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musashi · 1 year

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[forgive the formatting of this post, i am kind of terrified of the fandom and i don't want to censor myself when talking about my special interest]

so like... i don't know anything about music, so idk if i can answer this question the way you want. i just know what songs sound good to my ears. so i don't really have anything analytical to say, last time i got analytical about tm/taa//am i got nitpicked to high hell and i just. still haven't recovered enough to get in that headspace again. BUT i can tell you my favourite songs and why i like them! and which ones i think are most impressive to an amateur's ear. so here's that.

the samurai always wins

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constantly in awe of this one. musically it is this glorious romp that i think about whenever my mind is allowed to wander. it's a proper courtroom battle in song form, at one point you've got a fucking 5-part cacophony going on and it sounds erratic and insane and BEAUTIFUL. one of my favourite parts is how passionate miles sounds when singing his first verse in this song because it sounds like he is just really really stoked to be singing to the tune of the steel samurai theme.

miles is kind of the shining star of this one for me (altho cody is fucking amazing too like he is SPITTING FIRE) because i really like how, lyrically, it expands upon a piece of characterization that is really easy to miss when you are playing this case in the games:

like :) alright :) again this is in the games but you will miss it if you arent looking for it and you will especially miss it if you don't know miles' backstory.

TSAW fucks so hard that even though turnabout samurai got cut from the reboot, it was repurposed into redd white adieu. and of course it was, how do you let THIS song go? i'm really glad it persisted and i wouldn't change that for the world, but obviously, nothing can best the original.

2. anything to win

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alright so while this song is in both iterations i am insanely biased for the original cast and so that's what you'll be getting for the links but i will talk about. both of them. because i have things to say

i have a parasocial relationship with laflin's manfred. i just found out the other day that not only is he this manfred, my fave manfred, but he is also manfred from the jellopocalypse videos im obsessed with. this motherfucker has been my two fave manfreds this whole time. i thought he was two seaprate guys. motherfucker

TM ATW changed my brain chemistry. i mean that. it introduces manfred von karma in a MUCH softer way, which is included in this upload--him and miles talking about justice, and the court system, and probably my favourite, amazingly succinct representation of how miles' ideals twisted EVER:

miles: these are people's lives we're dealing with. my father--!

miles: ...my father...

manfred: your father was killed by one of the very criminals he sought to protect, my dear boy.

it paints this image of miles, lost and grieving, and takes the time to remind you that however corrupt mvk is, it was him holding miles aloft in the aftermath of everything. it's the first time i consciously remember stopping dead in my tracks and thinking about the prospect of a softer take on him, and as everyone who follows me knows, that ended up being the characterization i fell in love with.

and then the fucking church organ kicks on and the latin chanting starts up and i think you are supposed to be scared shitless, but i am kin with franziska, so i am hearing a lullaby. i am on the edge of my seat in an ornate courtroom enraptured. i am 3 years old being carried down the winding halls of a giant mansion in munich. i am at peace.

the thing that a lot of people disagree with me on is that manfred von karma is charismatic. i can understand the idea that i might be biased here, i am not opposed to it, but i genuinely think he is? it's not that i think he's... charming, per se, but i feel like i am inexplicably drawn to him and i don't think that is just me. i feel like that's... meant to be a fixture of his character? that when he speaks in court you want to listen. that you feel almost powerless to speak up yourself. he opens his mouth and i am quiet, i want to LISTEN.

one of the reasons i love this song, and laflin's performance specifically, is because i feel it so strongly it almost aches in my chest. his voice is so rich and bassy and it's thunderous in a way that is comforting, like a warm thunderstorm rolling over a prairie. i feel like i am alone in church prostrate before a god that i am delighted to dedicate myself mind body and soul to. i feel like when people say "god of prosecutors" i understand, because this song is like divinity white-hot in my blood. i swear to god i am not trying to be dramatic. this song makes me feel alight.

the vocal performance aside, the fucking LYRICS?

RIP to my favourite verse in the whole song which got cut from the taa//am version, don't cross von Karma / Perfection incarnate

one thing i love about the ta/a//am version that isn't in the OG tho is the foley work of manfred's cane tapping on the floor as a sort of metronome while he sings. they use this effect a lot in taa///am and i am ETERNALLY grateful for it, especially because the AA fanbase in all their obsession with flanderizing mvk into the most despicable bigot imaginable likes to forget that he's disabled. i really love that it is impossible to ignore in the reboot, and how they turn that aspect of him into kind of a funeral dirge.

the latin in the reboot version also contains the final verse 'miles is innocent / but i'll do anything to win' and that might be the most big brained fucking thing to ever ever ever happen, ever.

comfort character? no. comfort song. i listen to this one whenever im having trouble sleeping and it knocks me out instantly, unlocks some primal part of my brain. maybe i truly am just a useless kinnie.

ok i'm done. for now.

3. it's gotta be the butz!

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objectively my favourite song in the whole musical. zero hesitation when asked. it's fun, it's silly, it's got the almost christmas meme, i wish i had more to say but just listen to it. i really love the drumbeats in place of the gunshots during cross, i love the banter!!!! i again think manfred is my favourite part of this whole song.

this song also contains my favourite verse in the whole musical, which i have written extensively about here. there is also a meme that i made to more succinctly encompass my feelings on the matter:

seriously manfred is so fucking funny here. this is a colossal waste of time. i demand this witness be dismissed and ideally drawn and quartered. that man needs a lobotomy. im fucking howling.

reboot version is good, they added some little leitmotifs and christmas bells and they are cute!!!! my favourite thing the reboot did was replace all of maya's parts here with miles. i think that is WAY more thematically appropriate and turns it into a song that not only parallels the class trial, but is now just larry and his two best friends roasting him. it was a REALLY good choice.

not much else to say please just listen.

4. 600,000 volts

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i love. love. LOVE the instrumentals for this song. the strings have me insane. the fact that its a waltz. the way that manfred sounds poised up against such light and airy instrumentals. i'm a little obsessed with the melody of 600k because when played in the overture it sounds, like... light, and free, and soaring? as opposed to how sinister it is in its proper context. something about the lyrics, the monologue before he charges them, and the breaks in dialogue.

i am... a massive critic of 600k in the reboot. i don't think that the actors are given enough room to breathe and speak in it. i have tried with all i am to not compare the new cast to the original too much, but i think what compels me about laflin's manfred is that he speaks very slowly, in a way that is almost a little infuriating. like get to the end of the sentence, damnit! i have places to be! but that is a good thing, because that is the character. it reminds me of manfred's finger-waggling sprite in the games, how long it is, how the text box doesn't show up until he's done, and how you have no way of skipping it. you have to wait, because he is in control, and you are at his mercy. laflin speaks like that, somehow. it's technically impressive.

i am also a critic of some of the voice direction in the reboot--i don't think it is as tight as the original, i don't feel like it sounds as natural as a lot of the dialogue in the og. some actors are really pulling their weight despite it, but it's just something i've noticed a lot, and i think 600k is the biggest example for me. but like, i don't think young's manfred is bad or anything, i just think the song is mixed in such a way that he's not, like, allowed to let his sentences kind of sit on the air. and i want to take it for what it is and not care or compare those two performances, but i just. cannot get it out of my mind how much i wish he was allowed to talk a little slower, a little more sinister, a little more imposing. it's a shame, because other than that, it's a fucking amazing performance! god, the way he BELLOWS the word tenfold is phenomenal!!! the way his voice fades into a whisper, the quiet evil chuckling as he's giving phoenix two more, like BESTIE!!!!!!

and my dissatisfaction with the bulk of the vocal performance is made even worse by the fact that the instrumental and sound mixing for 600k in the reboot is VASTLY superior to the original, which is rare for me to say. but i'm posting it here because you NEED to hear it.

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there is something so... mournful. i don't know. i cant explain it. i just. i love this fucking song. it's grown on me so much.

oh! another thing i really like about the reboot is they changed the lyric from 'lest you let your girlfriend be slain' to 'lest you watch this child be slain,' which i really like because 1. heteronormative mvk was weird to begin with and 2. he literally has a daughter maya's age! it's a subtle acknowledgement of franziska (one of two in this song) but it almost makes him all the more evil because you're like oh yeah she's his daughters age. OH HE'S ABOUT TO ASSAULT A LITTLE GIRL HIS DAUGHTER'S AGE AND HE KNOWS THAT AND HE DOESN'T CARE. EVIL MAN!!!

i love manfred von karma.

5. trial by fire

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A RARE ITERATION OF A REBOOT SONG I LOVE SO MUCH MORE THAN THE ORIGINAL. in the original this was a skip for me every single time. i just was not a fan. but the fucking GLO UP IT GOT!!!!!!! i don't even know what it is but just something about switching the verses around and adding some more variety to it, plus using its main melody in a parallel song, just really fucking had it growing on me.

but more than that, it's a set of lyrics that just really got me in my heartstrings:

these ones. are just SO fucking romantic, like i love their love, i don't talk about it enough because they're a little overrated and plenty of other people are talking about them, but every once in a while it will just HIT me how sweet they are about each other, and its shit like this. hearing phoenix wax poetic about this boy he so clearly had a crush on from day one, and how he kept those feelings so close to his heart the whole TIME, it just gets me. i love a lot of things about phoenix wright but the fact that he is a hopeless romantic, a lover to his core, is literally one of my favourite things about him.

and then the song just doesn't let me breathe and hits me with:

for reasons that are probably obvious to anyone who's been following me longterm, the concept of someone having a shit reputation, loathed by countless people, simply because they are abrasive and difficult and unpleasant to be around--even when they have not actually done anything wrong--having one person who loves and believes in them despite it all, well. its a very sensitive topic for me. and so these lyrics really punch me in the gut, every time.

annnnnd the best song in the entire TM/TAA///AM CANON IS:

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WHO KILLED GREGORY EDGEWORTH. MOTHERFUCKER.

what the fuck do i even say about this? i don't know if i've had enough time to recover from it to analyze it. so i'll just talk about my favourite part of the song:

during maya's 'not yet! object!' part of the song, if you listen with your whole heart, you will hear gav's fucking astounding performance as miles edgeworth, and you will hear him weeping the fucking lyrics, I killed my own father / I killed him / I confess.

i am incapable of functioning during this lyric. it is a full body lockdown. i am usually walking home, and i have to stand there on the sidewalk, unmoving. i feel lightheaded. i am not exaggerating. music has never done this to me before. i think what i am experiencing is, again, just kinnie bullshit. i think it hits a button in my soul that overloads me with protective big sister energy and i lock up because i cannot do anything but sit there and listen.

and then it fucking HITS ME, with NO TIME TO RECOVER, with maya and mia's fucking harmony on The second bullet / Must have been taken away.

that harmony makes my fucking soul explode. the way maya says the final verse. the way maya solves the case. the way it's all maya, but mia is there for that brief moment JUST to sound beautiful with her before the song stops, then ramps back up, and then ends gloriously. i don't know what else to say. i cannot describe this song to you. please just listen to it on full volume with your heart bursting and full. and know i am crying somewhere in rapture that it exists.

thank you for this question. i am so happy.

#wendy rambles #colossal waste of time #<- my new tag. harder for people to search hopefully #wendy answers #anonymous #Youtube

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woomycritiques543 · 1 year

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Just read that vent/rant post you did,holy shit,I don't know who's Star but what the actual F U C K[I honestly feel bad for you,are you doing okay as of right now?]

Yeah.... it's awful.

Even if I was Star, why would they still be stalking me after all those years if im not even interested in "Anti Hazbin" stuff anymore?

Since im not- Why is Cherry/What The Hazbin/Sia's (its a group) fans stalking and being racist towards this random kid that most of these people haven't spoke to in almost four years?! Wasn't the point of this community was to be against bullies and racists? It's so fucking creepy, reminds me of the "its your consequences!" harassment towards Erin Frost- but 10000x worse since it's racism towards this random black young woman they basically groomed into a hatedom to go after Vivziepop and her fans despite knowing that Star shouldnt even have been in this fandom at 15-17 to begin with, and now that the adults in the hatedom cant groom her anymore, they've been sending racial slurs and harassment towards this child, for years! The "anti hazbin" hatedom groomed this child into joining their hate groups by telling her how "great!" she is for saying what they want her to say towards Vivziepop and leaking her personal info behind her back (like they did on Tapatalk) and then the "Anti Hazbin" fandom groomed her again by "accepting" her into their hate group (discord and all) to bully Vivziepop and her fandom -and now they're spouting racism at this person of color for leaving?! Why?!

What is is? A online cult? Why?! Why do they keep harassing these poor kids with all this creepy parasocial shit?! Its so fucking weird and gross! It feels like im watching a psyhological horror movie. What the fuck?! These "anti hazbin" people really be convincing thier literal followers that its "ok" to harass people just because they wear a tshirt, like a cartoon (not even if its for bad reasons, but just because), or anyone who likes Viv or anyone who doesnt support their groups or the people they idolize so much. The other way around being- you guessed it, Vivziepop and her "followers" who feel the need to defend her for almost anything she does, spreads her ideolegies, harass any "disbeleivers" of her or her shows being "near perfect", etc. This is just a reverse of that!

In case you're wondering: These are the definitions of a "online cult":

It's either the Hazbin fandom and their parasocial relationship with Vivziepop causing them to try to harm anyone "bad faith" who doesnt agree with their ideolegies and only say that the "true" followers are the ones who almost 100% support her without quesitoning it or support her ideologies one way or another, or its the hatedom and how they also groom people (including children as young as 15 or less!) into following their ideolegies against Vivziepop, with the people they worship convincing them not just criticize Viv, but to outright (even if unintentionally due to the toxic nature of social media.) convince people to outright verbally abuse fans who dont agree with their ideologies and abuse those who try to no longer support said groups, same for the Hazbin fandom, but centering around toxic positivity instead of negativity. They are both literal online cults- one just centers around Vivziepop, while the other one centers around being against her to the point of basically worshipping people who outright have stated that they want her career destroyed, not just the group I mentioned but multiple people that they ideolize for their hazbin criticism posts no matter how awful that their behavior online becomes, the same way people idolize Vivziepop just because of the content she makes.

ANTI HAZBIN:

THE HAZBIN FANDOM: (Art Credit: Miss Nightmare.)

There's being supportive- and then there's being a goddamn cult and idolizing someone to parasocial extents and then creating propaganda about how anyone who doesnt support her are "haters!" regardless if they like Hazbin or not. Same with the kind of shit happening in the "Anti Hazbin" tag. You people are disgusting!

It's why ive turned off anon, Twitter and Tumblr is full of so much parasocial grossness from "im online so I say what I want!" racists and homophobes it's so disgusting. Ughhhhhhh it makes me feel like im touching a piece of dirt with a shit in it! Nasty people! 🤮 It's starting to make me question whether I should even use the "Hazbin Critical" tag since they also have creeps like this that have been targetting people for who knows how long. I know there's the "all fandoms are toxic!" statement but it comes to a point where things become outright cultish. It's so damn gross! What the hell?!

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss #anti hazbin hotel #👈 You guys have literal online cults in your tags how is no one at least a bit worried about this?!#hazbin hotel critical #There are children being harassed! CHILDREN! Stop pretending as if this is something to accept or ignore! Its not!#This isnt their fault for joining. It's your fault for not protecting them by using warnings or outright harming them yourselves!#Its one thing to like or dislike a show: Its another to obsess over it to the point of having parasocial relationships with-#those you support and then outright harassing people for not agreeing with the ideologies of said people that you idolize. Its creepy asf.

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caralara · 2 years

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In regards to some parts of this where you said they’re scared of ruining their relationship with Louis parasocially; if it were me— I would continue digging because as if they can take away my rights to look for information for myself. Like what I am saying is, Louis does not know me, he doesn’t know what I do with my life and everything I am doing, it’s not like he’s got something ahold over my head— in reality, he’s a stranger who holds no real weight to all of my decisions; so you know what I am saying? Like he is there — but he’s not really there? He’s a nobody, a stranger, if in legal context or anything aside him being our supported celebrity— he does not hold any real weight and opinions over us, he’s not even our kin or legal family or guardians.

Basically what I am saying is, if I were in that position I wouldn’t fear that it would ruin my “relationship” with him because how would he know? what is it with him if I am going to get digging? What I do with my time is mine and if I chose to dig and “ruin” our “relationship” I would. It’s not like he’d know and go out of his way to look up my activity — a stranger’s activity.

Sorry for the pettiness, I am just sharing what I would have been thinking at that point. The pettiness and all. But I am just being frank. 🤷‍♀️

Hi anon!

I see it the same way haha, he doesn’t know me and he doesn’t monitor my activity.

I think it’s a very irrational fear, but I get it, you know? I mean, the whole concept of parasocial relationships is based on a very emotional drive! It’s one of the reasons why a lot of fans romanticise Larry to a point where it’s just… fantasy.

Being this obsessed with a celebrity and their life the way we are (I am) is rooted in very deep subconscious psychological needs. They’re our safe space, for me, for one, Louis has become one of the only men in this world I trust because I’ve had really really bad experiences with men in real life, I spoke to my therapist about this, too, and I’m convinced that, at least to me, the image we make of Louis in our heads, is fuelled by our needs and desires, he’s a great projection surface for that, and him being him (a really, really great and kind man) he offers enough personality for it to feel real and give us something real.

So as soon as this image of him, and his relationship to us is threatened, people usually don’t act rational, you know? He’s one of our deepest safe spaces, comforts, lights to guide us. We (childishly) don’t want that threatened.

So, I get it, you know? Doesn’t make it right, and I agree, I am probably aware enough of this to be able to process it and act the way I rationally want to instead of shutting down.

But I do find compassion in me for the fans who are not that aware of this, it’s not their fault!

#anon #bbg #Babygate #Louis #fan relationships #parasocial relationships

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kamil-a · 2 years

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pic spam post

-it’s REALLY funny that their relationship hit such a rock bottom the only way to get out of it was him turning into a bunny and her going oh its all fine, hes just a widdle bnunny wabbit! i am intrigued to see what their relationship will blossom into in their nonstay route, which unlike this is built by definition on alice seeking him out and being willing to give him a chance.

-does elliot not have a bunny form at all or is his just inaccessible bc he denies being rabbit, i wonder....

-FASCINATING......... because she has expressed the EXACT OPPOSITE sentiment about other characters (such as vivaldi, blood, or elliot). it almost made me wonder if id been misreading her character till now, but surely not, there’s like, direct text otherwise! so something about this particular life track shes on is making her stay firm of morals, at least so far as “i will try and stop needless deaths even at social cost”.

-but note that later on she talks about being drawn to him ‘not because of his power, but the fear in his eyes’ and his fear of her leaving him (the power she has over him). even a raw dough alice who hasnt gone through kimification (thats what im calling it, named for kim from disco, a matter of ‘character who is ok with atrocities bc they have to be the sort of character who’d stick around with an atrocity doer’) still is a little messed up.

-lotta Oh, It’s A Beast Husband Story! stuff

-DOES HE NOT OWN PAJAMAS?????????????????

-really interesting freakout that he needs HER to reassure HIM that he’s not dreaming, she’s really there with him. you should know nearly most of all she thinks she’s dreaming, right...?

-i dont yet know what to make of this but i love it. i want to study him under a microscope.

- :((((((((((( her ex was her first kiss...

-hysterical thing to say about a person. what a specific burn.

-THIS GUY GOES ONLINE!!!!!

-we get a few hints at him Seen Her During His Hour and her always remembering and loving him.... yes yes yes give me the parasocial information

-funniest possible thing: lorina read her the tale of peter rabbit as a baby so he started kinning peter rabbit

-anyway its kinda funny that her trajectory is like i hate him->oh shit hes bunny???->well i guess i am a bit of a freak.

#thoughtful honking

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simonalkenmayer · 2 years

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I want to discuss something swiftly. Please read this if you care about bullying. I give a specific example from my experience here.

My blog is modest in size. I engage bullies because I want to study them and I want to make example of the ones who can be dissected easily. Larger blogs often don’t do this, so conversations on this topic are few. Right now I want to show how bullying one person can affect even a disconnected, loosely strung “task based group” (a term for a group that has a purpose or decision to make, which I would firmly use to classify a fandom, particularly my readership)

In their quest to legitimize bullying, the ones targeting me often extend their commentary to my readers, their stated backgrounds, and their identities. Indeed they also target their reality by asserting I might have secondary accounts I use to seed my own ask box (I don’t, obviously, as I wouldn’t even have time for that). They often work so diligently to twist me into a bad person, that they end up that way themselves.

Case in point:

Some years ago, I wrote a post asking for help. I expressed that because I don’t know much about DID or systems, it was very difficult for me to interact with people who say they have DID. At the time, I was accustomed to receiving many asks from role players, people saying they’re one of my cousins, other kin, fiction Kin, and people claiming to have DID but in ways I felt were potentially disingenuous. So I asked for help understanding, so as to shift my skepticism to compassion. I received many replies both public and private and this helped me tremendously to engage in a way that wouldn’t harm anyone.

The commentary on the hate blogs turned to discussing how ableist and bigoted I was for disliking DID. They reframed and contorted the post into an anti-DID statement, when none of the DID readers took it that way. Some had even commiserated that people were playing at having DID on the internet and doing things that further stigmatized DID .

I have many friends and long time readers with DID, some of whom now, since that post, prefer to use the anon feature, because they do not want the hate blogs to know their URLs, or draw them directly into the conversation. Whenever they write in and sign as a system, there is a risk that the commentary on the hate blogs will shift, and so it did.

There was an entire anonymous ask post on the hate blog and conversation about how sad it was to see DID individuals calling me their friend or cozying up to me on my blog, how they couldn’t understand why DID individuals would seek out such an obviously ableist content creator. The reply insinuated that my readers were seeking out a parasocial relationship with me and how sad but inevitable it was that people would want to make friends with “famous” people.

1. This infantilizes people with DID who speak to me

2. This obviously is designed to reinforce a previous argument that was already constructed on misconception. (I firmly believe the ask came about because the hate blogger was trolling my blog, saw an anon ask signed by a system, was envious, and sent an ask to themself to have an ability to further insult my readers, but that’s based on my IP data and is opinion)

Now I’ve been contacted by no less than three people who have said they want to speak to me privately, because they’d rather not have their URLs out where this group can target them.

What I am saying is, in their effort to legitimize their actions, the bullies or abusers must paint me as a bad guy. To do this, they twist my words so obviously, that they must contort themselves to do it. Thus, they become the bad guy in actuality. I am forced to turn off anon. The people using it for good reasons no longer can. The hate bloggers use a lack of asks as some sort of proof that no one is contacting me, so that when I speak publicly on an issue like this and address why asks diminish when anon is off…I must be trying to drum up controversy. This again allows them to feel superior and correct.

Recognize patterns in behavior. Once you do, it removes the emotion and makes you capable of engaging without personal investment. If you are someone who is being bullied or abused, once you can see the pattern and understand it, you can predict it. Once you can predict it, many times it helps with those feelings of “what did I do?” Or “i must be a bad person”. It can also help with self-doubt, especially in cases of gas-lighting. Once you realize what you’re dealing with, and can prove it by predicting it and watching that prediction come true, you can disengage from worries about your own sanity. Knowledge, in this case, is power .

This is one reason why, whenever I am contacted by someone who tells me they are being abused, I recommend for them to keep a dedicated journal logging every incident in detail: date, time, trigger, injuries with photographs or drawings, emotional injury, and an addendum that indicates how this incident affected you in a long term way. If you call the authorities, you create further physical record. This all together establishes a pattern. When you can confront that pattern, you can see how you’ve been adjusting over time, how they’ve been pushing your boundaries back, how structured psychology is in behaviors.

However, it can’t make them behave any differently. So I am afraid anon will stay off until I don’t see a single tagged proxy server scrolling through my blog. I will force them to be honest, since they cannot be on their own.

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vadergf · 2 years

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truly obssessed with u. ur a lil joke in my friend group (/pos) and its so wow. like we are besties. what has reyna posted. ah yes smth i never want to read again. oh wait what abt today. comedy genius. oh theyre losing it over the minecraft men i can relate and my friends can say i kin you. we are nothing to you yet you are part of our tumblr experience in a way nobody else could be. but also i scroll past ur posts so fast in school i cannot trust a single one to be sfw sorry bestie

Anon this is so cute but also the fact that you've shown your friends your blog is so incomprehensible to me like this blog is between me, God and all 2.6k of you

And don't say you're nothing to me we're actually best friends yass ( I encourage parasocial relationships ^_^)

#also i just woke up and saw this and this made me smile a lot thank you #and you please call me rey ^_^#fave

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captaincoffeegirl515 · 3 years

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What the hell was that last act???

So first of all I want to say that I did enjoy most of the movie. It was okay. The sex scenes didn’t do anything for me though since I’m just not interested in sex at all. But while I more-or-less liked the movie, I felt that the big plot twists in the last act and the ending were badly done because… how the fuck did ANY of them manage to get away with ANY OF THAT??? Like from a legal standpoint it’s just ???

This got so much longer than I anticipated, so the rest is under the read more. And yes, there are so many spoilers. So if you haven't seen The Voyeurs yet and don't want spoilers, please avoid this.

Seb and Julia literally confess to selling their old apartment in order to spy on the people who live there and use them for their art show. Like, yes, they put that clause in the Terms of Agreement for the apartment (which literally no one ever reads) but there is still the matter of Informed Consent. Informed Consent is usually in the form of a contract Pippa and Thomas both need to read and sign, or via verbal questions and answers which is filmed so Seb and Julia would have physical proof of an agreement. This is basically telling them what footage was taken, how it will be used, and if Seb and Julia have permission to share the footage publicly. In Thomas’ case, since he’s dead, his next-of-kin will be asked. Only then are Seb and Julia legally allowed to publicly share and showcase the Pippa and Thomas’ pictures. And Seb is a professional photographer! He should know that!

Have you ever seen prank shows? Like even the ones on YouTube. Have you noticed at the end of some videos, there would be a part where the filmers would approach the person who was pranked and ask if they could use their footage in the video. That’s Informed Consent. They need to ask permission to use a person’s footage in a video or if they need to blur out the person’s face for privacy. Seb and Julia even showed a picture of a dead man for chrissakes! Remember the outcry when that YouTuber posted a video of a suicide victim in Japan???

The Japanese interviewer was right to disapprove of their methods because even though there was a clause in the Terms of Agreement, the prank (because isn’t that what that whole show they did was?) or experiment still resulted with someone killing themself (yes I know it was murder, but the world doesn't know it). They can possibly still be held liable for causing Thomas to kill himself the same way a prankster can be held liable if their victim dies from a prank because of this thing in Law called the Eggshell Rule or Eggshell Plaintiff.

What this means is that a defendant is liable for any injuries caused by the defendant’s actions, regardless of how unforeseeable or uncommon the plaintiff’s reactions to the defendant’s actions are. So for example, there is a scary prank where the prankster jumps out of the bushes and terrifies people. One of them turns out to have a heart condition, suffers a heart attack, and dies. Regardless of the victim’s frailty, the prankster can be held liable for exacerbating the condition and causing the victim’s death. Likewise in the movie, they can say that Seb and Julia, by orchestrating the whole thing and making Thomas see his girlfriend cheating on him, could have caused him to become broken-hearted and kill himself. Therefore, Seb and Julia can be liable for Thomas’ death.

And then here’s the kicker! The famous photographer and his wife, a famous model, both suddenly end up blind AFTER their big art show where they displayed Pippa’s scandal. And not by accident. No. This was obviously surgically done. And NOBODY suspected foul play?? Nobody thought about revenge?? Nobody thought it strange how their blindness was clearly done with a surgical/medical precision nor suspected the couple’s subject, Pippa, who they thoroughly humiliated, who also worked as an optometrist technician at a lab that has the machines that could cause that kind of blindness??? And they're both still alive! They can easily tell the police who did it!

It should have been way too easy for the police to know that it was foul play. Blood tests can tell that Seb and Julia had been drugged. How they were blinded can be traced to the optometry lab. Pippa would be the easiest main suspect due to her connection to them with revenge as the main motivation after they humiliated her in that art show.

And yes, I agree that what Seb and Julia did was wrong. They used Pippa and Thomas, and then murdered Thomas so they can have some juicy story to tell!

Even so, what happened to Ethical Codes in the medical field? What happened to the Hippocratic Oath? Non-maleficience rule? “Do No Harm”? Pippa should have been slammed with, idk, medical malpractice or something, after using her knowledge of the LASIK machine and using it to permanently blind people (which is an actual fear real people have about LASIK surgery), have her license revoked, be fired from her job, and possibly serve jail time. Why is she walking free all willy-nilly and still being allowed to continue stalking Seb and Julia?

I’ll admit though that maybe I’m being more harsh towards Pippa because I myself used to be a Board Certified medical professional (my license expired last year because I hadn't been working in that field for a while) and because of that, her actions angered and horrified me more.

Normally, we as an audience are made to root for the main character or hero, but I found it difficult to do so because Pippa herself is a terrible person. She's a pervert and a creep. She was obsessed with the lives of other people, stalked them, and even went as far as committing crimes in order to fuel her obsession - trespassing, breaking and entering, destruction of private property.

And my goodness this actually makes me think of a few Ben Hardy stans who are like this. Well, idk if going to Ben's school so that she can get a copy of a school film he was in can be considered a crime, but it's still fucking creepy.

Pippa’s got that Savior Complex where she tries to rescue this poor neglected wife from her horrible cheating husband (the same one she herself wants to fuck because she’s obsessed with him). And then when it all goes south, she immediately turns around and blames THOMAS of all people because “he started it”. Like, so what if he did?? He still had enough maturity to realize when they were taking it too far, and decided to stop with the stalking. He told her to stop multiple times but she was too blinded by her obsession and lust for a man that she doesn’t even know.

AND THEN!! She stalked a grieving husband (I know we know that was a lie but Pippa didn't know that) and proceeded to cheat on her boyfriend with said grieving husband. And frankly, I don’t understand why she’s so vengeful about Thomas’ death considering how easily she forgot him so that she could cheat on him. Like. Who knows, maybe he still would’ve killed himself regardless of the poisoned drink because the last thing he saw was his girlfriend cheating on him with the man she’d been obsessed with for the past idk how long. Even in the scene after Thomas died, there was a momentary grief where Pippa was all “it’s my fault Thomas died” but it was all too brief and immediately after she went back to obsessing and asking about Seb. And they want me to believe that she’d want to avenge Thomas’ death? No. I think she blinded Seb and Julia because she was angry at being called out for her obsession. For being told that she was wrong to go that far. It wasn’t about her “love” for Thomas. It was about how humiliated she was about being wrong.

Can you believe that Pippa gave this whole speech with the fable about being content with what you have and not to try to be greedy by wanting more and then she just immediately DOES THE OPPOSITE OF THE MORAL by cheating on her boyfriend because she wanted more aka Seb???

The more that I think about it, I feel like the true villain of the movie is Pippa herself. Her obsession with Seb is what started the whole thing. If she had been able to keep a healthy distance, none of that would’ve happened to begin with. There would be no fights over how far things were going. Seb would have no scandal to tell. She worsened Thomas’ insecurities of not being enough for her, making him go to great lengths just to try to please her. Poor Thomas. He truly deserved better.

Pippa also has awful friends. Instead of stamping down the creepy behavior, they’re giving tips on how to listen in on other people’s private conversations! And then later try to excuse her cheating on Thomas. And then help with her obsession AGAIN.

Acting-wise, I felt that Natasha, Ben, and Justice were incredible and I loved them. I love how conflicted Ben played Seb and how you can see it in his eyes. My favorite scene was the one where Seb and Julia had that confrontation over the wine where Seb asks if she ever felt guilty and Julia just stares right back and stares him down. Natasha was brilliant as Julie pretending to be all friendly and vulnerable with Pippa. Justice was very emotional and I love the scenes where he was horrified at how far Pippa was taking everything. For me, Sydney was the weakest one at acting. While there were some okay parts, her face can be really stiff at some points, like during the sex scenes.

Overall, I thought the movie to be quite thought-provoking especially in this day and age where people can find the most intimate details of another person’s life so easily, be that through Carrd, Instagram stories, Facebook feeds, and other social media sites. It makes you think about parasocial relationships, how people can be so obsessed about people that they’ve never even met, and how that obsession can easily grow into something dangerous that can ruin lives. Good movie, terrible last act. Too much sex for my taste, but then it wouldn’t be called an erotic movie.

Outside of the movie, I really love the chemistry between the four of them. I love watching their interviews and seeing how they interact with each other.

Last but not the least, I know this may be random but my brain likes to zoom in on the weirdest things. How on earth did Pippa manage to get Seb on top of that operating table?? No offense but Pippa is fucking tiny. Seb’s like twice her size and mostly muscle AND unconscious. Like ??? Sorry but that threw me off so much it’s ridiculous.

#ben hardy #natasha liu bordizzo #justice smith #sydney sweeney

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lmanberg · 3 years

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i need to confess this, before it's too late.

I am in love with jschlatt kin @mcytruth, as in. in love.

i believe in reincarnation and that this lifetime is just another bad reincarnation, that in the next one. maybe there's a chance I can be with him, and maybe in that one. i won't have to worry about our dimension difference.m

i love everything about him, the way he laughs, his opinions, the way he cares so much about everyone, the fact he goes out of his way to fill my dashboard. i love him. i aspire to be like him.

we have so much in common, were both kinnies, we both like , we both have he/him pronouns, we both are so similar. — except for one fact.

He's not in my dimension. I don't want anyone to know about my true identity, so i made this account. ;; please don't go out of your way to find out who i am, but all i can tell you is that i am hidden in ebblr. but please. don't look for me.

hate me, make fun of me. but i can't control who i love. /c

- anoneatspants

This is how dangerous parasocial relationships can form. He doesn’t love you. He can’t love you. He doesnt KNOW you. He can appreciate you but he can’t fucking love you. /c

#ask #anoneatspants

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the-lightning-strikes-again · 4 years

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Why do we feel such strong emotions to not existent people? How do people have crush and /or other deep feelings for... for example, Lotor?

Hi, anon! Wow, great question! A lot of researchers and psychologists have asked similar questions. The term “parasocial relationship” was coined by Horton and Wohl in 1956 to describe the deep relational emotions that fans were attributing to celebrities who had never actually met them before. Over time, the phrase “parasocial relationship” has moved to also mean the one-sided relationships that viewers can make with fictional characters as well, whether those bonds are based in friendship, romance, or even vicariously living through that character (kinning).

So when you talk about a fan connecting deeply with Lotor, then we’re talking about that fan’s parasocial relationship. And that phrase might help you find more psychology research about this if you’re interested!

To answer your question about “why” people make these kinds of bonds:

A 2018 academic article (Parasocial Relationships with Fictional Characters in Therapy) by Kathleen Gannon states, “Parasocial relationships can build overtime, and the more that someone is viewing, playing or reading about a character’s story the more likely that this connection to them will become more intense (Hall, 2017).” In other words, the more you’re exposed to the story of a character, the more likely you are to develop emotions for that character, and for those emotions to grow.

The types of emotions you might have for a character can depend on many factors, of course. But Gannon’s article and various others go on talk about how you might see yourself in a character, or see them experiencing a struggle you’re facing in real life, and those details inspire you to create empathy bonds. Some people admire the looks or traits of a character and want to be them, etc.

So that emotion you have for a character, whatever the emotion, is real, even if the fiction inspiring that emotion isn’t. And those emotions then help to dictate the type of bond you might have toward that character.

This article by Catherine Anillo (”Why we mourn fictional characters: The very real emotion behind fake death”) adds that the social phenomenon of several people coming together over a character further heightens that parasocial relationship. Because now, even if that character is fictional, the community based around them is in fact real, and your conversations about them are real, etc. That character becomes part of an actual, real-life culture and can even inform the real-life friendships and relationships you build, as well as your own personality or identity.

But is “level of exposure” the only factor for why someone might build a parasocial relationship?

Tilo Hartmann in his 2016 paper, Parasocial Interaction, Parasocial Relationships, and Well-Being, explores this:

There’s some research about how parasocial relationships may be a stand-in for lonely people who don’t have such relationships in real life, have been rejected in real life, or don’t have the social skills to have real relationships. This is called the Compensation Hypothesis, and it’s a little controversial. While there are some studies supporting this, there’s also several other studies showing that the Compensation Hypothesis can’t explain why so many well-adjusted people engage in parasocial relationships. In fact, Hartmann reveals that a lot of people who engage in parasocial relationshps aren’t lonely in real life and showed strong interpersonal skills during the study:

“Contrary to the skill-deficit compensation idea, research has found that people who are both motivated and able to develop social relationships, e.g., extro-verted individuals, may develop both more intense real and parasocial relationships. For example, in a study by Vorderer and Knobloch (1996), individuals who were not very motivated to mix with other people, but also were not shy, maintained the strongest parasocial relationships. Likewise, Tsao (1996) found that socially skilled people, i.e., individuals with higher cognitive and affective trait empathy, maintained the strongest parasocial relationships. In addition, in his study, trait extraversion was positively related to parasocial relationship intensity, whereas trait introversion was unrelated. Taken together these findings suggest that, contrary to the skill-deficit compensation hypothesis, people with greater – not weaker – interpersonal skills develop more intense parasocial relationships.” - page 135

Hartmann’s collected research overview goes on to suggest that there are levels of parasocial relationships and different kinds of attachments—in that some people have very, very intense attachments while others have a milder form of attachment. The research does seem to indicate that people with social anxieties might experience a more intense parasocial relationship with a fictional character or celebrity, compared to a person who is not as afraid of social rejection. And that explanation makes sense because…in a parasocial relationship, you’re the one in control of the relationship. The fictional character can’t actually say “no” to you or disagree/be cruel unless you envision them doing this. The fictional character satisfies the need to belong.

But according to collected research in Hartmann’s paper, it seems a willingness to engage in a parasocial relationship at all is part of what drives the entire entertainment industry and makes fiction a fun pastime for everyone (mentioned on page 137). If people can’t build a parasocial relationship with a show’s characters, then that show isn’t going to be seen as particularly likeable either. And even having relational emotions about social network blogs or twitters, etc. is a form of a parasocial relationship.

But is all of this bad?

That first article I tossed out, by Kathleen Gannon, talks about the use of parasocial relationships in therapy environments. So it seems that psychologists have become increasingly interested in plugging into this social phenomenon to help patients overcome things like trauma and anxieties, etc. And even Gannon herself acknowledges the type of fun and enjoyable communities that people build within cosplay circles, conventions, which also can feed into one’s own career.

So it seems like the answer to “why do we do this” involves a combination of these things:

Humans can make pack bonds with literally anything because we are emotional jelly bags, and very few people are immune to creating empathy bonds. The whole entertainment industry feeds off this very basic phenomenon and actually tries to hook you so that you’ll support a show or celebrity.

Parasocial relationships can help people overcome or face real-life issues or have an escape from real-life pressures.

Parasocial relationships are a known means of accessing fun communities and friendships with other like-minded people and can healthily add to a sense of well-being, social community, and identity.

(Note, the research from Hartmann does caution that a parasosocial relationship can become unhealthy/pathological, such as in the case of people who fully substitute real-life relationships for parasocial ones and isolate themselves from real people, or delude themselves into expecting that the character/celebrity can and should reciprocate the relationship. - page 138. So just like any relationship or social bond, a parasocial relationship has to exist within certain parameters for it to be a healthy and fun/meaningful addition to your life.)

But “why do people make a parasocial relationship with Lotor” specifically?

It seems the Lotor fandom is composed of many people with many different reasons for why they like this character:

The Lotor character is dynamic with several talents and flaws, so that makes him feel more real to begin with, as opposed to some wooden/static heroes or comic book villains. He’s very complex with a wide range of emotion and thought processes and motivations. He’s relatable because he’s imperfect, more fleshed out. More capable of being unpredictable, like real people are.

People seem to identify with his struggles as a person of mixed heritage and as a person who has suffered abuse and psychological trauma from his parents.

A lot of people admire that this character also doesn’t allow himself to be defined by a victim card. So for many, he takes on even a “role model” vibe in relation to overcoming abuse or prejudice.

A lot of people like that he has nerd vibes while also being physically powerful and commanding with weapons. So he’s both mentally and physically capable as a character. They might either want that for themselves or else are attracted to those traits existing in the same character.

He’s a very aesthetically pleasing character to many, with a complex visual design, so I do think people admire that about him, and that inspires other types of emotional bonds as well.

His darker, more dangerous side makes him an interesting springboard for typical power fantasies, potential Jungian “Shadow Confrontation,” or some kind of wish fulfillment.

The VLD show itself really played on viewer emotional bonds with this character by consistently showing his backstory in a sympathetic light, down to even flashbacks of him as an innocent child being brainwashed by toxic culture and growing up in an environment without Voltron to save him. So the way the show presented Lotor really heightened people’s already established connections with Lotor.

There’s probably other reasons that I’m just not thinking about why people connect with Lotor, lol. But either way, I hope at least some of this info helps answer your question or gives you resources or ideas to research further!

#Lotor #Voltron #Parasocial Relationships #Mental Health #Social community #Lightning doing some research

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sablerosecosplay · 3 years

Text

PERSONAL GENDER RANT

⚠️TW: Personal Gender Struggles, Internalized Transphobia, Alt Right YouTube Mention⚠️

Also, I apologize for the long post, I still haven’t figured out how to put things under a cut.

So Gender is honestly kind of confusing. Recently, I've been feeling both masculine and feminine in my presentation as of late and feeling dysphoria in my chest. I'm not exactly sure why I feel so painfully mentally aware of my breasts. Then when I try to question my gender, I start to feel almost guilty. It's like I'm invalidating myself. I begin to feel like bigender isn't a real thing and I'm just a "transtrender" for attention. Which makes no sense because when someone I love comes out as nonbinary, genderfluid, and the like, I pour out nothing but love and support. What makes me so different that I suddenly no longer feel valid.

It's honestly a wild experience. I remember when I was originally out as bigender to my friends. They were great but I also was always reminded that I'm "such a pretty girl," "your hair is so long and pretty," by those in positions of authority above me in college. Back then it honestly hurt me so badly I remember being in tears about it. I had support but it was such a different time that there was no way I could properly explain it. During performances I would have to wear dresses because as far as anyone knew I was a normal woman. During my last Christmas concert for my college career, wearing the dresses and being perceived as female was such a painful experience I spent most of those nights distressed and crying. When I tried to come out to classmates they would disregard me and sweep my words under the rug. I tried so hard to present masculine to get even a crumb of validation, and nothing. I remember even coming out to someone because I was tired of not being taken seriously when I'm male. She responded with saying that couldn't exist because gender roles didn't matter anyway. She kind of had the spirit but missed the point completely. It wasn't my expression, it was my actual gender identity.

Fast forward three years, I became one of the most hyper feminine people I've ever met. I love dresses and heels as well as lipstick. I would wear false lashes and style my long hair to be a queen amongst peasants. I then decided to identify as cis female because it was like my dysphoria had faded.

Then 2020 happened. To be honest a lot of personal issues from three years ago resurfaced. This one was the one I least expected. I decided to get into my favorite cosplay for the first time in a long time. He's an incubus OC that I've had for about two years now. That was the first time I ever felt gender euphoria. I looked at myself in the mirror, my contour, my short spiky wig, and the outfit. I saw myself. The last time I looked in a mirror and went "there you are," was when I first dyed my hair black back in October. I felt the happiest and most authentic that I did in months.

When I removed it I saw myself again, and I love myself. It's taken a long time to love how I look. But that familiar discomfort of my chest had returned. I suddenly felt like I wanted my chest to be flat like my boyfriend's. What confuses me is the fact that some days I want my breasts to be completely gone, other days I love them and wish I didn't have a smaller bust.

I feel myself being pulled in those two directions again, one side of me loves being a beautiful woman, the other desperately wishes to be a strong man.

I think something that goes further into this is the fact that just about every character I find comfort in or relate to heavily (dare I say, at one point kinned) are almost all exclusively male. I struggle to think of any female characters I see myself in. Thats followed me for a long, long time and even into my own character creation process.

I feel stuck in the middle of a match of tug of war. Am I female? I'm pretty sure. Am I male? I honestly think I could be as well. My cycle then starts again, the feeling of liberation and euphoria in knowing who I may be. This is quickly followed with great shame. What if I'm faking this? What if I'm just performing to feel special? I remember the feeling of always being painfully aware of my chest and wanting it off of my body. It validates me some days but others I'm just not sure. I also remember how I feel with pronouns as well. I don't mind She/Her whatsoever most days. Then I realize how I feel with He/Him. It's honestly pretty nice. I enjoy being perceived as a handsome young man. The sensation is almost overwhelming some days.

To be honest I think a lot of it stems from a time in my life I was preyed on by parasocial relationships. Back around the time I originally identified as bigender, youtube was at its peak of the antifeminist and alt right movement of content creation. I consumed more of this than I should have (never got too far) and unfortunately used to watch people like Blaire White and Sargon of Akkad in order to feel smart. I never realized the blatant homophobia and transphobia they were exposing me to. It made me think that anything aside from male, female, transmale, and transfemale didn't exist and people just wanted to be special. I never realized how much I internalized it until now.

Once upon a time I happily identified as bigender and/or genderfluid and it was something that I was proud of. Now I look at these words and I feel ashamed of them. Not for other people, but myself. I feel much more than just a woman, I feel like I'm both a woman and a man. I strongly identify with these two genders. However I still have the doubts louder than they were three years ago.

I guess the point of this is to just get all my thoughts out of my head. Words of encouragement and maybe even some clarity would be highly appreciated. At the end of the day though, it means a lot to be listened to. Thank you.

#gender #bigender #gendernonconforming #gender identity #gender nonconformity #gender struggling #personal #gender fluid #genderfluid

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