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rollercoasterwords · 1 year

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I have, a genuine question for you. Do you acknowledge the racism in the original AYTD or at least know about it? Like how MsKingBean uses slurs and racist stereotypes?

hey, so, i'm a bit apprehensive about answering this because...it doesn't feel like a very geniune question to me, if i'm being honest. "do you acknowledge x thing" is a question that is inherently set up so that i'm meant to answer "yes, i acknowledge that x thing is true," because the alternative is saying "no, i don't acknowledge that x thing is true," which is already framing this interaction as if to disagree with you would be a kind of failure on my part to do some due diligence of engaging critically with a text. and the fact that you say mskingbean89 used slurs in atyd shows me that you haven't even engaged with the text, because that simply...isn't true.

if what you're referring to when you say "slurs" is the anti-romani stereotypes--this is coming from an extra chapter in the bootleg tapes focusing on greyback, where there is a slur used to describe his living situation + he + his family were portrayed as nomadic irish people in a way that was insensitive. people who read that chapter and then went back to the canon story with that characterization in mind rightfully pointed out that it was fucked-up. mskingbean89 addressed those criticisms by adding this note to the beginning of that bootleg chapter:

personally, i think this was a good way to take accountability + acknowledge the mistakes she made with that portrayal. she was a human being who made an ignorant mistake, which then just happened to get absolutely blasted to millions of people--she did not have sensitivity readers or editors looking over her fanfiction, because she did not write it expecting it to reach the level of popularity that it has. to be honest, i am not really sure how she could have better acknowledged her mistake, aside from just....not having made it in the first place. she explains her intentions without acting as though that intent cancels out harm, owns up to the fact that the stereotyping was harmful regardless of intention, and provides resources to learn while also committing to be more mindful + educate herself moving forward. honestly, that's exactly the response i would hope to see from someone who makes a mistake like this one.

i agree with you that people reading atyd should acknowledge + understand the racism regarding romani stereotypes stemming from that bootleg chapter, which is why i think it's great that there is a note literally built into the beginning of that chapter acknowledging it! but i feel as though there's been this like...game of telephone happening online when it comes to atyd, where there are now people who have never even read the story talking about things that quite literally do not appear in the base text itself. i've also seen people acting as though mkb herself did not address these issues when they were raised to her, which is just...patently false.

and so what i'm wondering here is what you're looking for from me when you ask a question like "do you acknowledge the racism in atyd." anyone who actually reads the texts has to acknowledge the racism in that bootleg chapter, because mkb puts that acknowledgment front and center at the beginning. and also like...in the part of the fandom i'm in, in the conversations i've listened to or taken part of regarding atyd, people have acknowledged the issues with that bootleg chapter and the ways it reflects back on the main story. so what do you mean by "acknowledge" when so many people, including mkb herself, have already... acknowledged it? what action are you calling for, and who are you calling for it from?

because like. if what u actually want to say here is that atyd is Irredeemably Problematic and we should all like....shun it? universally agree that it's Bad? then it's just like. it is up to each individual reading the story to decide whether that specific portrayal of greyback in the bootleg chapters is something that ruins the story completely for them or whether they still think the story as a whole holds worth. personally, i feel like i can acknowledge that there are issues with mkb's portrayal of greyback and i need to be mindful of that when reading the story so as not to internalize harmful stereotypes while still finding atyd to be a masterpiece that really beautifully deals with a lot of nuanced issues regarding class and disability and systems of power. this is just part of thinking critically when you read; many famous and beloved works of fiction contain the biases of their authors or have mistakes or issues in the way they portray things that are a product of ignorance. and i know everyone reading marauders fanfiction should understand this, because if u genuinely think that a character being negatively stereotyped means u should throw the entire work in the trash, then none of u would be touching harry potter fanfiction with a five foot pole in the first place.

so, anon - if you have actually read atyd, and there are issues with racism that you have found that i am unaware of, and not just telephone-game twitter posts of people taking shit out of context that you're accepting as truth without bothering to engage with the work yourself--if you want to have a real conversation about it, i would invite you to come to me as an actual person and not an anonymous ghost in my inbox. my dms are open, but when it comes to talking about serious issues, i tend to find it more genuine if the person coming to me actually cares enough and believes in what they're saying enough to say it as themself. and if you haven't read atyd and are just parroting things you've heard other people say online then i would invite you to actually sit down and read the work and form your own opinions on it before getting back to me. i know that might sound harsh, but honestly i'm just completely fed-up at this point with all the bad-faith takes and misinformation that i've seen people spreading about atyd just because they think it's cool to dislike a popular thing.

#mkb is literally a human being who never intended for her story to get as popular as it has #i think the people who villainize her for likes on their twitter posts seem to forget that #and i'm not going to take part in some sort of smear campaign being run by people who brag about not even having read the story #i'm happy to acknowledge issues i find in a work. but i typically do that privately. in conversations with other people who have read it #because as i have said a million times there is never a reason for publicly shitting on fics regardless of how popular they get #it's not like mkb is profiting in any way from her story. in fact she has literally had to deal with awful harassment #and most of the 'critiques' i see about atyd are either bad-faith criticism or things that literally are not true. so!!#here's ur acknowledgment anon but if what ur looking for is for me to condemn mkb....sorry but that's not happening #i love atyd and think it's an amazing work of fiction. and i think mkb did a beautiful job exploring + portraying #many nuanced + sensitive issues. if u read the work and feel differently that's fine!#but that doesn't change the fact that it's fanfic....and that u should address any problems u have with it with fic etiquette in mind #ask #ranting and raving

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thekidsarentalright · 1 year

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just curious since when was screaming the end all be all metric of good singing. like just curious when we stopped caring about vocalists who sing w passion and heart and more impressive technicality than almost every other singer in the industry today. when did those actually important things start mattering less than being able to scream and. match the instrumental??? (not usually a requirement for music so it's a fucking weird complaint tehe!!). like just wondering when it became cool to randomly criticize talent just to raise your personal favorite artist up on a pedestal more than you already do without having to tear someone else down. just pondering since when it wasn't cool to just say i don't personally like that thing and move on and not need to write essays justifying why the thing is Actually bad and horrible so you're allowed to dislike it. like just fucking curious why some people can't just keep fall out boy and every single member of the bands names out of their mouths for once 🥰🥰🥰

#ALSO . patrick literally has screamed but yk. god forbid he develop past doing that and move onto other styles and techniques right 🤪#i just woke up and saw the addition to that post and so genuinely could not hold back making this like oh my god here we go again!!!!!#mcr fans wanna be like omg we're COUSINS we're BESTIES to fob fans and then go and say shit like this like lol. no.#it's just so interesting bc i could make so many critiques abt mcr but i literally dont bc. why. why would i do that. why would i waste #so much of my time being negative and tearing down another band just because i can. it's fucking annoying #and also like Rude. to do something like that. let people enjoy things!!! lol!!!#txt

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zevranunderstander · 2 months

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i love watching youtube analyses of movies and shows and i love when the person explaining something is totally wrong about the thing theyre talking about

#myposts #right now this is about someone talking about midnight mass with the pre-existing assumption that its basically only a show about critiquin #christianity and not about a really interesting and sincere discussion of faith and personal accountability within faith #which is WAY more interesting than that person claiming that the scene of the people walking to easter mass with candles is supposed to be #reminiscent of the charlottesville unite the right rally which makes literally no sense as a comparison whatsoever #and like. saying stuff like that monsignor pruitt is completely self-serving and only bad-intentioned and manipulative #and missing so many sides to his character and his actual internal struggle alltogether because the person just assumes he has to be a liar #like pruitt is SUCH a good character BECAUSE he deep down means well #like he GENUINELY thinks that he is doing the will of god and he struggles to contextualize what he percieves as gods will #with what he is suddenly forced to do (eating humans) and like. he doesnt realize that he should be questioning if hes really ACTING for go #and thats the main THING you know. people who are held in a frame of belief might try to rationalize EVERYTHING through that frame #even if it starts to oppose their actual beliefs. like. its a prettttyyy significant thing for pruitt that he starts questioning why #god suddenly 'allows' him to kill people and instead of reflecting on it he holds a SERMON saying that GOD CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT MURDER #like I LOVE pruitt because he's that realistic and like all this person can see is a very shallow critique of christianity #which this show isnt honestly ALL that interested in (at least not from the side this person is talking about it lmao)#and jessie gender (who doesnt know about it but whom i have beef with) commented 'excellent analysis' under the video #dare i say. it was not. it was really mid anaysis and like half the plot just FLEW over this person's head apparently #like. theyre not wrong but they are kinda analyzing a side-plot (the social ostracization of people non-christian from the community over #the run of the show) like it's the main plot and only plot going on lmao #but this post is also about every man who ever opened his mouth to speak about shiv roy

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basterbinkers · 9 months

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i know we all struggle with criticism and whatnot. but genuinely it's such a good feeling when someone criticizes something you've done or made and you're like "???? YES that is what i missing!!" or even just "i didn't even see that!! thank you so much!!" or EVEN "you know, you're trying to make this project of mine way better than i even wanted it and now i'm going to make it like that". like i feel that that feeling is underappreciated

#this is about one of my personal projects #showed it my mom and she pointed out everything i saw wrong with it and more #it was really really good #but obviously this applies to literally so many things. i find this in writing all the time #'you know you could make this better by adding this—' THANK YOU. I WILL.. MWAH #criticism #critique #personal project #communication #bastertalks

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23meteorstreet · 10 months

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it's so interesting seeing people point out things that were upsetting about mac & dennis's dynamic in the last ep. none of those things really bugged me not bc i don't think they're toxic but bc they didnt't feel ooc or surprising in any way? like it's essentially a lot of shit they've done & gone thru in previous eps just packaged in a different way.

#i mean... last time dennis couldnt get mac to do what he wanted he started a literal cult #and there were A LOT of equally bad ways that couldve gone but he literally ended up getting someone killed #the problem with this ep is that some things literally only work if ur willing to read them thru the lens that #mac would be willing to go thru w/e dennis would put him thru if dennis communicated it properly #(which doesnt sketch me out so much as the idea that if dennis could admit his feelings he *would* be able to communicate everything else)#idk i get macdennis! i get the appeal of 2 people who genuinely love e/o but constantly end up in toxic situations bc the only way they kno #it's just the fandom's single-mindedness that makes the ship annoying #& im kinda opposed to any critique that just says toxic = bad esp on this show #(even tho im seeing a lot of valid critiques on here within that which i genuinely love to read)#i do wish we could get an actual exploration or subversion of these dynamics but i still think that's a little beyond the show unfortunatel #s16 spoilers #i thought i had a point here but looking back over it i dont think i actually did...#oh actually 1 more thing... it's weird to me that so many ppl specifically blame megan for making characters/dynamics more toxic #bc almost all her eps feel like this to me... a rehash of a dynamic used in another ep that barely goes 1 step further

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doomednarrative · 11 months

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Could never understand being a Michinaga hater the guy has carried the Entire series for me at this point

#i have so many thoughts about him #personally feel hes been one of the most consistently written characters since the beginning of everything #also. people keep calling him a hypocrite. yall are wrong #if he was a hypocrite he would proclaim he was better than everyone while doing what he does #when beroba calls him out on doing the same shit the riders he hates are doing he literally doesnt deny it #hes like yeah i kinda am but so what im doing it anyways #if he was really a hypocrite hed have denied that shit up and down but he never does #hes just. very bullheaded as hes meant to be in achieving his endgoal and if he has to get his hands dirty doing it #he will #people get mad that he killed keiwa and yeah it was a dick move but he also literally explains it #he does it to get him and neon and the rest to forget everything so they can go back to living peacefully in ignorance #and so that their own wishes wont cause more suffering in the process #because lets be real if you wanna critique michinaga you better be willing to look at keiwas own shit hes got going on #michinaga rightfully calls him out on Knowing the wishes cause suffering but still wanting to use that system to right its wrongs #and thats not forgivable to him nor is it very noble of keiwa when hes the guy whos been vying for peace this whole time #his way to peace has a price tag on it now #the whole point i think is that no ones goals are going to be able to mesh together and the whole system needs to fuckin go #because no one is benifiting from it even with the wishes being used for Good Things #sorry but ive been ruminating on this all night i needed to get it out there #kamen rider geats #geats spoilers #kief watches kr geats

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welcometogrouchland · 2 years

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Pacing around my room (metaphorically, I'm very much in bed) trying to sort out all my thanks to them thoughts. What is going ON in here (my brain)?????

#ramblings of a lunatic #toh #I'VE MADE SO MANY POSTS AND I STILL HAVE SOME IN DRAFTS #WHAT IS THERE LEFT TO DO????#god. i think the whole act 1 of a movie angle is just REALLY throwing me off big time #because literally every stumbling block i found in the episode has to do with the ending #belos and his presence/motivs the hunter possession and subsequent rebirth flapjack portal lore etc #all of it is clearly meant to flow into the next episodes but in the meantime I'm BITTER! I'm a bitter betty abt it!!!#it's honestly got me really nervous for the next specials yknow?? which is weird!#i started off really excited and still am I'm just pessimistic to a disruptive degree #I'm sure I'll have more fun talking with my friends abt it irl tomorrow (since we r all very autistic abt this show)#and I'll be back in the swing of things #but for real now I'm just sitting here stopping myself from speculating on things #bc I'm worried I'll get too attached to my own expectations #and I don't wanna put all my eggs in one basket #EVEN THOUGH SPECULATING IS ONE OF THE MOST FUN PARTS OF THIS SHOW FOR ME. GOD! PAIN AND MURDER #again it's weird i have critiques of the endings execution but then i see certain critiques thrown around and I'm like >:((#bc i do think it's 90% a really good episode #okay okay I'm done talking abt this for now. I'm gonna work on being normal again

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acidbathcat · 2 years

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while we’re on the topic of religion, i do think it’s ironic when someone of the christian faith criticizes islam based on unverified extra-textual quotations and then when the favor is returned, claim, “that was the old testament” or “you can’t take that literally.” i do believe no one here knows the difference between hadith and the actual quranic text, AND the fact that only very few, compiled hadiths are authenticated and agreed upon. islam does not favor women but good lord no where does it say rape is allowed.

#idk i’m starting to think when people complain about it not being pc to criticize islam it’s because #u literally talk about it as if it’s the Boogie Monster or some shit. i genuinely want to discuss and critique it with someone #but no one i’ve met on here seems to understand the first thing about it #even ‘ex’ muslims on account of #it takes A LOT of research and studying to truly understand any singular point.#simply being raised in a muslim culture doesn’t make you an authority because many cultures do not really follow islam #for example living according to american values doesn’t make you an authority on christianity #ahhhhhhhh like you are all so racist! sorry if you believe this shit you are believing that somehow the Browns are more backwards #than your twisted white culture

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gothsidecharacter · 2 years

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i feel bad that it took me so long to get into stranger things even though i watched and enjoyed the first season right when it came out but am a hateful little creature at my core and didn’t want to engage anymore after it became such a commercial success and all it took for me to give it a second chance was growing up a little and being given a new silly little doomed side character to project onto and now that character is the one that people are being so not normal over that i simply cannot enjoy myself in peace without worrying that i am being a cringey little freak (derogatory) about it

#i just want to use my critical thinking skills and enjoy myself in peace #all fandoms have bad parts i am not new to this #but the last thing i want to do is contribute #like i feel guilty for relating to a character that was literally created for people like me to relate to #which is goofy bc inherently i am not doing anything wrong #but i also would not blame anyone for being apprehensive about engaging w me bc of it #am i guilty of being a steddie enjoyed? yes officer cuff me up #but there are so many valid critiques to be made about it #like it's fun there is a lot of wiggle room there since canon doesn't give us much #but consider....do you actually like their dynamic or do you just want them to fuck #and they are allowed to fuck #but let us remember they are only 19/20 #i just worry it's another outlet for some weird fetishization #idk man i am just rambling now #i just want to enjoy things and not hurt/bother anyone #and vice versa i want to enjoy things without being hurt/bothered #i am worried that when i wear my little half assed eddie costume to work for halloween i will get shit for it #bc one of my shithead teenage coworkers was giving me shit today for just bringing eddie's character up #now should i care what a teenager thinks of me? no and i mostly don't #but i also don't want people to get the wrong idea #idk man!!#kill the part of you that cringes or whatever i guess

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mrlechattm-iii · 1 month

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Heartbreaking: Someone you thought was really cool and funny is actually so fucking annoying about a piece of media you like.

#this is a callout post #for many different people #because I’ve noticed that you can be so funny and cool #but then turn around and be relentlessly annoying about something for literally no reason #and I don’t mean annoying as in #critique or debates within a fandom #I mean shitting on that thing constantly and acting like people who like that media are tasteless #five nights at freddy’s #Hazbin hotel #Steven universe #sonic the hedgehog

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emeryleewho · 1 year

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I used to work for a trade book reviewer where I got paid to review people's books, and one of the rules of that review company is one that I think is just super useful to media analysis as a whole, and that is, we were told never to critique media for what it didn't do but only for what it did.

So, for instance, I couldn't say "this book didn't give its characters strong agency or goals". I instead had to say, "the characters in this book acted in ways that often felt misaligned with their characterization as if they were being pulled by the plot."

I think this is really important because a lot of "critiques" people give, if subverted to address what the book does instead of what it doesn't do, actually read pretty nonsensical. For instance, "none of the characters were unique" becomes "all of the characters read like other characters that exist in other media", which like... okay? That's not really a critique. It's just how fiction works. Or "none of the characters were likeable" becomes "all of the characters, at some point or another, did things that I found disagreeable or annoying" which is literally how every book works?

It also keeps you from holding a book to a standard it never sought to meet. "The world building in this book simply wasn't complex enough" becomes "The world building in this book was very simple", which, yes, good, that can actually be a good thing. Many books aspire to this. It's not actually a negative critique. Or "The stakes weren't very high and the climax didn't really offer any major plot twists or turns" becomes "The stakes were low and and the ending was quite predictable", which, if this is a cute romcom is exactly what I'm looking for.

Not to mention, I think this really helps to deconstruct a lot of the biases we carry into fiction. Characters not having strong agency isn't inherently bad. Characters who react to their surroundings can make a good story, so saying "the characters didn't have enough agency" is kind of weak, but when you flip it to say "the characters acted misaligned from their characterization" we can now see that the *real* problem here isn't that they lacked agency but that this lack of agency is inconsistent with the type of character that they are. a character this strong-willed *should* have more agency even if a weak-willed character might not.

So it's just a really simple way of framing the way I critique books that I think has really helped to show the difference between "this book is bad" and "this book didn't meet my personal preferences", but also, as someone talking about books, I think it helps give other people a clearer idea of what the book actually looks like so they can decide for themselves if it's worth their time.

Update: This is literally just a thought exercise to help you be more intentional with how you critique media. I'm not enforcing this as some divine rule that must be followed any time you have an opinion on fiction, and I'm definitely not saying that you have to structure every single sentence in a review to contain zero negative phrases. I'm just saying that I repurposed a rule we had at that specific reviewer to be a helpful tool to check myself when writing critiques now. If you don't want to use the tool, literally no one (especially not me) can or wants to force you to use it. As with all advice, it is a totally reasonable and normal thing to not have use for every piece of it that exists from random strangers on the internet. Use it to whatever extent it helps you or not at all.

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #am writing #books #booklr #fiction #media analysis

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inkskinned · 9 months

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no, actually, where is the whimsy?

my ex had a best friend named larry who asked me once: what do you think comes after irony?

we were at the bar where larry worked. it was a quiet night, and he'd hopped over to sit with us on the patron side. i swirled the lemon around my limoncello martini.

earnest positivity, i said, while my ex said, art self-destructs.

i stared at my ex. he stared at me.

his argument was the cinemasins argument: look how bad media is becoming! look at the loopholes and the dumb shit!

it was roughly 2011. galaxy print was still in. at the time, i had a favorite shirt that was a wolf howling at the moon. it got ripped in half in the wash and i honestly still mourn it. i dressed like effie stonem, because everyone did. and irony was the name of the thing. men liked MLP "ironically." the internet liked the kind of crass, "anti-mainstream" vibes of things like fuck romance, touch my butt and buy me pizza. we put cats in sunglasses everywhere, which was because we only liked things in irony.

and media had the same vibe in it: anti-hero white men would be "hard to love" and then storm off the scene. nobody was just earnestly trying to save the world: they were jaded, angry, unoriginal. mad you even asked them to try to help.

my ex ends up not being wrong. cinemasins becomes super popular. a lot of people start viewing media with this lens that is the cruelest, most jaded depiction. it's wrong for your character to have unexplained powers, even if the entire movie is about how strange it is she has unexplained powers - that is still considered a "loophole." characters make thoughtless, panicked choices? loophole. characters are actually kind people, despite hardship? loophole. features a woman doing literally anything without assistance? loophole. movies become hyper-aware of scrutiny, and now irony rules the media.

which means you go to a movie, and the character has to turn to the screen and say "beats me!!" or one of the side characters has to have some kind of quip like "are you seriously telling me that you think this is normal?" because nothing can happen in earnest. like a sitcom laugh track, we now anticipate the fourth-wall break: the moment that the media acknowledges it is telling a story. the media has to apologize for itself, or else someone like my ex rolls their eyes.

but here's the thing: i wasn't wrong either.

the difference might be that i am (and always have been) so soft-hearted that any crack in the light of this world will spear me into the ground. and i was the poet in the relationship. (he thought that was the same thing as being naïve and stupid). i was making things daily. i knew how all of us artists are driven by some strange desire to evolve. he notably liked to critique art, not to create it.

so yes, i've made things that are bitter and angry and even ironic. i've made long, sharp poems with all capital letters, and i've made poems about how the silence stretches out like a song. someone wrote once that we will spend our whole lives just circling the place we grew up. i think it's more that we spend our whole lives trying to remake a home. i think it's that as we age, it becomes less exciting to build the castle on the beach - we become aware of erosion, of windforce. we realize what we really want is to come home to our dog, castle or not.

and while art in the foreground is mired in white male violence and irony, and aggression, and not taking anything seriously - i don't think that's true of all art. i think more and more artists are leaning in to the things we love. the world has changed so much. they have taken so many things from us. the only thing we have left is love. at the bottom of the moving box - all we get is the faint sense that we have to appreciate what little we've got. i can't enjoy this stuff ironically anymore: what room do i have for irony? if it makes me happy, that is an amazing thing. there are so few happy places left for me. i want to be happy because of how leaves shiver beside each other like nestling birds. i want to be happy because of the color pink, and how magenta doesn't exist. i have spent so much of this life suffering, i have earned my right to a gentle ending. if nothing matters, i get to assign meaning to the nothing. i get to create meaning. i am an artist first and foremost, which means creation is my thing.

where is the whimsy? wherever i fucking put it. because if this is my last fucking chance to do any good in this world - i want to do it earnestly. i want to write things that make you happy. that make people feel heard and seen. what comes after irony has to be positivity.

it was close to my 21st birthday. in 7 years, i would end up writing a book about this relationship, which is hopefully coming out somewhere around May 2024. i come back to this bar scene in my memories a lot. i keep thinking of how pale my ex was. the look that crossed his face. how i looked back at him. how for a moment, both of us couldn't recognize the other person. like the gulf between us was a suddenly wide and cavernous thing. like we were alien to each other. he never took my opinion seriously, and he always seemed surprised whenever his manic-pixie-dream-girl ever broke free of the plot. like in the whole time we were together, i wasn't human enough.

this knowledge: where he said nothing comes after, my only instinct was what comes after is love.

#spilled ink #writeblr #this is a real story lol #looking back i liked larry as a person SO much more than my ex hollyyyyy shitttt #compulsory heterosexuality will do you DIRTY #edit to correct effies name my apologies to effie and effies family

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retroellie · 3 months

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Polluted

Summary: After a long day of work, Spencer comes home and fucks his stresses away.

A/N: This was written in literally 45 minutes but I had this idea and I couldn't make it into a full fic, my mind could only think of the smut part lmao. Enjoy!!! :)

Warnings: NSFW, slapping, degradation, squirting, unprotected sex, mean!spencer

Word count: 1.9K

Prison changed Spencer Reid, plain and simple. This is not the man you came to love. He was cruel, possessive, completely and utterly damaged. You hoped that prison wouldn't taint Spencer too much, you hoped that he would continue to be sweet little Dr. Spencer Reid. But you knew what prison could do to a person, for you locked people up daily. You knew that the system would take Spencer's old soul and soft heart into its muddy hands, squeezing them until they became one. Although sometimes in the right lighting, in the right moment, you can see a hint of Spencer in his light brown eyes.

You can't say that you hated the change in Spencer, obviously there was much work to be done before Spencer could truly be himself again. However, you could live with this change. He was hungry, feeling as though your body was the only thing that could fill that hunger. It was extremely attractive to you, his sudden hunger for you. Spencer was always using you, using your body or your mouth or your hands... just you. There was always an excuse for him to be inside of you in his mind. A man thought of looking at you? He bent you over the kitchen table. You wore a shirt that showed a bit of your chest? He dragged you into the bathroom and forced you onto your knees. You smiled at him? He would shove his face between your thighs until you couldn't even see straight.

Even on the way back home after he had gotten out of prison, he bent you over the backseat on the side of the road and fucked you roughly. It felt like you were stepping on eggshells every time around him because you never know what can set him off... it was oddly scandalous, almost arousing as the thought of how he'd fuck you next was always on your mind. A big plus was that spencer dug himself into your brain, pulling out your deepest and darkest kinks, and using them to give you earth-shattering, mind-blowing, life-changing orgasms. Now you don't think you two could ever go back to just plain sex. He had ruined you, ruined your body so much that only the thought of being hurt could get you off now.

"Fucking bitch..." Spencer spat out, his hand spreading your legs further open as his cock drilled into your soaked cunt. "That bitch looked at me like I was fucking stupid..."

His words came out breathy and jagged as he fucked into you at an animalistic pace. Spencer came home today upset, his tie being ripped off and thrown down as soon as he got into the door. You knew something was up by this action, but also the look on his face. He seemed to have a frown sewn onto his face, something that he wore most days. You asked what was wrong but you were met with him ripping off your clothes, hinting that he didn't want to talk but to fuck his frustrations into you. Now here you were, panties ripped off, legs wide open, Spencer deep inside you with his hand placed on your neck.

You couldn't tell how many times you came just in this position alone, you couldn't keep count. His hand gripped your through, affecting the way your brain functioned. You felt with every thrust of Spencer's hips you would lose brain cells... creating the dumb cock whore that Spencer ached to achieve. Spencer's hand applied more pressure to your throat as he thought of what happened at work, how while section chief Erin Strauss critiqued his work, people were being murdered.

"As if my 187 IQ wasn't enough for her." He started, his hand on your thigh being slammed down past your face and into the wooden table he was drilling you into. " I mean, I've been at this place for over 10 years... I know what I'm fucking doing"

You came again, not able to keep yourself from unraveling now. His hand on your throat was constricting your moans, completely silencing them as the only thing that could come out of your mouth was soft gurgles. You loved this feeling, knowing that at any moment if you didn't like it you could alert Spencer and he'd stop immediately. I guess you could say that Spencer's care for you never disappeared after prison, he would go on to say that it strengthened his love for you. He had this picture of you that you had sent him in one of your many letters, he kept it with him everywhere he went for it was the only thing that kept him sane.

One time a fellow inmate saw it, snatched it from him, and digested every single inch of you. He went on to explain the disgusting things he would do to you if he got the chance, that is exactly why Spencer came home to fuck you nice and good every night. Because if he wasn't the one to do it, he knew that other people would take you for granted, they would spend only minutes with you... ignoring what you needed and taking what they wanted. You would feel incomplete, unsatisfied, and completely in denial that love existed. You would assume love was only made for books and movies, that no one could show you the love you deserved. This is the love you deserve. You deserve a love that could have you coming undone over and over again, a harsh and mean kind of love but that always ended with soft kisses and a nice hot bath. A love that was sour at first but ended sweet, making sure that the words "i love you" were carved onto your skin.

"You wouldn't do that would you?" He whispered into your ear, his grip on your throat as he waited for your response. " You don't think I'm stupid ...hmm?"

His cock was too deep inside you, it was deep enough to have you going cross-eyed and unable to speak. Your moans became audible now, no longer being stuck in your throat due to his pressure being released. His pace was still inhumanly fast, not stopping even for a second. The table had started to shit forward, being scrapped across the floor and probably worrying the downstairs neighbors. You were on the verge of cumming again, your mind not even able to comprehend his question until you felt a harsh sting on your cheek. Spencer had slapped you across the face, growing impatient while waiting for your answer.

"Answer me...." He hissed out, leaning down and taking his lips to yours. He bit down on your lip, creating a pain that shot through your body. "Or I'm going to make you cum over and over and over again until you can't think of anything else besides my cock deep inside your tight little pussy..."

You could taste blood now, your lip bleeding and seeping into your mouth. His words created this deep, rough knot in your stomach. It wasn't like the rest of the orgasms you had tonight, no it was more intense. It hurt, painful with every thrust of his cock. It created a deep pain and pleasure dynamic in your body but felt like something was trying to claw itself out of your body.

"Fuck..." You screamed out, grabbing onto him and digging your fingernails into his back. "No I wouldn't! Fuck... I wouldn't! I won't!"

You finally replied, hoping with those words he would deepen his thrust if that was even possible. Spencer just grinned down at you, placing his head in between your shoulder blade and your neck. He set soft kisses to the skin, his warm lips against your burning skin. Spencer was close, your words pushing him further to the edge. The feeling inside your stomach didn't stop or dull, it only got worse. You were screaming now, Spencer's hand lingering on your neck but sitting gently on your skin. Spencer picked up his speed, the table scraping against the floor even harder.

You couldn't handle it, everything around you becoming so far away yet being so close. The feeling got to a point of feeling terrifyingly painful but also so potent of pleasure and so bewitching that you didn't want it to end now. A couple more of Spencer's deep and harsh thrusts sent you over the edge, the painful knot in your stomach snapping and shooting liquid out of your body. It was the first time you had ever squirted, the feeling so glorious that you wished it would happen every time. Your vision went out, only seeing light and hearing Spencer's soft moans as he finished inside of you. The world felt like it ended, nothing to be seen or to be experienced... just emptiness but complete fullness all at the same time.

"Good girl..." You heard Spencer's words echo through your now-empty mind. You couldn't tell if your eyes were closed or not. "You did so good for me honey... I'm so proud of you."

Those single words were all you needed to hear as you floated back to earth and into your body, you blinked a couple times... forgetting where and who you were for a split second. You came back to see Spencer brushing your hair back from your sweaty face, his face inches from yours as his face filled with concern that maybe he had broken you finally.

"There she is..." He chuckled softly, kissing your lips softly. " There's my girl..."

You gave him a weak smile, raise your hand to rest on his cheek. You rubbed it softly, feeling the growing stubble on his face. He was just as sweaty as you, his body hot to the touch. You two probably looked insane, one of you barely able to walk looking beat the hell up and the other one scratched up and drenched with liquids. Spencer gently slid himself out of you, watching you wince softly as it felt like he was connected to you at this point.

"Sorry..." He whispered, taking your hand in his as he rubbed your thigh gently "I was too rough huh?"

Rough was not even close to what Spencer was. He was brutal, sadistic, barbaric but you couldn't deny that you would choose it over compassion any day. You began to think that maybe prison was the best thing that could've happened to Spencer Reid, not only was he a genius but he now had a powerful glow to him. Shy kisses and longing gazes were a thing of the past for you two, Spencer knew what he wanted and he was going to get it.

"You were just rough enough..." I chuckled, feeling nothing but content and at peace in this moment.

Spencer laughed with you, pecking your lips one last time before pulling away from you. He looked around, his eyes landing on the couch. He smiled, walking over and leaving you but only for a second. He came back with a blanket, wrapping it around you then picking you up bridal style. You thanked him silently because you knew there was no way you were getting off the table without some kind of help.

"To the bath you go..." He joked, holding you close to him as he walked you to your shared bathroom.

You looked into his eyes and at the right lighting, the right moment, you looked into his light brown eyes... realizing that this is Spencer Reid. This is Spencer Reid damaged, polluted, and bruised... but it was still the man you fell in love with all those years ago.

#criminal minds #criminal minds fandom #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #dr spencer reid #spencer reid #criminal minds x reader #matthew gray gubler

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mxmollusca · 6 months

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A critique I've heard of season two is that we’ve lost a lot of our symbolic objects, archetypes, and motifs. Season one gave us the lighthouse, the kraken, the red silk and the unicorn, the seagull, the auxiliary closet, Gnossienne no. 5, Pinocchio…

And then I think back to Samba sharing a quote from writer Alex Sherman during the ECCC panel:

“Season one is Stede going from a puppet to a real boy, and season two is Stede becomes a man.”

And that’s it, isn’t it? The transformation from object to subject, from something that has things done to it versus someone with agency. We see that transformation throughout season two. Almost every significant object is discarded, every symbol realized in flesh.

The process starts at the end of season one with the throwing away of all of Stede’s things. So much has been written about Stede’s potential response to that act, and so many folks (myself included) held on to the idea that perhaps Ed kept a little bit, maybe the auxiliary closet. Stede literally no longer cares about those things. He originally brought all the things he loved with him to sea because he didn’t have significant personal relationships. That’s why we hear Gnossienne no. 5 as he goes through the empty cabin pulling out all of the knives. The discordant love motif shows how his priorities have changed, how his love has transformed.

The red silk is gone as well, but instead we have Stede, real and in the flesh wearing the exact same color, clutched in Ed’s hand in the moonlight.

The kraken, a giant monster capable of rending a ship in two? Ed becomes that, literally, disassembling the Revenge to sail her into a storm and destroy her.

The lighthouse? A warning, Ned Low in his silver suit, a beacon in the dark warning Stede of what he will become if he continues on his course.

The unicorn, the destroyed masthead, literally becomes Izzy, a man taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece out of the parts of Stede Bonnet to become a beloved and respected member of the crew, and perhaps one of the strongest examples of self-actualization so far.

The attempts at reversing the process are demonstrated to be ineffective. The catalyst is when Buttons becomes a seagull, which shows Ed that the process of change is possible—that someone can become something or someone else. And he tries, he throws away his leathers, dons Button’s old jacket, tries to become an archetype. Stede tries to become a “real pirate”, despite the warning from Low. Even in Ed’s vision of Stede as a merman, Stede is being reduced to the role of symbol—a mythical being rather than a very real, very flawed man. They are both still trying to be the object when they need to be the subject. They need to take action, to realize themselves. And it’s a gruesome process. Jim’s version of Pinocchio is about the horrific transmogrification from wood into flesh and the horrors that need to be faced in order to make that transition.

We, the audience, are experiencing discomfort in this process. We are being held right up against the lighthouse lamp, and it burns. This is the emotional equivalent of body horror. It feels like all of our beloved belongings are being thrown overboard, but I promise they aren’t.

They are becoming.

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd meta #our flag means death

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