan of detective fiction. I do like some. When I was younger, I was much like Hermione Granger and I liked to solve the puzzles myself, thinking how I am oh so clever. I was insufferable but to on to the point; the set up of a detective story is generally that a mystery must be solved (murder usually), am I wrong? A good detective writer does not only create tension and drama and stakes (if you want, you can credit TFP with having these things. I think that’s awfully generous of you if you do though). A good detective writer leaves enough clues for the reader/viewer to be able to solve the puzzle on their own if they are really clever. If they are not but still get a tickle out of it, they would have much the same reaction as the guy with the Japanese tattoo in T6T. Oh its so simple when you put it that way! Oh of course! Now BBC Sherlock isn’t perfect. They aren’t Agatha Christie or anything but it’s never too far off. I’m sure some of you were able to solve the cases on your own or at least see how it’s possible when you rewatch. Some things that they fail to give us closeups of aren’t fair. But I’ll get off it. What I am trying to say is. TFP was NOT A DETECTIVE STORY. It was a thriller/horror? There was no possible way we could have solved any of it. Not at all. Now some of you may point to the song. In my defense, which is an easy one I might add, is that for one, we are not allowed to actually hear the song in its entirety and even if we were, the gravestones ARE NOT A VIABLE OPTION. I repeat. THEY ARE NOT A VIABLE OPTION. Why Ms. Koko Butter? Because the gravestones are noted to be strange. There was something wrong about them to begin with. It was this weirdness which supposedly alerts Sherlock. But why should they be weird? TFP says that the dates aren’t historically possible (which can be said about the events of the episode). The gravestones exist before the murder of Redbeard. Now why on earth would a historically inaccurate graveyard exist anyway? Are we to assume that the Holmes are just freaks and be done with it? Sorry, not buying that. Especially since so many of Sherlock’s deductions in prior episodes are supported by the probability of human behavior consistent along the lines of what is considered a normal sequence of action. Now, the other option is that the little girl put them there herself. I’m sorry. Even if she were one of those creepy baby geniuses in Twilight, she could not physically have done it without alerting her parents. Certainly Mycroft who is older and smarter than Sherlock would have known about this. Are you to tell me that he wouldn’t act on it? Loyalty to Eurus does not matter since he betrays her. Are you telling me that through some line of reasoning, he wouldn’t do the thing that is the most obvious thing in the world to anyone which is check the well. And if he did, he wouldn’t be decent enough to remove the poor child’s remains and give them to his family? Alright, I’m digressing. What I am saying is, this song, like all the other puzzles presented to Sherlock in TFP are more along the lines of SAW than a detective story. But we know that Sherlock the show, is in some ways, still a detective show that has actual cases the viewers can solve. In this line of reasoning with my tin hat on, I present TFP as evidence. Many great detective stories start immediately with a HUGE clue. In the episode dealing with Magnussen he LITERALLY says what his vaults really are. Within a few minutes in, surrounded by the heads of the British government, he says to them that he has a good memory. BAM. There it is. The clue. The vaults are his mind palace. Kinda lame but I’m cool. Still love it. We’re still golden. Season 4 starts off with the doctoring of footage. It’s weird too because Sherlock is prancing around, high on life. Why? WHY?! This is unlike him even if we think we consider that he is happy to be back in England (if I didn’t know any better I would think John had just kissed him and all that oxytocin was pumping him with a natural high and making him sing out like character in musical I’m glad to be alive~). The link above shows the projector clue. But if this really is a detective story, then this is the first and most important moment in solving the case. Doctored footage. Now, this isn’t new. Many of you have suggested this. But along the lines of genre, this is crucial. TFP plays with genre as well. It’s starts with a movie. It’s horror at first littered with a bunch of typical horror movie tropes, bleeding eyes and killer clowns. Then it’s some shitey action flick, a comedy, and then a buddy cop? A fucking buddy cop. The even have a name for it. The Baker Street Boys. Good god. The buddy cop is a genre popular in the 80s just like that awful freeze frame at the end. But then again, isn’t that what everyone already thinks about BBC Sherlock? All of those horrible things. A buddy cup with too much action and pseudo intellectual characters?·

I know who you really are. Ok, now crucify me with sentiment. I’ve never been above it. But the whole reason I got on this tinhatting business wasn’t even that it logically made sense. The world is a disappointing cesspool at times (i.e.Trump, i.e. callousness to refugees). I’ve lost a lot of hope as I’ve gotten older. It’s easier to just be like FUCK YOU MOFFTISS. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done that and I��ll continue to do that. But what sparked this whole thing was a gifset of the hug in TLD. Now, what the fuck? How can the same people who made that, make TFP? It doesn’t make sense. It reminds me of this story I heard once about this young man who faked finding old Shakespeare letters and eventually a play just to impress his dad. I’m not saying BBC Sherlock is Shakespeare but what I’m getting at was the kid was discovered because this supposed play of his was nothing like actual Shakespeare. It was too shitty. People believed it at first because the paper quality was true to the time but the actual work itself was so far off from what we knew to be his style, that it was literally impossible. Of course, Mofftiss wrote that monstrosity but it is no way approached in the same way as the previous episodes were. It was meant to be different. It is glaringly different. There is no way TFP exists alongside in reality with Watson’s and Sherlock’s beautifully crafted and heartbreaking performance. Think about it. Every line means something. It does. If you provoke me on this, I will write a 20 page fucking play by play of each goddamn line and each blocking choice. I WILL. Don’t threaten me.·

Johnlock. Ahhhh the elephant in the fucking room. If you’re still reading this. I’m sorry. I’m a caffeinated ranter. Forgive me. Now, this isn’t about shipping. I hate that word and I hate the culture associated with it. I have never and will never ship something that is not textually supported. A romantic implication was obvious in the very first episode. Here is my example: Hudson, Donovan, the waiter and probably some other people ALL ASSUME THAT JOHN IS HIS BOYFRIEND. Why? Just because the fucker is with him? What? Would you think that? This only makes sense if everyone already assumes Sherlock is gay. Even at the dinner scene, which is so intimate and romantically awkward I can hardly watch it, Sherlock denies an interest in women but does not deny an interest in men. The way that was written, performed, and filmed are all indicators of a relationship. I remember watching it the first time years ago and turning to my dad and us smiling at one another like OMFG HOW ADORBZ. (It goes without saying my dad wasn’t a homophobe). It was made that way to plant the idea in our head. Because why? That’s what tv/movie romances do. If this isn’t plain to you, please rewatch. Now why is Johnlock so important? First off, the story is about their relationship. Don’t agree? Then what is the major arc? The humanizing of Sherlock Holmes. Who humanizes Sherlock? John Watson. Can you be sure of that? Yes, because the show begins with their meeting. So obviously, their meeting is the initiator. Why does it have to be romantic? Because it’s written that way. I don’t have enough energy to go through this but if you are still incredulous, I can send you links from people who have already written it down. Now, stories have to complete their arc. This is why they often become predictable after awhile. We call them tropes or archetypes. But stories do not mimic reality, they bring out the perceived truth of the human condition. It’s the license in poetry, the climax in a narrative, the soliloquy in the play. If they do not, we feel it on a deep instinctual level, the way we can sense that the math is off in the musical progression of notes. It is the difference between hearing a symphony and hearing noise. It’s inherent. TFP is jarring. Jarring because it does not complete the arc of its textual themes, for example, the romantic entanglement line, highlighted by the plot hole of the missing letter and the overdue confession on the tarmac. We’re waiting for it the way we all know in that crappy romcom that they’ll miss their plane, run back in the rain, and say in so many contrived words, YOU COMPLETE ME. And we love it. Don’t lie. You love it. We should have gotten it but we didn’t. That is the heart of the queerbait. Because we were baited by these notes, the themes in the story and instead of a a crescendo, we are left with a cacophony of car horns. The advertisements leave no room for doubt. Sherlock is in love? With Who? Who else would it be? Honestly? Motherfucker was dead on the slab and LITERALLY RESTARTED HIS HEART FOR JOHN WATSON. That’s not even reading into it. It literally happened. Just like that. Irene was mentioned. Mycroft was mentioned. Molly was the eventual TFP the trick. Only John’s name invokes such a reaction. Friendship does not do this. Please leave me alone with that argument but I seriously doubt that is even scientifically possible. Oxytocin which is produced during sex and childbirth creates insane fucking bonds. Mothers are known to defy logic in their will to protect their baby. Sex produces a similar effect. Correct me if I’m wrong but Sherlock’s actions suggest that he is IN LOVE (romantically and sexually) with John. Any other interpretations borders on madness or serious nonchalance.·

TFP cheap production. Where did all the money go? My fingers hurt. I can’t type anymore. But really. Where did all the money go? It was so cheap. It was like the same room painted in different colors.

Now this is longer than I intended. I’m adding more links to other posts. Please add if you have more evidence. Before I sat down, I had a lot. I feel like I have forgotten to include some. I may add more later. Now, I am prepared to accept the result that Mofftiss just sucks major balls and if they do, they deserve all the accusations of queer baiting and ought to be ridiculed for their smugness. But my brain keeps telling me otherwise.

Let me know if the links are weird or confusing or if there are any errors. I usually just reblog things on this blue hell of a site.

LINK

LINK 2

LINK 3

Onward once more into the breach my friends....something fucky this way comes.

#bbc sherlock #tjlc #johnlock #tinhatting to the max #tinhatting sherlock #sherlock #john watson #sherlock holmes #the final problem #steven moffat #mark gattiss #mofftiss

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drink-n-watch · 4 years

Text

Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, Mecha?, CGDCT, Short, drama

Episodes: 12

Studio: Shin-Ei Animation

Null is just your average little girl. And like a lot of little girls she loves her sister if if they don’t always agree. Like when her sister tries to force her to eat that awful “nutritious” fried rice or makes er go to school even though Null doesn’t need too. And just like a lot of little girls, when Null misses someone, she simply draws up elaborate blue prints and creates a series of incredibly complex algorithms to create a deeply sophisticated robot replacement. We’ve all been there, right? But it’s not all fun and games and sunny days at the beach. Something odd is happening. First ravenous aliens seem to invade Nul’s idyllic life then people start to disappear. Something very odd is happening indeed. Luckily, there’s nothing Nul and Peta can’t solve together.

I don’t remember hearing much about this show when it was airing. I also noticed that it was pretty badly rated, but shorts always score very low for some reason. I like short programs. find them way more flexible and great when you don’t feel like getting too invested.

why do girls always look great with a wrench

One thing is for sure though, short anime usually have a much smaller budget which you tend to see in the visuals. This is why I was so impressed with how great Null and Peta looked. The art is fairly detailed and remains very consistent throughout the series. It has this really great pastel pop palette and any show that errs on the side of pink is already ahead of the game as far as I’m concerned. And even the backgrounds are fairly elaborate.

While going over what I was going to talk about in this post. (It’s always hard to review shorts I find), I started to really wonder why Nul and Peta was so much prettier than other shorts I have watched. One factor is certainly that it appealed to my personal design tastes. But beyond that I think it comes to the tiny cast. For the most part we only ever see Null and Peta, often just Null. There are no crowds, no extras, no background characters to animate. It’s a beautiful painted backdrop with a single characters moving around. Even the alien invasion which started to get crowded was a bit of a cop out since the aliens were essentially just balls with mouths.

I’m sure there are other reasons but I have a feeling that dropping any extra visual noise allowed the production to really concentrate on what was there to se, and in my opinion, it paid off! The show looks great.

it’s out of this world…i’ll let myself out

I feel like I’ve already mentioned a million time that this is a short series. Every episode is roughly 5 minutes. So you get the entire season n about an hour. It’s important to keep this in mind when setting up your expectation for the narratives in these shorter shows. There just isn’t that much room although some have managed to tell amazing stories. In the particular case, Null and Peta also seems to be a commercial tie in for some type of platformer game. Crunchyroll advertised the game right along the series and th set-tup really makes it feel like Null and Peta is only meant to be an extended comercial. A bit like Pretty Derby.

When you really consider these two aspects you sort of start to form an expectation in your mind. You figure it’s going to be a safe comedy with the type of fanservice that isn’t about showing off the characters bodies but making them look vulnerable and sweet or something along those lines because you don’t want to loose the younger demographic. I know I sound pretty jaded but it’s not unreasonable. Besides you can make a great commercial.

And that’s what I was expecting. Just Null and Peta going around and doing Null and Peta stuff adorably. I was expecting the girl to be willful but also a bit dorky and silly. I wasn’t expecting her to be a mad scientist. Nice touch. We need more CGDCT featuring mad scientists. I liked this.

I told you it was a one man show

I was thinking it would be lighthearted irreverent slice of life with some goofy randomness. I was expecting the odd edge of pain and grief that starts to seep in here and there. thought it was just silly shenanigans and robot sister fun, which it was but I would never ever have imagined a soft exploration of grief and loss from the perspective of a child not yet able to fully process everything. And I definitely wasn’t expecting a twist ending that left me in actual tears. I’m not kidding you guys, real human tears…

I’m not sure why (is it in the game…) but Null and Peta sets out to paint a very ambitious emotional journey with a light tch and bright pastel colours. It’s a tall order for any series and by the limitations of both the genre and length of the series, the exploration of some of the heavier themes stays quite shallow. I mean what can you expect? Nevertheless, I feel like it succeeds way more than it fals and I’m baffled by how little recognition the series got. If nothing else, against all odds, Nul and Peta seems to have been earnestly striving to achieve meaning. Or at least the marketing team behind the show managed to make me believe so which is an accomplishment all on it’s own.

If you’ve been looking for a short series and don’t mind some sappy sentimentality, Null and Peta is a great choice nd a rather touching tribute to sisterhood.

their jammies match!

Favorite character: There’s only two characters…one really…. so Null!

What this anime taught me: Siblings seem great

“No great story ever started with someone eating a salad”

Suggested drink: Big Sister

Every time Null says “sister” – take a breath

Every time we see a bamboo shoot – take a sip

Every time Peta creates something by herself – take a sip

Every time Null avoids dinner – take a sip

Every time there’s an explosion – take a sip

Every time Null skips school – tsk tsk – you shouldn’t skip school

Every time Null is almost killed – take a sip

Every time we see original Peta – it’s going to be ok

Every time Null does math – pay attention

Every time you spot bad CG – take a good sip

Every time Null is alone – take a sip and awwww

Every time Null dreams – take a sip

Every time there’s fried rice – get a snack

You know the drill – Pinterest has tons of pics and I’m adding a few here

Null and Peta and the Lonely Dream Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, Mecha?, CGDCT, Short, drama Episodes: 12 Studio: Shin-Ei Animation Null is just your average little girl.

#anime #blonde bishie #CGDCT #comedy #drama #mecha #moe #Null and Peta #School #short #slice of life #supernatural

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