#graphic content

[samasmith23]

Why do some people think that stories portraying darker subject matter is always an inherently bad thing?

I’ve recently encountered this weird mindset in regards to certain online fandom spaces, wherein people will argue that fictional characters experiencing intense trauma and pain is somehow inherently problematic and negatively reflects on the creator’s skills or ethics. This feels like such a narrow-minded and shallow understanding of a piece of media, since characters undergoing hardships is often a necessary element for them to grow and develop as the narrative progresses. Plus, while some stories can indeed be more intense and graphic in what types of trauma is depicted, it’s mere inclusion doesn’t automatically make the story or it’s author inherently bad. For instance, even though I personally haven’t read the manga series Berserk by the late Kentaro Miura (May he Rest In Peace…), based on what I’ve heard from others while the series does include graphic depictions of sexual assault which the main protagonist Guts suffered from in his past, said-assaults are NOT framed in a gross or exploitative way, but are instead utilized to analyze and discuss the character’s feelings of physical and psychological trauma derived from said-horrible events, and heavily factors into Guts' overall backstory and development as a character as he tries to heal from the violent trauma of his past and discover some sense of happiness in a bleak world.

And yet despite this I’ve encountered a few people accuse Berserk of being “pro-rape” or even outright stating that Miura “deserved to die” (which is an absolutely disrespectful and disgusting thing to say!) simply because he included these darker elements in his manga. Like... that's as stupid as someone claiming that Quentin Tarantino is automatically "pro-murder" simply because his movies include lots of scenes of characters killing each other.

I’ve also encountered far less overtly toxic examples of this kind bad faith media criticism in comic circles. Awhile I was incredibly confused when I saw some people on Twitter arguing that Saladin Ahmed was “ill-suited to writing teenage characters” simply because of two scenes in his Miles Morales: Spider-Man & Magnificent Ms. Marvel runs respectively, which involved Miles being tortured by the new supervillain, The Assessor (who would later make clones of Miles as a result), as well as the final battle between Ms. Marvel and her evil robot-duplicate Stormranger getting quite brutal at times (you could see blood from the impact Stormranger’s punch).

In regards to the Miles’ torture scene, I've seen a small number of people argue that the scene's existence was inherently inappropriate due to Miles' status as a Black minor, going as far as to label it as "dehumanizing" and "really insensitive to the real trauma of black boys." I'm not sure how I feel about this as those labels feel a tad extreme due to the fantastical nature of Miles' stories. Like, as brutal as the scene with the Assessor is, it’s at least given a more ficitional sci-fi vibe due to the high-tech laboratory, the Frankenstein operating table, and the fact that this whole ordeal leads directly into Miles' own version of Spider-Man: Clone Saga after The Assessor acquires Miles’ DNA in the process. So it feels less grounded and not as reflective of those real-life traumatic experiences Black men and boys unfortunately go through in the U.S. like I saw a few critics of Ahmed’s run claiming. Plus, Ahmed had Miles be rescued by both his father Jefferson Morales and Uncle Aaron Davis teaming-up together. So the narrative frames the Assessor’s torture of Miles as a bad thing whilst depicting two older Black men actively putting aside their personal differences in order to save their son/nephew as a major narrative focus as well. How exactly is it "dehumanizing" or "inappropriate" then?

And it seems like this bizarre criticism isn’t just limited to Twitter comic fandoms, since a certain Lily Orchard recently made an AWFUL video which outright accused animation fandoms and creators of “fetishizing the torture and abuse of POC women” in cartoons like The Legend of Korra, The Owl House, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. As soon as I saw the thumbnail for that video I knew it was going to be an absolute dumpster fire.

In it, not only does Lily engage in those similar types of arguments like the ones I mentioned earlier about Saladin Ahmed’s portrayal of Miles & Kamala, but Lily went multiple steps further by outright accusing various scenes from The Legend of Korra, The Owl House & She-Ra of being “literal torture p*rn” and “fetishized abuse against POC women.” With Korra, Lily accused the scenes of Korra brutally poisoned with the Red Lotus’ liquid metalic venom, Korra still being significantly weakened by the poison during her final battle with Zaheer (causing her to fall and tumble down cliff-sides) and Zaheer trying to use his air-bending to suck the oxygen right out of Korra’s lungs (the same technique he previously used to assassinate the Earth Queen), plus the Unalaq fight from the Season 2 finale where extracts the Avatar spirit from Korra and kills all her past lives one by one with a water-whip as “white centrist writers being turned on by the trauma and torture of a woman of color.”

And in regards to She-Ra, Lily accused Catradora shippers of being an example of fandom going “full mask-off” simply because she found 2 or 3 random comments defending Catra’s abusive behavior prior to her gradual redemption arc in the final season simply because they found the Adora & Catra fights “hot” (which I know for a fact does NOT represent the entirety or even majority of the She-Ra fandom & Catradora shippers).

It’s just… I honestly don’t understand why Lily is describing these scenes as “torture p*rn” or “abuse fetishizing.” Like, it’s not unexpected for characters to undergo traumatic crap during their story arcs, and most often it’s for the purposes of raising the dramatic stakes of the conflict or to have said-characters eventually undergo some sort of positive change arc (which is what happens in both Korra and She-Ra btw). While the abuse Korra suffers at Zander’s hands is indeed violent, it’s intentionally disturbing and off-putting in order to increase the viewer’s suspense and fear over whether or not the main character will get out of this alive. Personally, when I first watched the Season finale of “Book 3,” I was on the edge of my seat and constantly worried for Korra’s survival, and while she is left physically and psychologically scarred by the whole ordeal I’ve heard that the entirety of “Book 4” (which I still haven’t seen BTW) focuses on Korra healing from her trauma and becoming more spiritually enlightened in the process. YouTuber and MarySue author, Princess Weekes, though had some interesting analyses about Korra’s portrayal of overcoming trauma and how its heavily rooted  in East Asian philosophy, despite Weekes' overall mixed feelings about the series in general:

And while I can’t comment on The Owl House (again, haven’t watched any of it), I can say that Lily’s characterization of Catradora as “torture p*rn/abuse fetishization” is 100% wrong since the show frames Catra’s behavior towards Adora and others throughout Seasons 1-4 as toxic and unhealthy, and Season 5 is all about her fixing herself on her own volition after realizing the harm she’s caused, and it’s only AFTER all of that when Adora & Catra become lovers. But the way Lily describes the scenes in Korra & She-Ra (which are honestly pretty PG in their levels of brutality despite being fairly dark for family-friendly animation) you’d think she was talking about some over-the-top violently explicit tentacle hentai or something, as she even goes as far as to compare the Korra & Zaheer fight to FREAKING The Passion of the Christ (seriously… Lily actually compared Korra to Mel Gibson's antisemitic guilt-tripping exploitation film which unnecessarily stretches out Jesus' torture and crucifixion; which in the Bible occurred in just a few brief passages instead of 2-and-a-half hours like in the movie).

Geez… given how Lily so inaccurately mischaracterizes these scenes from Korra and She-Ra, I’d honestly hate to see she’d react to Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is heavily centered around the characters suffering from intense depressive episodes and experiencing emotional breakdowns, whilst also including lots of psychoanalytical and disturbing imagery. Knowing Lily, she’d probably ignore the fact that NGE’s director Hideaki Anno was suffering from severe depression while creating the series (which heavily influenced the show’s overall production and themes), and instead accuse all the depictions of depression and trauma in EVA of being “unrealistic” and “inaccurate” since according to her all fictional depictions of trauma are inherently inaccurate since there’s no one universal depiction of trauma (Lily actually said that in her terrible video), and accuse all of the series’ violent and sexual imagery of being “torture p*rn” whilst calling Anno a “perverted abuse-fetishizing creep who is turned on by torture” (which feels incredibly SWERFy on Lily’s part, as well as needlessly hostile towards people who are into BDSM or sado-masachism and practice it safely and consensually) just like she did to the creators of Korra, Owl House, and She-Ra (even though NGE and especially the movie The End of Evangelion is highly critical of exactly that kind of gross and toxic behavior within Japanese Otaku subcultures).

So my overall question is this: why do Lily and some other people think that including intense trauma or brutal torture scenes in comics or animation, even when said-scenes they're framed in the story as bad things are inherently “problematic,” “dehumanizing,” “fetishistic,” or “torture/trauma p*rn”? It's like... I can understand not wanting to stomach intensely violent or depressing scenes if they can't handle them, or being critical if they feel unnecessarily mean-spirited or exploitative, but often times having darker elements is an unavoidable aspect of giving a story a sense of conflict. Conflict is necessary in order to have a plot or to develop characters, except it feels like a lot of people on social media believe that the mere inclusion of any type of darker conflict or subject matter is inherently ethically dubious regardless of how its framed within the overall narrative.

I just don't get this kind of mentality and why it's become so prevalent online these days... I really don't...

#tangent #media illiteracy #marvel comics #ms marvel #kamala khan #spider man #miles morales #legend of korra #korra #zaheer #she ra reboot #adora #catra #catradora #owl house #neon genesis evangelion #hideaki anno #the end of evangelion #graphic content #mini essay #lily orchard is a hack #lily orchard is wrong about anime #lily orchard is toxic #saladin ahmed #nate stevenson #unalaq #berserk manga #guts berserk #kentaro miura #RIP kentaro miura

[ask-a-vetblr]

Disclaimer: kitten has already seen a vet, enucleation is planned as soon as she hits their minimum weight. Just asking as a vet student who feels like they have way too many little bits of info floating around in their brain to be sure about anything lol.

Kitten was dropped off at shelter with 0 history (of course), and my knowledge on this case is a little vague. Is this likely just from an infection left too long, that probably sealed the eye shut at some point and worsened? (Like, viral -> bacterial?) It looks it’s proptosed to me, but I’m also not sure if that’s just massive swelling. If it IS proptosed, is that a common sequelae of severe infection? Or do you really only get that with trauma in cats, and then secondary infection?

Not sure if my thinking is way off base, just looking for some general insight into how these eyes end up looking so gnarly. I feel like we’ve had quite a few dropped off this year. Thank you!

Hi, it's Sueanoi here.

I'm glad the kitten is getting some vet attention now. I hope the healing goes as smooth as it can.

As to answer your question, I don't think that's proptosis (eyeball goes out of orbit). I think it is ruptured cornea that has severe inflammation on top.

Anything at all can cause a secondary corneal injury if the eye is irritated, causing the animal to scratch it and worsening the lesion. Over time, superficial ulcers can become perforated.

Over here in SEA, young stray cats are very often infected with feline herpes. It is a very common cause of blindness (as the last consequence of virus-induced ulcer) here.

Your thinking isn't entirely off base, because virus -> bacteria -> catastrophic consequense IS probably correct.

Once it is time to enucleate, I suggest you observe the surgery. I am quite certain that the globe itself is still sitting within the orbit. The things that are coming out of the cat's head is the eyeball's insides that are spilled out of the ruptured cornea.

Keep clean and control infection. There is a chance that the cat won't even need the surgery if the eye shrink down and become enophalmos before it reaches minumum weight (which might take weeks...whichever happen first). Downside of keeping the shrunk eye is having to keep it clean for the rest of its life. So if that is a factor for the cat getting an adoption, removing it anyway for ease of care is still a valid choice.

Best of luck!

#ophthalmology #veterinary #graphic content #vetling

[sueanoi-the-vet]

Feline bullous keratopathy

A disease we still don't know the cause of (if there's an update I miss, please tell me.) Usually develops in young adult cats, but there are reports of 14 year old cat who has it, and in my case, this is a 4 month old kitten.

This kitten is a former stray, there is no history of injury or any previous medicine use. It just happens very quickly one day, and they present to hospital immediately. The lesion was as seen in the first picture.

The case is referred to me 2 days later. The iris was really inflammed and the blob thingy looks bigger according to owner's observation.

I performed an emergency surgery with third eyelid flap, and prescribed a bunch of medication including topical antibiotics, topical pain relief, topical anti collagenase (acetyl 5%) systemic steroid, and other systemic support.

I hope to keep the flap for 3 weeks. We'll see where this goes.

Note to fellow vets : Most studies that I've read about this disease suggest keratectomy+pedicle conjunctival flap+tarsorraphy. However, newer studies have reported success with only third eyelid flap. The end result look immensely better with minimal scar. I will give this technique a try first, if I fail, I still have the keratectomy option to go for.

#veterinary #ophthalmology #graphic content #veterinary ophthalmology #feline bullous keratopathy

[kiiraes]

TW: GRAPHIC CONTENT

this is not even the worst of the stories of motaz from today but this video is the one that made me sickest. no words

#palestine #gaza #gaza strip #gaza under attack #genocide #free palestine #motaz azaiza #graphic content

[the-lady-maddy]

⚠️Graphic content ⚠️

#khan younis #human rights #childrens rights #israel is a terrorist state #israeli terrorism #israel is committing genocide #palestine #free gaza #i stand with palestine 🇵🇸 #free palestine 🇵🇸 #gaza #gaza strip #free palestine #gazaunderattack #palestine resources #graphic content #tw dead child #tw dead body #Instagram

[rinseveryday]

Spooktober Day 1: (refusal to) Rot

*coughs up a cloud of spores* you ain't seen the last of me

#gore #graphic content #is it graphic i cant tell #tagging just in case #blood #spooktober #is it even spooky #blue exorcist spoilers #spoilers #rot #mushroom #fungus #i feel like im tagging for instagram except its for people to not find it #rin okumura #okumura rin #aoex #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #not chibi #my art

[standing-with-palestine]

⚠️GRAPHIC⚠️CONTENT⚠️

Friday March 1 2024

147 Days of Genocide

#i stand with palestine #free palestine #gaza strip #gazagenocide #ceasefire now #gazaunderattack #we stand with palestine #free gaza #genocide in palestine #palastine #trigger warning #graphic content

[gasterofficial]

could you explain how horrortale is ableist? i had no idea, and i'm shocked that it falls into those horrible characterisation :(

but if you don't want to, that's totally chill too! you don't owe some anon anything lmao ^-^

since I've had a couple people ask, I'm going to provide a slightly more in-depth explanation of why horrortale is ableist. content warnings for everything below the cut: ableism (obviously), discussion of graphic gore, unsettling content, and flagrant mischaracterization of sans undertale.

alright, so before we even talk about sans or alphys there's the whole issue of the treatment of physical and mental disorders (specifically psychosis) as a source of horror. this is an issue with the horror genre in general of course, so it comes as no surprise to see it in horrortale, but I really had higher hopes for the creator to not fall into those same tropes. i don't really want to read back through the comic to pick out all of the examples throughout, but like half of the main characters are at some point referred to as deranged, crazy, insane, or psycho and therefore "shouldn't be trusted." this is just classic "mentally ill/neurodivergent = scary!!!" and isn't just lazy horror but actively perpetuates harmful stereotypes. also this one is less egregious but papyrus is supposed to be scary just because he has yellow and crooked teeth??? bad dental hygiene = horror now. i feel like this is also ableist or classist or SOMETHING but i don't even want to try to define it past it being silly and dumb so. moving on.

ok so. sans himself. the entire conceit of sans's character in horrortale is that undyne smashes his head in because she's mad at him for not using his spooky magic eye to attempt to save the CORE from a power outage, and then after that he "suffers mood swings and delusions" that make him ~SPOOKY~ because obviously mood swings and psychosis make you an evil murderer who wants to torture children.

(image transcription: *His increasing psychosis makes him difficult to trust.)

(image transcription: *You're dead. A deranged goat mom made a twisted promise with a psychotic and it ended up with a bone up your throat.)

Both of the above images are in reference to sans, and the second one not only refers to sans as "a psychotic" but also calls toriel deranged. double ableism win!

Painting psychotic people or people who suffer from mood disorders as evil murderers isn't even as bad as it gets, either! Let me introduce you to the shitshow that is how this au treats alphys.

In this story, after undyne smashes sans's head in she takes his magical eye and gives it to alphys, who uses it to get the core back up and running, thereby saving the ENTIRE UNDERGROUND from magical starvation. thought to be dead, sans survives the beating through some sort of magical connection to his eye and immediately goes to find alphys and retrieve the eye. the literal instant he finds her he uses bone attacks to destroy the entire fucking CORE, takes his eye back, and then attacks alphys before leaving.

Let's just ignore how little sense sans's actions make both in terms of the storyline and his character, and take a look at what happens when others finally make it to the CORE and find alphys after sans is through with her:

yep. that's right. he leaves alphys ""lobotomized"" (this is the description the author used, though this is not at all what an actual lobotomy is) with her brain exposed, which somehow causes her to morph into quite possibly the worst stereotype of an insane mentally disabled person that i've ever seen!!! a stereotype of mental disability which we are explicitly meant to interpret as horror!!!

and yet, despite all of this, the creator and the majority of the fans who participated in a creator-run poll consider alphys to be the villain of the story, there is no follow-up of any sort on what happens to alphys, and sans receives no consequences for his actions.

so yeah, that is why i’m not a fan of horrortale sans and horrortale as a whole.

#also i dont hate anybody personally for liking or making content with horror!sans. far from it #its the passing acceptance of the problems within horrortale and the praise of its creator despite harmful depictions thats what bothers me #<- copied tags from a later post on the subject just to clarify #answered #avem hater moment #horrortale #ableism #sanism #horror #graphic content #mine #ask to tag #undertale au

[samasmith23]

You know what I find so ironic about this brief fight scene between Wolverine & Mystique back during Chris Claremont era? Decades later in the final showdown during Jason Aaron’s Get Mystique storyline, Mystique also slit Wolverine’s neck with a knife, and yet here Logan wasn’t in danger of bleeding to death here like Raven implied he was in Claremont’s run (despite their later battle being a pretty dang bloody one).

Yeah, Wolverine’s healing factor was nowhere near as OP as it is today back during the 80s…

From Uncanny X-Men (1964) #177 by Chris Claremont & John Romita Jr., and Wolverine (2003) #65 by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney.

#wolverine #james logan howlett #mystique #raven darkholme #get mystique #uncanny xmen #chris claremont #john romita jr. #jrjr #jason aaron #ron garney #80s comics #2000s comics #marvel comics #graphic content

[sueanoi-the-vet]

Auto-immune induced stomatitis in cat.

Most cats are presented with reluctance to feed, despite clear signs of good appetite (hungry but can't eat because it's too painful). Signs of mouth pain (salivating, sometimes blood and puss might flow from the mouth). It is more often than not that the cats who develop this disease have really poor dental condition, as seen in this cat with all the plaque build up around the molars.

As stated earlier that this is an autoimmune disease. The cats with this condition respond really well with immune suppression. Be it the simple steroid like Prednisolone, or preferably the safer option (unfortunately much more expensive) Cyclosporin.

Most cats will respond very well with a complete recovery if they receive a full-mouth teeth removal, as the teeth are the target organ of immune attack. The vet must be sure to remove ALL of the remnants of teeth. No residue teeth pieces must be left behind.

Most clients I have cared for decline this option, and opted for long term cyclosporin, with acceptable results of good quality of life.

We often recommend older cats to get a regular dental cleaning care to prevent development of this disease. It is not 100% preventable, but the chances are much better for cats who has good dental hygeine.

#graphic content #feline stomatitis #veterinary #autoimmune

[kiiraes]

TW: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Translation from comments:

- I wish to have an eye plant and my face fixed to be normal.

- as you can see Asma’s condition, plus she lost a lot members from her family. She asked you to travel abroad and have an eye planted, even if it is not real one. Her second eye will be affected if this eye wouldn’t be treated.

- I have a husband and kids, I need your help.

January 19, 2023

#graphic content #palestine #free palestine #support palestine #palestinians #gaza #gaza strip #gaza genocide #palestinian genocide #israel is a terrorist state #from the river to the sea #from the river to the sea palestine will be free

[the-lady-maddy]

Pt 2

#tw murder #murder #graphic content #iof terrorism #israeli terrorism #israel is a terrorist state #palestine #free gaza #i stand with palestine 🇵🇸 #free palestine 🇵🇸 #gaza strip #gaza #free palestine #gazaunderattack #palestine resources #west bank #israel is committing genocide #Instagram

[angry--cucumber]

Title: "Breaking in''

1 page -

Arkin: Well, hello, spidey. Long time no see.

And by the way, thanks for the roses. I love symbolism. I've come to return the favor. And no, I won't kill you, don't worry.

Still, I'm a thief, not a murderer.

2 page -

So I want you to feel what I'm really good at.

Now I will show you what a real breaking and entering is.

3 page -

Collector: *snores*

═══════════════════════════════

События второго фильма.

Аркин сбегает, Коллекционер постоянно думает об их следующей встрече, от чего сознани�� играет с ним злую шутку. Что очень удачно совпадает с началом операции по спасению Елены.

Никакой смысловой нагрузки этот маленький комикс не несёт. И я в принципе не умею создавать комиксы, поэтому получилось как получилось.

Но надеюсь улыбнёт.

И да, у меня сегодня день рождения 🥳

#my art #digital fanart #the collector #the collection #arkin o'brien #asa emory #collectkin #comics #slasher fandom #horror #nightmare #bound male #graphic content #smoking #AC_ART #slashers #AC_COMICS

[metha-winifred]

So...

🛑CONTENT WARNING🛑

VERY GRAPHIC SHIT AHEAD CONTAINING REAL PHOTOS OF SKINNED ANIMALS

Concept art for an enemy in the corrupted zones.

#cw: gore #gore #graphic content #off fangame concept art #off fangame #nowhere #Nowhere off fangame #nowhere (off fangame)

[celluloidrainbow]

VESTIDA DE AZUL (1983) dir. Antonio Giménez Rico 1983. Democracy has just arrived in Spain and the transsexual universe, hidden during the dictatorship, begins to emerge. Lorena, Renée, Nacha, Eva, Tamara and Jossete talk honestly and openly about their transitions, prostitution, family life, and love life with each other and the audience. (link in title)

#lgbt cinema #trans cinema #vestida de azul #dressed in blue #spanish cinema #lgbt #trans #spain #graphic content #surgery tw #lgbt film #trans film #spanish film #lgbt movie #trans movie #spanish movies #lgbt media #trans media #queer cinema #european cinema #1983 #80s #1980s #80s films #1980s movies #1980s cinema #1980s film

[gorillajournalism]

Goodness. If you're anywhere near this level of distraught over the state of politics in this country, I'd urge you to turn off the news, take some deep breaths, and talk to someone. We have many challenges to solve, but this isn't the way. Last report says he's alive but critical.

#trigger warning #graphic content #donald trump #suicide #max azzarello