#representation in media rules and all but it literally is not the be all end all | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

huevobuevo · 6 months

Text

ive fuckingggg HAD IT . i am going to talk about gegg qsmp because idk why but charlie slimecicle made one of the best representations of age regression ive seen in media and i am NOT joking.

so i dont rlly post alot about the qsmp on my blog, thus i wouldn't be surprised if this post goes unnoticed or ignored by a vast majority of my friends & followers. for those of you who ARE reading this with no prior experience with the QSMP lemme just quickly summarize some much needed background knowledge.

(Quackity Voice) The QSMP Is The Worlds First Multi-lingual Minecraft Server; it hosts a wide variety of twitch streamers who speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. the beginning plotline of the server (which is where Gegg came into existence) follows the various players as they are grouped into pairs to care for a dragon egg. The main ones that will be talked about today are Tilin, Quackity's egg, and Juanaflippa, Slimecicle & ElMariana's egg. The eggs are, of course, played by anonymous admins, who have given these eggs their own unique personalitys despite only communicating through signs and emotes. The players have quickly imprinted on their respective eggs, as expected, and have gone on to view these eggs as their own children. The rules were simple - each egg had two lives and two lives ONLY. each day the eggs have tasks for the streamers to complete ON STREAM or else the egg could die of starvation & neglect (points at Trump, Maximus & DanTDM's egg).

i will be referring to Slimecicles character in the QSMP as Charlie or Slime for better coherency. from now on i will be referring to the characters, not the streamers.

Slimecicle and Mariana were not the best parents to Juanaflippa, but it was clear that they truly and deeply cared for their daughter. They supported her transition and, especially in Slimes case, did everything they could to make sure their daughter was safe. Juanaflippa had lost her second life due to an accident, which caused Slime to loose his shit and go on a murderous rampage to try and get the literal Minecraft Jesus Christ of Nazareth to come back and revive his daughter (she came back after a court case. long story.)

Basically Juanaflippa was loved, and she loved her parents back- but there was someone else she cared for the most in the whole wide world

Tilin, who Slime offered to take care of once her father had to log off game. There was another accident, and Tilin was caught in the crossfire between Charlie and a few mobs at night. She was on her second life, meaning that Charlie had officially ended his daughters best friend right infront of her eyes. Distraught and ashamed, Charlie ran off into self-isolation and left Juanaflippa in the care of Mariana and their friend Roier. During his "Eggxile" while he was trying to find a way to bring back Tilin, Charlie learnt that Mariana killed Juanaflippa AGAIN. Instead of going on another tirade Charlie just lost it.

He's now carrying the deaths of two children on his mind, isolating himself from what little friends he had on the main island. During his initial stay on the island there were only English and Spanish players, but when the French and Brazilian players arrived he still spent a majority of his time in isolation. Charlie wasn't apart of a good chunk of the main island lore for a long, long time, and pretty soon it began to feel like he was completely, and utterly, alone. He attended a wedding and a few parties, but it was visible how outcasted he was from all the new events and connections. He had regular breakdowns and pretty soon began to believe that Juanaflippa wasn't dead, she was just... somewhere else. He was gonna get her back. He did it once, he'll do it again. Fuck, he couldn't even bring himself to attend her own funeral, and even when he was allowed one final goodbye with his dead daughter Charlie still refused to accept the fact that Juanaflippa was never gonna come back home. He built a campfire on the beach of his Eggxile house with three chairs- one for him, one for his wife (who hadn't logged on in months), and one for Flippa.

TL;DR q!slime is going the fuck through it.

Later on Quackity decided to get Charlie in on a plan to try and steal from other peoples houses. They both lost their families, so it seemed only fair to Quackity that they ruin other people's lives as well. Basically Charlie had to pretend to be Quackity's NEW egg so that he can get close with the other eggs and fuck shit up.

Charlie liked it. Charlie... REALLY liked it, actually. His egg name was Gegg, and without knowing it he began to age regress.

Im calling Gegg a form of Age Regression because not only is Charlie mentally AND physically becoming a child, but through Gegg Charlie is allowed the freedom to escape his grief and explore what it means to be a "child" who was loved unconditionally. On the last Gegg stream Slime referred to the little goopy guy as something that lives inside of him. Gegg takes over him and he just looses himself in the act. He's not just playing a character called Gegg, he IS Gegg.

In the very first stream as Gegg he expressed his desire to learn what having a family was like- a common reason most people have for regressing. When "regressed" to this state Charlie/Gegg is constantly acting as a young child and actually enjoys it! He LOVED being Gegg! Even if it got too far in the end, Gegg was allowed to be open about his wants & emotions. Charlie was pushed back into the lives of the other players and fully reconnected with several people again for the first time since his self-imposed isolation. He gained new friends, too, once Gegg was introduced to the Brazilian and French players.

In turn the players never made any effort to expose Charlie's regression. while at the beginning there was some distrust & confusion over Charlie's sudden egg act it never went farther then a few subtle jokes at Geggs "true" identity (commenting on his backflips, which is something Charlie was known for). Aside from Wilbur, everybody treated Gegg as any other egg-child. He was cared for, his tasks would be completed on occasion, and the French+Brazilian players ESPECIALLY loved him! They supported Charlie's regression since at this point they began to realize how much shit he has been through since the deaths of Tilin and Flippa. Not only that, but the eggs as well played along with Gegg's coping mechanism; Leonarda (FoolishGamers + Vegetta777's egg) was one of the first to try and adopt Gegg as their own baby, while Chayanne (Philza+MissaSinfonia's egg) & Tallulah (Wilbur Soot's egg) acted as his "Geggsiblings" (even though Tallulah sorta got a bit rude to him during their second encounter, im guessing due to a new admin who wasn't around during Tallulah & Gegg's first interaction),

Infact, one of the best scenes of the Gegg Arc was during an interaction between Gegg & Bobby. Bobby was Roier & JaidenAnimation's egg, and he was also close to Juanaflippa & Tilin. The two kids talked through signs, where Bobby confessed that he held a grudge against Slime for what he did. Gegg said that he had every right to be upset, the poor boy had lost two of his closest friends after all. But then Bobby did something that shocked Charlie- he forgave him. he told Gegg to tell that "green guy" that he shouldn't be hard on himself anymore, both of them needed to move on already. Not only was Bobby a child, but he was one of the main eggs Quackity wanted Gegg to kill off first. Bobby was the reason why Gegg existed, the reason why Charlie was given the chance to heal from his trauma, and now he is telling Charlie to his face that its ok to forgive himself for the deaths of Tilin and Flippa.

Bobby knows who Gegg is, everybody does, which is why they treat Gegg with the same amount of love that every other egg gets.

Age Regression has frequently been misunderstood, and very rarely does it get the proper representation that it deserves. It is a very "taboo" form of coping, which is unfortunate due to how common it actually is. Most people feel uncomfortable with the image of grown adults acting as toddlers in diapers, and lump it together with the whole Age Play/DDLG ordeal- yet they fail to take into account what age regressors are ACTUALLY like. while it is something that just about anyone can do, the type of regression I will be talking about stems from people who seek refuge from traumatic events usually in their childhood. It can be voluntary or involuntary, and is a way for people to explore & reevaluate what it means to be a child. it is just that- a trauma response, one that im sure many of you participate in but are too scared to discuss it due to the stigma around it. Children who have experienced abuse regress, Teenagers who struggle with mental health regress, Adults with severe PTSD regress, and yet it is such a misunderstood part of the healing process that is practically unaccounted for in media. There is little to nothing on age regression representation that delivers it in a respectful, honest manner, due to this stigma, which only serves to push it further into the shadows of mental health discourse.

So to see age regression be used on a fucking minecraft server of all places in such a healthy light is so refreshing to see. While ironic at first, Charlie showcased age regression as something that shouldn't be shunned. It actively aided him through a dark period in his life and showed that he deserves a second chance. After Gegg canonically "died" Charlie returned to the island for his birthday and was finally ready to move on from Flippa & Tilins death (and then, yakno, the whole Codeflippa Arc happened)

TL;DR #2 Charlie Slimecicle's Character In The QSMP Age Regresses As A Way To Cope From The Deaths Of Two Eggs & Oh My God It Was Actually Really Fucking Emotional

#thanks for reading again hoooly fuck #slimecicle #q!slimecicle #charlie slimecicle #q!charlie #qsmp #gegg #qsmp gegg #gegg qsmp #qsmp slimecicle #qsmp charlie slimecicle #there will be a cold day in hell if i dont properly tag my fucking posts

263 notes · View notes

snakeautistic · 6 months

Text

I love finding characters I can relate (/project onto) within media. There’s something so comforting about seeing yourself on screen. I end up headcanoning most of them to be in-line with my identities (lesbian, wasian, autistic) because they are literally me in my head!!

Anyway here’s a long ass list of my favorite characters and why I head canon them as autistic for fun!! If you have any others you’d like to add I’d love to hear them. (And please note this is just my interpretation, and highly based on my experience with autism. I’m not saying they’re definitely autistic or that all the traits I listed are the dsm-5 criteria or something.)

Princess Bubblgeum from adventure time:

This girl is peak evil scientist autistic. Her intense need for control, the way she carefully observes the citizens she created, an outsider to them, not quite like them… god it’s so perfect. I read her as being somewhat low empathy as well, it’s hard for her to change her perspective to that of others. Plus the fact her brother neddy is a pretty obvious metaphor for higher supports needs autism. I think they of represent how autism runs in the family and appears in all sorts of different ways in different people. They’re sort of two different representations of the spectrum.

Marcy wu from amphibia

I mean this one is just obvious. The biggest nerd of all time. So obsessed with her RPG special interest that she literally sucks her and her friends into a fantasy world. She’s clumsy (just like me fr), very smart but super socially awkward, a little oblivious and naive. She’s terrified of change, especially if it means abandoning the few social bonds she’s been able to make. I honestly find it hard to believe this wasn’t intentional.

Entrapta from she-ra

Another pretty overt example. I do have some issues with how she was portrayed in the show- (keeping her on a leash was weird.) but overall I really love her. She understands her tech, not people, and it can cause her to come into conflict with other characters. Their treatment of her makes me sad at times, but it’s realistic. I also love some of her other quirks, her love of tiny food, her exitable demeanor, ect.

Pearl from Steven Universe

Peridot is the more obvious example of an autistic character in SU, and while I agree she’s coded that way, I personally resonate more with Pearl. She is not very socially aware, and bothered by disruptions to her routine/ broader life changes. She doesn’t like to break rules (despite being a literal rebel lol.) I find it interesting how she seems to have the poorest understanding of life on earth out of the gems, despite having lived here for thousands of years. She is graceful, but has an almost sort of awkward gangly-ness to her that I relate to. Her neuroticism is also very similar to how my anxiety disorder presents.

Pearl has a tendency to infodump, without realizing those around her are uninterested. Even her relationship with Rose struck a chord with me. The hopeless devotion to her, the way she followed along at her side. It’s how many of my friendships have been. Obvious it’s not exactly the same considering Pearl having originally been her servant, but while not being an explicitly autistic trait, that sort of clingy, starstruck relationship is something autistic people are prone to developing. She does little hand stims at times too that I love to see.

Poison Ivy (specifically the version in the Harley Quinn animated show)

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people mention poison Ivy. Fiercely intelligent and deeply introverted, she isolates herself from all people, and only connects with and understands her plants. (Which her deep affinity for can definitely be read as a special interest.) She very overtly has trouble forming relationships with others.

She’s blunt, socially awkward and a loner, has something of a flat effect and a monotone voice. Those around her initially read her as cold and impersonable.Her struggle with social anxiety as well as intense fear of failure/ low self esteem is also very relatable to me. She also often struggles to express/understand her feelings and emotions. Her radical political ideas and the fact that she’s literally an ecoterrorist paints her as having a very strong sense of justice and a somewhat black and white worldview. (Me)

Finally, her relationship with Harley just SCREAMS neurodivergent solidarity. Harley Quinn is (I think canonically) adhd, and they’re both outsiders in the world that found each other and just… get each other. She’s Ivy’s closest and only friend and amazing girlfriend and god it’s all so perfect.

They remind me a lot of the relationship I have with my best friend with adhd except theirs is gayer.

#autistic headcanon #autism headcanon #headcanon #headcanons #actuallyautistic #actually autistic #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #neurodivergent headcanon #adventure time #princess bubblegum #amphibia #marcy wu #she ra #entrapta #steven universe #pearl su #poison ivy #harley quinn animated series

170 notes · View notes

hearthotchner · 8 months

Note

hi hi I’m just here to offer some autistic!hotch thoughts

- he speaks with little to no inflection in his tone

- he’s known to always have a frown on his face or ‘never smile’ because he doesn’t mask and put a fake smile on to appease others.

- whenever he cries he tends to try to run away from the group, not knowing how to socially act when he’s so upset.

- he’ll often appear as ‘happy to sit in comfortable silence’ instead of making small talk.

- he compartmentalises to the point where almost every time on the show you *do* see hotch have a good time or smile, the case is already closed. he hyperfocuses on the cases and will feel in anyone else who’s going off topic.

- he is a great profiler. he probably knows more than he lets on about his team, but he’s overly respectful of the ‘do not profile one another’ rule because a) rules are very sacred to him and b) he tries not to make assumptions about his friends they could perceive negatively unless they have verbally told him, e.g. will revealing JJ’s pregnancy. In this scene, hotch looks crestfallen and says “jj you could have just told me.” because he likely saw her showing signs but he much prefers the security of someone verbally informing him.

- he literally wears a suit like armour every day on the job. No matter how impractical it is, if it’s hot or humid or he’s got to chase unsubs in fucking dress shoes? he still wears it because it makes him feel safe and likely meets his sensory requirements. his clothes become who he is.

- also the way hotch switches roles from boss to friend to comforting presence is so pronounced. his voice, facial expressions and his mannerisms all change.

- speaking of mannerisms!!!! Hotch stims a bit on the show. his little action he does rubbing his thumb across his other knuckles either in front of his face or down by his side. but often when je does this from anxiety, he ends up burying his hands in his pockets. Seemingly hiding it.

- he literally worked himself to exhaustion, and mid-fainting said ‘please excuse me’ because so much of his social skills toolbelt is being polite. on the show, however, he sometimes seems impolite when he’ll get an idea in his head and just chase after it without a word.

You can check out way more under @softhairedhotch ‘s blog where he does lots of headcanons including some autistic!hotch ones. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of reasons but just watching him as an autistic person, he feels so very real to me.

first of all, thank you so much for taking your time to tell me this!! and yeah i also agree, but it never came to my attention because i never saw people speak about it, because ig the way he acts isn’t exactly the “mainstream” representation of autism that’s all over social media yk. and i think that should change tbh, cause like it’s a spectrum, and there’s different ways that autism is portrayed, and it isn’t always gonna be “omg this absolute genius” sometimes it’s people like hotch 🤷‍♀️ or like reid, or another character that’s completely different to them too.

and i’m definitely gonna look at his account, cause now im an autistic hotch truther 😼

#once again thank you anon !!#aaron hotchner #if the way i’ve said something isn’t worded right or comes off as offensive please let me know #cause as you can tell #i’m not extremely educated on this topic #but i am willing to be !!

38 notes · View notes

frequenceraph · 1 year

Text

"Z is a bad character"

Xenoblade 1 and 3 spoilers incoming Ok so Z. I've seen so many people, mostly on twitter and reddit, complain about how this man is a bad character. The thing is though they're missing the point of Z. Z isn't supposed to be complex, he's a force created by origin as a response to the collective will of people to avoid confronting the inevitable collision and dissolution into light that the two worlds are destined for. He's a corrupting influence; an embodiment of the concept of the endless now. Z is compelling by means of the characters he influences. N is widely considered in the fandom to be an extremely well written character-- through the lens of one of the main characters' past lives, we get to experience the pain of loss that made him want to never have to lose anything anymore. Z is the fear of loss, and Noah choosing to confront Z and refuse to give in is him refusing to be afraid of losing the people he loves. He's lost Mio over and over, he had to leave his son behind, he's been unable to defeat moebius and break the cycle over and over, and Z-- his fear of loss-- eventually gets to him. These kinds of interactions make Z compelling and threatening. Z is a representation of the fear and vice that lives inside every single one of us. Even people who are extremely young like Joran can self sabotage and want to stay in a comfortable eternity when that's not the state that anything-- the world nor your interpersonal relationships-- can stay in. Joran is so mired in his assumptions that everyone of the main Keves party thinks he's useless that for a while he isn't able to escape the genuine abuse that he suffers at the hands of Moebius D. And that's Z at work. He (Joran's own assumptions and fears) has paralyzed Joran in a state of self loathing that he's inflicted on himself. There's also another aspect I think people ignore with regard to Z's relationship to past games. And that's that Z is a direct consequence of Shulk's decision at the end of Xenoblade 1 to walk towards the future hand in hand with everyone. Without a god to rule over them, people falling to their worst vices can directly influence the world. Z acts as a foil to Zanza in a sense, both serving as a demonstration of the flaws of a world with and without gods. Shulk's choice didn't result in utopia. There's always going to be something to fight for, and sometimes that thing is ourselves rather than some made up enemy. And that, I feel is the core message of Xenoblade 3. Given that western media has imbued us with the idea that characters need to be compelling in the same way that-- as hbomberguy said-- games need to be fun, it's easy to see why people would write off Z as being a bad character when they don't understand the broader context in which he exists. Like sure Z sits around and watches the main party do shit in a theatre in the middle of origin and that's all he does, but Z taking direct action would be against the spirit of his character. He (our internal vices, fear of change) operates through others, both figuratively and literally. We had to come to him in the final encounter because he-- from what I understand-- primarily exists in people's minds. TL;DR Z doesn't need to be a compelling character in the traditional sense. He's compelling by means of the characters he influences and what he represents; the flaws of a world without gods.

#xc3 #xenoblade #xenoblade chronicles #xenoblade chronicles 3 #meta post #meta #character analysis

95 notes · View notes

woomycritiques543 · 11 months

Note

Um... I was on Youtube and I just saw this cursed af image of Moxxie in an upcoming ep. ..WTF is going on??

TW: NOT SAFE FOR LIFE MENTION!

Ok, already answered this, but:

The stans harassed me real hard for this one. One even called drag queens "F&&GOTS!" and said that the laws I literally said were genocide were "GOOD LAWS!" because some of them, are just that desperate for Helluva Boss softcore porn that they'd let stereotypes of androgynous people being stereotyped as "A DANGER TO CHILDREN!" be released to the public, in the middle of a harsh political climate from people using the exact stereotype Vivziepop put into this episode to justify a potiential minority genocide.

Multiple fans either supported the ant-trans laws, are homophobic, or called me saying that trans lives don't deserve to die for being trans "MAKING ME LOSE BRAINCELLS! SO STUPID!"

So even something as universal as:

"Hey Spindlehorse, this is an episode that contains stereotypes that are currently being used against the lgbt+ community to encourage a genocide happening in Florida right now towards androygnous people, transgender people, and drag queens and transphobes have been trying to make lgbt+, as a whole, look like "a danger to/around kids!" to try to justify getting us harassed, abused, along with killed and to use the public's fear of what they dont understand to vote more transphobes into office. transphobes! So maybe, actually care about your representation of minorities instead of shoving in stereotypes for 4chan views? Especially at a time where we need all the good representation we can get and releasing this episode so soon could cause literal deaths within the lgbt+ community to have an even further chance of happening if there's more public media representing us as "A danger around children." You know... a stereotype being used, right now, to justify a literal genocide against minorities, and conservatives are using these stereotypes to make people paranoid of us and our existence, so Vivienne, maybe consider your timing for the sake of the lgbtqia community, as a whole -and dont release this episode in such a politically hostile climate towards LGBTQ+ known as 2023 and post pone it until things cool down so people don't potientially get killed because more people voted for Desantis because of your content for the love of God, stereotypes are not "just hyperbole!" this is getting serious now at this point what are you doing?!"

Still ended up causing the stans to say shit like this, because they're that hellbent on getting more material of Moxxie being fetishized and mocked for being feminine as rushed out as possible, even to the level of sexualizing him while he's meant to be disguised as a preteen girl, that they'd ignore real life genocide towards minorities and how Vivziepop's episode will 100% effect the votes towards Desantis next year, so these are the exact stereotypes Viv should not be using in this episode, at all, especially this year, as conservatives have been trying to make us look like a "DANGER AROUND CHILDREN!" for decades and to release this episode in a political climiate currently using this exact stereotype to try to justify genocide towards the trans community, if it means that they get to further fetishize feminine men by calling them "FEMBOYS!" and jacking off to more Helluva Boss hentai on 4CHAN and Rule 34, and instead of... I dont know... caring about real people that are suffering right now?!

.... this is the "progressive good faith!" standom Vivziepop told you about... they're definitely not "good faith" that's for sure.

So it's no wonder why there are multiple Vivziepop stans that would ignore or defend something like Vivziepop's transphobic dms or ignore the fact that she supports Blaire White:

THEY ARE TRANSPHOBIC.

PS: Femme Moxxie is not "cursed. Femme Moxxie is still just as valid and cool as macullaine Moxxie. Double PS: The fact that I even heard the words "trans genocide are good laws!" come out of a Helluva Boss stan's mouth, right after Pride Month, RIGHT after Pride Month, shows just how down the shitter this fandom has become.... holy shit...

#helluva boss #helluva boss critique #transgender #drag queens #tw transphobia #governor desantis #tw nsfl #tw ableism #tw desantis #for anyone still not getting that the HB fandom has now gone downhill.#these comments actually exists... one even was written... by someone... who supported TRANS GENOCIDE!#I wish with all my might that I was making this up.#the stans of this fandom truly are the bottom of the barrel.

53 notes · View notes

incarnateirony · 2 years

Text

*Dips glasses in Corporate Oil and looks around*

Alright guys. Let's do this, let's talk about where we really are, developmentally. With the WB, CW, The Winchesters and Gotham Knights (this piece will admittedly focus most heavily on Winchesters, as I know more about its actual development than GK, but the corporate elements of WB will apply to it).

All of it. Because you guys have come to realize there's a lot behind the veil.

Has anyone been watching the Snydercut battle in DC? This seems like a random place to start with for Supernatural, but I promise you, it's critical in understanding what's happened, where we've been, where we've traveled and where we can possibly head from here.

So how is it DC ended up here, and how is it relevant to Supernatural?

Everyone's entitled to their own view of media within reason, depending on their aggression about it proportionately in relation to the actual content and what it is beyond what it's fought about. Personally, I always found Snyder's stuff reductive to characters and just mindlessly operating on rule of cool, but some dudes liked it. So when the first hollering started, I thought, good for you, voice what you believe.

But they never shut up. Instead, they amplified, they got more shrill, all points were taken to the seventeenth degree, VERY bizarre and lowkey threatening videos were made. On and on and on and on and on.

And now they're acting surprised that after literal years of it, the new CEO wants them to shut the fuck up and considers it all a mistake. Gee, I wonder what gave him that fucking idea.

OK. Cool. So anyway, remember the S12 market testing? The stuff I was posting about in S12, that everyone from Patrick to Mary Manchin argued with me about until years later we figured out how to safely clear the receipts without anybody getting blown off the planet with lawsuits?

2016 was leaning closer to modern TV. Closer to the representation demands the younger teen audience generally sets and demands, assuming it will be present on all products. We were leaning that way. So why would, say, Dean and Cas need market testing?

Well, perhaps, it's because in season 9, shortly after Carver recovered the property from near cancellation into being CW's #1 hit above all, the Destiel fandom decided to monkey climb some oblivious business suit without any context of the development chain leading Destiel to where it was at that point. They harassed him until he deleted twitter, they ran multiple articles trying to burn the property down as queerbait, then when the S10 packets dropped with a new sexuality section declaring everybody straight, and everything hit lockdown, they made fucking confused noises and called it Victim Blaming to point out any sort of liability in the dramatic lockdown.

But listen, Chad Kennedy does not fucking care what you think is fair or equitable. He cares about money, his properties, and NOT being torn apart by little shitheads on twitter. For god's sake, his name is fucking Chad, how did you guys expect a Corporate Chad to react.

Less stupid fans had put together books of stats, demographics, and LGBTQ or general audience testimony to package off to elite names in that same S9 year, only for one to survive and move into the room, and be shared by a new showrunner named Dabb, at the same time market testing coincidentally began.

It was already a contentious topic. Turning around a 2005 behemoth that is distinctly not packaged as LGBTQ ware is harder than turning around the titanic and even what berens accomplished was impressive in perspective. I hate market segregation as much as anybody, but it's a reality.

You know what else is a reality?

That the Winchesters is branded as an LGBTQ property out of the gate, as is the developing studio running it, with permission to use the IP, and the potential namesake character there may be reservations over is played by that same studio owner, with 15 years of history.

Zaslav just completely wiped out the upper ranks at WB. Roth had already left and Zaslav called him back personally. Roth, Jensen's mentor, is directly advising Zaslav on properties. So genuinely speaking, who is more qualified than the managing production house owner with 15 years experience with this content and particularly this character to make decisions on what to do with that character, if Roth tells Zaslav to just let Jensen do what he do.

This is a real potential in the air. Other corporate shakeups in the past have sort of been [rolls the dice] "maybe they're not dicks???? no????" but this time there is actually a path through the woods.

Beyond even the queerness of it, the entire structure of the Winchesters is very revealing of how much Roth warned Jensen.

For all the chicken little nonsense about Nexstar aging up, they're actually taking the alternative path I had implied other media outlets were missing, which is instead diversifying the age bracket of content while rotating in things closer to pre-merger CW like (hopefully black) sitcoms. Their new statement is "give us the new, but also give us what we would have had old". They've stated they intend to stay on genre TV but the age restriction isn't just for kids, the content and budget will be more targeted.

Congrats, we're getting something not just mass produced swill, but things WB is banking its entire network TV future on.

Depending on the response to what properties they chose to order, this is them fighting for their rights to timeslot on Nexstar before Nexstar reappraises 2023-2024 content from other sources being brought in. This is why, for example, Misha commented on the size of GK's budget compared to normal, or why Winchesters had enough time, and budget, to reshoot, which SPN never ever fucking had.

Roth warned Jensen. Because for all the confused noises fandom made about "Why John Mary?" it's actually simple if you think about the world beyond yourself. If you go "maybe other people are different than me?" well.

The 70s. A fanciful, whimsical time. the 50+ audience will live for it. And even with shit like Carlos because they remember the 70s they'll remember their gay friend carlos too. But the cast is young and vibrant and queer to bring in new blood and generations, and Dean (and the eventual others) will be there for the older, middle-aged if you will fans that grew with the series.

Roth warned Jensen. Because Jensen built the perfect product to survive the diversification demands of CW/Nexstar. And made the next potential packaged truly viral product to match its forebearer. And all in a time that Zaslav is searching for strong franchises.

Don't know how far, exactly, we'll get to go but we've never had such a clear path there before. There's a possible path through the woods and we're on it with Dean, looking through the haze to see what light is at the end of the road.

Gotham is also getting the benefit of this to some extent, but Gotham is not itself the launch of a franchise as much as a safe bubble in which to use an existing franchise during a tumult. Both are important in different ways, and both are WB's future stake in TV network share or full collapse into digital by 2025.

"We must see the bigger picture. Even in the darkest hour, our light is waiting to guide us."

-- Supernatural 15x15, Gimme Shelter

#wb #zaslav #roth #production #the winchesters #gotham knights

125 notes · View notes

thesillygoosetapes · 2 years

Text

I am and was acting irrationally about this ship. I can’t dictate what you do and this post is me doing just that. In my own twisted way I was angrily voicing my opinion in a, “believe in only what I say or else.” Look I get it my opinion is only dogshit on this website.

I won’t dictate if you like the ship or not, quite honestly I’ll probably block and move on, but when you decide to read the rest of this post and interact that is your own undoing. You chose to read the rest of this.

Maybe I need to put it in bigger text for you all to see.

Block me and move on; I’m not debating it.

This is absolutely a hate post on Travis/Laura. I’m putting it under because I know there’s a lot of discourse about The Quarry already.

But have any do you noticed how most of the people who like Travis and Laura are in their mid twenties to early thirties?

There is a clear difference on why people my age (18-21) are uncomfortable with Travis/Laura.

EVEN IF Laura is over 21 that still puts her at the SAME AGE as his nephew and niece who are both canonically 26 and 21 respectively. I wouldn’t want my mom, who is the same age as Travis, dating someone around my age. I would feel hella uncomfortable with it.

Plus not to mention she killed his niece which already puts her on the distrust side with him. It’s also evident in the ending too with how he’s still upset that she killed Kaylee.

And Laura is still in love with Max who she is devoted to helping. Look I understand bending the rules a little for your ship but there is literally no chemistry other than them becoming possible allies – which they already did, they’re just allies, nothing else. Possibly frenemies but not friends.

Y’all have parenting issues is why y’all like it. Go to a therapist.

And for people saying that they liked fanart of it. OF COURSE THEY’RE GOING TO LIKE FANART WITHOUT LOOKING FURTHER INTO IT. THAT’S NOT THEIR JOB. (I’ll admit I was wrong for putting that they didn’t like it. They did. But again I’ll reiterate; NOT THEIR JOB TO CARE)

And if you say I’m getting so bent out of shape over it because they’re fictional – fuck you. You probably haven’t heard of proshipping, and if you have let me explain why fiction does affect reality!

Slender man stabbing. Literal LGBTQIA or race representation in fictional media. If fiction doesn’t affect reality then the stabbings wouldn’t have happened and we wouldn’t need representation.

You’re literal dumbasses for not thinking critically.

#the quarry #Travis/Laura neg #and yes I am being extremely mean because I’m fed up with it #I’m deleting comments because y’all clearly didn’t read

96 notes · View notes

rjalker · 1 year

Text

I think it'd be fun, so here you go.

You can submit art, writing, music videos, whatever you can think of.

[ID: A calendar for February 2023, with each date including an art prompt.

The whole thing reads:

February 2023 Murderbot challenge bonus points if you write only in 3rd person pov rather than 1st

01: Escaped large animal on the station

02: But who did leave the cracker wrapper in the sink?

03: Meeting another Rogue SecUnit

04: Helping enslaved constructs and humans escape a mining outpost

05: The wormhole

06: Pride and defiance

07: A disabled human teaches Murderbot about Preservation's wildlife

08: Murderbot meets a human who uses it/its pronouns

09: One of the other PreservationAux teammembers comes out as nonbinary

10: Murderbot learns the word "autistic"

11: Murderbot is trapped alone on a ghostship with an alien

12: Gurathin apologizes for being such an asshole

13: The ComfortUnit from RaviHyral runs into Murderbot again while they're both trying to rescue the same ship full of bots being sent to be turned into scrap

14: Murderbot hangs out with a group of trans humans and bots

15: The story of how Murderbot changes its pronouns to it/its

16: "So, what's the plot to this show?"

17: Murderbot makes a Sanctuary Moon fanfilm with Ratthi

18: Murderbot meets another person who's touch averse.

19: Murderbot joins a support group for refugees from the Corporation Rim

20: Murderbot learns the word "aroace"

21: Someone purposefully misgenders Murderbot. Pin-Lee has something to say about that.

22: Murderbot helps some locals pirate media from the Corporation Rim

23: Murderbot realizes just how much propaganda is in The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon

24: Murderbot teaches a human to impersonate a SecUnit

25: The secret world below Preservation's surface…

26: Murderbot creates a virus to destroy governor modules and sends it to the Company

27: Murderbot receives a permanent injury

28: Several winged, shapeshifting aliens fall out of a portal on Preservation Station"

End ID.]

You do not have to do all the challenges, and they don't all have to be done before the end of February. You can post them at any time.

Rules:

1: No shipping Murderbot with anyone, in any way. It is aroace and explicitly repulsed by relationships of all kind.

2: No erasing the fact that Murderbot is touch averse and does not ever want to be touched. The only time it lets anyone touch it is if it's saving their lives, or if they're saving its. Lives literally have to be at stake. Any other time, touch is completely off limits, yes, even for people it likes and trusts. No, you are also not allowed to draw representations of what's happening in the feed if you're going to show it as Murderbot touching someone else and enjoying it.

3: No misgendering Murderbot or any other character who uses neopronouns unless the entire point is to show it's bad. EX: You the author cannot misgender Murderbot, but an antagonist can.

4: No whitewashing or lightening Murderbot's skin. Murderbot, in the official art, has very dark skin and black hair. Do not erase this fact. Do not draw Gurathin as the literal Aryan ideal because you can't stand the thought that the protagonists are all black and brown people. White is not the default. White with blonde hair and blue eyes is absolutely not the fucking default.

5: If you are submitting art, Murderbot's face should be hidden in some way. It does not want people to see its face. We should respect that when we draw it, and there are plenty of fun and creative ways to accomplish this.

6: No NSFW.

7: Tag posts for the challenge with "Murderbotfandomchallenge" and "Murderbotfandomchallenge2023" if you want people to be able to find them specifically.

Entries that follow the rules will be reblogged to @murderbot-fandom-challenge event.

#long post #Murderbotfandomchallenge2023 #Murderbotfandomchallenge #The Murderbot Diaries #Murderbot #SecUnit

10 notes · View notes

domxbot · 2 years

Text

→ This bot is purely fictional and all representations of the idols are not real.

→ If you are under the age of twenty, are not comfortable with dom/sub dynamics or expect a fast relationship, do not interact.

→ This bot is heavily based around NSFW interactions, please do not engage with this bot in any way if you are a minor. This is serious, I will block you.

-> You are required to read the rules and all available information provided to you as these are very important. Failure to do so will result in termination. The doms are set in their ways, they will not change themselves to make you happy and you are not expected to change your characters to make them happy. Please make sure you read your chosen dom's character profile, any failure to do so and heed the warnings will not be my fault.

→ Replies will be given on set days due to my busy schedule. Chris answers on Tuesdays, Minhyuk answers on Thursdays and CL answers on Saturdays. If there is a reason why replies cannot be done for longer than a month, a text will be sent to make you aware. Please do not expect replies every week — real world matters more (this is for your replies too). — Added onto this, some replies may come when I am not busy and am able.

→ This bot relies heavily on communication. If you are busy and aren't able to reply within a month since the last reply was sent then please make the dom (and admin) aware via text. If several months in a row are missed, the dom will become unhappy and end the contract between them and the sub. There is no coming back from that.

→ If you are going on hiatus, the contract will be archived. You can come back and pick up from where you left off. However, if I see that you are active and just not replying to the dom - the contract will be ended.

→ Jealousy, fighting and hate is not acceptable and will be ignored.

→ Only those who have filled out a 'contract' will be able to engage in private messaging, if accepted. I have the right to deny a contract at any given time.

-> Effort is expected and encouraged. Please make sure that you are giving context and details with your replies, give inner thoughts and such to help grow the chat — if the chat remains bland and I am having to carry it, I will give two warnings before ending the chat.

→ Asks/dash interactions are treated as social media interactions unless I do literate. Otherwise, there will be no reacting to physical contact/facial expression/etc.

→ For more on how the doms interact and engage with others, please refer to this.

→ Failure to follow the rules, respect myself or the doms will result in being blocked. Respect is a two way street, if you give me attitude or treat me in a way that I do not deem acceptable, I will give it back to you in kind. I am not a horrible person and like to treat others with kindness — I expect the same.

— updated 24/7

#✦.rules

13 notes · View notes

ohcrapmyfishwhy · 1 year

Note

so i have only seen that one transformers movie with shia labeouf. where do i start for the Good stuff. i am fascinated by starscream.

cracking *every* single bone in my body anon this is gonna be long I'm so sorry

Ok so there's a FANTASTIC post here about where to start if you're not sure where to. In my humble opinion, this post on Reddit is also super helpful- because, unfortunately, transformers comes with 800 continuities like Marvel- and ofc that's gonna happen to a 30-year-old franchise, so it's confusing. but in THAT CASE, if you're confused, youtuber Chris McFeely has an entire series called Transformers: The Basics which has short, easily digestible videos on certain continuities, characters, and plot devices while remaining fairly spoiler free- obviously, there are gonna be spoilers, but for the most part they're pretty spoiler free and help establish certain lore things if you're confused! Though hopefully you won't need it too much based on what I'm giving you here, cause I know getting into a series and instantly having to do homework just sucks

Whats fun about the TF cartoons is that for the most part, each one is in their own continuity, so any prior knowledge isn't really required because they do end up telling you how the rules of the world works. For fun awesome Starscream content in particular for COMICS, he plays a HUGE role in the IDW comics- IDW 1 in particular has some choice screamer moments, those comics start with More Than Meets The Eye #1 and Lost Light #1.

If you don't want to give all your time and energy to a comic, there's also cartoons! Transformers Animated is a 2007 cartoon made by the ben 10 and teen titans crew, it moves like ass but its writing is undeniably solid. Starscream is voiced by tom kenny and he's an absolute DELIGHT i love him. Transformers Prime is the grim, edgy reboot made in 2010- and I haven't seen this one yet so I can't fully recommend it, but this is the one that the fandom has latched onto the most from what I've seen. Transformers (1984) is fantastic if you're looking to giggle and are into the weird memes, like 80% of the starscream being a weirdo compilation videos are from this.

Luckily most- if not all- the cartoons have their own comic tie ins if you're still starved for content for that particular run!

If you Can stomach early 90's television CGI, cause I know that's a giant turn off for some, I recommend Beast Wars with my whole damn chest- it's my favorite, the writing is just hands down fantastic, its smaller cast means you get some serious development, and its a great place to start and understand the context behind the new Rise of the Beasts movie!

A really GREAT CGI series that just came out that also lacks the starscream content is Transformers Earthspark!! Its definitely got a kids show vibe to it (mostly in how lessons are handled and conveyed to the audience) but its got a lot of fun, more family-oriented moments for older audiences to enjoy, and really interesting lore implications for older tf fans as well (Like genuinely how they're handling Megatron and Optimus is so fascinating to me I could go on a tangent about how good they are as foils here) the fight scenes are incredible, the representation is so good, and I think Robby and Mo are the least annoying TF kid characters, I would die for them. Downside, it's only streaming on paramount plus rn.

also literally all these series are available to stream for free on tubi (except earthspark)

HOPEFULLY this was helpful, I'm very new to the fandom myself so I'm still learning a lot, but I hope you like the silly robot show- I haven't had this much fun with a piece of media for awhile :)

#ty anon for letting me ramble ajbgdhsbgjdfs #transformers posting #transformers #maccadam #shoe.txt

6 notes · View notes

papirouge · 1 year

Note

Papi I need to vent!!!

I was checking out the new street fighter and somehow I ended up in this website where people were criticising this new character whos an african american woman, saying how she was super ugly and just forced diversity. They swore that they were not racist, but the way they worded things obviously revealed that they were, talking about how she was an stereotype and how offended black people should be because of such an ugly black character. But i researched her a little and literally the development team got help and advice from actual black employers from Capcom to create this character (Kimberly).

And some other people were complaining about how censored the female characters were, how they fell for the feminist/sjw brainwash, and that they would not buy the game if it stayed like that. Mmh, some of these characters literally have their titties out, super exagerated hour glass figures and angles focusing on their asses and all, and super tight clothing, like what the fuck are they talking about??

I went to other threads and they were talking about the new little mermaid movie, and obviously were talking about how ugly the actress was, how wokism ruins everything, and how redheads needed representation too but were all being replaced by black actors. Also a lot of comments about how the progressives hate redheads the most because they represent the 'most special type of white' (aka theyre rare). Never heard that one before.

They also discussed the new peter pan movie, revealed to contain a black Tinkerbell, and obviously lots of racists comm3nts that i dont wish to repeat. Some even talked about the japanese trailer (some are obssesed with anime and j-videogames as they consider asian media clear of wokeism), and many jap fans hated it and a commenter even said how some people were calling her 'kuronbo-bell', which apparently is the japanese word for the n-word?

Many threads too about how unattractive some female characters were nowadays, and when some commenters responded that not every female character needed to make their pp hard, they went in rants about how they didnt need to make them ugly either to be inclusive, that theres nothing wrong with male sexuality, and that they were being censored. Some of these 'unattractive' characters they were talking about were tweens...

ugh, anyways this became too long. Sorry for vomiting all over your inbox papi :( i wanted to say more but this is enough.

damn girl... what type of tragic internet gutter are you wandering through?🫠

rule #1: the internet is NOT safe and for your own mental safety you'd better learn to simply ignore & avoid those spaces where this breed of demons like to vent their putrid opinions away - especially if you're a Black woman.

some other people were complaining about how censored the female characters were, how they fell for the feminist/sjw brainwash

That's the thing with coomers/gamebro: they think they pornfried expectations for women is the standards, and anyone remotely critical of this entitled of having female characters NOT sexualized is a woke/feminist/leftist agenda. But there totally isn't an agenda to sexualize women of course.... I remember an idiotic french youtuber who said he felt uncomfortable watching Nightmare on Elm Street 2 because the male main character because there was a whole homoerotic depiction around him (idk if the male producer of that movie was gay..) - which made sense, because as a straight male, you're not comfortable having to deal with a sexualized gaze on another male. The problem is just a few minutes late, when he was talking about Nightmare on Elm Street 3, he was rejoicing because "finally I can see BOOBS!!".....and I was like OKAY BUT WOULD IT OCCUR TO YOU WHY YOU FEEL ENTITLED TO SEE A SEXUALIZED WOMAN WHILE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE WATCHING A SEXUALIZED MAN???

and how redheads needed representation too but were all being replaced by black actors. Also a lot of comments about how the progressives hate redheads the most because they represent the 'most special type of white' (aka theyre rare).

this dude was typically the kind of youtubro to whine about w0kiSm and how female character are becoming too chaste and ugly...the truth is for these men, women feelings will never be valid - only theirs. A woman being uncomfortable seeing another woman naked & sexualized ? feminist/wokism/jealousy, etc etc A man uncomfortable watching another man naked and sexualized? valid & rational argument in a movie critic. These men are clowns.

They will gaslight everyone calling women emotional but watch them having no consistency in their opinions whatsoever, and hiding themselves behind a cringe contrarian/anti system posturing

Men -and especially- anti-feminist/pseudo anti system/contrarian male youtuber are the most emotionally driven (FYI the french youtuber ended up kicking me out of his channel discord group bc I embarrassed him after I said he was "overreacting" after he took personally something I said that wasn't specifically directed at him💀) and intellectually inconsistent people EVER. You should never take anything they have to say about female representation seriously.

LMAO the projection of it all. Aren't the WHITE THEMSELVES been clowning and discriminating for centuries redhead for being dirty, stinky and being witch? That's ain't the fault of no Black people. Same can be said about blond btw. Blacks NEVER went out of their way to create a whole narrative about blondes being dumb, bimbo, etc.... THE WHITES DID IT TO THEMSELVES. But somehow that's the Muh w0KiSt fault now? As I always said, "woke has become a hollow buzzword not meaning anything anymore.

They also discussed the new peter pan movie, revealed to contain a black Tinkerbell, and obviously lots of racists comments that i dont wish to repeat. Some even talked about the japanese trailer (some are obssesed with anime and j-videogames as they consider asian media clear of wokeism), and many jap fans hated it and a commenter even said how some people were calling her 'kuronbo-bell', which apparently is the japanese word for the n-word?

Funny how they didn't have the same energy to call for "sticking to the material" when the previous Peter Pan movie got Tiger Lily whitewashed (played by Rooney Mara) but as I said, those people are not consistent ¯_(ツ)_/¯

The white dudebros elevating Japan as a holy land deprived of wokism are up for a huge wake up call when they realize that there's a growing amount of celebrities openly gays/crossdresssing (Matsuko Deluxe, Peey, Kemio, Ryuchell, etc.) and even more so calling for gay marriage and overall improvement of gay rights lol When I was booking for my acomodation in Tokyo, I was also surprised to see how the city had entire hotels dedicated for Muslim tourists, which is according to those white dudebro would be unthinkable in a land free of wokism and muslim invaders... Tokyo is more "inclusive" & progressive than these White anti want to admit, but narrative.....

when some commenters responded that not every female character needed to make their pp hard, they went in rants about how they didnt need to make them ugly either to be inclusive, that theres nothing wrong with male sexuality

I'm absolutely not surprised by Japanese dudebro joining in to dunk on Black tinkerbell. Black people know that we don't have no allies - especially among unmelanated people. Never forget Japan sided with the Nazi. They have that demonic racial supremacist rot in them. There's no wonder many White nationalist LOVE larping behind Japanese imperialism - when real Japanese imperialist wouldn't spit on a White gaijin even if they were on fire... They are sooo delusional~ but I guess thei obsession to dunk on Black people with ANYONE is enough for them. The world is truly obsessed with is, that's quite insane.

I also remember an article saying how Japanese people, who are culturally wired to fit in, get extremely influenced whenever they get in touch with foreigners. That's why you'll see them catch up Conservative talking points & opinions whenever they mingle with them - and do THE MOST.

That being said, it's pretty ironic to see Japan being so cranky about seeing race swap favoring of Black people when they themselves cast their own domestic Japanese actors in foreigner role. The "Shingeki no Kyojin" movie was super cringe because you had those blonde aired German named characters (in the manga) you assumed all along would be bulky 7 foot good Aryans....being played by 5'7 Japanese twinks, I- They REALLY should sit that one out and be quiet. We all know if Ariel was played by a Japanese woman they would be honored. The world is just mad that Black women get POSITIVE representation, that's all.

lmao but no one says they are "ugly" beside them, so why making it everyone's problem and make a such a fuss over their fee fees being hurt? A non sexualize character isn't "inclusive" - it's just being normal. Do these scrote go outside and scream at women not wearing revealing outfits that they are trying so hard to be "inclusive"?? NOT BEING SEXUAL IS THE NORM - VIDEO GAMES/MOVIES DOING NON SEXUALIZED CHARACTER IS JUST A REFLECTION OF A STANDARD. SEXUALIZING CHARACTER IS ACTUALLY AN AGENDA PANDERING TO MALE SEXUALITY. Jeez, the cumbrain energy is HUGE on this one.

#answered #papi truths

2 notes · View notes

historywillforgetme · 3 months

Text

copy paste of my speech for school

Dear Society!

As you probably know, we live in a system called capitalism. And people often glorify it, because the opposite, communism, is also bad. We grow up getting to know just how “good” capitalism is, using the weeping of history to justify its actions, and drowning any other ideas, calling them communistic, naming them names of nightmares that happened in the past. We took systems which white people made, and turned them into reality. We do not seem to care about alternatives, because we are forced into it. Remember just how, as a kid, you wanted to become an astronaut? Or an archeologist? Or anyone big, or famous? Remember just how sad you probably were when you discovered that just getting the basis of school will be 13 years? After 8 years of forcefully learning almost all completely useless things, that we won’t use in real life anyways, after 8 years of spending hours at home learning and solving homework, while you could do something that is actually a part of your interests. After all the scolding from your parents for your grades, and from your teachers too, because what could possibly be more important in life than grades? Than these imaginary numbers? We were just kids, and the system failed us. They put us, kids, in imaginary roles, saying “you are a girl, you cannot sit like this!”, “you are a boy, and boys dont cry!’, “pink can only be worn by girls”, etc, etc. It failed us because it destroyed our childhood dreams, for the sake of 1% of the wealthiest people on earth. So I, as a person who’s really, really angry at the system, I come out to you, the reader, listener, to society, for a change. We should refrain from using kind language when protesting, because they, the government, that 1%, never will take us seriously otherwise. They won't use kind words to us, they will want to kill us with cold blood, and swipe us under the rug, so the rest will stay silent, waiting for someone who’ll do something! If you won't stand up, no one will! Just because we feel comfortable with the rules, or think that we do, just because we were conditioned to think so, just because we are scared, shouldn’t stop us from ending it all. Thats what they want, they want submission! We should comfort the poor, and make the one % feel completely and utterly threatened for their safety and lives. Boys, aren’t you tired of the fact that you are shamed for showing basic human emotions? For not being an imaginary, rich, strong, stoic man? Aren’t you tired for being shamed for showing basic human affection to other boys? Girls, aren’t you tired of constantly trying to live up to ridiculous beauty standards? For constantly being reminded that you need to be a “lady”? For being called a slut, a whore or worse just because you wore something comfortable? And I don't care that I'm being impolite. People call us women these words, never care about being impolite. Girls, aren’t you tired of people saying “you’ll never find a guy with this behaviour!”? Queer people, aren’t you tired of being demonised by conservative people? Are we not tired of conversion therapy? Of always being skipped when it comes to representation in the media? Of being told that you are “unnatural”? Well, if we want to see a change, we need to make it ourselves, because most of the people are so indoctrinated by capitalism, the government that they won't do it if they don't see a reason. So i am giving you quite a few reasons:

School system was made to teach the youth to wake up early for monotone work in a factory

You are literally forced to ask for going to bathroom

If you are LGBTQ+ you are hated by half or more of your government because their beliefs say so

You will probably work your whole life just so the rich people get higher salary

The world’s air pollution is in 80% caused by 100 megacorporations

Companies disregard morals and public safety in pursuit of profit

Capitalism exploits the environment and natural resources

It proposes little or no solutions to poverty, while any person who’s in that 1% of wealthiest could solve the world poverty and hunger without bankrupting

Fails to pay a living wage to billions of workers

You are supposed to be exhausted and worried you’ll lose your income to die penniless

If you like drawing, or crocheting, or fixing cars, you want to work. You just don’t want to be exploited.

If you believe in something else than christianity, you will probably have to go to school in your holidays, and will not be able to pray as much as you need in some cases (for example if you are muslim)

We made roles that are impossible to fit in. Who said that we need social classes? I’m pretty sure that the world wouldn’t collapse if we would throw them away. The economy would tho. But the economy is a code for the rich, if the economy is getting better, the wealthy are getting richer, if it’s collapsing, they are getting poorer. Of course it’ll be hard at first. I won’t lie, we will have to get used to our new lifestyle. But imagine that one day, you’ll wake up, and decide that you would like a shirt with a specific thing on it. And instead of thinking “hmmm, do i have enough money?”, you’ll ask yourself “hmmm, can i paint the design or i would need to learn how to make it first?”. Imagine that one day you would walk out of your house and breathe fresh air instead of polluted one, get some fresh tomatoes without any chemicals, and just make yourself some sandwiches. Or maybe more, for you and that person that agreed to help you with painting your walls. Imagine a world without electric bills, because you take power from the sun, the wind or the water. Imagine it. Imagine yourself doing your favourite thing, just because you like doing that, in clothes that you made too, or someone made for you, just in your style. Imagine not having to explain why you are not in a nine to five job today, because you wanted to take a day off. Are you tired? You can just take a nap, instead of waiting for the next few hours. Hungry? Your neighbour has some fresh strawberries, and you know how to make a dish from them. You can just work together to make some food and eat. Imagine this. But we cannot achieve this without getting rid of capitalism.

#capitalism

1 note · View note

sabugabr · 2 years

Text

Netflix's"The Witcher" and how costuming matters (1/2)

OR: The Witcher must have the most confusing worldbuilding I've ever seen and they could have easily helped that by doing good costuming — but then they didn't.

Hello again! You see, I'm a little late to the party since season 2 literally already debuted and all, but I've been wanting to write about Netflix's The Witcher since I watched the first season back in 2019, and originally I intended to discuss the narrative structuring errors the series makes when adapting the original material from Sapkowski's books (which took me a while to read, hence why took me so long to write this), but then I realized that first, there were already several articles and posts on this topic, written much more deeply and in detail than I ever could, and second, I noticed a lack of discussions about what really bothered me the most in this series: the clothes.

Look at this lovely swordfight between a medieval lady and a guy in a tweed blazer

SO, I think one of the things we can all to some extent agree on is that The Witcher is a flawed adaptation. You may like it, you may not like it, you may think it is good or bad on different levels of your personal opinion, but in terms of visual translation of a written narrative, and structural and narrative fidelity, The Witcher simply fails on several crucial points in its first season, which directly adapts the events of the first (in its fictional chronology; published second in original Polish) of the two collections of short stories preceding the main Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, "The Last Wish". As I mentioned before, I won't get into it specifically, but if you like you can check this great video by "The Closer Look" to see what I'm talking about. And one of the major critics regarding the series's first season is how confusing it is.

Look, I know this confusioness is, by some extent, purposeful. The story is told out of chronological order, the series moves back and forth in time, "present" events mix with flashbacks, everything is revealed at the end, etc etc. Which would be completely ok. However, the impression I had is that even what was not meant to be confusing got confusing, due to both:

textually cutting out the necessary contextualization to understand some situations; and

not correctly constructing the peoples and political relations between the kingdoms presented in the series.

And here I'm gonna adress the latter.

* DISCLAIMER * : in this post I'll only cover season one, first because I haven't watched season two yet, and second because interestingly Netflix has hired another costume designer for season two. Maybe after watching I can write about it separately. We'll see

So, without further ado...

1.1 VISUAL NARRATIVE AND CLOTHES AS STORYTELLING

To convey my arguments, I'm going to literally quote myself in some explanations from my Clone Wars post due to lazyness practical porpuses, so bear with me.

First, I'll cover the more technical aspects of visual representation in fantasy worlds. What I'm going to talk about now is not an established rule of thumb or anything like that, but simply something that's commonly done in visual media, especially when you have different cultures and peoples, or different kingdoms, which is to make the characterization of these peoples and cultures and kingdoms as characteristic as possible.

This serves not only to create a richer world, with more beautiful and creative possibilities for the use of colors and shapes and fabrics, but also to help those watching to follow what is happening on the screen, especially if you want to address social and political relations.

Seriously, I can't stress enough how things like the use of color can help in the assimilation and understanding of a story, and how this can be a life savior when it comes to crunching extensive content in a short time for an audience in the most effective and simple way possible.

In a conflit, for example, it’s easier for the audience to distinguish one "side" from the other if the people are visually characterized very differently, or to highlight a specific character in a crowded setting.

Take HBO's Game of Thrones for example. If you pay attention, at the beggining of the series every house and “region” had very distinct fashion tendencies that went way beyond the house’s coat of arms: the gowns were all cutted very differently, the colours and embroidery were unmistakable and the hair styles also differed a lot. You could determine the origin or political alignment of a character purely by fashion silhouette.

You can very clearly point out who is from which place, in addition to creating unity between certain groups. This can also be used either to show a character's personal evolution (like Daenery's costumes) or to visually express political innuendos, as for example in the case of Sansa, who always wears the same hairstyle as the woman she seeks to please at the moment. Or Cersei and Margaery, whose dresses are always (and I repeat, ALWAYS) a political statement.

Note that even though Daenerys' clothes clearly show an arc of evolution, there is a unity both in shapes (the constant use of oval and V cuts — symbolizing eggs and claws) and silhouette of the dresses (her clothes often have the strong, pointy shoulders that are Targaryen characteristics) and in the colors (white and aegean blue) and textures (always evocative of dragon scales) that consolidates her personality and makes her unique from the other characterizations.

And in the case of Cersei and Margaery, as I mentioned before, note how it is possible to make a clear distinction between when Cersei wears King's Landing's court fashion and when she wears her personal style (which can be easily identified), and how Margaery (whose personal style was previously determined by light and sensual clothing, in shades of light and baby blue with rocaille pattern embroidery) when appearing in the golden gown following Cersei's style, uses this as a soft power to not only insult Cersei but also firmly establish her position as the new Queen — and therefore toss Cersei aside. On the other hand, you can point out how clearly Margaery's gown and posture (the hands!!!) are a copy, and how better is the original, so we have all these layers going on here.

I could spend PAGES only going on and on about how great were the costumes for each caracther in Game of Thrones (thanks to Michele Clapton’s work), but I'm deviating from the topic here and you can find truly great meta about it all over the internet and particularly in this blog, if you like!

So, going back on track here, clothing can be used to visually depict narrative and time progression or even to secretly throw hints at the audience (like for example if you have side "Blue" versus side "Red", and a previously "Blue" character starts using reddish clothes, that can be an indicative that they've switched sides, even before this is actually confirmed by text).

When talking about personal characterization, one of the most important things about character design is that a character's costume essentially reflects who that character is, much more than their lines or actions. Just by looking at a character's costume (if it's a good costume) you can basically know everything the movie or series or play wants you to know. And especially if you're telling a story where a character goes through internal changes, the exterior (ie, their costume) should reflect that as well.

So, how are all those concepts applied in The Witcher?

Poorly

1.2 CHOICES WERE MADE — AND THEY WERE ALL GENERIC

So, for the first season of The Witcher, the costume designer in charge was the brittish Tim Aslam. And I want to make it very clear now that I am in no way personally attacking Tim Aslam here. In fact, I'm a fan of a lot of the projects he's worked on (I recently found out that he was a costume assistant on Phantom Thread, you gotta respect that curriculum). And you also have to take into account the influence that producers and all sorts of things have when you're making costumes for movies and series. And all that.

That being said,

This is bad costuming

They all look just SO OFF??? It took me SO LONG while watching to really get that Calanthe and those guards in the first picture and those guys in white in the last picture were all from Cintra. Because there's just no unity at all. Not in shape, not in colors, not anywhere. The only unit I can point to is the similarly shaped helmet of Calanthe's armor and that of the guards in the first picture. But in reality, the guard's armor looks a lot more like Eist's (the guy to her left), who is not Cintran (he was the ruler of the Skellige archipelago — still the Northern Kingdoms, but still somewhere else). And I still haven't figured out how Calanthe's armor was silver in this scene but golden in the banquet scene (it looks way better in gold tho)

And you know what, that's ok that's fine you can definitely make the ruler's armor different from the guard's armor (this is even a good move, since theoretically the ruler's armor has to be better than the guard's, right? ) but still, firstly, I personally found the guards' armor to be richer and more ornate than the QUEEN's, and secondly, if a helmet is all you can keep in style, you're clearly lost.

And then we get to the poor soldiers in the last picture.

And being fair, there are differences between the two armys — you have white armor vs black armor, the white Cintran armor here is very classic 1400s full plate armor with that round breastplate, while the Nilfgaardian armor is...? Some kind of studded leather, kinda? Anyway, I'll get to the Nilfgaardian armor later, don't worry. But even so, they are absurdly generic.

The helmets (the helmets) are basically the same, and so are the shoulder pads. And I may be speaking purely my own opinion here, but for me this scene was so confusing and the lighting was so dark that even the contrast of the black and white colors was lost to me sometimes. And because their armor was so different from the other Cintran armor that had appeared, I had to Google Cintra's coat of arms to confirm that it was really a battle between Cintra and Nilfgaard, just to make sure. And if Cintra's colors are golden and olive blue, why they were suddenly all in plain silver? I have so many questions.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT OK, FINE, armor is tricky, we have bad costuming in armors all around fantasy media, ok. But I found similar issues within every other costumes in this series.

So let's play a game

Look at the following images:

If you didn't know these characters, would you be able to tell me which kingdom each of these people is from? Look closely at the council scene or the ball scene, can you look me in the eye and say you know who's who? Point out for me who at the ball is from, idk, Aedirn or Temeria. You know what, you don't even have to go that far, just separate the people in groups you think belong together. Can you?

Me neither!!!!

Those guys in white at the ball, are they from the same country? I really can't say for sure!!!!

And I don't even find these specific clothes ugly, on the contrary, I find them individually very nice. But they do seem to be all inferior derivatives of a single model. Because, in reality, that's what they are.

See how Tim Aslam describes the costuming design:

“I started with in-depth discussions with showrunner Lauren Hissrich about the kind of look and feel she wanted for the show. I came up with a concept which was a mix of contemporary high fashion with Gothic influences from all the periods where Gothic researched in fashion history – notably, the 1890s and 1930s. Plus a lot of ethnic world costume”. “The Witcher is set, after all, in a kind of parallel fantasy world, where anything is possible. I have always particularly loved 1930s fashion. So it was ideal to be able to bring in the ‘30s Gothic feel, along with a little film noir feel, to some of the characters’ costumes.” (source)

Great, lovely, perfect. However, in my point of view, this was only truly applied on Cintra, and the character that best represents it (and the one that for me has the best characterization, and the greatest cohesion in clothes) is Calanthe herself.

You really get to see the Gothic and european 1930s inspirations (I didn't put references here because of the tumblr 10-image limitation, but google "1930s velvet gown" and see what I'm talking about), and the whole wardrobe looks just marvelous. I LOVED the blend of cool tones with gold, the consistency in the boat necklines and the overall embroidery and fabrics used, the application of the "surface cording" technique in both her and Ciri's gowns' necklines and sleves, the coherent hairstyles, everything.

So, for Calanthe and Cintra, this concepts works at it's best, and was is just Cintra, it would have been perfectly fine, showstopping, 10/10. But he applied it to the whole costuming, and what we got is that he used a single concept to develop an entire world. This is very problematic because not only it makes it harder for us to identify the people on screen, but also because it deeply undermines the richness of the source material.

For example, I really find Mousesack's houpelande charming. It's pretty simple, but I didn't dislike the copper aspect it has in the scenes. But it looks way too similar to Stregobor's, and does it give any indication that he, like Eist, is from Skellige? The archipelago which, from the description of the books, can be directly associated with Danish cultures, and whose people are often associated by readers (myself included) with Vikings? Even ignoring the Viking thing, can you say, only by looking at them, that they both come from the same country?

I even named them there to make your life simpler

The two pretty much wear only goldish clothes, but then, King Foltest of Temeria also uses gold, and by the way Calanthe does too.

Perhaps you could argue that gold is associated with nobility, and we just accept that all nobles wear gold. It's a logic, yes, but I personally find it so disappointing when it comes to a series that spends so much time in political intrigues of different courts and kingdoms. In fact, it seems to me more like there is no concept at all between the courts, and that all characters buy their clothes at the same department store. So, besides everything I've said on narrative issues, this kind of approach "cheapens" the entire production.

Look at the sorceress:

They all seem to come from the same base model, using the same fabric, but at the same time they're not similar enough to argue that it's an intentional unit. Far from that. In these pictures alone you can see Triss wearing 4 dresses in not only different colors but also different cuts, one of them actually being the boat neckline that I once thought was characteristic of Cintra but apparently I was wrong — Triss comes from Temeria. You can vaguely identify the concept of "Goth 1930's evening gown meets contemporary high fashion", but here it just seems, once again... generic?

Unlike Calanthe's case, it doesn't seem like the concept was made with her in mind, for her. Some of the gowns don't even seem to have been very thought out. It just seems like they picked clothes that would look good and vaguely medieval-ish, and they went with it.

Tissaia on the other hand always wears clothes with VERY characteristic cuts, but this seems to be more of a personal style than any indication of a connection with Aretuza (the magic academy Yennefer goes to)

ac I couldn't tell if Tissaia is wearing the same dress in the first two images and they just look different colors because of lighting and editing. I hope that's not the case, because otherwise I would be even more disappointed with the lack of care for the costumes in this series. But moving on

I even thought the connection could be defined by the color blue/turquoise (as all apprentices use that shade of greenish blue too), but if thats the case it really bothers me,

firstly because they decided to use blue as the primary color in Ciri's characterization throughout most of the season, and I think it's flawed to have two different elements identified by the same color, and

secondly because if turquoise really represents a connection with Aretuza, it's NEVER used narratively in any way that I could identify, not even with Tissaia, which is simply a waste of narrative tool. It seems she only wears blue at the academy and her relationship with the color comes down to only that. As for the others, they use bluish tones but this is the only connection that I could make.

Again, it's as if each has their own unique style, but they all go shopping at the same store — except, in some scenes, Yennefer.

But since tumblr CENSORS more than 10 images, I'll have to slip this into part 2, so

PART 2: LET'S TALK ABOUT YENNEFER ->

#the witcher #costume design #costuming #costume analysis #cinematography #color theory #netflix #the witcher netflix #character analysis #the witcher season 1 #yennefer #tissaia #geralt of rivia #queen calanthe #I guess i can tag got as well #game of thrones

148 notes · View notes