#priority kids posts

[prioritykids]

Identifying as Erin Brockovich was all wrong

In 2000, Julia Roberts starred as Erin Brockovich in the Hollywood movie about real life Erin Brockovich.

Real life Brockovich had a pivotal role in a landmark case (USA) where a company poisoned water that led to long lasting and serious health ailments for nearby residents.

This post is based purely on the Hollywood movie depiction, fyi.

Roberts depicts Brockovich as a smart, confident, single mother who is underappreciated, undervalued, and misunderstood. But it is Brockovich who connects the dots and compels the towns people to pursue a settlement. Spoiler Alert, if you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend you watch it now, and then come back to read the rest of this post.

Every now and then I watch this movie for the pure satisfaction of watching Julia Roberts play the overlooked underdog. The movie creates multiple opportunities for feel-good scenes where Brockovich is dismissed by some powerful character, and she comes back swinging with her quick wit and incredible memory.

This movie is a celebration of fighting for the right thing, convincing everyone else to fight for the right thing, and then achieving compensation for the right people. Fictional satisfaction at its best. In my opinion.

As an advocate and champion for children’s rights, this movie personifies my deepest desires.

I would just love to see an entire community come together and agree that our children haven’t been cared for adequately. I would love to witness lawyers and judges agreeing that adults and youth-serving organizations have been negligent, providing inadequate supervision, and allowing perpetrators to gain access to children.

I’d be like Erin Brockovich, spouting off the facts that support this conclusion with my/her incredible memory. I’d be convincing and compelling. Lawyers would not be able to ignore me.

Landmark changes would be implemented. Youth-serving organizations would be compelled to train their staff and volunteers to protect children. The future of humanity would be transformed!

You see what I’m saying? It’s a fantasy. And I’ve always imagined myself as Erin Brockovich.

Until last week, when I watched the movie again. For the 5th or 6th time.

I was living vicariously through Brockovich right up until the scene when a creepy fellow who has appeared a few times in the movie, finally approaches Brockovich at a late night stop at a local pub.

Brockovich has been heroically collecting signatures from every person in the town, as required for the legal proceedings.

She stops at the pub for one last signature, and a cup of coffee to stay awake for her drive home.

Enter the creepy character who has been in a few scenes but hasn’t said anything yet.

Brockovich is understandably guarded as this fellow starts a conversation with her. But soon, he makes it known that he has important documents that are needed for the case to be successful.

Brockovich warms up to him as he confides in her about all the documents he was instructed to destroy, back when he worked for the company doing the poisoning. Turns out, he did NOT destroy the documents. He kept them. For YEARS.

This fellow had the key proof needed to convict the organization. He had it all along. But it wasn’t until Brockovich turned up, asking questions, and creating this legal proceeding, that his evidence mattered at all.

Until Brockovich, he was just a hoarder with confidential documents he shouldn’t have kept.

And that’s when I realized the truth. I’m not Erin Brockovich. I’m the creepy guy with the evidence that doesn’t mean anything to anybody. Yet.

While I would love to play the role of Brockovich in my save-the-children mission, the truth is, I’m the person with important evidence that nobody seems to be looking for.

As an adult who has been advocating for child protection practices and training, I’ve witnessed organization after organization decline the chance to implement child protective practices.

As an advocate for best practices, I see how often they are NOT being utilized.

I’ve witnessed children being supervised and coached by adults who cross boundaries and create uncomfortable situations for kids. I’ve seen adults being unsafe.

I’ve witnessed youth-serving organization staff ignore children and their parents who have come forward with their concerns.

I’ve witnessed principals and school board employees protect staff members who have harmed children, and then ignored the children who were harmed, offering them no support or guidance or acknowledgement.

I’ve witnessed the police dismiss and minimize the concerns that children have brought forward, instead of investigating and protecting children.

So, I’m not Erin Brockovich. I’m the guy with the evidence.

The good news is that someday, someone is going to bring this evidence to light, and then we will be able to film a feel-good movie.

It’ll be named after someone else. It will show how a whole community came to realize that youth serving organizations aren’t using the best practices that are known to protect kids. It will show how the community rallied together to make sure that children are safe in every situation. It will show how keeping kids safe creates a community of joy, creativity, and prosperity.

And I’ll be character that gets the shortest amount of screen time, but has the most significant information.

That’s my movie fantasy for the day.

If you know someone who could play the role of an Erin Brockovich, someone who wants to fight for the right thing, someone who can rally a community, compel a legal action, or someone who simply wants to put best practices in place in their organization, please connect with us at Priority Kids.

We are on a mission to eradicate childhood sexual abuse. Will you join us?

#csa tw #abuse tw #erin brockovich #advocacy #activism #social justice #priority kids #priority kids posts

[kartsie]

Team “Catherine Todd deserves the world and a nuanced limited series that explores poverty and the broken American healthcare system”

#my art #catherine todd #jason todd #baby jason protection squad #back at it again with my catherine n baby jason content #Batman #bruce wayne #like I like to think that Catherine also had a chronic illness/disability as well and #because of how awful the healthcare system is couldn’t manage her symptoms well since post 18 didn’t have insurance consistently #and as she got older and sicker she couldn’t get on disability while married #and may not have gotten on Medicare or some other program a couple months before dying #like she’s got a kid to take care of she HAD to make money #Jason was her priority and maybe she wasn’t perfect but she loved him damnit #I have a lot of feelings about Catherine Todd ok??? #dc comics

[vse-kar-vem]

if god was real bokris would have kissed

#my art #bojan cvjetićanin #kris guštin #bokris #joker out #i cant be posting like rhis i have mocks to study for 😭 im not even kidding its going sooo badly i am days behind schedule #please send help #about to pull a joost klein as in ik doe geen biologie #its awfullll joker out save me #for the record i DO want to draw the other jo members its just i dont have time and bokris just have priority in my brain sorry everyone 😭

[aqqleshiqqing-archive]

HELLO I AM FORMALLY INTRODUCING ANOTHER ROMANTIC SILLY WITH A WEDDING EDIT AHAKAKAHAKAKAJA MR AND MRS STONE BABYYYYYY LEZGOOOO

their kid is ruby and nobody will change my mind smh smh

og ref below!

i stitched this screenshot - i feel so proud rn HSHSHAHAHAHAH

#this was the most impulsive decision i ever done #it started off as me wanting to listen to oras champion ost and my eyes landed on a hyperlink that has JESSIE AND STEVEN IN A WEDDING #I WAS LIKE WAIT HOLD WHAT'S HAPPENING AND THEN I WATCHED THE EP IMMEDIATELY (as you saw from old post LMAO) #GIRLIE HAD PRIORITIES AND EDITED THIS IMMEDIATELY #anyways yesyes frfr hello i Love Steven Stone i think hes the loveliest man ever #they're not married nor do they have kids in canon but for comfort's sake they totally got married HEHEHEHEH #HAVE I MENTIONED HOW HANDSOME STEVEN IS??? HELLO??? I WANNA MWMAMWMAA HIM SO BAD #editing jessie wasnt a problem... but trying to replicate the overuse of FILTERS messed me over but i tried #BUT I REALLY LIKE THIS SO THIS IS A WIN #there's still another wedding panel... might edit that who knows ehehhehee #ANYWAYS I LOVE THIS SM STEVAIDE SOLOS #THIS IS JAIDE BTW. SEPARATE ENTITY FROM THE ONE WITH RED. CONFUSING I KNOW BUT DW LOL #~ art #selfshipping #selfship #selfship community #OKAY I WILL SLEEP SOON. I MADE TOO MANY TAGS SHSJSKKSLS #jaide (mangaverse).insert #♥️ memoryshipping

[superherospinoff]

au where jason comes back normaler and just decides to go live his life and bruce doesn't find out about it until one day the joker dies from natural causes and he gets this in the mail with jason's fingerprints on it

[Image ID: A photo of a rack of cards for various occasions. Under the label “sympathy loss of loved one”, there is a card with brightly-colored balloons that reads “The countdown’s over-- YAY!”]

#jason todd #bruce wayne #batfamily #jason coming back from the dead and seeing that life has just gotten worse for all bat vigilantes in his absence and being like well ok. bye #he has a bucket list of life goals he's working through #and when he hears the joker bit it hes like huh. convenient. *crosses item off list* #he was going to get around to it eventually ok #it would be way harder to get his degree if he had batman hounding him about murder day and night #he has his priorities in order #jason: haha get it. countdown. like when he exploded me with a bomb. #bruce: NOT FUNNY. CRIED. #au where the lazarus pit reduces theater kid tendencies #text posts #spins speaks #described

[essektheylyss]

This isn't inherently related to last night's episode, but it did feel very present even in absence and I was reminded of it, so:

I talked about this a while ago here, but Caleb and Essek actually communicate astoundingly well, once they are willing to approach each other without imposing their own fears upon them—either because Essek is afraid of being found out or because Caleb is afraid that Essek is too much like himself to be trusted. It's simply that they talk in such a way amongst themselves in particular that those around them (and, frankly, fandom) do not parse it as clear communication, but every time they have any significant engagement after the Nein come back to the outpost, they seem to proceed with the air of having reached an understanding.

And I've talked about that, and you can read the post linked above, but the thought I had about it that I haven't really discussed is that it is a PHENOMENAL choice for playing two assholes at or over 20 Intelligence in a relationship.

They're talking in circles and sounding enigmatic! They're dancing this strange dance about who reaches out when and on what terms! But the thing is, as bewildering as that may seem from the outside, they both give the impression that they understand the other implicitly, because they're operating on very similar wavelengths.

That is their communication. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a level to which that's intentional—what is between them stays between them. Likewise, it felt last night like Caleb did not necessarily want to make whatever their arrangement is known to the rest of the Nein, and that is part of it; they understand each other, and they're comfortable with their relationship at whatever pace and stage they're at, and letting other people know about it or be party to their discussions would allow a level of external scrutiny that they have no interest in.

It's just a really fun choice on a meta level, and it's what makes them insufferable to write, and I absolutely love them for it.

#critical role #cr spoilers #shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #cr meta #i was laughing parsing through my meta tag to find the linked post cuz like #man i really only write meta when theres a wizard on screen apparently. #head empty no thoughts unless wizards. #like sorry!!! i just have a lot of feelings about high int characters with former gifted kid complexes! #but anyway i still maintain that the ninth floor scene was on the level of a dtr relationship. #not inherently in the sense that they were then IN a relationship but #they both left that room with a very firm sense of their priorities and how they featured in each other's #they are insufferable to write though this is why if an emotionally charged scene with them isn't working i have to go cut dialogue lol #tbh it's also why imo they get VERY thrown off if the other is hiding something #even down to Caleb having no idea how to parse Essek's loyalties before finding out he was the traitor #like if there's active deception happening they're just [confused white lady surrounded by math.gif]

[richkidcityfriends]

one of the funniest takes i keep seeing is “omg [character purposely written as villian] said [something midly fatphobic, sexist, homophobic, etc] that makes them problematic!!” and like a. theyre a villian they are going to do bad things and b. half the time the character in question has also like,, committed war crimes

#this is a reaction to that one post i saw earlier #which had an anon ask saying azula was fatphobic for calling iroh uncle fatso #like yes but she also killed people #priorities #ppl keep doing this #especially about kids shows #i see it all the time #like they are VILLIANS why do you expect moral purity from them #atla #mo rudaí

[azuresquirrel]

maybe I'm just Making It About Me or whatever but I've had it online, I'm full-on unfollowing long time mutuals posting "vote blue no matter who" nonsense without posting a single thing about the genocide in Gaza. nothing about news, actions, donations, solidarity, nothing, just about how expressing moral outrage at Actual Genocide helps the bad orange man. People who I used to respect really acting like the government aiding and abetting genocide has nothing to do with us/"well the OTHER PEOPLE would be doing worse things" we are seeing real people forced to post videos of themselves carrying the remains of their children in bags so that the violence against them can be believed, how does that not sicken you to your core

#I genuinely don't give a shit about what you personally choose to do in the voting booth in November #but what are you doing NOW. where is your attention NOW #where are your priorities. ethnic cleansing is happening #where is the moral red line for people if it isn't this #also btw 'Trump would be doing worse' hey Kids in Cages is still happening #honestly posting Literally Nothing would be better than the vote scolding. if you don't care about global politics then just don't

[trans-li-ling]

This event really recontextualizes Li Ling's distaste for authority and desire for justice, doesn't it? It's not just rebellion for rebellion's sake, it's also because Yun Chuan, one of the few people he truly respected who engaged with him on his level was imprisoned and (he was told) dead despite him knowing that Yun Chuan would probably never do anything worthy of imprisonment, and never being told the crime and essentially being told to just forget about it. Like, that's someone who's main interactions with authority were clearly ineffective, and when he finally receives respectful guidance it's taken away in what appears to be an unjust example of authority. No wonder he was a trouble student.

#Dislyte #Li Ling #Like not to start making shit up but making all your classmates afraid of you and then trying to start fights with adults doesn't seem to #Indicate a well adjusted childhood. Also it seems like his father(? Not 100% sure the exact relationship) just like... Shuts him down. #And the way he says it at least to me implies he cares a lot about status like he doesn't want their family associated with a criminal #Which is maybe not the best priorities because this is The First your child is hearing of it. Also idk bc Li has been used for other #Characters and they don't talk with recognition or familiarity but I want so bad for Li Xiao and Li Ling to be related. Please I need this. #Anyways authority has clearly personally failed li ling. Also his dad(? Again not sure) seems like a dick #Mostly unrelated I bet if Li Xiao hadn't told Li Ling Yun Chuan was dead Li Ling would have gone on the warpath to find him #Also in his bounty with the kid he mentions that he would have liked to have someone there for him when he was skipping school... #I'm diagnosing him with autism post haste

[basedhighsenberg]

There's a meme page I follow on IG that recently posted he was playing Oblivion "one last time" because his wife was giving birth to their first kid and he decided he was going to "give up video games to be more supportive"

I don't exactly know how he came to this decision, nor do I disagree with it.

But if I had to guess, between occasionally playing video games and running a meme page almost 24/7 that devolves into him reposting pro-right wing arguments he has with a dozen strangers over IG about pop-political leftist shit, my guess is his wife would rather have him play video games.

#his posting has not stopped or slowed down #pretty sure his wife had the kid #buddy your priorities are a wee bit fucked

[goldeneyedgirl]

Oh boy, this is probably so irrelevant to you, but I've read the little piece you made for Babyverse about Jasper having to leave Alice and their son to go hunt and I swear I wept, thinking that's exactly how my baby brother gets everytime I leave. Literally the cutest AU ever made!!! Also, I have a weak spot for Damage Alice. May I ask for some of any of these two masterpieces?

This is absolutely not irrelevant - I'm not around small children, so I am relying entirely luck and vague memories to make any depiction of Ollie convincing, and I am SO glad that I am on the right track!

You caught me in a weak moment, so have a little of both <3

babyverse.

It’s been six fucking weeks since he’s seen them, and he’s trying to convince himself that this is another false lead, another dead-end, even as he presses his foot further on the accelerator. 

He knows the old motel he’s going to - it’s been abandoned for decades, with a cracked sign caked in filth declaring it the Rose Spring. It’s a thrice condemned shit-hole, untouched because of alleged chemical leaks or something that the government don’t want to have to clean up to sell the land off. It’s irrelevant though; the Rose Spring, like all the other falling-down, forgotten motels across the country, is a regular haunt for vampires looking to avoid the sun, to meet other travellers, to pass messages back and forth. 

He pulls into the motel, barely shutting off the ignition as he gets out. The back is laden with supplies, and he pauses only long enough to grab the bag that Esme has labelled with a big red cross. 

The stairs are flimsy and buckle under his step - no place for a human. Half the balcony has collapsed, and at least two of the rooms have crumbled in on themselves - probably in the last storm. 

Room 37 is tucked in the corner, and he doesn’t bother to knock as he throws open the door. 

Ollie is sitting on the first rancid, rotting bed and his face lights up as he sees Jasper, his arms stretching out towards him. He’s wearing filthy, mismatched clothing that aren’t his, and is sucking on a pacifier again, and for some reason that’s more upsetting than anything else to Jasper - he was just beginning to give it up before everything happened. And now it’s back. 

Maria is seated on the bed with Ollie, looking equally as filthy and surprisingly solemn. 

“You made it faster than I anticipated,” she says, standing up and motioning to Ollie as the bed tilts slightly without her weight. “He’ll be hungry, but he’s unharmed.”

Ollie makes a whining noise as soon as he’s in Jasper’s arms; a reassuring weight, but Ollie is about to start crying. 

“Where’s Alice?” He demands, rubbing his son’s back and hoping they can get out of here, and back north tonight; somewhere they can clean up and talk and he can make sure that they’re okay. 

Maria looks grimmer and motions for him to follow her out the door and into the next room. 

Ollie gets agitated, straining towards Alice the second they set foot in the second room. 

The scent of blood saturates the air.

Alice is lying on the bed, unconscious. There’s an angry wound on her head, and bother her arms. Some rough bandages have been wrapped around her leg, and it’s obvious that someone - perhaps Maria - tried to clean her up. 

“Alice?” His alarm is evident in his voice, and he almost hands Ollie off to Maria to go to her side before his brain clicks back into place. “Alice, can you hear me?”

Ollie’s reaching more and his whimpers are turning to wails as Alice doesn’t flinch.

“For god’s sake, give me the child, and deal with your mate,” Maria says, almost crossing. “I didn’t eat him before, I’m not going to eat him now.”

damaged alice.

The race to the ballet studio is the longest journey of his life.

Alice can’t defend herself. She’s never fought in her life. When Maria came to Calgary, Alice had been carefully protected by Esme and Emmett. 

He’s never run faster in his life. 

The scene that he finds in the ballet studio is one that fills him with anger and terror, and his first instinct is to get Alice out. 

Not Bella bleeding out on the floor and screaming (oh god, he knows that scream) with an extremely broken leg. 

Or to destroy James, with his joker-smile.

Alice is standing over Bella, blood on her face and dress and hands, and she’s getting upset about it, a thin cry coming out of her mouth as she stares down at her maybe-future-best-friend’s blood smelling so tempting…

But when James laughingly steps forward towards Bella, Alice growls protectively. 

He swoops in, barely pausing as he grabs Alice and gets her out of James’ reach, smoothing her hair as he tries to look her in the eyes; but Alice’s eyes dart, never meeting his. Not a surprise that today would become a bad one, that Alice can’t communicate right now. 

(James was alone with her for too long; he hates himself for that. He’s terrified she’s been hurt in some way, that the damage is worse than being slathered in her maybe-friend’s blood. )

“Are you okay?” 

As soon as the words are out, James slams into him from nowhere, and he can’t worry about Alice or Bella in that moment. 

But all he can hear are Alice’s soft cries from where she’s standing in the corner. 

#my fic: damaged alice #my fic: hybrid baby-verse #babyverse alice will recover #damaged alice has a little more trauma first #didn't mean for both of these to be jasper-rescue snippets #maria is a bamf #and she's not going to kill jasper's 'wife' and kid #that's beyond tacky and completely inefficient and just not necessary #why harm them when helping them might get you a Future Favour? #i'll put a post up last but i'm not doing any more snippets for a hot minute so that I can get on top of ficmas and all my wips #i'll go through the existing ones that I've got in my ask box #but anything else will be politely set aside until I've got the priority stuff done

[tu-es-gegg]

in my head, juanaflippa is clubs coded and codeflippa is spades coded, does this make sense

#txt post #qsmp codeflippa #qsmp juanaflippa #for referenec this is an oc worldbuilding thing #juana is clubs because she's just a bundle of energy #very strong emotion liek a kid should be #codie is spades for how more i guess directed her energy is #her main priority is information and it revolves around her dad #yes she is capable of chaos but always her priority is to make sure her dad is ok and to gather intel #meanwhile juana her energy is spread all round to many people #and also they both have hearts coded stuff too from both parents #cause their relationships with others kinda define the interesting parts of them #does this make sense yeahhh

[dirt-str1der]

Yaoi has poisoned all of your fucking brains !!

#Yakuza HATEblog #i dont want to hear about the new yakuza trailer where kiryu proposed to soemone he wouldnnever do that thats so scary #also they refered to sayama as the cop lady like please show some respect to her she didnt be annoying for you to forget her #ive become homophobic now because i hated seeing a particular post so much like that will never happen you are crazy #like no this isnt how kzmj can win they have never even once considered a future together because kiryus foreplanning ended when he lost #his brother and majima has spent half her life waiting for saejima to come back like they have more important things to worry about #and kiryu is not able to share his kids with anybody he cant simultaneously raise haruka with someone he has to either be a single dad or an #absent dad no in between and sometimes haruka is left parentless in the middle of that mess but its not kiryus problem hes driving cars amd #beating people up .... well he does care sorry for insinuating he doesnt ... he thinks about his kids every day #but i guarantee you he does not think about majima every day i swear it to you he does not care about her that much !!! i have to forever #stress this doesnt mean that he hates majima but it simply means that shes not his priority AND SHE WILL NEVER BE !!! kiryu will never #risk it all just for a suckle on that majiwilly like he doesnt like her that much ... if kiryu didnt even give majima so much as a phonecall #when he was ignoring her the entirety of y3 AFTER tossing her back to the wolves just so he can play house at okinawa.. hes not going to #suddenly realise that he wants to spend the rest of his life with majima hes going to be pondering how miserable he is while beating the #fuck out of people because sorry i didnt actually pay attention to the gaiden stuff is kiryu a hitman now or some sort of mercenary either #way its so hot that hes paralleled by y0 majima because hes so depressed and wants to kill himself and forced to wear a nice suit and do #things he doesnt want to while being kept on a tight leash like hohooho ... have sex with me ...!!! #im going to kill him myself to put him out of his misery if i have to ... just let kiryu run off to america and join the cia im kidding but #wait i just thought of him actually running off and sayama pulling some strings in the force to keep people from looking for him because #shes like a bigshot cop now ... i think she should be able to cradle him gently and keep him like a show cat #a shivering wet penis in the rain and she takes him in and gives him a loving home ... i feel a little embarrassed talking about hetships #but the concept of kiryu just being in her house and living with her is making me laugh like wow ... hes straight now.... like obviously hes #still not going to be like lets get married 🥰 but sayama would want to... i believe that she could forge their documents so kiryu isnt an #illegal immigrant anymore and she gives him an american name so john yakuza can become real ... its like a fake dating au but they really #arent dating theyre just having sex and acting out scenes from a kdrama but eventually kiryu will have to go back because hes so sad #without his kids and he needs to see them one last time to pass away peacefully. sorry i just remembered how much older kiryu was than #sayama like thats a bit funny ... like i still think kiryu should be into older guys or girls but like we cant always have that happen #like how majimas options for getting fucked by creepy old guys are getting lesser year by year because those old geezers keep dying and hes #old now too ... like theyre so old thats fucked. i know ive been saying how kzmj can never win but i do think majima should breastfeed kiryu

[causticsunshine]

.

#listen idk why some of yall insist on trying to submerge yourself w every crumb of content when you know the stunt is still going around #but also for letting even a potential stunt mention / pic / video frame affect you so much #considering they always push it more when they get any kind of reaction from it #like idk how many times we gotta say it but #1. make and create boundaries and if this is all your life is about: get another hobby oh my god that is so unhealthy #but also 2. STOP REACTING #don’t let this shit get to you so bad and ruin your day like gooood this is why some of you #really NEED to rethink your approach to obsessively interacting w content #but also reevaluate your priorities #be kind to yourself like why do you think i stop following so many people who constantly post whatever they can for the sake of ‘updates’ #*stopped #and making conversation out of nothing. it ain’t worth it !! go live your life !! #whether or not the fake kid is there why are you letting it bother you !! you know he’s gonna be w his love at the end of the day #talking about his baby nephew and their future family like if anything take delight in that and shhhh #it’s been like 6 - 7 years on off of this shit now so can some of you please stop acting like you were born yesterday already #and maybe idk react normally? maybe yk go do something else productive? actually worthy of energy #stunts #bbg #alex talks

[spaceratprodigy]

I'm gonna be on the slower end for a bit longer but I can't wait to make and share all the new art and stuffs I have planned ✌

#still taking my time to rest and catch my breath before jumping back into things #+ officially started moving in with my bf so that's more of a priority rn #I wanna get my stuff moved and my things all set up first and I want to get a brand new desk #for like the first time in my life lmao I do all my work at a kids sized desk that's as old as I am #BUT once everything is good I'll be back to my art AND THEN I'll let the new commission post and stuff go live #I don't want to post it before I can work on anything #ALSO I'M SORRY I PROMISE I'M GONNA ANSWER MY LIKEEE 40+ UNREAD MESSAGES OKAY #I've been so distracted and busy and fatigued but I promise I haven't forgotten anyone I'm just so very slow #rambling

[fellhellion]

it's incredibly apt to me that the spiderverse team specifically drew upon brutalism as the primary style for the architecture of spider society because it's a style simultaneously linked to this notion of raw honesty (because you expose the material laying at the core of the structure) + social wellfare (as concrete was relatively cheaper to use and thus you got a lot of cheaper housing utilising this style), egalitarian by nature - it all looks the same, function over form etc.

but it ended up also getting associated with the structural flaws present in social wellfare systems by virtue of where it was applied as well as it being a style that's quite intense by nature (some would even argue ugly fjdfjk), and thus you get people implicitly associating it with those structural flaws and thinking of it as oppressive, even though the movement wasn't like. intentionally trying to cultivate that impression or be utilised in such a way.

which is interesting to me because that kind of duality works perfectly with the kind of tonal shift miles goes through when operating in that environment. spider society is at first wonderous and bright and brilliant, evocative of endless possibilties and stylistically almost like a large concrete web. but when miles is failed by that system, the large concrete web becomes constraining and suffocating.

hell, the idealogical roots of brutalism even work to an extent with the idealogical roots of spider society. neither was cultivated with the active intent to cause harm, and they're both associated with the desire to promote a future that is providing for the people utilsing it, but ultimately it's a tool. and any tool can be one that, inadvertently or otherwise, causes harm.

#the analogy and connections im drawing OF COURSE only extends so far as spider society is moreeee. an anaolgy #for the harm that's perpetuated if you subscribe to belief systems that exclude anomalous traits/experiences #<- and even THAT becomes messy because the very nature of the stakes naturalises that belief system as having legit concerns #but that analogy is also secondary in the story's priorities to providing a lens for the characters to be able to interact w the #suffering in their lives and qustion what purpose it holds - if any #so miles shocking miguel is tonally a celebration of the idea that you should leave systems that fail to support you in the way they should #but it's tonally an endorsement of miles having hope where miguel has succumbed to despair #spiderverse is very fond of using emotional shorthand (this isnt a criticism - its just acknowledgement of what its doing) and i think esp #in a film designed to be understood by teenagers/older kids and w a strict runtime this kind of technique is effective #even if it inherently has some drawbacks (naturalisation of the stakes if youre not careful about how you write the solution to those stake #its trying to say a lot with a broad emotional sweep and thats hard and shit can get lost in the water or implications not accounted for #but hey thats the fun of critical analysis #tunes talks spiderverse #long post